Summer fun project....Kid friendly Batik.

I wanted to share with you a fun project that is very kid friendly.

Kid friendly Batik, uses clear Elmer's glue instead of hot wax.  This sample I used is a canvas bag that I picked up at Michaels for under $5 but this can be done on tee-shirts, aprons, muslin,or any white or off white fabric. 

What is Batik?
Traditional Batik, a decorative art form from the island of Java, uses wax as a dye resist. The artisan draws a pattern directly on fabric with melted wax. The wax creates resist patterns where dye is not absorbed.

Items needed:

1. Some type of white canvas, bag, tee-shirt etc.
2. Clear Elmer's washable glue.
3. Fabric paint or you can use watered down acrylic paints.
4. Stencils or you can free hand draw with the glue.
5. Sink with running water to wash out the glue when finished.

1. Lay your canvas on a flat surface. (Note: If you are making a tee-shirt or something that you don't want the back side to get glue on it, put a piece of wax paper inside to protect the back side but will be easy to remover once the glue is dried.)  Once the glue is dried on the front turn it over and continue to make your design on the back.

The glue will be used as a resistance where ever you put the glue the paint will not show. 

Here I used the glue with peace stencils. I also drew flowers and dots free hand. You can make any design you like, just remember that where ever the glue is will be white or the color of the canvas when you have finished this project. 

You don't need to use a lot of glue, just enough to cover. If your child put globs of glue on it that's ok it will just take a little longer to dry and a little more washing/rubbing to get the glue off.

2. Once the glue is dried you can spray paint like I did with fabric paints. If you don't have fabric paints you can use watered down acrylic paints in a spray bottle or just paint straight on the canvas with a paint brush.

Cover your canvas with the paints and let dry. This is were you can get very detailed if you like. With most batik fabrics there are many colored used.  For kids a keeping it simple with only a few works.

 

3. When the paint is dry take the canvas to the sink and rinse. Use your fingers to rub off the glue. You will be able to see and feel the glue. I will be shiny and tacky.

 

4. Let dry and TA DA! You have a Batik style canvas that was simple, safe and fun for the kids.

If you try this, please post pictures I would love to see them. Enjoy your summer!

Happy Creating!

 

Re-do ......Turned an over 25 year old Ludwig drum into a coffee table for my Daughters 26th birthday

It's finished and I am loving it!  I am so happy how this coffee table turned out. 

As your children get older sometimes it gets harder to find that perfect birthday present for them.  My oldest daughter Crystal turned 26 this past March and had recently moved in with her partner. I was asking Crys what she wanted for her birthday and she was saying how they were going to re-do their condo and would love stuff for that. At that point I remembered my mother-in-law telling me she had this old Ludwig drum under her house in storage that she always wanted to turn into a coffee table.  I told Crystal about it and she loved the idea.

I sent my husband off to retrieve it and when he brought it home I was a little worried about it. It was old and rusty but still in good shape. I had the girls come over to check it out and see if they would really like this as their new coffee table.  They saw the potential in it like I did.

They are big music fans.  Megan has saved a bunch of concert tickets and autographed photos that she had from their past concerts. I took those along with a old newspaper clipping from the UK that was an advertisement of a  Bob Marley album. I also included a picture of Crystal's dad and uncles band from back in the 80's (Cherry Blonde).  I arranged them on the top of the drum pad so they would be displayed underneath the glass top. I found the glass table top on Craiglist and it rests perfect on top of the tuning keys. The glass top is thick and heavy perfect for the top.

The girls decided that it would look best if I just cleaned it up and didn't re paint it or anything. I was thrilled that they saw the beauty in this old beast!  Every scuff and scratch that is left on it makes it even more unique! 

If you are curious to know how I got this old drum cleaned up I will tell you.  With a lot of elbow grease from my boys and I!   Plus a paste that I created from vinegar, baking soda and lemon juice.  I used the paste to soak off the rust on this bad boy and it cleaned up very well!  I was amazed how well that paste did in removing the rust!

Here is the dirty drum up close with the paste soaking up the rust.

Here is the side view of the drum. It is a grey/blue with a pearl white stripe in the middle. There is this strip at top that is sparkly but it is old and worn so it's not too shiny which I like.

Here is the top view of the table. You can see all the concert tickets that the girls have saved. Yes, that's a picture of Adele in there! Very cool.





I was a busy girl this weekend

OK, so this is round two of trying to write this blog post. I bumped the plug on the computer when I was trying to unplug Matthew's DS charger and plug back in my printer and the power to the computer went off! UGH. I was almost finished. So here I am again getting ready to write about my busy but always fun weekend with art.

So in my last post that got deleted I stated that it was 9:30 the kids were in bed and I had a glass of wine so I thought I would post. Flash forward and it's now 10 and I am on my second glass on wine and starting over to write my post! Don't judge me it's only two glasses! Ha ha  just kidding.

The past couple of weeks I decided to try my hand in sculpting, doll making to be specific.  I decided that since I have a love for all second hand and junky finds, some of them could make really cool doll sculptures.  So I set off trying to learn this new skill. I thought to myself, "like how hard could it be"? I know how to draw faces so it would just take a little adjustment. Well let me tell you the past two weeks have been fun, frustrating and slow going.  I have been using the method that is taught on this amazing website that I found. She offers tons of free lessons on how to sculpt, hair, bodies and even how to start doll making as a business. It's all FREE! Here's the link if you are interested. http://www.dollmakersdream.com/

Being a collector of odd finds I was recently given some stuff from my husbands grandma. Nora, aka Great Nannie, loved to craft as much as I do.  She was always so appreciative of all the hand made gifts the boys and I had made for  her over the years. She just loved the Mariners blanket we made her one year and it was just a cut and tie fleece blanket, but she loved it. Recently she was put into a senior home. She is 93 and just this past year she started to loose her memory and what not.   I was given all of her craft supplies and let me tell you it was like Christmas for me!  As I weeded through the stuff I found this interesting thing. It had a wooden base and the top was made out of chicken wire to resemble a tree. Wow, I thought this could make a great doll base. I thought, " ohhh, I could make an angel on top and inside the tree could be a little baby Jesus! So I set out sculpting the face for my angel.

I have been spending so much time sculpting doll faces and turning my house into a horror show according to my husband and boys,(I guess all the doll faces and body parts laying around the house is creeping them out) Jackson asked me" Hey mom, can we take the doll heads out from the toaster oven they are creeping us out!" Ha. It does look a little creepy around here. With all this doll creating I have not spent much time drawing or working on life book lessons. Yesterday I decided I would work on Mitsi B lesson this week on life book. If you have never heard of Mitsi B you have to check her out. She is so talented and funny too!  Here is the link to her site
http://mitsib.com/. 

Saturday I set out to do her lesson in between doing laundry and what not.  It was so much fun! Let me tell you, being able to let go and paint, make a mess and not give a crap was so what I needed! After fussing with sculpting faces for the past couple of weeks and feeling like I really sucked, Mitsi's lesson came at a  perfect time.The lesson was about embracing the bad side of you. I think the lesson was called, ' The good the bad and the ugly" and that is what I set out to do. The front of the page had the  lil monster inside my head that loves to tell me that I, my work or anything I do for that matter isn't good enough. I wrote down all of the horrible shit she likes to say to me and then I painted over it with madness! On the inside I wrote all the good things that I need to say to myself. The the front says" She tried to tell me so" and the inside said, " but I didn't listen" Something I am working on everyday! So here are my pics of this little journal page

Look what a big mouth my lil monster has! This process was so fun and stress relieving.  I showed my boys my journal page and the next morning I had them both with me in the studio creating their own pages. It was amazing to get to do this with the boys. To see what their insecurities are and more importantly to see what they thought about themselves. I am happy to say, they had a way easier time thinking of the good things about themselves as to the bad. Here are their pictures. Matthew's are first then Jackson's.

Note, Jackson has a picture of a wolf. That kid loves his wolves!

Today was an awesome, creative day.

We went to church and Pastor Katy had a great sermon that I so related to. In short is was about" love your enemy" It was so fitting for me. My enemy is that lil monster inside my head. Understanding that she only comes out because of fear. She says those things to stop me from taking risks, showing my work or even writing this blog. She doesn't want me to fail or worse have someone think I am a loser!  Even though Pastor Katy was speaking of that person as your neighbor or real person who just pisses you off, I so related to it because this lil monster inside my head is really starting to piss me off!  It was just so perfect to go with Mitsi B's lesson

After church we came home, I did a little laundry and then went into the studio to do some more creating.

My angels head was finished, check. Arms and body sanded and finished check. Now it was time to put on the hair.  The hair was chosen for it's color but the texture was like barbie doll hair, yuck! After many times fussing with it I decided to put a scarf on it to keep it maintained. After that I started to create the dress. There, the dress and hair was finished but it didn't look like an angel to me at all.  I started to make a cape for it but it didn't look right with all that bushy hair. So it became her skirt. I dug around in my stash of dollar store finds and found these butterflies. I took the wings off of one and decided that she would look great with a pair of these wings. I then took some moss and more butterflies and put them inside the cage. I broke up some costume jewelry that I had and used the pearls for her arms and accents on the cage. Ta da she is finished!  I kept her face and body white because I wanted that statue like feeling to her. The color is in her skirt and the butterflies.  I am happy with her. She is my first doll sculpture made out of polymer clay and paper clay. I look forward to the next doll I make. Wait to you see what kind of structure she will be sitting a top of! Here is my pictures of my butterfly girl. What should I name her? Suggestions please!

Not only was this weekend filled with learning how to make a doll sculpture/assemblage it was filled with reminders where all my fears comes from and a pleasant reminder that I don't have to listen to her!

Do what is authentic to you! -Suzi Blu

Today while driving to my many accounts for my day job, I was listening to R Rice Freemans podcast that was an interview years ago with Suzi Blu.

Suzi Blu was my first experience with online mixed media art teachers. Suzi taught me so much in my first couple of years. I loved to watch her videos of her drawing and painting it was mesmerizing!

After a little over a year on Suzi's ning site I found willowing.ning and Life Book.  With working a full time job and raising a family I don't have much time to take many lessons so I left Suzi's ning site and signed up for Life Book 2012.

I have visited Suzi's ning site a few times here and there but haven't spent nearly the amount of time I used to spend on her site. I kind of moved on.  Then I heard an old podcast interview of Suzi.

Listening to Suzi reminded me of how much I loved her free spirit and inspiration she gave to everyone!

She said a few things that really stuck with me that I came home and told my Husband about.

First thing was to put your time and effort into the authentic you! Meaning that do that things that are really important and meaningful to you. If you would do something without getting paid or getting attention, and you would do it just because you love it so, then that is something that is authentic to you!

Second thing she talked about being who you are and understanding that not everyone is going to understand you or like you but what is important is being true to yourself. If you want to wear bows in your hair to the grocery store then by all means wear them! Do you want to wear multiple patterns on your clothing? Maybe you are sick of always dieting and your want to be happy with that little extra pounds you have gained over the years then be OK with it! 

What she said that I agree with the most is that not everyone will understand or agree with you just as you won't understand or agree with them. Of coarse there are people and things in this world that should not be tolerated but what I am talking about are the little things. The things that don't really hurt thewhole human race or certain group of people. You know, the stuff that when we are teens we seem to want to pick on others for. Really the stuff I guess we as women still seem to pick on each other for. 

As women we need to stick together empower each other and teach our daughters to respect one and other and honor our differences.

I don't think when Suzi did that podcast interview she thought she would make an impact on anyone but she did. She reminded me to smile at that women in the grocery store that wasn't wearing matching clothes, to clap my hands and say bravo to that women who weighs more that she should but is working her butt off exercising to get into shape at the gym.  To remind my Daughters to be proud of their differences and to respect others (they are so much better at this than I was at their age!).

 Respecting others is a lesson I teach my boys as well.  My boys have to strong independent sisters, a mother who reminds them to respect women and not to be afraid to do the things they love to do no matter what their friends might think and a Dad who shows respect and adoration to all the women in his life. My boys are going to make great husbands someday!

Thank you Suzi for the little reminder to be authentic to myself and that it is OK to be me!

You are my Sunshine

When I was a little girl my Grandma would sit on the swing and put me on her lap and we would swing. I can remember the sun shinning and it feeling warm.   She would sing "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when sky's are grey. You will never no dear how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away".  I have fond memories of that time. My Grandma was really special to me.

It is kind of a sad song. The second verse talks about dreaming and  waking to find it was only a dream. "So I hugged my pillow and I cried".  Here is a song about missing someone, but when I hear or think of it I smile and it brings me back to being that little girl listening to Grandma sing.  She loved to sing and sang Elvis songs all of the time. She was always singing. 

You are my sunshine is on my list of songs I would sing to each of my kid's when they were little. Along with "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns and Roses. What a lullaby it made! ha.  I do hope that my kids will have fond memories of me singing to and with them like I have with my Grandma.

I love to sing too. My Sister and I used to sing all of the time as kids and today you can catch me singing in the car or when I am walking the dogs.  The other day I passed right by the account I was supposed to stop at during work because I was so caught up singing in the car that I went 10 miles before I realized what I did! Oh and the sun was shining too! Sun and music my happy pill.
Living here in the Pacific Northwest the sun likes to hide this time a year, so came out the warmth of the rays shining into the window of my car was down right amazing!

The Sun and my Grandma are two things in my life that have made me smile on many occasions.  Although my Grandma has been gone for many years now I think of her often especially when I paint a picture, crochet a scarf or use my sewing machine and for sure every time I sing "You are my Sunshine" to my kids. She was so talented and could make almost anything she put her mind to.

Today I finished up this piece in honor of my Grandma.  Her smile lit up a room like a ray of sunshine!

To Grandma and the Sun! Cheers!

For Devon

So I had this little 5" by 5" canvas that I had painted stenciled up and I didn't like how it looked so it went into my pile of "hummm, I will think what to do with it later cause I can't throw it away".  There it sat until today.

I was helping Devon pack up for her move to California. She will be living at my Sister's (thank you Dawn) while attending nursing school.  Dawn and her Husband have this amazing home on 5 acres with all kinds of animals from cows to pigs! Devon gets her own apartment above their shop! Very cool, and a Super cool Auntie and Uncle for letting her stay there!

Devon loves bright colors so when I was in my studio taking a break from packing I saw the canvas and thought how pretty it would be with a flower that I learned how to make in LB from Kristy Tomilson. So I started to cut out my little petals for the flower.

So here it is, a little something to decorate her new apartment. 
I used, acrylics, inks, stamps and light molding paste to create the flower stencils.  When finished I melted bees wax on top and drizzled a little to add some splash!  I really like how it turned out and I am REALLY happy that I didn't throw this little canvas out.  I love how something once considered ugly is now so pretty!

As for Devon leaving, I have never felt so sad but happy at the same time. Sad cause my Baby Girl will be so far away but happy that she is going to school and is going on an adventure away from home in California! Thank God my Sister will be close by to watch over her, not that Devon needs it. She out of all 4 of my kids has always been the super independent one. It's nice to know that if she gets sick or needs any help my Sister and Eric are there for her. Thank God for Family!