Spring Break

I'm taking a bit of a Spring blogiday this week.  I'll be back next week.... hopefully with some good stuff I've been making whilst not blogging!

Hugger

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Farm Jacket Debut

I had hoped to have this little number finished by 'the birthday' but an inane decision to hand-quilt around all the motifs meant that it was still very much a work in progress at that time.  But here it is... the 'Farm Jacket' from Clothkits, which comes complete with little farm animals and a tractor to slip into the pockets. 

You can just about glimpse mr sheep peeking out of a top pocket on this next pic.

Here is Beefeater Paddington (the latest present from Dadda Boo's London business trips) being put through his paces at the playground.  

The farm jacket is a reprint of a vintage pattern.  I'm so glad that Clothkits are doing this as I love the old designs.  I understand my younger sister and brother had one of these, though I don't recall it myself.  Probably had my mind on other things as I was a teenager!

There are two more Clothkits projects in the pipeline.  Both for myself.  About time probably!

And yes, we are back at the beach again.   
  
 
 
 

Spring!

I always thought Spring started on 21st March, but our calendar declared that today was the first day of Spring, so I stayed up late last night in order to finish 'Lady Spring', our bringer of all things spring-like.  Here she is on our fledgling Spring nature table, which will be added to in the coming weeks.

 She's made from needlefelted wool.  I had lots of fun with the spring colours on her clothes. Yeah, I know her head is out of proportion, but hey I'm a needlefelting novice, so I accept this as part of my learning.  She is joined on the nature table by a little bear and picnic basket which Boo and I made from clay.  Boo is most excited to hear that the bears are waking up now that it is spring, although I'm not sure that the picnic basket is a very good idea!  There are also some little needlefelted eggs in a raffia nest.

The sun shined all day, and we headed out for our first trip of the year to the beach.  

I am noticing that Boo is much happier and calmer when she gets some time in the day to muck about outside, digging in the garden, or in the sand at the beach, splashing about in puddles, or sticking gravel into her shoes.  She has a real need to get close to the earth and feel its material qualities.

You know what, it works for me too. 

Shave? I'd rather paint!

Recently I picked up a copy of 'First Art: art experiences for Toddlers and Twos' by MaryAnn Kohl, at the library.  It's full of lots of ideas that I would never had dreamed up for mucking about with paint, dough, printmaking and general gunk with little ones.  One idea that it has introduced to me is that paint doesn't have to be paint.  Know what I mean? No?  Ok, well what I mean is that it doesnt have to be the stuff you buy in tubs and tubes in an art shop.  If painting at this age is about process and sensory experience, which I think it is, then you can make 'paint' with all sort of materials to create different qualities/surfaces etc.  The book provides a whole host of ideas for paint recipes, so we decided to try out the 'shaving cream and glue paint' today.

So you need some 

• shaving foam


• white glue


• food colouring


• bowls and spoons


• paint applicators (we used sponge brushes)

Look at this, Boo finally has an art table!  $30 for table and 2 chairs at Ikea.

You simply mix up equal volumes of foam and glue, and then add drops of food colouring.

The result is a kind of puff paint which stays thick and foamy whilst you paint.  Dunno know it dries yet, but I figure that doesn't matter anyway as Boo really isn't interested in stuff she's already done.

Of course, Boo being Boo, the hands went in before too long.

 

Best not to mention what she did with those hands next, but let's just be grateful for washable house paint.  Does anyone else have a 3 year old who is determined to do anything that she knows is 'naughty'??

I have to say this was a multisensory activity too, I never noticed how much perfume they put in shaving gel (we used some male and some female).  
   

One thing to mention, as the paint contains white glue, I'm not sure of its washability with clothes once dry.  We got some on our clothes so promptly whipped them off and straight into the machine.  Ok, so Boo has an art table.  Now she really must have some art clothes soon.

 

Three

My baby girl turned three yesterday.

Three years ago:

Today:

 I had been furtively crafting away on some special birthday items before the big day.  The felted crown was knitted from a free pattern available online at Lion Brand Yarn, and embellished with felt, buttons and ribbon.

Then there was the this fine equine:

 

I made the hobby horse from a charity shop jumper which I felted, and used the instructions available on video on ehow here.  I found some really nice embellishments, including some lovely bells, and some hand-dyed wool from Fleece Artist.

The birthday flags were knitted using a pattern from Zoe Mellor's 'Nursery Knits' book, using Bernat handicrafter cotton yarn.

Boo loves carrot cake, so I made her a recipe I'd been recommended (thanks Ian!) from Ottenlenghi's , a place in London I'll be checking out on my next visit, whenever that may be!  Unfortunately, trying to cook with a girl on her last day of being 2 was pretty chaotic and somehow I managed to chuck all the eggs in, before I realised you were supposed to separate them and whisk up the whites to stiff peaks.  Oops.  Well, I cooked it anyway and it was absolutely delish, if a little sunken in the centre.  I omitted the walnuts or I'd have been picking out every one for little lady.  You can get the recipe here

Three very special years.  And it just keeps getting better.

 
   

They make ice skates in that size?

I think in Canada, the little ones learn to crawl, then to walk, then to skate.  How else can they progress to ice hockey before they've even started school?  Boo has observed the skaters on the mountain-top skating pond at Grouse Mountain on a number of occasions, but always been reluctant to don the skates and have a go herself ( and yes, she's in the smallest size they offer for rental).  How proud is mama then, when she welcomed the proposal, put on the skates, and managed to make her way around the pond, not once but twice!  I'm sure other little ones get out there and go for it at the first opportunity, but our little Boo is a cautious one physically and I am always so thrilled when she relaxes and gives something a go.  

 

Thick and juicy painting with Boo

Boo and I have tried out some different paints for her artwork, but powder paint is definitely our favourite at the moment.  I mix it up thick so that you get some great texture and some juicy marks when different colours are painted on top of one another. 

When I was doing my pre-art school year ('Art Foundation'), I remember that the college provided the painting students with powder paint for the first part of the year (later we 'graduated' to acrylic paint).  I remember mixing up the stuff to some thick pastes and applying with a range of implements to get a really thick texture.  You can also add PVA glue to powder paint to make a sort of acrylic paint.  This will stop some of the cracking that happens when thick powder paint dries, but it will also give it a plasticky sheen, you lose the mattness that I actually rather like.

Boo seems to be quite interested in painting circles at the moment.

Process is definitely more important than product, she's not very interested in them once they are finished.  Often now, she marks a mark, then asks me what it is before proceeding.  So, 'what is it?', 'its a bush', then she says 'its spring and the flowers are growing' and starts to splodge on some flowers with stabbing brush marks.

Sometimes we get rain and sun too, and a whole narrative develops.  I love this storytelling approach to painting, its so interactive with the materials, and it is something we are doing 'together' as we talk about the work in progress.

After being mostly interested in pushing paint around with her hands, Boo is developing an interest in using the brushes and exploring the marks they can make.  It's really exciting to watch the development that's going on with her right now.