Christmas Past

This year, we have mostly been reprising favourite Christmas crafty/bakey goodies from previous years.  Broken nights with the wee boy are zapping me of the energy to devise anew, but I'm reassured that seasonal rituals are just what small ones find most reassuring.  So here,in the spirit of ritual, are some of our christmas activities from years past.

Activity-based advent stockings

 

Salt Dough Christmas Tree Ornaments

 

Potato printed christmas wrapping paper

 

Plaster cast christmas decorations

 

Gingerbread House

 

Origami Advent Calendar

 

King Winter/Winter Waldorf Nature Table

Hope you are enjoying some Christmas making rituals!

 

 

 

Autumn Window Trees; the reprise

Just a year ago (was that all it was?!), we created our window trees - see their first Autumnal incarnation here.  My goodness, I look back at this and it seems me and the Boo had all the time in the world, now we snatch babe's naptimes as our together time, and to be truthful, mostly we are are outside hunting for spiders and worms rather than creating anything much.  But the trees have been taken to heart as tradition so on they must go!

My current motto for living 'keep it simple' was applied to the trees this season and we simply did some wax leaf rubbings, cut them out and stuck them onto the window.  I say 'we' but Boo only did a couple, leaving me to ensure the trees didnt look completely bereft.  Boo enjoyed applying some of them floating down and on the ground. 

We are loving Autumn right now, with it's bright days (for now at least!), plentiful spidery wonders to be found, funghi sprouting everywhere, leaves fluttering and bulbs to be planted. 

My daughter, the collagist

 
If I have perhaps been feeling rather guilty of late in that I haven't been devising exciting art projects for the Boo, she has managed to lift my spirits and reassure me that given space, kids mostly just get on with what it is they need to do as and when they need to for their development.  I've provided scissors in Boo's making space since she was two and have tried on numerous occasions to teach her to use them with little lasting success.  Now, however, she has seized upon them and it seems to be all she wants to do.  Cut, cut, snip, snip, snip.  We have amassed a collection of old cards, magazines, fabrics etc, and she seizes upon any bit of printed junk that comes through the door to add to her burgeoning collection of material. 

Her collages are completed on the easel, often over a number of days and with multiple layers.  They are often based upon figures which are embellished with different clothing, strange objects for limbs and other people's eyes.  I am wondering how much of an influence on her young mind was our recent visit to the Surrealism exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery?!

 
Meanwhile, I have been busy working on a project of my own, which incorporates use of collage.  Like mother, like daughter.

Kitted-out Kitty

 
Hi there!  We've had family visiting for the past few weeks, and I've been spending evenings chatting and sewing... this lovely little creation from Clothkits for Boo.  By hand.  Every little tiny piece.  Somehow I just had to do it, and now I do think it's out of my system.  Phew. 

So I introduce to you Kitty, with her complete kit:

... dungarees

 
...in a pretty floral dress

 
 
... in her 'car outfit'

 
...and her sunflower kimono

this kitty knows how to wear her hat at just the right jaunty angle...

 
Kitty has been taken to Boo's heart and is now accompanying her of many of her daily adventures.

Boo in Okido

 
We have been fans of Okido magazine for a little while now.  We heart the art/science themes (e.g. the weather, babies, emotions etc), the funky innovative illustration and the age-appropriate stories and activities (mazes, doodles, finding characters etc).  Boo senses an alter ego in the character 'messy monster', as I am sure do many young uns reading his stories!  The 'Dirt' issue is particularly special to us, however, as, there on the inside cover are two pics of the Boo herself mucking about in muck.  She appears top and bottom right, in her wellies.  We affectionately refer to her as 'child of the mud', seeking out muddy puddles as is her wont, so she fits right in here.

Watercolour update

 
A few weeks back I blogged about our experience with wet-on-wet watercolour, and concluded that we would try again with some better quality watercolour paper.  I'm pleased to report that improving the quality of the paper has resulted in far more satisfying results.  I'm trying to remember the specs of the paper I bought, I know it was Arches rough, I'm thinking it was 90lb (tho I get confused about the weights). 

Here's Boo's watercolour gallery for your perusal..

 
 
 
 

Boo's Felt Board

 
A felt board for Boo, put together in a (short) naptime with a snip, staple, snip.  I had an old wooden stretcher from a past screen printing project hanging around, but you can buy wooden stretcher pieces from good art shops and choose the dimensions to suit you.  A large piece of felt was stretched over and stapled on the back.  Then we raided the felt stash and I just quickly cut out a few shapes as they occurred to me... we ended up with a duck pond scene!  I did cut out some more shapes using felted sweaters but the big ones of those turned out to be too heavy.  The ducks and pink flowers however just about worked so I think small items are ok using this material.

We will cut out some more shapes so Boo can have more variety to create scenes/stories; perhaps some more urban pieces.  I may also make some more abstract forms and see how Boo takes to working with them.  I'll be finding a corner to install this on the wall for some felt fun and play.

 

Sunny Sun Prints

Boo and I have been dashing off a number of sun-prints recently - this is a super cool sunshiney art activity for the summer months with kids.  I had the paper from ages back when I must have picked it up in the UK - its made by Tobar.

This is a quick activity and perfect for baby nap times (we have found).  The paper is exposed to the sun for 2 mins, with objects laying on top...

 

When you first remove the objects after the exposure time, their shapes are darker, whilst the exposed areas have lightened...

 
Then the magic begins... when the paper is placed into a sink/tray of water for 1 min, the exposed areas become darker, whilst those masked by the objects become lighter.

 
When the prints are left out to dry, the contrast increases.  We have found the darkness to be greatest after 1-2 days.

 
Mostly we have been using natural things from the garden as that involves a nice foray into the greenery, and we have a whole multitude of weeds to choose from right now!

 
 
 
However, we have also been trying out object themes from inside the house, like these buttons, and some hairdressing items...

 
We have a few sheets left in our pack, so we'll be hunting out some more good ideas.

Enjoy the sunshine!

The Boo Paper Doll

A little while ago I made Boo a paper doll based upon herself...

 
I drew out some clothes based upon her own wardrobe, some of which I coloured and some of which she coloured.

 
 
 
Can you spot which one she did?!

Today we decided to update her wardrobe as Boo has grown out of all the items we based these pieces on.  Everything went a bit pink...

 
 
The poor girl needed some shoes...

 
... and here are the originals they are based upon...

 
The colouring became a bit cursory as time went on, (Boo not showing any signs of inheriting my love of colouring as yet!), but paper Boo was soon bedecked in Boo's favourite 'Kjitebjorn (polar bear)' t shirt.

 
When I was little I love love loved paper dolls, so I'm thrilled to share this with my daughter (you could indeed ask, who are these for?).  I remember having a very precious box of them and I seem to remember I had some hand-drawn and coloured ones which had belonged to my mum (I will have to check my fact with her here, it's possible this is a fantasy).  There are some great vintage ones available on the internet to print out.

What's next I wonder, a whole family of dolls and wardrobes?

Summer Windows

We are a little behind the traditional calendar beginning of Summer here, but then the weather in Vancouver hasn't exactly been convincing us of the shift in seasons recently.  Finally we have converted our window paintings from spring blossoms and bulbs to bird and butterfly infested green goddesses.  

 
 
Not entirely sure what birds we have here, though one may be vaguely based on the local blue beauty 'Stellars Jay'.  Boo called one of the others a 'crow', but its magenta, so I'm not entirely sure myself. 

 
 
 Boo had the splendid idea of making some green grass at the bottom using some green ribbons/wool from her beloved 'ribbon box' (this girl was a jackdaw in a previous life). 

 
 
The butterflies became a little oversized but who wouldnt love them to be really that big?!

We have done a full cycle now: Autumn; Winter; Spring; Summer and I have to say the appeal has been enduring for Boo, who was shown great enthusiasm for each change.  Will we keep them for another year?  Undecided yet. But for now we will enjoy the fluttering and twittering by our dining table!

Play is the answer

Play is the answer to the question, How does anything new ever come about?

Jean Piaget

 
 

Papier Mache Hot Air Balloon

Somewhere, somehow, in the midst of all these 'I can't get a thing done anymore' baby and preschooler-at-home days, Boo and I managed to fashion something with our hands.  Whoop whoop! 

The other week we borrowed a book from the library called 'Hot air: The (mostly) True Story of the First Hot Air Balloon Ride' by Marjorie Priceman, Simon and Schuster 2005.

 
It tells the story (in a most amusing way) of the (mostly imagined) escapades of the sheep, rooster and duck who were the passenger of the maiden voyage of the hot air balloon. 

I had been thinking for some time that I would like to introduce Boo to the world of papier mache, and this provided the perfect opportunity for a bit of gluey creation.

We used an inflated balloon as the base and layered newspaper and paper paste (about 4 layers) before leaving it to dry and harden.  The trick with the laminating technique of papier mache is to ensure that both sides of each piece of newspaper are thoroughly coated in glue.  Boo and I did the glueing together to ensure that this happened, though I have to say she took to it wonderfully, always eager to get up to her eyeballs in gunk of some description or another. 

 

 
The best bit for the little one was popping the balloon when the papier mache was hard and seeing the shape retained.  It does take a couple of days to dry before you can progress to the next stage.

We then painted the balloon shape using white paint to cover the newspaper and then Boo painted it in her own choice of colours.  I did have ideas of further decoration but baby naptime was over and it just wasnt gonna happen today.

 

 
Finally, a basket was required, so I made an origami one, attached it to the balloon using string, and then we were ready for the inaugural flight....

and Boo chose a cow and a panda (finger puppet) if you can just about glimpse them, to take to the air in our creation...

 
 
It might be good to do this project using layers of coloured tissue paper to achieve a translucent effect.  Maybe next time.  For now, I'm still celebrating the joy of a wee bit of creating.