If you follow @handmakery on Instagram you know we LOVE creative camping and outdoor adventures! Here’s a mixed-media product & process we’ve always dreamed of making & creating with children! Thankful to have summertime to leap into delightful-n-dreamy workshops inside our sweet studio. Would you believe this week we’re launching ~ Early Bird Enrollment for Summer Art Camps!?! Take a peek into our creative & custom workshop ~ TINY TRAVELS: Trending Trailer + a Tailed Creature! Enjoy meeting a maker, peeking into the process, making your very own ~ Tiny Travel Trailer, and dream about joining us in the studio this summer!
Meet a Maker & Her Magical + Mobile Masterpiece:
A painterly peek into the process, as we travel with one magical maker & her “mobile minimasterpiece for a marvelous milestone in the mountains” with oh so tasty treats to tempt.
Seeing this little artist peeking into her very own handmade creation, completely captures a creative at heart! Love the wonder and magic of a creative-n-crafty childhood.
Thought we’d let you take a peek at some precious photos before diving into all the dreamy details of a DIY! Beyond thankful to have my talented photographer friend, Hilary Brock, creatively capture and curate these clever close–ups with her camera! Thanks a million for being part of the magic, hip-hip-hooray to Hilary!
A peek into the production + painterly process inside our sweet studio following a magical maker:
ONE Construct your own ~ Tiny Travel Trailer using precut/heavy-weight cardboard pieces which include ~ Side 1 + Side 2 (handcrafted & handcut with mid-level windows which magically fold out with a lower ledge and above window overhang) + Trailer Front + Trailer Base. Construct and secure all four pieces into place with duct tape. We hope to make a cardboard custom kit with time! Open pre-cut windows outward, upward /downward and tape at an angle of choice using duct tape. Duct tape can easily be precut with scissors into small strips. Use cardboard pieces (precut to the width of the trailer) to create the contour of the roof. Keep the back of the trailer open for interior design exploration & hours of creative play.
TWO Once all cardboard pieces are secure with duct tape and the trailer has taken shape, simply mix up a batch of paper-mâché in a plastic bowl. Cut several short strips of newspaper pieces to have on hand. Lay down a plastic shower curtain for easy cleanup. Dip individual newspaper strips and remove the excess mixture with fingertips. Place strips of dipped newspaper onto cardboard. Smoothing out paper strips is key. Strips can be applied in multiple directions for added strength. With the strength of the heavy-weight cardboard beneath, as the armature, young artists will only need to tackle 1-2 layers of paper-mâché. Dry fully sculpture on plastic egg cartons. Repeat the paper-mâché process as desired and be sure sculpture is fully dry before painting.
THREE Paint the trailer, both inside and outside, with a heavy-bodied white acrylic and wide brush to get a solid-n-sleek finish. Completely dry. Cut a large white piece of heavy-weight paper for the interior floor & ceiling, to give the interior a crisp-clean finish. Hot glue paper into place. Move to the exterior, use a ruler or straight edge to divide the upper and lower by forming a traditional vintage trailer zig-zag with a pencil. Mix up a vintage tint (color + white) for the lower half of the trailer. Paint. Dry. Use silver acrylic to steadily detail the traditional zig-zag horizontally on both sides.
FOUR Add dazzling details around the windows to personalize and accent. This amazing artist used pom pom ribbon as her darling accent, but other artists used pom poms, felt, ribbons, and more! Paper straws can be cut to size to prop the window overhangs and to steady the window ledge. Simply measure the straws for the windows, cut with scissors, and glue.
FIVE Artists made tasty-n-tiny treats, total mouthwatering treasures, sculpting their clever creations using clay ~ muffins, lollipops, pretzels, cotton candy, snow cones, pizzas, caramel apples, churros, cookies, milkshakes, smoothies, and more! Once treats were dry, they were carefully painted using a tiny brush and acrylic paint and sealed with some shimmer.
SIX Artists also created artistic menus to “melt a mama’s heart” using hand-drawn illustration and their heart-warming handwriting. These menus were personalized with colored pencils, markers, and/or chalk markers on blackboards (heavy-weight paper painted with black acrylic) or just heavy-weight white paper. Peek into this playful picture to see how this mini maker illustrated each of her handmade tasty treats!
SEVEN Another fancy detail! Add two traditional “wings” using copper foil, “wheels” can be created using black sticky foam with copper foil for the center, “exterior lights” can be made using sticky foam, and handcrafted “license plates” can be personalized & playful. If you don’t want to buy an entire roll of copper foil, metallic duct tape, sticky foam, foil, or cutting a lightweight tin might be just perfect!
EIGHT Artists can also artfully add to their trailer’s interior! Simple ideas include artwork, rugs, curtains, built-ins, and moveable furniture items such as tables and chairs made from up-cycled items such as cardboard, cardboard tubes, and fabrics to compliment.
A peek inside our studio at 449 Main Street in the heart of the Carbondale Creative District in downtown Carbondale, Colorado!
This is the mouse that sells all the tasty treats out of a ~ Tiny Travel Trailer! Each mouse was artfully inspired by artist ~ Vanessa Cabban. We artfully adore Vanessa’s use of text and fabric for all her playful paper-mâché clever critter creations, especially her much-loved mouse ~ Evangeline!
On a side note, how adorable is this Anthropologie ~ Mini Camper Play House to compliment a road trip custom cardboard creation for indoor and outdoor play!?!
An artful adventure awaits at the outdoor art show for artists:
Artists skipped their handmade sculptures over to the local park for a little outdoor art show to celebrate their colorful summer camp creations!
Even though this beautiful day quickly turned into a radiant rainstorm, literally just as artists set up for the artshow in the grass, big smiles still radiated “undercover”! Thank you to this magic maker for letting us follow her artful adventure in HANDMAKERY’S ~ Summer {hands on + mixed media} Art Camp.
Thank you for joining us for a peek into a wondrous week with magical makers {inside & outside} our sweet & playful studio.
Tag us @handmakerywith your creations on Instagram! We’d love to see what delightful details you add to this summery + scrumptious + sculptural process with kids! Follow our blog for more inspiring process-based art projects! As always, thank you for following our artful adventure on Main Street in the heart of the Carbondale Creative District! Please send us a note anytime! We’d love to hear what you’re thinking, dreaming, envisioning, and creating! Much love and happiness creating in this creative + colorful world filled with collaboration + connection + community + arts & crafting!
We recently hosted a magical + maker birthday celebration with 40 little artists in our children’s art studio! A Fairy & Gnome Enchanted Land Celebration for a sweet lil‘ one turning SIX! Definitely the largest celebration to walk though our Main Street door in the heart of the Carbondale Creative District. Take a peek inside this precious party with a plethora of lil‘ people! Indeed our studio felt cozy but also so crafty and creative as it completely captured childhood!
Knowing our hands would be festively full, we reached out to our good friend and photographer ~ Hilary Brock to capture this colorful celebration and oh my how she captured all the delightful details of this dreamy day on camera! Hilary, thank you for working your photography magic, you’re so talented!
For this creative childhood celebration, we took insightful inspiration from our awesome artist friend and LA studio owner, Meri Cherry and her ~ Fairy Gardens for Kids. Meri always makes miracles happen with mini makers. Meri gave us complete creative confidence for this celebration, connecting and chatting through Instagram. With a few artful additions, a mushroom masterpiece and wondrous whimsical treasures, this process made all makers feel creatively confident and gave them time to connect and cheerfully chat as they celebrated!
Giggling guests arriving and picking out their creative spaces.
A little one caught in the magic of mixing in the morning light.
The studio starting to fill as guests began artfully arriving.
The birthday girl getting the process started with a smile in Sunday’s sunshine.
All hands were on deck, both big and small.
Birthday wishes were sparkling and seen inside the soul to later be shared in a birthday song.
The mix of ages made this creative event completely captivating.
Selecting artful treasures was a happy highlight as each proud artist personalized their piece.
The morning light seemed to sparkle, shine, and create its own song & dance surrounding the marvelous mini makers.
Fairies and gnomes seemed to become artfully alive, appearing around the tables.
A maker and her sweet mama caught in a magical moment.
The whole family jumped into the artful action of this creative + crafting + community celebration in downtown Carbondale|CO!
A photo precisely about the pieces on point to protect the enchanted land.
Fairies lit up with sparkle-n-shine as they flew above the tables, taking in all the magic of the makers caught in the moment.
Creative, cozy, childhood, celebration, crafting, community, chaos, captures, collaboration, connection, Carbondale Creative District, children, and coming together in colorful Colorado with cheer!
It’s all about the process, the details, the experience, and the memories that will forever stay in the mind and heart of the makers.
A delightful-n-dreamy rainbow cake baked by the birthday family, both bright and brilliant.
Sweetness + smiles + stargazing + sunlight on a super Sunday in the studio.
A closeup capture of a mushroom masterpiece including both fairy & gnome, a beautiful butterfly taking flight, a pathway on point, and an enchanted land all handcrafted by a clever child.
Tag us @handmakery with your colorful creations and celebrations on Instagram!
Follow our blog for more inspiring process-based art projects! As always, thank you for following our artful adventure on Main Street in the heART of the Carbondale Creative District! Send us a note anytime! We’d love to hear what you’re thinking, dreaming, envisioning, crafting, creating, and celebrating! Much love and happiness in this creative + colorful world, filled with collaboration + connection + community + arts & crafting!
Happy Back to School! Hope you’ve had a wonderful time slowing down, celebrating, and soaking up summertime under the sun and stars!
Our studio artists recently showcased ~ A CARNIVAL CIRCUS IN COLORFUL CHAOS! This was our final + full-week workshop of the splendid summer! It was F-U-N and completely filled with construction, creativity, children, color, creatures, cheer, childhood and of course, a teeny-tiny bit of chaos! Take a peek at this delightful process combining circus + carnival + celebration + childhood + construction + collaboration + community + color! We were inspired by Up Warsaw’s beautiful + handmade furniture and wooden circus tents @upwarsaw on Instagram! Be sure to tag @handmakery on Instagram if you give this process-art project a GO! Take a peek below!
Early online enrollment is highly encouraged as seating is limited! Start a new school year making + creating + connecting in a colorful community focused on a creative + collaborative childhood!
Glues – white glue, cool temp glue gun + glue and hot glue gun + glue {adult use}
Paper straws
Pipe cleaners
String + yarn + wire
Wood parts and pieces {assortment}
Wooden peg dolls
Poster board
Sparkle foam
Fabric
Paper and markers for signs + flags + garland
Embellishments- sticker stars, pom poms, and more!
A SIMPLE PROCESS FOR ~ CARNIVAL CIRCUS IN COLORFUL CHAOS:
BUILD + CONSTRUCT
ONE Construct in pairs using 4 – 12″ dowels, masking tape, duct tape, and a 12 x 12″ heavy-weight box with a separate lid, to create an initial structure for the circus tent. All four tent poles should angle towards the center, to connect together at the center point of the tent.
TWO Use light-weight cardboard, ex. cereal boxes, to draw, cut, and create the curtain elements on the upper front and front sides of the tent. The top curtain can be sketched scalloped and cut. Tape all three cardboard pieces onto the box so they’re secure and frame the stage.
THREE Coat the above structure with newspaper and paper-mâché mixture. Dry overnight.
FOUR Use the box lid as the circus stage. Place the dry circus tent onto the stage. Line up the back of stage and box lid so they’re flush. Tape in place using duct tape strips. Add a round cardboard cutout on top and center on the stage. Mark where the circle overlaps the box sides with a pencil. Cut this overlap so the stage sides are squared off and the front only rounds.
FIVE Paper-mâché connection points so the tent and stage become strong and one unit. Paper-mâché all four sides of the upper tent so the dowels are enclosed. Dry overnight.
PAINT + EMBELLISH
SIX Paint the entire dry tent and stage unit white using acrylic paint to get a solid covering on top of the newspaper. Dry overnight. Use a ruler to draw pencil lines from the center tip of the tent down to each curtain scallop. This will create the red and white divisions for the tent stripes. Mark the red stripes with a light “x” so children know which sections to paint red and which sections to keep white. Use red acrylic paint with a small brush for tent stripes. Encourage young artists to take their time and travel slow to get crisp + clean lines.
SEVEN Move into dreaming up, sketching, and constructing both carnival and circus creatures using clay. We used an airdry clay to create 3D figures. Dry figures before painting using acrylic paint. Children painted their animals solid before moving into smaller details.
EIGHT Once your circus tent is fully painted and dry, move into stage construction. We precut silver sparkle foam for the stage base and hot glued this piece on top of the spark-tacular stage. Cut a piece of black poster board to bend and set into the stage background. Tape in place. Sticker stars can be added to the black poster board for sparkle + shine + a little stage magic! Children used cool temp glue guns to create their stage structures using patterned paper straws, painted wood pieces, yarn, string, fabric, and more! Precut strips of striped fabric were attached by artists using cool glue around the stage for added color, texture, and stage-like appeal!
NINE Painted people (aka wooden peg dolls) and creatures were added to the stage to complete the ~ CARNIVAL CIRCUS IN COLORFUL CHAOS! Artist amazed and awed as they created tightropes, trapezes, lyras, acrobats, magicians, imaginary animals, and more! These ringmasters also made the most detailed signs to sell tickets, announce the event schedules, direct guests to tasty cotton candy, popcorn, and candy stands! The imagination and creativity of these artists… truly over-the-top bright + beaming + brilliant!
TEN We added face paint, carnival hats, and popcorn to enhance the full-circus experience for our community art show celebration!
Celebrate childhood + creativity + color + community by creating and collaborating!
My artful friend, Bar Rucci, created an incredible DIY ~ Circus Tents Made By Kids (photo above) on her lovely ~ Art Bar Blog and over on Handmade Charlotte for another fantastic way to bring a circus experience into any creative environment! You’ll definitely want to take a peek at this project and ALL her gorgeous goodness by following her @artbarblog on Instagram or visiting her on Art Bar Blog!
Tag us @handmakery with your creations on Instagram! Follow our blog for more inspiring process-based art projects! As always, thank you for following our artful adventure on Main Street in the heART of the Carbondale Creative District! Send us a note anytime! We’d love to hear what you’re thinking, dreaming, and envisioning! Much love and happiness creating in this creative + colorful world, filled with collaboration + connection + community + arts & crafting! Happy School Year! Ami
Hello there! Excited to give you a little springtime inspiration in your day! Our artists recently showcased their ~ SCULPTURAL SPRINGTIME SLOTHS in a sling, sporting stylish sandals + sunhats + sunglasses + scarves, while sipping & sun-basking in the sunshine in our early spring + six-week + school-year art workshops for ages 5 & up! We have a feeling these creatures will “slowly” steal your heart! Sharing a list of sweet-n-simple, go-to-supplies, to get your very own sloth started using several upcycled material you might already have on hand! Be sure to tag @handmakery on Instagram if you give this project a GO! Take a peek below!
SUPPLIES FOR ~ SCULPTURAL SPRINGTIME SLOTHS:
Newspaper {upcycled}
Paper bags {upcycled}
Tape- masking + duct tape
Scissors
Paper-mâché mixture + bowl
Paint + pallet + brush
Driftwood
Fabric- fleece
Fishing line
Embellishments for sandals, hats & sunglasses
A SIMPLE PROCESS FOR ~ SCULPTURAL SPRINGTIME SLOTHS:
Did you know sloths are the most trending animal of the year? Would you believe the sloth has replaced the unicorn!?! Indeed, it’s true! Read about their debut as “the most trending creature” of this year. Would you also believe a baby sloth was just born, right here in Colorado!?! If you’re looking for some amazing + simple sloth facts for kids, to go along with this DIY, take a look. Artists loved learning all about these cozy and trending creatures! We even hosted a sloth birthday party right in our very own sweet studio!
A sweet + sisterly + sloth-selfie sent in by one of our amazing HANDMAKERY families! Thank you for tagging #handmakery on Instagram with your creations!
SUN BASK, SIP, SIT BACK & RELAX INTO SUMMER:
TAKE A SPLASH & JOIN US THIS SUMMER:
1. JUMP IN AS SUMMER ART CAMPS ARE QUICKLY FILLING!
Early online enrollment is highly encouraged as seating is limited! Jump into summer making + creating + connecting in a colorful community focused on a creative + collaborative childhood, in the heART of the Carbondale Creative District on magnificent Main Street!
2. FAMILY BLOCK PARTY ~ FIRST FRIDAY MAY!
You don’t want to miss this event! If you’re local to the Roaring Fork Valley, be sure to join us for our 7th year hosting a ~ FREE art-making booth for ALL AGES! We’ll be making & creating in our outdoor art studio which will be located in downtown Carbondale |Colorado, at the heART of the Carbondale Creative District! Join us for the much-anticipated + annual + artful ~ FAMILY BLOCK PARTY!
3. LET’S CONNECT ON INSTAGRAM!
Tag us @handmakery with your creations on Instagram! Follow our blog for more inspiring process-based art projects! As always, thank you for following our artful adventure! Send us a note anytime! We’d love to hear what you’re thinking, dreaming, and envisioning! Much love and happiness creating in this creative + colorful world filled with collaboration + connection + community + arts & crafting! Happy Spring! xo Ami
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