Spring break art time

We are on spring break this week and the weather has already been crazy! Warm then cold then warm again. Wind, wind and more wind. Today is WINDY!

 

So we've decided to spend the day doing some artwork. Yahoo playing with a bit of clay.

 

Recognize these? They are plants from the Plants vs. Zombies game app. My boys love playing it, don't all boys like zombies? Hopefully I can convince Yip (it's cardboard so of course Yip built it) that they need to be painted and put in the 4-H fair this summer. 

 

 

Yap even tried his hand at making something from cardboard; Yip enjoyed being the "cardboard teacher" this morning. I can't say that Yap had any success...he made something from cardboard but he wasn't too happy about it. Sometimes I think poor Yap just hasn't found his niche yet. He's a Lego freak and he loves to read but those aren't qualities that shine easily in a tiny town where every one is sports obsessed.

I did get him to sit down and plan out a painting for his summer 4H project.

 



 

He loves all things military and war so he chose to draw out a German shepherd. Hopefully we'll get it painted before spring break is over.

 



 

I've been busy doing some of my own artwork today too. It's kind of hard to tell from the photo but I'm creating a giant stencil (3'x3') from laminated paper that I'm going to use on a red burlap aisle runner for a wedding. We'll see how it goes. The wedding isn't until October, which is good, because it may take me that long to get this to work!!

 

My proudest accomplishment of the day though was getting a belt on my Singer treadle sewing machine!! I stumbled onto a sewing store in Wichita over the weekend that services the treadle sewing machines at Wichita's Cowtown.

 

I've had this machine for over a year but with missing pieces. I'd really like to get it working. I was so excited about getting the belt that I totally forgot to look for a needle or the other missing pieces! But I made sure I grabbed their business card!!!

 

Today never warmed up or stopped blowing but I'm crossing my fingers that we'll have at least one nice day this week where we can get out and enjoy the short spring we are sure to have!

 

Art Nights, NO TV!

We have instituted a new rule in our house this school year which is "No TV on School Days". That means no television before school or after school or in the evenings. I must admit I was a bit worried how this would work. Last year I'd regularly allow tv watching while I was making dinner but it never failed to turn into a big fight. "Just one more Mom!" or "It's ALMOST over!". Every school night was full of arguments. I was imagining there would be a lot fights over tv once school started but those only lasted about a week. 

This school year of no television has been so stress free, it's unbelievable! The boys don't even ask to watch television during the week. They do REALLY look forward to Friday nights though when they know they get movie night. Of course the lack of arguments might also have something to do with another change we've made in our school week routine; ART NIGHT.  After dinner on Wednesday nights the kids and I started meeting around the dinner table to do some kind of art. Some nights we would have a theme. For example, in October we did some creepy, scary art. Another week the boys wanted to do something with clay but most nights it's an art free for all. They can do any kind of artwork, painting drawing, building, Legos, as long as it's art. 

Lately though art night has kind of branched out into whatever night they want to do stuff. Which is GREAT! The kids know that television is off limits during the school week but the art supplies aren't. We go through a LOT of paper and a LOT of tape and we make LOTS of messes but I'm really okay with that. 

Yip even had a night where he came up with costumes for his thumb! These were outfits for his thumb "wrestler"! LOL!! 

I've been so happy with how the boys creativity and imagination, problem solving and analytical skills have seemed to blossom this year and I think it has a lot to do with limiting tv and never running dry on art supplies. 

Aren't making messes great?! 

4H Projects are done :)

We finished up the last of the 4H projects Saturday night (granola bars...yum!) and we are headed off today to put them into the fair. Yip and Yap graciously (yeah right) agreed to let me take photos of them with their projects. 


Without further ado.....

Dang, they did so well in the kitchen that I'll have to put them to work cooking more often! Granola bars...mmmm, chocolate and s'more! 

We have two art projects to put in this year. The boys made paper mache masks. Yap's is a knight's helmet and Yip's is Batman which is just the beginning of Halloween costumes. 

Clay piranhas they made at school. 

I was sooo proud of their sewing projects! First they painted some fabric and then sewed it up. Yap's is a simple pillow and he's holding a knitted belt over it that he also made. While Yip, well, he went all out and made a Captain America stuffed doll! He was super patient with sewing around every little corner and curve! 

Finally their circuit boards, thanks Grandma for sending the kits. 

4H Fair here we come! 

Sunday Devotions - "What Kind of Clay Are You?"

For today's devotional post I'm stealing a bit from my pastor's sermon last week. On a side note, every Sunday when it's time to get up and shake hands, Pastor O says, "Let's shake a hand and ask how's your mama?"  

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD. "Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message."  So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel.  But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.  Then the word of the LORD came to me:  "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.  Jerimiah 18: 1-6

I've worked on a potters wheel, though it has been years ago, and it is not an easy technique to learn. It takes lots of practice, and lots of mistakes, before you get the hang of throwing a pot on the wheel. There are also a few nuances that you have to learn about clay itself and what makes clay receptive to molding and what clay needs to be worked before it can be used to create something beautiful. 

If clay isn't worked properly, small air bubbles can get hidden within the walls of a pot. It may look fine from the outside but once the pot is fired the intense heat will cause the air to expand and the pot will explode. Air bubbles are like our sin we hide. We may look like we live the perfect life on the outside but once "heat is applied" our sins can no longer be hidden.

Another type of clay that isn't suitable to work with is clay that is just a bit on the dry side. This type of clay can still be molded but it is difficult to do so and still have a quality pot at the end. The potter has to "fight" this clay to mold it into a finished pot. How many of us "fight" God's purpose for us? He is the Potter and it is He who decides what form we should be taking.

If clay is left to dry out completely it can't be worked with at all. The only way to save this clay is to smash it and grind it into powder, then water is added to make a moist workable clay. Start completey over. Bone dry clay is like people who have to hit rock bottom in their lives before they turn to Christ for salvation. Only the Potter can make something beautiful out of something that first had to be destroyed.

What kind of Clay are you?

Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? Romans 9:21

Dear God, Thank You for molding us into the vessel we need to be, for Your purposes. Amen.