Our Art Corner in the Kitchen

We have decorated the kitchen this week and I have also rearranged the art corner, with the introduction of the boys small table in to the kitchen are and the addition of some great storage from Ikea for the pens etc.

We have painted the kitchen Willow (a soft soothing green) after MadDad decided that the green I had chosen was too green!

The table is from Ikea and I painted the top with blue chalk board paint ages ago and the boys love to use chalk on it.  

It works really well, as it means the boys can come in to the kitchen and do art or puzzles etc whilst I cook dinner and it is also a great area for showing off their artwork.  It is my favourite place in the whole house.  The whole art corner upgrade was inspired by The Happy Home.

How do you display your children's artwork?

Children's Craft Showcase - Dying fabric with Permanent markers

Materials

Permenant markers

Surgical Spirit (from the chemist)

Jam Jars

Plain Fabric

Elastic Band

Syringe

Method

Put your fabric over the jam jar and secure with the elastic band.  Using your pen draw a pattern on the fabric.

Circles work best, but any pattern will do.  Leave a gap between the lines for the colour to bleed.

Take a syringe and fill with surgical spirit and then drop in to the centre of the fabric.

Move the fabric to a blank area and repeat as required.

I washed the fabric after we dyed it and some of the colour did come out, but not much and then I heat set it with a hot iron.

Children's Craft Showcase - How to make paper flowers

This is a really simple way to make flowers for someone special, not for any reason, just to say I love you.  They would also make a really great gift to say thank you to any teacher at this time of the year.

Materials

Tissue Paper
Heart Punch or template and scissors
Paper Straws (Art straws - 99p from The Works)
Paper brads

Method

This is such a simple piece of craft, that Maxi actually made all of our flowers (roses) which we took with us to see The Wiggles and give to Dorothy.

Use the punch to make heart shapes out of tissue paper

With a single hole punch make a hole in each at the point end

Place you tissue paper petals on to the paper brad

Place you brad in to the end of your paper straw.

Keep going until you have a bunch of beautiful paper roses (we gave ours to Dorothy the Dinosaur, when the boys saw The Wiggles)

Children's Craft Showcase - Fathers Day Cards and Presents

Fathers day will soon be upon us, it is Sunday 20th June this year and I have been busy thinking about cards and gifts for MadDad.  If you are anything like me then you would prefer to give a home made card every time.

I have a couple of very simple ideas for you.

I was inspired by Valerie at Frugal Family Fun Blog for this card.

Materials

Card stock

pencil or pen

circle stickers, various colours

scissors

Method

Initially fold your card stock in half to to create a greeting card shape

Draw a number of lines horizontally across the card to make the wire for the birds to sit on.

Depending on the age of your child, you can either cut the stickers for them or help them.

You use half a sticker (semi-circle) for the birds body, a sixth of the sticker to make the tail feathers and an eight of the circle to make the birds beak.

Using either a pencil or a fine liner add some feet and eyes for the birds

It is really easy, simple, very effective and then all that is left is to add your cheesy bird quotes

Next up is a twist on our favourite chick cards, we have done this for my niece who is 5 this week.

Materials

Card stock
Paper
Scissors
feathers
Googlie eyes
Glue

Method

Again very simple, Mini cut out two bird shapes (semi circle) and stuck them to the folded card stock.

We used two triangles cut out of foam for their beaks and a feather for the tails.  He also used foam shapes to add an age and name on to the card.

Scrap Art Book Marks

This is a super way of using up and making purposeful bits of art that the children have done.  For ours I used our Mable Paintings.

Materials

Card
Scissors or paper cutter
Scrap Artwork
Paper
Glue
Laminator or clear sticky backed plastic (also know as contact paper)


Method

Cut and matt the scrap artwork and your choice or card, making sure that the artwork is slightly smaller than the card backing and glue on.

We made a back for the bookmark out of paper, which read Happy Father's Day 2009 and then mini decorated it and stuck it on to the rear of the bookmark.

I then laminated them, I got four in to one pouch leaving space for the sheet to adhere between the bookmarks.  If you don't have a laminator (mine was £5 from Tesco), then you can use clear sticky backed plastic or contact paper.

I then used my guillotine to cut them up to individual double sided book marks.

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I hope I have inspired you to get crafting for Father's day this year  and if you do, I would love for you to come back and link here, so that we can all see and maybe have a try of your ideas too.

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Children's Craft Showcase - Painting

Sometimes painting with children can seem such a daunting task, it can take on a uncontrollable pace all of its own, which is why it is often great to use paint with an end in mind.

So I set up the painting tings on the dining table yesterday for when I collected the minimads from school and decided we would do blow painting with a straw and then do some marble rolling.

Materials

Paint

Water

Paper

Straws

Marbles

Tray (A bowl would be better from smaller children)

Method

You need to water down your paint for this to make sure that it blows and rolls easily.  I tend to drop blobs of colour one at a time on the paper for the boys to blow with the straw.

I also show them how to turn the paper so that the paint doesn't come off the edge.

They both prefer marble rolling, they have such fun and we all ended up in a pile on the floor laughing at all the times the marble left the tray, which is why a washing up bowl would be easier for smaller children.

You can also use a larger ball and dip the ball in the pain rather than rolling it through a large splodge on the paper.

I love the randomness of the images and the ways the colours blend.  We had a great fun few hours.

So anyone who is doing crafting with their children, please link up below, I would love to see what you are doing and get some inspiration for me and the boys.

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Children's Craft Showcase - Masking Tape

This one goes out to all of you with little ones, ones that scribble and just love free art.

Materials

Paper

Masking tape, as low tack as possible

crayons, pens, pencils, glitter, paint

I know that I keep going on about not passing your perfectionism on to your children and letting them express themselves, but it is so true.  I also know that there are lots of people out there who don't craft with their children because they fear the mess, well this is one for you.

By using masking tape, you can tape the paper on to the table, which is great for smaller children and stopped the paper moving.

You can also use different width tape, as the aim is to create a border of blank paper around the drawing.

Mini loves scribbling or making the paper colourful and this is a great way of letting him express himself.  I have also used this method with stamping and fabric printing.

 

So if you are inspired to do any crafty things with your children over the next couple of weeks then please link to me with the McLinky as I look to look at the things you all make and do.

Future Projects

We are going to be doing some Easter projects so please keep some egg shells for out next showcase!

Childrens Craft Showcase - Home Made Scented Playdough

Lets start the year with an oldie but a goodie and this is something that you can take out when you are lacking in motivation or just need a little break.  Once you have made it you will never again buy it and trust me adding essential oils makes it so nice.

Materials/Ingredients

1 and half cups (1 cup is 250ml) of salt

3 cups of warm water

3 cups of plain flour

3 tablespoons of oil

6 teaspoons of cream of tartar

Food colouring

Essential oils, I use lavender, neroli, geranium, camomile

Air tight containers

Method

1. 
   
   
   add the salt and water to a large pan and wait for the salt to melt
   
   
   
   
2. add the flour, oil and cream of tartar and heat over a medium heat, stirring continuously until it starts to pull away from the sides
3. Tip out the dough and need for about 2 mins
4. Split the dough in to smaller amounts and add food colouring and essential oil

Now we add different smells to the colours, being anal like I am, we have lavender in the blue, etc, etc

Now, I know there are other recipes out there, but this one seems to last better, sometimes up to six months, but then I have children, who like to keep the colours separate (yes strange I know)!

Play dough is not the devil's play toy, I know some people don't like it but I have never understood why.  If you have carpet then pop down a plastic tablecloth under the table.

We have a large box of toys to use with it, that have been collected over the years, but the ones that they always come back to, are the rolling pins and cookie cutters.  I just buy inexpensive plastic seasonal ones and use them for both the play dough and the cookies!

If I have inspired you to make any playdough, or just to craft with your children, then please come back and add your link below.  Lets make 2010 the year that we become a little less worried about the mess crafting with children can create and the need to add our perfectionism to the mix and make it the year for fun crafting.

Oh and please, please, please add my button to your sidebar and lets get more children and parents crafting too.  Thank you

Lastly this is your showcase too, if there is anything you would like me to focus on I will.  The plan is to try and keep things seasonal, easy and all encompassing.  Enjoy