Happy Thanksgiving

So I'm off to the cabin for a few days but before I go I want to wish everyone a great Thanksgiving and if you are looking for something to do this long weekend you can always try one of these projects from the archives.


Fall Inchies

Paper roll Squirrels

Fall Banner (Grade 1 does this next week!)

Forest Gnomes

Paper bag Pumpkin


I have lots more Fall projects, just click on the word Fall at the top of this blog for a full listing and then click on the title of the project for full directions.

Before I leave let's pull the winning entry for this week's giveaway for "How to Make Stuffed Animals" by Sian Keegan.  Thanks again to my friends at Quarry Books for sponsoring this giveaway.  We had 83 total entries.

By random draw:

Here are your random numbers:

59

Timestamp: 2012-10-05 20:09:49 UTC

and the winner is

Melissa Roy Goodman who entered on Facebook.  Congrats!



See you next week with some spooky projects in time for Halloween.

 

Leaf Print Turkeys and Squirrels

Looking for a quick and easy Thanksgiving project, why not try leaf print Turkeys.

or maybe a Squirrel for those of you not celebrating Thanksgiving next Monday.



Full instructions are coming right up but first...........

Speaking of Squirrels check out this adorable one in this week's giveaway.  (I'm still having issues with the photos, are you listening blogger! but you can click on any to enlarge)



I just love the acorn!

And I can't wait to make this deer for the nature table.







 This week's feature book and giveaway is "How to Make Stuffed Animals" by Sian Keegan.  Another great selection from my friends at Quarry Books.

This book features large photos and full size patterns. (no enlarging!) All projects can be completed with "fat quarters" so you don't need alot of fabric kicking around.

There are 18 projects in all and wait till you see the fox and the fluffy sheep.


- 128 pgs.
- 300 illustrations/photos
- paperback, 8.5 x 10 inches
- suggested retail $27.99 CAN, $24.99 US

My kids have always enjoyed making stuffies.  We started out with tiny animals using wool felt and embroidery floss.

Here is my youngest at 6 sewing his frog.

Great projects for you or your little sewer to try.  Wouldn't these make great ornaments for a woodland themed Christmas tree?




Check out the end of this post to enter the giveaway.










But let's get back to the leaf prints:




MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- assorted leaves in different sizes, look for good veining on the back
- liquid tempera paint in Fall colours
- my template if needed
- cardboard, posterboard, or heavy paper for the background (substrate)
- white paper for printing
- coloured paper  (brown, yellow, red, black)
- brown kraft paper or paper bag
- scissors
- glue
- white pencil crayon
- embellishments, googly eyes, scraps of felt, twigs, pinecone

PROCEDURE:

Select your background.  Now you can use cardboard that you have primed and painted, coloured posterboard, or even wc or heavy paper.


Paint if needed.

If you are making the turkey find a round object to trace around.  This will be your guideline when making the feathers.

Take your liquid tempera and paint the backside of a leaf.

Following the circle you traced, lay the leaf paint side down and press.

Vary the sizes, types and paint colour.

For the squirrel make a stack from largest to smallest, you could even put a bit of a curve in it.

When the prints have dried, cut out keeping that fan shape.

Cut out the extra parts of the turkey out of the coloured paper.

You need a circle of Kraft paper/paper bag. a long pear shape for the head, a triangle of yellow for the beak, and a squiggle of red.

You can use my template if needed.

Glue into place on your background.  I used 2 googly eyes and 2 small twigs (for feet) to embellish my turkey.


Lastly you can add some black paper strips glued down to form a nice frame.

For the squirrel I glued down the tail first.

I traced out my squirrel shape with a white pencil crayon on brown paper. (see template).

I cut the shape out and added a few details with the white pencil crayon.

I then glued the squirrel body into place, added a brown felt ear, black felt nose and eye, and bits of a pine cone.

Add the black paper strips to finish.

That's it, a great Thanksgiving project.

Back to the giveaway.  If you would like to win your own copy of "How to Make Stuffed Animals" by Sian Keegan please enter by one of the following:

- leave a comment on this post
- like or comment on this link on my Facebook page
- send me an email at thatartistwoman@shaw.ca

Please enter by 11:59pm on Thursday Oct 4th/12 and I will make the draw Friday Oct 5th/12.

Only US and Canadian residents please.

Good luck everyone and be sure to try some leaf print turkeys or squirrels. Great decorations for Thanksgiving!



Disclaimer: Review copy of How to Make Stuffed Animals provided by Quarry Books.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Thanksgiving Batiks

Well Thanksgiving is just one week away and we were busy making our turkey shirts using the Gel Glue Batik method.  You can also check out the Fall Batik that I do with Grade 3 every year.

I also made a table runner.  I used some fabric I had on hand that had a nap to it and unfortunately it didn't take the paint as well as I would have liked.









MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- fabric or T shirts
- pencil
- cardboard and wax paper
- washable gel glue, I get mine from the Dollar store
- acrylic craft paint
- paintbrush
- water
- tub for soaking
- dryer

PROCEDURE:

Before starting lay your fabric on top of wax paper.  If you are doing a shirt slide a piece of wax papered cardboard inside to prevent the glue from transferring to the back of the shirt.


As I've shown you many times we start off putting our design on in pencil first.

We then go in with our gel glue and go over our lines as well as anyplace we want to remain white or the original color of the fabric.









I buy my gel glue from the Dollar Store but you can also use Elmer's Gel School glue.

If you find the bottle too difficult for your little ones to squeeze just put some in a little cup and use a paintbrush.

Your lines will be a bit thicker but I find it works quite well.

Let the glue dry flat overnight and then using acrylic craft paint and some added water to make it flow well paint in your design.

The glue will resist the paint.



Let dry.

Soak in hot water, I use my laundry tub, until the glue dissolves.  Sometimes I need to scrub it a little on the spots where there are gobs of glue.

Put in the dryer and you're done!

Wear your Turkey shirt with pride.

Turkey Line Drawing

It will be Thanksgiving here in Canada in a few weeks so I thought I better put a few related projects up.

This is a good project for Grades 4 and up.  Now usually we describe a contour line as an outline but here we are also using line to represent texture and a sense of 3 dimensional mass.

This is a good project to get kids to focus on details but in a very easy manner.




MATERIALS REQUIRED:
- dark colored paper, I used dark brown, dark colors contrast best with the white lines
- white tempera paint, white pencil crayon, white gel pens, or even white crayon
- turkey reference photos, feathers for reference
- pencil and eraser

PROCEDURE:

Draw out your outline in pencil.

Starting with that outline apply white paint.

When the outline is done start working on each feather section.  You want to add some variety here so the feathers will look distinct from one another.

Color in some sections, use bold lines, thin lines, curved lines, straight lines just keep it consistent for each section.

When the tail is done start working on the body.  You want to emphasize the roundness.  Take your time.

That's it, although it appears quite complicated once you get started it's really not that hard.

A Tale of Two Turkeys: Turkey #2 Salt Dough

Here is Turkey #2. A lot quicker than clay and just as charming.

These are salt dough turkeys that Grade 4 completed.

Materials Required:

salt dough, see recipe at end of materials list

paper clip

rolling pin

dull knife

water

whole cloves (optional)

oven

acrylic paint

Mod Podge

skewer

Salt Dough Recipe

4 cups flour

1 cup salt

1 1/2 - 2 cups water

Combine ingredients to make a soft dough, knead in some extra flour if required. This dough will keep for quite a while in the refrigerator.

This is enough dough for 6 turkeys.

Roll out the dough to about 1/2 and inch thickness and cut out a round about 3 and 1/2 to 4 inches in diameter.


I'm using a tomato can...I have one of those can openers that leave no sharp edges...perfect for crafting.

Take your paper clip and insert it into the top of the round for a hanger.

Take some more dough and roll out a rectangular shape.

Cut some strips about the width of your finger.

Using a skewer make some indentations that look like feather marks.

Cut to size and using water glue into place.

It should look like this but feel free to alter as you wish.

Roll out some more dough and cut a small round about 1 and 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter.

I'm using a tomato paste can.

Glue into place with a little water.

Now you need to make the head/neck. Roll a little sausage shape.

Glue into place with a little water.

Make a triangular beak.....

Glue into place.

For eyes you can use two whole cloves or make some out of little balls of dough.

You should end up with something like this.

Here is one of the trays from Grade 4.

Bake at 300 degrees for about 3 hours or until hard.

Let cool.

With acrylic paint add some color to your turkey. The easiest way to paint it is to start with the bottom round and paint your way up just like the way you put your turkey together.

When the paint has dried you can give it a coat of glossy Mod Podge and add a ribbon for hanging.

That's it.

Here is the display of squirrels Grade 1 made. I described how to make these in an earlier post here.

Great job Grade 1!!

See you next time.