2016 Maker: Tie-Dye Edition

I made about 20 tied-dyed t-shirts in Brazil for me, my mom, my sons, nephews (6) and friends' kids. Some of the children helped and made their own, but I made most of them myself -- and of course I rinsed each one (which takes FOREVER!) and put them in the dishwasher (all together) before line-drying. The photo has 13, but I made at least six more later, and dyed a white towel with the rest of the dye.

I bought a few t-shirts in the U.S. and then bought three more in Brazil (for little kids, pretty pricey) and my mom got two old shirts, including one that had belonged to my late grandma. We dyed a heart on that one:

Take a look at the others, I had to make a rainbow one for myself (and another, drip-dyed like one of my t-shirts, for my mom):

The boys were so happy with their t-shirts that they put them on still wet! (soon after I took this photo)

2016 Maker: Wedding Edition

My dear friend J got married in June and I helped by making tons of very "Pinterest-y"things I'd never made before to decorate her wedding shower and her wedding reception. It was lots of work, but lots of fun too, and oh, so pretty, I couldn't stop photographing! I made 30+ pinwheels (gluing paper to have two pretty sides), 12 folded paper rosettes (that my dad helped me with), and 10+ double or triple colored tissue paper pompoms (too bad I don't have good photos of those here, you can see them mostly in the background).

Epic Wedding Shower!

I can't resist, I have to post these photos! 

Many of them are a bit blurry because there wasn't enough light to photograph without flash. :(
I edited them and cropped some (a first for me! I never take the time to edit, but I'm learning).

I was only responsible for the drinks, my passion fruit mousse, and helping set things up (thankfully, because I was up most of the night on Saturday with my husband who was making a movie for the shower on iMovie). And I also gave suggestions to the bride's mother which helped her plan some of the decorations. This shower was a group effort, although the bride's mom made most of the decorations and the food. Oh, and I made prints of the couple's photos and put them in picture frames from my house, and prepared a banner (inspired by this one) with the bride & groom's names, but didn't take any good photos of it.

The "Lovebirds" ;-)

aren't they adorable? :-)

 

The drinks 

(plain water/seltzer water with fruit and punch made with Hagen Daz sorbet)

 

 

 

An overview:

 Decorations:

 The Food! (mostly Romanian)

 The Desserts: 

(my passion fruit mousse* is in the tiny cups)

 

 The Gift table:

 

Wasn't it a lovely shower? :)

* I make it using frozen passion fruit pulp by Goya, if anyone is wondering, blended (in a blender, obviously) with condensed milk and "La Crema" heavy cream.

Young Picasso

One more in the series of the boys' artwork. This one was painted with tempera by Kelvin, my almost 8 year old. He followed closely the video instructions of his teacher. I love it that they're learning about Cubism and other art periods and movements. This will make our present & future museum visits much more enjoyable!

Abstract Art by a Seven Year Old

(7.9 years old, to be exact)

Kelvin made this during church the weekend I was away in Brazil and my mom had him scan it and email to the whole family! I saw the email first and then I was amazed when I saw the real thing since it is just so small! (only a few inches long and wide). I love the colors he used. I've wanted to post it for over a month, but only had the chance now. I thought that this would make for a nice back to back post with the previous one. :-)

Now, if I tell you that both of my boys do not like to draw (Kelvin is quite good at it when he tries, but Linton is not) and color, you won't believe it, will, ya? It's nothing but the truth, though. That's another reason why I really love their art classes.

P.S. Laura (from Portugal) asked about the cyber-classes and I'd just like to explain a bit to her that the boys are enrolled in a "Cyber School," which is a virtual, computer-based kind of charter school (a different kind of public school, a definition here), so their art classes are part of that. I will try to write more about cyber schooling at some other time. International students can also enroll in at least one American cyber school (there may be more, but this is the only one I'm aware of, it's not ours, BTW), but it's pretty costly.

Watercolor by a Five Year Old

Five and a half, I'm sure he'd have me tell you. :-)
Edited to add: Sarah Sometimes commented below on the use of perspective and I need to clarify that he did this following the exact instructions of his art teacher, whose two part-video lesson he watched twice. The painting was done in two steps, first the background and then a few days later the trees, one close and one far away. His art classes in the cyber-school are FANTASTIC! (you may remember this and that and I should post more).

I just thought I'd post this to fill the space until I find the time to write a "real" blog post. :-)

"We're Using All the Colors of the Alphabet!" or Kandinsky in Kindergarten

With some minor edits.
"We're Using All the Colors of the Alphabet!" is what my cute five-year old son just said while doing a cool shape collage, Wassily Kandinsky- style for his art class. When I started laughing and began to correct him ("all the colors of the rainbow") he was not too happy, he doesn't like when people laugh at him.

In any case, I love his art and music classes in Cyber School. How cool is it that they're learning about Kandinsky in Kindergarten? If all goes well, we're going to the Guggenheim on Sunday to see Kandinsky's artwork (has video & sound, probably temporary link) with our own eyes! (we're taking my MIL to the airport)

After he was done, Linton said:

"It's a beautiful artwork that I made! Look at that! It's beautiful"

Yes, indeed it is. Take a peek:
I think it would be good to own a bigger scanner, to allow for bigger artwork and photos to be scanned...

Anyhow, here's the video that Linton's art teacher posted in her lesson: