paint cut paste

ever since i saw this brilliant post on wise craft two years ago, i’ve totally wanted to make our own everyday placemats! i finally got around to it last week!

i don’t know about your home, but we really benefit from having some sort of wipeable, plastic placemat on the table at mealtimes. we use cloth napkins everyday and when we entertain, we use cloth placemats, but for everyday use, cloth placemats just don’t cut it. while i realize i could achieve this look (and you could too) by laminating beautiful cardstock or paper art work, i wanted the heft of cloth layers for our placemats.

where did those pretty patterns up there come from? well lately, i’ve been OB-sessed with spoonflower, so i could not resist (though i tried) picking a few patterns from their web site to use for ours. the visuals are important to me, especially for something we’ll see so often and will likely be burned in N’s brain if we use them for years of her childhood. because we are very seasonally oriented in our home (from our seasonal altar to food to centerpieces to decor,) i decided to choose one fabric for each season. i made eight placemats total: four with spring on one side, summer on the other. then four with autumn on one side, winter on the other. i got the spring fabric from etsy (i was seeking a hip snail print, as snails are a huge sign of spring here in our backyard, as they SWARM it all season long) and the other three seasons’ fabric was carefully chosen from spoonflower to also be personal to our family in some way.

when the fabric arrived, i was thrilled to begin! (a project with beautiful fabric that requires NO SEWING? this is my kinda creation!)

(i didn't need the pins. they just made the pic cute & were in the box with my fabric scissors.)

i followed the instructions on wisecraft: i began by cutting four 11″ x 17″ rectangles out of each fabric. (i freaked about the measurements here being exact and lining up because i didn’t read ahead in the instructions, but you don’t need to freak at this part. there is a time later when you’ll trim them down again.) i must have looked stressed during this part of the project because N kept rubbing my back and saying, “i like the way you’re concentrating here. good, good, you got it, good.”

then i ironed each rectangle of fabric. (first time i’ve used my ironing board in N’s life – she had to ask what it was. sad, right? uh, i like to tell myself that we mostly wear comfy knitwear and it’s not needed.) after they were wrinkle-free, i used thermoweb heatnbond lite to adhere spring to summer and fall to winter. wisecraft gives a thorough explanation of this process on her blog here.

after they were bonded, right sides of fabric facing out, i trimmed them down to 10.25″ by 16.25″ each. (aaaah, all lined up!)

next i did a little research on the laminating process. i found a teacher supply store locally that only charged 65 cents to laminate something that is 11×17 – score… or so i thought. BUT when we visited the store, i learned that the laminate was very thin and the placemats would still be flimsy like the cloth. so, i decided to go to fedex/kinkos (as wisecraft recommended – no need to try to reinvent the wheel to save a few bucks here.) i found it very user-friendly.

even though each placemat cost $4.50 to laminate at that size, we went this route considering the fabric investment i’d already made. they offer a thick plastic sleeve to put the cloth into. after it’s centered in the sleeve, just run it through the laminating machine that seals it together with heat. i feel like they’ll hold up for years!

about an hour after we laminated them, they were on our table and dinner was served — summer style!

even though this was a mom-made project, i have to say that N was with me every step of the way and takes immense pride in telling everyone “can you believe that WE made these placemats ourselves?!”

being an artsy momma blogger can be weird at times. there is so much art happening at our house every day — majorly overlapping projects. i sometimes look at these wonderfully organic art processes struggle with the question, “what is blog-worthy?”

tuesday morning, N painted & decorated a picture frame for a friend

in any given day, N draws/colors between 30-60 original pieces.

this sketch titled, "who wants some pizza?" cracks me up

there are watercolors and other paints on the regular. most days involve scissors and glue.

impromptu "paper house" made all on her own, after dinner monday night

cards are made at least 4 days a week, i can safely say.

moms' day cards for the grandmothers & great grandmother

lots of time there is sculpting or building of some sort. always photography. often fabric. constant make-believe. there are always gatherings of natural materials and using them for unique and artful purposes. or just watching nature’s magic unfold…

we watched these lives form over this week in our backyard playhouse

yet, days can pass where it’s more of the same type of art is happening, and i’ve blogged about it before.

mom's day restaurant tablecloth aftermath

whenever i introduce a new material, i generally blog about how that turned out. when N is in the flow and follows a self-initiated process through excitedly, i blog about it.

engrossed in beading

sometimes we create projects that are reserved for guest blogs elsewhere. (a few are coming soon!) a lot of the time i can’t blog about something awesome because it’s a gift we have yet to give. (ahem, fathers’ day cramping my style! why can’t i ‘block’ my husband from my blog, facebook page, and twitter feed for that one post?) oh well.

N "being the tree" at an artist open studio on mothers' day

and let’s be honest, i have sooo much less time to blog now that i see clients in my practice during N’s every single preschool moment. as she is getting older, school hours get longer and our chillin’-at-home-melting-crayons time is sadly on a gradual decline.

so, this leaves me curious about two things:

my fellow bloggers: how do you choose which of your many artful moments are blog-worthy?

and readers: what types of things do YOU enjoy seeing on this blog?

we are honored to partake in tinkerlab’s one year anniversary cardboard box challenge, alongside so many amazing bloggers! when presented with this challenge, i wondered how we could incorporate two things that N is naturally curious about exploring right now: illustrating (like a fiend!) and butterflies. i like to go with the flow…

with mother’s day coming up, my own uber-creative mom is on my mind a lot… and this blog is purely an homage to her. i decided to attempt to replicate a “visual aid” my mom created with me for science class when i was in about third grade. a perfect marriage of cardboard, drawing, butterflies, and celebrating MOM!

first, this crunchy boho-chic (um, pretty please?) momma got a new pair of birkenstocks (long overdue! sigh – but not so chic.) the box they came in seemed perfect for the challenge. i used an x-acto knife to cut a little window in the top of the lid to serve as our “screen” for the story to show through. then i sliced Xs across from each other in the top sides and bottom sides of the box, which is where our dowels (cardboard tubes) would go. that was the grown-up part of the project.

yes, i have big feet & when it comes to birks, i'm classic arizona or maybe a florida

next, N chose turquoise acrylic paint to cover the box, and used a small paint roller to paint the entire box. then she picked plum purple paint to paint the dowels. i remember that the version my mom and i made in the 80s was wrapped in fabulous hot pink butterfly wrapping paper, but we opted for paint so we could open & close the box afterwards.

while the box was drying, we cut a long thin strip of white scroll paper (from the roll of paper that goes on her easel.) we discussed the life cycle of a butterfly, which is currently what N is learning in preschool. on monday of this week, they watched the butterflies emerge from the chrysalis with wet wings and fly away. she is fascinated to say the least!

N named 4 stages of the butterfly: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis or pupa, and butterfly. as you see above, i drew boxes vertically along the scroll of paper for each stage, and two extra – for a title page and ending page. N is a sucker for puns, and got a great idea to draw a butterfly dancing on a stage for her title page: “stages of a butterfly”

she then got busy illustrating each of the phases in the cycle.

and was quite proud.

after the box was dry, N added many different butterfly stickers to its surface.

we opened the lid and used packaging tape to tape the top of the scroll to the top dowel and the bottom to the bottom dowel. (i love that this box has a hinged lid so that we can open and close it to perhaps insert different “stories” later!)

that's the image of the butterfly dancing on a stage. get it?

once the story box was complete, N was sooo excited about it! “we made a TV!” she exclaimed. i’ll let her give you the little tour through her story, winding the dowels at the top and bottom to crank the scroll through the images…

the four stages – images spliced together

click image to enlarge to see details - those are droplets from the "wet wings" in the last image

ta da!

the end (i'm sure the box could have used another coat of paint)

thank you to rachelle at tinkerlab for this challenge and for one year of your oh-so-inspiring blogs! and huge gratitude to my amazing mom for your contagious creative spirit and igniting my passion for self-expression! i hope i can do the same for my daughter.

happy mothers’ day weekend, mommas!

wanna see more cardboard creations?

have you ever been addicted to making flower fairies?

oh, i’ve had this bug for way too many years, and now i’m thinking it just might be genetic…

they’re just too fun! gather up some floral wire, wooden beads, silk petals, and get busy making new little friends! OR get the kit at the bottom of this post that has all of the materials in it, along with inspirational ideas for fairies you can create.

love these springtime friends!

oh-so-many colorfully creative ways to dye an easter egg floating around the web this year… we could not choose just one! we had to sample them all!

see our garden flags in the background?

we got out tons of supplies and started on our mission to color a couple dozen eggs!

from one of our old annual stand-bys of the melted crayon dye resist on the hot hard-boiled egg…

to blowing out eggs (until the veins in my neck burst) to create hollow masterpieces we can keep for a while (and keep out of the fridge!)

N tried it too - it was way difficult for her, as well

to decoupaging tissue paper patterns onto eggs a la the artful parent

to sticker masking

to shaving cream marbling (like we did with paper two years ago – and hey, it works on eggs, too! tip: try the darker colors for best results)

to food coloring in a strainer a la pink & green mama’s post

to botanical masking (gone wrong)

to toenail easter eggs

even some of our accidents were pretty…

cracked (oops) then double dipped in red & purple (N's fav colors)

…and some of our accidents were NOT pretty!

the contents of 6 hollowed out raw eggs dumped on our nice area rug

next year i vow to stray from the paas and food coloring to try vegetable egg dyeing. i’ve always wanted to, and have found some great recipes in the past. i LOVE the ones over at tinkerlab this year! but gosh, we had a lot of fun this week…

i also wanted to add that i was quite impressed with martha stewart’s egg dyeing iphone app! it’s 99 cents well spent for all of the inspiration it provides! (oh how i wish martha would give me a kick back for saying that!)

i’m saving some of these ideas for next year. once my neck and ears recover from hollowing out those eggs, i want to try more hollow eggs so i can create and decorate an easter tree with them since i didn’t get around to fulfilling that easter dream this spring.

all in all, it’s been quite an eggperimental easter week over here!

happy hoppy to you and yours!

i’m so psyched to be guest blogging today over at chalk in my pocket! (thanks, regina!) i’ve shared a project that’s great for earth day — it involves a nature walk, painting leaves, printmaking, and beautifying our backyard. go check out how we made our leaf print garden flags!

happy earth day tomorrow, everyone! how do you celebrate our planet?

yesterday we visited N’s allergist to repeat a series of tests for food and environmental allergies. we know these appointments tend to be long (2-4 hours) so, of course, we brought along art supplies.

isn't that a cute crayon roll? wish i made it, but i got it on etsy.

N is allergic to most nuts and also a legume (peanut) – she has a dangerous anaphylaxic response, as well as a contact allergy where she’ll get hives if she touches them. she also has intense allergies to oak, grass, and other environmental allergens. just to raise some food allergy awareness here, as an aside, i beg of you parents to please wash your child’s hands and lips (and yours) after they’ve eaten nuts so that kids like mine don’t look like the picture below when they touch the slide at the playground or hold hands with your child after s/he eats a PB&J. please be mindful of the severity of contact allergies. okay, that was my PSA on that. back to the art blog.

N had a skin test at age 2.5, and repeated it yesterday at 4yr 2mo.

15 minutes into the skin test

the skin test does not puncture the skin. it just exposes small areas of the skin to a liquid form of these allergens to measure the reaction. the most painful part is that it ITCHES and cannot be scratched (for about 30 minutes.) to alleviate the pain, the doctor said we could blow cool breath on her back.

N also had a stuffed animal giraffe, zoozy, at the doctor with her. we invited her to scratch his back and also to scratch our backs when she said “my fingers feel like they need to scratch something, even if it’s not my back!” N also asked to draw the entire time while we waited for the test to be complete. these are a few of the drawings she made there:

N said this is a picture of how her back was feeling at that moment.

N said the image below is: “me sitting sideways. that’s my back (left) and i have my knee up (right) where you see the scrape i got on it yesterday.” (she fell and skinned her knee the day prior.)

making art about what she was experiencing in the moment allowed N to make sense of what was happening to her and express her feelings about it. she was able to exhale these images out as a way to release the energy of the pain she was feeling. while it didn’t make the itching stop, the activity allowed a way to occupy her hands, stay present and mindful of her experience, and to visually communicate about it. this allowed her a sense of mastery over the experience, as these pieces of notepaper became safe containers to help her hold what she was holding. gosh, i could go on and on saying art therapisty things here, but i’ll just express my endless gratitude for art materials and for the inner wisdom they evoke from people of all ages.