Glue Fun

My oldest daughter is going into the 4th grade. As she gets older it's fun to share things from my elementary school experience. When she emptied out her old school supplies she had scraped off all the pencil paint down the the natural wood and it reminded me of how I use to do the same. I shared with her how I would paint glue all over my hand and then peel it off like skin. Good times. It also reminded me of how we use to change the color of our glue. Doing this took me way back.

First you need regular school glue and a marker

Then pry off the end of the marker using your scissors

Pull out the marker fiber inside. I sniped the plastic wrapping a few times to help the process along.

Insert maker tube into glue container

Wait a little while and then shake, shake, shake.

Voila purple glue.

***My daughter tried making some more this morning and they didn't turn out as vibrant, We realized for the purple (above) we used crayola non washable markers. I think it made a difference. For the washable marker kind we ended up adding two marker innards. We really sniped the marker tube up to let the fiber hang out (it's where all the juice is).

Quite a Bit

Sometimes you fail to blog for a bit and then it turns into quite a bit.

It's been an eventful several weeks. I turned 30, my little one broke her elbow, we took a lovely vacation to California.

I was unable to hold my summer art classes but want to share the projects I had planned. My niece is in for a visit so we will have a guest artist to work with.

I saw this amazing video for the first time yesterday and haven't stopped thinking about it.


MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

New Art and Camping

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there. On Mothers Day we visited our property we plan to build on next year and did a little camping. The town is small but there are two art studios in town. Victoria Miller is an artist who runs a studio from town . There is a metal smith who has wonderful metalwork in the window, I haven't had a chance to visit there yet but I will soon. My husband ran me by Victoria's studio and let me have my choice of artwork for mothers day. I decided on this piece...

The Victoria Miler Creation's website is down right now but I will share it when it is up and running. Camping was fun , especially for the puppy who saw our cows for the first time.

After that she was busy which made her very hard to catch!

Jaw Dropping Good

I logged on to etsy the other day and spotted these...

they are from the collection at nectarjewelry. I adore them.

Birthday Celebrations

My youngest daughter turned 3 on earth day last week. I really enjoy birthdays. I mean any reason to have friends over and have a Cinderella cake is awesome. I made a fun little garland by stringing craft pom poms on embroidery thread. I used whatever needle was handy and it broke so if you make one I would suggest using a strong needle. It turned out pretty cute and I think I will use it in her room now that the party is over. Mid way through the project I thought it was a bit of a pain. I worried about it getting all tangled up. I ended up stringing them all on one after another. I then stretched out the thread having a helper hold the ends then I spaced out pom pom however I wanted. To ensure it wouldn't get tangled I wrapped it around a cardboard box just like I would Christmas lights. My advice would be don't do this around your soon to be 3 year old. It turned it to a limbo game.

A tangled frustrating limbo game.

I wish I had a picture of the turkey wraps I made for the party but I didn't snap one. They were super delicious so I thought I would share anyway. They looked very much like these.

I used the mission brand tortillas in tomato basil and Spinach and Herb

I smeared some garden vegetable cream cheese over the tortillas.

I then topped the tortilla with provolone cheese, shaved turkey meat ( I really piled the turkey on) , lettuce, and a few tomatoes.

the picture I used included bacon which would have been great too.

Roll that baby up and give it a diagonal cut.

My 3 year old had her very first art show this weekend. I love to see preschool programs embracing the arts. It was such fun to see all the kids excited about their art. My favorite artist was this little girl.

The cutest, right?

Finger Knitting Fun

I am working on some projects for summer camps I am planning on offering this summer. I am super excited to be planning a Fiber Art class full of cool activities. I was running some ideas by my older girl and she wanted to give the finger knitting idea a try. We used a very helpful YouTube tutorial here. She learned after school around 3:30......

and 3 hours later she was on her third project...

It was so easy to learn. We just watched the video several times and then grabbed the yarn and watched again pressing pause after each step. The next day two friends came over and she taught them how and within minutes they were all doing it. She added some beads and turned her yarn chains into a necklace for her sister and then made a extra long scarf for me.

Fresco Revisited

I have blogged about the lesson on fresco painting before but wanted to post about it again. I had the pleasure of doing the activity with my group of girl scouts this last week and they turned out great.

We only meet for 1 1/2 hours so to save a little time I pre-cut out the burlap and stapled them to the paper plates and it worked out really well.

I read a little history about fresco painting from the into to the lesson plan. I also showed them some pictures of ancient frescoes from my art history books you can find some images here. I poured out the plaster and while we waited for it to dry up a bit they worked on their designs. I let them use a mixture of soft and oil pastels. They turned out great and I know they all had fun working on them.

After we finished the other co-leaders and I discussed how this has so many possibilities. They look so cool when finished especially when you antique it by creating cracks.

Photoshop Express

I have not been able to play around with Photoshop Express but after reading Carrot Revolution it appears Photoshop is offering a very limited web version for free. I do love my Photoshop and Illustrator Software but it is an expensive investment and if you just want to have fun with photos and such this might just be the place to do so. You can Google photshop express demos and find a variety of videos.

Foreground /Background with Mona

I have a fun activity for young kids learning about foreground and background. You can download the worksheet and my notes here. Download and then print out the picture of Mona Lisa. Explain to your little artist that Mona is in the foreground. The artist wants the viewer to see things in the foreground first. Everything around Mona Lisa is the background. You can then color the Mona Lisa and cut out her figure carefully. Create another background for Mona Lisa anything you want and put her in it. Mona can be anywhere you want. She can be in your room, the grocery store or the moon. I had fun with a room full of kindergartners and this project they love saying her name Mona Lissssssssa.

Background above provided by a sweet little almost 3 year old who just told me, "I want pancakes in my tummy!"

Super new blog

Super new blog from Bella Dia The Crafty Crow. I can't wait to make the softie with my girlies.

Keith Haring Fun

It's spring break here and it is full of promise. We will stay up late, wake up late and find fun things to do all week. We will make some art including this activity based on the artwork of Keith Haring. Crayola.com has a great activity and you can find it here. I also downloaded worksheets I have here and here.

Keith Haring is an artist that kids just get. His art work was all about bringing art to everyone. Work that was easy to interpret and fun to see. You can find out more information at his website http://www.haring.com/ there you can find his bio and a kid's section safe for little eyes with games and activities.

Anniversary Download

This week will be my one year blogging anniversary. I thought I would offer you a little project. I was playing around with photoshop and added color to one of the free embroidery patterns I found here. I thought she turned out pretty cute and wanted to share it with you. You can download the images I painted here. As a project idea I printed the image onto transfer paper and had a sweet little girl to add to a variety of fabric items. I used Avery transfer sheets.





I applied the transfer to a onesie and was not happy with the quality. That rib causes a problem. I checked it today and when I pulled on the fabric the transfer would split over the rib. Below is an example of the transfer on the onesie as compare to cotton fabric. I think the fabric turned out much better more crisp and after pulling on it it stays in place. I plan on making either a little bag or a purse with the fabric.

In case you have not worked with transfer paper before (like me) I have some tips. When I selected the transfer paper option in printer set up it automatically flipped the image for me. I trimmed the transfer paper as close as possible to the image, I started using an exacto knife. Don't forget the little area between the hair braid and the shoulder. After you iron the transfer onto you fabric of choice let it cool off completely before you try to peel it off ( no matter how badly you want to sneak a peek at her darling mary janes). Hope you like them.

It's primary day in the big state of Texas. I ran out first thing this morning and voted. I just rolled out of bed so I didn't quiet look like this.....

But I must say I felt as good as she looks.

Eat up

My Dad would have told me I am "eat up" with embroidery. I think I am.

I have more projects to share but It's rainy and the puppy will jump all over me with her muddy little paws if I venture outside to the art shed.