Soap Clay

As a coordinator to help with crafts at our local Mom's group one year we decide the ladies would make children friendly recipe scrapbooks.  Each meeting the Mom's came together and created 2-3  4"x6" pages that would be placed in a small photo-album.  Once the year was over I continued to add more pages and create books for gifts.

Unattached USA Swimming Tee

FRONT

I did it!
Our son and a team-mate have earned a trip to the USA state swim meet this weekend. I created t-shirts for the swimmers to wear. It is tradition for all the teams to wear coordinating shirts to the big meets to show team spirit. Our local swim team is a Rec/YMCA team. Those swimmers that want to swim against tougher competition can swim unattached without a team for the USA Swimming program.

It has been 20 years since I had my semester of screen printing in college. I kept it simple. Just 2 colors, typesetting and simple clip art. I used supplies from Dick Blick. The perfect kit to get you started is made by Speedball and retails for less than $40. I was lucky and didn't have to purchase many supplies. I was able to find most of the materials I needed at our local Art Center in Pella. I originally reclaimed some old screens using liquid gel dishwasher soap with bleach.

BACK

This video was a great refresher and tutorial.

Dick Blick: How to use Speedball Screen-printing materials

I only burned my screens for 30 minutes instead of 45.
45 minutes was too long. I wasn't able to wash away the sections that were to release. The light was too warm and melted the emulsion. Remember your transparencies need to be very dark.
I used two after one wasn't opaque enough.

Now to screen print tee's for our annual trip to the Iowa State Fair.

Renew your Spirit bookmark

A bookmark I created
to be used during a
Parish Mission.

The mission
will be held during
Lent Feb. 28-March 4.
St. Mary's Catholic Church
Pella, IA 50219

Applesauce Dough

As a coordinator to help with crafts at our local Mom's group one year we decide the ladies would make children friendly recipe scrapbooks.  Each meeting the Mom's came together and created 2-3  4"x6" pages that would be placed in a small photo-album.  Once the year was over I continued to add more pages and create books for gifts.

God's Conversation Hearts

For Church I often decorate the bulletin boards to send a message related to the season or holiday coming up. This is a bulletin board I created for Valentines Day.

GOD'S CONVERSATION HEARTS

Inspiration came from:  http://www.boardsgalore.com/

Stewardship bookmark

A bookmark I created for our parish
Stewardship appreciation celebration
held in Sept. 2008.

1 Thessalonians 1: 2-3
was chosen as the inspiration
by the committee.

By using some clip art
and
getting creative with the fonts
I was able to create an
eye catching message.

A Bustle on a Gown with Pick-ups

When bustling this dress I used the french bustle method. I used nylon rings and color coded ribbons under the dress train. There were a total of 7 bustle points used to complete this look. The back of the dress bustled stays just as beautiful as the front complimenting the lines created by the tucks on the front of the gown. Once this brides dress is bustled she will be ready to dance the night away.
Bustling a wedding gown correctly is critical to helping the bride stay comfortable in her dress all night - especially if there is a wedding dance planned. The most important parts to creating a bustle is getting the dress completely off of the floor and making it appear as though it is a floor length dress.

Snow Paint

As a coordinator to help with crafts at our local Mom's group one year we decide the ladies would make children friendly recipe scrapbooks.  Each meeting the Mom's came together and created 2-3  4"x6" pages that would be placed in a small photo-album.  Once the year was over I continued to add more pages and create books for gifts.

A Poster Winner

Another look at Madeline's winning poster. She entered the Annual Knights of Columbus substance abuse awareness poster contest in October 2009. In November, she won our local contest in Pella and advanced onto the state competition.





On Jan. 19 she received a letter notifying her she had won 1st place in the state competition in her age group. Included was a Wal-mart gift card. Her poster now advances onto the national contest. On Sunday, Jan. 31 she will be presented with a plaque at 10:00 Mass. Good Luck & Congratulations Maddy!!!

A Parish Mission logo

St. Mary's of Pella has asked me to help create a logo for the Parish Mission that will take place during Lent 2010. I used some clip-art found after googling Microsoft clipart fire and reworked the design adding colored flames and some fun typesetting. The result is a simple eye-catching logo to be used in marketing the mission. For more information to attend the Renew Your Spirit mission contact St. Mary's at 641-628-3970.

Chunky Crayons

As a coordinator to help with crafts at our local Mom's group one year we decide the ladies would make children friendly recipe scrapbooks.  Each meeting the Mom's came together and created 2-3  4"x6" pages that would be placed in a small photo-album.  Once the year was over I continued to add more pages and create books for gifts.

T-shirt quilt for graduation

Eighteen t-shirts were cut down into 12" squares to make this quilt. 5 tonal fabrics were used and a multi-pattern with all of the colors was used to border the quilt. What a great keepsake.

Capital Campaign logo

The logo I created for St. Mary's Catholic Church in Pella, Iowa. This was their 3rd Capital campaign to raise money for a phase III building project.

Silly Putty

As a coordinator to help with crafts at our local Mom's group one year we decide the ladies would make children friendly recipe scrapbooks.  Each meeting the Mom's came together and created 2-3 pages 4"x6" pages that would be placed in a small photo-album.  I made a number of books for gifts and continue to add recipes.

1 Wedding Dress = 3 Christening gowns

The original wedding gown.

I had a client that wanted 3 Christening gowns created from her heirloom wedding gown. The end result was 3 unique and original designed Christening gowns.

Now I am even more inspired to cut up my wedding dress and create my daughter's 1st communion dress next spring.

Dress #1

Dress #2

Dress #3

Click on the pictures to see a closeup.

Reconciliation Bulletin Board

Lord Wash Me and I shall be Whiter than Snow.
I created this board to celebrate 1st reconciliation at our parish in December 2008.
In the center of each unique snowflake is the child's 1st name.
The snowflakes were created by using templates from the website Papersnowflakes.com and represent each person's uniqueness.

The snowman is asking for prayers from our parish as the youth celebrate this wonderful sacrament of healing.

Inspiration came from:  http://www.boardsgalore.com/

Homemade Sidewalk Chalk

As a coordinator to help with crafts at our local Mom's group one year we decide the ladies would make children friendly recipe scrapbooks.  Each meeting the Mom's came together and created 2-3  4"x6" pages that would be placed in a small photo-album.  Once the year was over I continued to add more pages and create books for gifts.

A Lego Pool

Creativity is always being expressed in our home. Our 11 year old son has been swimming with the local swim team for 6 years. On a rainy day this year he created this rendition of a pool and swimmers. His design has lanes, starting blocks and even a clerk of coarse. Once his masterpiece was finished he submitted it to the Lego Brickmaster monthly contest. Click here to submit your own Lego creation.

The Pajama Diaries - ART

Click on the comic strip above to read.

This post is for my peers that I teach art with through the community center in Pella. And for all those Mom's out their that love to help their children create masterpieces and for all the Dad's that understand it is about the child creating the masterpiece. Thanks Mom and Dad!

For those with a creative and artist gift it is sometimes hard to remember the definition of art. As described by Wikepedia: Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, film, sculpture and painting. Each individuals emotions and senses interpret their views and thoughts differently making it ART.

A Poster to be proud of

Our 9 year old daughter entered the local Knights of Columbus drug and alcohol awareness poster contest. We found out this week she won first prize. We are so proud her - Cograts Maddy!!! Now onto the state competition.







Madeline's Creation------>