Kids Art...Drawing Owls

Hi Everyone..Let me first of all apologise for not posting anything for the last week and a half...but I have a good excuse...Really I do... (well at least I think so)...;)  I was getting ready for the "Art Camp" I teach threw Parks and Rec....and of course I had great ideas.... But true to my nature I waited till last minute to put them together.  On the upside I now have some really fun projects...(not to mention some AWESOME Kids Art) to share with all of you.

SO LETS GET STARTED!

One of my favorite things to do with kids is a directed draw.  I show them step by step how to build a drawing by breaking it down into simple shapes....Here's a couple of finished pictures...Just to get you interested!

Many of the kids added the moon and stars to their painting.

So this is what I did..

I drew the Owl at home using several different references...I numbered each step as I went along so it would be easy to share with the class.

I draw on the white board as the kids follow along...

The first thing we did is draw the two circles for the eyes.

We then drew the beak...one line at a time...

I use simple terms...Like the top of the beak between the eyes, I called a upside down smile...the bottom of the beak is of course, is just two straight lines...coming together in a point...

I think You've got the idea!  ;)

I is important to remind them to draw softly with the pencils...because there are parts that will need to be erased...

NOW FOR THE FUN...

Once the Owl was drawn...I let them choose what they wanted to color it in with...

Water Colors, Markers or Oil Pastels...

I also showed them different ways to do the breast feathers and wings....

The rest was up to them...

And as you can see...

Everyone of them is LOVELY...

Unique...

and totally AWESOME!!

Give it a try...the kids in my class ranged from 8 - 13.

I will be joining up to many of those wonderful "Bloggy Link Party's" on my side bar...If you haven't checked them out, please do... they are chalk full of ideas!

As always...Thanks for visiting!

Denise

PS:   If you missed my Directed Draw for a Sea Horse You can find it here:

Directed Draw: Sea Horse

Coffee Table / Pet Bed

Ever since I saw this floating around the Internet, I've been dying to make one...A coffee table converted into a Pet Bed...What a great idea!!!   Anyway it wasn't hard to get Autumn on board (If it has to do with pets...she's in)!!  So we hit some garage sales and ended up with two tables...I think we'll paint the next one black.  :)



Calico really likes this idea!



This is the first one we found...it was in grate shape and only cost $5.00....Because really.....who would want a  fake wood Formica tables out of the 70's???? 

We took the doors and the magnets that kept them shut off and then filled the holes with Glazing Putty (It was what we had around the house...after all my Son and Husband are "Motor Heads"...and they said "It will work great!!

Next step was to paint it with a primer (Zinsser, Cover Stain Primer).

Just one coat.

I then painted it with three coats of Valspar's Premium Decorator Enamel in Dover white.

To make the cushion I measured the inside of the table...Then using the old string and pen trick made marked and cut out a circle to fit...sew...fill TA-DA Done.  :)

I must say we are sooo happy with the finished project and are planning to move it to Autumns room... a night stand for her and a get away for Callie.  :)

I'm linking up to my favorite Parties (on my side bar) ...

Please check them out...there are so many great ideas roaming around you don't want to be left out!!

Denise

PS: leave a comment...I would love to know who has stoped by!

Kitchen Pot Holders

Here's my "Crafty" post of the week...And you have no idea how hard it was to get up!!  My goal was to post on Tuesday night.  But then, my darling son was feeling so CRAPPY that he actually asked to go to the doctors.....He's been fighting something for a while and it finally got the best of him...he said the back of his throat was killin him...Well it should have been ...it was full of white blisters...To make a long story short ..He has MONO!!  :( 

So I got up early Wednesday morning only to find my Internet down....Another sad face :( ....

Well here it is Thursday morning and I am happy to share with you my KITCHEN POT HOLDERS...

YEA!!!!

These were so fun to make...Joann's had a 50% off sale on their cotton fabric so Autumn and I trotted down there to pick out our fabric....I had a tough time deciding....but these are the ones I narrowed it down to.  (OK I admit it ...I'm not very good at narrowing down)!  Anyway my kitchen has lovely brown counter tops with a Harvest Orange paint on the walls...This explains why my color choose looks kind of "fallish" for the first of July.  :)

The first thing I did was cut the background fabric into 9" squares...

I then ironed Heat-n-Bond onto the wrong side of the piece I was using to applique...The cool thing about Heat-n-Bond is that you can draw your design on it and then cut it out!!

You then peel the back off...

And place it on your background fabric...moving it around until you get the look you want....Then simply iron it on.

Next step is to place the applique piece right sides together with the fabric you choose for the back....On top of that I added a insulated lining (Insul-Bright).  I cut this piece just a little smaller (8 1/2" square) so the seams wouldn't be to thick....Now sew 3 sides of your pot holder together, clip corners and then turn right side out....

 Pin the 4th side...sew along all 4 edges.

Stitch around you applique design...

Stop admire your work...and then hurry off to make more!!!

I spent $13.00  on materials and have enough fabric left over to make at least 4 more pot holders...

so the cost was under $2.00 each!  :)

RIGHT ON!!

I'm linking up to those WONDERFUL LINK Parties on my side bar...

Won't you join me?

Denise