Painting Pandas @ WBCL

This was a quick and easy painting session on using the brushes to create texture, in this case fur. I ran shadow copies of a panda bear on cardstock then gave everyone a stiff natural hair brush. They were to put thick paint on the tip and drag it over the area to make it look like fur. When they finished the white areas we washed their brushes and dried them on a chamois then painted the black areas. The black fur was not as distinct as the white. A couple of the painters made the fur "fluffier" around the edges.
This gave us a chance to talk about panda bears, where we might see one and what they eat. I was able to get bamboo stalks from a neighbor so we could add a stalk or two to embellish the pages. A few even were able to position the stalk so the panda could munch on the leaves!

The Family Arts & Crafts group meets at the Wells Branch Community Library every Wednesday night at 6 pm taught by Dianne Koehler. The program lets us turn donated or recyclable materials and imagination into great projects.


You may also want to take a look at the Art & crafts database the library recently subscribed to for the patrons. Check the library website for details.

Snowman mini-books @ WBCL

This was a fun project for all and how creative they were! We started with regular Altoids containers and a long strip of paper. I pre-cut a thick piece of blue felt for the base and gave everyone a selection of felt to make the snowman--white, black, orange--and leftover sequins from the holidays. Each person drew thier snowman then cut out the pieces and decorated them to suit. They added top hats and brooms, neckties and buttons.


On the inside we created a fold-out story book from colored legal size paper. I cut the sheets to the right height but the group had to fit corners and do all the folding to fit the cans. We had leftover funfoam snowmen to use on the book cover. The book pages can be fixed into the bottom of the can with double back tape but most were not ready and like the idea of just keeping the book in the can and writing the story. One of the girls had 4-5 pages done before they left Wednesday night.


The Family Arts & Crafts group meets at the Wells Branch Community Library every Wednesday night at 6 pm taught by Dianne Koehler. The program lets us turn donated or recyclable materials and imagination into great projects.

You may also want to take a look at the new Art & crafts database the library recently subscribed to for the patrons. Check  the library website for details.

Recycled Egg carton birdfeeders

This great project is one I did at school with the kindergarten kids and decided to enlarge on it a little for the family arts & crafts group. We do not regularly keep paper egg cartons at the library and my supply was low but a request to the neighborhood wblistserve produced enough for this program and another besides. The project uses a TP roll that is first decorated then cut in about 1" from the bottom to form a base to glue to the lid of the egg carton. We used ribbons as hangers to thread through the holes in both ends of the carton and tied them at the center with another ribbon to use as a longer hanger. 
We added a pine cone with peanut butter and sunflower seeds to the end of the tray for the bigger birds.This was a lot of fun and we were able to discuss a little the kinds of birds that might visit. I wish a safe glue would hold the tube to styrofoam as these could be placed out in the weather but I haven't found one I'd like to use at this point. 
I have posted a list of food for feeding the birds from a fellow gardener. 


The Family Arts & Crafts group meets at the Wells Branch Community Library every Wednesday night at 6 pm taught by Dianne Koehler. The program lets us turn donated or recyclable materials and imagination into great projects.

You may also want to take a look at the new Art & crafts database the library recently subscribed to for the patrons. Check  the library website for details.

Painting kids and snowmen

This week in recognition of the cold and the snow in the news we painted a snow scene with a couple of kids building a snowman. The instructions were to leave the snowman white but paint his scarf, arms and hat. It is not always my preference to do "coloring book" painting but this still leaves a lot of room for creativity and some skill in filling in pattern lines. The younger attendees did not think the snowman should be left blank and gave it a generous brush of paint too.


When the painting was completed everyone painted the snowman with elmer's glue and a dose of sparkling glitter to top it off. Nice and easy painting project and a good lead in for the Snowman book project next week.

Painting cookie ornaments

With a selection of lots of little cookie shapes the group painted their hearts out making an array of cookie ornaments to take home and use. Sugar cookies are an easy pallette for the artist armed with gels and stiff brushes. We put stripes on candy canes, decorated little trees and just let our imaginations run wild. This is such a fun way for the family to do something together.


The Family Arts & Crafts group meets at the Wells Branch Community Library every Wednesday night at 6 pm taught by Dianne Koehler. The program lets us turn donated or recyclable materials and imagination into great projects.
You may also want to take a look at the new Art &crafts database the library recently subscribed to for the patrons. Check the library website for details.

Making jewelry & gift boxes @WBCL

Just in time for some kind of a holiday we got out all the gift boxes we had and many trays of beads and wood shapes to create jewelry for the participants or friends and family. Members of the HOTT painting group and community members have given me so many beads and wood shapes that this class was just waiting to happen!


The boxes were also donated, just needing the right decoration and a bow or ribbon to give them out. We decided that painting the wood with markers and then using it would best. One of the boys learned to thread beads on elastic to make a bracelet for his little sister. Older kids made gifts for school friends.
There were bracelets, necklaces and clips created. No one went home with less than 2 gifts--some were able to create a few more. The tree boxes and bows were a big hit as you can see.
Last class of 2010 will be painted cookie ornaments/decorations complete with ribbons on December 22nd.

The Family Arts & Crafts group meets at the Wells Branch Community Library every Wednesday night at 6 pm taught by Dianne Koehler. The program lets us turn donated or recyclable materials and imagination into great projects.

You may also want to take a look at the new Art & crafts database the library recently subscribed to for the patrons. Check  the library website for details.