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.

Edgar Degas, How to Use Coffee Filters in Art Projects

Ordinary coffee filters used for drip coffee makers are a versatile and inexpensive supply for arts and crafts projects. Perfect for home, or school art program as it can be purchased in bulk. Combine with markers, paint, water, these paper circles can be transformed into a numbers of things.

Edgar +Degas Art Masterpiece

+Degas Style Ballerina

Edgar Degas (deh ɡɑhs); was a French artist regarded as one of the founders of the Impressionism.   He enjoyed capturing female dancers and is famous for capturing movement in his work and  is best known for paintings, pastels and drawings of dancers. 

+Degas Style Sailboat

After a discussion about Edgar Degas, our volunteer art guide Anna, demonstrated how kindergartners in Mrs. Knowlton's class can show movement and texture by using coffee filters. Students drew  and cut out their designs and applied to their background.  Coffee filters were colored with markers and attached as tutus or sails on a sailboat.

Coffee filters also work well with watercolor and diluted tempera paint.  Add the desired about of paint to your water.  The less water you start with the darker your filters will be.  Stir the paint and water together.  Dip each filter in just about an inch in the water.  The coffee filter will soak up the paint. Place on rack to dry. Once dried your coffee filter will have an ombre effect.

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.

Painting Tips for Pre-K and Kindergarten

Teaching 3, 4, and 5 year old children to paint can challenging. However, when you see their eyes light up with discovery it is wonderful and can be fun for both of you.

Start off by using a good brush. One that has a wider handle with smooth bristles. Cheap, stiff brushes are not nearly as good for spreading paint.

Demonstrate how to use big, sweeping arm movements for broad paint strokes (petting a cat is a good analogy) and then small movements for small strokes. Let the children experiment with both.

For little kids, try not to use small watercolor pan paints that come in the trays. Watercolor sets with larger color wells are best at this age.

Tempera cakes provide brilliant color in a convenient package.

Try not fuss about paint colors mixing together in the palettes. It's okay if it gets a bit messy.  By the end of kindergarten and first grade you  will be able to tell them about paint manners.

Teach them about primary and secondary colors by mixing your own paint.

• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of flour (for gluten free version use Cup4Cup)
• 1 cup of salt
• food coloring

Give Pre-K students lots of opportunity to free-paint. Keep instruction and direction to a minimum. Always react to paintings in neutral and enthusiastic manner :-).

With a few cheap and simple materials, students can begin to express themselves in color!

What tips and tricks do you have for working with Pre-K and kindergartners?

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 :-)

Kandinsky Art

2nd grade Kandinsky art

Wassily Vassilyevich Kandinsky was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first  abstract works. Kandinsky isvthevfeatured artist of this Art Masterpiece presentation.

Children can have fun creating their own Kandinsky art with pastels and back paper. I just love how Laura, a volunteer art guide, has been able to demonstrate how simple materials and limited budget children can learn about art appreciation.

Hello world!

Today is the very first day I had enough courage to start writing my own blog. I have been inspired for many years by other blogger and was encourage recently to start my own blog. I am so excited to share my little corner of the world with you. This is where I'll share my journey as a mother, art volunteer, baking adventures, and all things artsy.

Remember life is a canvas. Create something special.