How to Paint a Life-sized Chinese Dragon Part I

It's been busy the last couple of days...a nice distraction tho. Here's what I have been up to...

My daughter's charter school mascot is the Mustang, and this year happens to be the year of the horse according the the Chinese zodiac. Since the year of the horse comes around only once every twelve years we will have a celebration marking this special event, which falls on January 31. Our Mandarin teacher, Mrs. Tong will help us put together the celebration.

For the decorations we will create a Chinese Dragon. An important symbol in Chinese culture; and viewed as symbol of power, wisdom and luck. The Chinese dragon has a body of a snake, antlers of a deer, talons of an eagle and scales of a fish. They have no wings, but are able to fly!

To paint a dragon you will need.

Paper (tag paper), the larger the paper the larger your dragon will be.
Paint (Water Color or Tempera) in assorted colors
Tissue paper or construction paper
Scissors


First a row of scalloped line. Your next row starts at the lowest point of the first scallop. Repeat until you have completed the entire page. Don't worry about having the scallops perfect. Hint: The larger your dragon, the large your scales should be. I painted mine with the paper in portrait (vertical), because I will be cutting it half. If you want an extra large dragon you will draw your scallops with the paper in landscape (horizontal).

Outlined in sharpie for viewing, however you will want to do this in pencil.

Next you will paint each scallop, being careful to not have the same color touching each.

When you finish painting it will look like this. You will want to make several of these, the more pages you paint the longer your dragon be. This makes a great group project.

Finally, trim the paper like this:

Flip the paper so you can cut a few sections with the scales in this direction:

If you are making the dragon as a group, don't worry if the scales are not alike or have different colors. I promise, it will still turn out beautiful!

Several students and their parents are helping to paint the dragon in sections. I am off to paint some more!

Stay tuned...

How to Make Up-cycled Dale Chihuly Glass Art

It has become a tradition to visit Las de las Luminarias at Dessert Botanical Gardens to hear my daughter play hand bells with our church, Mountain View Lutheran. 

         

Dale Chihuly Green Yuca

Las de las Luminarias runs from November 29th - 30th through December 31st from 5:30 - 9:30 p.m. making it the best time of year to vist the Desert Botanical Gardens; especially if you are not particularly fond of visiting the Desert Bontical Garden during 100 degree heat :-). We just had a cold front come through and we were all able to wear our winter jackets and long boots! 

Dale Chihuly Sunburst

During Luminaria, you can stroll garden paths, listen to hand bells, carolers, and other entertainers, as the garden is lit from over 8,000 Luminaria bags, white twinkling lights, and Dale Chihuly's works of art. It is a fun activity to bring in the Christmas season!

Chihuly's glass sculptures are artfully placed throughout the gardens among the cacti and desert plants. The exhibit is spectacular to view during Luminaria when many of the sculptures are lit up. If you have children, now is the time to bring them. You will want to visit soon, Chihuly in the Gardens exhibit runs from November 10th, 2013 to May 18th, 2014. 

Dale Chihuly During the Day

Dale Chihuly is an American glass sculptor who is credited with revolutionizing the Studio Glass movement and is renowned for his ambitious architectural installations around the world in museums and gardens.

Do you want to make your own "glass art" Chihuly style?

Students can create their own Chihily "glass art" by up-cycling party cups, or water bottles.

• You will need sharpies in several colors
• Clear party cups or clear takeout containers (smooth surface works best), you can also use shrinky dink
• Oven safe glassware of all shapes/sizes
• Baking sheet lined with parchment paper

Instruct students to color in party cups and/or takeout containers, making sure to fill in all areas and leaving edges clear. Let them experiment with patterns and colors. Once  completed, place over glassware, on to baking sheet in preheated 300 degree oven or toaster oven and watch. It will start to drape over the glassware. Remove from oven with pot holders, it will still be pliable, cool it by draping it over a glass cup or other glassware so that it will hold it's shape.

Display a collection by stringing them together to make a display like this one

Dale Chihuly is a wonderful artist to include in any art program, it teaches students that art comes in all types of medium, and it is not always at the museum. Kids of all ages can appreciate Dale Chihuly, I am blessed to be able to see it in our hometown.

P.S.: Please make sure you use food grade disposable cups, and takeout containers.Never leave oven unattended. It does take the wow factor away from students, but I baked the cups at home.

Cath Kidtson DIY Bunting

It is hard to believe that we will be celebrating my daughter's 12th birthday in just few days (She's my Christmas baby), and is truly my Christmas gift. I am a blessed mommy. She invited eight of her friends over this past weekend  for a sleepover party. They had a night of Christmas caroling, Christmas scavenger hunt, pillow fights! and staying up until all hours of the night.

"Pillow" fight

We kept the party decorations simple (normally I'd be going over the top); partly because I was running out of ideas and short for time; and  partly because her taste is maturing.

I was also excited that she did not ask for a themed birthday cake and suprisingly requested a s'mores chocolate cake. I baked twelve luscious layers (one for every year); six layers of chocolate cake and six layers of ganache and graham cracker; all topped with toasted marshmallow frosting.

Twelve Layer Chocolate S' mores Cake

Because her birthday is Christmas day we try to keep the party looking like a birthday and not like a Christmas party. It made me super excited that she was willing to to do a Cath Kidston birthday theme, oh... how I love Cath Kidston! UK's popular lifestyle brand, famous for her brightly colored patterns. My daughter's room has a Union Jack theme, so it was a no-brainer to incorporate these together. My two favorite things... Union Jack and Cath Kidston! I love paper crafts and initially purchased a Union Jack bunting printable on Etsy, but decided do my own so that I could incorporate Cath Kidston. The bunting was strung together with 1/2 inch ribbon I found at Michael's.

DIY Cath Kidston Bunting

I think I will recycle the bunting at our annual Teacher's Tea...

You can download printable of some of Cath Kidston bunting by clicking on the images below.

DIY Christmas Advent Wreath

I love this time of year, the holidays - not the cold weather. I remember my first Christmas in the U.S. like it was yesterday. The real extra fat tree covered with silver tinsel, fell everywhere on the floor. These days prefer a faux (pre-lit and slender) Christmas tree - displayed in an cute urn, of course.

I've also started a new tradition of lighting an advent wreath, which I made at my church. This wreath is made of a wooden disc covered in evergreen and has four candles.You can read more about the meaning of the Advent Wreath here.  It's an easy DIY project make and inexpensive too.  

You'll need a small wooden 18 inches in diameter (or larger, it's up to you) disc that you'll want to cut to a donut whole shape and pre-drill 4 holes for candle.

Greenery (recycle an older wreath)

Pine cones or or Christmas ornaments.

Candles (3 purple and 1 pink), wired ribbon and glue gun.

Advent Wreath Instructions in Pictures

Assemble and hot glue greenery to wreath, (up-cycle an older wreath). Fill in with pine cones and berries and got glue to wreath, insert candles then glue a cute ribbon to wreath.

Advent Wreath using up-cycled ornaments

Instead of pine cones, I decided to add some up-cycled ornaments. As an after thought the wooden base should have been painted in green. I guess I'll have to make another one next year :-)