paint cut paste

i always try to follow N’s lead when it comes to the art projects we do around here. her natural inclination lately has been toward the realm of still life drawing.

the other day she picked up a pen and drew on the back of a cardboard notepad, and then came and showed it to me. she said, “these are all of the tummy-symbols of the care bears. it’s so much fun to draw what i’m looking at!”

love-a-lot bear wasn't available for the photo shoot. he might be busy under the couch.

so, of course, the following day momma whipped up a pretty bowl of fruit for N to draw — i mean, why not start out in a classic way? the little one was thrilled!

she wanted to draw a few objects by themselves, as well.

the apple

the tomato

a few tomatoes as a thank you to our neighbors who brought us some from their yard

next, N said she wanted to draw “a different bowl of fruit that i’m thinking of in my head.”

the bowl of fruit N pictured in her head

masterpieces!

we had such a fun morning! so sweet and quiet to draw together…

(so quiet that even i got in on the action a wee bit…)

i’m a big fan of prayer flags or anything that resembles them. and what better thing to pay homage to than food? (well for me. eat, pray, love – right?) anyway, i saw this awesome idea on alphamom to do a fourth of july bunting using starfruit. i fully intended to do this before the holiday, but after combing 5 grocery stores/produce markets here, there is just no starfruit to be found. we improvised and took a different path.

N and i gathered up some fun and sturdy shapes at wholefood’s produce section. then i sliced them in half and let them sit face down for about an hour on a towel, to absorb any extra moisture.

to prepare, the night before i had cut up some natural-colored linen (i purchased some from jo ann’s fabrics – you could also use white or cream burlap or other fabrics) into 8″ by 5″ rectangles, with a little help from my cat. i frayed the edges by hand because i love the raw look of that.

N and i chose some colors from our fabric paint stash (you can also use acrylics) and began to paint the flat sides of the fruits and veggies to do some printmaking. (you can dip them in the paint, but we went this route so we wouldn’t waste any paint by leaving it in a dipping pan.)

we chose different colors for each of the different pieces of produce, and pressed them firmly onto the linen, toward the bottom of each rectangle. (this is to leave room for a pocket at the top for the rope to go through to hang them later.)

it was so much fun to see the colorful shapes emerge on the fabric.

we let them dry all afternoon, while we admired our work.

the next day, i pinned and sewed each flag across the top to make a pocket for a rope to go through.

sadly, i was impressed with my ability to do this. i am NOT a sewer.

alphamom’s blog said you could use fabric glue instead to create the loop for the rope, but i used this as an opportunity to practice using the sewing machine my dear friend gave me before she moved to bali. (i mean, this was the next best thing if i couldn’t move there with her, right? wow, this is becoming an eat, pray, love post in a coupla ways.)

i got some nice rope at the hardware store for 14 cents per foot. after putting the rope through the loop at the top, we were super-pleased with the results.

the banner/flags/garland is now hanging in our kitchen window… where else?

during the printmaking process, we got a little overzealous about the fact that cauliflower makes cute little trees, so we made an extra banner of all of the “tiny trees” we printed.

more ideas:

• i got word that there’s a shipment of starfruit coming in tomorrow to a local grocer, so you just may see some star bunting in our future, after all… it’ll be more on the aquatic-colored starfish side of things than fourth of july though.
• another thing i’d love to do with all of our extra lined rectangles is to do some leaf printing on them like the artful parent shows here.
• you can also print letters to spell out a word or name.
• it would be great to do a different child’s handprint on each piece of fabric, say for a school class banner (think: teacher appreciation) or to give to a grandparent who has several grandkids, or for yourself, (if you have enough little hands and feet in your house to make a decent length garland of your own kids’ paws.)
• printed fabric squares make for lovely garland, flags, pockets to sew onto aprons, book-covers, etc, etc, etc…

let your imagination run with it and string it up on the wall!

one of our favorite summertime rituals is making homemade popsicles. this week we made our first of the season – kid-friendly piña colada style! i saw the recipe on babble.com’s family kitchen and they had me at “coconut milk.” i also loved that no cooking was involved in these whatsoever (while some fruity popsicles require cooking the fruit and sugar to make syrup first.) so i gathered up some ingredients – all organic, of course.

you’ll need:

• 1/2 fresh pineapple
• 6 tablespoons 100% white grape juice concentrate (i used regular white grape juice & it was fine)
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 cup plain yogurt

then i threw it all into a blender and pureed.

poured it into one of our many popsicle mold sets… (or you could use ice cube trays and toothpicks or paper cups and popsicle sticks.)

we let them freeze for 6 hours (or overnight) and then we totally enjoyed them on an afternoon playdate.

mommy and daddy even got to have a summery little treat by adding malibu rum to the leftover blended popsicle liquid…mmmmm!

here’s to summer, and many more homemade popsicles to come – check out this link for over 50 of them!

school’s out for summer! this was N’s last week of preschool until it begins again in september. to celebrate, the parents hosted a little potluck party after the last class to honor the two preschool teachers who have been so amazing to our little ones all year long. and, of course, there were gifts…

we collaborated on a scrapbook for the school, where each child was responsible for creating a page for the book, complete with art and a photo of the child. here’s N’s watercolored page (recognize the rubber cement watercolor resist?) it’s complete with her picture, a self-portrait drawing, and her drawings of both of her teachers. oh, and it’s signed by the artist!

name and face covered for privacy

a few weeks ago, we gave each teacher their own handprint tote bag for teacher appreciation week, but we still wanted to make them a little something to commemmorate the end of the year. so, apples for the teachers. naturally. i grabbed two wooden balls (flat on one end) from my wood stash, and i used the woodburning tool to put each teacher’s name on an apple, the school’s name, the year, and N’s name on the bottom.

(school name blurred for privacy)

then N went to town painting the apples with watercolors.

we waited for the paint to dry, and then we polished each apple with our homemade wood creme.

then we cut out stems and leaves from green felt and i hot-glued them to the apples.

voila, an apple for each teach! happy summer everyone!

just wanted to post a quick little artsy update to show where some of our art projects have been integrated into our lives… you can click the links throughout to see the post noting how and when we did each project.

you may recall that for mothers’ day this year, we created handmade blooming paper for the cards. well, N’s 90 year old greatgrandmother (my nana) sent us a photo of her planting her seed paper.

and gwee (N’s grandmother/my mom) sent us a photo of her first sprout when it happened. (word still out on craig’s mom’s seed paper. we’ll have to get back to ya on that… hey, grandma? how’s it sprouting?)

gwee's first sprout & the plant today

speaking of grandmothers, gwee’s visit is almost here, and we know that by cutting our links off of our countdown chain each night after dinner. N has acquired some mad scissor skills through this project. hooray!

11 more days!

speaking of plant growth, N’s cosmos are growing in her fancy flowerpot! no flowers yet, but we’re waiting…

the medicine wand and natural imprints grace our den table along with some smooth stones we found at pescadero beach last month.

N still plays with her pet rocks and blarney stones on a regular basis. they live in her bedroom.

and she rocks the sandtray every coupla days. i’m sure it’ll see even more action when the weather warms.

the art gallery in N’s bedroom is alive and well… and expanding!

sadly, what is NOT alive and well is our terrarium. the plants rotted from overwatering. i opened the lid to get some moisture out, but it was too late. it is so stinky now that i’ve been avoiding cleaning it out, so it’s been sitting outside as a visual reminder to dump and scrub it, but alas, i have not after this long, and i may end up on the tv show, hoarders. i just don’t have a green thumb, but i am trying again and again.

hope that ladybug has noseplugs!

but there are expansions happening over here: like my newfound obsession with not throwing the toilet paper and paper towel rolls into the recycling bin, like ever (again, hoarders?) and instead creating cardboard leaves and petals.

and now we’re making larger wall creations for the playroom. (this one still needs to grow – it’s a work in progress)

(updated: a month later)

N is coloring in her coloring books every single day, for maybe 1.5-2 hours per day. i’m so not complaining because i can cook dinner and she has developed some meticulous coloring skills.

and the magnadoodling just does not quit around here.

"mommy in a blue dress she wore to a wedding and N in a dress that is blowing in the wind with leaves blowing in the wind"

somehow we still haven’t finished our lemonade from last week yet. (note to self. next time, use less sugar! i feel like i’m giving myself and everyone else diabetes over here! i’ve been diluting each glass of it.)

i’m happy to note that creativity is contageous: N’s dad, craig, gets creative with N’s food, just like i do when i bento and make cute breakfasts and lunches.

daddy's egg mango lion!

on a side note: my daily photoblog project with my fellow fotog friend, katie, is still ticking and clicking away. on there you will find that katie received one of our nest zest nesting orbs as a birthday gift, and the birdies have been visiting hers in colorado and pimping their homes! hooray!

photo courtesy of katie day weisberger

which other posts might you want updates on? i’m always happy to share how things are turning out around here…

we are anxiously awaiting WARM WEATHER over here in the sf bay area, and all of the fun things it entails… but i just could not wait any longer to make fresh squeezed lemonade with my little lady. i must forewarn you that this is a photo-heavy entry… lemons just provide so much eye-candy (and other senses, too!)

it was super-easy and fun to do! here’s whatcha need:

• 2 cups fresh squeezed lemon juice (we did this with 12 lemons)
• whatever tools you wanna use to squeeze lemons dry
• 1.5 cups raw sugar  (we used organic raw turbinado sugar, so ours looked more like tea)
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 gallon cold water
• one sliced lemon & fresh springs of mint leaves for garnish

let your little one take sticker off of and wash each lemon.

have fun squeezing all of the lemons to get the juice out any way you can!

enjoy all of the sensory experiences that come along with lemons!

scent

taste

in a 1 gallon container or pitcher, place the sugar and hot water and stir until sugar dissolves. add the fresh lemon juice and cold water to fill the remainder of the container or pitcher.

we cut some peppermint sprigs for garnish. (note the cute plant tag!)

chill the lemonade and serve over ice (uh, but we don’t make ice in our house, so we just had to chill it longer.)

nope, it's not tea. that's the color of the raw sugar.

i had a hard time parting with the lemon rinds, so i put them in some water with cinnamon sticks and cloves and simmered it on the stove to make the house smell awesome for the day.

then N was inspired to make lemonade art…

i think we’re all set for a lemonade stand… if the weather would ever get outta the 60s and the sun would come out around here… come on memorial day weekend, bring it!

i was at the dentist office last week, and i was naughty and ripped a page out of their kiwi magazine on cooking with kids: making homemade pizza, april/may 2010 issue. (the iphone pic of the page wasn’t gonna cut it with the small text.) as evidenced by N’s pure joy when we made homemade pretzels recently, i knew she’d be into anything involving creating dough and then eating it. so we embarked on the art of a pizza adventure!

here’s whatcha need: (i love to visit the bulk bins at wholefoods for the flours)

for dough:

• 1.5 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 3/4 cup warm water
• pinch of sugar
• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil (plus more for brushing)

for the toppings: (this is their recipe, but we altered it because i’m not a ricotta fan)

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp coarse cornmeal
• 2 cups sliced mushrooms (as local and wild as possible)
• 2 cups sliced asparagus (we didn’t do this part)
• 1 clove of garlic (i used 6 – we’re garlic people)
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese (i used a bunch of shredded mozzarella and also some sliced fresh mozzarella instead)
• i topped ours with parm, too

then here’s whatcha do… (words almost verbatim from kiwi magazine – i couldn’t find it online so i retyped it for you all. whew! hopefully this karmically makes up for the fact that i tore the page out of my dentist office’s magazine.)

parent & child: in a small bowl, ask your child to combine yeast, 1/4 cup warm water, and the sugar. set aside for 5-10 minutes.

parent: in a food processor, pulse to combine the flours and salt. add yeast mixure, remaining water, and olive oil, then pulse until shaggy dough forms

parent & child: knead the dough on a floured surface for 5 minuts, until smooth and elastic. we had so much fun doing this together. during it, N said, “we’re cooking together! now i can find out what it’ll be like when i’m a mommy!”

child: lightly brush the bottom and sides of a large metal bowl with olive oil. place dough inside, cover with dish towel, and set is aside in a warm place for one hour, while it doubles in size.

parent: preheat oven to 500 degrees

child: brush unlined baking sheet with olive oil and dust with cornmeal

parent: on medium heat, saute mushrooms and garlic (minced or sliced) until soft (5 min) then add asparagus (if you’re using it,) thyme, salt, and pepper. saute 5 more minutes and then set aside.

parent & child: on lightly floured surface, roll the pizza dough out from the center into a 12 inch circle. transfer to baking sheet and bake 10 minutes.

parent: remove crust from oven and let stand until cool to touch (just under 10 min)

parent & child: spread ricotta cheese (or whatever cheese you’re using) onto crust leaving a half inch border, then brush the border with olive oil. scatter on the rest of your toppings (or arrange into a face or get creative with the arrangement… we just scattered ours though.)

parent: put pizza back into the oven until cheese and veggies are heated through, about 5 minutes. then dinner is served! (sure, it’s labor-intensive, but it’s lotsa creative fun, too!)

this feeds about 4 people and is very filling and yummy! we paired it with a simple romaine salad (with sauted garlic, olive oil, and lemon on it… tho it didn’t make it into this shot for some reason. N just had a bowl of green peppers and carrots on the side, as she dislikes the texture of lettuce… white wine for the parents, organic OJ for the little one.)

enjoy your artful dinner! we did, and N was so proud, “i cooked dinner for you!”