Sticky Note Art and Simple Stocking Stuffer Idea

Looking for a stocking stuffer for an art loving kid, I've got you covered.  This idea is brought to you by Seth, who LOVES to draw.  You might remember his All-Boy Art Party that we put together for his birthday.  We've finally gotten him to behave at church by making sure we always have a drawing book handy.

I've been going a little crazy trying to juggle getting Christmas gifts ready, filling shop orders, and keeping things moving around here.  I'm hoping to have the next installment in the quilt along done today, but I wanted to share this quick idea.

A while ago, our sticky notes kept going missing.  When we figured out what he was doing, we started giving him his own post-it notes.

You can bet that his own post-it notes and no-bleed pens are going to be in his stocking this year.  We were introduced to these no-bleed super fine point sharpies (affiliate link) by Katie's art teacher this year, but you can browse your office supply store for others.)  I like the no-bleed markers because it doesn't leave impression marks on the books like ball-point pens do.

I just love this art activity for a couple reasons:

1. It encourages him to fill the whole paper.  When my kids are drawing on regular printer paper they draw something in the middle and don't want to fill the paper.  The sticky notes are just the right size for them to fill the whole thing.
2. There's creativity in just choosing the part of the book to copy.
3. He's noticing illustrator techniques and parts of the cover art that he wouldn't otherwise notice.  For instance, he notices that the artist uses lines to show the fir, etc.
4. Fine motor skills practice.
5. Nice, calm activity to help him wind down for going to sleep.

We just realized on our most recent trip at Thanksgiving that one of Seth's favorite cousins loves art too.  I'm really not sure how we missed that connection before, but once we told the boys that they both loved art, they'd alternate between being roudy, loud boys to taking breaks drawing together.  Pure Awesome.  His favorite cousin might be getting his own pack of sticky notes from Seth.

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Reindeer - Holiday Frost from You Keep Me in Stitches

Modern Black and Gold Hexies Baby Quilt - Pieces by Polly

Aspen Frost from Sisters and Quilters

The Real Reason for the Season Print - From Prints of Peace

DIY Cheap Art Boards and My Favorite Drawing Books

My kids will use literally any flat surface they can find for art work...the piano bench, large books, the footstool, the floor, or even an actual table when they're desperate. 

So I finally got smart and made them some art boards...

Custom Sketches of your Cutie...

There's nothing better than having family members with talents...especially talents that I don't have...like my brother-in-law and his drawing. 

Anybody notice this Little Guy peeking out during my last post?

I got a phone call a while ago from my sister, Katie.  It went something like this.  

• Katie - "Bryan starting an Etsy shop to sell custom sketches."  
• Me - "Ohhhh...perfect.  He's awesome at drawing."  
• Katie - "Well, he drew Olivia, but he wants an example of a little boy.  Would you mind if he drew one of Seth, and we gave it to you?"  
• Me - "Uh...are you kidding?  I'd LOVE one!!!"  

Seriously...Who says "No" to free awesomeness like this.

So I sent Bryan this picture of Little Brother hanging with Henry Huggins...and this is what I got in the mail about a week later.

I love how this sketch captures the perfect combination of sweetness and mischief that is so characteristic of Little Brother. 

You can see other examples of Bryan's work in his shop, but here are some of my favorites.  My super adorable niece Olivia...

 ...and I just love this sketch of this little red head.

Bryan's sketches are done in pencil and ink.  Then the background is painted your choice of colors and a fixative is applied to prevent smearing.  Bryan can work with any clear picture of the face, even if the background is cluttered like the one we chose.

Wouldn't this make an AWESOME Christmas gift, addition to your home decor or your child's room?!?  Bryan's starting optometry school in a few weeks, so now is definitely the time to order before he gets busier (cause I have a feeling he'll raise the price.)  Right now he's offering them for the insanely low price of $30.

How it works:

• Place your order
• Receive a confirmation e-mail
• Reply with the photo that you'd like to be used for the custom portrait
• Receive a custom portrait of your child!

Of course now that I have this one, I think we're going to have to get sketches of Firecracker and Sweet Pea too.  I think it would make a really cute display to have one of each...but that whole thing will wait until we're in our new house in 6 months or so (more on that in several upcoming posts)...sigh.

Fabric Post Cards

You've got mail!

Colored Freezer Paper Flower Pot Wrap - Great for Moms and Teachers!

As promised, I've got a fun and easy way to cover flower pots...a freezer paper wrap decorated by your child.  These would be great to present a Mother's Day or Teacher Appreciation gift.

I figured that our main gift for Teacher Appreciation week would be a nice letter to Firecracker's principal about a couple of her teachers, but I wanted a small gift to go along with it.  I took Firecracker down to the store and let her choose out a potted plant for each of the three teachers (classroom teacher, classroom aide, and computer teacher) that I wrote letters about.  Then I realized that I needed to do something with the pot...something easy...and something to keep the pot from making everything that touched it dirty and damp. 

That's when I decided to use freezer paper.  The plasticy side keeps slight moisture in, and I had Firecracker color on the papery side.

Add a coloring card and letter to the principal, and you've got a cute and easy personalized gift.  (I have to say it was the nice letter that Firecracker's teacher mentioned in her email...not the flower wrap...so don't skip the letter!)

It's super easy.  Here's what you'll need. I made a template to make a cover for a typical 4 in. flower pot here but you can easily make your own for a different size pot.

Cut out a 9 inch square of freezer paper.  Fold it in half with the papery side out.

You don't really need the template, but it will help your child know where they can draw so that the picture isn't lost in the folds.  Trace the template on two opposite edges of the paper side.

So that it should look like this.  (Sorry the pencil lines are light...I didn't want them to show after she was done coloring.)

Have your child draw on it.  Make sure they know which sides will end up being "up" when it goes on the pot.  (We ended up with some upside down ones.)

Put your pot in the middle of the paper.  Then put a little roll of tape in the middle of all for edges. 

Fold up each of the four sides. 

Then fold the extra paper around the edges so that your child's pictures show.

Tape securely, and trim.

That's it!

For the card, I found the image from here and just whipped up a card in Word.  If you like mine, you can download it here. 

Actual Size - Read Along with Me

I knew this book was coming home with us as soon as I saw it at the library.

 Actual Size by Steve Jenkins has some amazing illustrations.  (Learn more about Steve Jenkins other wonderful science books here.) They're beautiful in their own right, but are especially amazing because all the animals are illustrated at their actual size.

Where else can you see eye to eye with a giant squid?!?

You'll have to excuse his rude expression...it was almost naptime.

Or go head to head with an Alaskan Brown Bear...

Perhaps you'd like to compare something to an ostrich egg?

How far can your tongue stretch?  Probably not as far as a giant anteater.

Want to give a gorilla a high five?  (You can do it with a pygmy mouse lemur too...but you'll cover up the whole lemer and that doesn't make for much of a picture.)

And I certainly wouldn't let Sweet Pea get this close to a REAL tiger.

And you can try comparing feet with an elephant too.

This book doesn't really need a seperate activity...but we did one anyway.  I pulled out our butcher paper again, and traced the kids to make some ACTUAL SIZE drawings of our own.

They loved it.

And if you go back and read The Giant Hug from the beginning of the Read-Along, you can mail your actual size drawing to someone you love.

And to give proper credit, this as the second time my kids did this.  They also did it back in November when Little Brother's birthmom came to visit.  They loved it then too, so we did it again to get more pics.

If you're just now joining us, be sure to visit our Read-Along Archives to see the books we've already read.

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