I've seen a lot of tutorials out there on the interwebs for art projects based on Concentric Circles by Wassily Kandinsky. Most involve painting concentric circles or cutting out circles. I was thinking of something that involved printmaking... no surprise there, right!? Squares with Concentric Circles by Wassily Kandinsky, photo from NZ Fine Prints

Well as my printmaking students were doing their monoprints the other day, I thought it would make a really great Kandinsky project. So Lil' Miss and I sat down a couple days later to make these beautiful Kandinsky Inspired Monoprints. The nice thing about monoprints is that they really don't require a lot of specialized equipment. The only special thing you'll need is a sheet of plexiglass just larger than your sheet of paper. You can find these for about $3 each at your local hardware store. I found mine at MECCA (our local art supplies recycling place) for 50c a sheet. The plexiglass is nice because you can place a sheet of paper behind it to guide the child, but in a pinch you could use a baking sheet or something else that's flat and as big as your paper.

In addition, you'll need some acrylic paints and brushes and paper. Place one of your sheets of paper behind the plexiglass so you'll know where to stop painting. I drew a big circle on the backing paper for Lil' Miss, just to give her a little guide.

Now paint concentric circles on the plexiglass. You have to work a little bit quickly so that the paint won't dry. Lay your sheet of paper over the painted circles. And rub with your hands, making sure to get the entire surface of the paper. Lift the paper up very carefully. Look at what you've created!! We like to talk about why some of the paint wasn't printed on to the paper. If you like, you can make another print from this exact painting. It's called a ghost print and even less paint will stick this time. We talk about why this is. If Lil' Miss has her way, she will make 6 or 7 ghost prints. As she says, "I'm really into ghost prints right now." LOL.

Now, you could be finished with your project, or.... You can make more! We didn't wash the plexiglass between paintings because we wanted some of the older color to show through to the new prints. It really gives a depth and a really different dynamic to the prints. Lil' Miss painted right over her previous painting with new colors and printed again. And again....

They are really a lot of fun. I've never been that into monoprinting, but this project and working with my printmaking class really got me excited about it! If you have older kids, you could try with more circles like below: For more colors, you have to hurry a bit more so the paint won't dry. Lil' Miss was taking her time, so this one didn't work out so well. If you've got older kids, they might enjoy the challenge though!!

If you do this project, I'd love to see how it turns out! You might even see if another of Kandinsky's works inspires other designs for monoprinting!

Linky Parties
Kids Get Arty!

Wow! I am so sorry! It has been quite a while since I posted. In my defense, the entire family decided to take sick after the Cinco de Mayo Party two weekends ago and I was the last to get it. Lil' Miss started by going to her first swim lesson last Tuesday and then throwing up all. night. long. Sorry, TMI, I know. But that's just how it's been around here.

Anyway, I have decided that I will not be sick any longer. I just cannot allow it. Besides the whole lying in bed and feeling sorry for myself thing, and not getting any work done... well also The Hubs has a tendency to let the whole house fall apart if he has to take care of kids. He did have a big work deadline that he was working toward, so I'll forgive him for some of it, but yeah. My house is trashed. So, I'm over it. Well, I'm getting over it. In about 20 minute increments, which is all I can stand up for right now.

No worries. It is time to get back on the train! So on to the real meat of this post!

In spite of all my fears and misgivings, I started a Printmaking Class for Kids at the beginning of May. I actually had so much interest, that I opened another session and so I have two classes right now! It's pretty cool! Definitely a learning experience, but also very fun.

Here are some of the things we've been doing: We started out by discussing "what is printmaking?" I love their ideas. They mostly had some idea about making prints on paper. Lil' Miss, of course knew all about it.

Then we rolled out some paint and talked about the tools and did some stamping with found objects. The first class was mostly about learning vocabulary and about the tools- brayer, baren, ink, plexi glass, palette knife....

The kids used found objects to make some designs. Some were really into it as you can see above, and made some awesome patterns and designs. Some just stamped, trying out the different tools. I had some silicone muffin cups, un-sharpened pencils, lots of corks, a couple forks, toilet paper rolls, and other little things I found around the house. Next, we made our own printing blocks. This post from WhipUp inspired the project. Kids wrapped a piece of yarn around a piece of 2x4 and then they pressed it into our rolled out ink (acrylic paint works just as well, but it doesn't roll out well) and stamped it on their paper. On the first paper, I asked them to print once, then turn and print it 90 degrees and make a pattern like the one at WhipUp, but on their second sheets, they could do it however they liked. This is one girl's version, she used blue and purple. These pics are from our day on monoprints. We practiced rolling out the ink. Burnishing with a baren, wooden spoon or their hands... And seeing what happened! I love the look on Lil' Miss's face as she lifts her paper up and is surprised by what she sees. And their work is all hung up to dry- look at all that hard work!

Next week, I will share some specific projects to give you all some ideas for printmaking with children. What sort of printmaking activities have you done already?

I'm so very excited! In just over 2 weeks, two of my patterns are each being published in a book!! As you might have guessed from the title of this post, the books are called Folklore Crafts and one is on Matryoshkas and one is on Garden Gnomes. They look like they're going to be amazing!! I'm especially excited about the Garden Gnomes book because- check it out! Those are my Garden Gnomes on the front! So exciting!! The Matryoshka book promises to be awesome also! Isn't that Matryoshka sweet?!

Anyway, you'll probably hear more about the whole thing as the day draws closer... mark your calendars, May 25 is the day they will be released!! If you click on the links and images to the books, you can check out the other contributors!!

Mr. Man's Birthday very conveniently falls on Cinco de Mayo- not a holiday that we generally celebrate, but what with it being on a Saturday this year and him not caring about the party, we decided it seemed like the perfect theme for his party. I went a little crazy though. I think it was a combination of the new house, the gorgeous weather we've been having and this possibly being the last First Birthday party that I'll get to throw. It might have also had something to do with my renewed blogging that I've been doing....hmmm.... Everyone had a good time and that's all the matters! I looked and looked for one of the Mexican cut paper flags, but they were plastic and/or too expensive. I was just going to skip it, but I found a tutorial on Style Me Pretty to make one that was fairly simple. I don't have a paper edger, so I just cut scalloped edges. I just used a package of tissue paper from the Dollar Store and some yarn I had around the house. I also made some paper fans but I only got a couple hung up before I ran out of time. I also hung up our Kool Aid Dyed Wool Felt Garland and our birthday bunting, which you'll see in another photo. And sombreros! Some were for party favors, but there were enough left over so I hung them up- you'll see in other pictures. There were centerpieces for each table. They were all different types of succulents, which I borrowed from my mom. To make the wrapper, I cut 2 strips of scrapbook paper and stapled them together, then stapled the other end and slipped the pot right inside. Then I folded the corners to make it look more sqare. It was really simple. For kid's activities, Lil' Miss and I made cascarones or confetti eggs. These are the eggs after we'd dyed them. I didn't get a picture of them all finished in their basket. :( We collected eggs for months to get this many. We dyed them with a leftover packet of egg dye and with liquid watercolors. We usually buy brown eggs, and our chickens lay pink and blue eggs so that's why they're so earthy in tone. The kids (and some grown-ups, including The Hubs) had a little egg fight in the backyard. I missed it, but my little lettuce got a nice dose! It was kind of a double activity, because after they were finished cracking the eggs, the kids all gathered up the confetti and collected it in their eggshells. They're so funny. I love kids. There were also stick puppets for the kids to color. I did a little research on some animals common to Mexico and then googled coloring sheets to get these images. I copied them into Illustrator and made them the right size, printed them onto cardstock and then Lil' Miss and I cut them out and glued them to tongue depressors. Popsicle sticks would work too. My original idea for kid activities was these maracas. I ordered them from Oriental Trading, but when they got here, I was really disappointed with how tiny they were! I think if I had known that, I might have made these maracas with an easter egg and two plastic spoons. Then I would have maybe papier mache'd them and let the kids paint them. Anyway, they still enjoyed painting the maracas. We used liquid watercolors because I figured they would dry faster. Oh, and do you see that picnic table the kids are painting at? Yeah, my Dad made that for Mr. Man! Best present ever!! I am so excited about it! Even Mr. Man got in on the painting action! He painted on the maraca for a second and then just rubbed the paintbrush on the table until he got bored. He sure loved being around the bigger kids though!! There were bubbles for the kids too. Lots of stuff to keep the busy, but they also enjoyed just exploring our backyard. Of course there was a pinata too! It was a pull-pinata because we thought Mr. Man might even be able to partake. He didn't really care. Then there was the food. This is where I might have overdone it. There were a bunch of different types of salsa with chips. Two types of guacamole and two 5 layer dips. No I did not make the salsa. But The Hub's Dad did bring some that he had made.

And those sombreros? They're a great decoration- but here's the story behind them. I wanted sombreros for party favors, so I ordered a dozen with the maracas from Oriental Trading, figuring that would be the least expensive place. They were more than $2.00 apiece, which isn't a lot, BUT then? Yeah, I just happened to go into the Dollar Store and found those colored ones!! They were the only Cinco de Mayo stuff that they had. Sheesh! So I had to pick up a bunch of those ones for decoration.

For drinks, we had buckets of margaritas and daqueris for the grown-ups and then a bucket if margarita without booze and a Sangria like punch for the kids. Like the recipe suggests, I used cranberry juice.

You can see the bright colored "tablecloths" I used- I didn't have enough table cloths for all the tables, so I used a bunch of bright colored fabrics I had in my sewing cabinet. I love all the bright colors!! Dinner, of course, was tacos.

Tortillas, brown rice and black beans. Ground beef for filler and also... ... shredded chicken with Homemade Taco Seasoning. Toppings: onions, tomatoes, avocado, cheese, olives, peppers, lettuce, cilantro. And an interesting corn and onions mix that I sauteed, inspired by part of this 5 layer dip recipe. It also went on one of the 5 layer dips. Mr. Man definitely enjoyed his taco! And instead of cake, we had ice cream sandwiches. He was going to get one all to himself, but in the midst of everything else, we forgot about it! LOL.

We ended the evening with a fire in our new firepit, is a big tractor tire that my brother salvaged for me.

So that was our day yesterday! How do you celebrate Cinco de Mayo? I hope my post has inspired your Cinco de Mayo party (or any party for that matter)!

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Oh my, this week has gotten away from me! It's been so very busy with birthday planning and creating, bike purchasing, and class-giving.... we'll see if I can catch up!

Here's one of the posts that I promised you- 8 really simple and inexpensive ideas that you can do to make a party feel really special. Some of these ideas aren't going to fit our theme of Cinco De Mayo this year, but I'm keeping track of them for next year! Don't forget to check out my Parties Pinterest board for even more ideas!

Adorable Birthday hats with a printable template from Oh Happy Day!
A fun Doily Bunting from See Vanessa Craft! - this really could be for any occasion just by changing the stickers, or even painting the doilies! Dip Dyed Wooden Cutlery, by My Poppet
Favor Boxes that don't take any glue and are super cute from Crafty Magoolie Awesome hanging balloons from The Pleated Poppy
Pretty Dyed Doilies for all sorts of party uses from Charlotte's Fancy Banana Bites- super kid friendly food, from Baker's Royale
A Pretty Spring Banner from May Art - just change the words and you've got an any occasion banner!

With just a little extra time, it's easy to put a little something together to spice up a good party! What is your favorite simple thing to throw together?