Art Lesson with Older Kids: Button Paintings

I had all 3 "older" kids (5-7 year olds) this week for art class. This was our project...a button painting (like the one I did here).

(The 2 with no names at the top-lefthand corner are mine). i think Ava's (in the bottom right) may be my favorite. (Shhh!...don't tell the kids I said that! I'm not supposed to pick favorites!) It's not as squared-up and structured as my example and like the boys' were...the buttons are kind of willy-nilly...but that may be what makes me like it. The buttons look like they're all spilled out across a table. I may do one myself like that. I'm really liking this project and have been inspired to do a couple ATC's/ACEO's using watercolors and the stamps.

It is interesting to now see the dynamic of having 3 kids in the class. I'm starting to see the differences in how the kids work. One follows directions well and finishes the steps quicker than the others, but is very talkative and easily distracted. One is quiet and very focused, but doesn't always follow the specific directions I give, whether they weren't listening or just forgot. And one has an active imagination and gets focused on making up stories of what they're drawing and enjoys drawing little details, and in their excitement, sometimes forgets what the original directions were. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, but they all did very well. And I didn't mind the kids who didn't follow the directions exactly, because their work turned out well anyway. And the bottom line is...art is about having fun, right? (well, the point of the art CLASS is learning too) I have to walk a fine line between having expectations, directions, structure, and rules...but at the same time, reassuring them that mistakes are okay and that sometimes mistakes make a piece of art turn out even better. (I got a lot of "I can't make a perfect circle!"...even after I said that their circles didn't have to be perfect! LOL.)

For the main project, I showed them my example and told them to make 5 circles with the watercolors, in whatever colors they wanted. After the watercolors dried, I had them use my Button stamp to stamp the button design onto the circles. The I had them use alphabet stamps to write their names on their papers...which I thought looked pretty cool with the overall design.

I originally had planned this project for the little kids, due to its simplicity and how it looks cool no matter what. But then I thought the older kids would enjoy it as well! (and they did!)

While we let the watercolors dry, they worked on some new How-To-Draw worksheets I'd made. One for how to draw a boy, one for how to draw a girl.

They were all very quiet and focused while they were drawing...

I have to be prepared for what to do if a kid finishes before the rest. I've debated between letting them go to the next step of the project or having them wait for the other kids to finish. As of now, I've been having them wait, but giving them scrap paper and letting them doodle until the rest of the kids are ready for the next step. (any art teachers out there have some advice for me?)

Make It Monday!: Button Stamps from Spools & Craft Foam

Awhile ago on the blog, I showed you the button stamp I made from an empty spool and craft foam. There's a link in the post to the tutorial that originally inspired me, but I've finally gotten around to taking photos for my own tutorial!

Materials:

• Empty plastic spools (you could also use old prescription bottles)
• Craft foam (the kid you find in the kids' craft section)

Tools:

• Hot glue gun
• Scissors
• Hole punch
• Marker, pen, or pencil

Use the spool you want to use to trace 4 circles onto the craft foam (I did 2 circles on blue and 2 circles on red.)

Cut circles out.

Take one circle and punch 4 holes in it to look like button holes (you can do 2 holes if you'd like).

Use the hot glue to glue one of the blank circles to the top of the spool. (You could also use chipboard if you'd like. It might even work better. The first circle is just a base to glue the other part to.

Glue on the "button" foam circle.

And there's the first stamp!

Take the second red circle and use a smaller spool to trace a circle.

Cut the circle out so you have a hole in the middle. The circle should now look like an "O".

Glue the blue foam circle onto the other side of the spool, then glue the "O" on top of it.

Remember when you used the hole punch earlier? Salvage those little foam dots from your hole punch. These will be the "button holes" for this side of the stamp.

Carefully glue the dots in the middle of the "O" to look like button holes. And now the second side is done!

One stamp...two designs!

Note: Be sure to clean your stamp off after using it!...especially if you plan on using the other side right away. Failure to do so will result in inked-up hands! I usually use cheap baby wipes from the dollar store.

I did a smaller one with a two-hole button design.

Happy Stamping! :)

Recycled Spool Button Stamp (Plus Owl-Inspired Art)

You know my love of vintage wooden thread spools...but what to do with the modern plastic ones when they're empty? I saw a tutorial a while back for making a button stamp out of an empty plastic spool and craft foam. I decided, on a whim, to try making one yesterday.

I didn't have the tutorial yesterday (I actually had to search for it in order to post the link), so I just sort of winged it. I'm sure I didn't make mine exactly like the tutorial. (but when do I ever make something exactly like the tutorial?) I used regular kids' craft form instead of the adhesive-backed foam. (I used regular, white, school glue to attach the foam at first, but even after drying overnight, it fell apart, so I re-attached the foam with hot glue today. Much better. You gotta love hot glue!

I made my stamp double-sided as well...

I liked the simple design I did on the "test page", but thought it would look better with 9 "buttons" on a square piece of paper. I also thought it would be cool to use watercolors to color the buttons. I painted the color on first, let it dry, and then stamped the design.

^note the sock monkey slippers^ ;)

(my Mommy got them for me as a belated Christmas gift.)

I watched "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole" last night and was inspired by the gorgeous visuals, so I did these two quick sketches with my watercolor pencils.

Terra is always curious about what I'm up to whenever I'm doing things on the coffee table. :)

Zipper Mouth in Progress...

A new monster in the works...

Christmassy Sock Monsters

I've had some mismatched Christmas toesocks that I've been meaning to make monsters out of, but had been putting it off until the Christmas season...

I love that green button! It's my last one...which is mostly the reason he has only one eye! None of my other green buttons worked as well as this one, and I didn't have any other buttons that went with it. That's the beauty of making monsters...you can get away with giving them only one eye!

On My Desk...

I continued the ongoing epic battle with my craft area this past week. I made some progress...mostly with a section of my desk. It still could use some work...but I took some pretty pictures...

I got this idea for using a vintage glass juicer to hold buttons from the Princess Lasertron blog. I just happened to have this gorgeous colbalt blue one that looks beautiful with an assortment of blue buttons.

Salvaged drawers on their sides used as as shelves.

Yay for pretty-colored semi-organized chaos!

Fun at Grandma's House (Part 2)

On Tuesday, Mom, Grandma and I went to Grandma's prayer shawl meeting at her church. Prayer shawl is where the ladies meet and knit (what else?) prayer shawls for different people who've had a loss in their family. While we were there, we got to talking about buttons for some reason and one of Grandma's friends told us that they had tons of buttons in the church basement in the "Crafty Ladies" supply stash and that I was welcome to take as many as I wanted. So Mom and I went downstairs and had lots of fun sorting through buttons. I think I'm going to make a monster and send it to the Crafty Ladies as a thank you.

Aaaahhhhhh! Oh no! It's my other mother! (sorry..."Coraline" reference!)

I could have taken more, but I didn't want to be greedy (because I would have taken almost all of them!), so I just took the ones that I thought were cool. They had lots of big black ones that were very "Coraline" that looking back, I kind of wish I'd taken too.

After we were finished raiding the buttons, Grandma went to pick up her friends for lunch while Mom and I went to the resturant to get a table. Grandma and her friends are the "Tuesday Girls", friends who have been meeting for lunch/dinner on Tuesdays since they were in junior high! My mom wrote an entry on her blog that has some memories of the Tuesday Night Girls.

There used to be 10...now there are only 3 left...Betty, Beverly, and Betty (there are LOTS of Bettys in Grandma's circle of friends). And let me tell you, they are a trip! Mom and I had such fun hanging out with them! I love that I'm at the point in my life where I can really appreciate hanging out with older women.

I love my Grandma. I wish I lived closer to so I could visit her more often.