Sunflower Painting

It was only 45 degrees this weekend here in the Chicago area. 45 degrees. And it's almost June! We were in need of a bit of sunshine, so we decided to paint some happy sunflowers. A dear friend of mine, Caroline, inspired this challenge. CK - thank you for your enthusiasm for this blog and thank you (and Crafty Morning) for sharing this idea with us. This project was simple enough for my three year old son, Will, to truly enjoy. He is not always as enthusiastic as his sister about our art projects, so I was so proud of him and his creation! I also realized he needs a haircut :) 

Here is the supply list for this challenge: white paper, Crayola Washable Paints, cotton swabs, paint brushes, forks.

Ice Cream Art

My first job as a teenager was scooping ice cream at an adorable family owned ice cream stand called the Hartville Ice Cream Shack. On busy nights we would answer the phone and say "The Shack's where it's at!" And on many nights that was the truth - it was probably one of the busiest businesses in town. Families and Little League baseball teams would be lined up for a mile waiting for our delicious scoops. 

I love supporting our local ice cream shoppe and we made our first visit of the season this weekend. My daughter Elliott was especially excited about her first cone of the year and she asked if our next art project could be drawing ice cream cones. Um...yes! Extra sprinkles please!

Supply list: White paper, Markers, glitter pens, glitter, glue.

Leaf Fish

After one of the longest winters in history, the weather is finally starting to improve here in Chicago. We are spending as much time as possible outside and on one of our trips to the park this weekend we collected some leaves to use for this project. I must admit crisp, autumn leaves would have been better for this one, but we did our best with the lush, green leaves we found.

On day one we painted the leaves white. We let them dry overnight and then added color to create the fish designs. My three year old son, Will, was not super into this project :) so his sister helped him out a bit. Tip: To keep the leaves flat, put them under a couple of heavy books overnight.

Another bonus of the improving weather is that we were able to paint out on our porch - my favorite room in the house!

The supply list for this project is pretty simple: Leaves, Crayola Washable Kid's Paint, Paintbrushes

Candy Creations

This is my very first blog entry. Ever. I am starting this blog because although I work in a creative industry, I miss creating things of my own with no formal brief, no parameters, no rules, etc. Luckily, my two adorable kiddos also enjoy being creative. So the three of us are going to create some things together, hopefully have some fun along the way and then share our little adventures with friends and family in hopes of inspiring creativity in others.

Last week, I told my six year old daughter, Elliott, that we would do a special art project together on Saturday. On Saturday morning at 6:30 a.m. she decided the theme of our first official Mom Art Challenge would be candy. I had something more nature-inspired in mind, but I went with it. Six hours later, we headed out to the candy store to collect our supplies. I managed to escape with plenty of colorful (and tasty) supplies at a total cost of $2.99. Tip: choose candy that you don't actually like to eat for best results. 

Here is a list of the additional supplies we used: water color paper, water color paints, paintbrushes, craft glue. And here are a few images of our first Mom Art Challenge. 
More to come!