Oakshott Cotton Giveaway

Check out the giveaway over at  Lily's Quilts



A Colourbox of 100 F8ths.
Oakshott shot cotton beauties.
I want to win, but I promise to be happy for you if you win and I don't. 


Make it a Wonderful Day!

We Heart Art!

Art Club has been working on two things at once...

We've been painting with acrylics on canvas (8x10), and with our leftover paints, we painted our hearts. 

 They are actually circle paintings on heavy watercolor paper. The only rule was they needed to use the leftover paints-no getting new paint from a tube. They could share/trade with their neighbors.

Before painting, they drew a large heart on the back of the paper. (We used scrap paper to fold, then cut out large hearts to use as templates. So each of their hearts is unique to them in shape as well as paint and pattern.)

 Once their circle paintings were dry, they were to add patterns with white. (This project was a good time to talk about different types of brushes- we used flats for the circles of color, and rounds for the pattern details.) 

Once the circle paintings were dry, the artists cut them out. I sprayed them with a gloss varnish and then mounted them on the black/red backing.

 

(I used two squares of cardboard as a spacer to give them some dimension.)

 

The artists worked back and forth between their paintings on canvas and the hearts- a bit crazy, but it made for less wasted time and much less wasted paint!

Make it a Wonderful Day!

Snow Dog

Have a Wonderful Day!

Hubble and Pastels

(This was made by Tejus, a 5th grader)

We made these beauties last year, but I never got around to sharing them.

I really enjoyed the IMAX movie about the Hubble Telescope a couple of year ago, and knew we should make some art related to the striking images. I checked out a book from the library, and photocopied lots of the pictures. Yes, a bit expensive, but worth it!!

I shared a few techniques for applying the soft pastels to the black paper- such as using a torn edge to get a crisp and then blended edge of color...

Or using a light colored dotted line to layout the composition...

We weren't trying to copy the image exactly, only to be inspired by it...







I think it was a great to have a science tie-in and beautiful art work too!


Make it a Wonderful Day!

Penny Pointsettia

Okay, it's been a while since I've posted! We traveled to spend Christmas with our grands and a few of our kids. The sun was shining in the Bay area, and it was great to spend time with everyone: making art with the kids every day, cooking yummy treats, shopping, wrapping, playing games, and just having a great time.


But I wanted to share this year's wool picture I made for our annual Quilt Group gift exchange. It's mostly recycled wool from thrifted wool clothing and old beads and buttons. I was thinking of the traditional penny quilts when I put this together.

Make it a Wonderful Day!

Marshmallow Snowman Painting

This is a quick craft for kids. They'll have fun painting with a marshmallow!

You'll need:
3inch x 4 1/4 inch blue cardstock (or construction paper) and other paper scraps
white paint (tempera, craft, or acrylic)
gluestick or other glue
marshmallows (regular size) I had two for each crafter- one to eat and one to paint with. :D

Pour a small amount of paint onto a flat plate or plastic lid.
Dip the end of the marshmallow into the paint and print three big dots.
Print some more overlapping dots on the bottom edge of the paper for more snow.
While the paint dries, cut out snowman details. (I used a paper punch for the eyes.)
Glue on the details.
Add a string to the top if you want to use your snowman as a gift tag or ornament.

Make it a Wonderful Day!

Poinsettia on the Porch

Have a Wonderful Day!

Foil and Sharpie Name Drawing

This was a bonus project for artist who had completed their foil owls and leaves.
(It was also a great way to use up the scraps of poster board left over too!)

I cut the scrap into 2x8 inch strips. They wrapped the foil over the board, just using the folds to secure it. The kids then used colored sharpies to write their name. They added colored shapes around their name, pressing a bit to push the foil down. They left spaces between the colors to create a leaded stained glass look. (Unlike the owl artwork, these do not have raised glue lines-just foil an sharpie. The pressure of the Sharpie just pushes the foil up a bit.) The piece is then taped to a larger scrap of the black poster board to frame it.

Make it a Wonderful Day!

Owls, Foil, Glue, and Shoe Polish

(original artwork by David, grade 5)

Art Club, Grades 1-6

This is one of my all-time favorite projects. The technique has been around for years, and I've loved using it several times with my students. This time around, our art is of owls and leaves.

We first planned our compositions, paying attention to all of the positive and negative spaces. We wanted to be sure they were all interesting. Here are some step-by-step instructions. Let me know if you need help!

1. Draw your picture on paper the size of your final cardboard. Just the big shapes, no details.

**I've noticed on Pinterest  some people think we used coloring book images. Not so- we used our own drawings for these. We had owl photos and real leaves to look at, and I reminded the artists to keep it simple, fill the page, and no details. You could use coloring books, but the kid's drawings are so wonderful, I would hate to miss out on them!!


2. Go over your simple drawing with Sharpie.
3. Turn your drawing over. On the back, use your pencil on it's side  to go over your lines.
4. Place your drawing right side up on cardboard and trace over your lines for a graphite transfer to the cardboard. (Or, if you want to speed this up, just draw directly on the cardboard. I like to teach the transfer skill, something they can use on future projects.)
5.Go over with Sharpie if needed to see lines clearly.

6. Use a thick, tacky glue to go over the lines and let dry.

(This image has the glue lines on it- they have dried clear.)

7. Use a glue stick to attach the foil. (Shiny or dull side showing-you decide.)
8. Wrap the foil over the front and to the back.
9. Press foil down around dry glue lines. Use a paper towel over your fingers as you rub to avoid tearing the foil.
10. Then use a cotton swab up against the glue outlines once the foil is pressed down, just to be sure the glue outlines show up really well.
11. Draw patterns in all of the spaces with a dull pencil. (Use a variety of types of line and scales of patterns.)

Once you've filled all of the spaces, rub over the whole thing with black shoe polish, wait a few seconds, and wipe off. (I use the kind that comes in a bottle with a sponge applicator lid.)

A couple of you have commented on the color- the results will be an aged silver metal look, something along the color lines of pewter. The golden effect in my photos is the result of reflected color from the walls and low light since I didn't use a flash. 

Yes. Lots of steps. A bit teacher intensive- I put the glue on at home. Times 150, that takes a bit of time! But the results are so wonderful!
I've used this in conjunction with illuminated manuscript in the past- so kids did a single letter with borders and lots of decorative patterns. And I think these would be perfect for Day of the Dead skulls...maybe some year I'll do that!

When I was hanging these up, parents, teachers, and kids all stopped to ask about them- I love being able to tell my Art Club artists how much people enjoy their art work! The most common word I heard was "WOW!!"

Make it a wonderful day!

Christmas Colors

Have a Wonderful Day!