Face Paints

 

For my daughter's birthday last year, I hired an artist to paint the children's faces. She did a wonderful job of transforming the girls into fairies and butterflies. Thankfully she shared with me the name of the paints (Snazaroo) and I had to buy a set.

The paints are easy to work with and if you use real paint brushes, or even make up brushes the effects are remarkable.

Dragon wings.

A very quick butterfly.

The kids try to wait patiently, some do better than others.

A friend's belly - just in time for Easter

Mimi's Giraffe

Mimi's Pet Giraffe
Wool, Cotton, Buttons, Felt

Collage Journals

Collage is a great activity for everyone. Children enjoy ripping paper and using their glue sticks. Adults seem to let go of the pressure to make something perfect and enjoy the meditative aspect of looking for colors and building a visually beautiful piece.

I can't remember where my idea came from exactly, but I know that Soule Mama has a version in one of her books. I had a friend who turned kids art into quick journals during camp, so they could work when they weren't in class.

For the past three years, I've provided a journal for our annual vacation. We camp with an extended group of people and having a camp journal allows for people to jot down their experiences, draw a picture or make of note of what needs to be remembered for next year. This year I asked the kids for help. To help add weight to the cover we started with a manilla envelope. One daughter did the front and the other worked on the back. (Although to be fair they are both the front and there is a divider in the middle)

I drew the approximate size I wanted the book to be and then the kids had a large canvas to work on. Once they were finished with their part, I cover the entire collage with either a matte gloss medium or modge podge. (Modge Podge tends to be sticky in the humidity, but sometimes I can only find one or the other glue) I cut it down to size with my paper cutter and then estimate the amount of paper I want in the middle. I cut the inside paper from my stash of found paper - it should be just a little narrower than the cover.

What makes me love this project so much is the binding. I called my local print shops to see what type of binding they offer. Most offer the simple plastic kind - not sure of the name - but it always pops off in my opinion. I found a local company that will bind it for me usually with in a day, I skip the optional plastic cover and voila! They have a great feel to them, even if they cost as much as buying a journal from a big store.

Onesies

For my baby shower six years ago, I had my friend Jill run a workshop for me and my party guests painted onesies for my soon to be baby. Since then, I've been using the idea for other friends and family. The project can become clothes, banners, quilt squares, place mats and almost anything fabric.

Instead of buying fabric paints or fabric markers from the craft store, I buy fabric silk screening inks. I've used different brands in the past, but since I was out and "needed" to stock up I did a little research and bought Permaset Aqua (solvent free & water based). I take a small amount of the concentrated  paint and put it in a mason jar, or this time around up-cycled fudge jars from my mother-in-law, add water to dilute and mix them up. I ordered a rainbow of colors so we would have wonderful choices.

Onesies from my baby shower 6 years ago

To set up the fabric, I cut cardboard squares and slip them inside the t-shirt or onesie and use masking tape to fold the edges over. It helps to give people a small canvas to work with and the cardboard absorbs the water from the paints preventing it from soaking the other side.

The process is simple once the paints and fabric is set up. Choose your canvas. Draw with sharpie. Paint! Iron to heat set (once the paints are dry). Wash.

A few weeks back, I hosted a laid back pre-baby gathering for a friend.  The kids drew out their ideas and I helped transfer them to the fabric. I copied their ideas exactly with the permanent marker and the creations are darling. To see more of them, Shel over at One Sweet World documented it well.

Baby quilt made for me by friends.

Nesting Bags, or all purpose kid storage

With young kids at home I often have problem finding storage for all of the little pieces, precious treasures and tiny characters/animals/rubber ducks. Or in reality, my darlings aren't quick to clean up the little worlds they create in every corner of my house. I had some duck cloth left over from two other projects and plenty of fun fabrics that when I bought them had a project that I have since forgotten about...

Soule Mama posted a link about fabric buckets and I did a few google searches for fabric buckets/boxes/baskets. I decided against round b/c I'm not the best circle sewer. I wanted to be able to make them in three sizes with out spending my afternoon doing math.




After a few searches I figured out my approach (similar to here) and made three patterns out of a paper bag. I started with the largest base and made the sides as high as I thought would hold plenty of "stuff" - then made the next pattern an inch or so smaller, and the final pattern even smaller.

I cut out from the canvas and fabric. Made some rectangles for the straps out of the canvas. I skipped the batting b/c I didn't have it on hand and the fabric seemed sturdy enough. Sewed up the sides, made the handles (ironed them and did a top stitch to close), basted the handles on one the canvas lining, put the bags together (right sides together), sewed, flipped and top stitched. Voila!

As an after thought, b/c I had some extra squares of fabric from the cutting process, I added a pocket on the inside for the medium and large baskets.

 The kids love them and use them for all sorts of things, usually not storage.

Few more hats...

Knitting: my excuse to skip the laundry and watch some tv, but yet feel like I'm doing something very productive. I highly recommend it.


Introducing the "cookies and milk" hat! A customer on etsy asked if I could make this baby hat for her new grand daughter. She like the idea of a cookie to go with the "milk." I used a smaller needle size than the boobie beanies and it had a satisfying smoothness as a result. 

The next special request was for a boobie beanie but with a tan skin color and dark chocolate nipple. Same 3-9 month size as my original ones but again, fun to play with the colors a bit. 

Rainy Day Collage

 
Seems like these days most of my art is either with my kids or about my kids. I know it won't always be this way, but I do dream about working on a project for more than a few minutes at a time!


We've had some rain and time when the youngest is sleeping. I pulled out two board frames that I rescued from our "swap shop" (a shed at the town transfer station where you leave/take items). They were dark brown "art" from Target, but they boards had mounts and were in good shape. I stashed them for some yet to be determined project.


Also in my stash was some collage paper. A pack of assorted papers that I used two Christmases ago to wallpaper my girls' doll houses.

I had the kids paint the boards with sponges and they picked yellow and orange acrylic paint. The back ground still feels a bit dark, but the color really helped. 

Then we (I mostly) cut all sorts of shapes and while the paint dried we built flowers on the floor. It was fun to make patterns and layer. Once we had our ideas in place we stuck them to the sticky drying paint. We did use a glue stick here and there and later that evening I did a light layer of modge podge.