An arts cupboard in your home

Laura's thoughts about keeping an arts cupboard in your home

Making it Stick

One of the things I have always admired about Scribble and Smudge’s approach is that Lesley can magic whole worlds into being from the most humble materials.

The art materials I have accumulated take up quite a portion of our home, cupboards and drawers barely close they are so stuffed full. I have indulged in trips to art and craft warehouses but I’ve not actually bought any for some time, my children, six and nine, have worked their way through most of the remnants I had left over from art collage 15 years ago. However, there is no storage solution that I can find to contain them (the art materials or the kids!). It’s my own fault, but to add to the chaos, my children also refuse to let me throw away packaging before I recycle it. At one stage we had an entire corner of our kitchen piled up with odd shaped boxes, pots and of course toilet roll inners.

So this got me thinking, if I had to narrow it down or choose just one thing, what would I keep? I looked at the now jumbled pots of pens, pencils and chalks I used to spend evenings putting back in order, yes sometimes I even sorted them into colours too but now it’s more of a throw and slam technique I use to shut the cupboard door. I noticed how the paper I try to keep flat has slipped down the back of the once carefully labeled drawers. I pondered, what is it that we use that we could not find in the outdoors because we can make marks with anything onto anything really. I realised that the most often used item in our collection had to be the things for sticking and fixing and I appear to 

be quite particular about have the right sticking solution for the job. We have every kind of tape, glue and fastener because in model making there is nothing more frustrating than when you can’t get Buzz Lightyear’s wings to stay stuck on and survive a test flight around the staircase.

So the item I wouldn’t want to be without has to be our glue gun. In just minutes cornflakes packets, egg boxes and the trays from inside chocolate boxes can become a 3D model of a city complete with solar power plant. You can get a cool glue gun and it has to be most most exciting find in recent years (the kids are nodding in agreement here). Your children do need to be supervised using it, the nozzle is still quite warm to touch, but sticking things always required at least one extra pair of hands and the glue gun will stick most things to each other instantly. Those googly eyes actually stayed on the eggs this Easter rather than popping off and staring up at me from the floor.
Model making has become more ambitious and results in fewer tears thanks to our glue gun.

I’m now working on the E17 Art Trail for June 2017 and would love to hear any ideas you or your children have for a children’s trail as part of this festival. Because of funding constraints think low tech sticky backed plastic but ambitious nonetheless! Please do email your suggestions to: info@e17arttrail.co.uk

Happy Mother's Day

As promised, this is another entry as a thought from one of my trustees Akmar.

 As it's mother's day I think this is just perfect. Happy mother's day everyone!

When Lesley suggested that we each write a blog in Scribble and Smudge newsletter, my initial thought was what should I write? What can I write? I have not written for a very long time apart from work emails and occasional comments on facebook. I had a little think and had an idea on “quotes” so I googled some quotes for parents and children. As I read them, I realise that I might have taken my children for granted. Do I praise them enough? Do I hug them enough? Do I kiss them enough? Do I encourage them enough? Life is so busy trying to juggle work and family life and most times I want them to do things quickly so that I can move on to the next task on the never ending list. I am trying my best to be the best mother that I can be to my children. It is a very challenging task and a huge responsibility. It is a steep learning curve for me and lots of trial and error especially when you have more than one child because what works for one child might not work on the other child. At the end of the day nobody is perfect. I will every now and then have to push the “pause” button to revisit these quotes and a poem to remind myself. Here they are.

“No one is perfect – that is why pencils have erasers.” – Wolfgang Riebe

 “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters” – Epictetus (Greek philosopher)

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places that you’ll go” – Dr Seuss

Remember, happiness doesn’t depend upon who you are or what you have;
it depends solely upon what you think.
-Dale Carnegie 

“Always kiss your children goodnight – even if they’re already asleep” – H Jackson Brown. Jr

 “One of the greatest questions to ask yourself at the end of the day is – If I were the only example my child has from whom to learn right from wrong, what would she have learned today?” – Dr Michelle Borba

“Don’t worry that your children never listen to you, worry that they are always watching you” – Robert Fulghum

“Never fear spoiling children by making them too happy. Happiness is the atmosphere in which all good affections grow” – Thomas Bray

‘Children Learn What They Live’ – Dorothy Law Neite

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.

If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.

If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.

If a child learns to feel shame, he learns to feel guilty.

If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.

If a child lives with encouragement he learns confidence.

If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.

If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.

If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.

If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.

If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world.

akiko's activity ideas with your 7 year old!

Here's a wonderful entry by Akiko on my Scribble and Smudge team.

Art activities to do with your 7 year old.

Half term activities

So another half term has come and gone and like most parents I try to fill the days with interesting and varied activities!  My daughter aged 7 was keen on staying in and “doing art”, here are some activities that we occupied ourselves with.  They are all low cost and simple so I hope you will find them useful!

1.     Family tree decoration

Materials: card, wire or string, beads, pen/pencil, scissors and hole punch

This started life as a key ring.  Well that was the idea... that my daughter had - and I simplified!  Originally we thought of attaching a disc to a chain but knowing that the artwork would probably be short lived if attached to keys, we made it into a hanging decoration.  Take a sheet of card and cut out discs, then decorate.  We decided that each family member would contribute, so starting from the top, daughter, me and Dad.  We then covered the discs with sticky back plastic and punched holes so wire could be threaded through for the circles to hang down.  One point to note – probably best to hole punch before designing, I was told off for punching through the eagle's beak!!

The design could include extended family members and pictures of pets too!

2.     Beads

Simple but effective, all you need are shop bought beads (Tiger has nice ones that include clasps for jewellery) and thread.  Often the sets come with nylon thread that can be awkward to work with, we used special beading thread that has a coating that allows for easy threading and is strong/non-stretchy.  You can get this from most art/craft shops.  A word of warning, a blob of glue where the knot is made on the clasp helps, otherwise the beads can pull on the knot and unravel (speaking from experience...)

3.     Firework picture

This idea came about when we were reading a story about a box of crayons....

All the brightly coloured crayons are having fun drawing but then they start scribbling all over each other...the black crayon saves the day and restores peace by covering over the colours and, aided by a friendly mechanical pencil makes a beautiful picture of the night sky with fireworks.  To recreate this, all you need is a box of crayons or pastels, use lots of different colours to cover a sheet of paper, then cover with black crayon or pastel (pastel over crayon seems to work best).  Then take something with a point, a skewer works well, to draw your motifs and “dig up” the colours beneath the black.  This would also work as a snowscape – use white pastel over the coloured crayon.

Hope these are useful ideas and you have fun, we certainly did!

Akiko