Sign up to receive news and updates from Handmakery: Subscribe to our Newsletter
Super excited to share with you our Camper Vans On Canvas created in our workshop with 6-9 year old artists!
Wanderlust inspired + beautiful mixed media artwork + image used with permission via Mae Chevrette.
Summer is here and we celebrated our kick-off to June with our first summertime CRAFT NIGHT: Under the Stars + In the Studio! Our special summer craft nights are open up to crafters ages 6-9 and we host one of these special evenings each month in our art studio (a great date night parents)! This time around we happened to have all girls jump into fill our workshop, so we hopped on creating a freshly designed + one-of-a-kind + DIY CONTEMPORARY CRAFTY CLUTCH! A very simple project that we were able to just about complete in two hours! We came across these simple + little felt clutches and swooped on a huge stack, knowing they’d be so much fun to embellish with our crafters!
We are beyond excited to share our simple DIY today: A Modern Macaroni Masterpiece! Today we are coming together with many of our favorite kid + art bloggers all part of the Rockin’ Art Moms to bring you the #themacaronichallenge! Below you’ll find several “over the top and beyond ideas using pasta” to make + create with children! I think you’ll be amazed! You’ll also discover we have an exciting opportunity + giveaway planned and would LOVE for YOU to join us!
LOVE IS IN THE AIRtist! Happy Valentine’s Day! We hope you have a love-ly day planned with your little lovelies! We are SO excited to give you a peek into our latest workshop HANDMADE WITH LOVE: making + creating for Valentine’s Day! All winterLONG we’ve been dreaming of creating our original + one-of-a-kind “Woodland Valentine’s Box” and now it is here! Oh la la, all the endless possibilities! Enjoy our little + festive + Valentine DIY!
Each artist collected their own woodland + natural treasures in a sweet basket based on a list we had sent home which included:
• stones/river rock • snail shells • acorns • small twigs/driftwood • smaller wood forms • pinecones • dried pods • dried leaves • feathers • moss • more! We encouraged each artist be an observant treasure hunter out on exploration!
• a box + lid with a cut opening on top + paper mache + dictionary pages
• a sheet of moss for the box top + additional moss in varied shades of green
• paint for box top edges
• hot glue + glue gun
• scissors + glue stick + white glue
• repurposed cardboard tubes + paint + brushes + corks
• air dry clay for mushrooms + paint
• empty thread spools + washi tapes for feet
• woodland trees to paint
• tapes + stickers + twine + shiny stars for garland
• decorative paper straws + wire + eye screws + star wire
• miniature vellum envelopes + card for personalized letter
We used repurposed dictionary pages to symbolize “vintage love letters” and to provide one of our favorite elements, text. Both the inside + outside of each box needed to be paper mached. The children loved the paper mache process, working with their hands + getting messy + creating as a community of little owls!
We used repurposed cardboard tubes to create fallen forrest logs and to create little mushroom bases. Tubes were easy to cut, shape, paint and lightweight to glue!
The children loved our collection of sparkly + shiny stars, metallic stars on wire, plus festive Valentine paper straws to create their base for their decorative garland. We found some lovely bottle brush trees to painted pink and used air dry clay to create sweet + little + hand-sculpted mushrooms!
Several low-temp glue guns were brought out so the children could arrange their collected + woodland box top treasures to glue down.
A peek through the woods as this little one heads to detail, just after getting her woodland treasures arranged and glued down.
A few weeks before our workshop began, we had over 100 thread spools donated to our studio. These quickly became the feet on our boxes, with the fabulous addition of washi tapes! Each artist enjoyed creating their own distinct + personalized patterns on all four feet! We were SO excited about this detail, that was just meant to be! We had just the right amount of spool sets for our artists and of course a never ending collection of washi tape. Winding tape on spools provided just the perfect amount of creative coordination for our 6 – 9 year olds as they teamed up to assist one another! The feet were then glued on all fur corners.
A four feet closeup, demonstrating just how this addition gave our Woodland Valentine’s Boxes a raised + pedestal like feel! Definitely a favorite + personalized addition to set this project off!
Minutes before “painting white polkadots began” on the mushroom tops!
Extra long + wooden handled cotton swabs worked as a fabulous + fun tool for the polkadot detail!
Each artist crafted a sweet + handmade garland using white stickers + polkadot stickers + washi tapes + red and white twine + marker, along with a personalized tag with their name for our mini-art exhibit! The variety and individualized designs were so fun!
Detailing + dotting the mushrooms…
A closeup of a woodland forest! Here you can see the opening for letters of love!
We had each of our HANDMAKERY families bring an extra special + handmade + one-of-a-kind card + envelope to our mini-art exhibit + recognition ceremony to gift their artist! It was so special to see each family deliver their handmade Valentine to their little one and watch all the reactions of joy + love + surprise + excitement! Many of the children were surprised their parents were also artists and knew how to make handmade cards from scratch. Most of the families greatly enjoyed the opportunity to create something handmade for their child and this gave them the perfect opportunity!
Another beautiful + handmade card from the heart! This little one was overjoyed by this special Valentine created by her Mom + Dad!
We had discovered teeny tiny vellum envelopes and had the idea of each artist writing a “VALENtiny” to hide in their woodland forrest, to be discovered by their family! This VALENtiny (above) was for a special + much loved Daddy! It was a fabulous night celebrating with all our HANDMAKERY families at our traditional mini-art exhibit + recognition ceremony with the lovely addition of festive cupcakes and punch! A night filled with love + laughter, memories + connection, definitely a day to remember! Follow us on Instagram to see more adventures in our art studio!
FROM THE HEART ART KITS were created in HANDMAKERY FROM THE HEART: making + creating to give with 6 – 9 year olds as a project to learn about making to give. They were then gifted to local children in need, through our local Angel Tree Program over the holiday season! Each artist designed a box and shopped for a collection of art supplies with their families, to create their very own + personalized, FROM THE HEART ART KIT! You could create your kit to gift a loved-one this Valentine’s Day to show your love + appreciation. It’s a gift from the heart that inspires daily + yearlong C-R-E-A-T-I-V-I-T-Y and M-A-K-I-N-G!
First decide on your color scheme and overall design plan. Move into cutting duct tape strips using a lot of muscle power to stretch the tape. Cut using the inner part of the scissors, as this surface is the sharpest. Remember to hold your tape tight before cutting and be sure it doesn’t twist. We used a simple handmade paper guide to measure our length for strips, as there were two lengths and this method was much easier for this age group than measuring with a ruler. Each artist teamed with a partner for the entire duct tape process, which made the cutting + lining up + taping manageable and much more fun!
There was lots of excitement over tape selection as we discovered lots of solid + patterned duct tapes in our duct tape quest! Creating their own color schemes + patterns was such an expressive piece to this process! A each artist became a product designer and loved every minute of it! I definitely got the feeling there would be much more experimentation with duct tape in the future with these individuals- they LOVED working with duct tape, especially because it’s so vibrant and beautiful!
Each artist in our workshop had our general art supply list and went shopping with their families to fill their box to create a very personalized FROM THE HEART ART KIT!
Two+Two bags are always a lovely + local addition! two+two designs chic reusable bags and bowl covers that are food-safe + eco-friendly. Based outside of Aspen, Colorado this young company is run by two creative Moms with a passion for style, sewing, Mother Earth, and doing what’s best (and cutest) for their little ones. two+two products keep goods + food fresh and uncontaminated with a proprietary lining that is free of lead, BPA and phthalates. The various sizes of eco-friendly reusable bags accommodate any and all packing, organizing and traveling needs. We love having the two+two families “two children” part of HANDMAKERY!
A proud + beaming artist just after she had filled her FROM THE HEART ART KIT and it was ready to travel to a child wishing for new art supplies! Each box was taken to our local Angel Tree Program, where boxes were added into gift bags and gifted! Thank you to the seventeen HANDMAKERY Families that donated art supplies to gift and a BIG thank you to each artist that gave from the heart, something special that they had created on their own! Also a huge thank you to Cresta Stewart and the Carbondale Rotary Club for heading-up + organizing + dedicating tons of time and energy to this fabulous project, that benefited so many local children!
If you are looking for another fabulous idea and an all hands-on art making blog! My art friend, Meri Cherry, has a fabulous post on Art Gift Baskets and What to Put In Them for another take on gifting art supplies which I absolutely LOVE! Let us know if you decide to create one of your very own for a special Valentine! xo
Our Winter Vintage Cottages were created in our workshop HANDMAKERY FROM THE HEART: making + creating to give with 6 – 9 year olds! The Winter Vintage Cottage was our third project in a six-week session! The children absolutely LOVED working on these! Most children created their cottage as special gifts for a loved one! We were excited that the cottage could light up with a flameless tea light and be used for a nightlight! With all the windows it has fabulous ambiance! Our biggest challenge was finding enough of these fabulous little houses, but with friends and family searching across two states, we had just enough for our seventeen HANDMAKERY artists! Thank goodness for family and friends that searched high and low, making room in their travels for these delightful pieces to inspire! Here is a little gift to welcome your NEW YEAR focused on making + creating + crafting + exploring creativity + being hands-on + celebrating mixed-media! Enjoy our DIY to guide and inspire you in making your own Winter Vintage Cottage!
A little vintage camper drawing {on stretched canvas} started by a little artist in our workshop creating with six to eight year olds in HANDMAKERY FROM THE HEART: making + creating to give. Day #1 of a six week workshop, gathering to create once a week! This project was inspired by HANDMAKERY’S -{LOVE}- for vintage + collected + time-worn objects, graced with patina + imperfections + textures + unique colors, that tell a one-of-a-kind story. We dreamed up this project and envisioned it beginning 2-D, then moving into 3-D, with the addition of mixed media. Can’t wait to show you how it evolves and gets personalized below!
A few of our personal vintage object from 2Market2: clothing + handpicked goods located in Carbondale | CO used for inspiration + learning about vintage.
A photograph of one of our favorite vintage campers {borrowed for educational/artistic purposes} from one of our favorite blogs featuring Elsie + Emma at A Beautiful Mess.
Discovering vintage colors and developing a color pallet for our vintage camper painting. Think avocado green, bubblegum pink, creamsicle + clementine orange + more. We LOVED when each little artist shared their specific color scheme, as they were SO excited to create their own combination and very interested in getting the exact wording! Visit + follow our collection of “vintage inspiration” on our HANDMAKERY Pinterest page!
Take a peek above at all the variations of our Vintage Camper Paintings!
A close up of a Vintage Camper Painting complete with special editions including:
We loved all the creativity and inspiration that came from connecting our aspiring artists with local architects! We also loved the time these little ones spent designing + planning because it helps the students understand the importance of thinking about and planning their sculpture + it also becomes a second piece of art! Students were given the freedom to choose what kind of additions they wanted to add to their tree houses- we had hammocks, tire swings, rope ladders, little log hollows, hideaways, woodland creatures….imaginations ran WILD and excitement was abundant!
Subscribe to RSS Feed
Get New Posts via Email