Pigs and Teaching

Once upon a time I taught at a magical place and learned from so many creative people. Like many things I fell into the opportunity and it was exactly what I needed. One day I was encouraged to make clay piggy banks by putting two pinch pots together ...

The kids and I spent weeks making every possible animal and I even sold the banks at craft fairs for a few years. I had a website, a coloring book and they were fun.  Unfortunately some of the cool animals: moose, elephants, cats all had easily breakable features which resulted in a lot of unusable art (and ultimately sad customers) but the bright side is I created some wide-eyed monsters. The first variations were underglazed, then glazed, then acrylic painted, collaged, and most recently watercolors (the photos are all of the watercolor version).

Yesterday my daughter came home from school and told me I was going to teach art again to her and her friends. They all wanted to be artists and wanted to hire me. It was very sweet and passionate. So, I'm in the process of scheduling some workshops for any age kid to come (at a yet to be determined location) and create. Nothing like some motivation from your kids to reinvigorate my act.

Hair Sticks

On my honeymoon, the only trinket I bought was a carved hair stick. It has served me well for the past 7 years, until recently when it broke. After trying to clean up my work space I found a few old broken knitting needles and transformed them into hair sticks or hair pins. The larger wooden one I put in the pencil sharpener to bring back the point and then sanded it all over.

Deciding how to decorate it with out loosing the natural wood feel, was tricky. I dipped the end in  old enamel paint to add a bit of gloss and when dry added two highlights of gold. Subtle, but me.

 There are a few more in the works with beads, colorful paint and maybe even some wire. If my oldest hadn't used up my kitchen stash of chopsticks for a puppet making project, I would still be making hair sticks.

Skirts from a dust ruffle

It sounds a bit odd, but it was the perfect way to use a unused dust ruffle.  I was given a duvet cover and sheet set and with it came a dust ruffle. The girls sleep in bunk beds and I didn't know what to use it for. After channeling my inner Maria from the "Sound of Music" I decided to make some clothes.

Dust ruffle before I cut it!

The edge is already hemmed and the fabric gathered. I needed a side seam and a waist band! Some quick measuring and a fast satisfying project finished.

For my older daughter, who is taller I had to do a slightly different waist band to add more length.

I'm working on a skirt for myself with a zipper and possibly an apron as a gift. I'm going to keep my eye out for dust ruffles from now on.

My first pattern!

I did it. I wrote my pattern for the boobie beanie hat! 

After my post a few months ago, I've made 10 or so more hats and have tweaked and perfected my original hat concept. I have sold a few hats through my etsy shop, but can't knit fast enough to make it worth my time. And being the idea person I am, I want to make new stuff! (sewing, lots of sewing is coming my way - I can feel it)

It was a great exercise to write out my pattern that has been in my head and to test it out a few times. I polished up the layout, added a few cute pictures and voila! I have a pdf pattern available for sale.

Since this blog is very low traffic, and I haven't done much to publicize it - I will give away a copy of my pattern to my um, loyal readers. Comment, send the link around to your friends and I will close the comments on Saturday morning - random drawing and maybe you'll get lucky!

The give away is over - lucky Sarah, my only commenter got a copy!

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.