(source)

This makes me want to make tons of cameras out of random materials.  I think I’m going to try it  (!!!)

It went from this (a little 8×10 mock-up)…

To this (this was by far the EASIEST part)…

To this!!

I’m so relieved and excited to have it all done.  I learned SO much doing this, feel free to ask me any questions about it!  I enjoyed it so much and would like to do more in the future (if you live in Indiana and are interested, please email me at nicoleioma@gmail.com!)

I wish I had taken more!  The days were so busy and the kids took their projects home as soon as they could, so a lot of great projects slipped away.  I had some very talented campers =)  What do you think??

All I have done is the background (the sky, water, & sand) and when I am back in town next week I am going to add all the details: palm trees, a sailboat, dolphin, sandcastle, etc etc!  It doesn’t look that exciting yet but I wanted to share the process here.

Now that I have gotten started I want to keep going with it, but I am out of town so it is going to have to wait.  Once I make more progress I will share photos =)  wish me luck!

Hope you’re having a good week =)

Adorable, right?!  I don’t know if I will ever get really into basket weaving, but doing this project definitely made me more interested.  Have you ever woven a basket before?

I started out with a tupperware container and added enough shaving cream to cover the bottom.

It looks messy because… it is a messy project, haha.  And there was paint everywhere from the first 15 kids who did it, but feel free to use a cleaner container!  Trays also work perfectly, and baking pans, etc.  Just use whatever you have =)

Next I smooth out the shaving cream to make a flat surface.  For this step (and a later step) I just use a firm piece of cardboard, but other tutorials suggested squeegees.  But I don’t have one, and the cardboard works just fine.

Once the shaving cream is smooth, use a paint brush to flick paints of different colors all over the surface Jackson Pollock style.  Go crazy.

Once you have that done, take the back of your paint brush or a toothpick or… anything really and swirl the paint around.  Try to go straight through the larger clumps of paint to break them up.  I’ve found that the kids will go crazy with this part, and that it’s important to go slowly and focus on swirling and not mixing.  If you mix it all together, it’s just going to turn into brown/gray shaving cream and not look very pretty.

Once it looks how you want it, press your piece of paper (any kind will work, but if it’s too thin it might get too damp) straight onto it and make sure that the entire sheet comes into contact with the shaving cream by gently and evenly pressing it down (but don’t squish it!)  Then peel it off and put it onto a hard surface.

Looks cool, right?!  Okay so then you take the cardboard or squeegee from before, hold down one side of the paper, and scrape off all the shaving cream.

It’s magic, I know.  I don’t understand how it works.

Here are a few more photos…

Woo!  Any questions?!  It’s a really quick & easy process, with awesome results.  Let me know if you try it out =)

Have a good week!

I LOVE seahorses.  I don’t know why, they’re so weird, I just do.  And I recently found one that I made a couple years ago, soo I thought I would share =)

Do you like it??  It took FOREVER and then I didn’t even end up turning it in (it was for a class) but I still really like it.  Here are a few more seahorse pictures I found…

(1 2 3)

And a gorgeous print from Etsy…

(paper moth)

I remember when I was little researching how to take care of them cause I wanted some of my own, but it’s really complicated (they need the current in the water to be regulated… or something.  I don’t remember.)  Maybe someday?!

And where it is now…

I don’t know.  I’m not sure how I feel about it right now, I’m just kind of… stuck.  Which means I will probably leave it alone for another few weeks and then get back to it!  Ideas/suggestions/thoughts??

Hope you are all having an amazing weekend =)

Shall I document the process here?  I think I just might =) even though I am very nervous as to how it is going to come out.

I have never thought of myself as a painter, and have never had any painting instruction despite having a Fine Arts degree.  I know color theory, elements of art & design, and am generally creative and have an artistic eye, but this whole project is absolutely terrifying.  And for some reason, I still REALLY want to do it.  Paint a mural?!  That will be so cool.

I was thinking flowers, bright colors, cool designs, etc., things that would look really cool and be very simple.  And then I found out that she wants a beach scene, complete with sailboats and sandcastles and palm trees, etc etc.  So that is what I am doing.  And here is what I have so far:

I still have to add in all the objects on the beach (the things mentioned above, as well as crabs and buckets and shovels and beach towels, and and and…. a dolphin jumping out of the water!) but this is where I am now.  This is just a small mock up painting, and I am going to have to figure out how it is going to translate onto three bedroom walls about a million times this size.  It will definitely be incredibly challenging, but I am very excited about it and am anxious to get started.

So if you have any tips or experiences on painting on such a large scale, please share!  I will be documenting my progress on this project, which will hopefully get started in the next couple weeks.

This weekend I have been hard at work painting, and have (mostly) enjoyed every minute of it.  Here is a little peek at an in-progress painting I have been working on…

And here is what it looked like a couple months ago when I first started working on it..

Haha.  I have ideas in mind about where I want to go with it, but I keep getting stuck and thinking that I just like it the way it is.  I’ll keep going, for sure, but it might take a little while… I’ll share once it’s finished.

This is the biggest painting I’ve ever done, but not for long!  I am starting a HUGE HUGE HUGE project, which I also worked on this weekend, and I’ll talk more about this week.  It involves painting on a very large scale, lots of pressure, and a painting style I am learning to master as I go along.  I’m going to need all the help/advice/encouragement I can get!

Hope you have a wonderful week =)