Live Eagle cam

We have all really enjoyed watching these magnificent eagles and thought we'd share the link. The nest is just north of Stillwater. Enjoy!

http://www.suttoncenter.org/eaglecam.html

What to do?

What do you do with two boys home sick that want to be outside, but it's raining? Well, probably lots of things, but we decided to make play-doh. Pretty easy, but the first recipe I made was too sticky. I searched for the best play-doh recipe and found this. Perfect.



My boys-ages 3 and 5 enjoy helping me in the kitchen. They measured and poured all the ingredients. They couldn't help me stir on the stovetop, but enjoyed kneading the food coloring into the dough.

4 cups flour
1 cup salt
4 cups water
4 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup cream of tartar

Mix all ingredients in a sauce pan. Cook and stir over low/medium heat until play dough is completely formed and no longer sticky. Allow to cool slightly before storing in an air tight container or zip lock bag.

I added food coloring and kneaded it all together. It's great and my two boys have been quiet for about 30 minutes!

I had planned on painting today, but I don't think it's going to work out with both boys being home with me today. The deadline for 24 works of Art on paper is looming and I'm not sure that I'll have 3 entries finished.

Other OVAC News, They had our first committee meeting for 12x12 the other night and it is a great crew. It is my 6th year for this event and I am pumped about this year. Location still up in the air, but the date is set for Sept 26. Mark it on your calendars now! Also, think about being a sponsor this year. The lowest sponsorship is only $144!

My brooch class at the Museum was great. It was a rainy day, so we were short a few kiddos, but we still had plenty of fun. First we read Mommy Mine-a short simple funny book and talked about our Moms. Kids shared stories and we went to the 2nd floor of the museum to find things Mom would like. We found flowers, hats, jewelry, tea pots, food, gardens, beaches...etc. Back in the classroom we got busy with our felt and embellishments. I had every intention of taking a few pics, but we were just so busy, I didn't get any. After we finished our brooches, we made a card and pinned our brooches inside. The kids got so colorful with their card creations, I really wish I had pictures to share. Oh well. Next time!

Have a creative day!

Felt Flowers

This week is teacher appreciation week at my boy's school. Yesterday was bring a flower day and so we made these cute little felt brooches the night before. They loved them and I do too!

This is a class at the Museum this Sat. for Pre-K. We are going to make them for Mother's Day. I have a different neat way we are going to give them to Mom's. You'll have to check back to see!

This was a good practice run for me though. I love working with felt because there are no raw edges to finish. Just cut and go.

-felt
-scissors
-1 inch bar pins
-fabric glue
-hot glue

Magic Lines

I did a fun toddler class on lines this past week. We read, When a line bends...a shape begins.

I also had these other fun books on hand for kids to look at if they finished early.


When we "lined up" to walk to the gallery we found lines from the second we left the classroom-circles on carpet, lines making squares in the hallway, hanging rectangle posters, lines are all around us and they bend into many shapes. You would be surprised how into it these little kids get. They are ages 15 months-3 years old and I don't think sometimes they get the credit they deserve. They are SMART. and they were finding lines everywhere! In the elevator and then in the gallery. We found lines all around us.

We sat down in front of and talked about the kinds of lines in the paintings. We moved our arms up and down, side to side, zig-zag-they love that word by the way, and moving our arms in circles. One girl shouts, circle on floor! Everyone investigates. We are professional line finders.

In the class we put tape on our tag board. The parents had the job as tape tearers. The kids put the tape down.




Then we used a primary paint palette plus white and got busy!



Now the fun part is taking off the tape to reveal our cool lines! So much fun! It is easiest to try to remove the tape before the paint dries to avoid tearing.



-paper (we used tagboard)
-masking tape (we used Kraft brand)
-paint
-palette
-brushes

Happy Creating.
p.s. I hope to have better photos from here on out as we got a new camera!

Bearden Collages

It has been a long time! What can I say, being a Mom to two little boys is a little bit time consuming. I do have some time now to catch up on a few things.



The Museum's past exhibit was the Harlem Renaissance. For each leaving exhibit the Museum hosts "last call". It's an opportunity to socialize, have a drink, listen to music and say goodbye to the exhibit. They also usually have an artist come in and do an activity for the adults. Adults are funny because they think they "can't do it." I encourage them they can-and they do! They have more fun once they just let go. So we did small Romare Bearden inspired collages.

5x7 tagboard
scissors
glue
magazine cuttings
fabric
variety of papers

Happy creating!