Micro Worlds

Making coastlines and seas. Fun with water and chunks of, well, the patio, on the patio. Photos taken with 100mm Canon macro zoom lens.

Morning Time, Dog Days of Winter

8am, January 8th.  -11 degrees outside.  Our 3 minions keeping warm inside. (We call them our minions for some reason, even though none of them really ever do our bidding.)

Foraging

 Summer foraging 6.21. Wild sorrel and strawberries were found and enjoyed.

Paper Mosaic Collage: A Kid Friendly Art Project

I've had this idea stewing around in my head for some time now, and I finally got a chance to try it out.  Emmett can sometimes be hard to rope into craft projects because he gets frustrated easily if things are too hard or finicky.  But this project includes some super kid friendly tasks, even preschool friendly, like paper snipping and glue sticking.  It also includes some things that an adult or older child will need to do too, so it is a great group project.  

Here is what you will need: 

1) Some large thin white paper, like children's easel paper, or butcher paper

2) Various papers to make up the body of your collage, such as wrapping paper, decorative paper, scrapbooking paper, or whatever you choose.

3) Something to mount your collage on, such as this wooden art board, poster board, foam board, or whatever you have access too. (click on the link above to see where mine came from)

4) Something to use as your background, if you want one.  I used book pages, but you could paint the background, or use whatever appeals to you.

4) A pencil

5) Gluesticks

6) Kids scissors

7) Good grown up scissors, or an exacto knife and cutting mat.

The first step is to get the kid or kids snipping paper into small pieces into a bowl.  I found that Emmett had an easier time with this if I first cut the papers into long strips for him, and then he could easily snip them into something like squares.  There is no need for them to be a uniform size or shape.

And while he was busy snipping I pulled up some images of whales on Google images to use as a basis for our whale shape.  In hindsight it would have been a better idea to do this in advance.  Especially if you will be working with more than one kid.  Emmett and I together decided that the image below both appealed to him and fit well on the mounting board we had on hand.

So I sketched out the outline of this humpback whale on a piece of paper I snagged from Emmett's easel.  The paper (and the outline drawing) must be the size of the design you will want to end up with on your final collage.  You want the drawing to be as detailed as you can, although the outline is all you need, so you don't end up with an unrecognizable blob, so pay attention to the silhouette and make sure it is clearly the animal you are trying to make. 

Then you want to flip the paper over and make a more vague outline that surrounds your whole design.  This is the side you will glue the paper scraps too, and you want to make sure that they will cover every inch of the design on the other side.  This sounds really confusing, and is a little hard to describe, but it is very easy to do.  The next photo will hopefully give you a better idea what I am saying.

See how the outer line is less detailed but contains the whole more detailed silhouette within its borders?  That's what you want.  Now you are ready to start gluing, and hopefully the kiddos have lots of snipped paper scraps in their bowl. 

Make sure you have the larger, more amorphous side up, and let your little gluers get to work.  They can work as methodically or as willy nilly as they want, it will look cool either way.  I have some of the purple glue sticks which are great for kids because they can see where they have put the glue, and yet it still dries clear.

And just keep adding and adding paper scraps until you cover up all of the white paper up to the edges of your pencil border.  It's ok if there are overlapping papers, in fact, there will need to be, so don't worry too much about lining anything up.  Emmett got a little bored before all of the last little bits of white were covered, so I finished it up for him by filling in all of the tiny remaining gaps and then adding more glue to any of the scraps that weren't securely glued.

 When this stage is all done it will look like this. (above)

Once the glue has dried, or mostly dried, you flip over your paper, revealing the more exact drawing on the flip side, and get ready to cut it out, either with good sharp scissors or an exacto knife and cutting mat. Cut slowly, being sure to cut through all of the layers of glued paper scraps.

And now the fun part! You flip it over and see the mosaic pattern animal silhouette with nice clean edges:

And now for the background.

I could have just given Emmett a whole bunch of blue paints and let him go at it on the wood panel. That would have probably looked really cool too.

But since Emmett's attention was waning, and book pages are kind of my thing, and I knew I happened to have some pages from an old copy of The Old Man and the Sea lying around, I decided to go that way instead.

Now just slather the back of your whale (or other animal) with glue stick, flip it over and place it on your background and press down all the edges firmly.

The wood panel I used was from Dick Blick, and they come in loads of sizes.  The added bonus of using a wood panel is that you can attach a picture hanger right on the back of it and you don't have to worry about either finding a frame, or figuring out how you are going to get it to hang on the wall.

And you're done!  Emmett is 4, so by the end of this project I was pretty much working on it alone. And this is also a pretty big piece. But I bet with 7 or 8 year olds they would be able to see it through all the way to the end, as well as be able to take on a lot of the aspects that I did, like the background and cutting out the final silhouette.

Have fun!

18 Hours in Portsmouth, NH

TH and I escaped to Portsmouth, NH last weekend for a night as a belated birthday trip for me, and just a general change of scene and night off from parenting.  Neither of us had ever been there and we really enjoyed it's salty and artistic atmosphere.  We left Emmett with some friends, and realized it was the first time we had left him and gone away together since he was about 14 months old.  I'm not quite sure how we let that long of a time period elapse.  We were, of course, totally tweaked about it, and almost bailed at the last minute, but I'm really glad we didn't.  And Emmett had a great time on his sleep over, came home full of stories, and told us he wants to do it every night. Phew!

We got there around 3:30 and checked into the Ale House Inn, which is a great little boutique hotel with iPads in every room, a little lobby with fresh fruit and snacks, and very friendly staff who are more than happy to help you find ways to fill up your time in Portsmouth.

The we walked around for a bit, looked at the water, and did some exploring and shopping.  And then we started eating, and managed to hit 3 restaurants in the remaining 15 hours.  First we went to Cava for a few small plates to refresh ourselves after our walking and shopping.

 And then we met up with a friend at the wine bar at the Black Trumpet, and then downstairs for a delicious dinner, where I had the most delicious foie gras I've had in years, which was pan seared and served over a flambeed apple slice and served with a beet and citrus relish.  SO good.

And then home to bed, because after all, we are still exhausted parents, even on our night off :)

It was truly lovely though to get out of our routine, get a chance to actually talk to each other without being interrupted, and just soak in a new atmosphere.  The really is something so rejuvenating about being in a new place, and taking in new sights and smells.  It helped me pull back a little and refocus on the big picture, and take a break from all of the little day to day demands and distractions.  And if 18 hours can do that, just imagine what a long weekend would be like! Maybe next time. . .

Emmett's Rooftop Garden

Totally on board with the urban gardening trend.  Emmett knows what's up with sustainable living.

Swedish Secret

My Swedish friend May just let me in on a little kids-in-cold-weather secret.  I was lamenting about the gap above the top of Emmett's parka collar, and how blowing snow seems somehow magnetized to that tender spot. So she showed me how she had tied a handkerchief around her son Fisher's neck to keep the snow and breezes out, and said that that is how they all do it in Sweden.  So simple, and so genius!

Today Emmett and Markus tried it, and it turns out to be a great idea for multiple reasons: it can't get tangled, or wrapped too tight like a scarf, and it also can't fall off, it is totally adjustable to different size necks, and the cotton cloth is soft and not itchy against sensitive baby skin.  Also, they are cheap, and readily available, and easy to wash. Thanks May, and thanks Sweden!

Merry Christmas From Campestral And A Joyful DIY!

 Happy Christmas Eve everyone!  I have already had my post-Christmas-busy-season-crash, which was marked by almost one full day of sitting around in my pajamas and staring at the wall.  I also managed to squeeze in a quick cold too, and now I'm back on my feet and ready to take on some much ignored (not so fun) life administration and (fun) projects.  Here is a quick little holiday decorating DIY that is simple and quick enough to do with little helpers, as long as you keep them away from the X-Acto knife.  Here is what you'll need:

 You could actually just use scissors instead, if you want to make it more kid-friendly.  And the paper is a sheet of card stock with a layer of book pages glue-sticked to each side.  If you want to be holiday appropriate you could use a sheet of Christmas carolling music, or a holiday themed book.  

 Now just write your letters on your glued book page paper.  You can do any word you want, or you could do your family members' initials, or 2012, or 2013, or anything that grabs you.  And you can get the kiddos involved here.  Mine was very helpful.

   Next you are going to cut out your letters, either with scissors or with your Ex-Acto like so:

Now if you want to be neat about it you can erase all of the pencil marks from around the edge of your letters.  It took me two tries to write a decent J, so I had to do some erasing.

Now all that is left is punching a hole, or poking a hole with a thumbtack or nail, and stringing through a loop of some kind of string to hang them with.  You could also hook them on one long piece of cord together to make a garland to hang on your mantel or in a doorway.  And you're done!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you out there, and may your days be merry and bright!