Valentine's Day Project for Kids

My five year old needs to bring Valentine's cards to school Monday and since we had a little time (she was home sick this week) we decided to go ahead and make them.  Here's a simple, inexpensive project:

The craft store had all its Valentine's themed chachkies on clearance,Yay!  (we likes a bargain)
colored pencils 6 for $.50
heart stickers $1.50
blank book marks 50 for $2.99

So, for the price of the store bought versions, we had a good hour's entertainment and something a bit more original.


1) hole punch both sides of the book marks

2) tie a ribbon through one side (we used left over
xmas ribbon)





3) decorate




4) slip the pencil through both holes.

Plein Air Painting. Oh so that's how they do it...

I am not a landscape artist. I'm sort of the opposite. Swirly whirly happy trees-good. realistic true to color and light- not so much. But now that I live somewhere truly beautiful it's hard not to imagine how nice it would be to spend sun dappled days outside with easel and brush. So, I'm taking a plein air class. And... well, I kinda stink. My instructor teaches in a very California style, and while I don't see settling too far into it myself I think it's always good to learn new techniques. So... here's the first attempts: