Happy Holidays!

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Packing Tape Transfer Technique

Here is a fun technique that anyone can try! What I did was make a photocopy of a picture I had taken (the one shown here was architecture I took in Florence, Italy.) Then you simply get a piece of packing tape and place over the photocopy (tape over the picture side.)

Next you submerge the taped paper in a bowl of lukewarm water. Begin rubbing the paper off and presto! Your image is on the tape! You can then glue it using matte medium to create cards and collages.

Here is a great link showing this step by step:

HGTV Packing Tape Transfer Tutorial

I just love doing these transfers! You can even make copies of your own artwork and replicate them in collages...the possibilities are endless!


What is your favorite collage technique?

Christmas Ornaments

Christmas is nearly upon us! I don't know about you but this year I am all about the handmade gift! I am getting sick of how Christmas is becoming all about buying people "stuff" that has no meaning whatsoever.

Recently I went to Michael's craft/art store and purchased these lovely little ornaments to decorate.




I painted the ornaments first with acrylic paint and then collaged images I cut out from my hand-painted papers. Next I added some details with payne's gray and white colored paint. I am going to try to finish some more today- I still need to loop a pretty ribbon through the top so I can hang them.

Little red bird



This one was inspired by some of Henri Matisse's paper cut- outs:


Another little red bird


What are you making this holiday season?

Creative Color Wheels

Here is a fun little project to do with kids of all ages! Create a unique color wheel using only the primary colors (red, blue and yellow). This project will help students learn to mix colors. Mixing your own paint colors produces more realistic colors than if you were to use paint directly from the tube.

If you would like to see the lesson plan for this project you can go to my art education website Canvas Door and click on Color Mixing. It is a pdf file and you can download it if you would like!

I do this project with my introduction to art students (grades 9-12) and they all seem to love it! They get really creative with some of their color wheels! Here are some of my students' examples.

Music Friday

Here is a video of one of my new favorite songs by Santogold. It is called Lights Out. The video is kind of 80's looking and there is some interesting dance moves going on but the song is still so fun! I love to paint and work out to this!

What is your favorite song right now?

Meaningful Christmas Present

I teach at a pretty large high school and have a great group of about six teachers that I hang out with regularly. Last year for Christmas we each picked a name out of a hat and bought a $20 present for that person. This year with money being tight for everyone we decided to do something different. My friend Karen got this idea from Oprah and I just had so much fun doing it and also felt like I was making meaningful presents for my friends! This is what we did...it is so simple!

Karen put six colorful index cards (the large ones) into each of our mailboxes at school. We were to write meaningful letters to each of our friends and decorate the cards (if we wanted to!) and then return them to Karen on a specific day. We were then to bring in a box and Karen would deliver our letters to us...kind of Valentine's Dayish also!

Well I have been working on mine and I just finished tonight! Here is what I did:

First I painted each of the cards with acrylic paint:





Then using some paper that I had previously hand-painted, I cut out flower shapes and glued them on using matte medium and a paint brush. I then went over the flowers with some more acrylic paint and added decorative details in the background. Next I layered the collage with gloss medium to make it shine! Here are some of my final products! I wrote the letter to each friend on the back of the collage-so fun:)











I am so excited to give them to my friends on Friday! That is our last day of school and then we get Winter Break! Yay:)

Have a great evening!

Soy Eggnog

OK...I know this is an art blog- but sometimes you need to go off on a tangent and talk about other things.

Last night the husband and I were out at the grocery store getting some items to make dinner with. While walking through the dairy aisle we suddenly had a craving for eggnog! Strange craving I know..we never drink eggnog so it surprised us to!

Eggnog is soooo bad for you so we were looking for the light eggnogs. I discovered that Silk makes a soy eggnog! It only has 90 calories and 2 grams of fat per 1/2 cup...much healthier!

The husband was very skeptical at first...what could this eggnog be made with if it was vegan? When we got home we tried it and were pleasantly surprised at the taste! Yum! The only major difference to me was the thickness...it is pretty thin.

So this holiday season if you would like to try a light and dairy free version of eggnog...I am recommending Silk! Oh- it also makes great coffee creamer! I am drinking it now in my coffee and it is delicious!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend...I have been doing all of my Christmas shopping online but still have to do some in- store shopping (blah!) I am going to try and go on Monday when hopefully people will be at work. I have been doing most of my shopping at Amazon.com because you can find almost anything! You also can make wish lists and look at other people's wish lists. Amazing! I also have been doing a ton of shopping on etsy.com. My favorite place! Great unique handmade gifts to give people:)

Where are you doing most of your Christmas shopping?

Inspiration Board

Do you have a place where you tack up things that inspire you? I have a large bulletin board that I put anything and everything that inspires me. Most of it includes collages I have made, pictures I have taken and random artwork and doodles I have done.


What is on your inspiration board?

Here is mine!



Close up:

Etsy Purchase

I just bought this adorable necklace from Kgarnerdesigns on etsy. Karen Garner has some beautiful and reasonably priced jewelry in her store. If you are looking for a present for that special someone this is a great place to buy from! The necklace came very quickly in the mail wrapped in a little brown box with a chocolate bow...tres chic!

Just thought I would share my great experience with this etsy artist!

Have a great Monday!

4 Seasons Drawings

I hope everyone is having a great Saturday so far! Where I live it is snowy, cold and icy out! I am happily staying in the rest of the day and plan on drinking a LOT of hot chocolate!

I wanted to post some drawings completed by my Introduction to Art students. The assignment was to complete four drawings that represent each season (Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall.) Students were to use a viewfinder and look through magazines or personal photographs to find images for each season and draw with the following media: pencil, colored pencil, oil pastels and ink with watercolor. Here are some of their drawings:

Winter done in pencil




Spring done in watercolor and ink






Summer done in colored pencil


Summer in oil pastel


Autumn done in colored pencil