Tag Archives: art

DIY Kids: Picture-Perfect Postcards

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Katie | Leave a comment

Back in January I shared my newly decorated Winter corner which included a photo of the big Del Ray snow storm of 2010. Well now that it’s Spring, out goes the Winter wonderland and in comes some new seasonally appropriate art, an oil pastel drawing by my 7-year-old son Jack.

Of course I’m biased because my son made it, but I think it’s quite stunning. I watched as he carefully layered the flowers and buildings; he had a vision and he took his time to bring it to life. But I also love it because the colors are so vibrant and its simplicity reminds me of Van Gogh. I’m completely in awe of his talent.

But that’s not the end of it. I loved the drawing so much I photographed it, uploaded it to Snapfish and ordered a set of postcards. I wasn’t sure how they would look, and at $.99/piece, I decided to order just a small amount before investing too much money.

A week later, the postcards arrived, crisp, glossy and picture-perfect. I’m more than pleased with how they turned out. I’m going to order more to keep on hand if we need to send someone a quick note. The world needs more postcards, don’t you think?

I’ve also ordered sets of notecards with this design — easy presents for relatives, friends and teachers — and I can’t wait to see what the kids will create for our holiday cards this year.

Have you turned a favorite kids art piece into cards or other objects? Do you have a preferred online printing service?

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Posted in Arts & Crafts, Living with Kids

Tagged art, kids, postcards

Sabine’s Corner Art Studio

Posted on January 10, 2013 by Katie | Leave a comment

On a recent home tour, I was enamored with how nine-year-old Sabine transformed this little corner into the perfect space to draw, paint and design her next masterpiece.

Sabine’s family moved into the house six months ago. This room, off the family room, is part of an addition to the house, which I assume was designed (by a previous owner) to be a den or home office.

In their former house, Sabine’s art studio was also close to the main floor action, in the eat-in kitchen/dining room. Though she’s still just an arm’s reach from everyone else in the house, she has a little more wiggle room for her impressive collection of scissors — all shapes, cuts and sizes…

Buckets of drawing implements organized by type…

And plenty of baskets to contain, but still keep visible, all her tools and accessories. Sabine’s mom Cynthia set up the buckets and bins, but Sabine organized the supplies herself.

What I love the most is that although both Sabine and her older brother Will are lucky enough to have spacious bedrooms upstairs, they prefer to have workspace down on the main floor, close to the rest of their family. They proudly display their masterpieces and creations throughout their home.

Have you transformed a corner of your home into an art studio or workspace? Or do you prefer a quiet, private space to inspire creativity?

If you’re an artist living and working in Del Ray, we’d love to hear from you! Contact us to share your studio on this site.

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Posted in Living with Kids, Studio Tours

Tagged art, corner, kids, studio

Instant Gratification: Melted Crayon Art

Posted on July 27, 2012 by Katie | Leave a comment

I recently stumbled upon the world of melted crayon art. I guess it’s been circling the Internet for a while, but I’m late to the game, per usual. Basically, you use a hair dryer to melt crayons, turning elementary school coloring tools into paint.

Jack and I attempted this project the other day. He was thrilled with how the crayons transformed into “lava.”

After holding the hair dryer close to the crayons, the colors quickly started to cascade down the canvas.

While it looked cool at the beginning, the end result was a little disappointing — smeared colors and lumpy wax remnants soon started to flake off the canvas. I think we got a little overzealous with our melting. We hung it on the wall, but it didn’t last there long — we weren’t happy with the way it looked.

The next day we embarked on round two. Instead of letting the colors drip with reckless abandon, we held a few crayons in one hand, the hair dryer in another, and watched them splatter in a Jackson Pollock fashion over a piece of watercolor paper.

The result was much more delicate. and our color choices were more deliberate — selecting more vibrant and similarly flavored crayons. The crayons now resembled paint, and there were no lumps or flaking.

An IKEA frame provided a nice home.

We loved the result so much we made a second with different colors and hung both on the wall.

The crayons don’t get too hot that they would burn you, so this is a good project for kids age 3 and over. When the crayons melt you can also dab them on the paper and use them like paintbrushes.

The best part was that they dried in a matter of minutes and made very little mess, not something you can say with paint. We’ve got big plans for the rest of the box of crayons – holiday cards and wrapping paper are next on our list.

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Posted in Arts & Crafts, Living with Kids

Tagged art, kids, melted crayon

Make a Picture of Spring Using Flower Petal Dyes

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Leslie | Leave a comment

This is an activity that you can do with your kids with the seasonal flowers you find around the neighborhood. I came across the idea for flower pounding from a book at the library on using natural plant dyes.

Of course, when gathering flowers, you want to be discrete and follow the “forager’s law:”

When you find your plant, don’t pick from it. Instead, pick from the third plant that you find.
When you pick from a wild plant, try and ensure that it looks the same as when you first saw it. Just pick a few petals from the bottom of the flower and ones that look a bit worn. The color will still be rich enough for the dye to come through the fabric.
If you think something is rare, don’t pick it; there are laws against picking rare plants.

Nadja looks mischievous but I swear we followed the forager’s law to the letter.

For this project, you really only need 10-15 petals in a range of colors, a piece of white cotton or muslin, a rock or rubber mallet, a cutting board, and some wax paper.

On the cutting board, place the fabric and then arrange a few petals to start. Place the wax paper over the petals and gently “pound” the petals to transfer the dye.

Pull up the wax paper and inspect your work.

Place more petals down and repeat the process until you (or your child) is happy with the design.

Such a nice representation of the glorious colors that surround us in spring. You can do this same activity at the height of fall with an assortment of colored leaves too. We’re going to frame the most beautiful section of our flower pounding fabric to give as a gift or hang in our house.