inspiration: the picture show blog

one of my favorite blogs to visit in on the NPR website. for those of you not familiar with NPR, it stands for National Public Radio. i love photography and their website has a great blog called "the picture show."
yesterday i noticed a new post, titled "Collecting Swimming Pools and Stadiums: Art made from Google Maps." check it out!!!

125 Swimming Pools by Jenny Odell

i expect to share many more of their posts .... so be excited for much more to come!

kids: DIY watercolor

i'm excited to share this kids art project with you! as an afterschool teacher, i am always trying to come up with new, inexpensive, out-of-the-box, reusable art materials and projects. the few months ago, i came across a terrific art teacher blog called Artopotamus. She has great ideas and i loved her post about DIY watercolors made from dried out markers.

this summer i tried this project for the first time and my students loved it!  i filled styrofoam cups about halfway with water and soaked a few markers of the same color overnight. i let my students experiment and i was pleased with the results! i was very impressed with the saturation of the color. one of my students decided to use the "blow technique" to spread the paint across the paper. i was so proud to see their imaginations and creativity take over. if you are not familiar with the "blow the paint" technique, each student blows air through a drinking straw toward the wet paint. the air then pushes the paint in different directions making fun designs.

 















   A few suggestions:

* styrofoam was all my school site had available, but don't use it! it's not recyclable and the ink soaks through. use recycled plastic yogurt cups instead
     * try different amount of water vs. amount of markers ratios for different color tints.
     * fill tiny spray bottles with the watercolor and spray your paper with the colors. more mess but so fun!


Here are some pictures of the results!

I  hope you, your kids, or your class enjoy this activity!

bags: ooak

i started my etsy business greenbugbags a little over a year ago, in june of 2010. there are still many things i need to learn about the wonderful world of etsy. one fun detail i have figured out is how to "tag" your item. "tag" simply means using specific words to describe your item in order for a buyer to find  your handmade product. this is a creative process in itself! i recently discovered the tag "ooak." if you're like me, you're thinking oak? like oak tree? misspelled? no. :) "ooak" is etsy for "one-of-a-kind." i was excited to figure this out because all of my bags are OOAK!!!

this is one of my first handmade bags. it was a tablecloth. i made two bags out of it but even though they might come from the same fabric, they are still no two alike! hooray for thrifted vintage fabric and OOAK handmade items!

introductions

i'm heather. 


one of my first loves was a 67 VW beetle. i saw an ad for the car in a local coffee shop and soon it became my green bug. for the next 15 years, it took me everywhere and became part of my identity. i was the girl with the green bug. i love it's design. vintage but modern. simple and clean. it has no bells and whistles, but thats how i like it. 


now that i am embarking on a new phase of life (my 30's!), my green bug has inevitably become a "less practical" car to drive. although it might not take me everywhere anymore, i have decided to take it with me on this new journey. i've created a business and blog that i've named "greenbugbags." hope you will be along for the ride!