Meet Buddy....

This is Curly Girl's latest art class creation. She named him "Buddy" after the movie with the dogs that play basketball. We think he is gorgeous!

Kick Yer Heels Up!

Curly Girl likes to draw horses that are bucking.....so from time to time she will bring me a drawing like this one:

Reversible sketchbook tutorial

In this post, I showed you a neat little sketchbook Curly Girl had made in her art class at school.
She was told to 'fill it up' with drawings over the summer break and then take it back to school and show the art teacher.

I had a few people that were interested in learning how to make them so I did this tutorial for them. It is best to read through this tutorial because it can be tricky. Folding the paper and pressing it down while wet, etc. If you can remember how you folded a 'fortune teller' from when you were in school, it helps because the diagonal fold is the part that makes this work.

You will need:
colored mat board or other thick board for the front and back of the sketchbook
white lighter weight mat board for the decorated part of the front and back (or heavy weight sketch paper)
several sheets of medium weight sketching paper (we used 7)
glue
ribbon
scissors
paper trimmer
double sided tape (optional)
ruler

To begin:
Cut 2 pieces of the heaviest weight mat board into the size you like. We did a 6 X 6 inch square.
These will be the front and the back of the sketchbook. Set aside.




Next cut 2 pieces of the white mat board into smaller squares to fit inside the cover pieces. We did 3.5 X 3.5 inch square. See how it fits inside the colored mat board.



Next tear out several pieces of the sketchbook paper. (we used 7)


You will need to cut all pieces to fit the book. Don't cut them until you fold them.
Fold them side to side first.




Then fold up one more time.

Then measure them to determine how much you need to cut from 2 ends. DO NOT CUT THE FOLDED EDGES.



Next open each page up and take one corner and fold it DIAGONALLY across to the other side.



All folds should be made the same way as they have to fold in on each other throughout the sketchbook.

Make sure you lay the paper down with the diagonal creases facing up and running in the same direction. (It doesn't matter which direction you choose. Ours ran right upper corner toward lower left corner.)
See how the crease itself faces UP. That is important because of the way the pages fold in on themselves.


Next, cut your ribbon about 30" long. Lay the ribbon pretty side DOWN on the wrong side of the colored mat board.
Glue the ribbon down. Let dry

Once dry, apply glue on TOP of the ribbon for your first sheet of sketchbook paper. Smooth the glue out to the edges with a piece of scrap paper first.



Next take your first piece of folded sketch paper and glue one of the flat corners (the one without the diagonal crease running through it.) down on top of the ribbon. Let dry.


In the next photo, see how I'm pinching the folds so the page will lay down properly. You take your right hand and press the open flap down and will make your 'next' page that way. (It is sort of like when you wrap a present and fold the ends in on themselves.)



One dried, the rest goes fast. You can use glue for the rest of the pages but I found that double stick tapes works well too.

Starting with the first page that has been glued down. Fold that page down. The corner that is facing up is the corner you attach the next sheet to. You will put tape on it. (or run a bead of glue) Pre fold the paper again and then press it down on TOP of the tape/glue.

In this next photo you can see how my thumb is on the 'bottom' sheet and the next 'top' sheet is
to the right.....Above my right thumb, you can see how the sheet folds in on itself like an accordian.



Continue doing this until you are done with all pages of the sketchbook.
Don't worry if the pages are not PERFECTLY aligned. You don't see it once the mat boards are in place.




Once done, take your other piece of colored mat board place it face down. Run a bead of glue and glue the LAST page of the sketchbook to it. I use a piece of scrap paper to smooth the glue out first.



Set something on top of it and let it dry.



Next, have someone( I asked Curly Girl) paint something lovely on the 2 pieces of white mat board. Once dried, glue them to the colored mat board. Then you can tie it up with the ribbon.

Since this is reversible, you want both sides to be pretty.


That's it! Now you are ready to start sketching.

Dreamy dolphin

Yesterday Curly Girl was in the craft room helping me with her sketchbook tutorial. I'll post that later. :-)

She pulled out her watercolors and painted different colors of blue on a leftover mat board. The water soaked right into the board and caused some of the paper to 'pill.' It made the picture look sort of fuzzy.

Then she made a line on the board, turned it around to show me....it was a dolphin. The lines melted into the blue a bit....which is what she wanted.

It is very simple compared to some of the things she has done but it is neat that she did it the way she did. The darkness you see at the bottom of the photo isn't due to lighting. That is the way she painted it.

An Award for Curly Girl!

Zoe presented Curly Girl this WONDERFUL award!

Curly Girl really got excited about this award....after I explained it to her.

She is only 10 and so very thrilled to get it. She was speechless but gave me a big fat hug! (Thanks for that Zoe!) She then said to 'say thank you for me."

So, THANK YOU Zoe for picking her for this award. And thank you to everyone who comes and comments on her blog. It 'makes my heart happy.' (her words, not mine!)

So here are the rules for this award:

1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider to deserve this award, creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.
2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3) Each award-winning blog has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4) Award-winning blog and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y pico" blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5) To show these rules.

Curly Girl has some favorite blogs she likes so here they are:


Planet June
because June has the "BEST STUFF MOM!"
June does just about every craft under the sun but her amigurumi ROCK!

Life with Nature Girl
because "we have swapped with them and they are nice people." This blog is full of insight, crafts and daily musings of life with a beautiful 4 year old.
Stitchy McYarnPants
because "they make us laugh" until we cry. Enough said. If you've never been, you must go NOW. Prepare to laugh.
M. Patrizio
because she likes the cuteness of this blog. This lady is seriously talented. She did the graphics for the "Horton" movie.....seriously.
Wild Jenn
because 'she has kids too.' Jenn like to dish on aprons, kids, fashion , Alaska...

Oh, and don't think she left ME out. She suggested my blog but I thought that would be a bit of a conflict of interest. What a sweetheart!

Thank you AGAIN Zoe!

Baby sparrow.....

Curly Girl decided cheep needed a pal......he looked lonely.

So she drew another baby bird.....this one looks a bit like a sparrow. I love his legs........she is so observant!

A little cheep

Curly Girl likes to draw in pen from time to time. It is so hard to do though because she can't simply 'erase' what she wants to redo.
That being said, many of her sketches she has done using pen, never make it online.
Until now!
She did this little cheep in a few minutes last night and brought it to me to post.
Pretty darn cute, huh?!