I have discovered this amazing free online tool called.

http://storybird.com

Through this tool I found an amazing illustrator Victoria Vusova and her her blog, http://vusova.blogspot.com .

I discovered another gorgeous animation by an artist called Yulia Ruditskaya. Here is the animation.

This is a little bird cage and bird I made for my daughters room. Just used a cane circle, wrapped it with ripped material, knotted it and then hung a little bird I made in the middle. I made it a while ago, so I don’t have the pattern.

It’s finally complete. My daughter added a few stickers a black outline and a bit more paint….What a great job she has done.

This is my 6 year old’s canvas. Her favourite or favorite (depending on which part of the world you come from) animal is a dolphin. This project is not complete yet.

Start by cutting out your shape. There are plenty of templates online. I printed the template out from the computer and put the special paper underneath and then she cut it out. To stop the template from slipping, you can use sticky tape or blutac.

Then work out a rough placement

Paint a canvas

and start sticking. you could use gel medium or modpodge for the collaging.

If you have not done collaging before ~ its easy. Just apply a thin layer of gel medium or modpodge, stick your item down and then apply another thin layer over the top. You can build up the layers, depending on what effect you are trying to create. Just let each layer dry first.

Then using pencils, paints, crayons or anything you like….finish it off.

now the basics are down, it is to be continued…..

Watch this video of Sir Ken Robinson. What do you think?

I admire and respect Sir Ken Robinson and think that he makes some extremely valid points.

This is a canvas my 7 year old daughter made. My Mum passed away last year and I thought it would be nice for her to make a collage to help her through her grief. We went on a hunt around the house and included some special papers in the collage. In particular we found an inscription in a book that my Mum had written to her, which has special significance. We scanned the original in, printed it out and then cut it up. It’s sort of like a patchwork quilt without the sewing…..Inspired by a children’s book Elmer the Elephant ♥

Use a cloth to help get the cloudy texture.

Use scissors to distress the edge. Just adds a bit of texture and interest.

Use a square hole punch to punch out the squares and then stick down with double sided tape.

Then turn it over and trim the edge to make neat.

Use Modposge or gel medium to stick it down. Apply a thin coat to the canvas, stick down and then apply another thin coat over the top.

Not a 100% done yet….more finishing touches to come ♥

Before

After

Recipe

1. Use some old shoes ~ make sure you clean them up.
2. Cut up some small strips of material or thin strips of paper and glue onto the shoes, using Mod Podge or Gel Medium.
3. I started at the inside top first. Then worked my way from the bottom up. If the shoes are ultra curvy you can snip some little slits to help mold the material around.
4. Using your Mod podge or Gel Medium, paint a small section at a time in a thin layer and then stick the material down and paint another layer. Work your way around the shoe. Don’t worry if it looks cloudy, it WILL DRY CLEAR.
5. I glued over the eyelets and was not too fussy about being to neat on the bottom edge, as I cut it off later.
6. Once you have covered the shoes in it’s entirety, let it dry.
7. Once dry, use your silent setter, hole punch or drill and punch holes if required. Trim excess, using a blade to make the bottom edge look neat.
8. OPTIONAL ~ Then spray with a clear FLEXIBLE varnish. It must be flexible, to enable your shoes to flex and move. Allow to dry for 24 hours. Take all necessary precautions, read and follow the labels. I wore a mask, at this stage, so I did not inhale the fumes.
9. If your shoes have laces, you can funk them up. I only had food colouring in the cupboard and some old white laces. So I used Pillar Box Red to dye my shoe laces pink. I then added some ribbon on the bottom and painted on some fabric stiffener to the ribbon, just to give it some extra durability.
10. I lined the soles with some 100% Cotton Drill Fabric.
11. MOST IMPORTANTLY HAVE FUN AND REMEMBER THERE ARE NO RULES, GO CRAZY. ☺