Things to Make - Nature Stencils Using A Plant Mister

As I blogged about yesterday, I'm loving the projects in Margaret Peot's book - Stencil Craft: Techniques for Fashion, Art and Home.

For our first project, the kids and I tried making nature stencils using a plant mister. Of course, when we put all the pieces together, it turned out we were out of watercolor paper, then the kids chose to use several leaves which weren't heavy enough to work as stencils. But despite these handicaps, the project ended up resulting in cool, abstract artwork.





1. First we searched the neighborhood for natural materials to work with.



2. We then made collages with our discoveries.

3. The kids used a plant mister to spray down their creations. T tried this with red, watercolor paint (diluted with water); whereas the girls used heavier blue, biocolor paint (diluted with water). The biocolor paint was hard to spray, so I'd recommend using watercolors or, even, water dyed with food coloring. The paint did not spray evenly, which lead to a cool, layered effect (though this would have worked much better with thicker paper).

4. We left the creations outside to dry for a few hours.



5. Coolio, abstract paintings. I think a really fun project would involve using these as a base and stenciling something defined on top. Or making wrapping paper/greeting cards.

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a copy of Peot's book. For information on how to enter, click on yesterday's post.

HAPPY TUESDAY EVERYONE!!

Things to Make - Speech Bubble Magnets

We experienced a FREEZING COLD February this year. The type that needs to be capitalized. Usually when snow falls in Virginia, the white disappears within 24 to 36 hours, leaving one to question if they just imagined the whole thing. But this year snow is everywhere. Grey, tire-stained, city snow. Last night I couldn't even find the curb to put our garbage cans on.

And with snow comes snow days and two hour delays (ha! I rhyme!). And my solution to it all - MAGNET TAPE.

Seriously, have you ever used magnet tape (tape similar to the one we used can be found here)? This stuff is awesome. Doodles become art.

I finally ordered some prints of last year's photos, so we decided to make speech bubbles to go with them. And then create a rotating gallery of funny on our refrigerator. And T made everyone a wizard because wands really are sort of awesome.



Wizards make everything better.

Things to Make - Mustache T-Shirts

Winter is LONG. If you're looking for a fun project to keep the kids occupied during yet another cold front, head on over to Honest of Nod to learn how we spent a whole afternoon making freezer-paper stencil t-shirts. Click here for the link.

Things to Make - Leaf Stencils

I realize there is some irony in finally posting craft projects once school reopens. But, hey, it was a long summer. Anyways, we leaf stenciled with watercolors a few weeks ago and the kids had a blast with this open-ended project. The girls traced the leaves with paint to create lovely designs, whereas T arranged the leaves and glued them to the paper. Either way, we ended up with some beautiful artwork to decorate the walls.

LEAF STENCILS:

1. Materials: paper(preferably thick watercolor paper), summer and/or fall leaves and flowers of all sizes and varieties, watercolor paints, paint brushes of various sizes, and/or glue sticks.

2. After collecting the leaves, spread them out on a table or work surface. Ask children to hold down the corners and trace the edges with their brushes. They can also paint the leaf and then use it as a stamp. And/or glue leaves to the paper's surface.

Things to Make - Toddler-Designed Hidden Pictures

Lately, T can't stop doodling/drawing/writing on anything he can find (yes, this includes walls). I left a pad of decent-quality watercolor paper on the table and within minutes he marked up every page (much to my chagrin). We're going through paper like crazy around here. So the girls and I created a game to make use of T's many beautiful drawings - we search for hidden pictures. Sometimes the girls find things and I color them in and sometimes the girls color things in themselves. It's actually pretty fun and T seems amused by it all.

If you don't have access to a toddler, you could also try a version where you cover your eyes or you cover the kids' eyes and ask them to draw things and then try to find hidden pictures. Or maybe try drawing with your wrong hand. or with your toes. whatever works. basically, just make some scribbles and decode. How fun is that?



I was pretty impressed by F's finds. P went for the landscape route.



Sometimes we don't try to find anything at all, we just color in the lines - like a coloring book.

Things to Make - The Story of a Box

I'm somewhat addicted to Amazon's Subscribe & Save Program (why run out for toilet paper when you can have it delivered to your door for free?) - the prices are good and free two day shipping continues to amaze me (I'm a dork like that). My husband, on the other hand, has problems with all the packaging waste, so I set out to prove to him that where he sees extraneous boxes, we see an all-day craft project.

Stage 1 was easy - I simply asked P and T if they wanted to ride in a "boat." So they spent all morning in a large box. I didn't even paint it or anything as they seemed perfectly content "steering" their simple vessel throughout the waves of our living room. But finally (of course) the sides collapsed. At this point, T decided he wanted a house, but P decided he really needed his own castle. On to Stage 2 . . .



In a half-hearted attempt to make a collapsed box look more castle-like I added "pillars" made from old paper toll rolls (I just cut slits in the bottom of the rolls to attach them to the sides of the "castle"). Then the painting began - one color at a time (some sense or order was needed). T painted everything in long thick lines ("look mommy, I make railroad tracks. lots of railroad tracks.") Maybe I've been in momland for too long (maybe???) but I actually think T's whole creation looks rather impressive (move over Picasso, we've got SKILLS). Or maybe it's just that T was having the time of his life. Finally painting came to an end and we waited for the pigment to dry.

T spent a large part of the next day walking around with his "castle" wrapped around him. I assumed we'd tape the sides together and make an exit on the bottom but he preferred to wear it. At some point he decided it was now a horse and galloped around. A rainbow horse. okay.

And finally, the box made its way to recycling. But at least we showed it love.
________

*DON'T FORGET to enter our giveaway for a copy of the Sand Castle CD. Seriously, really great music, you won't be disappointed. Click here for the info. And if you enter through the facebook link, make sure you BOTH like the facebook page AND leave a comment on the wall (otherwise it's hard to tell if you are actually entering the giveaway).

Things to Make - Swirly Stones

Honestly, this was one of my favorite craft projects ever. Watching the crayon melt onto the rock was mesmerizing, I couldn't stop coloring (nor could the girls), though this activity is NOT appropriate for toddlers, so we waited for T to nap before we began. Here's the scoop:

1. Find rocks. We went on a rock scavenger hunt through the neighborhood, but we only found a few. Luckily, I had a bowl of decorative rocks (from Ikea) that we used. Though in retrospect I think this project would work best on "found" rocks as the decorative ones were really shiny, so the crayon didn't show up as well.

2. Bake stones in the oven on a foil-lined pan for ten minutes at 225 degrees.

3. Remove stones from oven using a pot holder (be careful they are HOT!!) and place on paper.

4. Color on the stones using old crayons (with the wrappers removed) watch the wax melt onto the rock.

5. VOILA beautiful swirly stones!!



OTHER CREATIVE IDEAS FROM AROUND THE WEB:

*Tape resist art. Looks fun and easy.

*Lego stamping - this looks so fun, I wish I would have thought of it myself.

*This little paper dollhouse is the cutest thing ever. And a link to the PDF makes it easy to make your own.

*An indoor retractable clothesline fort. Genius.

*Fairy houses made out of milk cartons. I love it!

*I really want to make our own root beer. Has anyone ever tried it?

Things to Do - A Backyard Art Gallery

P's asthma has been much better this year (especially since we no longer have our cat), but at times it still acts up. A few nights ago she needed nebulizer treatments, with steroids, making it impossible for her to sleep. So we stayed up and watched cartoons until the wee hours of the morning. And P napped through most of the next day, despite the beautiful spring weather. While P slept, I set up some brushes and paint in the backyard for T and F, who had a great time creating our backyard art gallery. Well, until T decided to paint himself instead. Kids are always so fun until they aren't.

RANDOM LINKS:

*Days worth of inspiration, right here.

*Wonderful composition and light.

*Jonathan Safran Foer's new book uses words from existing text to make a new story, the pages all have holes in them so that different words are revealed. Sounds interesting, check out pictures here.

*Wow, these are gorgeous wedding pictures.

*I love this new take on the family portrait.

Things to Make - A Butcher Paper Town

I have a hard time throwing things away (though I don't necessarily have a hard time GIVING things away), so our toy bins are full of old happy meal toys and party favors. A few weeks ago while my MIL visited, we decided to make a town for all these lost creatures. I thought T would destroy everything when he woke up, but instead he just kept trying to put the animals in cars. Big animals, little cars.

HAPPY TUESDAY EVERYONE!! What have you made lately? I'd love to hear!

ART IDEAS FROM AROUND THE WEB:

*DIY Colored Flowers

*Crushed Chalk Paint.

*5 DIY Craft-Vase Ideas for Mother's Day Flowers (link via Modern Parents, Messy Kids). And don't forget our tissue-paper vase project.

*10 ways to reuse plastic easter eggs.

*Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best.

Things to Make - Sunprints with Dark Construction Paper

On a sunny weekend, this project is wonderful, in that it combines nature and art in a super-simple manner. Here's the scoop:

1. On the night of day 1 (or early in the morning of day 2) go for a nature scavenger hunt, look for things with interesting "shapes." Our 9 year old neighbor joined us and she was fantastic as helping the girls spot different shapes and patterns. We brought a plastic bag with us and dropped everything inside.

2. We then went home and taped our found objects to dark construction paper (DARK is key), we tried glue too, but tape worked much better.

3. Early the next morning (day 2) I placed everyone's papers on our deck in the sunniest spot possible. Throughout the day, we kept checking on them to see the silhouettes form. The girls loved this part, so we checked on them A LOT throughout the day.

4. Finally, on the evening of day 2, we brought the papers inside and carefully removed the tape and objects. I was hoping to make some sort of artwork out of our sunprint, but the kids had a much better time just looking at them and trying to figure out which silhouette belonged to which object.

OTHER ART IDEAS AND PROJECTS FROM AROUND THE WEB:

*I can't explain this one, just trust me and take a look here. Pretty cool, huh?

*Trula Kids makes beautiful stamps out of her daughter's artwork. And this etsy post explains step by step how stamp making works.

*Paper tiaras has a great tutorial on making your own stickers.

*For adult crafters - this DIY doiley hanging sculpture is incredible as are these DIY colorful cake stands.

*As I'm always looking for ways to use old toilet paper rolls, I found this snake both simple and fun.

*Make a paper crane and help Japan, for directions and info, click here.

*These little linen bags are adorable (link via Modern Parents, Messy Kids).

Things to Make - Salty Watercolors & Water Painting

Sorry for all the watercolor posts lately - once I buy something I have to use it (click here for past watercolor posts). I learned about salty watercolors from this post in the Artful Parent's archives (wow, there's a wealth of information over there) and i have to say this was one of my favorite kid projects EVER. First of all, the mess factor isn't too bad. Second of all, set up is relatively easy. And, finally, the project occupied the girls for long periods of time with very little parental involvement (YAY!!). If I had a ratings system, I'd give it the highest rating. Here's the scoop:

Materials - Liquid watercolors (or food coloring), Elmers glue (or an equivalent), table salt, a pan or platter (to pour the salt over), and thick paper or cardboard (ordinary paper will buckle from the salt).

1. First the girls drew pictures with glue on watercolor paper.

2. Then we poured salt over the still-wet glue. We used the pan to shake off the salt that didn't stick.

3. Finally the girls touched watercolor-dipped paintbrushes onto the still-wet glue/salt designs. The color slowly traveled through their designs, which was really fun to watch.



If you've ever wondered what the toddler does during craft-time usually he sleeps. But sometimes he doesn't. I probably should let him paint with real paint but it's just so messy, so for now I've tricked him into painting with water. And that works for awhile (until he realizes that his pictures don't look like the girls' pictures).

Things to Read - Knuffle Bunny

For Xmas my mother-in-law gave T a brand-new best friend, Knuffle Bunny, to whom the whole family has grown quite attached. For those of you new to Knuffle Bunny he happens to star in his own series of books all of which my three children love. Yes, that's right, all three of my children (ages 1.5, 4, and 5) love the same set of books - what are the chances? Even better, my husband and I like them too. Here's the scoop:



The series begins with Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale in which Trixie (the star of the series) tries to explain to her father that they forgot her Knuffle Bunny at the laundromat (she's too young to talk). I'm probably overestimating the skill-level of my 1.5 son, but he really seems to love this book. He likes to shove it at me anytime he sees me sitting down. I want to believe that he actually understands Trixie's frustration (is this really possible at the age of 1.5?) but maybe he just likes the pictures or the silly sounds Trixie makes. The older kids like it because they know (from helping with T) the level of frustration that comes with trying to understand a toddler's wants and needs.



In the second book of the series - Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity - Trixie now attends preschool where she brings her Knuffle Bunny for show and tell only to discover that another girl has an almost-identical Knuffle Bunny. T doesn't like this one, but the girls love it. We read it alot.



In the third and final installment of the series - Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion - a grade-school-aged Trixie finally gives up her Knuffle Bunny (donating Knuffle to a baby who needs the stuffed animal more). As an adult this book actually tugs the heart strings a little. My children seem much more accepting of the fact that Knuffle's loss constitutes a necessary step in growing up then I am.

All three books have creative (and amusing) illustrations (I especially love that the day after Trixie wakes her father up in the middle of the night he has a five o'clock shadow). Watching Trixie's progression from toddler to "big girl" really makes it fun to read these books with your children.


(In case you're wondering, the window drawings are left over from this event. yes, I really am that lazy.)

Things to Make - Cutting and Gluing with Pretty Paper

Since yesterday's post was on the National Gallery, I figured I'd stick with the art theme and blog about preschool art projects. Every fall (with winter LOOMING ahead), I decide that this is going to be the year of art projects. Then the baby cries or the girls whine or something else goes wrong and I think "well, maybe next year will be the year of art projects." My mom was a huge art project mom, so I want my kids to grow up the same way, but in real life I find art + three kids = tricky. Okay, enough complaining. This year things are going to be different, as I have decided to lower my ambition and start with REALLY EASY art projects, hence the pictures above.

Darcy's Easy Art Project - Round One

Both my girls are obsessed with scissors lately, so I went to a AC Moore and bought a ton of scrapbook paper for them (DCWV MS-003-00062 Mango Frost Mat Stack) to cut and glue (does paste even exist anymore or has the gluestick completely replaced it?). Plus, some scrapbooking tape to create with as well. (When I was a kid, I used to love wallpaper books, so I figured this was close to the same idea.)

Good news - it worked. They spent all afternoon cutting random shapes and pasting them onto different paper, with very little help from me (though my mom did get involved, hence the flowers). So far so good, hopefully more art projects will follow.

Regarding ideas and inspiration, the creme of the creme for GREAT kids' art projects is this blog - The Artful Parent. If you have a chance, check it out, there are years worth of archives so you're sure to find some sort of project that works for you.