Art Camp still has a few spots for Juniors this summer

Quoting WB MUD Manager Matt: "You blew up skittles!" We made a fountain of suds and fizzing with vinegar, baking soda, and powder paints, placed inside out film canisters! 2 spots still open for this year's sciency art camp Aug 2-4. Call 512-251-9814 to enroll. Age 8-12

Making Crazy birds @WBCL

Making Crazy birds Wells Branch Community Library tonight was so much fun. We used a lot of bits from other projects but they were jus perfect! A leftover easter egg for a body, a large pompom for a head, pipe cleaner legs and a cardboard ring for a neck with bright feathers for wings held on with washi tape. Everyone was able to do it and not too much glue got loose!

Creating a super hero standout figure

With this week's theme of super heroes I thought we'd do something a bit different and create a 3D superhero launching itself out of a comic book page. We did not get real comics to cut up although I considered it. With this week's theme of super heroes I thought we'd do something a bit different and create a 3D superhero launching itself out of a comic book page. We did not get real comics to cut up although I considered it.

I found a coloring page with comic panes that we used as a base and colored it using markers and crayons. The kids then chose a super hero or two or three to color and cut out. I showed them how to make stands to make it look like the figure was popping out of the page.

One of the kids kept saying "it makes it come to life" and it really does. The photos do not do the projects justice.

Lots of batgirl and hackman figures, a couple  of batman too. One of the kids did 4 then did not want to tape them down.

Or take a look at our video/slideshow of the figures coming to life~

Many spring projects and beyond

We have been doing so many fun things lately and my gardening has taken a tole on sharing.

1-the bees turned out so well. Simple project using 1/2 wood egg, 2 wood hearts, a bead, a foam flower and a cork. They used markers to make the eggs yellow and sharpies to add detail. Thanks to my retired crafting friends for all the supplies.

2-I had plastic eggs, mulit-colored grass, ice cream cups and some colored feathers donated to me. They cried out for something fun and this did the trick. We added pipe-cleaner ears, more feathers, eyes and pompoms to make chicks in a basket and bunnies on a paper ring collar. I cut little triangles for the beaks from some left over fun foam. What fun!

3-We had a great time drawing and learning to paint a waterfall. I did one on the library wall in the story room over 12 years ago so we used it as our example. Everyone drew the pool of water and the rocks then painted them. We dribbled white paint on the edges and used toothpicks to create the moving water effect. You can see Ella standing in front of the waterfall on the wall in the pictures.

4-One of my favorite art camp projects from spring break: Our jeweled guitars set off a shopping frenzy with all the fabulous donations we had to choose from. Every kid had a story to tell me about the items on it and why they were chosen. We used heavy primed canvas as a base and dabbed a bit of paint on then before mounting then. Thanks to Austin Creative Reuse, our Wells Branch neighbors, and Katherine Sands gma for supplies!


5-What would Mardi Gras be without masks? We used masks cut from fun foam then pulled out all the feathers, beads, and jewels to trick them out. everyone made their own bands to hold them on from pipe cleaners so they are adjustable. 

Creating projects with beads and altoids tins @WBCL

I have such a stash of beads and people give me more plus I have been known to buy a bag here and there like the beautiful gold ones from Oriental Trading that doing a project with them is always a creative surprise. The kids and adults are told at the beginning that these are what ever has been thrown into the bag left from other projects so who knows what is there. I gave the tins a quick coat of flat paint then put out beads in bowls and plastic lids of Aleene's tacky glue. There was some trading between tables to get a specific bead here and there too. The results are really nice and it is easy for kids of any age to do this with help from an adult--some of whom did their own boxes.

Stars & stripes or Patriotic fun mini-camp @ WB Annex

Finally a week where the 4th doesn't fall in the middle of the week so we grabbed it and did a camp. We started the week with a drawing session of a flagged street scene in the Picturing America series by Childe Hassam, an impressionist. The main feature of the week was construction of the 3 small floats from start to finish - one of Uncle Sam and one of Lady Liberty. Along the way we made flags, confetti eggs, tp poppers and long wands with stars. We capped the week off marching in the parade in Wells Branch.

Squashed paper flags for Memorial day @WBCL

I keep trying to do something a little different to stretch the kids' (and parents) imaginations and skills while using the wonderful donated materials I continue to receive. For this project we used an A5 envelope and red & blue streamers. First they drew the American flag--yes it has 13 stripes and a square on the LEFT. they tore the streamers into pieces about 1 1/2" long and made piles of paper wads. They then dabbed on glue and squashed the paper wads into place. They were supposed to leave spaces in the blue are to represent stars--that was hard for some of them as they just would rather have had white to squash up. In all though it was a great time doing this one.

Creating pots @WBCL

OK so you get a pot and it has a sticky tag on it--no big deal...you get 20 of them and it is a pain so planning an alternate project turned out better than the original and involved a lot more design work on the part of the participants. I took some fabric from my stash that had small squares of sunflowers, trees, lambs, chickens, cows, beehives, apples, and more and cut them into the squares. We decoupaged them onto the pots with Aleene's glue learning the "glue goes under then over" process. The kids then added buttons and did a bit of finish with outdoor scribble paint. Anyone would love to use these distinctive pots!

Making a Valentine's Day basket at WBCL

I was given a sack full of Valentine's Day cards last spring break and wrestled with how to best use them in a project for this class. We have made and decorated Valentines cards several times out of a variety of materials and I know we could've done that again. Instead we chose to tear the cards in half separating the back from the front and converting the back into a basket by folding its edges of up and in and stapling it together. We used fun foam hearts for the ends and decorated them with artwork from the cards. Lastly we punched holes in the hearts and used a pipe cleaner to form the handle. This project took on a lot of participation from the parents and everyone seemed to be having a good time with it.

Blue horse collage for Chinese New Year

I was excited to see a few months ago that Eric Carle had a book about a blue horse and it was recommended as a resource for Chinese New Year. Luckily one of the parents has a copy of the book and was able to bring it for the class. Before class I did a drawing of the horse based on his book and ran off copies for the participants. I had them cut out the horse and then use several different colors of blue tissue paper to make a collage on the horse. The example had a different colored saddle blanket and we were able to find some striped tissue paper to use for the blanket. Some of them were able to make a 3-D mane and tail and others chose to keep their's flat. Lastly we mounted it on red construction paper as most of the examples I've seen use red for celebrations.

I have a dream hands project @ WBCL

We started out with a bit of a history lesson about who Martin Luther King was and then I read part of his speech to the kids. I had made up a sample with the circle in the middle, printing I have a dream, three faces to color, and then a few of the colored hands in a circle around The edges. Some of the kids got very very detailed in their drawings and their colorings. We were fortunate to have a donation of people colored crayon to use for this project.

Making jewelry takes a bit of beads and more

We have been planning this jewelry making session since late summer. It is always fun to take a lot of jewelry findings, beads, sequins, and other items and give them to the kids so they can create some wearable items. I had intended to use more of the pole tops for rings but was unable to locate them in time for the session. Instead we took buttons and one half of a pipe cleaner with some beads and created what we thought was even a better project.

December crafts candles and luminaries

We did two different projects this month focusing on candles. The first one we used spools tissue paper ribbons and Felt snowflake cutouts to create our own candles. We talked about how many cultures celebrate the winter holidays using candles and other kinds of lights.



We used crystal light containers to create luminaries that would be able to use battery-operated candle lights. I had the kids gluon torn pieces of tissue paper all over the outside of the plastic containers. We then took them outside and inserted the candle lights in them to test them out. Looks like real stained-glass.

Ornament making sessions get at the creativity

Our annual Christmas ornament making sessions were again a smash hit. We made a variety of ornaments both things that were very old-fashioned and very modern. Everyone had such a great time making just what they wanted to take home and put on their tree.

Spiders and their webs @ WBCL

Coming right after the spider guy presentation on Saturday, this seemed like a great project todo. I had a large stash of wooden beads that I sprayed black and inserted a small dowel into the hole. I made up two samples of these so that the kids could see how these spiders were assembled. Generally their skills at twisting the chenille stems are hardly equal to the task, but this time almost everybody got their spiders legs on with no difficulty.  we used a touch of glue you add a tiny pom-pom at the  front where the mouth would be. We also added wiggly eyes to finish the spiders. Some of the kids decided that the large body was the spiders head and put the eyes there.   for the spider web we cut sheets of black card stock diagonally then had the kids pencil in the lines of the web.  Many of the kids added bugs for the spider. Some said that they didn't like the spiderweb I did and instead had very curvy lines for their web. Guess the spider gets to go where he wants to go.

Making piñata for Diez y seis de Septiembre @WBCL

 This project was just a little complicated but everybody was able to complete it with very little difficulty. We began with quart milk cartons and cut the bottoms off. I cut all of the lengths of tissue paper in advance and had the kids cut their own fringes from the long strips. They first had  to glue squarish pieces across the bottom of the carton. We then added layer after layer of fringes until we got up to the top. We opened the top of the carton and punched holes on both sides to insert a cord as a hanger. Most of the kids continued their fringe up to the very top of the cart. We then added a bit of streamers to the bottom and sent them home to fill it with prizes or candies or whatever they wanted. We had a discussion about how to break the piñata to have the items fall out. We also had a discussion about Mexican Independence Day.

Jewelry making from recycled materials @WBCL

I saw the ring making project on Pinterest earlier this year and put the call out to the neighborhood and the parents in this class to save the little ring pulls from cardboard drink and milk boxes. Finally we had enough to do our project. In order to be sure that our sequins and jewels would stick to the plastic I gave each one a quick sanding. We used Alenes tacky glue then added sequins, beads, and big gemstones from a donation. I also had some fun foam bookmarks that I thought would be ideal as bracelets. We were not disappointed. I little Velcro on the ends then the kids covered the entire top with a variety of sequins and beads. Everyone went home wearing their creations. This was a great project as any age of child could do this with a little help from mom or dad.