7803. Do scrape painting

 When I saw that April's Make and Mingle at Kaukauna Library was Squeegee Painting, I had to sign up. I always thought squeegee painting looked fun and was willing to try it especially when there was no cost to me. 

Squeegee painting or scrape painting is a relatively easy concept but it is harder than it looks. You basically need a paint and something to scrap it with -- a squeegee, a knife, a library card, an old credit card. Basically anything with a flat edge. We used library cards.

We taped down our practice paper. Then we put a drop of paint on the tape. This was to be our palate. Then you scraped the paint towards the bottom of the paper. You are supposed to hold your scraper at a 45 degree angle. You can also make wavy lines. It is supposed to make really cool designs... except I forgot to hold my scrape at a 45 degree angle so it was not as cool.

You could also apply paint directly to the scraper edge to make the rainbow effect. 

You could also apply drops of painting directly to the paper in random patterns and then scrape down. This was supposed to make a really cool looking design. Mine looked like a really bad finger painting. Again I forgot about the 45 degree angle. 

Needless to say this was not my best work of art. I learned that I need to remember to pull down at a 45 degree angle. Danielle agreed this would be a good painting activity for a girls' get together. Maybe next time will be a success. 

Salt Art Fun

 After wine tasting, the weather cleared up some so Danielle and I decided to head to Smith Park for Art in the Park. They said they would have a variety of crafts and just to stop in. 

Just like the City Carnival, it was geared towards elementary school kids and tweens. It said all ages. Yeah not really for adults. There was sponge painting, nail polish, bracelet making, play doh creations, and other things that just did not interest us. 

There was one thing that we decided wasn't too easy and decided since we drove all the way here, we might as well partake. That was salt painting.

Salt painting is rather simple.

1. Draw a design on paper with glue. 

2. Pour salt over glue

3. Using water color paints or water with food coloring in it, paint the salt.

4. Let Dry. This step is very, very important. Failure to let it dry, will result in the colors running and the artwork.  I learned this the hard way.

Okay so it was not a masterpiece art project, I was hoping for but as Danielle said, it got us out of the house and gave us something to do. 

Hopefully next year Mother Nature cooperates so they can do balloon paint art. If not, I'm not going. 

This is a great activity if you have kids that like art and need to burn off some creative energy. If you are an adult looking for a fun art project, check out the local libraries. 

Art at the Library -- Ugly Sweaters

When Kimberly-Little Chute Library was offering an even to make ugly sweaters and all you had to do was provide the sweater, I marked it on the calendar. I have an ugly Christmas sweatshirt that I got a few years back when we did ugly Christmas sweaters for Christmas day. I wanted another one, specifically an ugly Christmas hoodie.

Because I was a slacker and never made it to Hobby Lobby to get an plain hoodie, I ended up with getting a nice fleece tunic. So no ugly Christmas hoodie for me this year.

The library supplied all the supplies needed to make the Christmas as well as some samples designs to go off of. I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to make a Christmas tree and decorate it.

When I got there all the green shiny garland was used up (they had two sessions) so I just used garland that looked like pine garland. Armed with lights, ornaments, bells, stickers, and packages I went to work on decorating my tree.

I discovered that foam stickers work great since they have really strong adhesive.

I am happy how it turned out. I will wear for the Rudolph Run and ugly sweater day at work. Maybe next year I will try to get the hoodie and make another one.

6974. Make Shrinky Dinks

One of the gals in my book club is an artist and is always trying new art forms. She discovered shrinky dinks and incorporated them into her art. Stephanie decided to share her love with shrinky dinks and art with other people by hosting Shrink and Drink nights at local establishments. Her first one was at a brewery and I told her if she ever did one with wine, I'd sign up. A few months later, she posts one from Shrink and Drink at the Mondo Wine Bar downtown bar. Making good on my promise, I sent in my $40 and put it on my calendar.

I never made shrinky dinks growing up. Apparently they were quite popular but like a lot of things I discovered I was a deprived child. Somehow I was thinking (and the ones from my childhood probably were) that Shrinky Dinks are little plastic figures you melted in the oven until their shrunk and then played with them. However, Shrinky dinks is really coloring polystyrene and shrinking the image down.

Since we were adults, Stephanie left it pretty wide open to what we could make. We could free hand a design, we could trace images we found on our phones, she also had clip art books and coloring books for us to use to trace images. Tracing from our phones proved difficult as the image kept being resized as the polystyrene moved and you traced.

I came to the event wanting to make wine charms.. I ended up making WI team themed wine charms.

Making the wine charms was pretty easy.

1. Trace the team logo on the polystyrene. You want the design to be about twice the size that you want the actual item to be as it will shrink. We were told to trace on the shiny side and color on the dull side but it was easier to trace on the dull side since I didn't flip my image.

2. Using colored pencils, color the image on the dull side.

3. Cut out your design using regular scissors and punch the hole in it. Do not forget the hole.

4. Put the polystyrene in the toaster oven and watch the magic happen.

5. Attach whatever hardware you want.. hoops for wine charms, key chains, necklaces, earrings, charm bracelets.

I made a few Christmas presents along with my wine charms.

I have to admit it was pretty fun. I have enough polystyrene to finish a few more projects. When I run out either I have to buy more or go to another Shrink and Drink night.

If you have never been to played with Shrinky Dinks and want to make some fabulous art, I would recommend either buying some polystyrene on Amazon (or even a Shrinky Dink kit) or join Stephanie for a night of shrinking and drinking fun. Heck, she'll even put your jewelry together for you.

Volcanic.. Er I mean Tree Art Fun

When Danielle asked if I wanted to go to the Trout Museum to see The Giving Tree exhibit, I was all game. I really like Shel Silverstein's books and I thought it was would be cool to see. Well it turns out Danielle read the FAN Pass wrong and we weren't looking at Shel Silverstein art but creating our own art based on his book The Giving Tree.

The Giving Tree was the theme for the Family Studio Workshop. We to create our own hand print trees to tie in with the the tree in the The Giving Tree. I was not expecting to paint or actually get messy with this activity. After I got over my initial shock of actually doing art, I was all about getting messy and dirty.

So I got busy. I painted my hand with paint. Or I had Danielle paint my hand because well the other one was covered in paint.

I made some hand print leaves overlapping in the middle of the paper. Then I painted on a trunk... My very fat tree turned into a volcano. Hey at least I was creative.

Instead of being discouraged, I grabbed another piece of paper and some more paint. This time I stuck with a skinny trunk and it looked more like a tree than a volcano.

Then I decided I wanted to do one last tree of just thumbprint leaves. So I had Gavin and Danielle help make my tree. The hubby said it looks like a Skittles tree. Can't knock a girl for trying.

To make your own volcano trees you will need

1. Paper
2. Washable Paint (Crayola works best)
3. Brown marker
4.

Draw a fat tree trunk on the paper with the brown marker. Squeeze some paint on to a paper plate and dip your hand into the paint. Press to paper. Repeat with different colors until your volcano/tree is full of leaves.

It is a similar fun art project that just about anyone can do. Who knows maybe one day my volcano tree will be worth millions of dollars.