Tissue Paper Art: Oriental Poppies 1928

Tissue paper and kids' paint #3

Tissue Paper Art: Two Calla Lilies on Pink 1928

Still reading through the book about O'Keeffe from the Taschen Basic Art Series.

This is another relaxing afternoon playing with tissue paper and kids' paint.

Tissue Paper Art: Single Lilly with Red 1928

After 4 years being a full time mom, I've made the decision to be an elementary school teacher again. School has just started and it has been an exciting new beginning for the whole family. All of us are adjusting to a different routine.

In the process of setting up the classroom, getting familiar with the curriculum and colleagues, arranging after school program for Big E and Little E, I started to feel a bit overwhelmed and needed to catch my breath.

In lieu of my weekly acrylic painting class, I sat down one afternoon to flip through the O'Keeffe book by Taschen Basic Art Series. Little E was making a project next to me. I borrowed her kids' paint and made a tissue paper version of the "Single Lilly with Red."

The colors aren't as vibrant. But my version of the art therapy works in a magical way : )

Veggie Stamps #2 - Birthday bouquet for Great Grandpa

Kids' great grandpa is celebrating his 91 birthday this weekend. The family is gathering to have lunch together. Big E and Little E wanted to make a birthday card for great grandpa. Little E also suggested to buy a beautiful bouquet for great grandpa.

I thought, wouldn't it be great if we combine the card and flowers together? We had a Mexican style BBQ party at home yesterday. There are still fresh bell peppers, onions and lemon left in the fridge, We should try the veggie stamps project again!

Easy steps:

1. Cut the ends of fresh veggies

2. Apply kids' paint 

3. Stamp and create!

I love how the kids added the stems in different ways!

Happy Birthday to Great Grandpa!

Project: Paper Zong-zi

The Dragon Boat Festival is just around the corner! Although we don't have a big celebration here in the States, I'm a big fan about zong-zi (wrapped sticky rice with savory or sweet filings)! Each family or restaurant has a special recipe to make it from scratch - soaking the leaves, prepping the rice and fillings, forming the shape and tying the strings. There is a variety of savory ones with meat, shitaki mushrooms, peanuts, egg yolk, chestnut...etc. And the sweet ones with red bean paste is our family favorite.

Now I regret I never learned how to make zong-zi from my grandma. But at least the kids and I can make a paper version of it for fun. Then we will enjoy a (store-bought) zong-zi together afterwards : )

First, fold a green construction or printing paper in half. 

Tape the sides to make a pocket. 

Cut out strips of origami paper and glue them on both sides of the pocket.

Secondly, choose anything to fill the pocket. 

(foam pieces will work the best but we don't have any at hand.) 

We used toilet paper rolls to fill the pockets.

Last, tape the pocket close diagonally. 

Connect two zong-zi together using tape and a section of kitchen twine 

There we have it! A paper version of zong-zi! 

Happy Dragon Boat Festival to everyone!

Project: Veggie Stamps #1

Hubby and I have know each other for 17 years and he almost never bought any flowers for me. Not only because he isn't the romantic type, but also I'm allergic to pollen...

Yesterday he brought home some orange-red sunflowers from a farmers' market near his office. Poor sunflowers had been without water for half of day since his lunch break. But the kids and I were delighted to have a refreshing addition to our dining table!

While I was preparing dinner and chopping away the vegetables, an idea for art project just popped in my head!
Materials:
1. chopped ends of 2 bitter melon and 1 stem of celery
2. kids paint (paint brush optional)
3. markers and crayons (to add on stems and the vase)

Big E and Little E each used a paint brush to smear the paint on the veggie stamps then stamp away!

Look how vibrant and vivid these sunflowers are!

Project: Paper Bee Costume

Spring is here! We enjoyed bathing in the sunshine and watching 2 humming birds visiting our back yard in the afternoon.

Little E was happy chasing the humming birds and found they made buzzing sounds with their wings. We decided to make something fun that also makes a buzzing sound - a bumble bee!

Materials:

1. 2 yellow and 1 black large construction paper

2. 2 black small pom poms (optional)

3. pencil, scissor, glue, paint and paint brushes

First, we cut out 3 long strips using 1 yellow construction paper. These make the bottom part of the head band and the two shoulder straps. 

Second, we drew the shape of the wing on another yellow construction. Use the left over paper to make 2 strips for tummy design. Paint the wings with any design you like using kids paint.

Next, we cut the black construction paper in half. Use one as the tummy, add the two yellow strips using glue. Use the other half of the black paper for the head band and antennas.

Finally, add the eyes and glue all parts together! 

Now we have a bumble bee flying in the yard with the humming birds!

Project: Astronaut Jetpack and Outfit

Big E needs to work on a "Hero" project for second grade social studies. The teacher gave the students a long list of hero names to choose from and he picked Neil Armstrong. 

We went to the library to find out more information for the written report. The second part is a oral presentation. Big E would dress as Neil Armstrong and prepare a short introduction of himself to the class. We decided to buy a astronaut helmet but made the costume by ourselves. It was such an easy but fun project!

Materials for the jetpack:

1. two empty plastic water bottles

2. foil

3. one empty cereal box

4. two long strips of construction paper

5. silver duck tape

We wrapped all the above items in foil and then duck-taped as shown in picture.

Materials for the costume:

1. white long sleeve shirt and light gray pants (whatever you have in the closet)

2. color print NASA logos

3. duck tape

Then we used duck tape to put all logos on the clothes make the costume. Not only the costume was a success, Big E did a fabulous job on his oral presentation, too!

Paper Dress: Mosaic Peacock

I've always love the color of  peacock blue. The other day I saw this peacock pillow cover in a home goods store. It reminded me of the tissue paper I found long ago with similar peacock feather pattern and colors. Little E and I decided to make a peacock dress this time!

We cut out long stripes and trimmed one end round. 

Then we used yellow and blue origami paper to finish the peacock feather pattern.

 While I was still brainstorming how to finish the dress in a simple style (not trying to make a performance dance wear), Little E started cutting the paper scraps for fun. 

So I decided to use them  and made a simple mosaic style dress top. 

Check out our newest paper dress made together: Mosaic Peacock.

(I made a little hair piece using pipe liners, too!)

Storybook: Odor Boy Saves the Day

We have been busy with moving to the new house and switching schools for the past three months. The kids and I didn't have time to do projects together for quite some time.

Big E recently had a writing assignment from school. The topic was to write about your favorite story character and also describe the character traits.

Big E suddenly thought of his own story character "Odor Boy" and decided to write another story about him. I thought it was a brilliant idea! This could turn into a great series of books! (P.S. The little girl looks a bit like Little E :)