Smart Fab Pillows

Smart Fab Pillows

I was so excited to get three rolls of Smart Fab to try out for some new project ideas. First I watched their demo video and my creative juices started brewing. According to their website, Smart-Fab is the smart alternative to paper and cloth and it's available in a range of brilliant, non-fading colors. This innovative non-woven fabric is easy to cut, fold, glue, sew and staple – and even paint and draw on. Smart-Fab is strong, yet flexible - but doesn’t fray. And, it’s recyclable! Children and educators love working with Smart-Fab. It’s perfect for an unlimited range of indoor and outdoor projects, including bulletin boards, banners, arts & crafts and scenic design.

My middle child is sewing now, so I enlisted her help with my idea. I'm always wanting cute outdoor accent pillows for my screened in porch that I can change out for each season, but don't want to spend the $$, so I decided to give Smart Fab a try for some fall designs.

I used a 12 x 12 canvas as my template for a square and added and extra four inches to the outside. Using chalk, I traced my shape onto the Smart Fab.

I sketched out my design in chalk.

I used acrylic paint for my pumpkin design. I did have to use a couple layers because the Smart Fab really soaked up the paint and dulled the color, especially on the black fabric. I used masking tape to secure the edges to the table so I could paint without it sliding around.

I put the finished fabric outside on a hanger to dry for about 15 minutes.

My daughter stitched the edges, and then I used scissors and easily cut the fringe--and yes, crisp clean edges-no fraying! I stuffed with some cotton filling and now I have a cute fall pillow. This project took me about 1 hour total, including the drying time.

Click on this LINK to see a great video with more creative ideas for using Smart Fab. You can follow Smart Fab on Facebook HERE. I'm looking forward to doing some more ideas with my Smart Fab samples :)

Painting Pumpkins on Canvas

Yes, I teach art. But, as a parent, art is a great way to spend time with your child, and make some cute art for your home. Here's a lesson I've done before with a class, but YOU could easily create these with your kids. Just have fun with it, and you will end up with some great art for the fall season. Add your own personal touches, like words, patterns and color schemes.

 First, I teach students how I draw a pumpkin-use the steps above. I always teach that before you paint to practice your drawing and plan your painting. And I love talking about painting fruits, and stress that there's not such thing as a "perfect" pumpkin. They can be fat, tall, bumpy, lop-sided, etc. Students painted on a 12 x 12 stretched canvas with acrylic paints.

When drawing your design onto the canvas, DON'T use a pencil. You will have a very hard time covering the pencil and correcting mistakes. Use a light color paint or chalk. I have students use baby wipes to correct mistakes. They remove wet paint from a canvas almost like it's a dry erase board.

For younger children, just coach them on what to do one step at a time. For instance, "First we are going to paint our pumpkin shape. What shape do you see? Now try that on your canvas." Remind them to paint big. If they mess up, show them how easy it is to erase it and try again.

Outlining with a darker color helps the colors "pop" and gives the art a more "finished" look.

We added a little green puff paint for the vines and tricked out our edges with stripes. Students were kindergarten through 2nd grade (one fourth grader), and completed their paintings in a 2-hour workshop.

Beach Time Paintings

No, I'm not teaching any workshops this summer :( But I did donate a group lesson to our school auction, and I got to paint with a fun group of girls yesterday! Made me want to go to the beach!

This is a fun summer painting lesson to learn about using lines to draw shapes...

About landscapes and horizon lines....

Shading and complementary colors...

Warm and cool colors and how they add depth and distance...

How to draw or paint Santa

Each year I do painting workshops for children where I teach them how to paint a portrait of Santa Claus. I do this in groups of 6-8 and it takes about two hours. Here's how I teach kids how to draw Santa Claus. I start out breaking him down into basic shapes. Once they get the basic design down, I show them a variety of painted Santa portraits and how the shapes are incorporated. Then they can change it up and make it their own.

Basic Shapes

Santa Variations using shapes

Break down

Some Santa portraits...I love how they each turn out so unique!

These were painted by 2-5th graders.

Painted in acrylic on a 16 x 20 stretched canvas.

To see more, follow me on Facebook under "Sleepyhead Designs Studio".

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6 Have a Blessed Christmas!

Vincent Van Gogh

Looking for books on Van Gogh? Click picture above for details.

To see where you can order these kid friendly books on Van Gogh, click on any of the pictures above.

If you missed last week's post, I highlighted a "Copy Cat" painting workshop where students spent four days copying the works of four famous artists. Students spent a total of around 3-4 total hours copying one of Vincent Van Gogh's famous sunflower paintings. These paintings were done on a 16 x 20 stretched canvas in acrylic paints with acrylic gel medium added for extra texture. 

For a great site for artists biographies for kids, click here.

After sketching out the basic drawing with watered down, yellow acrylic paint, students blocked in colors with their first layer of paint and this was allowed to dry. During the layout stage, students focused on Van Gogh's composition and flower placement, positive/negative space and lines. We encouraged students to sketch and paint what they actually "see", not what they "think" they see. 

Students were reminded to look at the picture before each brush stroke. In the second and third layers of paint, acrylic gel medium was added to the paint to help build texture and show brush work--in an effort to mimic oil paints. Besides the art principals mentioned above, this project was great for teaching value, mixing paints and developing painting techniques, especially brush work.

These students were between the ages of 7-12, and the majority of them have taken art classes for two or more years. I think for this age group, the hardest part was focusing on the same thing for such a long period of time. I really challenged them to work in sections and perfect the details. As you can see, for such a young group, they really took my encouragement to heart. I was amazed at their results!

Crazy Hair Portrait Paintings

This painting idea of Crazy Hair Portraits was inspired by a lesson I first saw on Pinterest, but it came from Mrs. Brown's Art Class website. I adapted the ideas for paints, and to teach the concepts I wanted to emphasize for a younger age group. 

We learned about lines; how many different types of lines there are, how they can show texture, motion, mood, etc.

We learned the terms "portrait" and "abstract".

We learned about the color wheel - primary and secondary colors.

We learned about patterns with lines and with color.

We learned about cool and warm colors.

There are a ton of great teaching possibilities with this lesson.

These were done by students between the ages of 7 and 10.

We used acrylic paint on a 16 x 20 stretched canvas.