Monday, February 25, 2013

SMMART ART: Yarn Art

I saw a fun idea for yarn art on www.thatartistwoman.org and thought that we'd use this style of yarn art by the Huichol Mexican people for our spring art class...but we would do Yarn Eggs!

"Huichol art broadly groups the most traditional and most recent innovations in the folk art and handcrafts produced by the Huichol people, who live in the states of Jalisco and Nayarit in Mexico. The unifying factor of the work is the colorful decoration using symbols and designs which date back centuries. The most common and commercial successful products are “yarn paintings” and objects decorated with small commercially produced beads. Yarn paintings consist of commercial yarn pressed into boards coated with wax and resin and are derived from a ceremonial tablet called a nearika. The Huichol have a long history of beading, making the beads from clay, shells, corals, seeds and more and using them to make jewelry and to decorate bowls and other items. The “modern” beadwork usually consists of masks and wood sculptures covered in small, brightly colored commercial beads fastened with wax and resin." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huichol_art)
File:StringArt1MAPDF.JPG

First cut out an egg shape from a cereal box.  You can paint the shape a pastel color for a nice background color.  Then use tacky glue and make a glue perimeter around the cardboard egg. 

Start to wrap pieces of egg colored yarn around and around...starting from the edge and all the way into the center.  Or you can lay down a yarn design across the egg horizontally and use a new color every so often for a striped egg.   We had precut strands of yarn for the art class.  This way, the yarn wasn't too long to handle and the students could use a variety of colors in their egg yarn art.
Now paint a backdrop for your yarn egg.  What setting would you paint?   A nest?  a grassy field?  a few chicks?

More tacky glue... and glue your yarn egg onto the backdrop. 


Wednesday, February 20, 2013

SMMART Time-Out: Icecream Chore Chart

Even princesses have chores!  Look at Cinderealla.  A classic example.  She swept and mopped the floors while musically expressing herself "Sing Sweet Nightengale", she mended her sisters' dresses, cleaned the tapestries...  Then there's Rapunzel...cooking, baking, moping and "shine up-ing"... Tiana worked hard for every penny she earned!  (Never did hear if they still had chores when they all moved into their castles...)
 
How do you motivate your children to do their chores and responsibilities?  I'm talking about getting homework done and reading daily without whining, practice piano...eat their meals without complaining?

Most recently I heard someone talking about an ICE CREAM CONE RESPONSIBILITY CHART!
I loved the idea, so I set out to find clip art and....this is what I came up with.  So far, really good.  I have down some main responsibilities (speech practice, homework) and then have a few "ears" on scoops that the girls can earn if they "listen the first time" when I ask them to do something.  I have a few "hearts" on scoops that they can receive when they have been loving to a sibling or been extra helpful.  They start with a cone each morning and along the day, pile on the scoops when they accomplish their tasks.

If you'd like a copy of my clip art cones and scoops, email me (SMMARTideas@hotmail.com) and I'll be happy to forward that along. Then you can find clip art that you like, that works for your family, and paste them onto my scoops.

Friday, February 1, 2013

SMMART Giveaway: Disney on Ice Dare to Dream

(CONTEST CLOSED)
NEW Winner:  Melissa J. said...  I follow your blog and love it! We have started the nickel system. Roll of $2 for each kid. The start of the week they each get $2 in nickels. They have jobs they need to do each week. They do all of their jobs they get to keep their nickels at the end of the week. If they don't and have to be reminded then we get to take a nickel. Works wonders....Teaches the value of money and hard work.
(Melissa, you have 24 hours to email me at SMMARTideas@hotmail.com to claim your tickets or I'll redraw.)
Dreams do come true! Feld Entertainment is bringing the magic of Disney to the ice with a new live show, featuring hair-raising moments from Walt Disney Studio’s hit animated film, Tangled. Audiences in Salt Lake City will experience the enchantment and splendor of new and classic Disney princesses in Disney On Ice presents Dare to Dream, as they frolic in the French quarter with Tiana from Princess and the Frog, relive the timeless story of Cinderella, and watch Rapunzel let down her hair on the ice for the first time ever.
Disney on Ice Dare to Dream will be showing in Salt Lake City, UT from March 6th - 10th.
 
 “We are ecstatic to be able to bring audiences an incredible new ice show that sets the standard for the ultimate Disney experience,” says Producer Nicole Feld. “Because Tangled marks the 50th Disney animated feature, it was only fitting that we celebrate that achievement by including moments from Rapunzel’s story in our show.”   
Dare to Dream, a vibrant, contemporary compilation of princesses, features popular songs and unforgettable scenes from two of Disney’s newest fairytales and one of the most cherished stories of all time. Audiences will behold an alluring aerialist act with Rapunzel’s golden locks, shimmering gowns that twinkle and twirl during Cinderella’s royal ball, a lighting display that illuminates all the fireflies in Tiana’s New Orleans bayou and a grand finale with all the Disney princesses.
Hooray!!!  I am so exicted that Tangled will be on ice for this show!  Disney on Ice Dare to Dream will be showing in Salt Lake City, UT from March 6th - 10th.  Please enter to win a Family-4-Pack!  Winner will also be asked to share a review of their night to be posted on SMMARTideas!
 
TWO WAYS TO ENTER TO WIN A FAMILY-4-PACK:
1) Please leave your name (first name, last initial) and email address in a comment below this post and tell me...We all know that Mother Gothel had rules for Rapunzel (like "never leave this tower!", and from Rapunzel's song it seems that she was expected to "mop and clean and shine up" with chores to do.  There were expectations! It seems that Mother Gothel laid on a thick guilt trip to gain Rapunzel's compliance.  Tell me a method or two that you have to get your kids to act appropriately, clean up their rooms, not whine, do their chores... Tell me!
2) Please leave your name (first name, last initial) and email address in a comment below this post and tell me that you FOLLOW my blog, SMMARTideas!  If you already follow, just let me know.  To follow, click on the "Join this Site" button to the right.  I really appreciate your support!
 
Winner will be chosen by random.org on Feb.15th  and posted at the top of this post.  (I will also attempt to email you.) You will have 24 hrs to respond to me at SMMARTideas@hotmail.com to claim your tickets.  If you don't respond within that time, I will choose another winner.  Good luck!





LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails