A Fun Twist For Your Gardening: Introducing The Doodle Garden

At last a blog post! I must say, this spring has been a bit of a blur!  I finally feel like things are becoming normal again!  We have been busy with our book, "On Top Of the World" going into schools and doing book reading events!  It has been lots of fun and great to have my husband as my partner in all this!  I love the way he draws kids in with his fun music and quirky self!  Unfortunately I haven't been overly inspired to do much blogging lately!  Hoping this is the beginning of that all changing.  I tend to go where the inspiration hits, and sometimes that isn't always a great thing!  I can end up leaving things unfinished in all this.

But with the nice, sunny, warm weather, I have been inspired to work on my gardens.  Now anyone who knows me knows I am not a gardener!  I don't like it and I am not good at it.  However, I DO have a vision and it involves paint.  That puts a whole new twist on gardening for me.  Last year I  began a new concept "The doodle garden" and this year I plan on going BIGGER with this concept! So here is a little sneak peek of the doodle garden we are working on.  There is more to come once I work up some more of my backyard!  Poor Steve!  It's a good thing I married an easy-going guy!  So here you go....a few early pictures of our doodle garden.

I will make sure to post more as we get things done!  Happy doodling!

Trish

Creating Boxtrolls: A Creative Lesson In A Local School

Today I had the joy of going into a public school and doing an art workshop with a class of kids.  It was so much fun!  I did a demonstration with clay and we created mixed media box trolls.  I recently watched the Boxtrolls movie and loved the claymation that they used.  It really was quite interesting and very creative.  So, I decided to create my own box trolls.  In the movie the trolls each lived in a box and took on the name of the box that they were wearing.  So, each child made their own box and designed their own label.  It was awesome to see so much creativity coming out of the students and that each one was unique in its own way.  I love how you can give kids a pile of materials and they make use of them making things I would of never think of.

So how did we create these one of a kind box trolls?  We started with some air dry clay and designed heads.  We moulded and sculpted eyes, noses, mouths, teeth, and even tongues.  I loved to see how some made hats, hair, and even accessories to go with their trolls.   Each face took on a personality of its own and I soon got to see the interests of the students coming to life in what they were creating.  After all you create what you like.

Next we took small paper boxes and had a smorgasbord of materials out for the kids to play with! They began to poke holes and make pipe cleaner arms, clay feet, decorative feather dresses, plaid tape ties, and much more. Some added paint and markers, and others used lots of tape!  There was no right or wrong way and they all looked great!

The last step was to allow the clay heads to dry and then glue them to the top of the box! There you have it!  A uniquely designed box troll.  My highlight was to be able to watch the kids create and to see how much they enjoyed it!  Give it a shot with your kids.  Believe me, they'll love it!
Happy creating.

Trish