Poetry by Book Titles

These remind me of all the fun I had with magnetic poetry:  here

For the Papa

These two guys of mine... well, just look at them.  Melts my heart. :)

Hope you had a great day celebrating the fathers in your life!!

Zen and the Art of Coloring

Totally asleep with the crayon still in his hand.  :)

There's nothing like coloring for relaxing, color-filled fun.  And for me, it's a great no pressure way to play with color combinations.  It's been interesting to watch DS progress into his coloring interest.  It used to take a few marks and then he was ready to move on to something new.  Now, he's willing to work on the same couple of pages over the course of a few days.

He's inclined to build things pretty often and his imagination is so fun to watch in action.

 

This book is really fun.  It's not for Angelo, though. It gives me something fun to do while he is coloring or happily running around the yard.  Originally I got it because the doodles are really cool and I wanted to use it as inspiration for art journaling.  There are coloring pages and blank butterflies so you can doodle/draw your own.  So far, it's stayed downstairs, but I'm sure at least a few designs have lodged in my brain and come out in the studio- which is the way I'd rather it happen anyway.

There's also a mandalas book in this line and I definitely plan on getting that one soon.  Birdie- didn't you say you made mandalas?  Would love to hear about your process!  :)  I have been interested in focusing more on them, especially since meeting and sculpting next to the Tibetan monks at the Children's Museum.  Inner Peace- isn't that the real reason we make art?  

 

Christmas Ornaments Handmade and Sentimental

A and I made several new ornaments for the tree this year.  This one I made with a 1 1/2" hole punch, a round inchie image (from Digitalcollagesheets.com maybe?), a vintage letter, vintage buttons and Distress Stickles.

This one was cut from the Art Chix card stock  holiday tags.  A cut some of them and I cut some.  He glitter glued some and so did I.  A hole punch, a hook and it's done.  

A loves his engines, and so they must adorn the tree! :)

This one is from the Animal Rescue Site.  A great place to buy since proceeds go to helping feed animals in shelters or global programs.

Another from the Animal Rescue Site.  Love me, Love my Dog! :)

And another.  I customized it to look even more like Dana.  :)


Enjoy your holidays!  Be safe and relax!  

Almost Winter Solstice

That post about holiday countdown calendars got me excited to make our own.  Here's how you can make one like ours (I'll reference this next year so you can count down for more than 4 days if you like, but don't let the short time stop you. :) )
1. Lightly sand 24 playing cards (optional)
2. Punch 24 small, 24 medium and 24 large circles out of patterned scrap paper using paper punches.  Alternately, cut them out.  You can use lids as templates or free-hand.
3. Ink the edges to distress (optional) and draw about 2 circles around the edges.  Mine are messy are artsy, just the way I like it.  I used a sharpie fine-tipped pen.  I also used it to hand write the numbers.
4. Glue the stacked circles together and then staple to the sanded cards.
5. Sew across the top of the sanded cards.
6. Stack the sanded cards on top of 24 other cards and sew on 3 sides to make pockets for tags.
7. Cut tags (smaller than your sewn area) using an electric cutter (I used my Cricut).  You can also use a paper punch or cut by hand and punch a small hole or staple the string/cord.
8. Use jute to string the tags.
9. Write special activities or special treats on the tags.  We wrote "popcorn and a movie", "go see Christmas Trees at Museum", "Read a big stack of books" (really big- Mommy and Daddy took turns with each book), (and others below).
10. Wrap jute around a batting and velvet covered (stapled) board and clip cards onto jute with mini clothes pins.

My rock drill he'd really been wanting to use.

The 2 thin shells we managed to drill through.

Paper snowflakes have continued to be a huge hit.  The Trader Joe's sales flyer  made some great ones.


Now, I'm back to sewing (set up a temporary kitchen station for more progress) and the rest of the day.

Happy almost Winter Solstice!!!

Links for Holiday Countdown Calendar and Mercury in Retrograde

Free Victorian clipart found here.

DH and I decided there was no need to buy for each other for Christmas again this year. But, if we hadn't, I might suggest this course by Misty Mawn for myself. Her work is very inspiring and so is her book, Unfurling.  Perhaps there is an artist on your list?  Perhaps you should add yourself to your list? :)

If you want to make an advent/holiday countdown calendar, there are a couple posts out there I found interesting:

Maya*Made has one here.  And here. She also has an adorable house version that could be made into an ornament as well.  Threaded Basil wrote about her Maya*Made advent calendar here.  Her idea of cleaning up the playroom before diving into the treat is excellent!

Amy Karol, a.k.a. Angry Chicken has a post on one she made here.

If you want to make this, but are fretting because we are already 5 days into December, might I suggest being an "anti-perfectionist" and doing it anyway?  You could start tomorrow or even 5 days from now and it would still be exciting and fun.  A 20 or 15 day countdown is still a long countdown, don't you think?  A has been asking if it is Christmas (our tree is up), so maybe we will add this to our project list.  It would be a great lesson in DIY, re-using, counting forward and backwards, creative expression and valuing time together.  I adore Maya's idea of using "time tickets" in the pockets ... things like "hot cocoa date with Mommy" or "ice skating date with Daddy".

In other news, if you have also been experiencing miscommunications, wrong thinking, past issues resurfacing, and faulty information (via people or with phones, computers, cars, trains, etc.) it is due to Mercury being in retrograde.  A LOT of people I am in contact with have been complaining about just these things and with good reason.  This one's a doozy!  Why do I know?  I looked it up for my own sake.  Woah.  Glad I re-ordered my Hyland's Nerve tonic before now.  Looks like things should settle down on January 1st.

Maybe A and I will get on that countdown calendar today.  Making stuff is always good for the soul. :)

Altered Alice Fall Colors Challenge

This time, I'm gonna make the deadline!! Whoo Hoo! Drew this Alice Girly for the Altered Alice Fall Colors Challenge.  Colored her with Prisma pencils, chalks and acrylic paint (a la Suzi Blu's La La La coloring methods, with my own interpretation). The background is acrylic paint, sponged ink and a stamped Tim Holtz tree.  I punched the leaves from some index cards I painted.  Distress Stickles are around the border. 

Maybe we should have a Mad Tea Party instead of Thanksgiving dinner...

Copyright 2011 Narah Kimberly A. Minardi All Rights Reserved.

Handmade Halloween Costumes

You'll recognize the mask DH is wearing as the one A  painted.  A's costume is made of wool felt from a pattern I drafted.  Dana's "ghost" costume is just material tucked into her collar.

Here, A shows off his spider legs.  The black widow marking was my husband's idea and handiwork.  It is automotive reflective tape- decorative and a nice safety feature for an all black costume. It consists of a pair of pants, and oversized long-sleeved shirt with a casing/elastic at the bottom and a separate hood (though, I did tack it down after he had it on. No sticking him with the needle, believe it or not.) The legs are stuffed with poly-fill and tied off for the segments.  the ends are all connected with quilters' thread.

My ghost costume was inspired by this one. (I opted out of the fishnets and heels.) It's the one I ironed the material, drafted the pattern for, cut and sewed in about 3 or so hours (lots of anti-perfectionist methods in play).  Now, deciding on a design... well, that took quite a bit longer.  There are no finished seams or hems, but there was a lot of snipping and ripping.  If you'd like to know more, please contact me.

Out collecting Treats.  You can see the Trick-or-Treat bag a little better here.  The outside and lining are both quilter's cotton for cuteness and strength.

Hope your Halloween was awesome!!!!!

Unrelated, I found a site that lists sheet music images from the Library of Congress. It is massive and though I'm not sure I'll ever get through it all, I'll have fun looking!


Also, check out www.VinegarandGlitter.com for the Altered Book Workshop flyer.  Today is the last day to register!!  

Mad Hatter Gone Batty and More Halloween Fun

Happy Halloween!!! It's the BEST day of the year!!!!!!

We already have been celebrating with lots of creative activities around here, and Trick-or-Treat will be a great topper tonight.  For us, it isn't even about the candy, but a way to face and celebrate the shadow side of life.  Plus, all those trick-or-treaters are pretty darn cute!  Even before we had Angelo, we have always loved Trick-or-Treat.  It's a great way to be a part of community if only for a short bit of time.  Our plans for the candy (since we eat such low sugar food and candy is so rare in this house) is to let Angelo have a few pieces tonight and give him the option to trade the rest for a super special toy.  Yes, it is bribery, and it's not a regular feature here, but today is an extraordinary day!

This was for the Altered Alice challenge- the Mad Hatter at his tea party with Twinkles.  So, Twinkle Twinkle little bat it is!  The background (on a plain index card) is a couple of stamps plus some sprayed mica ink (twinkly).  The image is colored with colored pencils and the polka dots have added Stickles (twinkly).  The bats are punched from a book page I sprayed with Tulip fabric paint/dye over cheese cloth.  The border and outlines are made with a Sharpie micro tip pen.

I didn't actually finish this in time to enter the challenge with all the other projects I had going on, especially sewing our costumes.  That's OK, though, since I really like doing challenges for the "challenge" aspect. Sure, winning is great, but going by someone else's guidelines while still having artistic freedom is a great way to stretch your creative wings.  :)

Here are a few more projects I've worked on lately.  I'll keep the descriptions short. :)

A with Sparky the Fire Dog at the Halloween parade, wearing the spider costume, but not the cute Trick-or-Treat bag.  Oops! 

One of A's Halloween decorations.  He cut out this, the skeleton and wolf man (because those are the only ones that actually link) from *Kaboose.  He stapled them together- easy and fun! They're hanging in the living room. :)  He's currently working on some of these coloring pages.  *Warning, the video ads are very annoying!

A having fun cleaning out the pumpkin.

A carved one of the eyes and drew the nose on this 1st one.

I absolutely LOVE this one!! A carved it with only the teeniest bit of help from Mama (holding the pumpkin and encouraging).  Love how children have such natural creativity and it looks extra creepy cool!

A Haunted house I painted, stamped and glued images to.  House form from Art Chix.

A Halloween bunting made from material I bought a few years ago.  It dons our entry-way.

I need to take a moment and mention my self-control.  In past years, I bought every Halloween magazine I saw, OD'd on Halloween art supplies, over-stocked on costume material and generally went nuts buying Halloween stuff.  This year, not a single magazine or decoration was bought, only material and art supplies in our stash were used, with this exception:  I only bought a few paintable forms for A and I to use (and some styrofoam balls for an art doll witch).  And we actually used them (except for the styrofoam... by the time I was into the sewing mode it was costume time.  But, we are a few steps closer to having her done.)!  BTW, the total for all the new purchases was about $15 or less. See below:

Couldn't resist this paper mache witch hat- I'd _just_ been looking in Bethany Lowe's Folk Art Halloween book and the supply list included "paper mache witch hat".  I thought, "yeah, right.  Because all stores carry that sort of thing."  I guess in the Bethel Park, PA Michael's they do!!  Also couldn't resist the antique photo finish here. :)

A picked out all of these himself and chose when and what colors to paint them.  

I know this was a long post!  (Aren't you glad I didn't add the "how to make a ghost costume in about 3 hours" tutorial?) Hope it adds festiveness to your Halloween mood!!! 

Dia de Los Muertos

This is a collage I made for the Art Chix Day of the Dead challenge.  The skull I was able to draw here and there in my large spiral art journal pad.  The multiple purples on the canvas I painted many years ago and wasn't sure where to go next.  Figured it out, though.  Some orange splattered paint, mica ink spray, paper and "silk" flowers (also mica ink sprayed) and my cut-out skull were added.  The color was added with oil pencil on the skull.  An additional layer of mica ink spray was added to make the skull more cohesive with the rest of the piece.  

Please "Like" my picture on FaceBook and help me win! :)

Cupie Witch

Hmm... let's see.  How was this little Cupie Witch made? A coat of paint on a paper box lid, scratched with  a needle tool, glued on some collage images and punched shapes, a coat of beeswax (added with a quilting iron, inspired by Suzi Blu's La La La class), and some copper Shiva paint stik rubbed into the scratches, the excess rubbed away.

It's getting clooooooooooserrrrrrrrrrrr!!!! 

How is your Halloween prep going? 

Hand Drawn Owls and Moon

copyright Narah Kimberly Minardi 2011. All Rights Reserved.

 This is a piece I did for Art Chix latest challenge- owls.  I hand drew the owls and moon on heavy drawing paper, colored them with chalks and colored pencils, cut them out and adhered with matte medium.  The background and houses are corrugated cardboard.  The papers on the houses are antique spelling primer pages, vintage letter and envelope and old graph paper.  The paints I mixed with soft gel medium for a glaze.  The circles were made with a marker lid.

Hope you enjoy!  More to come at the Haunted collage workshop! :)