Valentine's Art Projects from the Past

Each year, I tend to try something different for Valentine's Day.  I like to spice things up, don't you?

Here are some from the past that I have done.

1.  Valentine's Heart Collages

 2.  Cool Hands, Warm Heart

3.  Easy Clay Hearts for Kindergarten 

    I have made these for Christmas presents, but they would be perfect for Valentine's Day.

4.  Maps of My Heart (by Kindergarten)

5.   Styrofoam Printed Valentines

P.S.  My new blog design is at ArtisBasic.com.  Check it out if you would like to get a sneak preview before the RSS feeds are moved over.

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Holiday Round Up

Two of my classes made pictures frames like these: 

They turned out really cute and I did not take pictures until after the kids glued their pictures in, so I did not want to post any of the frames with their pictures in it. 

This year, I did not do too many holiday art projects, but here is a round-up of some that I have done in the past. 

Sock Snowmen

 Snowflakes with Glitter

Snowglobe Pictures

Picture Frame with Tooling Foil

Dreamcatcher Style Ornament

Winter Landscapes

I usually do these in January, but this could be a holiday landscape.

Clay Heart Ornaments

 (I did these again this year, but forgot to take pictures.)

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Glass Fusing

The fourth-sixth graders made these glass fused pendants.  We are gluing the "bails" on the back to make necklaces.  The kids are going to give these as holiday gifts to a family member or friend.  They each made two pendants.  

This is the first time I have done fused glass with kids.  I used the how-to guides from the System 96 website and ordered the glass from Delphi glass.  

Have you done fused glass in your kiln before?  If so, I have some questions to ask you and maybe you can help me troubleshoot a bit.  Let me know and we can connect!

Some of the pendants turned out wonderfully (as I expected) and some of them did not seem to melt evenly.  They are still beautiful and the kids are proud of their work, but I am wondering if anyone has any insights.  

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Free Printable Holiday Card to Color

Free Printable Christmas Card!

Marit, founder of Featuring magazine, suggested that we all make print and color holiday cards to post on the website. This was perfect, because now my holiday card is done for school.  For the past few years, I have made little cards from my artwork to use as thank you notes at school.  If a kid gives me a holiday card or gift I will give them one of my little artwork cards.   Some kids at school saw me drawing this and they all said they wanted one, so I'm going to print off a bunch.

If you would like to print off this card for yourself or your kid to color, go ahead!

Do you make your own holiday cards?  Do you share your artwork with your students?



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Mixed Media Canvases with Kids

 Thanks for your kind comments about my fingers!  They are actually healing much faster than I expected. 

As you might know, I am a lover of all things mixed media!  I also enjoy occasionally teaching an after school art workshop for my students (I'd love to do more, but since my daughter goes to daycare it's a bit tricky.)  I thought painted canvases would be a great gift for kids to give someone in their family, so I decided to do an after school art class which I taught today.  The kids in this class were in grades K-5, so I had quite a range of skill levels.  23 kids signed up!

1st grade artwork

I bought a bunch of canvases, scrapbook papers and paints on Black Friday (yep, I braved the craziest shopping day to pick up some cheap art supplies.)

5th grader

Each kid chose a 12x12" or 9"x12" canvas and a selection of scrapbook papers.

The kids cut out shapes and imagery from the patterned scrapbook paper.  These were decoupaged on to the canvas using Mod-Podge puzzle saver glue (the kind that you can paint on to a finished puzzle to save it.)  Paint underneath and on top of each shape.  Smooth any wrinkles out with your fingers.  When you are finished mod-podging, use a hair dryer to dry the glue. 

3rd grader

The kids used acrylic craft paints to add paint and designs to their canvas.  Colored sharpie markers were also used for fine details.  It is very important to make sure the paint is dry (with a hair dryer) if you are going to use markers anywhere near the paint.  It will ruin the markers if the paint is wet.  Some students chose to write words on their picture.

Do you see the "love Marcia" at the bottom?  so sweet!  (made by a kindergartner)

The class ran from 3:15-5:00.  The kids mostly all finished by 4:45, which was good because we had a HUGE mess to clean up.  If I did this again, I might split it into two sessions.  It was a long day for the littlest kids. 

Kindergarten-- Lots of expression!

2nd grade

3rd grade

Kindergarten

2nd grade  Great shapes!

1st grade  I love the colors in this one.

4th grade girl

The four seasons-- 5th grade boy

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Winter Collages

My posting is going to be limited for a little while.  I burnt four of my fingers on a hot glue gun yesterday and had to go to the urgent care.  Basically the glue dripped on four fingers on my left hand... I was sitting in the teacher's lounge peeling the hot glue off my fingers and crying.  Definitely a shock to the system.  They are ok now... just some throbbing on and off.   I ordered low temp glue guns because I am not going to use those anymore.  So, limited typing now.... just a few pictures of winter collages.

 

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Charming Hand Tiles-- Kindergarten Mother's Day Gift

We made tiles for Mother's Day with the Kindergartners... I know it's early, and it's a bit crafty, but it is something the parents love to get!  Here is what we did:

1.  I purchased a bunch of glossy floor tiles (glazed already) at our local Habitat for Humanity Re-Store (which is like a surplus/recycling store for building supplies).  Super cheap... like 25 cents each I think.  I love these tiles and they are fun to just draw on also, like we did here.

2.  Then, I explained to the kids what we were going to do and drew out a picture on the board.

3.  The kids had a selection of Sharpies on their table and wrote their names in the corner, and included things like "2012" or "To: Mom" on the other corners.  I told them to write tiny so they would have room for their handprint.  They could also add other doodles or borders if they wanted.  (Steps 2-3 took about 5 minutes)

4.  I then got the kids started on their next art project.

5.  While the kids were busy coloring their next art project, I called the students up one or two at a time and I painted their hand with gold tempera paint.  I helped them press it down and lift it up.  If anything smeared, we grabbed a wet paper towel and wiped it up before it dried.

totally cute, right?

6.  After they dried, the tiles were flipped over and picture hangers were attached with cement glue. 
And usually when I read tutorials I get to a part like this and am like, "what do they mean? attach picture hangers?"  So.. here is a picture of what I used:

Picture hangers, which I also bought from the Re-Store.

Some of the finished tiles.. a few kids were absent and will have to do them later.

Map of My Heart-- Kindergarten

The kindergartners made Maps of their Hearts!  They included things that were important in their lives.  We drew with permanent markers first, then watercolor painted them in.. 

I got this idea from the book "Playful Learning" which would be a great book for a classroom teacher.  It was interesting to read, but most of the activities are math, science, reading related.

Valentine's Heart paintings-- 2nd grade

We had fun painting paper and then layering construction paper hearts and doilies on top.  We used gel pens to decorate the hearts. 

I got this idea from We Heart Art!