Birthday Art

My Grandma Terry (aka Theresa, Tre, Mag, Grandma Maggie, GiGi) is an amazing woman and recently turned 90 years old. 90! Even at 90, she is sharp as a tack, continues to cook the best spaghetti sauce in the world and watches every single Yankee game of the season. That's at least 180 games. Next weekend, my family is getting together to celebrate her birthday and we have been busy preparing for this special celebration. Today we did a simple art project that will become part of our gift to GiGi. We cut out the numbers 9 and 0 out of thick card stock and decorated the numbers to create a very festive 90. This idea works for any age - from 1 all the way up. You can make the numbers any size and decorate them with any art supplies you have handy. Will chose glitter pens and dot markers - his favorite medium at the moment :) and Elliott chose a combination of tissue paper squares, glitter pens and markers. She declared it a "mixed media!" The finished product can become a birthday card, a party decoration or even a photo prop. Hope you enjoy this challenge and are inspired to try it for the next birthday on your list.

Farmer's Market Art

My daughter and I went to the Evanston Farmer's Market on Saturday morning and we found the fresh fruits and vegetables so colorful and beautiful that they inspired us to paint them! In season at the moment were strawberries, cherries, carrots, asparagus, green onions and more but with our paintings we took the liberty to include other fruits and vegetables. I hope this challenge inspires anyone who reads this to visit their local market and paint or draw their favorites. I grew up in a small town in Ohio and we would literally pull over and buy corn from the local farmers just blocks from our home. Delicious! 

Note: My son did not wish to go to the farmer's market with us or paint fruits and vegetables, but he did paint a whole series of rainbows with dot markers instead. See below for one of his delightful creations. 

Simple supply list for this challenge: water color paints, water color paper, paint brushes

Popsicle Stick Art

Well, this challenge didn't produce the most beautiful artwork, but Elliott and Will sure enjoyed eating the popsicles to provide the key supply - popsicle sticks. We each glued three sticks together to make these silly snakes and then we painted simple patterns to give them each a unique 'skin.' This was a pretty simple project and then we moved on to homemade Father's Day cards! Elliott and Will both have such a special bond with their Dad and I was so happy to see them put such thought and care into these cards. As a starting point, I asked them both to draw some of the things they like to do best with their dad.

Here's the simple supply list for the snakes: Popsicle sticks, craft glue or hot glue, Crayola washable paints, paintbrushes, and cardboard.

Homemade Play Dough

Who likes old, dried up play dough? Not my kids. And that's the only kind we found the last time we opened up our crumbly stash. So for this week's challenge, we decided to make a batch of homemade! It turned out nice and squishy and we were able to customize the colors and add a bit of sparkle. We let the dough sit out for a few hours before creating some fun little sculpture art. We used a couple cookie cutters and various play dough tools. The dough is supposed to last up to six months, so this batch should provide many more hours of entertainment :)

Here is the recipe we followed:
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup salt
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
Food coloring
Saucepan
1 cup flour (we added a little extra)

Combine water, oil, salt, and cream of tartar in a saucepan and heat until warm. Remove from heat and add flour. Stir, then knead until smooth. Divide and add food coloring. Store in Ziploc containers.