cool

After a few rubbish weeks, the Gods have just handed me a good one. A great one even. Kids are pretty much back to normal after lots of rest, modern medicine and shovelling vitamins into them, I had a few more days with my sister and nephew before sending them home (sad face), had some shockingly wonderful news that I look forward to sharing with you soon, I booked two wonderful family sessions that I can't wait to shoot (and share), had my photos lined up alongside Tim and Claire. Yes you read that correctly. YES! AND - as if that wasn't enough - I claimed my status as the cat's pyjamas tonight by guest posting at THE BEETLE SHACK. Did you know I was that cool? No? Me neither! Just call me Gob. Master of Illusions..

So! The beautiful Em went a bit overboard believing me to be some kind of kid crafting genius, which I'm fairly certain is not the case. Smoke and mirrors, peeps. The last couple of images I used in the guest post were the latest bit of crafting I have done recently, and I thought I would do a quick tutorial - because it really is a quick exercise. A bit of a cut and paste, if you will.

To quote.. er.. myself.. put your creative skills together with theirs to highlight the creations that mean the most to you. Ruby loves to chop up different shaped pieces of paper and card and then make them into a picture. Perhaps Mister Maker inspired. She does it often and while some are quite abstract, others are pure genius. Like this house she made. Our house.

Now our house actually looks nothing like this. We don't have a long winding path to the front door, nor do we have a chimney. She's never seen the aerial on our roof but we have a pretty good view of our neighbours' roof which did the job. She drew all her house pieces - windows, door, chimney, smoke billowing from chimney, house base, roof, aerial. Then cut them out and assembled with her trusty glue stick. I knew it was fabulous as I watched her build the house. I still remember her pasting the house together, then moving back to stare at it. Then she declared 'it needs a path!'. It hung on our inspiration wire for quite a few months, all the while knowing exactly what I wanted to do with it. Then Em emailed me and it gave me the kick up the bum I needed to get it in a frame.

Ruby is at an age that if I would like her to draw something specific for me, 95% of the time she will happily oblige. If this is something you think you'd like on your wall and your small is eager to please, simply ask them!

How to ::

:: ask your small to draw their house. Of course give them free reign to come up with whatever they perceive their home to look like.
:: if necessary, retrace their lines if you feel they need to stand out more (I did this).
:: carefully cut out your child's masterpiece and keep in a safe place while you get on with the rest.
:: choose your backing for your frame - I used a piece of deep grey linen - and use double sided tape to attach to the backing board. I find it best to cut your backing fabric piece bigger than the board, stick it on, then trim the edges. Much easier than trying to match up the corners of a perfect rectangle without catching the fabric on the tape and sticking it in the wrong spot..
:: use the double sided tape to stick your white matting on top. This eliminates all error if you were trying to leave the matting loose (as it would normally be) and tried to measure, or guesstimate where your artwork should ultimately end up.
:: trace and cut out your letters. If you like a specific font, simply print out your words in the font and size you like, cut them out and transfer onto your chosen felt, backwards. Yes - if you do it backwards the marker you use (whether it's a proper sewing marker or otherwise) will be hidden on the under side of the felt once you've cut it out and glued it down. If you're lazy like me, just freehand it a fraction larger than you would like and then you can cut your letters out on the very inside of the marker lines. And if you're really lazy, or choose a dark coloured felt like my last two words, you have no choice but to freehand it with the scissors unless you have a fancy white marker - which I don't.
:: do a mock up of the final piece - i.e. lay your picture and words out where you want them.
:: when you're happy with what you see, get a little area prepped and covered to use your adhesive spray - that stuff is SERIOUSLY STICKY! (You can find this at Spotlight, or any craft store - it looks like a can of hairspray.)
:: stick your house down first, then do one letter at a time until you're finished (alternatively, use double sided tape again on your house, and spray adhesive for the letters). Doing one letter at a time will allow you to keep your layout and spacing, especially if it's a tight fit, like mine.
:: clean your glass before you fit your frame back together.
:: stand back and marvel at you and your small's handiwork.

Without realising at the time, I actually chose colours in the framing that are in our house. We have a lot of charcoal inside and out, and we have walls in a few rooms painted the vivid teal and darkest navy. How subconsciously fitting!

So, with a few simple supplies, it's easy to turn your kids' drawings into some really lovely, proper artwork. Make sure you let me know if you give this a try!

Thankyou Em - what a treat it was to work on this little project and receive your bubbly emails along the way. This beautiful blogging community has given me great confidence in what I do - personally and professionally xx

Guest post at The Beetle Shack was inspired by my original post of The Pillow

*If you had trouble with the links at the very end of the guest post - here they are again..
The inspiration wire is an idea created by uber talent, Soulemama, as shown in her book The Creative Family. We have two - one is a curtain line from Ikea which is one of my most favourite things in our home, and the other is in our playroom - a simple piece of string attached to the wall with pins.