that artist woman

Mother's Day Portraits

2013-05-08T14:47:00.000-06:00

So I'm stuck at home with a sick kid today but that has given me time to prep for tomorrow's lesson with Grade 4.

As a Mom I love handmade Mother's Day gifts. This year Grade 4 will do portraits.

Last year Kindergarten did one for Father's day.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- canvas board, you can get this at the Dollar store, 2 for a $1.00, we are using 6x8
- acrylic paint
- decorative tape
- plain paper
- coloured pencils, crayons (twistables)
- fine sharpie
- scissors
- bright buttons
- coloured paper, scrapbooking paper
- bright buttons
- 'M' letters, I used the Cricut
- Mod podge
- ribbon and glue gun for hanger

PROCEDURE:

Paint canvas board with acrylic paint. Set aside to dry.

Using a piece of paper cut slightly smaller than the canvas board sketch out Mom's portrait.

Add some colour using coloured pencils and crayon. Because we are going to podge this portrait we do not want to use anything water soluble or it will just smear.

Using a fine sharpie do some outlining. With Grade 4 we will do the sketch technique. We don't want to do every line and we want some gaps in our outlines so it looks more like a sketch.

Cut out. You can get tight to the portrait like with the Dad portrait or leave some background.

Set portrait aside. Wrap the edges of the canvas with decorative tape which I also found at the Dollar store.

Now we add the word MOM. I cut out a bunch of M's with the Cricut but you could also hand letter or print letters out from the computer and trim.

For the O we are making a little flower. Mine is quite circular but you could also cut in petal shapes. Out of scrapbooking paper or coloured paper cut 2 circle shapes. Glue into place and add button.

Give your portrait a nice coat of podge to secure everything and to add a nice gloss.

Add a ribbon loop to the back for hanging.

That's it.

Pastel Resist Bugs

2013-05-05T15:25:00.000-06:00

Bugs are a popular curriculum topic right now.

This is a project I did a couple of weeks ago with Grade 2.
We went big, colourful and shiny!

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- brown kraft paper, or paper bags
- pencil and eraser
- bug reference books/pictures if needed
- black sharpie
- oil pastels
- tempera disk paint
- metallic acrylic paints
- shimmer mist, optional
- scissors

PROCEDURE:

On a large piece of kraft paper draw a big bug.

Use as much of the paper as you can and when drawing legs and antennae don't just draw a single line use shapes, (squares, rectangles, triangles, circles) to form them.

On this bug you can see triangles used for the legs.

Outline everything with black sharpie but no colouring in with the sharpie.

Using oil pastels colour in your bug. Use bright colours and allow some of the paper to show thru the pastel.

After you have coloured it all in choose 1 colour of tempera disk paint. We used red and blue. Apply a wash over the entire bug. For the kids I put the disk into a separate container and add some water.

We use big brushes and I ask them to dip into the water and then go in on the disk to get nice bright colour.

Using metallic acrylic paints and the ends of paintbrushes add dots of metallic paint to your bug.

You can add some shimmer mist if you want to get that iridescent look. The ones I used were inks which can be expensive to buy but you can also make your own. Buy a travel mist bottle (dollar store) add a marble, pour in some metallic ink (look where the calligraphy supplies are in the art store) and you are good to go. Because this is ink it was applied by an adult.

Shake bottle well and then spray mist on. Click on the next 2 photos for a closer look.

We used gold and pearl.

When the paper is dry cut out with scissors.

Mount on paper or just display as is.

That's it.

We also have been making lots of Mother's Day pieces. I have made hundreds of these stepping stones in the last few days, buying concrete like crazy at the hardware store!

See you soon.

Rainy Day Watercolour

2013-04-21T17:14:00.000-06:00

This is for those April showers we are supposed to be having.....yesterday in Calgary we got snow!
I always love how a pop of colour on those grey days can cheer you up.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- watercolour paper, at school I use a nice 130lb Fabranio we get in bulk
- green painter's masking tape
- disk tempera paint or watercolour paint
- water spray bottle
- foam plate for palette
- sand from the playground or garden centre, optional
- kleenex
- my template, optional
- glue
- coloured paper
- craft foam or vinyl, optional
- small button

PROCEDURE:

Place your paper on your art board. Tape off edges with Painter's masking tape.

Gather your painting supplies.

Brush some water over your entire paper.

While the paper is still wet start adding colour. The colours you need for stormy skies are black, blue, and purple.

You want very diluted colour so this is where the foam plate comes in. Add paint and then extra water to get a nice wash.

Paint over entire paper. You want variation in your colour so some areas have more grey (diluted black) or blue than others.

You can even splatter on some diluted paint. You want the paper to stay moist so use your water sprayer if it is getting dry.

Not finished yet.......

Crumple up a kleenex and begin lifting off some of the paint to create clouds.

Storm clouds are dark on the bottom and lighter on top so you can add a touch more grey if needed. Use your spray bottle to keep the paint moving if needed.

A further effect you can add is using sand. Unlike salt it will not bloom but the paint will collect around the particles leaving a nice texture, like raindrops.

Sprinkle a little on the painting and leave until fully dry.

While the painting is drying you can work on the umbrella and person.

You can use my template or sketch out the pieces freehand.

The umbrella was traced on watercolour paper and then painted. You can see the pencil lines try the paint.

Cut out when dry.

Glue a button on the top of the umbrella.
You can also add a few lines.

Cut a handle out of black paper.

Use a bright colour for the slicker, a neutral for the head and hand.

I have some nice yellow vinyl for the boots, you could also use craft foam or just paper.

Glue all the pieces into place.

Paint a little puddle for your person to stand in. I used the tape again to maintain that white border. At school I will just make sure not to remove the bottom tape till it is completely finished.

That's it.

Papier Mache Caterpillar

2013-04-14T14:02:00.000-06:00

Grade 1 starts their "Life cycle of the Butterfly" unit next week.

We are making the clay butterflies but I needed something for the caterpillar stage.

I thought we could make a papier mache one.

SUPPLIES REQUIRED:
- paper tube from a paper towel roll or wrapping paper
- small balloon
- masking tape
- bubble wrap, optional
- paper towel cut into strips
- white glue
- recycled container
- water
- acrylic or liquid tempera paint
- packing peanuts
- coloured paper

PROCEDURE:

Blow up the balloon. You don't want it too big about the size of a baseball.

Tape onto the end of the paper tube.

Stuff some paper towel into the other end to close the hole.

You can wrap the tube with some bubble wrap or newspaper. This is just to add some bulk and decrease the amount of mache you have to add.

Mix some water and white glue in your recycled container (1 to 1 ratio).

Dip your paper towel strips into the glue mixture and start layering on your balloon and paper tube. Criss cross the layers for strength. Add a dry strip every once and a while to soak up the excess.

When you have about 2 layers all over the base set aside to dry in warm spot. It will take about 2 days.

Rotate after the first day to get the underside to dry.

Paint the background colour for the body of your caterpillar.

Paint on your details.

I needed to add feet. I had lots of these packing peanuts so I putting them to good use.

Glue feet onto bottom of the caterpillar.

You can add some paint to the feet. You need to add a drop of dish soap to the paint to get it to stick to the plastic surface of the peanuts.

Cut 2 eyes out of coloured paper. I also cut out a mouth and a few teeth.

Glue into place.

That's it. Now I have to come up with the chrysalis stage, stay tuned.

See you next time.

Plaster Masks

2013-03-26T13:58:00.000-06:00

I have been making these plaster masks with kids for a few years now. The results are always terrific and the students have a great time applying the masks on each other.

Here are some animal masks.

Here are some Mardi Gras or Mi cereme type masks.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- plaster strips, you can buy these at craft stores (Michaels) but I prefer to get them straight from the medical supplier. I use Stevens. Cost wise this will save you a lot of money. You need about 18 rolls for a class of 24. I use Gypsona Extra Fast Plaster of Paris. 7.5cm x 2.7m. I then cut the bandages into 4 inch (10 cm) lengths and then cut each of these into strips about 3cm wide. I cut these straight into a flat box, you will get a lot of plaster dust so cut in top of a garbage bag or drop cloth.
- containers for water
- 1 garbage bag for each pair of students
- disposable shower caps, I get these at the dollar store 10 for a dollar
- recycled cardboard, paper tubes, egg cartons
- vaseline
- drywall compound, optional
- acrylic paint
- faux fur, feathers
- embellishments
- glue gun

PROCEDURE:

This is a 3 session project

Session#1

Have the students pair up. I give them a little talk about being respectful and gentle with their partner.

The one who is getting the mask applied puts on the shower cap. A garbage bag is laid out on the floor.

Vaseline is applied to the face. Use a good layer and put extra on the eyebrows. I only do half masks with the kids so you need only apply the vaseline to the nose.

I tell the kids to avoid the eyes, think that your partner is wearing glasses or googles. The model needs to keep their eyes closed.

They then get some plaster strips and a container with warm water.

Dip a strip into the warm water and run your fingers down it to remove excess water. Apply to the face on the bridge of the nose forming an "X" onto the cheek. Do this 3 times. This will form the base of your mask.

You need to massage each strip when you apply it to get the plaster into all the holes of the bandage. I tell the kids to think they are at the spa! Otherwise it will not be smooth.

You want to do 3 layers of bandages everywhere. Avoid the nostrils and eyes.

I give each model a few kleenex in their hand so they can mop up any annoying drips but eyes need to be closed.

Make sure to get those 3 layers especially on the sides and try to have no holes. Don't worry about the edges looking pretty as you can trim them later with scissors when the mask is removed and dried.

If some plaster gets on your clothes don't worry it will wash out.

The mask will start setting up in 15 minutes. It make get a bit warm as well as the plaster is activated.

When it is hard remove gently from face. I find it's easiest for an adult/ teacher to remove. I gently lift from the bottom (by the cheeks) and ease off from the rest of the face. The eyebrows and hairline are where the mask might stick a bit. Just take your time and slowly ease it off.
The model can then wash their face and switch places with their partner. Repeat the process again. It will take approximately an hour and a half to do a whole class with a switch halfway thru.

The masks can be put aside to dry. Although firm they will still be damp and fragile. Set aside.

Session #2

Collect some recycled cardboard, egg cartons, and paper tubes.

Take the base mask and start adding other elements. Use more plaster strips to attach. We also used drywall compound to fill in the holes and for texture. You can also trim the edges of your mask with scissors. Any extra pieces or stray edges.

Here you can see that paper tubes (toilet paper) are used for the horns, some cereal box cardboard is used to form ears as well as the muzzle/mouth.

When you are finished adding your extra elements set aside to dry again.

Session #3

Now it's time to finish your mask. Using acrylic paint, paint as desired. It's best to paint the background colours first and then add the small details.

Using a glue gun attach feathers or faux fur. You can also add other embellishments like gems, beads, or sequins.

When the mask has dried you can poke a hole on each side by the eye using an awl or sharp point of a pair of scissors. Attach string or cord for tying.

That's it. A great art experience your students will never forget!

I'm off to my Maui again for Easter break. I'm looking forward to reading, sketching, and lots of painting.

I hope to send you a few blog postcards in the coming weeks.

Have a great Easter everyone and aloha!

Mixed Media Face

2013-03-17T13:43:00.000-06:00

Grade 1 is studying the five senses. Here is a face project that at least tackles 4 of them. You could always add a hand coming off the side (traced on poster board) to make it 5.

I wanted to emphasize the 3D component. The fact that you can touch the pieces also addresses the missing tactile sense.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- substrate, we used foam board, you could also use cardboard or primed canvas
- flesh coloured and pink paint, liquid tempera or acrylic
- pieces of corrugated cardboard
- cardboard egg carton
- paper towels cut in strips
- recycled container
- white glue, water
- wax paper
- black paper
- large glass gems
- small piece of rope or clothesline
- coloured burlap cut into strips
- sharpie, crayon, coloured pencils

PROCEDURE:

Cut your substrate into a square. Mine is 10" x 10" or around 25 x 25cm.

Cut a piece of cardboard for the base of the eye. Place the gem on top to measure.

Cut out one of the cups from the egg carton for the nose.
Cut a piece of cardboard for the base of the nose and one for the mouth. Cut an ear shape out of another piece of cardboard.

Take your recycled container. Mix glue and water together at about a 1 to 1 ratio. You will be working on wax paper. Have your strips on hand.

Place the egg carton piece on your cardboard base. Start papier mache. You want to cover the cup as well as the cardboard. Pinch it in as you work creating a nose shape.

When the nose is done start on the ear.

I added a roll of paper towel for the ridge on outside of the ear and a bump on the bottom for the lobe.

Set both nose and ear aside in a warm place to dry.

Paint entire front with flesh coloured paint. At school I mix up a big batch. I also reserve a bit so I can alter the colour if needed.

The substrate may warp a bit. I tried both liquid tempera and acrylic and had equal warping. If you have enough paint you could always paint the other side to help with this.

When the papier mache has dried (about 24 hrs) paint with the flesh tone. Also paint the mouth and eye base.

Take the large glass gem. On a piece of white paper trace around the gem. That circle shape will be the eyeball.

Do 2.

Draw in the iris and pupil. Add the shape of the eye as well to one of the eyeballs.

Colour in the iris with crayon or coloured pencil. Outline with black sharpie.

Cut them out.

Attach the eyeball to the gem with mod podge . Do not use glue as it tends to dry cloudy.

Podge dries fully clear.

Set aside to dry.

Cut the black paper to the same size at the substrate.

On that paper sketch out a face shape.

Cut it out taking care to save the outside area (negative space) not the inside.

Put some glue on that frame.

Stick on your substrate creating a face shape.

On the eye base trace around the eye shape that you drew for the other eye with sharpie.

Podge into place.

Take the small piece of rope/ string/clothesline and paint it with the pink acrylic paint. You can add some pink to the inside of the ear and on the nose where the nostrils are. When the string is dry glue into place on the mouth cardboard base.

Start to glue the pieces into place. Add eyelashes to the eyes.

Glue in the ear and mouth and then finally the nose.

Make sure to add a neck line.

Add some hair using the strips of burlap.

Now you can add text to identify the senses.

You can also add shading with crayons or pencil crayon if you want.

Add a ribbon at the top for hanging and it's done.

Papier Mache Robin Eggs

2013-03-11T00:44:00.001-06:00

Kindergarten is studying "living things that come from eggs" right now.

We needed a few good art projects to tie into this theme.

First up is this Robin in a papier mache egg.

Now I know robins do not come from blue and pink spotted eggs but we wanted a bit more colour fun for the kinders.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- balloons
- paper towel cut into strips
- recycled container
- white glue
- water
- acrylic or tempera paint
- Easter grass, optional
- scissors
- cereal box cardboard
- template
- brown fabric
- red felt or fleece
- tacky glue
- googly eyes
- yellow craft foam
- feathers
- flower sprig
- glue gun (adult operation only)
- fishing line
- pony bead or washer

PROCEDURE:

Blow up balloon to the size of egg you want.

We kept ours on the small side.

Mix up your glue solution in the recycled container. I use 1 part glue to about 1 part water.

Dip your paper towel strips into the mixture and start layering them on the balloon. You want to criss cross the layers. Leave a bit of the balloon bare, this will make cutting easier later on.

Every once and a while put a dry strip on to soak up the excess.

Put aside in a warm place to dry.

Turn every day until they fully dry out. It will take about 48 hrs.

When they are dry cut a hole in each egg starting where you can see the balloon.

Paint with acrylic or tempera paint.

Paint on spots or stripes.

With an awl or knitting needle punch a hole at the top of the egg.

Cut a length of fishing line. Tie on a pony bead or washer.

Thread the other end of the line thru the hole. The bead or washer holds the line in place.

Using the template cut out the bird shape out of cardboard. I've included a large and small template depending on the size of your egg.

Using the same template cut the body shape out of brown fabric.

Cut a red breast shape from the red felt or fleece.

Glue the brown fabric to the cardboard.

Glue on the red breast, 2 googly eyes, and a small beak cut out of the yellow craft foam.

Add 2 feathers for the wings.

Stuff a little Easter grass into the egg.

Bend the little tab at the bottom of the robin.

Add some glue to it.

Attach to the inside of the egg.

Finally you can glue a little branch or sprig of flowers to the bottom of the egg, just to dress it up a bit.

That's it. You could make this project with different animals themes like turtles, dinosaurs, fish, etc.

I like the Robin as it is Spring themed, you could do a chick for Easter.

See you soon.

Mixed Media Ducks

2013-03-03T21:29:00.000-07:00

The Grade Ones are hatching duck eggs at my current school.

For an art project we are making these mixed media canvases.

You can see by this side view that there are elements that stick out from the canvas, lots of great texture.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- 8x10 primed canvas, I buy mine at Michael's in the 10 pack when they go on sale, you could also do this on foam board or heavy corrugated cardboard
- cardboard
- duck template, feel free to use mine
- drywall compound
- painter's masking tape (green or blue)
- blue, green, brown, and yellow acrylic paint
- white tissue paper
- posterboard or manila tag
- glue
- air dry clay
- printed text "is for duck"
- black pony bead
- a few feathers

PROCEDURE:

Using my template or your own drawing, cut out a duck from cardboard.

Put some drywall compound on a plate and using a spatula or even an old gift card spread on top of your duck.

I buy my drywall at Home Depot in a huge container, (very heavy) for about $20.00. It will last a long time if you are careful to keep it sealed. One large container will do an entire school.

You can also buy it in smaller amounts.

Using a pencil or a chopstick add some texture to the body of the duck to represent the feathers.

Leave the head and bill smooth.

Set aside to dry.

Our ducks drying.

Take your primed canvas, lay it down horizontally, (landscape style).

Take some painter's masking tape and tape off the horizon line.

Paint the sky with blue acrylic paint.
Don't forget to do the sides.

Set aside to dry.

Take a small amount of air dry clay. Roll flat about 1/2 an inch thick.

Using the "D" cookie cutter cut out a D.

Use a little water to smooth the surface if needed.

Set aside in a warm place to dry out. I put the whole art board on top of my fridge.

Because I only had one cutter and I found it a little finicky I pre cut all the D's for the Grade Ones.

When the blue paint has dried remove tape.

Take another piece of tape, place it right on the line but now on the painted blue side exposing all the white.

Most ponds around here tend towards the green side so I painted the bottom section green. You could also do a dark blue or a greeny blue.

Do the sides and leave to dry.

When your duck is dry paint the body brown. With the kids I taped off where I wanted them to stop. The head and then the beak were painted in steps.

Some kids did a female duck. We painted them light brown up to the bill and added some dark brown dashes when they were dry.

For the reeds I wanted to use some textured paper. Due to this being Grade One and us being on a tight schedule I prepped the paper for them.

I took sheets of posterboard and spread glue over top. While the glue was still wet I lay a piece of tissue paper on and smooched it in, creating lots of wrinkles. Trim away excess tissue from sides and set aside to dry.

When the paper was dry I painted stripes on it with acrylic paint.

Leave to dry.

I cut the paper into squares for the kids.

Cut some strips out of the paper that resemble reeds.

Using the duck I figure out how many I need.

Glue into place.

Glue the duck into place. I used hot glue, (adult operation only) It made it easier to glue any ducks that warped a bit.

Glue a black pony bead on for an eye.

You can use a fine sharpie to add the hole in the bill and the dividing line between the upper and lower sections.

Paint your 'D' with some acrylic paint.

Glue into place and add text.

Mod podge the whole canvas at this point.

When the podge dries you can add a few feathers as well as some felt cat tails.

We added the touch of blue and white feathers on the wings.

That's it. As soon as I have enough student ones to take photos of I will update this post.

See you soon.

Animal Pinch Pots

2013-02-25T00:17:00.000-07:00

I start a new residency tomorrow but I thought I would show you one of my last clay projects, animal pinch pots with Grade 3.

Sorry for some of the photo quality but the school lighting is always a challenge.

Each child chose their favourite animal. Some had their pots up on legs, some had the pot on it's side having a large mouth. It was great to see all the different versions.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- clay, air dry if you do not have access to a kiln
- nail (for cutting), wooden skewer(for scratching and details), small cup of water
- cloth placemat or paper towel
- coloured glaze if using a kiln, acrylic paint if using air dry
- reference photos of animals if needed

PROCEDURE:

Take a lump of clay about the size of an orange. You will be working on your cloth placemat or paper towel.

Using your thumbs push into the centre of the lump. Start to form a pot.

Push down on the bottom to help spread the pot out. Continue to form a nice shape. You don't want it to be thicker than an inch on the sides or bottom.

You also don't want it to be too thin.

Dip your finger into the water and rub along the rim on your pot. Make a nice edge.

Smooth the sides as well.

For this pot I'm adding a head to the front.

I take some more clay and form a nice head shape. I keep it flat like a cookie so that my pot does not get too thick and then won't dry out.

To 'glue' clay to clay I make little scratches on the 2 surfaces.

Dip your finger in water and add some to the scratches.

Attach head. Using the wooden skewer and add detail to the face.

Add some newspaper to the pot to help it keep it's shape when drying.

Add arms and legs. Remember to 'scratch, scratch, water, water'.

In my pot I made my arms and legs flat and attached up against the pot. If you are adding legs to hold up the pot make sure they are short and stubby. No giraffes here.

To make a long tail you can roll a snake.

I then added it flat to the pot.

A short stubby tail could stick out but no long tails as they would just break off, better to attach to the side of the pot.

When you have finished sculpting, set pot aside to dry. Drape with garbage bags or plastic tablecloths for 2 days to equalize. Uncover and then let clay fully dry out, about 11-12 days.

Here is some of the clay at my last residency drying out. When the clay has dried do a bisque fire.

When the clay has been fired and cooled you can glaze. Finish with a glaze fire.

With air dry you'll skip the firing and paint with acrylic paint when the clay is dry.

That's it.

I have lots of new projects coming up that I'm doing at my next school so I hope to post them all shortly.

Taj Mahal Canvas

2013-02-10T22:15:00.000-07:00

Last year I came up with this canvas project for Grade 3 to tie in with their social studies curriculum.

I describe it to the students like a postcard scene.

To give Grade 3 a choice this year I introduced this Taj Mahal canvas for India which is another country covered in social studies.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- primed canvas, I buy the 10 multipack at Micheals which seems to go on sale at least once a month
- reference photo
- art boards, wax paper
- blue and white acrylic paint
- cereal/cracker box cardboard, chipboard
- drywall medium
- white paper
- tempera disk paint
- elephant photo
- snippet of text, "Taj Mahal", "India"
- tacky glue
- fine sharpies
- grey and yellow pencil crayon
- Mod podge

PROCEDURE:

Take your cardboard, measure to fit the width of your canvas.

Sketch on the Taj Mahal in pencil, using a photo for reference.

Cut out cardboard.

Take some drywall medium, I buy mine from the hardware store in a big gallon size for around $20.00. Scoop out a little onto a recycled foam plate. Using your finger add some to the dome and towers. You are building up texture to make the building appear more 3D.

Set aside to dry.

Paint your primed canvas a nice sky blue with acrylic paint.

Be sure to do the sides as well as we won't be framing this canvas. Set aside to dry.

At school we work on top of art boards and wax paper.

Every student wears an art shirt to protect their clothes from the acrylic paint.

After the drywall has dried, about 6 hrs., paint the rest of the cardboard with white acrylic paint or gesso. You want to cover up the cardboard brown.

Let dry.

Take some white paper or card stock, cut to the width of the canvas.

Sketch in the promenade of the Taj Majal.

Cut to fit at bottom of both your canvas and cardboard Taj Mahal.

Paint with disk tempera.

Print or hand write a title for your canvas. At school I had pre printed titles in a variety of fonts for the kids to choose from.

Trim and then paint with the disk tempera.

When the paint has dried on your cardboard Taj Mahal you can add details with a fine sharpie, shading with a grey pencil crayon and highlights with a yellow pencil crayon.

Apply tacky glue to the back of cardboard and put in place on the canvas.

Glue on the painted paper and the title.

Now I know there are probably not too many elephants strolling around the grounds of the Taj Mahal but we put one in anyway to give it the same appeal as the Peru canvas.

Cut around your photo and then glue into place.

You can now add a coat of Mod Podge but apply generously and don't do any extra brush strokes. The disk tempura will start to smear if you do.

That's it.

Clay Butterflies

2013-02-06T16:33:00.000-07:00

Here is another clay project that I recently completed with Kindergarten, (I just finished a residency where I did clay with the entire school so there a few clay posts coming up).

I know it's a bit early for butterflies but it seems to be a standard Spring theme for Kinders and Grade 1.

Here are some classroom results.

They don't have their antennae yet.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- clay, if you don't have access to a kiln you can use air dry
- fabric placemat
- nail
- butterfly template if needed
- small cup of water
- texture tools, I use rubber stamps, buttons glued to corks, plastic forks, shells, etc.
- wooden skewer
- chinet bowl
- glaze in bright colors if you have a kiln, acrylic paint if using air dry clay
- pipe cleaner
- 2 small pony beads

PROCEDURE:

If you want to use a template, trace out a nice butterfly shape onto manila tag.

Cut out.

I used templates with the Kinders. My template was about 16cm across or about 7 inches.

Cut a piece of clay off your block. Roll out your slab to about 1/2 an inch thick or so. You want to work on top of your fabric placemat.

Lay your template on top. It will stick into place on the wet clay long enough for the kids to trace around.

Using the nail cut the butterfly out of the slab.

When I first made this butterfly I scratched in the body of the butterfly with the wooden skewer.

I added 2 small eyes. Attach by making small scratches and then adding a little water with your finger.

When I did these with kindergarten I had them roll a snake and then add it to the butterfly shape for the body. This turned out really well.

Some chose to just poke 2 eyes with the skewer.

Add some texture and designs to the wings.

Make 1 hole at the top of the head. I know this photo shows 2 but you only need 1. Make sure it goes all the way thru.

When you are finished with your design place the butterfly into the chinet bowl for drying.

Make sure to put the child's name on the back.

Place in a warm spot to dry. Drape with plastic for 2 days to equalize, uncover and then leave for 10 days.

When the clay is ready do your bisque fire.

Glaze with bright colours.

If using air dry clay, when your clay is dry paint with acrylic craft paint in bright colours. You can then add a coat of Mod podge or duraclear sealer to get that shiny finish.

Fire again in the kiln.

Thread a pipe cleaner thru the hole. Twist together.

Add 2 pony beads on the ends.

That's it.

I'll see you next time.

Clay Penguins

2013-01-31T17:09:00.000-07:00

It's a big year for penguins around here. The Calgary Zoo opened their penguin exhibit and I have had lots of requests for penguin projects.

Here are Grade 1's clay penguins.

Isn't this one adorable with the little penguin sliding away on it's belly!

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- clay, if you don't have access to a kiln try air dry clay
- black, white, and orange glaze, if using air dry clay use acrylic paint
- cloth placemat
- penny nail
- a wooden skewer
- small cup of water

PROCEDURE:

Put your cloth placemat on your workspace. The cloth stops the clay from sticking.

Gather your supplies:
- rolling pin
- nail
- wooden skewer
- little cup of water

Roll out a slab with your rolling pin. Cut a piece off your clay block and then roll to about 3/4's of an inch thick.

With the nail cut a nice oval shape for your base.

For Grade 1, I pre roll the slabs, I can often get 2 ovals from a slice off the block.

Dip your finger into the water and smooth any rough edges around your cut edge.

Now we will start making the penguin body. Take a lump of clay and roll into a fat sausage shape.

I want a flat bottom to attach to the base so I lightly pound it on the table to make it flat.

With the wooden skewer make little scratches on the bottom of your penguin and on the base where you want it to go.

Dip your finger in the water and rub a little on the scratches. At school the kids all know my "scratch, scratch, water, water" chant.

Attach the body to the base. I tell the kids that the scratches have to kiss, that usually gets a lot of giggles but they remember it.

Take some more clay and roll a head between your hands.

You want a good place for your head to sit so take your finger and make a depression at the top of the body where your head will sit.

Now in my sample I scratched in a line to separate the belly but I found it easier to skip this step with Grade 1.

"Scratch, scratch, water, water" your head.

Take some more clay and roll it out. With the nail cut 2 wing shapes. It is like a leaf or eye shape.

Attach to the body.

Cut 2 triangles for feet and attach these in front of the body or up onto the body like the penguin is sitting in the snow.

With the skewer you can mark in the toes.

Make a little triangle and attach for the beak. Using the skewer mark in the eyes.

Now you can add some snowballs to the base.

Finally I want to make sure my penguin dries out fully so I take a pencil and poke a hole down thru the back.

Place the penguins aside to dry. Drape with a garbage bag or plastic tablecloth for 1-2 days to let it equalize. When leather hard then remove the drape and let it dry out completely.

I let them sit for 2 weeks to make sure. We are lucky in Calgary as the air is very dry.

Do your bisque fire.

Set up for glazing.

I put a wax coat on the bottom of the penguins to stop them from sticking to the kiln shelf.

Place the penguin on a paper towel, explain the rules of glazing, ( 3 coats, wash brushes thoroughly before changing colours, blot out excess water on paper towel, and must wash hands after glazing no exceptions)

Glazing is always an adventure especially with young kids. Despite our best efforts we still have a few orange bases but that is part of the charm.

Do your glaze fire.

That's it. Takes a while but it's a great project.

Great work Grade 1!

Papier Mache Hearts

2013-01-27T16:26:00.001-07:00

I made these papier mache hearts with Grade 3 last year and did not get a chance to post them.

They turned out surprisingly well.

MATERIALS NEEDED:
- white glue
- recycled container
- kleenex
- wax paper
- cereal or cracker box (chipboard cardboard)
- scissors
- red, pink, or purple card stock
- white tissue paper
- red, pink, or purple liquid tempera paint
- yarn for hanging
- large sewing needle (tapestry or larger)
- awl, or sharp pointy scissors and a knitting needle
- hand written or printed text

PROCEDURE:

Take your cereal box and cut out a heart shape.

Mix some white glue with water in a recycled container. I mix it at a 1 to 1 ratio. Tear some kleenex into strips or pieces.

Working on a piece of wax paper, dip kleenex into glue mixture. The kleenex will clump. Place these clumps onto your cardboard heart. Add some dry pieces once and awhile to soak up the excess glue mixture.

You are making the heart appear 3D.

Leave to dry for a day or two.

This is the 'cheap' method with supplies you have on hand.

Last year I used celluclay with the kids as I was testing the product.

You can buy this at your local craft store but the 'cheap' method is just as good.

The celluclay comes dry with the paste already mixed in. You place in your recycled container, add water, and mix. I find the celluclay very sticky!

You could also use paper clay or drywall medium to achieve the same result.

When the heart has dried cut a set of wings out of the remaining cereal or cracker box.

They kinda of look like a big moustache. You will have to measure with your prepared heart to get the sizing right.

In the classroom I set up a painting station with a few art boards. Use liquid tempera to paint the prepared heart.

Set aside to dry.

I gave each student a piece of coloured card stock. They had to trace around their wings and then cut the card stock slightly larger. This was glued to the coloured side of the cardboard.

They also received strips of white tissue paper to cut into squares. They then smooshed these into loose balls.

They applied tacky glue to the cardboard wing shape and started filling in the space with the tissue paper. I asked them to leave some space in the centre free of tissue paper.

When the hearts were dry we glued these into place.

When the glue had dried I took my awl and punched a hole at the top thru the heart and wings.

I threaded a large needle with yarn. This made threading the heart much easier. I passed the needle thru the hole I made and then tied off a loop for hanging.

We now added text. The kids typed in sayings onto the computer and then choose a nice font and printed them off. You could also just use your nicest handwriting. Some common sayings were "You make my heart soar!" and "You give my heart wings."

Glue these into place on the heart and you have a great Valentine gift.

I know lots of Moms last year who were quite taken with their special valentine.

"Out to Lunch" Books

2013-01-20T22:07:00.001-07:00

I was kicking around some unique book ideas this fall and here are a few I came up with.

Now I know it's not the healthiest example but what kid doesn't like french fries once and a while!

When you pull the fries out you have the pages of your book connected by a chain.

This is a sandwich book, which could easily be a hamburger, taco, or even a wrap (that could be a scroll book).

Let's start with the french fry book.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- corrugated cardboard
- yellow and red liquid tempera or acrylic
- disk tempera paint
- container template
- cardstock or manila tag
- yellow and white paper
- printed text from the computer or hand written
- glue
- ball and chain connector (you can find these at the Hardware store)

PROCEDURE:

Using the template trace the container shape onto a piece of manila tag or cardstock.

Cut out.

Using disk tempera paint some yellow stripes on the inside of the container shape.

Paint the other side red.

Set aside to dry

Take your corrugated cardboard and cut into long rectangles. Make them all slightly different lengths.

Paint both sides with the yellow liquid tempera or acrylic.

Set aside to dry.

Type out your story/poem on the computer or hand letter.

Paint with yellow disk tempera.

Cut your sentences out and glue onto the fries.

Poke a hole in the bottom of each fry with an awl. Thread a chain thru the fries in the order of the story or poem.

I collect these ball and chains. It seems every new pair of pants, shirt, etc seems to have one of these to attach the brand tag. It is very easy to recycle these.

Attach a label to the front of your container. This is your title.

Crease the fold lines with a bone folder or ruler.

Put some glue on the side seams. Fold the container together.

Your container should look like this.

Place your fries chain side first into the container.

The sandwich book is made up of pages that represent the layers.

You need a piece of paper for each layer.

Cut a double page for the layer. You can see my lettuce page here. It is one large page folded.

Your double page doesn't necessarily have to have the same shape on both sides. I could have cut a lettuce slice on one side and then a cheese slice on the other. Just maintain that fold so you can staple it all together.

Put all the layers together and then staple, glue, or even sew along the middle fold.

Here is another of these layered books I have made with Grade 3 that shows the layers of the earth.

and last year I showed you this heart book that is a similar layered book.

Hope you enjoy the book projects and I'll see you next time.

How to make a Snowman Banner

2013-01-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

This is a cute project I'm doing with Kindergarten right now.

Snowman Banners.

Here in Calgary we just received a good dump of snow and now it's warming up (above 0 degrees celsius).....perfect snowman weather!

We wanted a cute and easy project that incorporated textiles.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- fabric or burlap
- sewing machine or glue gun (adult use only)
- white felt/material
- masking tape
- sponges or foam
- white acrylic paint
- wax paper
- tacky glue
- black felt
- red felt or fleece
- 2 black buttons
- 3 assorted buttons
- small scrap of orange material
- black dimensional fabric paint
- brown yarn
- fabric snowflakes
- dowel, stick, bamboo garden stake
- yarn

PROCEDURE:

Take an art board or piece of cardboard and tape on some wax paper.

The paint will seep thru the fabric.

Take the fabric or burlap and cut a rectangle. Sew a channel at the top. If you don't sew you can use a glue gun.

Tape the banner to the wax paper. This will stop it from moving around.

Take the white fabric or felt and cut some snow for the bottom.

With Kindergarten I had this pre-cut for them.

Glue on to the bottom of the banner with the tacky glue.

Take your sponges or foam and cut a large circle, a medium circle, and a small circle.

Put some white acrylic paint on a plate. Place the large sponge into the paint, swirl it a bit getting it loaded with enough paint.

Place in the centre of the banner touching the white fabric at the bottom. Press down. Continue with the medium sponge and the finish with the small one.

Cut a hat out of the black felt. You could also make a toque with some brightly coloured felt or fleece and add a pom pom.

Glue into place.

Add a scarf out of felt or fabric. 2 black button eyes and 3 assorted buttons.

With some dimensional fabric paint add a smile.

Cut a little triangle out of orange fabric or felt and glue into place.

Cut some lengths of brown yarn and glue on for arms.

I found some nice fabric snowflakes at the dollar store so we added them to our background.

Add a dowel, I use natural bamboo stakes from the garden centre, trimmed down to size.

Add some yarn and your banner is ready to hang.

The grade 1 just finished this paper snowman so I thought I would show you.

Very easy to do if you are looking for a quick snowman project.

So if you are knee deep in snow like we are why not give these projects a try.

See you soon.

How to make an Art Calendar

2013-01-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have lots of art calendars. I get one every year to keep the inspiration going. (This year it's the Metropolitan)

It occurred to me that it would be great to make your own so I created one that showcases some of my favourite projects.

It's a desktop one that stands up on it's own and once you know how to make one you can easily adapt this project for a keepsake book or journal (i.e Mother's Day).

I added a small calendar to each page for this year.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- 2 pieces of corrugated cardboard, the size you want for the calendar
- paint
- coloured cardstock
- binder rings, chain, wire, or even ribbon/string
- artwork for the different months, same size as the cardboard
- glue
- hole punch
- piece of wide ribbon
- printable calendar

PROCEDURE:

I'm going to walk you thru how to make the covers and how to get it to stand up first. You then can add the pages/months.
Cut 2 pieces of corrugated cardboard the size you want for your calendar or book. These will be the front and back cover of your calendar.

I like to prime them with white paint or gesso.

Prime both sides. Set aside to dry.

Now you have different options for binding your calendar.

Binder rings are nice but can be a bit pricey especially if you are doing a whole class. Another great option are shower curtain rings. I can get a set of 12 for $1.00 at the Dollar Store.

You can also just use wire, ribbon or string.

I'm going to use binder rings for this calendar.

I mark with a pencil where I want the holes to go on one of the primed pieces of cardboard.

Punch with a single hole puncher.

Place this piece of cardboard on top of the second piece and mark with pencil where the holes are. Punch them on the second piece.

You can now attach the rings.

To make the stand I cut a piece of wide ribbon slightly longer than the width of the calendar when it is standing.

On the back of the front cover glue the end of the ribbon to the middle of the bottom.

You can use tacky glue or hot glue.

Glue the other end to the bottom of the other piece of cardboard.

Now have a calendar/book that will stand up.

If you want you can get fancy and do 2 pieces of ribbon on either end as an alternate way.

You can now add your pages as well as artwork for the front and back cover. Punch holes in each new page.

Each piece of artwork is mounted on a piece of coloured card stock that is the same size as my cardboard covers.

You can add the names of the months with stamps, hand lettered, stencilled, or using computer text. I used my cricut.

I found a printable calendar online. I cut each month out and added them to my artwork pages.

That's it.

I hope everyone had a great holiday break. I know I did. I start a new residency today and I'm looking forward to working with my new crop of students!

It's going to be a week of clay projects, some old , some new. You'll get to see the finished results in a few weeks.

Christmas Projects

2012-12-20T20:52:00.000-07:00

Well tomorrow is the last day of school and as of yesterday we had all the Christmas Projects completed. Yeah!!!

A big thanks to my helpers, Ana, Colette, and Lori !

Here are some of the Angel plates Grade 1 completed.

I did not get a chance to snag a photo of Kindergarten's Nativity plates but here is the original post.

Here are Grade 6's Poinsettias. We have changed the design from my original post. We use a chinet bowl as a base to hold the clay into position while drying.

Grade 4 made these adorable wood Snowmen.

Grade 2 did the Snowman Family Portraits on canvas but I can't show you them because of all the last names. They were terrific though.

Grade 3 made the Christmas Houses. Here are a few I managed to photograph.

Grade 5 did the "We Three Kings" banners.

Great job everyone.

I still planning to post more last minute crafts if I get all my wrapping done.
See you soon.

Felt Joy Banner

2012-12-16T22:03:00.001-07:00

We had our 6th annual Christmas Craft Day at school on Friday, 150 kids, 12 crafts, one morning! A big thanks to all the volunteers who helped with prep and running the craft stations on the day.

That was why the blog was quiet last week. I was knee deep in all the preparations!

I have had a few inquiries as to how this all comes about. Basically Grade 1,2 and 3 rotate thru 12 craft stations in one morning. They can make all 12 or spend more time perfecting only a few.

Now that it is over I thought I would show you all the crafts from this year over the next few days. First up is the Felt Joy Banner.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- red, green , and white felt

- tacky glue

- glue gun or sewing machine

- scissors

- embellishments

- small bell

- dowel

- pruning shears

- craft wire

PROCEDURE:

Cut a rectangle of felt in either red or green. The dimensions we used was 10" x 5".

You need to make a pocket to hold the dowel. Now you can sew it or glue it. With 150 of these to be prepped we hot glued them all.

Fold over an inch and secure in place.

Now I have the pocket for my dowel. I used natural bamboo garden stakes that were cut into 6 inch long lengths. Cut with pruning shears.

Out of white felt cut a letter "J" and a "Y". Make an "O" out of red or green. I used a letter stencil to make a template or pattern. I cut the template out of recycled cardboard (a cereal box).

Lay your template backwards on your felt and trace around with a fine black sharpie. Cut with small sharp scissors. Ones with a pointy tip work the best. When clipping out the letter try to clip away the sharpie line. Because we traced it backwards any remaining sharpie will be on the
back side. Use tacky glue and glue into place on your banner.

Add some embellishments. I scouted thru the Dollar store and found these shiny fabric Holly leaves.

We clipped them apart and added them to our "O".

I also found these glitter balls which worked great as Holly berries. You could also cut the leaves out of felt and use red buttons for the berries.

I bought bells at the Dollar store as well. Make a little hole in the felt at the bottom of your banner.

Push the loop of the string thru the hole, pass the bell thru the loop and your bell is now securely fastened.

Take a 12 inch piece of craft wire. Twist onto one end of the dowel and then on the other. This is the hanger.

That's it.

3 years ago we made this JOY sign but I didn't have enough cardboard this year for 150 signs so we went with felt instead.

You can find the tutorial for this sign HERE. I tend to only repeat crafts every 3 years so the individual student doesn't get any repeats during their 3 years participating.

Some other crafts we revisited this year was the Little Snowman.

We also did these paper trees.

I'll be back next time with more Christmas Craft Day activities.

"We Three Kings" Banner

2012-12-08T15:22:00.000-07:00

This is Grade 5's Christmas project. A now retired teacher at my school, Mrs. D, would do this every year with her class.

We have brought it back and will continue the tradition. Incidentally Mrs. D is where I got my trade name from. When I first started working at the school she couldn't remember my name so I was always "that artist woman"!

This one is for you Mrs. D.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- burlap
- coloured felt
- bamboo stakes
- glue gun or a sewing machine
- scissors
- tacky glue
- wax paper
- ribbon, rick rack
- googly eyes
- little gems, sequins, any other embellishments you have on hand
- glitter glue

PROCEDURE:

Cut out a nice rectangle from the burlap. For the Grade 5's I have assorted colours.

Fray the edges. Burlap has an uneven weave, that is part of it's rustic charm. But that means it's difficult to get a nice fringe just by pulling threads. One end will always be longer, you can fix this by just giving them a trim with your scissors so the fringe is even.

You now need to make a pocket at the top to hold the stick/dowel we will use for hanging.

If you have access to a sewing machine you can whip that off straight away.

If not just run a little tacky glue or hot glue from the glue gun to secure in place.

Taking 3 different colours of felt cut 3 long triangles of 3 different heights.

Take a round object, trace around it with a sharpie on 3 different flesh toned pieces of felt.

If you don't have 3 different colours it's no big deal it will still look fantastic.

Cut out clipping away that sharpie line.

Before we start gluing the banner you need 2 important things.

Tacky glue works so well on this project. I find regular white glue just gets sucked up by the felt and then doesn't stick.

The second important thing is a piece of wax paper to go under your burlap banner. The loose weave of the burlap causes the glue to seep thru.

Lay out your triangles and heads on the banner. You could go tallest to smallest but I like to mix it up a bit so I put the smallest in the center.

Glue into place.

Cut a nice large star out of felt. You can also cut out a crown or two.

Add some trim to the front of the triangles. You can use ribbon or rick rack.

You can add some hair with yarn.

A snowflake cut in half makes a good crown.

You can add curly hair and a beard.

Glue on some eyes. I just happened to have 3 sizes.

Add little pompoms for a nose, you could also use a small piece of felt , a button, or bead.

Add some felt strips for arms.

Using little trims or buttons add the gifts for each King.

Continue embellishing with sequins, gems, whatever you have on hand.

Add some glitter glue to the large felt star, use it to make other small stars in the sky.

Finally add a bamboo stick or dowel for hanging with some string or ribbon attached.

I buy these natural bamboo garden stakes and then just cut them down to size. They only cost about $2.00 a pkg.

That's it.

Make it as elaborate as you want.

I can't wait to see how Grade 5 does with these next week. I'll try to post a photo.

See you next week.

Giveaway Winners

2012-12-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

Never fails at this time of year.....I was hoping to give you the tutorial on the Grade 5 Christmas project but I have lost my light and can't take that cover shot.....that 1st photo I put at the beginning of the post to entice you.

The sun goes down at about 4:30pm this time of year (that's Canada for you) and I need that natural light.

So it will have to wait till tomorrow but here is just a little peek at part of it in process.

But we can still do the draw. This week we have 2 copies of the new book "The Complete Photo Guide to Beading" by Robin Atkins to giveaway.

I had a total of 87 entries and by random draw the winners are:

Here are your random numbers:

68
20

Timestamp: 2012-12-08 00:19:31 UTC

Which works out to be Susanne Terrick who sent me an email and Christine Symmes who commented on my Facebook page.

Congratulations ladies!

Thanks everyone for entering and check in tomorrow for the new tutorial. Thanks again to Creative Publishing International and Quarry Books for sponsoring this giveaway.

The Complete Photo Guide to Beading Giveaway

2012-12-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

This week's giveaway is the new book from Robin Atkins "The Complete Photo Guide to Beading". You can check out Robin's blog here.

This book shows you all the techniques with step by step pictures of not only jewelery making but weaving, stringing, and using beads in embroidery.

It is an 8 X 10 soft cover with 244 pages. Suggested retail is $24.99 US or $27.99 Can.

It showcases 28 projects as well as tips on choosing the best tools and materials for your future bead projects.

I particularly like the embroidery ideas. I would love to add beading to a painted canvas.

So I have 2 of these books to giveaway. If you are interested in winning a copy please enter in one of the following ways:

- leave a comment on this post
- like or leave a comment on my Facebook page regarding this post
- send me an email at thatartistwoman@shaw.ca

US or Canadian residents only. I will make the draw on Friday Dec 7th/12 so get your entries in by Thursday 11:59 pm.

Good luck everyone!

Thanks to my friends at Creative Publishing International for sponsoring this giveaway.

Folk Art Angels

2012-12-02T21:21:00.000-07:00

Folk Art Angels are irresistibly cute.

I was watching 'Tootsie' on TV last week and there was a Folk Art Angel in Jessica Lange's character's apartment. That's it, I thought, time to give them a try!

Now this version is made from cardboard.

This one is done on paper. Both use the same template and are easy to put together.

You can make them as elaborate as you want.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

- template (Folk Art Angels)
- corrugated cardboard or heavy paper, book pages
- scissors
- paint, acrylic or tempera
- fine sharpies, gold and silver sharpie (optional)
- tacky glue
- wire
- glitter glue
- black crayon for paper stars
- sequins, beads, stars or gems
- feathers or garland for hair
- popsicle sticks for hand and feet

PROCEDURE:

Cardboard Version:

Print off my template, (Folk Art Angels). Trace and cut out pieces from corrugated cardboard.

If you are using recycled cardboard with images on it you might want to prime your pieces first. I also prime any pieces I'm going to be using metallic paints on as they tend to be quite translucent.

Paint your pieces in their final colours.

Using fine sharpies, (they have them in gold and silver too!), glitter, and paint add some fine details.

I used an end of a paintbrush in paint to make all the dots.

Add sequins, gems, beads or whatever you have on hand to embellish your angel.

For the face I painted it flesh toned. I added two pink circles to the cheeks. With a fine sharpie I added the face.

I used feathers for the hair which were glued on with tacky glue.

For the hand and the 2 feet I painted the ends of popsicle sticks.

For the star halo I painted 2 cardboard stars yellow, added glitter and gems.

I took a piece of wire and glued it between the two like a sandwich.

I then slid the wire between the corrugations in the cardboard head.

Glue all the pieces together.

The last thing you need to do is glue a skewer to the back.

You now have a great decoration to stick into a potted poinsettia or Christmas arrangement.

Paper Version:

For the paper version you need to paint a background. Here I taped off a piece of wc paper onto an art board. I then painted on purple, blue and a little black using disk tempera.

Set aside to dry.

Cut your template (Folk Art Angel) pieces out of heavy paper. I used an old brown paper bag.

I used book pages for the stars.

I painted all my pieces and set them aside to dry.

Then I started decorating. I used reinforcements, sharpies, and sequins in my design.

For the stars I used a technique I have described before. I outline the edges with a little black crayon and then add some glitter.

When the background is dry glue your pieces into place. For this version I cut the hand and feet out of the same brown paper.

For the hair I added a little silver garland.

Lastly I drew in a wand with silver sharpie and added a silver star.

That's it!

These angels are just too cute! I plan on making up a mini version as a tree ornament for the kids to make at our Annual Christmas Craft Day. It is fast approaching and I'm knee deep in the preparations. (150 kids, 12 crafts, one terrific morning of craftiness!)

Be sure to check out this week's giveaway on Wednesday's post and I'll see you then.

Easy Wreath Ideas

2012-11-30T17:26:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of simple wreath ideas that can add just the right touch to your holiday decorating this year.

Your kids can whip them up in no time with supplies you already have on hand.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- cardboard
- 2 round containers for tracing, one small, one larger
- pencil, scissors
- fleecy "fake" snow from the dollar store, you want the fabric not the loose stuff. You could also use white felt.
- tacky glue
- heavy posterboard or bristol
- template if needed
- watercolor pan paints, tempera, or even colored pencils
- a little glitter glue
- a few sequins, beads, gems or other embellishments
- ribbon or string for hanging

PROCEDURE:

Trace out a wreath shape using 2 round objects.

Cut out.

Take your fleece or 'snow' fabric and cut into strips.

Put some tacky glue on your cardboard wreath.

Put the end of one strip in the glue and start wrapping around the cardboard.

Continue wrapping and gluing as you go.

I find the Dollar Store "snow" fabric sticks quite easily. With felt you may need to clip on a few clothespins to keep the strips in place until the glue sets up.

While the wreath is drying sketch or trace out your shapes on heavy posterboard or bristol.

If you want to use my shapes check out my template HERE.

Paint on a little colour. Use some fine sharpie for outlining and details.

Add some glitter.

Cut out.

A nice way to add definition to your shapes is to add some black on the edges. I use a black crayon. Place your shape on top of a piece of paper and then rub a little crayon right on the edge of your shape.

You can see by the 2 stars what a difference it makes.

For the butterfly I added some antennae, which are little wires you use when making flowers. You can just use some fine wire.

I also added some gems to the stars.

Glue your shapes onto your wreath. The fuzzy fabric makes gluing things on a snap!

Add a ribbon or string for hanging.

For my bluejay wreath I added some fir garland.

I also added some sequins and beads for a little extra.

That's it.

More holiday ideas to come.

CD Book and Giveaway Results

2012-11-25T22:57:00.000-07:00

Well it's been one of those weeks....crazy busy and I totally missed the Friday post with the Giveaway winner. My apologies, the winner will be announced at the end of this post.

This is a cute little book that fits in a CD cover.

When you open it up the CD case keeps it standing upright for display.

You can click on the photo to see larger.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- CD case
- regular copier paper, 11x17 works well if you have it
- ruler
- scissors
- glue stick
- assorted scrap papers
- embellishments
- tacky glue
- liquid and disk tempera

PROCEDURE:

You have to make some careful measurements when making this book. You want the book to fit perfectly in the case so you can close it.

Measure the dimensions of the case excluding the spine and take a 1/8 to a 1/4 of an inch off those dimensions.

Here I took a sheet of 11x17 paper and cut 2 strips that are 12x36 cm or 4 3/4"x 13 3/4". This makes a 5 page book not counting the front cover.

Fold each strip into 3.

Using a glue stick glue the last page of one strip to the first page of the other strip.

You want them to completely cover one another.

Your book should fit perfectly in your CD case. In order for it to close the paper must be under those little plastic flaps at the top and bottom of the case.

I prefer not to secure the front page to the case, like by taping or gluing, as this can make it harder to close. When you open the book you just slide that front page back in place if needed.

For the front cover of this "SNOW" book I painted the paper blue, added some snow drifts with some paper that had white streamer glued to it as well as some newspaper that was painted white and then coated with glitter glue.

The letters were cut from white paper and outlined on the edges with silver sharpie.

I punched some holes out of white paper and glued those on for the snow.

When the cover is dry paint the backgrounds for the pages on the other side. I did a light blue with dots made in white paint and the end of a paintbrush.

Darker blue with white circles from a toilet roll stamped in white paint.
Grey with painted on glitter.
Purple with white paint dropped in with an eye dropper and then blown with a straw for some snow covered trees. Finally I used a white crayon to make some snow drifts, made dots in the sky with it as well and then painted in a sunset. The crayon resisted the paint to make it look like it was snowing.

I glued on some snowflakes for the first page. A little snowman made from painted paper scraps for the third, and then added text printed out from the computer and the cut and glued into place.

Embellish if you wish just choose fairly flat items so you can still close that case.

Now the giveaway winner for "Drawing Comics Lab" by Robyn Chapman. A new release from Quarry Books.

I had 82 total entries and the winner by random draw is:

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2012-11-26 05:42:26 UTC

which is Lisa Wood who sent me this email:

"I would love a chance to win the Comics Lab book. Thanks for this new idea. I'm sure the students in my class would love it."

Congratulations Lisa and thanks everyone for entering. Sorry again for the delay.

Comics Lab Giveaway and Coffee Filter Books

2012-11-19T17:22:00.000-07:00

This is a neat pocket book idea using coffee filters.

With the holidays coming up this would make a great keepsake that students could make for their parents.

The pockets are quite large and can hold lots of tags, bookmarks, and additional papers.

This would be a great format for research projects or subject reports, similar to the file folder books.

Before I give you the full tutorial on how to make the coffee filter book I want to introduce you to this week's giveaway.

"Drawing Comics Lab" by Robyn Chapman is the latest book in the lab series.
Just like the previous lab books this one is full of practical information on how to draw comics.

It has 52 activity labs to walk you through the essentials like:
- how to draw basic figures
- how to build characters
- page building
- storytelling
- what materials and techniques to try
- and publishing

I have not been disappointed with any of the lab books. Each lab activity is well thought out, with "how to" pictures and instructions. This one also has a "Tips of the Trade" feature for every activity, giving you advice from other artists and ways to expand the activity.

Stay tuned to the end of the post for giveaway details.

Now back to the Coffee Filter Books.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- cone coffee filters, each one gives you 2 pages and a pocket
- cereal or cracker box, (chipboard)
- standard one hole punch
- any of the following for binding: o rings, jump rings, wire, binder clips, ribbon, string
- paper, cardstock
- glue
- scissors

PROCEDURE:

Choose how many filters you want to use. A good sized book will have 3 to 4.

It's a good idea to make a template to help cut your pages. I know, I know it says coffee fitter but you know what I meant! :)

Place a filter on the cardboard, trace around and cut out. Now you have a template to use over and over again.

You need to cut 2 pages for each filter. Using painted paper, cardstock, scrapbooking paper, or just plain old paper, trace out 2 pages.

Now your filter is not perfectly symmetrical. There is a rounded end and a pointy end. I like to have the pointy ends at the top of the book. Just keep that in mind when you are cutting your pages, you might need to turn the template over for some pages.

Attach a page to the front of each filter and one on the back.

You can use a gluestick or regular glue.

You should have a pocket and a front and back page.

Do this for all the filters.

I like a heavier weight cover for my book so using my template I cut 2 covers out of cereal box (chipboard).

I painted them black and then added some paper that was cut using the template and then trimmed a 1/4" all the way around. My covers do not have a filter so there is no pocket.

Now you need to punch holes in your pages and covers for the binding.

I start with the front cover. Punch your holes.
place one of the inner pages under the cover, mark where the holes are with a pencil and then punch them out on the page.

Repeat with all pages and the back cover.

When I bind a book I do one hole at a time. Feed the pages onto 1 ring, ribbon, binder clip, or whatever you are using. Tie or clip and then do the other hole.

That's it.

For the pockets you can stuff in bookmarks, tags, etc.

You can also make extra pull out pages to stuff in. Use your template and then cut the page slightly smaller.

You can add string or ribbon to help pull out the pages.

I try to vary the location of the pull.

I like using homemade painted papers when constructing my pages.

An interesting paper you can make is stenciling designs on wax paper.

Use acrylic paint as it sticks well to the slippery surface. You then have a great patterned translucent paper.

I used it here in the SNOW scene.
I always attach translucent/transparent papers with Mod Podge. It dries clear, no cloudiness to be seen thru the paper.

Another interesting variation is shown here.

I use a star shape sticking out from the page as the pull tab.

I punched 2 star shapes from glitter paper.

Then glue 1 star off the edge of the pull out page, add glue to the other star and glue it on the other side of the page, lining the stars up.

That eggshell tree was made using this method from a previous post. It was an idea sent in by Stephanie Brown and her daughter from NC.

They took the eggshell mosaic idea and used it to make Christmas cards. I think they turned out incredible!

I hope you give one of these coffee filter books a try.

If you are interested in winning your own copy of "Drawing Comics Lab" by Robyn Chapman please enter in one of the following ways:

- leave a comment on this post
- email me at thatartistwoman@shaw.ca
- like or comment on this post on my Facebook page

I will be making the draw Friday Nov 23rd so have your entries in by Thursday at 11:59pm.

Canadian or US residents only please.

Thanks to my friends at Quarry Books for sponsoring this giveaway.

See you soon.