Some Art Links for Kids and Grown Ups

This one uses a CD to make a cool looking mosaic tiled frame.  Also from the Art for Kids blog- a bit about the Strathmore ATC's for Kids kit. The blog author, Kathy Barbro wrote the projects for the kit!

Traci Bautista is teaching a free online workshop starting January 1st!  I've posted about Traci's book, "Collage Unleashed", and a couple of her videos here.  She has a new book, "Doodles Unleashed", coming out February 1st.  Today on her blog, she has some great recycled materials holiday projects!

oh, and I put another ornament up on Etsy.

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! :)

More Sprouts and Planting

I followed the suggestion in Make Your Place to start pepper and tomato seeds in an egg carton. It worked really nicely and it's super exciting that it was so cheap and easy. Any time Angelo gets a chance to play in dirt is bonus too. (There is green glass in our overhead light here. We haven't punked his hair- yet. ;) Though I couldn't remember whether the book said to remove the starters from the carton or not, I did. Some of the roots had started growing into the paper, but for the most part, they removed easily when I cut the cups apart and tore down the sides to release the dirt. The transplants are doing well. Some tomato stakes are in order later, of course, but for now they are fine.

Really looking forward to the Mixed Media Collage Workshop I'm teaching over at Sterling Yoga! It is wonderful and fulfilling working in my studio, but sharing art with others is just so exciting and fun!

Speaking of sharing art with others, I'm working on some new Artist Trading Cards for the latest Art Chix swap. For a while, I've played with the idea of organizing a swap myself, even though I just played in my first one a few months ago. There are quite a few belly dancer visual artists out there and I've talked to a few about having a small belly dance themed swap. There's no reason non-bellydancers couldn't participate also! What do you think? Would you be interested? Let me know in the comments below! :)

Also, welcome and thank you to the new blog followers here! So glad you're joining us! :)

Pom Pom Smoothies

I was over at the Pink and Green Mama blog and saw this cute kids' craft on making Pom Pom Milkshakes. She uses the caps from spray on sunscreen, but we had some apple sauce containers that I thought would work nicely. Though she recommended either hot gluing or letting the "straw" dry completely against the cup, I thought I'd experiment with the last one and just put the pom poms in securely around the straw. It worked just fine. We called ours smoothies since we aren't really milkshake people. Mine was a strawberry smoothie with blueberry toppings. Angelo was excited to have such big yummy blueberries in his multi-colored smoothie. This was fun, used up some of those versatile pom poms and also snuck in some fine motor activity and nutritional education.

Creatures and Monsters

Remember when I told you I would tell you what we did with Angelo's dried out play dough? That time is now. :) Though I tried to be diligent about asking Angelo to put his play dough away when he was finished playing with it and put it away myself at times, the inevitable happened and we ended up with lumps of crusty play dough. Inspiration hit after our wonderful friend got Angelo the Melissa and Doug "Decorate Your Own Wooden Airplane" and we were left with this wonderful box. Some googly eyes, glitter glue and Aleene's Tacky Glue later and we have a creature-scape. I had fancy dreams of adding a background, but that may never happen and I've accepted it. ;)

Angelo and I went to Handmade Arcade and really enjoyed ourselves. There's something really peaceful and inspiring about being around that many hand made pieces and the artists who made them. We especially loved the monsters! This one is at the Friend or Foe booth (sorry, there's no website listed for them).

This cute little guy by Cutesy but not Cutesy came home with us as an "Easter basket" present. Angelo insisted I hide it until he got his basket so it could be a surprise. This color combination, I've decided, is one of my favorite.

We were so excited by the monsters, that we decided to make our own. This one is made from craft felt and buttons (from a craft kit my sister-in-law got Angelo), stuffed with poly-fill. His name is Fred. We used glue to attach the facial features so Angelo could participate more and he helped a lot with the cutting and stuffing.

Earth Loving Practices

So, while I do not claim to be a perfect Global Citizen, over time, our family has taken steps to be more Earth friendly. I've found that once I became a mother it became even more important to me to preserve M0ther Earth. After all, "We did not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." (Chief Seattle, more than 150 years ago) and "With our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next 7 generations" (Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy) Hopefully, this list of what we've done so far will help anyone looking for ways to help the earth and inspire those who weren't looking. :)

*Most obvious, despite the fact that no one collects recycling in our area, we separate and deliver the recyclables to a recycling station an exit down the road.

*We have a large amount of dish and hand towels to reduce our paper towel use. I've even cut up old towels and serged the edges to make more cleaning towels.

*I am a vegetarian. My husband does not eat red meat or poultry. 

*We are raising our son vegetarian, therefore reducing his carbon footprint.

*We use environmentally friendly cleaning and paper products. (7th Generation all purpose and shower cleaner, toilet paper, paper towels, chlorine free training pants [uses no chorine and recycled paper]; Ecover non-chlorine bleach and dishwashing tablets; Method laundry softener, glass cleaner, biodegradable wipes, Lil' Bowel Blue; Baby-Ganics floor cleaner.

*We increased the amount of insulation on our home and added a heat pump to reduce our energy usage.

* We use high efficiency washers and dryers.

*I re-use food containers to store leftovers

* I re-use glass jars for craft storage and paint water

*I collect bottle caps, wooden fruit crates, receipts, tags, cardboard and other odds n' ends 4 art.

*We drive zero emission cars.

*We give to Goodwill or find a friend who could use something rather than throwing it away. May seem like a no-brainer, but some people throw away useful things and I don't know why.

*We buy a share in our local CSA farm (community supported agriculture). Reduces shipping/fuel usage.

*We take plastic bags to the co-op so they can re-use them.

*We support local businesses whenever possible. (reduces shipping/fuel usage)

*Collect clothing I no longer wear but like for recycling as costuming, toys, etc.

*We use all natural, environmentally friendly toys for our son. I am also making some out of organic, naturally dyed material, organic cotton batting and stuffing. 

I have not figured out why I cannot cut and paste things in this blog. :P otherwise, I'd give you more reasons why what we're doing is important in the words of other journalists, etc. 

I hope you are inspired by this list to make some changes and keep the earth viable for generations to come. or maybe you can pass it on to others who may want some ideas.  there is also a short video clip on howdini.com on how to reduce your carbon footprint.   

I also plan on starting to cook more from scratch, even it is only once or twice more a week or month. Baby steps do make a difference. This will be a theme throughout this blog. :)