Happy Family Day!

Third Monday of February is Family Day in Ontario. It's been around since 2008. It's a great day to beat the winter blues but not so great if members of your family work for the Federal government.  They don't get the day off. They get Remembrance Day off instead. When I lived in Ottawa, the majority of the city had the day off and it was the unofficial first day of Christmas shopping. Kids are at school and half a day was yours to do get all those errands done.

Family Day is a great day to enjoy winter. Get rid of the February blues. Go for a hike, ski or snowshoeing somewhere. Seize the day.

Tonight, we'll be having an early family dinner ending the night with some board games. Our favourites at the moment are Quirkle and the Magic Labyrinth. The Magic Labyrinth is great for our youngest. It's an easy to learn memory game.  Each wizard must race around the hidden labyrinth to collect relics. Here's a good explanation of the game.

Family day can also be the start of a new tradition. Have your kids celebrate your family by creating pictures of your family. If done every year, you'll have a collection. It'll be fun to look back at your collection an see how your child's view of your family has changed over the years. Here are a few from my daughter's collection.

Have a wonderful day! From my family to yours.

Happy Valentine's Day!

The day is almost over but I thought I would quickly share an art project I did with my grades 1-3 students last week. The goal was to create tints  and paint various size shapes to create a pop art  I chose hearts to fit this month's theme of love.
I started with the grade 1s. I didn't realize how hard it was for them  to draw multiple hearts. They struggled with it and some of them were losing confidence. I decided to draw one small heart in the middle of each rectangle and I hoped that they could follow my heart to make bigger ones.

The goal was to make tints, not drawing the hearts.
By the time they got to painting, they were just too excited. Some students were more successful than others in making their tints. After the paintings were dry, they outlined the hearts with a black sharpie. The sample below, is one 1/4 of my sample and I just multiplied it by 4 so you can visually see the potential outcome. The grade 2 and 3s were much better at drawing the hearts. Overall, I was pleased with the
project.

Materials:
9x12 construction paper
brushes
white and red paint
black sharpie

String Art

Today, M wanted to try creating a pie of art using string.  I remember doing this in grade 4 and I loved it so much. So we grabbed a piece of fence I salvaged from the neighbour. I spray painted it black...I am all about quick crafts.  We picked u[p some 1"common nails from our  local hardware store. I wanted 3/4". There weren't any. I am not even sure they come in that size.

I found a free pattern at String Art Fun. Awesome website for anything to do with string art.  I printed out the pattern and nailed the sheet onto the board. I started by placing nails in the key places and let M do the rest. It didn't take long...She's 10 and had good coordination skills.

Once all the nails were in she chose green and purple embroidery thread and followed the directions. Voila! Isn't it a beauty!

She loved doing it so much, she decided to create her own design. We found a maple leaf online and printed it. She drew a heart and then just added the nails and embroidery thread. It's called I love Canada.

Organizing Artwork Part 1

Today, I was thinking spring is around the corner which means getting organized. So it had me thinking of all the artwork I have from my child. Not only does she come to my art classes but she creates so much more at home. Since I am in the business of  preserving children's artwork I thought I'd share with you what we do at our house.

I first place them on display. I have Lil Davinci frames. They are art frame cabinets that can hold up to 50 pieces of artwork. I can add new pieces as they come into the house with ease. Each frame has a hinge that allows me to open it up and place a masterpiece without having to take it down and fiddle with the back and then place it back on the wall. Budding Artists is currently the exclusive distributor in Canada.

With all this art, I keep it neatly in a cabinet and rotate the art as my mood dictates. I also use many of them as samples for my art workshops.



What do you do with all of your children's artwork?

Valentine Treats

Every year, I try to find the easiest craft to do with my kids to make Valentine's Day treats for my kids friends. This year I found this heart turn to envelope on Martha Stewart. It's so simple. I didn't have any heart stickers but I did have round stickers which I quickly turned into a heart. On the flip side of the heart, your child could write a message. 

But noooo...my child wanted to make these instead from Funkytime. I printed out the free download and that was the easiest part. She cut  out 23 templates and left the gluing to me. Of course, I am up late trying to get them done. My daughter is going to fill it with cinnamon hearts, cherry sours and little message hearts. Aren't they cute?

Are you helping your child make their Valentine's treats?

The Kiss

"The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt has been voted the top  romantic painting by online art gallery overstockArt.com for the third year in a row. I have to admit its my favourite. The man and woman are are filled with passion and wrapped in a beautiful golden blanket. She's kneeling in a field of flowers.

I think its time to visit Klimt again and do an art project inspired by Klimt project for my next workshop. Perhaps using gold leaf...the possibilities are endless. What are your thoughts?

Valentine's 3D Hearts

Today is a snow day in London, Ontario. If snow is not your thing try these 3D valentines hearts.
A few days ago, I was on How About Orange blog and she had a picture of a wall with  3D hearts. I loved the simplicity. I quickly glanced on how to make them and set off to find some red paper. Instead I found my daughter's heart artwork she created last year. I asked her if we could cut out the hearts to make them into 3D hearts. Here they are...aren't they cute!
As soon as I find more pink paper, I will make larger hearts.