Easy Art for the Win

You know I am not very creative, right?  Like, really, not very creative.  Not only do I not have much talent when it comes to artsy stuff, but I also lack the interest.  Glitter and glue are a part of my past I would like to keep in the past!

But here is the thing- I still have a 12 year old at home who likes an occasional art project.  And quite honestly, even if he did not, his left brain dominated world needs a little more right brain activity occasionally.

When I saw Khan Mosaics I knew it was a good compromise for us both.

Khan Mosaics is a two piece art kit that uses small foam geometric pieces to create a picture, in this case a gorilla and a tiger.  The picture is printed on a thin cardboard for durability, measuring a bit over 8x8.  The foam pieces are self sticking so no glue or anything extra is required. While this may not require much talent, it does require some patience and very good fine motor skill.

Each card is color coded to direct you in placing the titles, ensuring the correct size and shape, as well as numbered so you do not mess up.  The sticky backing is pretty forgiving and the tiles can be peeled off quickly and re-positioned if you mess up.  Ask me how I know this!

So far my son and I have completed one card, taking us about 20 minutes, working together.  He chose the tiger, and off we went.

 

He was quite gracious to allow me to do the little bitty triangles!

Complete!

What we think-
This is a fun little kit!  Is is a bit challenging at times with the little pieces, but a great way to help develop fine motor skills!  It counts as art in my book, minus all the messy stuff.  That is a win!  Because of its size and price, I also think it would be a fun little gift to give.  

Overall it was time well spent and we are already planning on completing the next one- tomorrow!  Maybe I can do the larger pieces this time!
 

Khan Mosaics is also included in the Timberdoodle 4th Grade Curriculum kit.  

A Year in My Life- Colby Edition

We do a lot of reviews around here and many just naturally become a part of our daily school routine.  It makes this momma very happy, and grateful, but sometimes it can quickly overwhelm my 7th grader.  Our school assignment book is often filled to the brim with some pretty serious subjects and assignments.  When I saw A Year My the Life. in the Timberdoodle Co. catalog I know it would be the perfect addition for our busy day that would give us a fun break from the tedious.

My kiddo is left brain dominant.  He loves logic, and numbers, and sequences, and facts and organization.  I mean, REALLY loves those things; sometimes to the detriment of his creative side.  As a matter of fact, part of a program we are currently engaged in is helping us to work on developing his right brain with activities that are much more free flowing and creative.

Hence, my interest in A Year My the Life.
   
This little book has 365 prompts, one for every day of the year, to help you get your creative juices flowing.  Some prompts require more thought and time, others are quite simple and require very little work.  You may be asked to write out a few thoughts on something that happened in your day, or complete a drawing of a hot air balloon.  You could be asked to create a new magical creature or draw a picture of your favorite piece of art.  You can pretend you are a pirate and draw yourself on a ship , draw your favorite vegetables, or write down your most embarrassing moment.  The best part- you can do them in order or you can choose whatever prompt peaks your interest that particular day. 

It is so much fun!

How are we using this?
We had all intentions of doing one of the prompts every day, but we found ourselves forgetting on weekends, so we finally decided to just make it part of our daily school schedule.  Turns out it has been a great way to take a break between harder subjects like math and grammar.  It allows us to take a breath, regroup from frustration, and often laugh together for a few minutes.  AND- it is helping my analytical child have fun being creative.  So, yes, it will last us a bit over a true calendar year, but we are excited to be able to look back at our finished project when we are done.

Why we love this and why you will too!

Super creative! The prompts have such a wide range of subject matter and will appeal to both boys and girls.

Super flexible! Use this as a stocking stuffer or birthday present.  Pretend it is art for the day or give your kids something to do in the car while you run errands. 

Super inexpensive!  ($9.50) Price is great, in my opinion!  Hey, when you spend a fortune om curriculum, that's important to you!

Super quick!  Yes, you can spend a lot of time on each prompt if you choose or if you have a very detail oriented child, but most can be completed in just a few minutes.

Just plain SUPER!  And extremely imaginative.  So grab a copy and get those right sides of the brains working!  The fun will last an entire year.

A Year My the Life. is part of the Timberdoodle 8th Grade Curriculum Kit, but would be great for middle schoolers and up!

The Gift of Art

It is always a treat to review beautiful products and then be able to gift them to friends and family!  So often the things we review are for personal use, usually homeschooling.  Not that that is a bad thing, but it is often not as exciting. 

Ellie Claire Art Journals- now THOSE are exciting!

Journals of this fashion are quite new to me, as I am not an art girl, per se.  Oh, don't get me wrong, I love art, but there does not seem to be one ounce of art talent in my DNA.  Sad, but true. 

But these beautiful art journals from Ellie Art Gifts, well, they will make even the most art ignorant person's heart happy.  They are simply beautiful!

• The Faith and Lettering Journal is a beautiful hard bound journal meant to teach lettering techniques while you meditate on the Word of God.  Some pages are full color illustrations of scripture verses brought to life with creative lettering, with a facing page ready for you to try your hand at it.  Other pages are specifically teaching and practicing pages, whether writing complete verses or just practicing a specific letter style.  Other pages have a small quote or scripture verse with a full page to be completely creative on. Here you can journal or practice more of your lettering art.  Lastly, there are pages that teach and allow you to practice fun doodles, banners and flourishes, with the encouragement to practice 15 minutes a day.  There is an elastic pen holder on the binder so you can always have a pen handy!

 

•  Illuminate Your Story is the smallest of the three journals.  This book begins with the history of the art of illumination and provides information on 6 different types.  Information is also provided on Illuminated letters of ancient times, as well as a supply list you will need to get started.  Step by step instructions are provided for each letter of the alphabet with room to practice.  You will begin using a pencil and then add black marker and color.  Additional pages have a quote or additional scripture at the top.  Here you can practice your illuminated letters or simply use the space for journaling. Four special features of this particular journal are that it has a ribbon bookmark, an elastic band to hold it closed, an elastic pen holder on the binder,  and a pocket in the back cover to keep additional keepsakes in it.

• The third journal, The Illustrated Word, is an illuminated Bible Coloring Journal, and has the most space for journaling.  In it you will find beautiful miniature pictures of religious artwork on a journal page and then a full page black and white drawing for you to be able to color that picture or one similar to it.  The pictures are labeled and would make a great mini study in art history!  This one I am keeping for myself to take scripture notes in.

The bindings of all three book are works of art themselves and allow you to lay the book open flat when writing or drawing in them.  The pages are a thick paper that will not easily tear and hold a great deal of ink without bleeding through. We used pretty thick art markers when playing with them and did not have any problem.

Since I admitted I am keeping one,  where are the other two going?

To two sweet,  young lady friends of mine.  Both are super talented and agreed to try the journals out for me before I sent them home with them.  Take a look at what they did!!

Pretty impressive, huh?

These lovely Ellie Claire Journals would make wonderful gifts for someone special in your life.  They are perfect for any age and any skill level, as well as for someone who just likes to journal in a beautiful space.  The journals are well made, beautifully illustrated, and will inspire your faith and grow your artistic talent.  With each turn of the page and each scripture you meditate on, may you draw closer to the Lord!

Blessings,

Making Masterpieces

Art gets sorely overlooked in our house so when I get a chance to write a review on an art related curriculum I jump on it.  Such was the case with the Master Kitz- The Starry Night  from Kidzaw.com.

What started off as a volunteer program at a local preschool, Kidzaw has turned into a growing business.  They also offer Master Scultpz kits, Art on the Go and Color on the Go kits,as well as Art Parties.  Reasonably prices and all supplies included, these art kits are a great way to teach about great artists and art history as well as art principles.

    
The Starry Night kit includes two large pieces of heavy art paper, templates, acrylic paints, pastel oils, two paint rollers and detailed instructions.  The front page of the instruction is dedicated to the instruction of who Vincent van Gogh was and what his art was about.  Consider it a mini history and art lesson all in one.  Facts include where van Gogh was born, how he became an artist, and how he created the style we now call Post-Impressionism.  Did you know that in 1990, one of van Gogh's painting sold for 82.5 million dollars?  Wow!

As for the instructions, these fold open to reveal a 12 step process to create your rendition of The Starry Night.  Each step is broken down in small parts and shown with words as well as colored pictures.  My son, age 11 and in 6th grade, had no problem reading them and following them himself though I did sit beside him during the process.

Our thoughts and experiences-

Colby is not much of an art kid either, so it took a little convincing to get him started on this project.  I finally just pulled it out and told him we would try and if he hated it I would finish it by myself.  Spoiler alert- I did NOT finish it by myself.  As a matter of fact, I did nothing- he did it ALL.  Yep, typical kid, huh?

As soon as he opened the kit box and saw the cool rollers he was all in.  Hey, whatever It takes!  We immediately taped down the paper to our kitchen counter ( the instructions advise putting paper under but I knew our counters would clean up easily).  We then opened all the bottles of paint and he began reading the instructions.  Step by step we worked our way through the instructions, pausing only to wash our hands once or twice.  All in all, the complete project took us about 45 minutes.  Drying time is mentioned a few times, but it seemed that each time we were ready to start the next step the paint was dry enough to proceed.

I thought Colby's favorite part would be the paint rollers, but as it turned out he loved using the pastel oils to customize the painting.  When you follow the instructions there is not much chance for much variation.  After all, you are trying to reproduce a famous painting.  But in steps 11 and 12 you are encouraged to add some finishing touches using the oil pastels.

We did take some time to talk about what we had learned about on the double page spread entitled The Style of Vincent van Gogh as we worked.  Things like how up close the work may look blurred and much different that when you view it from further away.  We also each took turns holding his finished piece further away to see if that was true in our case as well.  Yes indeed, up close very few details are visible.

We ended our project by hanging it proudly in our kitchen area where it can be seen by all who enter.  Colby even asked if we could possibly frame it to hang up.  Pride in his work-I would say that is a sign of a good art kit!

And funny story- his 16 year old brother came into the room later on in the day, saw the painting hanging, and called me over privately to ask the question- "How in the world did Colby paint that?  It is good!"  We might let him try the next one we do! ;)

You can watch demonstration videos and see more art from other kids on the kidzaw.com website!

50 other reviewers took advantage of this great opportunity to have their kids create a masterpiece.  You can see their finished work and read their reviews by clicking on the banner below.