Sharpie Art!

As promised I have put together a few ideas and inspiration for you to make your very own Christmas gift using the ever versatile Sharpie Pen.

You will need some Sharpie Pens.  I bought this packet for myself and the kids.  I am sooo very excited but have not made anything yet, so fingers crossed all these wonderful ideas work!! :LOL!

You will also need some white china.  You can use any white china you wish, mugs, plates, sugar bowls etc.
I have seen a great variety of inexpensive white china at my local Big W.

You will find a full tutorial right here at The Sweetest Occasion, so pop on over and get started.

Below I have included some great ideas to help you create your very own Sharpie work of art.  Have fun!

Please share over on our facebook page here any of your creations.  We would so love to see what you have been inspired to create.

Pinterest ~ Source unknown

http://herligheder.blogspot.dk/search/label/diy?updated-max=2013-01-16T12:58:00%2B01:00&max-results=20&start=18&by-date=false

Pinterest ~ Source unknown

Pinterest ~ Source unknown 

http://whoneedsacape.com/2013/01/diy-sharpie-ceramic-mugs-and-cups/

http://jipmagip.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/mug-shots.html?m=1

Making Christmas wrap with your kids.

Christmas is such a fun time for everyone and I have always loved getting my kids involved in the preparation for the Jolly Season.

One of our gorgeous christmas prints.

Last week I shared some easy and fun handmade Christmas card ideas to make with your kids.  This week I will share some gorgeous handmade festive wrapping ideas to make with your kids.  My kids wrap all the presents now and they just love it!!!!!!

First things first is to buy yourself some cheap rolls of brown paper.  They are soooo cheap and available everywhere.  I get mine from Woolworths.

Secondly, you are going to need some red, green and white paint!  This is essential.  However if you are not keen on paint, I have included great ideas that do not require any paint at all.  Oh yes, I can here some of you breathing a sigh of relief!  LOL!  I will convert you eventually, you know that don't you!  For this idea you will also need some festive cookie cutters!! Once again easily found at your local grocery store of choice.  You can see in the images below they have also used bubble wrap and doilies to print on their design on brown paper!

Source unknown Pinterest

Source Unknown Pinterest

Sticky spots and stars in festive colours are a great idea to use as well.  This guarantees no mess!!!!

Source unknown Pinterest

Sharpies are a great investment and can be used not only to create this super cute and easy gift wrap, they can also be used to decorate a unique one of a kind gift.  I will be posting about this next week!!! So stay tuned.  In the image below they have used a silver sharpie to decorate the paper.  Too cute!

Image Care of witandwhistle.com

 This is also a great idea to create polka dots or confetti using paint or ink pads.  Use the rubber on the end of a pencil.  What a great idea!

http://www.mohawkconnects.com/feltandwire/2011/10/14/do-it-yourself-confetti-cards-with-paper-craves-kristen-magee/

My favourite type of wrap for Christmas is brown paper with washi tape!!!!!  I am totally addicted to washi tape.  What is washi tape?  Washi tape is a decorative masking tape and it is fabulous!!!!!!!  It averages around $4.00 a roll and I use it in scrapbook and card projects but one of my favourite uses is to wrap presents!! I use washi tape and brown paper all year round!!!!!

Have a great week everyone and happy crafting!!!!  

Hand Made Christmas Cards!

When the kids were little and I was trying to fill our days with fun things to keep them occupied,  you remember those days before kindy, part time or full time work and school, one of my favourite things to do was get the kids making our yearly christmas cards to be posted off around the world.

I used to buy heaps of stickers and foam shapes, glitter glue pens and shiny pretty things to decorate with.  I would put it in a big pile in the middle of the table and let them go nuts!!!!  They used to love it and that kind of describes my parenting style.  As a teacher I saw way too many kids who struggled to make their own creative choices and so I was determined that my little peeps were going to be organically creative and independent.  Mind you I have not had a tidy house since!!!  Still to this day there is always some kind of art or craft mess spread all over the place.  Including mine!!!! LOL! My husband david is ever so patient with the whole thing.

So I have been cruising around pinterest!  What a surprise!  It is one of my favourite virtual places to be and I have found some great ideas to help you enlist the help of your little or big peeps in making your family christmas cards this year!!! Yes I am going to do it too this year.  We have not done it for a few years and I think it is time we started it again!

I just love these fingerprint picture ideas.  We will be doing these this year I think.  You can use ink pads or paint on coloured cardstock or paper.  I just love them!!!!

http://funfamilycrafts.com/fingerprint-candy-canes/

http://observando.net/post/12462762439

http://funhandprintart.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/fingerprint-christmas-art-for-kids.html

http://crafting.squidoo.com/fingerprint-snowman

http://handsonaswegrow.com/christmas-craft-fingerprint-homemade-cards/

http://withorwithoutnap.blogspot.com.au/2010/12/kids-craft-christmas-wreaths.html

http://happyhooligans.ca/lacing-tree-ornaments/

http://theverybusykindergarten.blogspot.com.au/2011/12/christmas-cards-for-elderly.html

http://www.livingonalatte.com/search/label/Christmas

Paper mosaics

The art of mosiacs is amazing and the images that can be created using tiny pieces of pottery and tiles are beautiful.  I particularly love the amazing colourful pieces from europe.

Source unknown

Source unknown

In another life time, I travelled to spain and spent time in Barcelona.  This city is very famous for the Gaudi Mosaics and there is an entire park devoted to these amazing sculptures and art work.  Gaudi also designed many unique buildings in Barcelona and they are often adorned with his beautiful mosaic works of art.

Source unknown

Source unknown

These gorgeous creations are sooo easy to make with your kids at home.  All you need are lots of coloured paper cut into a variety of shapes. You can buy coloured paper at Big W or Crazy Clarkes. The kids can cut or tear pieces to fit their design.  I use glue sticks as these are much less messier than pots of glue, however you can choose what suits your little peeps best.  For a while there I only let Joe use double sided tape as he used to love eating glue sticks and all sorts of glue!! Strange child he was.

Here are some examples of paper mosaic artwork I found on pinterest!  I love pinterest by the way.  If you have not yet discovered pinterest you need to go and check it out now!

www.pinterest.com

I have put the website/blog links for all of this images, where you will find great tutorials and step by step instructions to help you and your little peeps create amazing and beautiful mosaics.  Be sure to share any of your creations here or over on our facebook.  We just love kids and their creations.

Have a great week lovelies and we shall see you back here next week with some exciting christmas craft and present ideas.

http://www.jfpl.org/kids/polImage.cfm?Event_Id=151&Size_Code=small

http://onpolkadotlane.blogspot.com.au/2011/10/crafty-kid-fun-paper-mosaic-art.html

http://dalimoustache.blogspot.com.au/search?q=Paper+mosaic

 http://thecleverfeather.blogspot.com.au/search?updated-max=2012-05-16T11:24:00-05:00&max-results=15

Just another beautiful day……..

I am sitting here working at my desk and through the window I see deep greens, dark luscious browns and the most beautiful blue sky that you can imagine.

The view from my window is not an amazing one.  I have a lovely view of the faded wooden fence and the cream speckled bricks of the neighbour’s house.  A cream colour bond roof (very typically suburban Australia) and yet when I raise my eyes that little higher, that is when the beauty is revealed. 

We live near a creek which is lined by the most amazingly majestic trees you can find.  A remnant of the days when this part of the coast was covered in dense rainforest, back in the days before the colonisation of Australia and the clearing of land for farming and grazing became common place.  Trees bearing pinecones just waiting to be collected by eager little hands and decorated ready to be hung on the Christmas tree.

This tree line curves around the side of my house and to the back garden where a tall, wide and proud mango tree stands beginning to flower, with the promise of ripe and juicy fruit in the coming months.  Ahh…. any of you who have experienced that first juicy mango of the season knows the feeling.  It also reminds us that Christmas is not that far away.

I sit and continue to gaze at the tall leafy branches that reach up to touch the fresh, clear blue sky and I sigh, a deep sigh.  A lot is said in that one sigh.  Peace, calm, warmth, happiness but above all of these for me inspiration. 

A few years ago I began exploring my creative side.  The side of my personality that had been ignored by the traveller, the partier and then the career woman, the home owner the wife and finally the mother and keeper of all things house!!!

The creative side was finally given an opportunity to shine and shine it did.  At first it was paper craft and then crochet, stitching, oh my goodness the crafts I have dipped my toe to is endless and I have loved every minute.

I never used to appreciate the images, the colours, the textures, the shades and the patterns that were surrounding me each day.  Now I find inspiration everywhere I look.  Some days I am more open to the beauty and inspiration than others but even just by looking out the window, I am inspired by colour and the beauty around me.

Inspiration comes to many in different ways and for me my inspiration comes through colour. The colours from a delicate yet bold flower, the lime green shoots of new grass, the deep brown of the textured bark of the pine trees. I could keep on listing the sources of my inspiration all day.  It is continuous and endless and I love it. 

Colour is the most important feature of a design for me and being inspired by colour is who I am and how I create. 

Today I want you to sit, make a creamy beverage of choice (mine is coffee) and take some time to think about what inspires you.  What makes you draw that sharp breath of pleasure that awwww feeling you get when you see something that is just delightful.  Gather some images, take some photographs, and write some words.  Think about what inspires you, really sit and think about it.  Devote some time to it and I promise you that you will feel better for it and I am pretty sure you will feel the need to be creative in whatever way being creative means to you.

Have a wonderful day and remember to live each day with inspiration and creativity and happiness.

The children can be arguing around me yet when I sit at my little creative space and get busy the rest of the world just slips away.  And that is the beauty of being creative!  Letting the rest of the world just slip away for a short time.

Wow that a bit deep but just felt the need to share.  Have fun being creative!

Beautiful Babushka Dolls

Oh my goodness!  We have a new design to share with you all this week and I think it might just be our new all time favourite.  LOL! That seems to happen with each new design we create lately.  The colours are gorgeous and the dolls are to die for.

Introducing the Kids Art Beautiful Babushka Dolls design range.  As with all our designs this one is also available in canvas, clocks, prints and growth charts.  We hope you love it as much as we do!

These gorgeous babushka dolls have been individually created using a very pretty pink colour pallette and include a pop of aqua! Everyone loves pinks and aquas and the designers here at Kids Art are no different. These gorgeous dolls are bright and very cute and would look great in any girls bedroom. You can individualize your Beautiful Babushka design as well, which makes a perfect gift for all those special little ladies in your life.

Placemat

Canvas

Canvas

Canvas

Growth Chart

Growth Chart

Canvas Set

Canvas Set

Canvas Set

Growth Chart

Growth Chart

placemat

clock

Placemat

My favourite piece of this design set is the four canvas set, each with a beautiful doll on it with a background colour!  But then I do love them all!!!

We hope that you are all enjoying the holidays with your little people and are perhaps trying out some of the art ideas we have shared with you here on the Kids Art blog.

We will back next week with some more fun and useful art ideas to do with your kids!

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