minted x pottery barn kids art challenge...

Hello, poor little neglected blog!

I wish I had more time to post about all of my creative doings...but my two littles need me. I know they will grow up in a flash, so I keep reminding myself there will be more "me" time later. They will only be little once, but I will always be trying recipes and dreaming up projects to do. There is a time and a season for everything.

Right now, I have won the mom lottery (two kiddos napping at the same time!), so I thought I'd jump on to say hi and share one thing I have been working on. As you may know, Minted.com selects its artwork/stationery/fabric designs through design challenges. Artists submit their work, people vote, and editors choose favorites. The popular designs and jury picks are put up for sale. (I have two fabric/home decor designs available here.) The most recent artwork challenge included a partnership with Pottery Barn Kids & Pottery Barn Teen, so I carved out some time to enter a few designs...

If you'd like to vote on the designs, Minted is offering a coupon code for $25 off of a $50 purchase if you rate 50+ designs in this challenge. Pretty cool, huh?

(You can see all of the entries here.)

just making new stuff...

I have been focusing the brief moments I have to create on making items for my Etsy shops, hence the lack of project tutorials and printables on the ol' blog.  But I miss my dear blog!  So I'll have to get my seasonal decor juices flowing now that fall is right around the corner.  I love decorating for fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  Such a fun, crafty time of year!

Anyway, I thought I'd post a few peeks at what I have been making...

Cute mermaids & ballerinas,

Inspirational quotes,

Some doodle-y alphabets,

Darling baby/toddler ties,

And a whole bunch of mini bows in all kinds of colors.

See all of my merchandise at The Printable Pearl & Kaceface Sewing & Accessories.

Hope you are all enjoying the final days of summer!

animal nursery art prints...

I've been drawing some cute little animal artworks to add to my print shop--The Printable Pearl.

I think they would look darling in a baby's room!

Although this bunny would be perfect for spring/Easter decorating, too.

And foxes are supposed to de-throne the owl as the trendy nursery decor animal this year...

 But don't worry, I drew some owls, too.

(Just in case you hadn't had your fill of them yet.)

I've done each print in 2 colorways to list in the shop...but they are easily customized to match whatever color scheme one might be decorating with.

What other animals should I add to the collection?

graphic alphabet canvas...

Eek!  I'm so thrilled about this project.

It might be my favorite thing I've made for the nursery.  The funny thing is, I bought the canvas for 70% off with NO idea what I was going to use it for.  I eventually settled on some kind of alphabet design and this is what I came up with...

Here's the scoop on how I made it...

I started by creating a new photoshop file the same size as my canvas--12 x 24.  (Obviously, if you are making your own you can use any size you want.)  Then I went to town with all of my different fonts, mixing styles and sizes as I did each letter of the alphabet.  After I got all of the letters arranged how I liked, I played around with colors that match the scheme I've got going in the baby's room until I had a nice balance.  This is what it looked like...

Then I saved my file as a pdf, opened it in Adobe Acrobat, and tile printed it.  This created an actual size paper version of my design that I could use as a template.  I used transfer paper and traced each letter onto my canvas.

I carefully painted in each letter, one color at a time.

(So...I did all the browns, then the charcoals, then the blues, etc.)

You can see that I also opted to do the background white rather than gray as I originally planned.  The nice thing about printing an actual size template was I could take it in the room to make sure the colors worked.  When I did so, I realized a white background would look better on the wall... and it was less labor intensive.  Bonus! :)

Once all the paint was dry, I sealed it with a coat of matte Mod Podge and called it good.

The design turned out even better than I had imagined.  I'm lovin' it!

It adds a colorful, graphic punch to the nursery's decor.  I think it's going to look great with the other parts of the gallery wall I'm working on.

Hopefully Baby will love it as much as I do!

song lyric nursery canvases...

Last night I finished painting these canvases for the baby's room.

The words are lyrics to three children's songs from my church...

I Hope They Call Me on a Mission

I Am a Child of God

I Love to See the Temple

I just whipped up the simple designs on my computer, printed them out, transferred the images with some random pattern transfer paper I happened to have on hand (normally used for sewing), and painted.  The lines aren't perfect--but, hey, Mommy made them with love.  :)

Can't wait to get them up on the wall!

the artist's toolkit...

I have posted previously about some websites I like to use as resources for teaching art to little kids, but I'm always on the hunt.  This morning I found a great little interactive site--artsconnected.org/toolkit/index.html.

The ArtsConnected "Artist's Toolkit" is focused on teaching the basic elements and principles of art.  It has simple definitions and some great little animations/demos.  Today I was teaching one of my art students about organic & geometric shapes...

...she was way into the interactive features.

So if you are looking for a little educational fun for your creative kiddos, I suggest you check it out!

ModCloth-inspired color wheel pendant...

Yes, I have been making a lot of pendants lately.

Dimensional Magic is just too much fun.  I can't help myself.

And this one makes me feel like a huge art nerd...I love it!

Remember this ModCloth colorwheel necklace I have posted about before?

I used that as my inspiration.  But I actually put the colors in the correct order.  What kind of art teacher could bear to wear an inaccurate color wheel necklace?!

(Although I'm thinking about trying another version using a washer shape like the inspiration piece.  I used a solid disc because that's what I had on hand.)

Anyway, you want to make one?

You'll need...

wooden disc - mine's 1"

drill & 1/16 drill bit

craft paint - at least white, red, yellow, & blue

tiny paint brush

dot sticker

masking tape

dimensional magic

jump ring

chain or ribbon

Drill a hole at the top of your disc, then paint it white and let it dry.

Next, place your dot sticker (you can get them in the office supplies section) in the center of your disc. Then cut VERY thin strips of masking tape.  Use the strips to divide your disc into 12 sections.  

(The tape is mostly covering my dot, so it's hard to see in the pic.)

Paint each section according to the color wheel below. (Source)

Here's some color mixing tips in case your art education growing up wasn't up to par... (which is the case for far too many people.  Sigh.)

If you have the primary colors (red, yellow, blue) you can mix all the secondary colors.

Red + Yellow = Orange

Yellow + Blue = Green

Blue + Red = Violet

Then mix a primary and a secondary to get all of the tertiary colors.

Red + Orange = Red-Orange

Yellow + Orange = Yellow-Orange

Etc. (just follow the color wheel)

Once all sections are filled with color, carefully remove your tape & sticker.

And touch up any areas that my have bled.

When it's dry, top that bad boy with some dimensional magic and let it dry overnight.

Tada!  

Add a jump ring and a chain and you've got yourself a mini color wheel you can wear around town.

the sketchbook project 2012...

The Sketchbook Project is a traveling exhibition of sketchbooks created by all kinds of different artists.   Then after the world tour, all of the sketchbooks are cataloged at the Brooklyn Art Library where patrons can check them out.  Doesn't that sound awesome?!  (I wish I could go to Brooklyn to see this library!)

Anyone can participate, so I decided to join in the fun and make a sketchbook for the 2012 tour.  I thought it might motivate me to actually make some art around here!

My little sketchbook arrived in the mail last week, and I'm excited to get started.  My theme is "This is a sketchbook." (which suits me perfectly, but there are tons of themes to choose from.)  Now I need to do some brainstorming...

If you are interested in participating, check out all the details at The Sketchbook Project website.

concentric circles canvas art...

I made this colorful canvas art to add to my kitchen decor...

(Yes my kitchen is accented in crazy bright colors.  That's how I roll.)

The idea stems from an artwork by Russian abstract painter, Wassily Kandinsky - "Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles."

source

I like to use this painting to get my little art students to experiment with shape and color.  It's a fun project.  The results pack a great visual punch, but don't require a ton of skill.  If 3- to 8-year-old kids can do it, you can too!  Here's how...

Supplies:

Canvas - Mine's 8 x 10, but any size will do

Pencil

Ruler

Assorted acrylic paint - I just used 10 different colors of craft paint.  (I was too lazy/cheap to bust out the good stuff.)  It doesn't have to be fancy or expensive.

Mod Podge (or whatever clear coat you like).

Start by drawing a grid of squares right on your canvas.  You can make them as big or small as you like, with however many rows/columns as you want.

Next, just start painting circles within circles!

(They don't have to be perfect, anything circle-ish will do.)

Seriously, it's that easy.

Sometimes I started in the center and worked my way out.

Sometimes I started with an outside ring and worked my way in.

Whatever floats your boat.

And after I finished each set of circles, I filled in the background square.

If you make a circle you don't like, let it dry and come back to it later.

Acrylic paint can be painted over...it's pretty forgiving.

But - you may find that a circle you thought you hated ends up looking great once you see it with all the rest.  So don't stress.  The "imperfections" are what make it interesting, I think.

Once your paint is dry, paint the sides of your canvas. (I went with black, but you can't really tell in the photos.)  Then give it a clear top coat, and you're done.

It's a fairly quick project that can be customized with ANY color scheme.  And it's super kid-friendly.  (You could have each child do his/her own version and hang them all together in their bedroom or playroom.  That would be so cute.)

And you don't even have to use a canvas.  I normally use watercolors on watercolor paper with my art students.  Then you could just throw it in a frame.  So many possibilities!