paint cut paste

this entry is a departure from the purpose of this blog, which is to share ideas for ways to get artsy with your little one to inspire their own creations. my aim for this blog is to foster creativity in those little people we adore, who always have huuuge ideas and often just need a third hand (and someone to drive them to the art store) to put those ideas onto paper or clay or canvas.

but, dear readers, today i just thought i’d share a few pics of what i’ve been making lately, sans little helping hands. just for kicks.

i’m no geninne (urban outfitters is not banging down my door for me to silkscreen a pillow for them, dammit) and nor is my inspiration board nearly as cool as hers, but i take inspiration from her board and studio. here’s my own board in my own mini-studio (in our playroom/guestroom):

and i have been collecting some fun natural objects for later use:

despite my complete lack of sewing skillz, i made a few felt owls for new baby friends a la craft stylish:

as you may have seen here, i made our pets into rocks:

i immortalized our cats

i got hungry:

animal crackers (they're cookies!)

i added to our felted wool acorn ornament collection from last holiday season (and then i used some pom poms inside of the acorn caps when i ran outta wool balls, a la pink & green mama‘s idea)

making more felted wool & pom pom acorns

triplets!

i got some wooden beads and watercolored them and used my homemade wood creme to finish them off, to make little toys for novi’s advent calendar:

our wooden family

i resurrected an old passion for making homemade bath products (i used to have a company called green athena where i sold these goods in nyc and on the web, in a former life,) and whipped up some yummers sugar scrubs for the body (raw sugar, grapeseed oil, vitamin E oil, any fav combo of essential oils. i like peppermint grapefruit and lavender rose!)

rub-a-dub-yum!

and some homemade lipbalm to go with (beeswax, jojoba oil or olive oil, honey, and essential oils. these are lemon mint!)

yip yip

when i have a chunk of time, i loooove to watercolor… i took out this one from a few years ago as inspiration and as a reminder that the visual stimuli of this time of year is fun to capture in this medium:

happy holidays to all of you mommas, dads, kiddos, caregivers, teachers, and artists out there! i’m going to be doing more painting, knitting, and baking before the  year is out… and, of course, always making art with my little artist in residence. enjoy the beauty of the season!

novi found these great unfinished wooden ornaments while tinkering along in michael’s holiday section, playing with treasures in the lowest bins. she brought one over to me and asked if we could bring it home. “of course, and let’s bring its friends home with us, too!” i replied. so we bought out the store. (well, they only had like 10 left, but they were 80 cents each, and with my awesome 50% off coupon they were only 40 cents each! score!)

at home, we combined two of my most favorite media – watercolors and wood. we sat outside and painted away on the wooden baubles.

then we allowed the paint to drip dry as the ornaments hung from a tree in our backyard. the drips make really pretty effects on the ornaments, too!

after the ornaments were dry, i concocted a natural wood creme to rub onto the wood in order to seal in the paint (and make them smell yummy, too!) my wood creme is made from melting beeswax with jojoba oil and a few drops of tea tree and lavender oils for natural antibacterial properties and heavenly scent. i think sweet orange oil would be delicious in a wood creme, too! (these ingredients things i had around the home because of my love for making natural bath and beauty products, but you can get most of them at stores like wholefoods or online bulk suppliers.)

ingredients

novi loved this magic potion portion of the activity! after the creme hardened in its tin, we were ready to seal the deal. i just rubbed the wood creme into the ornaments with my fingers, polishing off the excess with a soft cotton cloth. (this wood creme works great for sealing handmade wooden toys, too! stay tuned for that…)

now these little ornaments are ready and waiting to adorn our tree and the yule trees of those near and dear to us. (yep, another surprise spoiler blog.)