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I’m really getting mad at that mama bird. After several days of a sad little boy with tears off and on, we were starting to recover from “Peep”. Then today when we went outside, there was a little egg splatted on the driveway from the same nest. Good grief, mama! I mean really, we can’t take too much more of this!
On to happier things . . . watercolors. Today’s lesson was the alphabet.
My favorite - Monkey M.
My cousin is having her first baby, and that gives me an excuse to quilt! Not like I need an excuse, but, sometimes I feel like I do. I want to make her a baby quilt. Something simple, cause I’m going to be really busy over the next few months, but something stylish/modern. And since it will be small, I can try out some machine quilting.
While perusing the craft section of my library, I ran across Simple Contemporary Quilts: Bold New Designs for the First-Time Quilter. Front cover looked modern, back cover looked pretty good too. I loaded it onto my pile-o-books. When I got home I plopped on the couch and went through the book two times! There are some great designs in there! The directions are very easy to understand, and there are lots of diagrams and pictures. I like that! The hardest thing is picking which one to do!
I also found The Fabric Stamping Handbook. Since doing the potato stamping with the kids, I am interesting in making my own stamps to try out. Sounds like fun, and the book gives even more possibilities. Maybe during the summer.
I found my pot of gold this week!
Black and White?
It sounded so boring. I got groans from Noah and Landon had a funny look on his face. I must admit that I was disappointed as well. But, if that’s what we’re supposed to do, then we’ll do it.
This was a freelance watercolor lesson . . . do whatever you want in the shapes provided. The only stipulation was that it had to be in black and white. After I got started, it was really fun. The power and strong visual that b/w produce is really fascinating. I like the contrast. I did some funky designs as well, but my favorite is the farm landscape. I wasn’t sure if it would turn out to look like the picture I had in my head, but yep! I think it did!
Watercolor noir.
Last week, I didn’t get much crafting done. Too busy with birthday preparations. But this week, the sewing bug has bit me and I’m in the groove. I’ve cut out fabric to make a few more Note Takers.
I am also going to do a little watercolor work. I am re-decorating the nursery at church, and want to try some watercolor paintings to use as some of the artwork for the walls. The lobby of the nursery is painted a soft butter yellow. I am going to be using a lot of black and white photos (going for modern, but still childish), and I want to hang some water color pictures here and there to give a pop of color and add some fun to the room. I have been using a set of watercolors I picked up at IKEA. They were really cheap, but they have great pigment! The colors are very vivid. I want to do some paintings of simple things children love . . . ice cream cones, balloons, etc. The key word is SIMPLE! Have any ideas? I’d love to hear them!
Friday is the day we do art in school.
This is the first year that I have done a formal art class for the boys. Before, we just kind of threw in art here and there, and only when there was time. My oldest LOVES to draw, and the youngest . . . let’s just say that drawing is not his forte. And me? Well, I’m not the best at it myself.
During the summer I read a book by Susan Wise Bauer called the Well Trained Mind. (Great book if you are considering homeschooling!) I got to the part about teaching art, and realized that I was doing my kids a disservice by just tossing in art when there was a lull in the activity. She recommended several books that have been gems!
The first one was Drawing With Children. We used this one during first semester. It was wonderful! It started with some very basic instruction . . . what is a line, curve, dot, circle. Then it showed how to use these basic ideas to draw just about everything. All three of us showed marked improvement!
The next book is Watercolor for the Artistically Undiscovered. This one has been really fun! We have been having a blast watercoloring together. Again it started with some basic strokes, thin/thick lines, squiggles, splatters. (Whew! You should have seen the kitchen on that day!) Now we are working on controlling the brush.
I wouldn’t trade this Art time for anything. We laugh at each other when we mess up. Although, according to the books, nothing is ever a “Boo Boo”. It’s just opportunity to see if you can turn it into something great. I like that philosophy! But I do have to say that some of my mess-ups are just that. MESS-UPS!
We praise and try to copy each other when one of us does something really cool. We probably won’t ever be Picasso’s, but we’re doing better than we were. And that’s what I call progress!
Valentine’s Day is the day you show those you love how much you love them. I’m sorry, but Ratatouille valentine’s just don’t do it for me! It’s all too commercial. Who needs the stuff that Wal-mart has to offer. Why not make your own!
Homemade valentine’s are so much fun to make, and they mean a lot to those who get them. The boys and I decided to do marbled ones this year. We got a kids craft book from the library that had the directions. (We love the library!!!) It was really very simple. We only needed a few items: card stock, oil paints, turpentine, and a large disposeable foil pan (roaster size). We poured water in the bottom of the roaster and thinned the oil paints with a little turpentine (make sure you have good ventalation and masks). Then we dropped a little of each color (we used boy colors) of paint into the pan and swirled it around with a craft stick. Last, we set a piece of card stock on top of the water. The oil and water do not mix, so you get a nice marbled effect on your paper. We set the wet card stock out on newspaper overnight to let it dry.
In the morning, we cut various sizes of hearts out of the marbled paper and attached them to different colors of card stock using brads and eyelets. We added some fun paper clips to add interest. Then we printed our saying, ”You’re MARBLE-ous” , on paper and attached it with adhesive. How fun is that!!!
Oh, and then totally unplanned, we made Chocolate Marble Bread with Ganache. It’s going to be a MARBLE-ous Valentine’s!
