Earlier this month, I saw a clever post on Facebook from a past DT colleague, Marjolaine. Since I had trouble getting people to comment on my status on Facebook, I thought I'd bring it to the blogosphere and the creative people here :)
Pay it forward 2013!
I promise to make something handmade for the first five people who comment. They must in turn post this and make something for the first five who comment on their blog post.
*The rules are it has to be handmade by you, and they must receive it before 2013 ends. You must repost this and pay it forward.
* It can be something simple!
Please leave your email so I may contact you for shipping details.
I recently discovered Circle of Moms, a website full ofinformation on all topics related to being a mom and an opportunity to connect with other moms from all other the world.
Right now, they have a vote for the Top 25 Creative Moms blog so I thought I'd give my blog a little try in the running. If you enjoy reading my blog, please vote by clicking below or the side bar.
I planned on doing string painting art lesson for my future art class and I thought I'd try it out with my 2.5 year old toddler first. However, string painting turned into a splatter-body-painting extravaganza!
Instead of using the string as intended, my daughter put her hands in the diluted paint and started flinging it every which way. My initial thought was, "Oh no! What a mess!" but I realized it was too late anyway, so I let her fling away. After all, the magic of creativity can't happen without some messes. :)
What a cool splatter effect (even if it was all over the floor, radio, and some toys)!
I love the vibrant tempera paint we used. Previously, we've only used finger painting and acrylic (from this post). The tempera paint we bought was children's grade from an art store so it was non toxic and for the most part, washable. I'd like to enter her art into the Simon Says Children Summer Holidays Challenge.
All in all, it was really fun watching my little girl paint and she reminded me that art is really all about the process.
I'm back from vacation with a quick card post. Yes, first night back and instead of unpacking, I've decided to do some creating :)
I follow a lot of craft blogs and it seems plaid is popping up everywhere from the Runway Inspired Challenge. I decided to join in for the fun. :) I'm also participating in CAS-ual Fridays (text) and Moxie Fab World (thank you card). While I've been following and reading these blogs, this is my first time joining in for the challenges at all three of these blogs.
I recently bought a Hero Arts plaid stamp (what a coincidence) but instead of using it, I decided to stamp with my flip flops lol...(maybe I should return the plaid stamp after all). I really like the effect it created and I think I'm going to keep making more of them for future patterned paper :) I used acrylic ink for the stamping and I really like the versatility of this ink because I also plan on using it for painting in the near future (I hope). To go with the more artsy look, I decided to hand-write the text. The card can be seen as a kind of thank you for keeping myself/heart together.
Maybe one day I can quill like this. heheh...rightt...
The image is from a talented quiller, Leesandra Diaz at The Sweet Spot. Her blog offers a glimpse of her work that she sells from Etsy. She has also made two fabulous tutorials (one recent one) on quilling-a great place to start and I'm hoping to try out some of the techniques she's shown :)
In the meantime, it is so, so hot here in Toronto and without AC, I am melttinnggg these days x_x.
I've been making almost a card every night since I've finished my teaching last Saturday. I think I will try to spend more time on cleaning the house and preparing for attending a wedding (my daugher's going to be a flower girl!!) for the coming week...It's just too addictive with card-making and seeing everyone's cards and challenges though!
I came up with this card for the CASE Study Challenge #95. I love this challenge blog. I just seem to always get inspired to create a card and especially if I don't know what direction to take, it's a good jump off point. The muse of the month and DT comes up with the most gorgeous cards. I'll also be entering the card into Lollipop Crafts (flower theme).
My card is stamped with my handmade stamp I made a while back. The flower is actually made from tissue paper I like to save from packaging (in this case it's from Victoria Secret lol...you might be able to see the VS on the tissue paper if you look carefully). Also, I finally found kraft paper! It's from Michael's...I wonder why I didn't look there first. The thank you card is for my husband who seems to get a thank you every week for putting up with my cardmaking night owlness. He brought me to Michael's while he took my daughter to the bookstore so I could really look at things.
I may be posting later on next week...cards to still make:
-Father's Day card
-Grandma's birthday card
-wedding card
My husband's niece is going to be celebrating her 16th birthday later this month. This is the card I'm planning to give her :)
The cake image I used is a digi image from Mellymoopapercrafting. I got a chance to practice using the Copic markers some more but I still need to learn more about them. There was also a lot of fussy cutting on the bottom of the cake and I realized I probably should have gotten the Honeybee precision scissors rather than the Martha Stewart ones as it might be even more precise with a flatter blade. I went with a more fun background (thanks to my husband's advice) rather than my original thought of using a black with polka dot background that would give it a more sophisticated feel. It's interesting how the background paper can totally change how a card will be perceived.
I'm entering this card into a new digi image challenge blog at Digi Haven. This is the second digi image I've used in my cards and I think it's good practice to try different styles. I think my preference is still playing around with stamps, inks, and paper though. I'm also entering it in the Clip n' Cuts Link Manager Challenge.
This is my second take on the rainbow colour inspiration. Having made a fringe flower recently, I decided to make a rainbow coloured one :D
I glued the strips of origami paper I had left from the previous card, cut the fringe, and rolled it up. I was so excited to see how the rainbow flower to turn out :) The background is the leftover music I printed out. The only part I'm not too happy about is the writing/sentiment which I tried using the Versamarker and white embossing powder for. I need to work on my calligraphy skills and find my nibs for my calligraphy pen or get a white gel pen. Anyway, my husband liked it so that's what matters :)
Over at Yes, Virginia, there's a fabulous photo inspiration for a card challenge.
Virginia's blog is one of my favourite ones to visit as it's always full of inspiration with simple, amazingly designed cards. After reading her post about being inspired to make a card by her salad, I learned to look for inspiration just anywhere too.
I've been meaning to enter in this challenge but I've been so busy lately and now I'm free! I have so many ideas I want to do but this is the one I came up with late, late tonight. I'm hoping to create more cards with that photo inspiration even if the challenge is over tomorrow night. The rainbow colour is my inspiration and when I think of rainbows and its vast array of colours, I think of the song, "True Colours". This is my abstract-ish representation of the song.
The paper folding was inspired by a window display I saw at the mall a couple of weeks ago but never got to make a card out of it. It was an amazing backdrop to the mannequins. I can't remember exactly how the display looked but I remembered the square folded diagonally and arranged in an interesting pattern. As for the quilled heart, you can't tell but it's actually cut from the music True Colours that I printed out...I love that song :)
I also work at a tutor centre and my employer's wife gave me a late mother's day present. I really think these employers are the sweetest employers I've met. I'm going to give this card to her tomorrow.
I was inspired from the beautiful card over at CASE Study so I'll be entering this card into their Challenge #94 as well as the challenge over at Clip 'n Cuts. I had a lot of fun with this as I finally tried to make my own fringed flowers. I find the combination looks good together all thanks to the inspiration card. I also used a flash card for the middle white strip. I think I'm going to be using things around the house in my future cards :D
I've been pretty busy the last 2-3 weeks working on the 108 report cards that I've finally finished 2 days ago. Whew! There were so many enticing card challenges that I had to miss because of it. Oh well. I'm hoping to be more active on my blog now that my teaching on Saturdays has ended (last day today!). I made a simple card to thank the principal for the teaching opportunity.
I'm also entering this card in the Clip 'n Cuts Challenge. I gave Data Manager a try and it is fantastic! It's so easy to use to list the supplies we've used. Unfortunately, I've only listed two materials as the rest of them I couldn't find online. I really like the Data Manager and I'm hoping to digitize all the craft supplies I have one day.
Recollections Pedal Opaque Embossing Powder, Recollections Blank Cards and Envelopes 4 in x 5.5 in, Autumn Leaves Stampology stamps (sorry I don't know the name as I've thrown out the packaging :S), Studio g Glitter Glue, Dollarama Twine
I couldn't help myself but make another card tonight. Whenever I get an idea or want to try out something, I suddenly get an adrenaline boost. :) The inspiration photo is available on the challenge link.
I tried out my new Copic markers some more on this card. I'm really liking the blue background for the sentiment (I previously used acrylic ink on another paper and got to use it today). I'm also liking the sandy like texture from the distressing.
In relation to this card, are my memories of the beach. I actually wrote it up for a travel story challenge over at Just Keep On Creating and I'm pasting it here.
One of the travel memories on my mind these days was when I went to visit my father in law's place with my husband and almost 1.5 year old daughter (at the time) at Port Franks, Canada last summer. His small town has a private beach for Port Franks' residents and it was one of the most beautiful beaches I've been to (I haven't been to a lot of beaches though). The sand was so fine, it was not busy, and it was a good size (not too big/small). I remember taking my daughter there for the first time and how she absolutely loved the feeling of the warm grains of sand against her little feet. We went everyday in the 2 weeks that we were there to the beach there and also another nearby beach at Grand Bend (15 minute drive away). There were lots of memories there...the first time that my daughter saw fireworks on Canada Day night...attempting and failing to build a sand castle...digging a deep hole in the sand instead...the seashells that my daughter found...one time being locked out of our car and peacefully staying in the shade as my daughter napped and my husband finding help...wearing a bikini for the first time and feeling ok about especially with all the stretch marks...the scotching hot sand after the place has been exposed to many hours in the blazing summer sun...going into the water with my daughter with her lifejacket...watching my husband and daughter swim, splish and splash in the water...having my daughter call the water "bath"...the extremely windy day when we were the only ones on the beach and throwing sand in the air to see how far it would go...so many amazing memories just from one place...I hope I can return there this year :)
I would love to make a post everyday but things just get too busy. This month will be especially busy with report cards for my 100 students @__@. Since I haven't even started, my goal for this week is to have at least 20 students' report cards drafted *fingers crossed*
Anyway, I made time yesterday to try making a card based on this inspiration card. I really like the black background accented with the embossed design and the brightly coloured letters that stand out from that background.
And this is what I came up with...
I haven't done any embossing since last year when I first bought the kit for it so this was my chance to
revisit it :) Too bad my embossing ink stamp had dried so I used a
regular ink pad instead. Also, since I don't have any background stamps, I repeated a variety of stamps to create the background. Finally I did a little quilling for my bright colours. I actually had a happy birthday sentiment initially but I decided against it 'cuz sometimes less is more. :)
I must really like Paintlounge because we went back for the third time yesterday. The first two times I've gone, I've painted this and this. Today my husband and I decided to take our little girl there for the first time. I've been telling her so much about the place and it's only fair to bring her there for the experience :). I was also very curious of what she'll end up painting.
Since there was a paint bar, we let our little girl choose what colours she would like on her palette. (While the paints are acrylic, we knew that our young daughter wouldn't put it in her mouth and we had really close supervision of her too.) Then we let her choose the tools to use. She began with the paintbrush as seen here.
Later, she moved on to use about 20 other tools (a variety of stamps, sponges, fly swatter, mats, ball) to make her mark making on the canvas. I would say her painting was an experimentation of tools rather than a representational painting of something in real life as my husband and I asked many times to tell use about her painting and she didn't say anything about it.
What I really enjoyed about the experience was seeing my daughter show her own creative expression. She chose her own colours, she kept going back for her own tools, and she told us when she was done painting. As much as my husband and I liked how the initial painting looked and wanted to take the painting before my daughter added more to it, we didn't, of course.
I believe that art is where one creatively express themselves and it doesn't matter what the product ends up looking. It's all about the process, the journey that makes me love art so much. I think this is why my art tends to stray far, far away from a reproduction or copy of anything...if I wanted to paint an exact copy of a picture, why wouldn't I just go get a photo printed from the nearest photo centre? :) Copying a picture is good practice for technique but does nothing for the creative soul. It's what's different from the original that makes something one of a kind and human.
I felt like making another card tonight. I played around with some of the things I got from my shopping spree fiasco at the art store the other day.
In this card, I played with acrylic inks for the background-I really like this medium and the effect it gives me. It's kinda like painting (which I love!) and I think it's kinda like the alcohol inks that card makers use too. I will have to make a future post about what my husband came up with from the acrylic inks (it's abstract awesomeness:) I also got a set of 24 Copic Markers to try out (soo pricey @__@) but it's an investment into my creative expression :)...I used it for the flowers on this card. I also revisited using perfect pearls to add a little extra touch to it which you can see better on the second picture (the pearls should be on both flowers though).
I can't believe it but it's been 15 weeks since I started taking my daughter to Kindermusik classes at a private home studio. I first heard about Kindermusik through my cousin in laws who took their children to these music classes when their children were young. As a part time stay at home mom, I'm always looking for different and new experiences for my daughter.
I believe that the more she experiences as a young child, the more development there is. Brain development for children is an amazing thing and although I don't know all the specifics about it, I learned that different, repeated experiences will strengthen the connections in a child's brain creating a pathway for the way the child learns. I did a quick google search and came upon this article, Understanding Brain Development in Children by Sean Brothersome. The following lines from the article really stood out to me, "The interactions that parents assist with in a child's
environment are what spur the growth and pattern of these connections
in the brain.
As the synapses in a child's brain are strengthened through
repeated experiences, connections and pathways are formed that
structure the way a child learns.
If a pathway is not used, it's eliminated based on the "use it
or lose it" principle. Things you do
a single time, either good or bad, are somewhat less likely to
have an effect on brain development."
When I took my daughter to Kindermusik class, I had the intention of getting her to socialize for more kids her age. What ended up happening was she was the only student in the class (until recently, in the last 4 weeks of class, 2 more kids joined the class). Despite this, it was really amazing to see how fast she caught on to the words and movements of the songs. Over the weeks, I've seen great development. She's more open at expressing herself through song and today, she stepped out of her shy little shell and said a lot of things out loud in front of the other kids (she gets really shy when there's other kids or adults around). She's also learning to share and take turns with the others during the last few weeks.
Kindermusik classes are normally structured with a theme. My daughter started her class with a Milk and Cookies theme where there were songs related to food, kitchen, and groceries. There are home materials provided such as a small instrument, a CD with songs learned in class, and a few books some full of ideas of what to do with your little one. I found the CD was so nice to have to include some music time during a regular day with my daughter. During class, the songs are sang with opportunities to use different instruments to tap, clap, shake along with the music as well as scarves, parachutes, and much more. There is a lot of imaginary play as children pretend to pour tea, buy groceries, wait for toast to pop. It's a lot of fun and I always feel refreshed and happy after the class. I guess music has a way of uplifting everyone's spirits.
I would definitely recommend Kindermusik classes for its variety of music, imaginary play, uses of different instruments, and children socializing opportunity but any classes are great for a different experience. And of course, experiences are not restricted to classes...interactions with your child, different things you do at home are all wonderful experiences that may shape who your child becomes.
Taking care of my toddler can be tough sometimes. Everything from potty training to transitions to a maintaining a proper sleeping schedule can get a little bit frustrating. At the end of each day though, there are always beautiful moments to remember. I've always meant to blog each night about my day with my little girl but of course, that never happens.
One of the golden moments today was when my toddler was pretending to be Rapunzel from Tangled (I absolutely love that movie) and wanted to paint on the wall. What do I do? Tape some paper on the wall and let her paint away while I put on some of my favourite music.
She seemed like a true artist as she held her palette of paint and painted a bit, took a couple steps back before adding more paint strokes. She even attempted painting her name (which are lines for each letter of her name). Watching a toddler draw or paint is one of the most amazing things because looking at the finished art may look like abstract art. However, as my toddler draws/paints, she tells me exactly what she is drawing and the strokes make total sense to me. eg. horizontal line for a bed, spiky lines for her daddy's hair, circles for glasses. She was also imitating the paintlounge I've gone to (from my last entry) by saying how she's going to have drinks and also paint lol.
What she came up with the other night...the lights from Tangled and the long hair from Rapunzel.
What she painted tonight
I'm very lucky that I get to stay at home with my daughter most of the time and see her grow up in these precious early years. I felt really warm inside when this happened sometime last week:
I picked my daughter up from my aunt's house after work and we just came in the door. My daughter went face forward against the wall and with her arms open wide. I asked her, "What are you doing?" She replied, "I love my home."
