Lovehearts Art

While I was checking out Kathy Barbro's tutorial for the Winter Birches over at the fantastic blog Art Projects for Kids I came across this super cool Valentine's art project.

L is super excited about Valentine's Day this year which she calls Lovehearts Day.

I was also excited to finally use the oil pastels I bought months ago.  We did the project on some leftover water color paper.  We used three different sized heart shaped cookie cutters to trace our hearts onto the paper.

L then chose her first color and outlined a heart with zigzag lines.  She did that about three times for each heart in different colors and then kept filling in more and more colors.  This was a pretty long project and I had to keep encouraging her towards the end but the result was totally worth it!

Here are the finished products.  L's is on the left and Mommy's is on the right.

Easy, beautiful artwork

When I saw this gorgeous Winter Birches art project over at Wee Folk Art I knew it was one L and I would have to try out right away.

After having a fairly mild winter we finally got snow this week and L had a snow day.  It was the perfect day to bake cookies and try out this painting.

 This beautiful piece of artwork was so easy to make.

For a full tutorial with step by step pictures go to Wee Folk Art.  They used painters tape but since we didn't have any on hand I just used masking tape.  It took off a little of the paper but in the end it still looks great and I think it adds a nice texture.

We haven't done a project like this in a while and it reminded me of how much fun it is to get out the paints and do artwork together.  Thank you Wee Folk Art for posting about this great project.



Winter nature table/scene 2011

We used a lot of the same elements from last years Winter scene this year with the addition of a little skating rink and this adorable little skater.  We also added the wooden penguins that I received in my stocking.  I love this scene so much that I think we will make it a Christmas tradition that we bring out every year and just change it up a little like we did this year.

I love now that L is getting older she can really help out and give her input into what we should do with our nature table.

Advent Activities 2011 Week 4

Day 20

"make angels"

We made these last year and L was asking to make them again this year.  They are very simple to make just using coffee filters.

Day 21

Okay honestly I just can't remember what we did this day.  This is what happens when you don't record things right away! Lesson learned!

Day 22

"Auntie M and Uncle J arrive"

This Christmas was a very special one for us as not only was it our family's first Christmas in our new house but my husband's sister and her husband came to stay with us all the way from England.  L was beside herself with excitement.

Day 23

"make angel decorations"

I saw these on a blog while I was blog surfing and now I can't for the life of me find it again to link back to .  If these were your idea please leave me a comment so I can link back to you.

These are so simple to make just using a cardboard cereal box and a Styrofoam ball.  We tore up some Christmas paper and modge podged it to the body, head and wings.  Once they were dry I glued on the heads and wings with a glue gun.  L made the little one and I made the big one.  I'm really happy with how they turned out.

Day 24

"Go skating at the Winter Wonderland"

Every year our local arena does a wonderful job of turning a boring old skating rink into a magical wonderland with trees, lights and winter scenes.  They turn the lights down and play Christmas music.  It's such a wonderful family event.

Phew that's it I managed to do it.  Looking back and remembering all of these activities we really did have a fantastic Christmas season.

Advent Activities 2011 Week 3

Okay I know it's waaay past Christmas and I've been seriously neglecting this blog but I did want to record our advent activities this year before I forgot.  So here goes...

Day 14

"make Nutcracker puppets"

L was seriously into the Nutcracker ballet this year so she really took care with making these puppets.  You can download them here.

Day 15

"Ice and decorate the Christmas cake"

This is an age old tradition in our family that goes back to when my sister and I were little girls.  We've had these decorations for ages.  The best part is putting the cheeky brown sprinkles behind the reindeer's!

 Day 16

"make picture frames"

I saw these over at The Magic Onions and fell in love with them.  I was amazed how beautifully they turned out and wish I'd bought more frames.  We'll be doing these again in the future for sure.

Day 17

"make ice ornaments"

These are just so beautiful and easy to make.  L and my mom collected different bits of nature, then popped them into her bunt pan and filled it with water.  It wasn't cold enough to leave it outside so they put it in the deep freeze until we used it.

Day 18

"look by the fireplace"

I got L one of those colouring pages that has black felt or something like it and you colour around it with markers.  Unfortunately I didn't get a picture but she really enjoyed this activity.

Day 19

"Go to M Garden's "

This is quickly becoming a Christmas tradition with our family.  A local heritage house in our area puts on an absolutely phenomenal display of lights on their huge estate.  For the past two years now we've invited over our friends for dinner and then all gone to look at the magical lights together.  It's a highlight of the season.