A crocodile

Our weekend project with the nephew: a paper crocodile! Seemed more difficult than it actually was, once you get the general idea then you simply keep going piece by piece and before you know it you're done! For me the hardest part was cutting the smaller pieces, especially the scales and now it will be up to the crocodile to survive an 8 year old!

Hope you have a lovely week and a great new month! Summer is officially here :-)
Aleka

The planets

The nephew had no school this Monday so we decided to make our solar system from paper and cardboard. We got the planets from here, printed them, colored them and cut them out. Then I cut cardboard to match each planet and we glued them on. Using brads we secured each planet to a long cardboard strip and attached the other end to the sun, a skewer passes through all the layers of cardboard and the sun. Now the planets can spin around themselves and around the sun :-)

He has another long weekend ahead, no school on Friday and Monday so I'm looking for new projects :-)

Wishing you a lovely day,
Aleka

Strange butterflies

I was painting with the nephew yesterday and had this idea to make little paintings from folded paper. We would apply the paint on one side of the paper with our fingertip and then fold to create strange butterflies and other shapes. The result looks like a Rorschach test but more happy and colorful! Top photo are the ones I made and bottom the ones he made, can you tell he has a thing for red?

These paper birds are so awesome, little paper sculptures!
Wish you a lovely weekend,
Aleka

Paper roll flowers

Remember the paper roll flowers? Well the nephew (with some help from us) made one for his mom and one for his dad :-)

Flip book machines with birds and butterflies, they are amazing!
Wishing you a lovely day,
Aleka

Paper robots

I've been trying to find ways to keep my nephew busy when he finishes his school work, anything to keep him away from the tv. So one afternoon we decided to make robots, he loves transformers, watches the cartoons all the time.

This very angry looking transformer was made from a little medicine paper box, I ripped it apart and glued it so the blank side was showing. We drew the hands and legs, painted them with crayons and then glued them on the body. His face is drawn on the box flap and I used a white piece of paper to close the opening, gluing it on the other two side flaps (the kid wanted it glued shut so flies couldn't get in!)
The transformer is accompanied by a very colorful drawing of... you guessed it: a transformer, it's his portrait.

Wishing you a lovely day,
Aleka

Linked to Homework, LizMarieBlog.

Jellyfish

This is the project I was talking about:
Paper mache jellyfish! We used glass bowls (they are the ones we use when we make creme caramel), turned them over, covered them with plastic wrap (the one we use to cover foods) and then started gluing pieces of newspaper with pva glue. We did three layers so they are quite thin and lightweight. Once the glue was dry on the outside we took them off the bowls, peeled away the plastic wrap and let them dry completely, you can see in the third photo that the inside is still not dry so we waited a day to be sure.
The next day we painted them with gesso, then acrylics in pink and yellow and then glued yellow crepe paper on the inside. I'm still debating whether I should fill them with more crepe paper, I like they way they look now so I don't know.

The nephew's kindergarten will have a summer party when the school closes for summer and it's a sea themed one. The background the teachers have used is a deep blue paper so I'm sure they'll pop and since the party will be outside the jellyfish will be moving with the wind :-)
Wishing you a great Sunday,
Aleka

Easter eggs and rockets

Yesterday we painted our Easter eggs, while the eggs were hot we "wrote" on them using wax crayons, they melted on the surface of the eggs making them look like marbled. The one in the ceramic bunny is the nephews, he said that's were his egg should go.
And today we made rockets, using tp rolls. We painted them, added a cap and colorful tail. The nephew didn't want his to hang on a string, he carried it around making it fly! Mine is hanging right behind him flying when the wind blows :-)
Wishing you a great weekend and a happy Easter,
Aleka

Paper snakes

We spend yesterday noon with the nephew painting on paper and making these snakes. Inspired by these paper roll snakes we made our own versions. The blue and red one is mine, the multicolored one is the nephews, he wanted all the colors :-) and the half finished one Georgia's, by the time she started painting it we had moved on to painting on paper and finished all the colors.
Wishing you a lovely Sunday,
Aleka

Bunnies

For us (Greek orthodox) Easter is this weekend, today is the day we paint our eggs and on Sunday we have a big family meal. Most years we go back to our country home, it really is amazing spending Easter in the countryside with all our relatives but this year we'll be staying in the city and keeping it small.
I made these bunnies from toilet paper rolls and newspaper, today I've coated them with a couple of layers of gesso and then I'll paint a layer of white acrylic. I'm hoping to get my 5 year old nephew to paint them, I'm not sure if he can do it with paintbrushes, we'll try but if it's too difficult we'll use markers or crayons, they are much easier to handle. It's a project for the weekend, keeping him busy and making something too.
See more creative spaces right here!
xoxo
Aleka

Passing time

I haven't been creative in any other way than to keep my 4 year old nephew busy this week. His teacher was ill so there's been no school and with the freezing cold playing outside is not an option. Here are the paper and pipe cleaners dolls we made, the green one is him, the red faced one is me and the one with red hand and feet is grandma. Super easy to make and he loved them too :-)
Wishing you all a great weekend
Aleka