School's Out For Summer....

... but we painted one last time! You can thank me later for having that Alice Cooper classic stuck in your head. I can't help humming that this time of year! I Love Summer!

 

This time the project was a Sharpie and watercolor resist step-by-step painting. Sharpies are my all time favorite art supply. I have zillions- can't help myself.
For this project we used very nice heavy weight water color paper, mostly liquid watercolors from Dick Blick ( had to make my own blue and dark brown from tubes I picked up at DB) and my recycled containers. I wish schools had budgets for better brushes :) It makes a difference.
This project was about shapes and counting and mixing colors and Spring and birds and listening to directions. I drew on an easel at the front of the class while they listened, made decisions and followed along. We started with an oval in the middle of the page and then drew 3 small ovals in the center ( at this point some of them guessed a nest painting!)
 

Even though we followed along together, each painting turned out uniquely and so like their personalities. You'll see what I mean...
 

Absolutely LOVE this one... it reminds me of Shel Silverstein illustrations :) I also am intrigued that he painted a blue rectangle around his oval eggs instead of painting each one.
 

 

This one reminds me of barbed wire...
 

 

Very precise and uniform - so like the artist and polar opposite of the one that reminds me of Shel Silverstein...

They loved this project. They all turned out so fabulously and everyone felt successful

Very decorative pattern on this nest. 

 

 

 

Another favorite. It's like a nest having a bad hair day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I would totally frame this one :)

PS. No, I did not post the pictures in mirror image. They painted those beautiful watercolors but they are young enough that several write their names backwards still.

Well, I can show you now....

Happy Mother's Day!!
Hope you have a wonderful day - I'm having a wonderful Mother's Day weekend - not just a day!!
I couldn't share this before because my little art camp friends created these a couple of weeks ago for their moms. So I guess in blog-speak, this is the BIG REVEAL :)


Basic crafts supplies - the raindrop looking sponge shapes are the only out of the ordinary craft supply. I cut the shapes from inexpensive sponges from the dollar store. I prefer Miracle Sponge but Michael's and Hobby Lobby no longer carry it and it's too bad :( 
 I love that stuff.

This is the main component of this project which would be good for Mother's Day, as we did, or a garden unit or for the end of school, or April Showers/weather unit, etc. You could work it in a lot of ways. It is simply a wooden stake from HD - they come in a bundle of 10 or 12 for less than $3.00. The circle is a metal paint can lid. ( you've seen these before in another project!) I put a nail in the center and a dab of liquid nail on the back to secure them and sprayed them green. I have to base coat projects because we have only 50 minutes once a month - I wish it was once a week :) If they could base coat one day and decorate another that would be even better. I spattered them with a lighter green cause I just like to spatter things.

 
Strips of fabric scraps and the necessary CFA large unsweet tea with lemon.

Cute little preschool table all ready to go!

Pretty flower stakes for the garden. Just for Mom. Just sponge on however many petals you want and use the spouncer to make the big yellow center.

They all turn out cute but just a little bit different - just like each child.

 
Some of the centers were two-tone. Fancy!

We tied on the ribbon or torn fabric scrap and it is ready to give to mom. The preschool classes have a Mother's Day tea and they stick the flowers in the ground as decoration and then mom's get to take them home. It's a hit every year.
There are a lot of great books to read with this project. I've used Tiny Seed and several others. If you do this in a church preschool or Sunday School then you can make a little tag with a verse on it. I've used " I planted the seed, but God made it grow."
It's a fun Spring project and I am ready for blooms and bees and sunny days!

Teacher-y Stuff

College Girl's "Big" in her sorority is graduating in just a few short days and the girls all get together and give the graduates a gift basket to send them on their way. It's a wonderful send off and I like that they ask the Seniors for a "Wish List" so they can truly get things they need or want. College Girl's Big is an Education Major and is all ready to find a job teaching little ones (early elementary) and she wanted a basket full of classroom items. College Girl was in charge of her Big's basket and this is not the kind of "stuff" she knows about so she called and said, " Help. We need teacher-y stuff!" Well, not a problem here. Right up my alley. I was on it!! So fun to make and find "teacher-y stuff" for this enthusiastic future teacher.

We started off with this fun sign for the classroom ( you may remember it from before) and set the theme with the colors and polka dots - we were aiming for "instant classroom" and tried to be fairly cohesive and find things that the future teacher would love and could use for a long time. Polka dots and a chalkboard-look on black seemed fun and classic and easy to match when she goes to find more items for her classroom.

Next came the "basket" to hold all the other goodies...

 We went with a large galvanized bucket with a handle. So versatile and useful and I'm all about the galvanized bucket. This is actually the small trash can size from Home Depot and it is only $14.99 and has a handle and lid. She can use it for a zillion things in a classroom. It came plain, of course, and we went to town making it match our theme. And we personalized it. A little strange to thinkof "Big" as Ms. Petry!! :) Was it really three years ago that I met her for the first time at our first Chi O Family Day??

I painted the alphabet and more polka dots on the back. I went with the rainbow/spectrum for our polka dot colors so she can pull out her favorites and these gifts will work with whatever she decides to do in her classroom. I tied a rainbow of polka dot ribbons on the handle and made a name sign for her door.

A little Mod Podge and some cute polka dotted papers in a rainbow of colors ( plus owls since that is the Chi O symbol) and we have a cute clipboard and clipboards are an important part of every teacher's day! It might as well be cute!

A huge burlap pencil for fun and then we filled the bucket up with all kinds of goodies from the "teacher store" near us - Sharpies, notepads, post-it notes, bulletin board borders and a huge owl set for the bulletin board, owl bathroom passes, chore charts, stickers and more. It was overflowing with goodies!!!

Hooray for teachers! Hooray for Ms. Petry!!

The 11th Hour....

Well, practically.
 I'm sure everyone else is beyond ready for Easter and this is of no help but the idea does have possibilities for future holidays and events.
As I said on Facebook, I threw a puffy burlap carrot on the front door and called it good this year. March was full of deadlines for free lance work and speaking at a major conference was also on the calendar  and Easter was early this year. 
 Cute got lost in the shuffle.
 So that's how we rolled this year. Also, College Girl went home with her boyfriend to my old stomping grounds, Athens, so a little less motivation to roll out major Easter decor.

We hosted* last year so we I am invited out for Easter dinner this year. I wanted to take a little something to my peeps and since they are all beyond the age of cute stuffed bunnies and more into gift cards I wanted to package the gift card creatively.
I bought "fancy" all natural lemonade in swanky real glass bottles. Lemonade is Spring-y. And I picked up Chi-Fil-A gift cards cause, well, it's the South and we are addicted.
So now I needed to put them together .... somehow...



Scrounging in the studio I came across these clear plastic name tag holders like you get when you go to a meeting or conference. They are super inexpensive and crystal clear. They are made to hold a single thickness name tag so they are "snug" if you follow. That means that when you stuff things in them they stay. Perfect.
 

 

I love the crisp, clear look. I just put some Easter grass, a little business card sized note and the CFA gift card in the pouch. There are holes in the back of the pouch that are meant for the neck string if you are using it for it's real purpose but they work perfectly to string curling ribbon through. Just tie it on the bottle and you are good to go.
You could combine all kinds of treats and gift card in the pouches.

* We did host Easter for friends who are like family last year. The kids have all grown up but I haven't so I still made cutesy Easter treats and put bunny tails and ears on the real Coke and Orange Crush glass bottles - you know the drill. But I really wanted the kids to participate in an Easter Egg Hunt and not just sit around on their iphones :) So I thought about how to motivate them... what motivates teenagers and college students?... well, money and gift cards, of course. So I filled the eggs with quarters or slips of paper with numbers that corresponded with numbered gift cards to places like Starbucks, Chic-Fil-A and to itunes. I announced that it was time to do the Easter Egg Hunt , there were some moans and a mention or two about the heat but not from College Girl who jumped up and announced that she was hunting eggs. Then she announced that I had filled them with money and gift cards and we had an Easter Egg Scramble! Everyone was all in for this hunt!! They acted like little kids running around looking for eggs.
 It was worth every penny quarter :)

My Scrap Bin and a Board....

turned in to this:
A 6 foot long ABC picture.

I can't even figure out how to photograph the whole thing!

It's longer than my work table in the studio!

I've been seeing all the cute ABC signs and walls on Pinterest and I love anything with the ABC's, typography, fonts, etc. I didn't have any reason to make one until.... I decided to make one to donate to a Silent Auction at Georgia Preschool Association's Training Event  this weekend at the Cobb Galleria! Yeah - an excuse to go for it.
( wow - time to clean in the studio! and yes - phone still smashed.
 It's upgrade month! I just need to make time to go!!!)

I figured out that if I wanted the squares to be about 3 inches, which is about as small as I felt I could go and it could still be big enough to do letters and images and not be too small to see, that I would need a board 6 feet long.
That's 24 squares 3 inches wide which works by combining XYZ.

Seemed reasonable and didn't even seem that crazy until I got the whole thing done
and it is one big ABC board!!!

Of course, the "O" is an owl!!

 
So, here are my ABC's

 

 

 

 

 

.... won't you say them, please, with me?

 And hopefully it goes home with someone (who likes loooonnnnng art)
and is a good fundraiser for GPA!!!

I kind of want to make another one. True story.

Update : it sold and is going home with a very happy school director!!

Linking Up:

Lotsa dots....

I was asked to make a BIG painting for our Confirmation Retreat. So I went BIG!
I bought a large piece of luan paneling, primed it and went crazy with the spouncer.
Since I am in a gray phase and have cans of gray paint underfoot from the  bathroom paint job I decided to go tone on tone with it.

 

 

A squiggly white border that will be black and white in the end.
 

Laying out the images and text...

Micah 6:8 was the verse for the 24 hour retreat.

It's getting colorful and more pattern going on....

I love it when you start pulling the painters tape off the stripes.... so fun...

And GLITTER!!!!!

And here is a terrible, blurry iphone picture of it in place at the retreat. In the art area because all 90 plus of the attendees made their own Micah 6:8 canvas! With their own handprints and footprints. They loved it ( except for the one preteen boy who told me "That's not happening" when I told him he was supposed to paint his foot and print on a canvas!) Getting messy was a nice break from all the study and made us giggle.

 

Some of us were ticklish so we really giggled!!

Some of us got help painting our feet and some of us figured out how to do it ourselves!!

 

But all of them turned out great and they loved taking home a finished painting at the end of the retreat.
One girl told us that her feet were still a little bit blue ( after 2 showers)  on Sunday morning at Sunday School :)