Tuesday, December 6, 2011

How to Make a Christmas Birdhouse Ornament

So here is a good ornament project.  The inspiration is those old birdhouses that are made out of tin cans.










MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- paper roll from toilet paper or paper towels
- paint
- glitter glue

- small twig
- tacky glue
- scrap of white posterboard
- white glittery pipe cleaner
- pencil
- scissors
- gold thread or ribbon for hanging
- little piece of garland
- embellishment, I used some red wired berries

PROCEDURE:

Take paper roll and flatten one end.











Now you can just glue it closed but I sewed mine, I like the look and I'm too impatient to wait for the glue to dry!










Determine which side will be the front and fold over the top.  You don't need to glue this place right now.










Using a pencil draw a circle on the front.








Cut this out with scissors.  I poke it with my awl to get it going.







Paint the roll.  You can brush on some glitter glue for some sparkle.








Now glue down that fold using tacky glue.  Use some clothespins to hold in place while drying.










Trace out a circle on your scrap of posterboard that is slightly larger than the paper roll.

Cut out.






Glue on to the bottom of your house.





Let dry a bit.


Poke a hole beneath the cut out circle.










Apply a little glue to the hole and stick in your small twig for a perch.










Poke a hole thru the fold and add a thread or ribbon loop for hanging.









Add some garland and embellishment.










Take a white glittery pipe cleaner, form into a circle big enough to fit on the bottom of your birdhouse and glue into place.







Add some text if you want.  I typed out "Home for the Holidays" on the computer and printed it out.

Attach on house with glue.








That's it.

You can add a bird if you want but I like mine just the way they are.


Hope you give it a try.



Monday, December 5, 2011

How to Make a Christmas "House" shaped Book

I introduced this "House" shaped book project at my last conference.

Here is a Christmas version.

I have been playing around with books alot lately.  Trying to find ways to make them more interesting, ways to make the creation of a book more like an art project.



Here I utilize 2 front and back covers (one for the roof and one for the house).  The neat thing about this "house" book is that it can stand up on it's own, like a house for display.  Very cool!









Inside you can put in as many pages as you want, whatever type of paper you want.  It can be a story, Christmas poetry, photos, whatever you wish.



So let's get started:

MATERIALS REQUIRED 

- cardboard, I used corrugated for the roof, chipboard (cereal box) for the house
- book pages, scrapbooking paper, or colored paper
- glue
- scissors
- paint
- pencil crayons, gel pens, sharpies
- glitter glue
- white paper for pages
- jump rings, 15mm
- hole punch
- Mod podge for sealing, optional


PROCEDURE:

Take your cardboard and cut 2 pieces 4" x 5" and 2 pieces 3.5" x 7".

These will be the front and back covers.





Paint one side of each piece.  Pick contrasting colors for your roof and house.




Let dry.



Take some colored paper, scrapbooking paper or whatever you have and cover the other side of the cardboard.







Place the roof piece on top of the house piece, line up the tops.  Make a little mark with a pencil where the bottom of the roof is on the house piece.  

This will help you put the windows, etc. in the right place.




Start making your door and windows.  I like to have a nice frame around mine.  So it looks like the door frame and the window sills.

I cut out either the window or door and then glue that shape onto the paper I want as the frame.  I then trim with the scissors.
For example here is my black door glued to the white paper I want for the door frame.  I did not show any white at the bottom.



I then glue it to my house.  Using a white gel pen I add a house # and a door knob.






For the windows I sketched out some details in pencil and added color with paint or pencil crayons.




Using a fine sharpie I outline a few details in my windows.

I then add some glitter glue that I brush on.

 As I've said before I always have the kids use a paintbrush to apply glitter otherwise they just put gobs and gobs on!



Do the same for the back cover.









For the roof I cut a few shingles out of colored paper and glued them on.

Because this is a winter scene I also cut out some icicles out of white paper.  You could also use white felt.





I then added some white paint and glitter for an icy snowy roof.

I used my gel pen to draw in some more shingle shapes.

Cut some pages for your book just slightly smaller than your house cover.
Punch 2 holes into your front roof.  I then take a pencil and mark the subsequent pages and punch holes in them as well.  I'm trying to get everything to line up together.
Take 2 jump rings.  These are 15 mm, the largest I could find.  I found these at Wal mart, 90 rings for about $3.00.
The rings are aluminum so they open quite easily.  I start with one hole and then put all the covers and pages on in order.  Close up the ring and then do the other side.

Finally you can add a title to your house if you wish.  You can also apply a sealer like Mod podge to your covers to make them more durable.
That's it.  Now that you know the basic construction for these "house" books I'm sure you can think of other ways to use them.

I'm sure there's someone in your family that would love one!

See you soon.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Nativity Canvas and Giveaway Winner

I have a featured post on the Hive today about how to make this Nativity canvas.


I've had a few readers ask for suggestions on how to adapt the Nativity Plate project.  Not everyone has access to a kiln so this project is for you.  It uses air dry clay. I used Activa's Plus Modelling Clay.

It came together quite easily and with air dry it's much faster as you only have a 24 hr dry period.

Please check out the Hive for my full tutorial.




On to the giveaway results:

I had 123 entries, (whew, that's alot of little tickets to make up), for the Pick and Draw game.





The winning entry is #17 on my email comments who is:

Janice M'Lot from Ranch Park Elementary who wrote:

"Would love it for my class! Thanks for having such an excellent blog! Use it all the time!"

Thanks everyone for entering.


It's 2 weeks from today that we will be having our annual "Christmas Craft Day" at school.....150 kids, 12 craft stations, all morning long!

I find I get a little scattered this time of year.  I want to post all the craft tutorials as well as Christmas Art projects so rather than keeping any sort of schedule you'll just find me posting as I go, sometimes twice a day!  Welcome to the Christmas rush.

see you very shortly,


Monday, November 28, 2011

Christmas Inchies and Giveaway

So I've been getting these emails....."Where are the Christmas Inchies?"

So here is my first version.  I also have another one I'll post next week in traditional Red and Green.

This one has a bit of sparkle to it and unfortunately that doesn't show up so well in the scanner.

You can click on the photo for a closer look.

The How To is coming up but first......


I was contacted by Children's book illustrator, Rich Davis, about his drawing game for kids,
 Pick and Draw.

He sent me a game to try out with the kids and is also sponsoring this week's giveaway.  Pick and Draw is a card based game that you can play alone or with a whole classroom of kids.



Because it's a game it works well as an icebreaker and helps kids gain some confidence with drawing.  It's also a great way to fill in those extra 15 minutes or so.  My kids had a blast!  Stay tuned to the end of the post for the giveaway details.

Back to the Inchies:

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- 9 small squares of wc, cardstock, or heavy sketch paper, we use twinchies 2" x 2"
- paint, dark blue, light blue, white, silver and gold
- old book page
- yellow pastel
- photocopied sheet music, shrink down a bit on the photocopier
- glitter glue
- white gel pen
- scraps of gold foil (candy wrappers)
- foil or metal duct tape
- silver doily
- white felt
- black, light blue, and dark blue paper
- black and blue sharpie
- small gems and assorted embellishments
- glue
- old tooth brush or old paint brush
- scissors

Like I always say with Inchie projects just adapt and use what you have, it's amazing what you can come up with.

PROCEDURE:

I usually start off doing all the backgrounds first.


On one square color it a bit with the yellow pastel. then paint it with some gold paint.






Take one of the squares and glue it to the old book page, trim away the excess.  Do the same thing with another square and the sheet music.


Cut a square out of the light blue paper and the dark blue paper.  Paint a different square with the light blue paint.

Paint another with the dark blue paint.

Paint one silver.  You can also add a little silver paint to the sheet music square.

Add some light blue paint to your book page square.

Finally take the last square paint it with the dark blue paint and then sponge on a little of the light blue. You can also add some stripes.

For the snowflake square I used a punch I had but you can use a large sequin or cut one out of white paper.  You could also paint or stamp one on.

I used the light blue cardstock square.  Splattered on some white paint with an old toothbrush.(you can just use a paintbrush)

I also added some silver glitter glue.

I always use paintbrushes with glitter glue and paint it on otherwise the kids will put gobs and gobs on and it will take forever to dry!
Taking a skewer or the end of a paintbrush dot on some white paint.


Glue on a little embellishment if you have any (piece of ribbon, sequin, gem).




For the mitten square, take the silver painted Inchie.  Add some glitter glue to the square for more sparkle.

Cut out 2 mitten shapes from the dark blue paper.

Add some decoration to them with the white gel pen. 

Glue into place and then draw the string with the a blue sharpie or marker.



Take the Inchie you painted dark blue.  Cut out a star shape from some gold paper, foil, or like me a candy wrapper.

Glue onto background, add some glitter and a star sticker.




For the candle square take the sheet music Inchie.

Cut a little candle out of blue paper or use paint/colored pencils or markers to draw one on.

Make a flame out of yellow paper and a candle holder out of metal tape or foil.  I used a little sticker I had for the handle.

Outline it a bit with fine sharpie and add some glitter to the flame if you wish.




For the Angel Inchie take the dark blue paper square.  Cut 2 little wings from the doily.  Glue in place.



Cut a triangle from the white felt.  Glue in place.  Cut a circle from some scrap paper.  Draw on some eyes and a mouth.  You can add a little blush with a pink pencil crayon.

Glue in place.  For hair I used a small piece of wool and then a gold thread tied in a circle for a halo.  Use whatever you have on hand.



The present square uses the light blue painted Inchie.  Cut a small rectangle out of white paper.  Glue on some ribbon or paint it on with the gold paint.  Add a scrap of tinsel wire for the bow.






On the gold Inchie I glued on a stocking shape I cut from some blue painted paper I had in my stash.

I trimmed it with a small piece of felt, added a loop with the blue sharpie and painted on a little glitter.





The snowman is my favorite.  I cut out a snowman shape out of white paper.  Glued it to the blue painted book page.  Cut a little hat out of black paper, drew on some arms, eyes, and a smile with a black sharpie and then cut a carrot nose from orange paper.





On the last square cut a bell shape from the metal tape.  Add a gem for a clanger.  I added a little piece of ribbon and some glitter.



That's it.  9 different Inchies, each one can easily be a large art project on it's own if you wish.  I was recently at a school that did my Fall Inchie project only they made only 4 squares and each one was about 4" x 4".  It was awesome!



Back to this week's giveaway.  If you are interested in winning a copy of the Pick and Draw game you need to enter by:

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

Enter by 11:59pm Thursday Dec 1st/11 and I'll make the draw on Friday Dec 2nd/11.

U.S. and Canadian residents only.

Good Luck everyone!