Baby Blanket for Generations of Women

I recently finished a pretty blanket for a darling little baby girl. 

I wanted to use purple. I am working on changing the world one woman at a time and reinventing the royal, regal color of purple. Small doses is key. Check out my pinterest board on all things purple, plum, aubergine, lavendar, lilac and everything in between. 

I came upon doing it in purple because the mama of Baby Girl is a fan of purple. Or rather she is embracing the purple once again from her childhood. I added a dash of the chevroney green for grandmother of Baby Girl. The baby's grandmother is a fan of bright, limey green ( ok, this is not exact ) but I liked the idea of tying the generations of women together. Their stories and lives are woven together, just like a quilt and the fibers that make up its being. 

This is the quilt almost wrapped. What a fun surprise that awaits Baby Girl!

Go on and get cozy this weekend!

Happy Wedding Pillow

I recently attended a wedding shower for a sweet friend. Well, actually 2 friends. I am friends with the mother and daughter. I sent her this when she went off on her adventure.

I decided to make her a pillow for her gift. 

On one side, I used a neutral textured fabric. 

On the other, I used a velvet aqua that is a gift that keeps on giving. I have used this fabric for 3 projects now. Love it! 

I created a flange out of a tribal looking fabric that had the same colors in it. This is crazy to some, but it was a challenge for me to use a neutral! I was really pleased with how it came out and the bride loved it. 

Art School: Tempera Paint Weavings

At the beginning of every class time together ( we had 5 days of 50 minutes each ), I read different bits of scripture to the kids involving color. That was a fun task looking up all of the verses with color references. 

We read about the ephod, Solomon's Temple, the new heaven, King Xerxes temple, Psalm 23 and a few others. How brilliant are the colors that the Lord has not only provided us with, but blessed us with. 

I read this from Exodus describing the tabernacle in the temple. I had the kids close their eyes and raise their hand each time they heard a color. My hope was to give them a visual of the place and to recognize how our God is in the details of the description, just as He is in the details of each of our lives. 

“Make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim woven into them by a skilled worker. ² All the curtains are to be the same size—twenty-eight cubits long and four cubits wide.^[a] 3 Join five of the curtains together, and do the same with the other five. ⁴ Make loops of blue material along the edge of the end curtain in one set, and do the same with the end curtain in the other set. ⁵ Make fifty loops on one curtain and fifty loops on the end curtain of the other set, with the loops opposite each other. ⁶ Then make fifty gold clasps and use them to fasten the curtains together so that the tabernacle is a unit.   Exodus 26:1-6

Now into our work. We are to the last day of our art school class showings. For our final project, we made 2 paintings out of tempera paint. 

We painted our first painting on white paper. I had the kids draw a step by step flower with oil pastels. This piece of paper was the loom for our weaving. 

The 2nd painting was a crazy, quick one and they could do whatever they wanted on it. After it dried the next day, I cut them into strips.

With the strips, I had precut aqua, purple, green and pink paper. They could weave with both or just their own paintings. 

After we wove all of the paper together, we went back and added frames out of the leftover strips. We also worked on added our signature to our work and talked about how important that is. 

I was so impressed with our these worked out. It was neat to see their work change shape and look over the 2 days while working on the project.

Some of the kids had a hard time with the weaving but they got the general idea. I will say, trying to weave the pieces together, it was like camouflage. 

 We serve a Creator God and what a gift it is for Him to give us the ability to create. 

May the Lord reveal more of Himself to you today through his colorful, vibrant, wondrous creation.

Art School: Color Wheel Collage

Another project we did during our fine arts camp at church included a color wheel collage. Ahh, I adored this project. 

I wanted to work with color during the week and found this idea for the collage color wheel here, on a blog called The Handmade Home.   

We used color-aid paper, card stock, fabric and magazines. 

We glued with kids washable modge podge on the original template from the other blog and then I cut them out with an exacto knife and put them on white tagboard. 

I was fascinated by the kids thought process and how deliberate they were in creating these. Remember, they were rising 2nd and 3rd graders. 

I precut the magazine pieces along with the other papers as well. I gave them scissors so they could cut it a tad smaller. Some did, some didn't.

Those who didn't cut pieces smaller, were done quickly. Ahh! I was worried I would have nightmares of them saying, " I'm done." However, they received instruction well and were happy to add more pieces on to the white spaces.

It was a great way to study color and get them to ask questions about what colors are in other colors. 

I do love color. For the first day of class, we went around the room saying our favorite color. I struggled with it because I love so many colors. I am into color combinations these days- that's my new "favorite color." So, for today, mine would be a rose, chartreuse and gray. 

What's your favorite color? Or color combo?

Art School: Butterflies with Oil Pastels

I recently taught art at my churchs' fine arts camp. Oh, it was fun. A bit of a whirlwind carting my children from one place to the other so that I could go and teach, but it was well worth it. 

We studied the color wheel and created butterflies using oil pastels with warm and cool colors. 

 We had a couple of moments ( myself included) where we had to stop and go back and look at our color wheel to make sure we were using the correct warm or cool color.  That yellow-green will get you.

I was impressed with how creative these kids were with color, pattern and design. We decided to add designs to the background, if they wanted to. 

This little boy wanted to add the butterfly's tongue. Smart kid. 

The art class was for rising 2nd and 3rd graders. 

I showed them how to draw a butterfly. We first folded the paper hamburger style, and then hotdog style.

Then, we traced the lines with a pencil. I gave them directions on how to draw a butterfly. A hotdog in the middle, then 4 balloons off of the hotdog. We went over the drawing in a sharpie. And then colored in with oil pastels.

I will show our next project in my next post. My daughter and I tested out all of the art projects, so we have been very "arty" around here lately. My dining room table is filled with art supplies, some used, some not. I love it!

Happy Friday- hope you have a creative weekend!

a welcome change: my garage door

Here at our house, our garage door has become our front door, sort of. Most people use this door to get inside. I hope they are blind until they reach the actual door. What a mess out there!

So, I tried to create a respite in the thick of the junk out there. 

Me likes.

Butterfly Birthday Party

We had a butterfly themed birthday party for my mother in law and her twin sister last weekend. I bought the fabric seen below on the napkins and therefore, our colors were turquoisey green, pink, purple and green. 

I wrapped the utensils in the napkins and then tied with strips of our fabric. My 4 year old and I did it together. We also made Japanese lanterns out of construction paper and hung with raffia. It was a nice touch. 

Our cake was a chocolate cake with chocolate icing. I decorated the cake with flowers from my yard and thyme( the green stuff.) The butterflies I bought at Joanns which I suppose they are used for wreaths. We also had butterfly wings everyone wore and of course, I don't have a picture. They were cute. 

For the table, I covered it with the pink, purple and green floral. I used vases and cake plates to hold cut flowers from my yard. I always enjoy the final touches of a party- walking outside when there is chaos inside and clipping flowers to put out for people to enjoy. And hopefully, when I come back inside, someone has finished cooking the food!

And supper is ready! The food was good and I especially liked the rolls on the divine cake plate.