School fete 2018

I decided to go with frogs. I usually try to make 20 beanbags, but did 40 this year.

A couple of metres of fabric and nearly 6 kg of lentils!

I changed the eyes this year too - I sewed on felt circles and then added black wool - safety and economical reasons....safety eyes are a bit too pricey. These sold out super quick!

The apple magnets are cardboard with fancy paper and a strip of magnet on the back.

The home sweet home garlands, again, cardboard and paper. Fiddly, but more economical to make than fabric goods. I punched metal eyelets at the ends for strength and used hessian string. I used Sizzix dies to make this paper craft,

Quilts...a baby quilt and a Liberty red star quilt

Easter holidays...a little wet and miserable in Wales. We had one nice day so we went for a lovely walk around Cardiff Bay. 

I've kept myself busy with a little sewing. 

A baby quilt for a friend. A pinwheel pattern in grey and a little yellow. Arrow and feathers theme.

messing around with patterns...

and this quilt top nearly finished. I started it last year, but I had added green triangles to make a bigger star. I wasn't too happy with it, so took it apart and started again. I used Liberty lawn cotton and used the English paper piecing method, so all hand sewn.

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant Hapus - Happy St David's Day

Welcome from snowy Wales! Yes the weather has turned and we are expecting heavy snow today, so school is closed!

However, it was 'Welsh week' this week, and I managed to complete our study of an artist in Wales -  Valeriane Leblond with year 1 who are 5 and 6 years old.

We chose 4 pictures, each group did a different one. We studied the picture, then I demonstrated by drawing with a black pen. The children then had a go, then coloured it with oil pastels.

Some nice mixing and blending here with blues and greens

Henri Rousseau Art

For our topic, 'Mini Zoo' I decided to create our picture inspired by Henri Rousseau, using the Gelli Plate, incorporating printing and collage.

The background of light green printing ink made up the first layer. 

Then with a second layer of a darker shade of green, I used the Gelli plate to print leaves. To save time, one child had the negative print, then the next child had the positive leaf print. This created our 'jungle' background. 

The children then drew their own monkeys onto an A5 piece of white paper. This was cut out and glued onto the background print. 

Then some paper flowers and leaves were added for colour.

I worked with 60 year 1 children over 2 morning sessions.

Last year, I used oil pastels, with a watercolour wash, then collage. But I think this year's are more vivid in colour.

Dark and light

 Some more artwork from the Autumn term. 

Our theme was 'Electric Rainbow' - colour and light.

The children made observational drawings in charcoal of sources of light

Stained glass inspired by Church windows, using tissue and a printed picture of a saint, black strips for the window frame, then laminated. We stuck these onto the classroom windows.

Colour mixing using acrylics to make rainbows, again, using good old paper plates. 

We studied Vincent Van Gogh's 'The Starry Night'. The children wrote about their feelings and descriptions onto speech bubbles for our writing wall.

 We celebrated 'Christ the King' in our class assembly. This is a centrepiece that I had made.

Bonfire night pictures.....oil pastels to cover a piece of A5 paper.

I then painted over them with a mixture of black paint and washing up liquid. A couple of layers needed.

When mounted, the children took them home to 'scratch out' a firework picture.

Hand prints for our communal wall in the cloakroom - again a nice momento.

I used printing ink with a brayer.

 Our colour mixing experiment using Skittles

We used a light box to experiment with colour.

Our 'Owl who was afraid of the dark' display with charcoal pictures.

I hung up black cloth around the area to darken the area so that the children could use their torches.

 Experimenting colour mixing with watercolours

Christmas Craft

Just some of this term's school work....

We told the Christmas story with pictures to support the childrens' writing

Angel Gabriel, I thought the hand print wings were a nice momento. Finger blob hair.

Retro Christmas candle card. I cut strips of fancy paper that I had. Then children glued them onto a rectangle piece of card, and I trimmed it when dry. 

Baby Jesus in the manger collage

Mary and Joseph travelled to Bethlehem.

 I made this picture with 60 children over an afternoon. So the printed background was made first, then the children went off to draw their own picture which was stuck on later.

The Bethlehem background print is from a styrofoam piece that I had used previously - see below a previous Christmas card. I just drew around simple shapes to create a scene, cut it out in styrofoam and mounted it onto card. Printed with white printing ink onto black paper. The lights are finger dots of paint.

The swirly sky was made using a Gelli plate - inspired by The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh.

A Pinterest idea... good old paper plates - cheap to use.

These pine cones were found in my Dad's attic...about 300 of them. About 30 years ago he made Christmas decorations to sell at our local Church. The money that he raised was sent to Peru where they used it to build a Church. Nice to put them to good use. 

I cut out cardboard circles which were then decorated with square 'presents'. This served as a base so that the little Christmas tree would stand up. I used my Sizzix to cut out the stars.

I've never been a huge fan of glitter - in my early days as a teaching assistant, a boy managed to shake a whole pot over the carpet - it took me ages to clean up and I got a piece in my eye which irritated me for days. Never mind the environmental issue - it's a pain! So it only comes out at Christmas.

'Do not be afraid' Shepherd picture.

The background is another styrofoam print that I made, this time a chorus of angels.  The hills were a quick sweep over with a sponge and green paint, just to add a bit of background and make the children's drawings 'pop'.  Time is of the essence when working with 30 or even 60 children.

Advent promises in stars.