Decorating With Children's Art: Part 3

I was so hoping that if I left that last post up...spring would indeed, hear me call. Well, if it heard me, it did not reply. We had a couple of brief flashes of sunshine, but it is back to grey and cold here in Illinois. Its the kind of icky cold that chills you inside and out. blech!

Of course, I'll have to bake some cookies (or go back to bed!) to fight the "blahs".




A different little pick-me-up the kids and I did one day was...of course...another art project.

A while back, my daughter saw this quilt:

She loved the light and bright floral mood of it. 

With that in mind, I wanted to make a piece of art, using my kids hands, to create a bright, happy piece of art that I could display. We were thinking bright, tropical, floral and fun. To be honest I am not sure we accomplished that. But art is sometimes a process. 

We had fun and we learned a few things about balance and color (I hope).

Here's what we did:

1) I grabbed an abandoned canvas from the dungeon basement. Then I painted over it with the background color. We chose bright turquoise-blue because I love it!

if you look where the arrows are pointing, you can see that this is a re-used canvas. In a painting like this, where they will gob it on, you will never know the difference so go ahead and recycle!

2) I made the center of the flower first, with a contrasting color. We used a large foam stamp thing to create this part. You could use anything. Even a half of a potato. ;)

2) We chose a color to make the first tropical flower.

3)Next, I painted the kids' hands and had them stamp them around the center like flower petals.

4) We just kept going...one flower for each kid.

That's it!

 5) At the end we critiqued our work.

It's not a masterpiece. 

I didn't anticipate how hard it would be to get that "balanced", but not linear look with 4 flowers. I needed one more kid. Anyone got a spare? Ok thanks....next time. ;)

We liked that it kind of looked tie-dyed and that it is summer-y and bright. I like that I can see each hand and what size it is. *sniff*  who opened their fingers...and who tried something different with a closed hand...

*double sniff*

Well, anyway, it's another idea for you. I'd love to see you make a masterpiece out of this project. Let me know if you make something similar. I'd love to see it!

Spring

Spring is coming.

I am sure of it.

There have been flashes of sunshine, moments of warmth.

But when the sun recedes again, spring can be difficult to find; a faint memory of something that once was.

Spring will come, like it, love it, or dread it. (who would?)

And summer will follow spring

seasons

rhythm

the cadence of life

...and the beat goes on.

Marshmallow Frosting

I must have received 30 emails requesting the recipe for my (now) somewhat-famous marshmallow frosting.
Here's a sample:


 Dear Jami-
 ...I can't figure out why your marshmallow frosting 
 looks so much better than mine. Please advise...
 -Ina


 Dear Crazy Lady-
 Your secret will get out anyway. 
 (they always do!) 
 Perhaps we can make a trade: your recipe 
 for a ridiculously long-haired cat and 
 a dozen Americana eggshells, expertly blown-out 
 by yours truly??? Come on, it's a good thing.
 -M.S.


 Jami-
 ...I was thinking if you'd share your recipe with me, 
 I could prove to Sophie that I am the cupcake queen. 
 So, what do you say? Pleeeeeeeezzzzzz?
 Don't make me get Mommy!...
 -Katherine






Since I am not one to be selfish (but don't even think about touching my Girl Scout Cookies, OK?) I decided, what the heck?  Here you go:

Crazy-Good Marshmallow Frosting

1 C sugar
1/3 C water
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
2 egg whites (I use great big farm eggs, sans chemicals)
< 1/2 tsp. vanilla

In a small saucepan, combine sugar, water and cream of tartar. Cook till bubbly and sugar dissolves, stir frequently. (Don't let it hang out much longer or it will get thick and sticky like candy.)
In mixer bowl, whisk egg whites and vanilla just until combined.
Add sugar syrup very slowly to egg whites in a thin stream as the whisk is still turning on low. You can go as slowly as you want, but do not rush this part. Once all the syrup is mixed, crank the mixer up to medium or medium-high and let 'er run for a while, checking often, until stiff peaks are formed or until you can't wait any longer. Honestly, I have never quite had the patience to get all the way to stiff peaks, but I've gotten darned close. Some people say this will take exactly 7 minutes. They lie. Just whip until you are satisfied.

and use a stand mixer if you have it. If not, I think you may have to increase the whipping time a bit.

If you make it all the way to stiff peaks, you'd better get a move on because it will set fast. If you stop just before this stage, you have just a little more time to get everything frosted (which I always need).

One recipe will frost a 2 layer cake, but the recipe can be halved with no problem.

NOTE: adjust the vanilla (or other flavor) to your liking, but if you want a true marshmallow flavor, be very very cautious with the vanilla...less is more.



garnish with coconut, crushed cookies, sprinkles or...NOTHING.

Oreo Cup-Cake-Sters

I have seen these little goodies all over the internet and wanted to taste them, 

so I used Sugar's birthday to roll out some new concepts in COOKIES.

For this one, I started with chocolate cake batter. 

Using a small spoonful, I made sure the bottom of the muffin pan was covered.

Then dipped an Oreo into the batter and plunked it on top.

I may have licked my fingers.

who can say, really?

After they came out of the oven I let them cool completely (the hardest part!) and  frosted them with my marshmallow frosting. Then I garnished with more crushed Oreos.

You can see where this is going, right?

My taste-tester.

Turkey says "Two fumbs up!"

What I Know This Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, which makes me feel like I should have something profound to say, but alas, I don't. Luckily, I anticipated my writer's block and decided to continue on the theme of "What I Know".


1) I know that 10 years a go, I gave birth to a perfect, tiny, pink baby boy, who I fell in love with completely. I can't believe it's been 10 years!

2) I know that it must be hard to have your birthday on Ash Wednesday, unless you have a mom who feels sorry for you and makes you a cake on Tuesday and Thursday to make up for it.

3) I know that an entire pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream (of any flavor) is not on your diet. Nor mine.

4) I know that I am terrible at dieting, fasting or anything that requires much discipline.

Happy Double-Digits, my boy!

Decorating With Children's Art: Part 2

One of my all-time favorite types of art is kids art. Especially if it was done by my kids. And since I can't bring myself to hang every coloring page they color, I have had to get creative when it comes to creating new artwork for my house.

Here is a project we did as a test for a classroom project. It's doesn't look all that flashy, but the more I looked at it the better I liked it.

First I bought a gallery-wrapped canvas. (I don't buy the extra thick ones because they are more expensive.)

This one is 18x24.

{I have been lucky finding inexpensive canvases at Big Lots lately (If you have a Big Lots) or by using coupons at one of the craft stores.}


Then I penciled in a grid to create squares on the canvas. It looked something like this:

You might notice that my squares on the actual painting are rectangles. 

Just go with it. Whatever works, I say!

Then I zeroed in on the center squares, to make them the base color for the project, or thereabout. I painted them myself, then showed the kids how I could take that color and mix it with a tiny bit of white paint to change it a little bit. Then I painted the next square. I told them to now add a little more white, then paint the next square, then a little more...you get the idea.

We did the same going the other direction but adding black. The black was getting too dark, so we had to improvise by changing the blue/ green balance and only using a little black.

Either way, you want to go progressively lighter in one directions...and darker in the other.

You can make these changes extreme or subtle, depending on your taste.

I stayed with the kids and helped straighten up the edge lines for the younger ones (not too much!). And because I like a lot of brush strokes, we went back in and touched it up here or there after the paint dried, creating a little more visual interest.

This is an easy project you could do with any color groups.

My kids love when they see their art displayed on the walls.

Now, let's see how this project might look in YOUR living room:

OR

Pretty neat, huh?

Don't be afraid to allow your children to explore their creative sides. 

You may be surprised by what they can do!

What I Know on Wednesday

As life spins by, swirling around me like a storm some days, I can easily lose track of myself. It helps me to remember there are things I know for sure and truths I continue to discover as I remain evermore observant of the people around me. The older I get, the more I learn from simply remaining quiet and watching. This is hard for me, but I find it to be so useful, particularly when I am not sure what to say...an occasion to which I would have responded not-so-long-ago with a seemingly endless episode of "verbal diarrhea", as they call it.

And now that I have ruined your coffee with that visual, I'm going to share what I know today.
(Be advised, there are no guarantees for what I may or may not know tomorrow. LOL)





What I know:


1) I have really missed listening to music in the years that I have been raising little ones. I am SO enjoying having something other than "I'm a Little Tea Pot" back in my life. (I'm listening to Pandora as I write this post.)




2) I hate cleaning chickens!

GAG ME!

3) I have MUCH work to do.

4) For whatever reason, the process of editing photos is like Prozac to me. I swear, when I am stressed, I can sit down an lose myself there, then emerge from my office a new person. It may sound strange, but it is therapy for me and so I composed this little love letter: