Art Series

The Art of Gardening

May 29, 2019 By Annette1 8 Comments

Do you recall my post from a couple of weeks ago? I talked about what’s been keeping me busy lately? Well seeing as it’s Wednesday I and normally (when I have arty type books) do an art post, I figured gardening is another type of an art form isn’t it? At least the art of gardening seems real to me.

I’ve been busy moving gardens around. They used to be vertical to the rabbitry but I found that didn’t leave me a lot of space for when I do a major clean up. Easy for me to trip and fall. I thought I’d move them horizontal and see how much room that left me. TONS more room! 🙂

So here’s the old way they were set up looking out from the rabbitry.

And the new way I have them set up, again looking out from the rabbitry.

What I’ve ended up giving myself is an extra two feet for maneuvering rabbitry items in and out. I have goals to rearrange where the mice are, and where our pet rabbit Wafer’s cage are but that will take time, some figuring out and room to move. That bare patch of dirt below is the room I gained, isn’t it great?

You may have noticed those white barrels. My goal is to paint them some lovely colour (whatever is recycleable paint cans) at some point, probably not til late August for me to get that done. These three above hold my mint. I think it will make them more containable! Mint spreads fast if you let it.

Art of gardening

This is my newest bed, well okay, perhaps not my NEWEST bed, but it’s my “make me smile” bed. Buttercups, allium, irises, lilies and daisy type flowers. They make my heart smile when they flower. Isn’t that what art does? Make a heart smile? Gardening does it for me.

And of course my metal chicken! I have other garden things to put in here yet, but just haven’t gotten them in yet from my original perennial bed. My mom gave me those green chickens that are hidden under a coreopsis plant. Brilliant yellow flowers will come out in July (if this wet weather ever goes away).

I used to have a lovely BIG rooster in my perennial bed. But chicken met active boys and unfixable damage happened so I lost that lovely big rooster. I was rather sad but accidents happen when boys are having fun, apologies happened and life moves on. Someday I hope to replace him.

IGNORE the weeds PLEASE! I haven’t gotten to them yet, but do enjoy my purple allium. Isn’t it lovely? 🙂

Behind the perennial bed I have my fruit bushes. Gooseberry, black currant and goji berry. I am hopeful this year to get more than TWO goji berries. They do have a lovely taste. If they don’t start producing better I’ll be getting rid of them. I’ll give them this year and next to prove themselves. A friend told me I have berries coming, so maybe I need to yell at the squirrels and birds faster. 🙂 My red currants are on the other side of the yard. Bigger bushes so they need more room to spread out.

Next Project

I’m actually divided on what my next project is. The biggest part of me wants to move these three small gardens and then move the pond up two feet and three feet longer. I’ve done a bit of research on how to make a better pond and want to put that knowledge to work.

BUT then again, I have a front bed that needs some rather significant work on it. I’m kinda wondering if that will need to wait until the fall though. Bushes to move, new ones to start. If I bend down a branch and weight it on the ground I can start a new bush and kill off the old one…. the original is too close to the house. I want the bush, but not the work of digging it all up, so if I can get a new one growing then I have less work overall.

So overall I think pond and small gardens first. Oh that reminds me.. I need to bring my dahlias up out of the basement!

I have convinced out bumble bee to let me move her home (hence the bare patch in-between the gardens). She didn’t sting me when I moved her home and I’ve seen her going in and out from where I moved her hollow log too, so that was a huge YAY for me. 🙂

This fellow here is a big part of my reason to change up our pond. I want to make a deeper end so that we can put in water lilies and other pond plants. I want to encourage dragonflies, water striders, frogs, toads and other such critters to come hang out. It doesn’t need to be pretty (though that would be nice) but it mostly needs to be inviting. Right now our goldfish & catfish are happy, but I want more critters. I also love the moss growing. I have NO CLUE why, but it makes me happy so it stays.

Did you know that SchoolhouseTeachers. com has a huge selection are gardening helps? Free organizers, copywork, colouring pages, and plant observations pages as well as member only resources for square foot gardens, raised beds, sensory gardens, designs for garden containers and so much more. It’s remarkable the number of resources they have. I may have my lad work through some of it to get a horticultural credit.

The New Jumbo Book of Easy Crafts

January 30, 2019 By Annette1 8 Comments

Looking for easy to make crafts for a variety of ages? Enter in The New Jumbo Book of Easy Crafts. 150 crafts of a wide variety to entertain and educate the children and youth in your life.

The New Jumbo Book of Easy Crafts give you over 150 crafts to choose from. With clear step-by-step instructions, crafts organized into four themed sections, and detailed colourful illustrations, even the littlest hands can make a big impression.

Four sections divide up the 150 crafts provided in this book.

Imagine and Create
Wear and Use
Make and Play
Decorate and Celebrate

Imagine and Create contains crafts such as wiggling caterpillar, egg-cup chick and rock painting.

Wear and Use gives us pasta jewelry, magic wands and decorated baskets.

Make and Play gives us sock sacks, marble mazes, puzzles, folded frog puppets and much more.

Decorate and Celebrate allows us to make decorated eggs, doily angels, paper cutouts and party favours.

Clear materials lists and instructions makes the completion of each craft a breeze. The full colour pictures put words into image helping to reinforce each step to the completion of a successful craft.

My Thoughts

I like this book! The sheer variety of crafts available and the ease of use make this book a keeper in my eyes. Judy Ann Sadler did an excellent job of putting these crafts together, and Caroline Price’s illustrations brought it all very much to life. The only thing I would have liked would have been to see actual photographs of the finished craft.

Crafts that I want to do… button puppy! It’s too cute! Bead buddies intrigues me for a doll class I still want to teach. The Pom-pom bear would just be fun to give a try to, brings back memories of games I used to play with my lad.

365 Days of Drawing

December 12, 2018 By Annette1 8 Comments

I have got to tell you about this fantastic review book I received in the mail this week. 365 Days of Drawing. I LOVE idea books like this. BUT not only is this an idea book, but it also teaches as well. How much better could it get eh!?

From the back cover

Get lost in your creativity with 365 Days of Drawing, a thoughtful and inspiring art journal designed to help you carve out moments of self-expression. Lorna shows you that drawing does not have to be scary – it can be done with any materials, in any color, in any style and can be done anywhere.

Each activity has been given a loose category: imagination, tutorial, relaxation, color theory, and observational, so that you can practice a broad range of drawing skills. Each ‘theme’ is designed to expand your creative skills and spark the artist within. With helpful prompts and pages that encourage you to try new materials to draw with, 365 Days of Drawing is guaranteed to stir your imagination and put a little creativity into every single day.

What you Get:

A fantastic resource to help you take moments every day to stir your imagination and draw something new, or learn how to express your creativity even better. Some of the ideas are simple. Design your own mugs, draw the perfect circle etc.

Yet others teach: make a colour wheel, create colour blends, fill a grid with colour using matching colours, discern what colours match a mood, or figure out mood with shading.

And still others take time to work through, allowing you the freedom to learn new techniques or practice a skill. Blend tones, change a sploch into an art form, or learn to create a 3D object.

My Thoughts

I really, really like this book. If you are at all creative, this book will be a boon to your spirit, nudging you along, giving you great ideas to work with drawing a flock of birds, doodling your way through triangles, learning to use a gird to expand a picture, look deeply into an object and pull out all the colours you can see, draw a picture by looking into the negative space, or even draw an animal as fast as you can. So many ideas, you are bound to find a few that appeal, or add a spark to your day.

365 Days of Drawing: sketch and paint your ways through the creative year
Lorna Scobie, illustrator
352 pages, any age from elementary up
art, creativity, drawing,
Reviewed for Raincoast.

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!

Art Series