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The 8-year-old was celebrating on Tuesday because her artwork is featured at the GumTree Museum of Art.
She was among about 450 people who attended a Daily Journal-sponsored reception, which honored kids from first to sixth grades who applied their colorful imaginations at Lee County Schools this year. The "Impressions" exhibit will be on display until May 1.
Babbitt, a second-grader at Verona Elementary School, painted a picture of a house and wrote the words "Home is relaxing." She altered reality to add a pool and a trampoline, but all's fair in art.
"My cousins have a trampoline," she said.
Kinsly Burleson, an 8-year-old second-grader at Saltillo Primary School, was on a tight schedule. He had a baseball game to get to, so he wore his orange and black jersey while inspecting his orange and black cheetah sculpture.
"It's my favorite animal, so I made it," he said.
Kalee Sanders, who's in third grade at Saltillo Elementary, quickly found the vase and flowers she made by cutting different types of wallpaper and sticking them on top of each other.
"You could cut out any color or shape," she said.
Kids produced self-portraits, landscapes and abstracts. Some worked with paints; others used crayons or pencils. There were assemblages and masks, as well as pottery and textiles.
Gena Yarbrough, lead art teacher for Lee County Schools, added a new project this year to mimic the glass art of Dale Chihuly. Students at Shannon, Verona, Mooreville and Saltillo schools colored plastic water bottles then melted them.
"They could see the physical changes happen to the plastic because of the heat," Yarbrough said.
So a bit of science was mixed in with a bunch of art during a day designed to let young creators - and their creations - shine.
"It's a big deal in the life of a child," said Kit Stafford, executive director of the museum. "It's important bragging rights for your art."
scott.morris@journalinc.com