New Sweater for Bosley

There is a new man in my life. His name is Bosley, and I love him! My boyfriend has adopted him and I'm lucky to get to enjoy him also! He is so funny and cute!!

So it's getting cold, and this little one has sleek, short fur... not the best for high elevation living! So I got right on it and designed and crocheted this sweater for him. I learned the ribbed stitch to make a nice collar.

I will take custom orders, since it seems hard to match to the many different sized dogs there are. Contact me and we can discuss details for your dog!

Art Lesson - Color Wheel Zebras ~ 4th Grade

I'm trying to catch up on some of my art lessons that I've done in the past months, I'm a little behind still!

I did this lesson with 4th Graders. The materials needed are paper, permanent sharpie marker, watercolors, paintbrushes, water containers, paper towel.

I first showed and talked about the color wheel. I did a little directed drawing with them, having them use pencil first. I started with the eyes, then the face, adding ears, mane, then the chest part of the body. I also had them draw the stripes. Then they traced over their pencil with the permanent marker. I'm always sure to remind them that this is a permanent marker, and that I trust they will use it properly!

I then paint with them, starting in the middle with red, then following around to mimic the color wheel, asking them as I go which color would be next. After they are done with the mandatory colors of the color wheel, they are allowed to continue the painting on their own, using whichever colors they want.

I like the combination of structure with the kids following along with the color wheel so that I'm sure that they touch on each color. Then the free structure after that allows them to experiment with the watercolors a little further. I also showed them a few tips with the watercolors, such as wet-on-wet technique, and blending a little. These are very fun and festive for sure! This idea came from Elementary Art Fun

Art Lesson - Autumn Trees "Batik" Oil Pastel Resist - 3rd Grade

I forgot to blog this art lesson from last year.

I did this with a class of 3rd Graders. The materials are oil pastels, watercolor and regular typing paper. The cheaper paper works better and absorbs the paint into the creases better.

First I had them draw a tree in pencil, with my guidance - just a basic shape of the tree, with the branches. I then had them use the oil pastels to color in the tree trunk, and the leaves, in Fall colors of course. I made sure that they colored a thick layer of color, not lightly. Some kids seem to not want to use their full saturation of color with their materials, but it's best to have good solid color with the pastels for this project. I also gave them the idea to maybe have some leaves falling from the tree as well, and on the ground.

Then the fun part (well for most, at least!) I had them crumple up their paper to make the creases. Since I hadn't shown them a finished product yet, they were pretty surprised by this, and thought it was pretty fun! All but one boy!! Guess he couldn't get into crumpling up his hard work, he actually cried... nothing worse than kids crying during art. Of course I had to encourage him and tell him how it would turn out neat and it was the technique. OH well!!

After they did their best to smooth out their papers, they watercolored the entire paper.

Over all, I'd give this a good rating for a project, and it was well suited for 3rd grade.