Art How-Tos Children

Jazz Up School Photos

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010 by Alyice

Last week I received the cutest school photo of my great-niece, Desirae. (Seriously I am not that old. My husband is the youngest of 8 children with the oldest being my mom’s age. But I digress.)

Personally, I love getting photographs of the family each year—they add character and warmth to our family scrapbooks. My in-laws, however, hate getting annual photographs. It’s not that they don’t enjoy seeing how their grandchildren’s children have grown, or even their own grandchildren, for that matter. It’s that they never know what to do with the photographs once they are done looking at them. “We only have so much room in this tiny apartment,” they’d say.

Which got me to thinking about how much fun my children and I had coming up with creative ways to show off their school work and school photos—to distant relatives. We’d make ornaments, refrigerator magnets, wall calendars, and even video recordings. Now that they’re older, of course, those days are long gone. But it doesn’t stop me from reminiscing about times gone by.

In honor of those memories, I put together a fun, quick, tutorial on how to jazz up your children’s school photos.

Supplies:

Wallet-sized school photo
Strathmore Paper for Acrylics or Watercolor
Frame with a 4” x 6″ opening
Colored pencils
Yellow watercolor paint
Copper, black, and Titanium Buff acrylic paints
Thin paintbrushes
Patterned stamp with four large squares
Rinse water
Scissors
Embossing heat tool or hair dryer

Instructions:

Use one of the colored pencils to doodle several circles on top of one another. (You can also get creative by incorporating other shapes.)
Use up to five colored pencils to lightly color each shape a different color.
Dab stamp with Titanium Buff acrylic paint and gently stamp a few squares over the image.
Use heat tool to dry acrylic paint, or let dry naturally.
Use yellow watercolor paint to add a thin “wash” over the entire painting.
Let dry naturally as the heat tool can curl the paper.
While the painting is drying, take the scissors and cut around the child’s portrait until you get a silhouette.
Go back to the painting and outline all the lines in copper.
Once dry, go back over each line, slightly off to the side, in black.
Let dry.
Turn the painting over. Use the glass, from the frame, as a template and trace an outline onto the backside of the painting.
Cut out the shape.
Have your child sign and date his painting on the backside.
Lift the back of the frame and place the picture on the screen, then place the painting on top of the picture. Close frame and stand upright.

Congratulations! You’ve just created an original piece of abstract art—in less than 30 minutes!

Note: You can use double-sided tape to adhere the picture to the artwork; however, I like the idea of not taping the two together so that the recipients can change out the picture, annually, if they’d like.

Keep Creating

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Creative Kids’ Frame

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009 by Alyice

When I worked in a preschool, the one activity that the kids seemed to enjoy the most was playing with glue. For some reason, they got a kick out of taking something wet and sticky and creating projects with it. It always seemed to amaze them that that sticky white glob dried up and held whatever they put on that glue into place.

This year, budgets are tight but gift giving is better than ever—thanks to parents rediscovering the fun of creating handmade Christmas gifts. If you’re looking for a fun project that kids as little as 3 can do with you, then I highly suggest making a frame like this! There is literally no artistic talent needed—and the best part is that the kids get to learn about colors, patterns, and shapes while they’re having fun!

Supplies:

DecoArt 3.5 x 3.5 Memory Frame
White Gesso
Acrylic paints
Paintbrushes
Judkins’ Diamond Glaze®
Scrap papers cut into shapes using a paper punches.
Small buttons, beads, or other 3-D objects
Bottle caps, photo charms, even the metal from old floppy disks—anything that can hold an object and glue will work.
Fine tip permanent marker
Tweezers (or disposable toothpicks)
Personal photo or custom artwork

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Instructions:

Paint wood frame with gesso.
Let dry.
Sign and date back of frame with permanent marker.
Paint the frame using various colors—abstract is best.
Let dry.
Squirt a small dot of Diamond Glaze® on the back of the holders and spread using a cheap, throw-away paintbrush. Then turn over and place on the frame.
Let dry.
Squirt Diamond Glaze® into the holder, filling it up halfway.
Slowly drop objects into the glaze.
Use tweezers (or disposable toothpicks) to move the objects around, thus creating designs or centering objects.
Cover objects with glaze.
Lay flat and let dry overnight.
You may have to check the glaze after a few minutes for air bubbles. You can leave them in and allow them to add charm to the piece, or you can take a sharp needle and carefully poke the air bubbles.
Insert photo or artwork.

Now your friends and family will receive a unique, handcrafted frame they can be proud to display in their homes!

Keep Creating

P.S.

If you can’t find Diamond Glaze®, try Signature Series Magic-Glos™ with a UV light or a glue that will dry clear no matter how thick it is.

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All material on this blog belongs to Alyice Edrich, unless otherwise noted. No project, artwork, or text may be reproducted without the consent of the creator. That includes making derivative works for resale. Please use project tutorials for personal use and/or gifts only.