Fathers Day Card idea

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So I know Fathers Day has come and gone.  My husband enjoyed his handmade card from the kids so much that I decided to post it and give you an idea for next year. I guess the saying goes better late than never?? Or is that my middle name? Lol!

We found this idea on a site and tweaked it a bit to simplify it for the little ones.

1. Begin with your saw drawing. Email me if you would like a template but it should be fairly simple to draw.

2. Cut it out

3. With the handle on your left, color the handle any way you like

4. Cut a piece of Aluminum foil to glue onto the saw part, add your glue

















5. Place your foil on, turn your saw over to cut the excess foil evenly along the jagged edge

Add your Happy Fathers Day, decorate, and on the foil part add "You are the best DAD I ever SAW" and you're done!!

As I always say, most of all Have FUN!!

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Pointillism - Georges Seurat

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My son (age 7) came home with his artwork folder and this painting was in it. I immediately recognized it as a Pointillism painting. It's a painting of him jumping into a pool, you can see the little figure of him and make out the large blue pool area.

Artist Georges Seurat developed this way of painting in 1886. He used tiny dots of pure color, side by side to create form in his paintings. When the colors are side by side they also fool the viewer's eye into blending the colors optically, rather than being blended on the canvas.

One painting that always comes to mind is the following titled,
Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. According to Wikipedia the original piece of work is now in the Art institute of Chicago. Years ago I saw this in person and what a fantastic piece of art. The dots are so strategically placed. Such great 2D presence with the dots and just amazing control.  He even dotted a frame around the image. He spent 2 years painting this 6 ft 10" x 10 ft 1" painting. He concentrated on color, light, and form.

(Image hosted on Wikipedia)

Image here

Dungeons and Dragons, Castles and Princesses

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In preparation for my new class being offered, Oodles and Doodles of Drawing,  which focuses on a fun and exciting approach to drawing. I had my 2 little ones ages 5 and 7 draw their own dragons and princesses.  They came up with some really great images.

In my class I help the children draw their favorite fantasy characters using basic lines and shapes.  Children are encouraged to create their own imagery based on simple practices of drawing. The students are encouraged to use their imagination and creativity while exploring the basic design principles. So fun!

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Play Dough Color Mixing

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Today we learned what colors you can mix to create other colors - all while making our own homemade Play Dough!

There are many Play dough recipes on the internet, from scented, to clay-like. I tend to like the traditional. It is long-lasting and the texture of it is so soft and smooth. (Plus I don't think the scented would go well with a 2 year old - he may just eat it)



Traditional Play Dough Recipe:

* 1 cup flour
* 1 cup warm water
* 1 teaspoon oil
* 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
* 1/4 cup salt
* food coloring

Mix all ingredients with the exception of the food coloring, into a medium sized pan. Stir over medium heat until smooth and until it gets difficult to stir. Remove from pan, carefully (will be hot) knead until blended smooth. When cooled hand out to the kids and help them with the food coloring.

I usually have them pick their color while talking about the different colors that you can mix to create a new color. Such as, a normal 4-pack of food die only comes with red, yellow, green and blue. My daughter loves purple. We mix the red and blue and she creates her own shade of purple! What fun! The food coloring is messy if you get direct contact with it.

What worked for us is poking a little hole in the ball of dough, then adding the coloring and kind of knead around it until the die soaks into the dough. You may still get some on you but it isn't so much that it won't wash off with a bit of soap.

The kids really enjoy this.  They get to work with their hands, and have freedom with the color play dough that they would like.  It's always a hit!

We then put the play dough in Ziploc Sandwich Bags
and it lasts a really long time.  You can keep it out for a few hours and it still will not dry up!  If and when it does feel a little dry add a drop or 2 of water, work it in and it is as good as new.



(Unless of coarse it gets rolled around in dog hair, food crumbs, and sand - as in my household LOL)

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Silly Bandz ART ideas!!

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Well we have given into the silly band craze over here. The kids trade, hoard, hide, stretch, bend and wear them to their hearts extent. I have recently incorporated them into our art fun!!

Today we used them to trace, as patterns, and as stencils. We have been dipping them in paint, making sure to clean them right away (per kids request). My boy was quite upset when actually realizing that his silly band was full of paint. He overcame it though once he started to create his artwork with it. He has a new found love for the silly bandz!

Supplies you will need:
Silly bandz
Paper
Paints, markers, crayons
Bucket of water and paper towels


THAT'S IT!!!




The first thing we did was choose our silly bandz that we wanted to use. Let your kids know that they will get messy. What we did was fill a bucket with water, once we used the silly band we threw it into the water to soak. The paint easily came off when we wiped them clean.

Then get your paint ready. The easiest way that we found was to spread the paint out onto coated paper plates. Any work surface will do but from experience when we use a plastic or foam surface as opposed to cardboard or paper the paint lasts longer and it doesn't soak in. If the paint does start to dry add a bit of water to moisten it. We didn't have this problem since the project didn't last too long.

Then we gently laid the silly band flat into the color paint that we wanted. This coated the surface and we were able to use them like a stamp onto the paper.  It took a couple of tries for my son because he tends to rush through things, this has to be done somewhat gently in order to not smudge the pattern when pressing it onto the paper. He did get it and the smudgy ones were cute too but he wasn't happy with them.

The kids loved this!!!  They chose mostly animal bandz that you can find in your local stores or below.

The stamp work that they did after dunking the bandz into their paint.

Here he used a turtle silly band that he stamped on and then painted it in with the green paint, a guitar band, that he also stamped and hand painted it, and a hippo (the blue one).


So last night I discussed the major BP Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico with them and showed them some images of the tragedy. I explained to them what happened and how wildlife conservationists were doing the best they could to save the animals.  This must have sparked something with my kids because amazingly they created art scenes depicting the incident.  I mentioned nothing about it today, we were simply just creating silly bandz art.


This is what they came up with.........

Age 7-
The red is the oil filled waters.  The animals that were stamped from the silly bandz include a turtle (yellow bubble that says "stop") a hippo (lol), a man holding the silly band stamped black guitar running on the beach, a bird (yelling "help") and a silly band stamped fish (on the very top jumping off of the page). What a vision, huh? Very saddening to think about and I am glad my son had a chance to get his feelings out in a piece of art.

Age 5-
A silly band stamped boat (on the bottom in pink), someones house on the bottom right (also a silly band) and the big blue and pink hump is a mountain that the silly band turtle is trying to escape on.

Another thing that you could do is glue them on paper as a collage.  My kids didn't want to use their bands in this way and get them all icky with glue but it's an idea!

I hope you enjoyed this post. I would love to see what you and your children can create with the silly bandz! Email photos to dpcustomdesign@yahoo.com and I will post them here for all to view!!!
Most of all HAVE FUN!!!


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Found Objects Collages

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My kids absolutely love to collage found objects together for some great pieces of work. At my expense they raid my craft bins all of the time and make these great projects. No direction, just hanging at their own personal desk creating. As much as I totally get annoyed that they are making a mess of my "stuff" I love to see what they come up with and just can't get angry with them when they show me their creations.

Here is a recent collage woman that my 5 year old made while procrastinating bedtime. "Just one more piece mom"

My daughter used some of my scrapbook papers, tape, notebook paper, and ribbon. Her name is Scrappa :)

I then took the opportunity to teach her about a great local NYC collage artist Harriet Serenkin.

Some great books about collage making can be found as well. Two that I found helpful are below. You may also be able to get them from the library but for books like this I enjoy purchasing them to keep going back to and add to my bookshelf of art!






Enjoy your collage making and remember - reuse and recycle those magazines, pieces of junk mail, and old gift cards!!

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