Get creative: How to Abstract Florals

    ABSTRACT FLORALS What a great way to get creative without having to be perfect. You don't need any artistic background to make these. They are fun and free paintings. It is a great introduction to collage as well.

 

What you need:  *Canvas any size. We were working on 12x12 Gallery Wrapped Canvas'

                             *Acrylic Paints.  White and any main color(s) and a optional dark brown or black

                             *Mod Podge (matte or glossy)

                             *Paint brush or foam brush and small decorative Brush

                             * Black sharpie

                             *Decorative handmade papers. You can find these at a local art store or online 

                            (I buy mine from Dick Blick here is a link to papers  http://www.dickblick.com/categories/decorativepapers/#assortmentsandcollections) -You want to buy large enough papers that will be as large as your biggest flower. So don't buy the small scraps, and if you are doing a large canvas get the big sheets.) You can also throw in some gift wrapping tissue paper, however they tend to be harder to work with and not as vibrant. 

 

How to Create:  

              

First Step: Paint your canvas with a solid color or you can throw in a spot of other colors here and there. Be creative just not too busy this will be your base. You can then bring in a darker black or brown to darken your edges.

Let that dry or use a blow dryer to dry your canvas faster. 

Second Step: Pick out your papers. i like to pick only 3 to 4 colors.  

Now start tearing your paper. You are going to make three to four layers of very loose very not so perfect circles. They will be placed on top of eachother as a Bottom, middle(s) and top. So make various sizes and colors that will stand out. I also make my flowers different color patterns. Start placing them on your canvas to find the best composition. There is no right or wrong way to do this.

Third Step: Make sure your brush is clean. Pick up one of your flower sets (all layers) and paint a thin layer of mod podge on the canvas behind where it was. Then place the bottom layer down and add more mod podge working from the center of your flower and painting out. It's ok if the little fibers from the paper start fraying out. I think it makes it look kinda cool. Then continue like that with all your layers till you have one flower set painting on. Then work your way around the canvas with all the other flower sets, being painted down with mod podge. Then once they are all painting down go over the whole canvas with a layer of mod podge. Even the sides. Let that dry or use a blow dryer to dry it faster.

Fourth Step: Pull out your white paint and paint a circle in the center of your flowers. You can also add some text or words if you want to at this time. Then let Dry. At the very end come in with the black sharpie or black paint and a thin brush and loosely out line each layer of the flowers. Don't forget to sign your artwork! and your done. 

Here is a photo collage of my Abstract Floral class. I love that they all turned uniquely differnt and so beautiful! 

 (Photo above.... Decorative hand made papers, paints and my canvas. Solid paint and then bring in a darker paint (in my case black) and darken edges.)

 

Here is Lucy as you can see she added a splash of lime green to her background. It turner out super neat!

 

Even my nice created one. 

 Here is another one that turned out super nice! You can create them in all different sizes and hang them together on a wall or  you can even use them as a border and put a photo right in the center.   Like I did in this one.

 

Have Fun and...

 

   

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Easter Cake Pops, Cake, and Bunny tails.

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Last Easter I made the cutest Cake Pops and Cake. Not only were they totally adorable they were super yummy.

CHICKY CAKE POPS:

First I made my Cake Pops in my baby cakes cake pop maker and got my perfect circles. I let them cool. Next I dipped my sticks in melted chocolate then inserted them into my cake balls. 

Let them cool in the fridge. The next step I dipped my pops into melted yellow chocolate. Before the chocolate dries you need to put your decoration for the chick on. I used three orange sprinkles for the feet. Two flat round orange sprinkles for the beak, two flat yellow round sprinkles for the wings, two flat yellow round sprinkles for the top of the head, and then two purple round sprinkles for the eyes. 

CHICKS IN A NEST CAKE: 

First bake two round cakes ice them and stack them. Next take coconut and put about a cup into a plastic baggy. Put a few drops of green food coloring inside the bag and shake, till all the coconut is green. Next sprinkle some of the coconut on top of the cake and insert the two chicky cake pops on top. You may need to cut some length off your cake pop stick. To finish it off i added some of the left over coconut to the corners of my plate and put some jelly beans in the nests. 

Bunny tails:

First i took card board and cut a circle about 3" in dia... can be from anywhere (I used a old cereal box and the circle doesn't have to be perfect) Next I cut a white ribbon long enough to tie around a child's waist. I then cut two slits about 1" in apart in the center of my circle. I then fed the ribbon through my slits. Next i glued a bunch of cotton balls to the top. Be sure to go all the way out to the edge so it covers your card board. then your done. 

My kids loved wearing their tails during the Easter egg hunt. :)

AMY

Popsicle Stick Flowers and Flower Box

For mothers day we decided to make my mom "Nana" to our kids a crafty gift.

Materials Needed:

• Popsicle sticks (roughly about 50ea depending on the size,  I just got out my big box) 
• Liquid Water Color. (you can also use food coloring and water or just watered down paint)
• A photo
• Card board
• Decorations Optional (buttons, gems, glitter glue, card stock letters)
• Hot Glue
• Styrofoam Block
• Cups for your liquid water color 
• Glue (we used hot glue because we needed to have these dry quick)

Ok lets get started: 

First prep your materials, give your kids the Popsicle sticks to dip them in the cups be sure to have them dip both ends. They can also paint these with a paint brush or even Q-Tips.

While they are doing that cut a circle into the card board and your photo as well. Glue them together.

 Let your Popsicle sticks dry... I'm loving how some look tie dye.

Once they are dry cut them in half. (Be sure to leave a few sticks whole, you will need it for the stem of your flower and two for the front and back of your flower box.  Line a few up across the front of your Styrofoam I cut my block so that it would be the length of a full Popsicle stick. I glued the full stick down across all the smaller ones, then glued that to the Styrofoam. Do that on all the sides. I also then added my Card stock letters to the front.
(See photo below)

Your next step is to glue your stem on to the back of your card board circle.

 

I did two sets of petals. First I glued down the half sticks.

Then I cut about a 1/4" off of the remaining sticks and glued those in between to fill in the gaps. 

Then we decorated them with buttons. 

 

All done for a Crafty gift for someone you LOVE! :)

Our Flower Experiment

A fun Experiment to do with the kids. 

 

(After the first day in blue water ... small blue dots and on the edge of petals)

While at my parents house last Sunday. My dad gave Emelia a big beautiful pink rose. So we brought it home. Emelia had been learning about plants at school, so she knew that the flower needed water to live.

Then I said to the kids What would happen if we put food coloring into the water?

So we added a few drops of blue food coloring to the water. So the next day Emelia and Jude ran downstairs to see the flower. It had already started to get a few blue dots on the edge of the petals. Everyday it got more and more blue and you began to see some of the veins in the petals change. Although the whole flower didn't change color it was still really cool to see how much more blue there was each day.

I adding a few photos below the flash washes most of the blue out but you can still see how it changed. You really need to see it in person to see how much more blue it turned. 

 (Third day in the blue water)

 (Fifth day in the blue water... the flower actually started loosing it's pink color)

This was something fun for the kids to see that flowers need water to live.