Always Fly High {Hot Air Balloon tutorial}

When I was a kid my family went to a hot air ballon festival. Many brightly colored balloons dotted the blue sky... The sight was awesome, I will never forget it. I remember begging to ride in a hot air balloon. I didn't get to though. 

I don't think I want to ride in a hot air balloon now...

I am content to look up at them from below (I'm more chicken of heights now that I'm older).

Here's a simple charcoal tutorial on how our 4th-graders drew their balloons. Charcoal is one of my favorite mediums for all ages. It is smooth and soft, can create lines & shapes fast as lightning, and the final image is just cool looking almost always.

 Try it out if you haven't already. Dare you. You'll just get a little messy, that's all. I used the drawing steps from The Lost Sock 

{Charcoal Hot Air Balloon Tutorial}

You will Need:

• charcoal sticks (various thicknesses if desired)
• paper
• rubber eraser
• 
  

1 - Draw a quick line down the middle and draw a circle. 2 - Draw "pumpkins lines", less space between lines as you go further towards back of the balloon. Draw "pancakes."

 3 - Finish connecting lines to the "pancakes, and the opening to balloon.  4 - Add shading and details. 

From this...

To this! Makes you want to jump in one and head up into the clouds...

Each balloon has unique personality and detail even though the instructions are the same.

Always fly high. . .

Halloween "Sushi Roll" Garland {felt tutorial}

H A L L O W E E N . I S . H E R E !

I try to celebrate and decorate for Halloween in a "non-creepy" style for my kids- and for myself. We tend to make a few art projects & crafts each year to add to our Halloween decor. Lately I have a fetish with tissue paper and felt. Have you noticed? I spotted this lovely felt roll idea on the cover of Green Crafts for Children by Emma Hardy  and decided to make a Halloween garland instead. 

We made a birthday garland as a family (picture at the bottom of this post) and it only took an hour. This is the one of the easiest garlands you can make. You could make felt roll necklaces or bracelets too. I've seen a few wreaths covered in beautiful felt rolls for many occasions- These felt "sushi roll" projects are endless! 

Here is how I made this felt. Halloween. sushi roll. decor.

{sushi roll TUTORIAL}

Items needed:

• material scissors
• long needle 
• 3 yards of yarn (or bakers string would be lovely!)
• 10 - 8" x 11" black felt sheets
• 5 - 8" x 11" white felt sheets
• 5 - 8" x 11" orange felt sheets

•  Cut felt sheets into 1 to 2-inch wide strips. (However wide you like) Cut the short length of sheet- 8 inches across.

•  Layer 3 black strips and 3 orange strips and roll up. There will be excess.

•  Cut off excess. ( I keep the excess for other fun art or sewing projects.)

•  Make sure the needle and yarn goes through the middle of "sushi roll" so the roll won't slosh around.

•  Repeat with alternate color. So easy right?

I wanted to hang my Halloween sushi garland across my front window outside, but my son (8 yrs)  "advised" me that it would get dirty. So it's inside on the wall. Wouldn't it be great outside though?

Another colorful garland we made as a family for birthdays and year-round kid corner decor. Now you know why I call them SUSHI ROLLS- look-a-likes! 

I think I'm going to make one for Christmas, hmmmmm...

Creating Your Own Painted Placemats {TUTORIAL}

I wanted to have my kids create table mats that could last a long time and remind them of "Family Good Times." So I asked them to think of a favorite family activity or a favorite food that we all enjoy. Then when they looked at them while sitting and eating at the dinner table they could remember the good experiences we have as a family! I also wanted them to create something with tissue paper (not achooo paper) and paint. I am completely obsessed with tissue paper and acrylic paint because the paint comes out so bright and colorful! I loved how these turned out, and I'm going to have my kids paint mine and hubby's too! This simple art project will last a long time for wonderful memories at the dinner table. 

This art project was featured in my favorite issue of The Sandbucket Issue 5 magazine. Visit Sandi's amazing blog at thesandbucket.com.

There are so many possibilities, so let's get started.

{TUTORIAL}

Materials Needed:

• pencil & eraser
• blacker permanent marker
• white tissue paper (gift paper)
• acrylic paint & brushes
• 11 x 17" hot seal laminate pouches (found at a copy & print store)
• clear glue stick (optional)

Step 1:  Draw with pencil first on the tissue paper (tip: draw very lightly so the paper won't rip if you want to erase).

Step 2:  Trace your pencil drawings with black permanent marker.

Step 3:  Paint your drawings (tip 1: Paint lightly, so you can see the black outline. tip 2: Don't let your paint be so thick that it makes the paper rip. Make sure the tissue paper is not sticking underneath onto the surface as it is drying.)

Step 4:  Cut (adult help) out the paintings from the  tissue paper and arrange on inside the pouch. (tip 1: Dab a very little amount of glue stick to the back side of each object so they won't move. tip 2: You can cut along the black lines tight, or you can leave it as a sheet of tissue paper like we did for our 2 1/2 year-old. tip 3: Touch up artwork with permanent marker.)

Arrange your creation however you like. I took ours back to the store where we bought them to be hot sealed because it was included in the price (I kept my receipt).

As you can see, just about any age can paint their own. She has a lot of fun using her fingers and hands to paint!

Ages 2, 7, and 10 years old

Bon Appetit - Eat up! 

What is hiding in our Starry Night? Take a closer look...

Take a closer look! Inspired from The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh. Definitely not what you think... 

What do you see in the painting? How many are there? Do you feel like we're playing "I SPY?" Yeah, I totally set you up! 

I wanted to create a collaborative, but individual, art project for the 4th-graders to incorporate their own hands- designing them with various lines and shapes, just using black and white permanent markers on cards stock. Excellent art exercise for shape, line design, and hand tracing for any age. 

I've always liked The Starry Night painting since I was a youngling, so I thought this would be a good introduction for other kids to become familiar with famous artwork. 

• The kids used 3 different tip sizes of permanent markers...  

• I painted a simple version of Starry Night and then adhered each hand with Mod Podge (using plastic wrap and a book on top to help dry flat).

• I painted a light wash (water added) of acrylic paint of a similar color on top of the hands so each blended into the painting. You can see below there are some hands painted and some not yet. (Yep, the bold black hand really doesn't blend in because the wash of paint mostly shows up on white paper)...

This is one of our favorites "hands" down! 

As you can see this hand project could be made into any painting you like. 

Be creative. Paint. No boundaries. Have fun.

*Reduce *Reuse *Recycle = sweater mittens!

EARTH MONTH =  REPURPOSE AND REUSE:

I'm not sure how many of us have an old sweater that we just can't get rid of, so repurpose it, cut it up, and let it go...

My daughter had this sweater that her auntie gave to her and it was too small and had holes (it was way over due for the garbage), but she would not let go (she's a mini-me hoarder)...

So, we REPURPOSED her sweater into cute mittens! 

You don't even need a tutorial for this baby, super easy:

Turn inside out. Use the bottom of sleeves, neckline, or bottom of sweater for mittens.

Pin both layers of sweater together. Trace your hands with a permanent marker. Cut. Sew (zig zag).

Her favorite sweater mittens with her favorite PJ's... Happy Girl!

REDUCE*REUSE*RECYCLE

REPURPOSE!