Little Paper Octopus for Kids

Crafting with paper continues to be a very easy – and also very cheap! – activity for kids who are into crafting. Most kids go over the moon when they get the chance to create different kinds of paper crafts, and it’s truly adorable to watch them when they do it. And it’s especially true when they get the opportunity to play throughout the day with the things they make!

Another great thing about paper crafts is that they don’t have to be regulated to only being played with, but they can be beautiful decorations as well! Some children will enjoy hanging the crafts they make on the walls of their rooms, or maybe on a dresser. It gives them joy to see something that they got to make, actually hung up somewhere to be seen.

Children love animals and always want to have them as pets. Unfortunately, some of these animals are wild and can’t be gotten as a pet. The good news, however, is that they can be made as crafts. It’s exciting for your children when they can create what they have seen in the museum, zoo, or music studio.

Here are some materials needed to get you started on your next papercraft project!

• Paper

• Colored cardboards or paper

• Scissors to cut

• Glue and texta pens

• Watercolor.

Check the Process Out!

1. Getting Ready

When making any art and craft, the first step is to make sure you have all your materials ready.

2. Work on Your Tubes

Use toilet roll tubes or get a thick card paper and create a long tube. The length should be about two toilet roll tubes long. With a ruler, mark out eight rectangles at a quarter of the total length. This should be done at one end to serve as the limbs of an Octopus. Now, carefully cut the rectangles at both ends.

3. Paint

Pick up your watercolor and brush and paint your tubes and the limbs with your favorite color.

4. Fix the Eyes

An octopus has a pair of big eyes. Get pieces of black and white papers, cut two small circles. Make the white circles twice as big as the black ones, then fix each black circle on the white with a glue. You can now fix those eyes to your painted tubes with a glue.

You can also place smaller eyes could on the limbs – a pair arranged vertically. This can add more beauty to the artwork and bear a closer resemblance to an Octopus.

5. Make the Mouth

The mouth is one of the simplest aspects you will do on your octopus. However, you may need to guide your kids. With your texta pen, draw the mouth below the eyes. A happy smiley face would suffice.

Now your kids can play with their paper Octopus while you educate them about the beautiful creature.

Digital Scrapbooking and Its Top Site

A lot of my friends have been asking me recently about my digital scrapbooking hobby, so I decided it was high time to write a blog about it.

Digital scrapbooking is something of a recent phenomenon (well, as recent as personal computers, at least — though my suspicion is that there was a big upswing upon advent of the spread of phones and tablets). It’s such a niche hobby though, with not a lot of money in it, so there’s not exactly a heap of data available.

I myself have only been scrapbooking digitally for about three years now. But I love it, and my love for it only grows with time. I’m going to go ahead and mention them right now, because I love them so much, but for anyone searching who is looking for the place to go for digital scrapbooking, it’s DigitalScrapbook.com, without a doubt. And if you’re new to the craft, they have this fantastic article called What is Digital Scrapbooking? that will get you going and inform you better than my brief blurb here. So head on over once you finish with mine. I love them, and hit their site almost every day.

But okay, back to digital scrapbooking.

It’s a weird hobby to have — when someone at a party asks you what you like to do for fun, and you say digital scrapbooking, it doesn’t exactly make you the coolest person in the room. And it has the interesting place of being a hobby that the person who asks will almost certainly never have heard about, but once you name it they’ll instantly have some idea of what you’re talking about.

“Ah, yeah, so scrapbooking, but like digitally?”

Exactly.

Scrapbooking, but like digitally. Basically that means you and a computer, some kind of software like Gimp or Photoshop, your photos, and a bunch of graphics that are digital representatives or stand ins for papers, word art, pocket cards — you name it. If you had it in physical, paper scrapbooking there’s probably an equivalent in digital.

And we get it. Giving up paper is hard. The vast majority of readers in the world dropped dead when the Kindle was invented — change is hard, and in many ways paper can never be fully replaced.

But the convenience is unreal. For anybody who travels, lives overseas, or simply lives minimally, digital scrapbooking is the dream come true for your creative crafty hobby.

It’s now with you, all the time, right on your computer. Heck, on your phone or tablet these days. You can scrapbook while in line for your coffee order. Now tell me that’s not a boon?

So there you have my brief blurb — sorry it’s so rambly. But if you read me regularly you’re used to it.

Anyways, in a nutshell — it’s scrapbooking, but digital. It has all the same components (but again, they’re digital), and so while you can’t feel it between your fingers, you can take it everywhere with you, and that’s pretty damn sweet.

(And I freaking love Pixel Scrapper — they’ll give you 5 free downloads every day! And for commercial use with a brilliant commercial use license!)

PAPER MOSAIC FOR KIDS

In nature, we sometimes find beauty amid chaos, a phenomenon amply replicated in the world of Art. For example, we see how a sea of colors and materials can harmonize to produce something as beautiful as Pablo Picasso’s Cubist Collage. This technique of art creation is so captivating that even kids with short attention span get enthralled once they begin.

Children of all ages love to have their artistic masterpieces, therefore, a paper mosaic project is a great idea! With this work of art, your kids can wow members of their Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, neighborhood – the list is endless. The framed masterpieces of a paper mosaic artwork can also adorn places in your home, such as the walls, the refrigerator door, and so on.

Here are the materials you need to get ready for a paper mosaic project.

• Construction paper

• Scissors

• Gum stick

• Ruler

• Pencil

• Colorful paper scraps

• Picture frame or wax paper

Now, let’s begin work with these simple steps!

Step 1: Cut out the construction paper 10” square or 7” by 10” rectangle and place it on a flat surface. Also, cut out the colored paper scraps into many strips of 0.9” by ½.” Now, allow your kids to cut them into similar sizes of squares, triangles, and rectangles.

Step 2: Create a margin on the construction paper with a pencil and ruler and sketch the desired image. If you have smaller kids, choose simple images, unless you have a thing for awkward paper mosaics.

Step 3: Sort the cut paper according to their colors, and choose the order or patterns you want the colors to follow. Draw a rough sketch of the arrangement you wish to have to avoids mistakes.

Step 4: Now place the cut colored paper on your sketched design and glue them. Fix the rectangles, squares, and triangles as they fit into the design. Ensure there are little to no spaces between the cut paper.

Step 5: Wait for the glue to dry.

Step 6: You have your paper mosaic ready! I bet you’ll like to hang it on your wall, so get a beautiful picture frame or hanger, fix your paper mosaic in it, and let it hang!

Conclusion

So here we are! I bet your kids are proud to have another work of art resting on the walls of the house or refrigerator – their very own masterpiece!

How to Choose the Perfect Brushes and Colors for Drawing?

Coloring and drawing are enjoyable hobbies that make a person happy because they bring out the creativity and wonderful feelings. As important as creativity and skill, are the instruments by which the artistic vein takes shape. You can translate your feelings on canvas using colors and brushes.  Good materials help with good results. For this reason, it is essential to know the artistic brushes and colors well.

How to choose the correct brush?

Brushes are the magic wand that brings life to your painting. A good quality brush should have soft and thick hair and does not lose hair during paint. Every type of color needs a specific kind and shape of brushes.

Brushes’ sizes

The brush size is classified by number; with 000 to 20 are  the most common. You should think about the size of the work and the method that you will use.

In general, smaller brushes work well for fine contours and details, as in watercolor, gouache and ink. Larger brushes are good for acrylic or oil paintings.

If you fill large, flat, unmarked color blocks, it is preferred to use the larger brushes. If they are small blocks of color, small brushes are more recommended.

The medians are suitable for 50 x 50 cm paintings. Tiny details need small brushes, while grandiose frescoes require large brushes.

The shapes of artistic brushes

The most classic is the round brush, used to work with precision and leaving traces of paint of the same thickness.

A flat brush can spread the paint thoroughly. Another interesting form is the cat tongue, capable of making brush strokes combining the effect of flat and round in a single brush.

There is also the fan brush, which drags the paint in a very subtle way, widely used to create foliage, commonly used in large works.

How to choose the perfect colors?

Watercolor

For a start, it is better to choose cheap and easy-to-use colors. Watercolor is the smart choice, you can find it anywhere. It is one of the most common and famous colors, ideal for landscape painting as it is vibrant, effective, beautiful and can be lightened.

It should be noted that watercolors differ in quality. Choosing high-quality watercolors will meet the desired result without discouragement. It is best to buy a palette to avoid having to purchase several shades separately and you will have all the colors in the same place.

Acrylic paints

If you like catching the smallest details on canvas and want to create masterpieces of abstract art, acrylic paints are a perfect choice.

Acrylic paints are suitable to be used by anyone; professional or amateur. They dry quickly so they are proper for layered paintings that create depth and detail on landscapes.

They are easy to use, broadly available in paint shops and stationery stores specialized in artistic material.

They are often sold in tubes and can be combined on a palette with water to lighten the tone or create new colors. They cost less than oil colors, but they are not less professional.

Oil colors

Oil colors are the greatest choice for professionals. They are expensive but you can buy primary colors and mix them to get various shades to cut costs.

Oil colors need a long time to dry. So, they are not advisable to beginners. They are vibrant and versatile that allows you to create unique color mixing and layering techniques. In addition, you will have to buy solvents to dilute the colors.

Before painting, you should apply a basic acrylic primer on the canvas to avoid being harmed by the color.

Other materials

Choose an appropriate canvas for the type of color you are going to use.

Keep several pieces of wet cloth handy to moisten and clean the brushes and to make watercolors.

Buy a palette to mix the colors. The best surfaces for diluting colors, mixing them and examining their consistency are those made of white plastic, such as trays covered with enamel paint. These surfaces provide a nice clean background to test for color precision and are very low-priced.

How to Make a Floating Drink Holder with a Swimming Pool noodle

Are you planning a fun day at the pool and you don’t feel like getting out of the water to fetch a drink? Do you want to impress your friends with innovation during a party? The best idea is a delightful drinks holder made with a plastic container and a foam rubber tube (Pool Noodles) to make sure it is floating.

 In the end, you will only have to choose which drinks to put on!

Things you will need

Plastic container

Floating foam tubes for swimming pools (Pool Noodles)

Good quality scissors

Strong string or rope

Ten easy steps you should do

1- Bring a sturdy, transparent and large plastic container.

2- Clean it before usage. Even if you bought a new one, make sure it is completely clean before adding ice and drinks.

3- Try it out by having several cans or bottles to estimate the capacity of the container. Do not overlook the fact that you will most likely also have to add ice.

4- Choose good quality noodles to ensure that can enable the drinks holder to keep floating. Avoid using torn or old ones.

5-Measure each side of the holder and cut the pool noodle likewise. Then, cut the pool noodle into four parts. Utilize durable scissors or a sharp blade.

In the case that the holder is round, it may not be important to cut the pool noodle, just fold it around the borders.

6-Insert a long string into the pipe segments to produce a rectangular or square shape that wraps the holder firmly.

Utilize a rope or string that is solid and long enough to encompass the holder and to bring it closer when it floats too far.

7-Make a circle at the end of the string and ensure it can remain well around your finger to keep your beverages anchored.

8- Fit the floating device around the plastic holder. Then, pull the string to tighten it.

Make sure that the floating device adheres well by making a bond at the base; in this way, the rectangle does not disintegrate, therefore releasing the plastic container.

9-Do a test by putting the holder in the pool without the beverages to ensure that it floats well.

10- Fill the container with ice and drinks before putting it in the pool.

Some advice

·                     Now you have a floating drink holder, and you will always have cold beverages by your side.

·                     It is better to use only cans or plastic bottles Instead of glass.

·                     Do not forget to take the floating holder out from the pool. And, when you return to the house, empty its contents.