This is the first display I set up in my classroom!  My kids did a project on Architecture & Color… which means they had a LOT to learn (this is their first art class.)  We covered color theory, basic photoshop & photography tips, drawing, AND painting just for one little project.  They probably have no idea how much they learned, but LOOK at how good they turned out:

What do you think?  I’m proud of them, especially since most of them are so scared of art and of getting a bad grade.  It’s nice to see them produce something they didn’t realize they could!

I’ll be posting a ton more so get ready to see some student work =)

I have been working like CRAZY creating things for it, working on my etsy shop, and dealing with the last few weeks of the semester (I have written 15 pages of papers this week alone, and have another 12 page research paper to go… yikes) so it’s a little slow around here I know.

Here is a peek at a little painting I did a couple weeks ago, which can be found here.  I’m really feeling the whole miniature idea lately… mini books, mini paintings, etc etc (this painting is a little smaller than 4″x5″!)

I have lots of plans for making videos, new book sets, and a couple paintings in the works… which I will share here =)  As well as my plans for the craft fair.

Hey party people, I have so much to update on!  Lately I have been doing TONS of planning for nicoleioma.com (you would be proud, really) and I’m hoping to start some (hopefully) cool/interesting/amazing/wonderful posts in October.  Which is soon, in case you missed the “October is Almost Here” memo, like I did.

Aaaaanyway…. the above photo is from a project I am currently working on for a class which is all about using technology in education.  It’s a very interesting class, a little crazy, and they wanted us to make a “Digital Story” (aka… a movie) about what we envision our future classrooms to look like and how technology is going to be part of that.  I decided to try out the whole stop motion thing… and I am looooving it!  Aside from the fact that I have taken almost 100 photos and I am nowhere near done.

Trust me, I will be more than excited to share when I am done =)

I also did something SO cool last week.  I think so, anyway… my friend Drew does these really cool spray painting landscapes and he taught me how.  I took a ton of photos while we were working on them and a bunch of the finished products and then MY CAMERA WENT MISSING.  I am trying not to panic and just hoping it will turn up, but… I have no idea where it could have gotten to.  But once I find it (and I WILL) I will post those pictures.  (Oh and by landscape, I mean OUTER SPACE-scape.  Yes, I made outer space.)

Well, I guess that’s it… until I find my camera and October rolls around.  I’m pretty excited about my new posts and I hope you are too!  Although I really think I’m being a little over ambitious… we’ll see =)

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!)

Hope you enjoyed =)  Have a great weekend!

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 =)

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!

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 =)