On Tour!

Hi everyone!  Many of you might not be aware but I am the other half of the Kids Art team.  My name is Suzie and I joined Chantelle halfway through last year to help out with designs and to manage the Kids Art blog.  Some of you might know me from Hoots and Kisses.

Chantelle and I met online when we joined a small network of small crafty businesses and realised we lived only twenty minutes from each other.  You can read all about how we met here.  Needless to say we hit it off and in 3013 Chantelle asked me if I would come on board to help out with her huge workload and I jumped at the chance.

Anyway enough about us,  I have some cool things I want to share with you.  I am currently touring NSW with my little tribe in our popup camper Gladys.  Here is Gladys!

Anyway the other day it was 38 degrees in the shade and we landed in the tiny village of Sandy Hollow.  We decided to have a littel explore inbetween swims and we came across a little Gallery owned by Artist David Mahony.

We sat and talked with him and he did some sketches for the kids and we all had a lovely time.  I just wanted to share some of the pictures I took from his gallery. 

Here are some prints of his paintings.  Joe loved the bushrangers and Grace loved the owls.  The three of us have been drawing owls ever since!!!!

I hope you enjoy David's art as much as we did.  We are heading to Canberra tomorrow and hope to visit the national gallery. I shall see you next week with some pics from our adventure.

I am going to leave you with these images from the Jenolen Caves in the Blue Mountains.  I have been inspired by these amazing caves and am looking forward to creating some images inspired by the caves when we get home.

xxxxxx

Last minute Christmas fun!

It has been a huge couple of weeks here at Kids Art.  Chantelle has been sooooo busy making and packaging all your gorgeous artwork and sending it off to their new homes.

Thankyou to all of you who purchased a personalised Kids Art piece this festive season.  I bet your little people are going to be very excited when they open those packages.

Next year will be a big year for Kids Art.  We have lots of new product ideas and there will be new designs each month!!!!  Don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter for new designs and great discounts delivered straight to your inbox.

All of us here at Kids Art would like to say a huge thankyou for all your support in 2013.  We are looking forward to 2014 and continuing to provide gorgeous designs at great prices.  We will be introducing paper prints to our collections next year to make it even more affordable to own your own piece of Kids Art.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone and a super safe and fun New Year!!!

I will leave you with some last minute cute Christmas ideas I found on Pinterest!

This is a great wall art idea and so easy for the kids to do themselves.

http://www.sevencherubs.com/

If you haven't discovered photo props as yet then you really must give them a go!!! They make photos so much fun!

http://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/91910079/christmas-glitter-photo-booth-props-20

This is a Christmas Eve present box for the kiddies.  I has pyjamas and special movie snacks for Christmas Eve!!!!

Source unknown.  From Pinterest.

These little origami stars are sooo cute and really easy!!

http://www.minnamayblog.com/2012/06/origami-stars-tutorial.html

We will definitely be doing this in my house!  My little peeps are very allergic and this will be such a great treat on the Christmas table for them.

http://witandwhistle.com/2011/07/05/cookie-cutter-fruit-salad/

Everyone loves making snowflakes!!!! 

http://www.usefuldiy.com/diy-snowflake-paper-pattern/

And finally, how awesome is this Christmas pic!!

Via pixie miks a lot

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree.........

Sorry it has been so long between posts everyone!  We hope you are enjoying the build up to christmas. Chantelle is absolutely run off her feet printing placemats, clocks and growth charts and posting them off all over the world ready for Christmas Day.

Every year we order a live Christmas tree and this year we are picking it up on the 9th of December.  So we have started decorating the house but the tree is yet to come!

I absolutely love the red and white scandanavian theme and this is what I am hoping to achieve this year. Well we also have all those gorgeous not matching ornaments and I keep on telling myself that that is okay!!!!!  Breath deeply!!!!! It doesn't matter if the kids want to put something ugly on the tree!!!!  LOL!!! I will say that I have declared a no tinsel year this year.  Instead I am making a red and white star or circle garland to adorn the tree!!!  Maybe both!  Trusty paper punches watch out!!!  I am beyond excited.

We were hoping to share our new design with you all but we are not quite there yet.  Next week for certain and I know you are all going to love it!!!!  

So instead I have been pinning some gorgeous Christmas trees and images and I am going to share these with you instead!!!!!

Before I do this I wanted to remind you to pop over and checkout our awesome range of personalised art work and pick something for your special little person before it is too late.

http://kids-art.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14_94&products_id=647

http://kids-art.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14_88&products_id=588

http://kids-art.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14_93&products_id=624

http://kids-art.com.au/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=14_40&products_id=284

And now for some gorgeous pinterest pins!!!!

http://www.dotsandspotsdesign.blogspot.com.au/

http://www.pinterest.com/hearthandmade/

http://www.dotsandspotsdesign.blogspot.com.au/

http://occasionsbylisa.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/scandinavian-christmas.html

http://www.fabbrunette.com/?p=2971

http://selinalake.blogspot.co.u

Make sure you go and visit all of these sites.  There is sooo much gorgeous stuff to look at!!!  Have fun!

And this is how we roll!

This what I woke up to this morning!  LOL!  Just making a santa sleigh because we can.  Let them have paint!!!  Mind you there is now paint on the garage floor and they are not happy about having to clean it up. I just love that my kids are creative and not afraid to just go with it.

Have a great weekend everyone.

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