From me to you: Four Valentine's Day Heart Projects

With February just around the corner, it is time to start thinking about bright colors, quirky little hearts, and sweet scribbled messages.  In New England, where everything is frozen and white, the bright colors of Valentine's Day is a nice thing to look forward to.

These are four of my favorite heart projects that I've created and featured over the years.  

1. Heart Magnets

2. Sew-A-Heart

3. Rings and Things

4. Conversation LOVE Rocks  (as in, Love Rocks! and You Rock! etc., etc..)

Have fun with these, my friends!  You have my heart(s).

xoxo emily

My Second Book

I'm thrilled to announce that my second book will be published sometime in 2016 by Storey Publishing!  The contract is signed, and now my work mornings, evenings, and weekends will be packed with book writing concentration (and, also, cookies, tea, and naps).

This book is another arts in education book with a focus on the connection between literacy and art.  It is based on one of the workshops I teach, which empowers kids to harness their creative voices.  The peeps at Storey Publishing are lovely and talented and smart; they were a joy to work with when I wrote Show Me a Story, and I'm extra excited to begin a new project with them.  I'm also working with SUPER agent Kate McKean, which is making everything so easy. 

I'll be sharing glimpses of my art and writing process in this space and on Instagram and Facebook in the weeks to come.

Hooray! 

Happy first week of December, friends.

Emily 

On Your Page - Journal Prompt

On Your Page - Journal Prompt

 

Creative Toolbox: Wood

Today's creative tool is wood.  So simple, right?  It can bought or found, raw or finished, milled or fresh from the woods.  Pay attention to interesting shapes and textures as you walk through the woods, and watch for bags of scrap wood on deep discount at your hardware store.  It is a thrifty, and often beautiful, way to be creative and experimental. 

You can:
paint on wood
collage on wood
glue random things onto wood, like fabric

You can also make:
a hookboard out of wood
Story Blocks, a project from Show Me a Story
Altered Twigs and Driftwood

The possibilities are endless, really.  Just search Pinterest for wood + fabric or wood + felt or wood + paint.  You get the idea. 
 

Keep in mind that painting on wood can be a very different feeling than painting on canvas or paper.  It is porous and often textured, which means that your paintbrush needs to adjust for the bumps and ridges.

Happy hunting for wood!

Book Review: Tinkerlab

This book! Oh my! It is informative, inspiring, interesting, and gorgeous -- a winner on so many fronts.  When lovely Rachelle Doorley's new book, Tinkerlab: A Hands-On guide For Little Inventors, landed in my book bag, I found myself drawn (pun!) to the pages during the very few small pockets of time I have these days.  It whispered to me, asking to be perused. It is that good.

Since my specialty is words and pictures, I was drawn to the Drawing Games chapter where Rachelle offers fun, creative tinkering opportunities for those who love to draw.  The activities in that chapter (as well as in the book in its entirety) lend themselves beautifully to classroom and homeschool experimentation.  My kids and I happily gave them all a whirl.

One of my daughter's favorites is the group activity called Exquisite Corpse For Kids, where each player adds a body section to a creature without knowing what the other parts of the creature look like. We found ourselves around the table with some special family members, and my oldest decided to teach everyone how to play.  It was a wonderful multigenerational connection opportunity because everyone was laughing, and also because we found ourselves admiring our work. Like, seriously admiring! We were all so impressed with our joint creations. I'm quite fond of Mr. Blue Face Polka Dots with Webbed Feet (above) made by my husband, Aunt, and daughter.

Doesn't it look like this guy with pink wings laid an egg? Ha!  Remember, my daughter did not look at the other panels when she drew the bottom panel.

Everyone signed their names to their panels.
This tinkering was fun, fun, fun!

 

We've decided that the Connect The Dots tinkering activity is perfect for office room waits, restaurant table time, and airplane travel.  My daughter turned my dots (above) into The Lady in the Green Dress (below).

And, we loved all of the other drawing invitations too.  They are so thoughtfully creative and engaging. 

Thanks for writing a book that invites both children and adults to be creative explorers, Rachelle. We can't wait for our next Tinkerlab adventure. 

A Summer Kids' Craft: Nature Bundles

While we were away on our vacation, the children invented a Nature Bundles game where they found lots of different tiny bits of nature and packaged them up with gorgeous, natural wrapping.

Each one was unique and interesting, and each had a story to go along with it.  Some were spells, some remedies, and some extremely thought-out gifts.

Like, this one, which had a note explaining what each part of the bundle represented in me:

2 shiny leaves because you are also shiny
Unripened holly because it grows together like our family
Pine because it grows wild like you
Pink flowers because it is unique like you
2 sea shell pieces because they are to make your roads to home
Yellow flowers because they are bright like you
Wheat because it stands tall like you
Four pebbles because YOU ROCK

Did I almost die because of how much I loved it? Yes. 

Why not send your children off into the backyard, woods, wherever in search of bits of nature to wrap up in small packages.  It is just the kind of freestyle play that leads to imaginative storytelling play.

If you take photographs, will you share with me?

Follow Red Bird Crafts on Facebook for lots of posts and creative ideas for art&story.

Have fun!

Spring Story Stones

Spring is finally in full force in our Massachusetts valley, which means my family has been in search-for-signs-of spring mode. In the past, we've collected our signs of spring, traced our signs of spring, and made non-dominant drawings of our signs of spring. This year I decided we should make spring Story Stones!

First, find signs of spring! It is easy enough to close your eyes and image some, and this is fine, but I think it really helps if you go out searching.  You'll maybe surprise yourself?  I chose robin's egg (we found one in our yard!), magnolia blossom (my favorite backyard tree), maple keys (or helicopter seeds), and a cherished spring sprout. I don't think I would have remembered the magnolia blossom if I hadn't been outside mindfully observing. Once you've gathered stones and given them a quick rinse, use a pencil to draw spring shapes.

Use acrylic paint to fill in the pencil lines and allow plenty of dry time.

Display your stones in the center of a table or give stones as little token of friendship.  They would make nice end-of-year gifts for teachers and friends!

Story + Art Tip:  Consider using a thin Sharpie marker to write words on the back of each stone.  A poem, haiku, two word pairing, or even one simple word.

Have Fun!

This weekend!

To my  NYC friends, I'll be leading Show Me a Story crafts at two lovely spots and I'd love to see you there.   

Saturday (1/19) at 2:00:  I'll be making Story Disks at Play Kids toy store in Brooklyn.

Sunday (1/20) 2:00-4:00:  I'll be leading my Memory Card craft at the Children's Museum of Manhattan.  It would be so, so wonderful and fun to see you there!  

What a nice week it has been in! We had bright sun, sweet grapefruit, and an official snow day where the children made a snowman, snow fort, and drank large cups of hot chocolate. Our weather turned from sunny and warm to cold and snowy quite quickly.

 Sunny!

 Snowy!

This guy has been waving to our neighbors all week.  That is me in the doorway. The photograph was taken at 2:ish and I was still in my pajamas.  Success!

Happy weekend! 

xo e

sick week.

 

My poor daughter has been feverish and coughing since Sunday, which has meant our week has been slow and filled with tea, soup, books, movies, and crafts.  Each morning find her way to my studio and to sit in the sunlight and make art.  These are some of her creations. 

* A jar of confetti
* A stack of painted spools (featured on Everyday Fun -- my blog for Family Fun Magazine)
* A set of craft stick puppets
* A moment where measuring tape was important
* Her workspace (Used padded mailers make great art mats for painting)

Cross your fingers for a cool forehead this evening.

xox emily    

l u c k y

Now that my little one's pre-school has ended for the year, we've been spending lots of sunny mornings playing at the park.  This little friend hopped onto a brown paper bag last week, and once she was noticed, we found ourselves amazed at our luck to have met such a beautiful creature.   My daughter pointed out to me that its wings look like maple seeds and its legs like small twigs -- "for protection from hungry birds!" she exclaimed (because we had just seen and learned about the walking stick insect days prior).  This kind of eyes-to-the-ground, organic learning is so satisfying and it is a reminder to be mindful and present.   And, plus, I was so proud of our new little friend for choosing a nice coordinating background to strike such a distinguished pose.

Speaking of lucky, I randomly chose the four winners of Volume 6 of Alphabet Glue -- your names are listed below the original post. A big, giant thanks to Annie for her generosity! Winners should please contact me by email for further details.

This 4th day of June is cold and wet in Massachusetts, so we're off to jump in some puddles, go to the market,  and then maybe do a little bit of thrifting/treasure finding.  What plans await you?



xo e

merry making

Mouse and I made some sparkly, winter decorations today.  

I'll post a tutorial and more photographs on Monday.

A hint:  It involves painting with glitter. 

Happy (almost) winter weekend to you and yours!

xo e

colors + mousey necklace

I'm here with a list and some photographs of the necklaces my almost four-year-old Mouse made "for everyone in my family except for Sophia because cats don't wear necklaces."

 

She made these at her lovely, sweet pre-school on rainbow day.  I'm earnestly so in love with her color choices.  And, actually, one of them is helping me choose colors for a project.

 

My days have been filled with book edits and projects, and I'm smiling because my new little studio space is getting more crafty traffic than ever before.

On my mind:

1. winter workshops because the fall ones have been SO fun
2. new fall shoes (I'd love suggestions for comfortable, well-made shoes, in punchy colors!)
3. the warm cat on my lap  (she wasn't always a lap cat)
4. the mice that my lap cat is catching (sigh)
5. the frost that is rolling in tonight (basil needs to be picked and made into one last batch of pesto)
6. the endless coughs that both girls have
7. a little surprise handmade mailbox that was left on my doorstep ( with recipes and love notes inside)
8. book finals, book finals, book finals
9. sunny skies! finally! (after a week of rain)
10. listening to old r.e.m.  (You Are the Everything.)



xo e

chalk

Just when I thought the end of summer would slip seamlessly into the busier days of September, I noticed one of my daughter's bathing suits hanging on a doorknob, and I felt a pang.  This is the summer where Chick learned to swim, where neighborhood walks and bike riding was the rule, where we ate breakfast at 10 and dinner at 7.  The days felt warm and slow.  And, so, I am preparing myself for a bit of sadness at saying goodbye. 

The children start school next week, and we've spent this week -- our last full one of the summer -- doing regular things.  The moments I end up remembering and loving most about summer are found in the slow trips around town, the quiet afternoons at the town pool, picking vegetables at our farm, listening to chatter of the girls and their friends playing in the woods next to our house, picnics at the park.   The endless togetherness is what makes summertime feel so important.  Throw in a bunch of adventures and road trips, and I've been a happy clam.

Yesterday, my two were knee deep (literally) in sidewalk chalk.  They used a bucket of water to create sidewalk chalk paint and sidewalk chalk "mud,"  which made the colors dense, thick, and vibrant.  I watched them smile as they lathered it on their hands and packed it down with their feet.  Afterwards,  their bodies were rainbow tie-dyed, so they went from the outside right into the shower.  How summery is that?

Whether you are bound for a late summer adventure or just simply appreciating the quiet harmony of togetherness at home, enjoy your end of summer days.


xo e

Nature Printing :: fern

When you're printing with kids, it is nice to play around with using bright, punchy colors for natural prints.  Here, we used a bright red with the slightest tinge of orange.  I think we'll use turquoise and maybe a deep orange next time.  This fern might actually turn bright red in the fall, which would make us fortune telling printers.  Wouldn't you say?

 

Coat the fern with a thin layer of paint, lay it on the paper, cover with a clean piece of paper, and gently roll the brayerover the outer, clean paper.  You can reuse your fern many times before you move on to a new one and, perhaps, a new color.

Happy fern printing to you!

xo e