Art Series

Crafty Ideas From Nature

October 24, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Crafty Ideas from Nature is a paperback book that gives you more than 30 crafts you can make with nature as a focus. MOST of the art projects use items you can easily collect from nature. A few of the art projects are things you can use to decorate trees, represent nature, or are games you can play. Another in the series is crafty ideas from junk. These books give loads of ideas to help children express their creativity in a wide variety of ways.

Each project is laden with pictures walking your through the steps. Each project has a handy materials list. While this list doesn’t give you exact quantities, it gives the needed information.

Some of the projects are floral cat, candy cone, leaf printing, snowstorm, dried leaf owl, and feather headdress. There are many others. A good variety of crafts that cover a variety of age ranges, but generally I’d say from age 8 and up for most of them.

My Thoughts:

Crafty Ideas from Nature gives some great ideas to help children express their creativity using what they find in the great outdoors. It would be an excellent addition to any nature study that you engage your students in. The ideas presented lend themselves to a variety of crafts and should stimulate your ideas, as well as ideas in the children around you.

Crafty Ideas from Nature
Myrna Daitz
Shirley Williams
Exley Giftbooks
softcover, 48 pages

Click on image to go to Amazon.

Plastic Canvas: Cars and Trucks

October 10, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

The other day (couple months back) I was out kicking around and saw some plastic canvas creations. They were rather well done and it spurred me on to see if I still had any plastic canvas around. I found some, but no yarn or thread to do it to be found, and then well.. life got a bit hectic.

In the process of packing/unpacking I found this plastic canvas book and tucked it away with my arts/crafts books. Ergo, when I was searching for an art book for today I stumbled upon it and since it brings back happy memories for me why not!

What happy memories you ask?

I remember sitting with my mom and a group of girls learning how to do plastic canvas. I still recall the peals of laughter rolling around the table, the conversation lightening quick, the questions and answers, the fights over who got the yarn next and can you pass me the scissors.

After I earned the badge, I found myself continuing to work with plastic canvas, cutting, shaping, learning new techniques. Then college came along and life got busy and I set it aside. I still look back at this crafting skill with fond memories. And I keep my limited supplies around but I honestly don’t know if I will ever get back into it.

THOUGH…

This book with the cute cars intrigues me. Wouldn’t they be fun to make for a little boy or girl?

After learning how to make wheels we are taught how to make seven different vehicles

big rig
pickup
bluemobile
antique coupe
yellow sports car
pink convertible
gasoline tanker

What do you think?

Good toys for girls and boys? Fun to make you think? Perhaps I should get re-inspired. 🙂

Crafty Ideas from Junk

October 3, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Crafty Ideas from Junk is a book I pulled from my art shelves. It’s not a large book by any means but has a number of fun crafts in it to delight your budding artist. (or simply a child looking for some way to occupy their time) Games, robots, necklaces and plant holders are just a few of the activities waiting to be discovered.

Each craft/activity comes with a needed supplies list. Some are more loose in their requirements than others, as well as instructions following. I found that some of the directions left me a bit confused as to what I was to do first or next or just how to accomplish the task at hand, but that gives the opportunity to do some problem solving, which is a great part of doing crafts isn’t it? To have to figure some of it on your own. Helps make the craft or game more your own.

One of the things I would like to do with a Co-op class sometime is to have a “make games for your siblings class”. I look at the instructions above and think… this would be a great game to older kids to make for their siblings. What do you think?

More than 25 crafts, games and activities fill the pages of this softcover tomb by Myrna Daitz. Children will find themselves encouraged in their efforts to keep themselves busy. I like this little book and it will rejoin the others on my shelf. Perhaps in the spring I’ll actually host a “Make a gift for your Siblings class”. Would be fun don’t you think?

Crafty Ideas from Junk
Myrna Daitz
Exley Publications Ltd
48 pages, softcover,
art book, elementary, craft, art

Building with Paper

September 12, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Building with Paper is a neat book that gives you specific projects in working with paper.

You can build a Paper Town, Bridges, Boats, Castles & Forts, and a Stadium.

You get clear instructions

With excellent drawings

Each Section is clearly delineated with a face page.

My thoughts:

My son went through a period where he was constantly building things with paper. I had him look through this book to see if it was good and he said “yes, I would have liked this book two years ago”. It teaches not only the folding and building, but how to put the pieces together so they hold together well. Papercraft boat anyone? The one in the book looks like it would float well and possibly even hold a small figurine making for a lovely play time that you make yourself. It would be fun to do as co-op class don’t you think? Building a castle together? HA! that would simply be a hoot!

Eight Tutorials For Making Dolls

September 5, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

So I’m thinking of teaching other doll making class since the last class was oh so fun. Here are some ideas that I am collecting.

Sock Dolls

Octopus doll

Found this decent page on making a corn husk doll.
Check it out here.
That of course inspired me to look it up on youtube. 🙂

Sock and felt Doll

Clothespin doll

Paper craft Red and White Doll

Papercraft doll with skirt

Pioneer Rag Doll

Another version of a ragdoll. Hard to know which is the better option eh?

But I think that’s given me some good ideas for another class eh? What do you think?
Do you have any dolls that might be easy for children to make? Leave me a comment or link eh?

While I’m thinking of it. Did you know this? Pretty good deal eh? $1 for the first month and $14.95/month thereafter? Worth checking it out at least eh? Learn more here.

Things to Make and Do

August 1, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

As you can see from my image, my copy of Things to Make and Do is a bit battered and stained. Although this small book doesn’t have any many crafts in it as some do, I like it because it has projects in it that I haven’t found in most other craft/art books. Let me take a moment to tell you about this helpful book.

What do you get?

Produced by Scholastic Services, this almost 80 page book contains about 40 projects. These range in difficulty from easy (book marks) to hard (prickly vase). Well written instructions help the maker complete their projects well. Part of the author’s goal is to help the young makers design and create projects they may be able to sell. To that end she enclosed a small section at the close of the book to assist them in their endeavors (things to do).

The Nitty Gritty

Illustrator Ethel Gold provides simple drawings to guide the maker in their projects. Some of the projects look remarkably simple, but their complexity is see as you go through the steps to make them. The projects use items often readily found around the house, I didn’t run into anything I didn’t know what it was.

I have to admit, I did need to research what crafting wax is. I’d heard of it before but wasn’t sure what it looked like. Now I know more eh?

I mentioned a couple of the projects to my lad and he thought they sounded good to make. “That could be helpful mom” and “do you think something like that I could sell?” It’s good to raise an entrepreneurial lad you know?

This project made me think of how my mom likes to make cards. Designing them well for each person, the pride she takes in giving something personal to others. It’s cool to see and this project would be a good first step in helping a new generation learn the skill of card-making.

Things to Make and Do
Linda Beech
Ethel Gold (illustrator)
Scholastic Book Services
80 pages, softcover
Crafts, Projects, Make it

Hands Around the World

July 25, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Do you ever struggle with helping bring about cultural awareness? Hands around the World is filled with 365 creative ways to help build cultural awareness in your students and to help us respect one another around the globe. There are activities for every day of the year.

So why am I talking about a cultural awareness book on my art day? Well.. you see, often part of building awareness with each other is engaging in crafting or art projects with each other. Reading the poems or seeing the crafts that people around the world make. Whether it’s a japanese wind sock, or colouring a flag, making a puppet so you can put on a puppet show of a native story, or even making a Batwa story mouse. There are so many ideas floating around the peoples of the world, why not build on them together?