Crafts

Affordable Artwork- The First Canvas

January 26, 2012 By Virginia 4 Comments

I told you, yesterday, about our decision to let Mister and Sister paint canvases for our living room, because I couldn’t find affordable artwork (see that post here). Once the paint dried on the canvases, and the painters tape was applied to create a design that we liked, we set them aside until Art Project Day.

I try to do an art project with the kids once a week. Some weeks there are more, and some weeks it just doesn’t happen, but I do try. Anyway, when Art Project Day came around, it was time to set the kids loose on one canvas.

I chose to do one stretched canvas at a time because A) my kids are two and four, B) I had a headache, C) my kids are two and four, D) the wet canvas has to be stored on top of our washer until it dries, and E) my kids are two and four.

Did I mention that my kids are two and four.

At least, until next month. Anyway.

Once they got over the fact that I was only going to allow them to paint one canvas, they set to work on it…

I gave them each a paint palette and added the acrylic paints they picked.

It was interesting to watch them paint together. They were both very intentional about what they were doing, and yet, so different in their approach. Mister would apply a dab of paint in one spot, then a stroke of paint in another. Sister would look at his, give her approval, and add another broad stroke where she was at. I had to turn the canvas periodically, because while Mister would paint wherever, Sister kept painting the same spot… over… and… over… and… over. So, I just gave her a new spot. LOL.

At first, I thought she was painting in one spot because that was all she could reach. I told her she could move her chair, or go to the other side of the table, but she didn’t want to. When I asked her why she kept painting the same spot, she said, “eecuz I making it purrrfect.” I noticed she didn’t like it when the paint got on her skin. Mister didn’t care, and was all elbows in, if YKWIM.

They both enjoyed combining colors, and painting over one color with another. Mister liked dragging his brush through several colors to see what happened. After about thirty minutes (and three paint refills), though, they both announced that they were done painting. So, it was off to the tub for them, and off to the laundry room for the canvas, so we could wait for the paint to dry.

I was eager for the paint to dry, so we could start the second canvas on our next Art Project Day.

Filed Under: Crafts, Homeschool Tagged With: art, craft, homeschool, Paint

Posts May Contain Compensated or Affiliate Links All Opinions are My Own

Affordable Artwork- The Concept

January 25, 2012 By Virginia 10 Comments

We have a blank wall above our T.V. and it gets on my nerves. I want to put a big clock up there, so I can see what time it is when we are watching a show, but I don’t want it to just be a clock on the wall. KWIM?

So, I have spent several months looking for artwork for my living room. I visited brick and mortar stores, resale shops, and perused the web.

Of course, each time I find something I like, I look at the price tag affixed to it. Apparently, I have rich taste in art, but not the wallet to support it. Without fail, I’d be like, “Oooh, that’s nice…” then look at the tag and think, “but, not THAT nice.” Or, “I think that would work…” then, “I’d have to go BACK to work.” I like pricey artwork. LOL.

One day, as my frustration mounted at my inability to find artwork that 1) I like and 2) is within our budget, I found a GORGEOUS canvas on line. Price tag? $499. Irritated, I thought, “My kids could slap some paint on a stretched canvas for a whole lot less than $500!”

Then I thought, “Why not? Why not let the kids paint something for the living room?”

It would be in our budget, since we could determine how much to spend on everything. AND, it would have intrinsic value that nothing else could compare to.

As it would happen, Michaels ran a sale on art supplies. Sixty percent off of canvases. Plus, I had coupons. So, Hubs and I took the kids to Michaels. We purchased two white 18×24 canvases, brushes, sponges, and paint. In addition to a large container of black paint, we let the kids pick eight colors of paint to use on our project. Total spent= $26.18.

Hubs painted the canvases black, first, because we knew that we wanted to have some black lines showing through when all was said and done. While we waited for the paint to dry… we watched the kids play a rousing game of Candyland.

After the black paint dried, we applied painters tape until we had a design that we liked.

Then we set them aside for our next art project day.

I’ll be sharing the progress with you over the next few days.

Filed Under: Crafts, Homeschool Tagged With: affordable, art, artwork, craft, homeschool

Posts May Contain Compensated or Affiliate Links All Opinions are My Own

Frosty the Snow Door

January 12, 2012 By Virginia 10 Comments

I am always on the lookout for cute (and easy) crafts to do with the kids. So, when I saw Rachel’s Snowman Craft Idea, over at Yellow Tennessee, I had to pin it, so I could remember to try it.

Source: yellowtennessee.com via Virginia on Pinterest

Our refrigerator is a side-by-side, so I didn’t think it was a good candidate for the project. Not to mention, I didn’t want to move their chore charts. LOL.

We do, however, have six panel white doors. I thought that would be perfect.

Frosty the Snow Door

snowman craft

They agreed!

snowman craft

Thanks, Rachel, for such a fun craft project!

For this snowman, I used construction paper in the following colors- black, orange, red, and green. I didn’t have two sheets of black, so I had to make the hat out of a very dark green. LOL. I also used tape, a 32 ounce cup lid, scissors, and a circle paper punch.

Filed Under: Crafts Tagged With: crafts, homeschool, preschool

Posts May Contain Compensated or Affiliate Links All Opinions are My Own

This Little Light of Mine

January 6, 2012 By Virginia 10 Comments

On New Years Day, I taught the preschool class at church (I teach that class about once every five weeks). I had decided it was high time we work on a new song, as we’ve been singing Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star since October, and if I have to hear it one more time, I will rip my hair out. Oh. Wait. Anyway. I decided to work on “This Little Light of Mine” with them, and thought it would be cute to make candles with the kids. NO. Not real candles.

I determined what supplies I would need, which included:
Toilet paper tubes
Tongue depressors
Paperboard
Black and yellow construction paper
scrapbook paper
Glue sticks
A loaded stapler

Since I’ve been saving toilet paper tubes for projects at home, I had enough to spare for the project. I knew we had construction paper, tongue depressors, glue sticks, and a stapler in the classroom supplies at church. So, I grabbed the toilet paper tubes and a pad of scrapbook paper from my scrapbooking supplies. I could have cut paper to fit the tubes, but I knew we would have a shorter class period because of the holiday, and the precut papers fit perfectly.

The day before class, I used a lid from a 32 ounce cup to draw circles on paperboard and cut them out to use as the candle bases. Before the kids arrived in class, I affixed black construction paper circles to the paperboard, so they would be more attractive. I also cut out the flames and affixed them to the tongue depressors. I cut slits in the approximate center of the paperboard circles.

During class, we went over “This Little Light of Mine” a few times. When craft time arrived, each child chose a patterned piece of paper for the outside of their candle. After each child glued their candle cover on the tube, my classroom helper and I cut the base of each tube in four places, evenly spaced (if looking a clock, it would be at 12, 3, 6, and 9). This allowed us to bend flaps outward from the tube. We removed two (opposing) flaps, and used the other two to affix the candle stick to the candle base with the stapler. After affixing the candle to the base, I slid the tongue depressor with flame through slit in the bottom of the paperboard circle.

The next time we sang “This Little Light of Mine” I showed the kids how they could pull the tongue depressor down to make the flame disappear when they sing, “won’t let Satan blow it out” or “hide it under a bushel.”

I have to tell you, I was a bit surprised by how well this project went over. The kids LOVED it. They really enjoyed making the flame disappear! After church, I had the opportunity to speak with some of the parents, and they liked it, too! Then our Worship Leader’s wife saw it, and fell in love. She said she thought it would be perfect for the Easter program, and even mentioned it to her husband (the Worship Leader) and our Senior Pastor.

LOL… guess I’ll be hearing “This Little Light of Mine” for a few months now.

This Little Light of Mine Lyrics

This little light of mine… I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine… I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine… I’m gonna let it shine
Let it shine… Let it shine… Let it shine

Hide it under a bushel Oh no! I’m going to let it shine
Hide it under a bushel Oh no! I’m going to let it shine
Hide it under a bushel Oh no! I’m going to let it shine
Let it shine… Let it shine… Let it shine

Won’t let Satan blow it out! I’m going to let it shine
Won’t let Satan blow it out! I’m going to let it shine
Won’t let Satan blow it out! I’m going to let it shine
Let it shine… Let it shine… Let it shine

Is it stuck in your head now, too? Good. LOL.