Are your kids bored? Good!
Scientific studies have shown allowing children to become bored actually boosts their creativity*.
But sometimes you might need to give your kids a gentle creative nudge. Or–when it is the third day of being cooped up with incessant whining and squabbling because the flu struck during your spring-break-this-really-sucks-stay-cation–you might need to forget the gentle nudge and march them directly toward an activity. As in now. Right. Now. Read the rest of this entry
If you looked closely in my Graphic 45 audition, you might have noticed that fawn in the Spring Matchbox really knows how to celebrate the new season. He has donned a purple polka-dotted party hat, complete with glitter and streamer-like tassel.
I chuckled when today I visited the web site of one of my favorite artists, Lisa Kettle, because coincidentally pictured on her blog is a cute-as-can-be zebra wearing a glittery red party hat. Her post reminded me that more than likely she introduced me many years ago to animal party hats when I read her book Altered Art Circus. Read the rest of this entry
Both of my kids are circus performers. Don’t get me wrong–they aren’t out on the road, performing in big tops across the country. Rather, instead of participating in youth soccer or baseball, they take classes and perform at a circus performing arts school.
They both walk the wire, known to non-circus folks at the tightrope, The Daughter™ rides unicycles tall and small, The Son™ performs aerial straps. They do lots of other circus stuff too. While they aren’t the star performers at this very competitive school–far from it–the fact that they undertake these acts of courage when they both have serious anxiety disorders is pretty amazing. When The Son™ started at this school as a six-year-old, he found playground slides too frightening. Now he walks the highwire.
Anyway, since this isn’t a mommy blog (really, no, really it isn’t!), I shared this to point out that with my kids doing all these daredevil acts, you would think I would know a thing or two about balance myself. Apparently not. I demonstrated this when I neared the final stages of completing my Artist Trading Block (ATB) Circus Cannon. There I was–cheerfully working away with everything going smoothly. Then I attached the cannon barrel to the block and watched in dismay as the barrel lurched into the ground. If this was a real circus cannon, the circus girl would be shot straight into the elephant poop. Read the rest of this entry
Ahhh Paris…the City of Love. Or so they say. I have to take people’s word on this since my love, The Husband™, has never wooed me with a romantic get-away to France. To be fair, I haven’t wooed him there either, but this is my blog, so it’s all about moi*.
My fifth and final tag of the Valentine series focuses on the City of Love. All of the elements of this tag are either a deep red, purple or silver color. I don’t think this is particularly Parisian, but of course I have no way of verifying that since someone has not taken me there. Just sayin’. Read the rest of this entry
Valentine’s Day is the 14th
Although the techniques I used for this tag were similar to the Heart aMazing Tag, I was much happier with the results. To continue the chocolate box metaphor, I guess this one had the caramel filling. Nom Nom.
When all else fails, Coke is it.
To most closely replicate this tag, you will need some sort of red ring. I am lucky that my vintage stash contains a plethora of red, white and green plastic translucent rings. I have no idea what they were used for or where I got them. I suspect they came from a game, but that’s just a guess. In any case, scrounge around your supplies and see what you discover. If you come up empty, you can always use the plastic top from a Coca-Cola bottle.
Measure the width of the interior of the circle and using a computer and a sans serif font, print out the number 14 onto to tan or ivory paper. Choose a font size that will mostly fill your circle. If you wish, you can print several different sizes to see which one you like best. You can always use the leftover 14s in some other Valentine collage. Center the ring over your chosen number 14 and use a pencil to lightly trace the ring. Then cut out the circle and glue the number to the back or inside of the ring. Read the rest of this entry
You Heart aMazing
I’ll be honest, this tag is my least favorite of the five. I like each of the elements on their own, but somehow they just didn’t mesh together well. I guess it is kind of like that big ol’ box of Valentine chocolates. You always end up biting into one that you don’t like. By the time you realize it, you are half way through and then you are left with the quandary of deciding whether to go ahead and finish it or stick it back in the box to disgust some other member of your family.
I’m speaking from experience, as my daughter has been known to do that with just about anything. The other day I found a solitary doughnut left in the box with the topping completely gnawed away. Now that’s an enticing breakfast. Read the rest of this entry
Valentine’s Day is exactly one month away. So today I bring you the second tag in this series. I should mention that all of them use a basic alteration of a technique I learned from Tim Holtz’s 12 tags of Christmas sometimes around 2007 or 2008. Read the rest of this entry
Nothing says Valentine’s Day like chocolate and berries. Okay, flowers and jewelry can also speak the language of love pretty loudly, but those won’t be making an appearance at our house this year. At our house we stick with the less-than-$5-valentine. Thankfully, after all these years I’ve trained The Husband™ not to buy cutesy talking stuffed animals or dancing plastic flowers from the nearest Super America gas station.
Today, I’m going to share with you a non-caloric way to enjoy a delightfully rich Chocolate Berry Valentine treat by showing you how to make the first in a series of five Valentine tags.
I have to admit, this is one of my favorite projects. It’s also one of the most time consuming. For starters, while I love, love, love the outcome of this project, it’s not for beginners or for someone short on patience. In fact, there are a lot of much easier explosion boxes out on the web that are quite nice. If you want something easier, just Google “explosion box tutorial.” Read the rest of this entry
