Thursday, March 29, 2012

Kids Art: Spray Painting Spring

Oh-wouldn't it be great if we could just open a can of spray paint and spray out SPRING???  We could use some of that around here...It's been RAINY and WINDY.

Anyway that's just what my art kids did...They Spray painted Spring...
And I have to say this was one of our favorite projects!!!



I got the idea when I was going through Garret's sketch book...He does graffiti art and one of his favorite "doodles" is a hand holding a can of spray paint.  He usually has his name coming out of it... in all sorts of creative ways.


SOOO...



I thought...what if...I have him do a directed draw and have the kids draw their version of what they love about SPRING Spraying out of the can.


Great idea, huh?



Garret giving the directed draw...the kids loved his sketch book!

Garret always does a wonderful job teaching the younger kids and I think it's so good for the boys to see that drawing is cool at all ages (they adore Garret)!!  Of course he IS pretty AWESOME!!  :)


We discussed how, when paint comes out of the can the spray gets wider the further it goes from the can



OK...So Joey's doesn't really say spring...It does say Joey!!  :)
Notice how he copied Garret's Skull and Crossbones?


The kids all designed their paint can labels differently!?  Such talent!!
This would be a fun project to do for any season or holiday!!
Give it a try (if you do, I would love to hear how it turned out)!!

As always I will be linking up to many of the link parties on my side bar.

But most of all thanks for stopping by!!
Denise

Monday, March 19, 2012

From Thirftshop Mirror to Chalkboard Diva DIY

Happy first day of Spring everyone!!!  I hope yours is filled with sunshine!!  Here, in my little town of Poulsbo the weather has been FAR from spring like...We have had snow on and off for the last two weeks...YIKES!! 

Oh well...When the weather is crummy the thrifty go shopping.  :)
And shopping I did....I have been looking for a mirror to transform into a chalkboard ever since last summer (Summer-Ahhh...I can almost feel the sun on my skin...) anyway I finally came across the perfect one at the GW for only $6.00...(Happy Dance).


It was painted this BRIGHT RED...and had flower stickers on it (which came off quite easily) and had the most lovely shape.  So....


The first thing I did was cover the mirror with paper and painted the wood with KRYLON's Dual Paint plus Primer in Ivory (my new favorite spray paint...I used it on my bowling balls too...but that's another post :)
I gave it 3 or 4 light coats...can't remember for sure but you know the drill...several light coats is better than one thick one.
I let it dry for a about a week (because I never got back to it)...


Carefully  taped the freshly painted wood and sprayed on the chalkboard paint...again doing several light coats.

I sanded the edges to let the red show through and...



Added the metal hose clamp to hold the jars for the chalk.....Which is really cool because you can change it's size to fit different


containers with a simple screw driver.  :)
 I used two different size jelly jars to hold my Chalk and my Chalk Pens.


I also added two cute little bird hooks that I got at World Market for only $1.50 each....What a deal!!!



The chalk markers are fun and bright but they need to be washed off and they do leave a mark, even after erased.

I haven't deiced where to hang it yet...or if I will sell it down at the space I'm considering leasing..(Shh don't tell anyone...I haven't deiced for sure yet...but it does sound like fun and you know I LOVE retail!!).

Anyway..know what else is fun???!?
Link parties!!!
And as usual, I will be linking up to many of them on my side bar.  :)

HAPPY SPRING EVERYONE!
Denise 

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Peep Wreath.......

The other Sunday one of my favorite moms from my preschool class  showed me a wreath she made out of Peeps...It was so stinking cute...I knew I had to make one for my Autumn (She just loves Peeps but being a diabetic chooses not to indulge herself...Well at least not most the time)....



Cindy explained to me how she used tooth picks to attach the little bids to a straw wreath...
and, although the straw wreath was kind-of messy...The project was really quick and easy!


Sooo...Being the thinker that I am I deiced to pick up a Styrofoam wreath and skip the mess....Makes sense doesn't it??



Well Here's the thing....You put a bunch of those marshmallow birds together and believe it or not they get kind- of  HEAVY!!

Ya...I mean real heavy!!  I hung my pretty wreath on the wall and proceeded to make a flower for it...when I heard this odd R-I-P.
I honestly thought the dog had farted passed gas (she had been having a little problem with that, as of late) Anyway I even went over to make sure she was OK...after all it was louder than usual....Then I went back to making my Tissue Paper flower when I heard it again...this time followed by a thump...
Of course this time I found my wreath on broken and on the floor.  :( 


I put it back together and deiced to use it as a center piece instead (Not like I really had an option).... 



Well, that's my whole peepin story...And the moral of it is what????
Yes, use a straw wreath...There really is less mess in the long run!!  :)

Yet again, I'm linking up to some way cool parties!
Thanks for stopping by!
Denise

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Kids Art: Clay Heads..(or pot heads as I like to call them)

Just thought I'd share with you a couple darling "Pot Heads" created in my after school art class...


They are made from a simple pinch pot using terra-cotta clay.



I think the hardest part is convincing the kids to keep it simple and just paint the features on the face...


the eyes, cheeks and mouth....



These kids did just that and the results are darling!!!


My plan is to have them plant the heads with grass seed so the can cut the "hair"...
but I think the tissue paper flower looks mighty fine!

I also have some darling pigs and a couple of cute puppy's to share...
so check back later.  :)

Take care!!!
Denise

As usual I will be linking up to the parties in my side bar.