Hand Colored Thanksgiving Day Cards

This is my gift to all you super-busy creative types who like to make homemade holiday cards, but have trouble finding the time. I used deco...

Read More

Layered Leaf Drawing

Metallic markers are great for adding a bit of “highlight” to any drawing or painting. 1. Draw many large simple leaves that are overlapping...

Read More

Zack’s Abstract Cats

This marker drawing project was inspired by a “Jazzy Cat” painting in the AliceinParis Etsy Shop . I love the simple white cats with the sup...

Read More

Embossed Foil and Sharpie Markers

Want to make some super shiny art? Try using the brush Sharpie markers on aluminum foil – it’s a pretty amazing combination. 1. This was pa...

Read More

Dimensional Magic Mod Podge

Here’s another new craft product that I’ve been turned on to, courtesy of Michaels and their 2012 Holiday Preview they invited me to last m...

Read More

Creativity & Michaels Stores

Last month, fourteen bloggers and I were invited by Michaels to their 2012 Holiday Showcase in Dallas. We were all in arts and crafts heaven...

Read More

Marker Line Leaves

I find a lot of inspiration at stock art sites like gettyone.com and istock.com. This came from a leaf illustration, which is simpler than i...

Read More

Back to School Composition Books

I found all these supplies at my local Staples store. Turns out you can now buy sheets of Duct tape, who knew? 1. Carefully peel one side of...

Read More

Geometric to Organic

This is a fun and easy project that shows how you can turn geometric shapes into organic ones. 1. Students used cardboard templates to trace...

Read More

Lettering on Acetate

My afterschool students have been practicing their lettering with acetate tracings, mounted to photo backgrounds. I had a range of kinder – ...

Read More

Metal Tooling Mother’s Day Card

Gold metal tooling is great material for making textured art. Add Sharpie markers and you have a very expensive looking Mother’s Day card. ...

Read More

Hundertwasser Portraits

I’m hooked on the Vienna artist Hundertwasser, so I thought I would try combining his style with my popsicle portrait project. I think his a...

Read More

The “What Am I?” Rubberband Project

A recent donation of old rubber bands was the inspiration for this project today. Students were given an empty CD case, white paper insert, ...

Read More

Masking Tape Letter

I tried this masking tape and marker project with kinders and they really enjoyed it. The students were given full permission to scribble, a...

Read More

Abstract Portrait: A Lesson in Cropping

To crop a picture is to remove outer parts to accentuate the subject matter. Chuck Close was famous for making portraits of people extremely...

Read More

Tie-Dye Looking T-Shirts

This was a big hit today in my afterschool class today – a pseudo tie dying project but without all the unsafe ingredients. My sample had ju...

Read More

Art Journaling Magazine Circles

I’m so excited that I found a new combination of art supplies that I really like. This is made with 2" magazine circles, Sharpie marker...

Read More

Outdoor Mural Update

The colors still look great, but there was a fair amount of wrinkling going on due to the wet canvas shrinking in the middle and not on the ...

Read More

Russian Buildings

Architecture drawing is a really fun area to explore with children. I've seen many students that have little or no interest in drawing p...

Read More

Dr. Suess Day Decorations

Our school had a Dr. Suess celebration, and with our modular classroom set up in California, we have a lot of long outdoor halls without muc...

Read More