I've been doing a lot of painting lately :)

I've been doing a lot of paintings lately! I'm not sure where I've found the time between running the kids here and there this summer but I've managed to get a lot of paintings done. 

We'll call this one Feathers I suppose. Surely though you have a better title I could use! Feathers is a bit boring!!  

And this one I'll call...uh....I can't think of anything. What do you suggest? 

I am really no good with words and naming paintings. 

Have you ever heard of a painting party? I never had either but my town librarian was telling me about it.  You and your friends can come to a space where an instructor leads you all in completing the same painting. Something simple and fun. Well, our town librarian, Angie, and I have decided to try it, with me as the instructor, and see what kind of response we might have. If it goes well these painting parties might become a monthly thing, we'll just have to see. 

Anyhow, to get ready for this I've been doing some paintings in about an hour. My theory is this; if it's simple enough that I can paint it in one hour then a group of non-painters should be able to finish it in about two hours or so. We'll see how it goes. 

The next couple pics aren't great, I took them with my phone. This owl, man it gave me fits. I didn't plan it well and I ended up painting this canvas three times before I had something I was pleased with. I still don't like owls but  I thought they were a good subject to start with. 

This sunflower though, this was an easy one and I was pretty proud of how this one turned out. I probably painted this one in less than an hour. 

Have you ever done a painting party? Would you ever be interested in painting with a bunch of friends? I could see how it would be appealing to people; an opportunity to be creative but with an instructor to guide you there is less anxiety of failure. I'm really excited about this! I sure hope we have a good response! 

Marker Monday - Nature Art

I found this quick nature craft on Family Fun Magazine's website. Over the weekend the kids and I went for a walk around town and collected feathers, leaves, grass and then arranged them between two pieces of self laminating papers. This is a great craft for all ages. Yip and Yap enjoyed it and Yahoo even did one!

Here is one sitting up in the window with the sun shining through. You can sort of see the edges of the laminating sheets.

Here's the same one laying on a table.

I think we may have to do a fall theme one after the leaves change colors. Well, that is if the leaves change colors out in Kansas? Seasons are already different here than what I'm used to!

P.S. - Yahoo and I also did some with tissue paper a few days later...it worked great!

Marker Monday - Quill Pens and Marbles

When I was growing up I loved the tv show Little House on the Prairie. Kind of ironic isn't it, now that I'm getting ready to move to the Kansas prairie? I remember watching Laura Ingalls and wanting to do everything she did. I wanted to wear a bonnet to bed and pack my lunch in a bucket and braid my hair!  

Recently, with the help of grandmas, Yip and Yap were able to do have some old fashioned fun. First my mom sent them some turkey feathers and we made quill pens. Yeah, Laura Ingalls never wrote with quill pens but I do remember picking up chicken feathers in our barnyard as a kid and trying to write with them. It never worked.

I found this site that gave instructions on how to cut your quill. They worked really well! Much better than I expected them too. Yip even wrote a bunches of his letters with it! We may use quill pens everyday if it gets them to write more.

And then, about a week later, we drove to southern Indiana to visit DR's mom. We ended up coming home with a 1/2 gallon jar of marbles. Cool!! I remember Laura Ingalls always winning the marbles from the boys but getting in trouble for gambling. Geez, I wanted to be like her!

We found a great website that explained the rules and even some variations. We were all down in the dirt ready to play. But we quickly learned that it's harder than it looks. We have spent most of our time just practicing shooting our marbles. Yip and Yap are definitely better at it than I am!

I can't believe how much fun we have been having with these marbles! We even played on the carpet one rainy day and it worked really well.

Now, if I could only walk around in braids without being thought of as a weirdo then my childhood dreams will have come true!!