mixed media native art

The natives are making art..

well, to be honest.

They are always making art.

But today we made a bigger mess of it then normal!

It's my fathers birthday soon and we decided (since it was a big one)

to do something special!

We started with blank canvas

add in paint, paper, tissue, markers, glue ..etc.

I always love when they each use their own unique styles

and this was one of those times it truly shined!

They are all so creative

and still quite different 

each in their own way!

Of coarse the finished products I dare not post.

For they have not yet been received ;)

The hardest part for them is waiting for things to dry..

we did these over two days

But the final products are quite spectacular!

Valentines pillow boxes

This year we did some DIY Valentines

Each of my natives picked something they wanted to make

My youngest made friendship bracelets

She spent many of her "quiet times" and then some 

picking out just the right colors and stringing them together

Then we stuffed each one inside its own toilet paper tube!

I have a tub full of these things

(as we tend to use them every now and again)

We folded the ends to make them into 

pillow boxes

And then cut strips of paper for them to be labelled 

I  was quite proud of this little one

A+ for effort

These turned out so well,

we also may use these as party favors sometime

Or mail them out to friends!

stuffed peppers

  Got a bit of extra veggies you want to use up before they go bad? Stuff them into a pepper :)

We have made variations of this before.. but its always a crowd pleaser. Even for our picky eater.

Couscous, beef, corn, kale ...etc. all stuffed into green peppers and sprinkled with cheese.

Even the as leftovers. yum! 

Patches..

So my middle native is the best at creating holes in pants 

in fact pretty much nothing gets past my #2 without holes, or scuff marks.

So with four pairs of jeans to mend and only one pair left without the air conditioning, i decided it was time to break out the material and patch making stuff, and get to it.

  first i cut the holes of the jeans to get clean edges. 

I took some double sided iron-on adhesive. (i have a small roll i keep around for occasions like this)

I cut it big enough to reinforce the area around the hole. and then i cut out the shape

 (this gives the patch a nice clean look, and also keeps it from sticking to the other side of the leg when we iron it on)

 cut a square of fabric the same size as the iron-on square. then iron-on to the front side of the fabric. Once cool peel off the backing. You can now see the mesh that will stick to the jeans... place it onto the jeans face side down. lining up the hole with the clean portion of the fabric. Then iron! tada! you officially have patched your britches! yay...

Then comes my favorite part! the sewing.. it also keeps the patch in place

I used embroidery thread and did some creative stitching!