Origami Butterfly Wreath for Easter or Spring

My family loves origami! So when I saw the directions for an origami butterfly on Pinterest, I knew I had to create a project that used them! So, here 'tis! This is a relatively simple and VERY inexpensive project that would be suitable for children grade 2 and up (the origami may be a bit challenging for a young one and the tissue paper can be time consuming).

The butterfly origami directions are from Go Origami. Many of the gorgeous projects on this site are too advanced for me, but the butterfly is easy enough.

Enjoy making this lovely wreath and bringing a bit of Spring into your home!

Origami Butterfly Wreath for Easter or Spring

Supplies Needed:

• One paper plate
• Pencil
• Scissors
• Elmer's glue
• Glue tray (I used the lid of a yogurt tub)
• Tissue paper in green (I used three colors of green for interest)
• Three pieces of origami paper (or thin colored paper), assorted colors
• Hole punch
• Ribbon

Directions:

1. Trace a 5" circle in the center of the paper plate. Use the scissors to poke a hole in the center circle and then cut and remove the center circle so you are left with an outer ring of a paper plate. This is the base of your wreath.

2. Cut the tissue paper into 1" squares. I can't tell you how many squares you'll need, but you'll probably end up cutting WAY more than you need.

3. Pour a bit of glue into the tray. Take a 1" square of tissue paper and CENTER it over the eraser end of the pencil, smoothing the edges of the tissue paper around the eraser and pencil. Use your fingertips to HOLD the tissue in place and then dip the covered end of the eraser into the glue. Gently touch the tissue-covered eraser to the plate, and remove the pencil. The tuft of tissue paper should remain. You'll be attaching the tufts of tissue paper to the underside of the plate--not the side you'd eat on.

4. Repeat with additional tissue paper squares until the surface of the plate ring is covered. It helps to place the tissue paper tufts next to each other as you go--this will ensure that the wreath is nice and full and doesn't have any bald spots! If you are working with a younger child, you can work with him/her on this part. Many children won't mind the help and it's a wonderful time to sit and chat quietly with your child. 

5. Once the front surface of the wreath ring is covered with tissue paper tufts, use a hole punch to make two holes about 5" apart on the top edge of the wreath. This will allow you to hang the wreath up later. Set the wreath aside to dry.

6. Trim the origami paper so that one piece is 6 inches square, another is five inches square, and the third is four inches square. Fold into butterflies. Directions can be found here.

7. Attach ribbon to the wreath. Trim if necessary.

8. Use glue to attach butterflies in a pleasing arrangement. 

You're done! Welcome Spring!

**Another option to make this much easier for little ones is to reduce the size of the plate wreath. Making the wreath ring 5-6" across will be much easier for a single child to do on his/her own. Then adjust the size of the butterflies accordingly, maybe a butterfly made from a 5" square flanked by butterflies made from 4" squares. 

Leaves are "FALL"-ing Picture

In honor of the first day of Fall which is tomorrow, I have this super craft. I saw it on display at a local library and had to try it at home with my preschooler who is four. It was a bit challenging for him, so I worked with him to do the tissue paper "puffs" so he didn't get too frustrated with them. My 9 yo was saying he just had to make one as well!

This project is a good way to explore a few different kinds of media and practice fine motor control. It also uses many items you may have on hand. I liked spending time with my little one and we had a wonderful discussion about fall and leaves. ENJOY!

Supplies Needed:

• 8 1/2x11" piece of white card stock
• pencil and eraser
• scissors
• black marker
• crayons, colored pencils or markers to color in the tree trunks
• tissue paper, various colors, cut into 1" squares
• Elmer's glue in a little tray
• zip-top plastic baggie
• tape
• hole punch
• various paper scraps in leaf colors

Directions:

1. Fold the card stock about 4" up from the bottom. On the larger portion of the cardstock, draw two trees in a way that creates a frame. You can keep it simple. Make sure the area that is in the center of the trees (that you will be cutting away) is smaller than your zip-top bag, so that the edges of the baggie don't show. 

2. Once you have the drawing the way you want, outline the trees, trucks, roots, ground, etc. with a black marker, if desired.

3. Using the scissors, cut away the center portion of the drawing. 

4. Talk about the color of bark and grass. Have your child look outside for inspiration. My son noticed that bark is kind of gray sometimes, so he colored his tree trunks grey. Have your child color those in (a side note: I don't ever say something HAS to be a certain color. We may look at something in nature & talk about the colors we see, but the artist gets to choose what color s/he wants).

5. Pour a bit of Elmer's glue (white school glue) in a tray. Take a square of tissue paper and cover the end of a pencil eraser with it. Dip the tissue-covered end of the pencil into the glue and then touch it to the paper in the leaf section. Pull the pencil away and the tissue "puff" will be left behind. Continue doing this until the entire leaf section is full of puffs.

Working on his tissue paper "leaves," he says "Mom, I'm excited about this picture!"

6. Now, to make the falling leaves: use a hole punch to punch different colors of paper. Gather all of the little dots you've punched out and add them to the zip-top bag. Seal the baggie and attach the baggie to the back of your frame with clear tape. We folded the bottom portion of the card stock around and stapled the layers together at the edges.

Once the piece is dry, your child can shake the picture and show the autumn leaves falling to the ground! ENJOY!

Artist Trading Cards

Ahhhh...the internet. I need to set limits because there are just WAY too many good sites out there with WAY too many great art ideas and I get lost in a world of links! But, on the bright side, I get so many wonderful ideas and learn so much! One thing I see that intrigued me is something called Artist Trading Cards (or ATCs).

Some of the ATCs made by my boys (the "Make More Art" one is by me).

Artist Trading Cards are awesome! Started in 1997 by an artist in Munich, they are a great way for artists to showcase their style or ideas, but they aren't just for professional artists! Anyone can create ATCs--children, teens, or grown-ups! There are very few rules for ATCs: 1. They must be 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" and, 2. You cannot sell them--they must be given away or traded. This is a wonderful way for children (and grown-ups) to learn new art techniques and express themselves! It is also a wonderful way to spend time together as a family--grab some art supplies and sit down and let your creativity go!

For Me: Personally, I am embracing the ATC idea! I'm an artist but I am also a mother of four and an art teacher trying to grow my business--I don't get to do huge masterpieces right now. I'm OK with it, but sometimes I get an art idea and need to explore that. ATCs are just right for me!

For my children: I am also encouraging my children to do ATCs. My children love to collect and trade things, but I seriously WILL NOT pay lots of money for cheap trading cards whose sole purpose in life is to get children to spend money (oops, getting off the soapbox now...). Anyhow, ATCs allow children to create & explore and gives them something they are excited to trade and are actually connected to. Learning and fun--I'm all in!

Supplies Needed:

ATCs are easy and require no special supplies, unless you want to try different techniques. Here are some supplies to begin with:

• Posterboard cut to 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" to use as "blanks"
• Glue sticks
• Scissors
• Pencil and eraser
• Markers, colored pencils, crayons, etc.
• Stickers
• Stamping materials
• Neat papers (I have a scrap paper bin I brought out and I save neat papers from junk mail, etc).
• Old magazines
• Paint (tempura or watercolor) & paintbrushes
• Old photos
• Needle & embroidery thread
• The list is truly endless!

Instructions:

1. Cut a whole bunch of blanks from posterboard. You'll need about 8 or so per person to get started. Once you get going--it is hard to stop!

2. Start creating! Think about the different ways you can create:

Drawing
Painting
Collage
Stamping
Ripped paper
Sewing (by hand or machine)

There is no right or wrong way to do these. Relax and have fun. Send me pictures of your ATCs--I'd love to see your creations! ENJOY!

Need more inspiration? Here are a couple of links to check out:
This month's Family Fun Magazine
A great mini tutorial on ATCs from http://www.cedarseed.com/ 

My disclaimer: While I do look at all references before sharing, I cannot look at every page of every reference. Please check out these references before sharing with your children, to verify that the content and images are appropriate for your child's age level and the content is acceptable for your family.

St. Valentine's Day--Little Scribblers

So, St. Valentine's Day always gets my creative juices going since I need to come up with something for my kids to give away at school and I usually volunteer to send in a craft for the kids to do during their parties.

So, my criteria for both are: cheap, easy & fun (usually something that lasts and doesn't get thrown away the minute it arrives in the house).

One of my sons is giving away pencils with cute little bee toppers I picked up a few months ago at a discount store. We taped mini granola bars to them to make them "more." I think they are cute, but they weren't the first choice of the kids. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough supplies to make the "Little Scribblers" that the other son is taking to school to hand out. "Little Scribblers" are bits of old, broken crayons melted down in a muffin tin to create swirly, beautiful chunks of colored wax that children can scribble with.

I first made the "Little Scribblers" many years ago when my first son was about 2 years old. He was in the habit of peeling the paper off of his crayons and breaking them. Frustrating for mom! I felt as though he was wasting them, but then I found a recipe for "Scribble Cookies,"* as one author called them. I was able to repurpose the broken bits and made a batch of colorful crayon chunks for him to use.

I was reinspired by Family Fun Magazine, when I saw that they published a recipe just like it, and suggested making the cookies in heart shapes to give away for St. Valentine's Day. Ah-ha! I could do that! The kids were very excited and I started peeling, chopping and melting our old crayons.

But alas, the Scribblers take a good amount of old crayons so I only was able to make enough for one class (with a few to use at home).

"But wait," you say, this is a craft for a little kid--like a preschooler. "My children would never use this!!" I disagree. This craft is awesome on many levels.

First, it recycles something that everyone with children has a bucket of already in their homes.

Second, you can do this with your children. Anytime you can sneak some family time or one-on-one time into your life is a bonus. You can talk with your kids while they peel the crayons and my littlest boy (who is three), used a safety knife and his little hands to break the pieces of crayons up.

Third, it facilitates a discussion of colors. Warm colors, cool colors, colors that mix well and those that don't mix so well! As your children are plopping the crayon pices into the muffin tins, they are learnng about color theory. You could whip out a color wheel to show them if they are older.

Fourth, they are fun to use for little and big kids! While my 3yo just scribbles along all over the paper, my older kids use them to make multi-colored mohawks on the people they've drawn or make awesome sunsets on pictures (the scribblers are great to fill in large areas of drawings). They are also good to use when making rubbings. Children can study textures by placing different elements such as bubble wrap, leaves, coins, etc. under a white piece of paper and rubbing over the area with their Little Scribblers.

Wonderful! Something that looks beautiful (wait 'til you see how the Scribblers look when you pop them out of the pans with all of their swirly colors!), reuses something I was gonna throw out anyway, and inspires creativity!

Enjoy!
Mrs. P

Here's the link to the recipe on the Family Fun site:
http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/crayon-hearts-671639/?CMP=NLC-NL_FFUN_Crafts_021011_crayon-hearts

If the link above doesn't work, go to www.familyfun.com and search for "crayon hearts"

*I've looked around for the source of the Scribble Cookie recipe in my stacks of books, but I'm unable to find it at this time. I'll keep looking and credit the author when I find the info.