Bella Dia

Green Craft Magazine

Have you seen this magazine yet? If you haven't then start
looking for it now! I think this is one of the mostbeautiful craft
magazine issues I've seen in a long time, right up there with
Japanese craft books and Marie Claire Idees.



All of the projects are beautifully conceived and photographed
and of course each one uses materials that are typically
thrown away, thus, Green Craft.



You'll find Maya*Made's newspaper buntings along with
Pam Garrison's coffee filter garlands, and Charlotte Lyons'
cardboard tube creations plus much more.

And just so you know, I'm not being paid or pampered to
promote the magazine, just overwhelmed with the goodness 
and wanted to share.

fused flowers :: Tracie Lamp
cardboard dress :: Sarah Hodsdon
memory blanket :: Sadie Fox

Thoughtful Friday 10 & Brian Wildsmith

Happy hearts and happy faces,
Happy play in grassy places -
That was how, in ancient ages,
Children grew to kings and sages.

~Robert Louis Stevenson

This beautiful illustration is by the wonderful Brian Wildsmith,
one of my favorite children's book illustrators. I am completely
taken with his use of color and composition and find his work
full of joy and magic. I just purchased this book, A Child's
Garden of Verses, and all the illustrations are by Wildsmith.
I'll share some more when I get a chance.

To Draw A Tree

I've always wanted to be able to draw.  I mostly wanted to be able to put down on paper the ideas I can see in my mind but I also wanted to be able to draw a tree.  I always thought that if someone could draw a tree then they were a pretty good artist because I think trees seem hard to draw.  Inspired by Lori's drawing lessons that I have featured on The Crafty Crow, I've been practicing a lot lately.  I finished this tree drawing this evening and I have to say I am pretty darn pleased with it.  I see places for improvement but for my first real effort I'm satisfied. 

The kids and I have begun keeping nature journals so consequently we're spending more time looking at the shapes and lines of trees and rocks and water movement at the river.  I pulled out Keeping A Nature Journal that's been sitting on my shelf forever and it has been a practical help as well as an inspirational one.  Besides suggestions on observing nature and how to get started journaling, it has basic drawing lessons and exercises that I have found extremely helpful. 

And Now for Something Different: Watercolors!

Sometimes it's easy to overlook a craft or art project because it's labeled for kids but going though all these new projects for The Crafty Crow has really gotten me itching to try a bunch of them.  I think it's good to remember to experiment with new mediums and give those creative muscles a stretch every now and then, so when I saw the watercolor tutorial by Arounna I decided to jump right in along with my kids.

You begin with a very abstract watercolor and after it has dried you go back with India ink and a bamboo skewer and create flowers out of the watercolor splots (sorry, couldn't think of a better word.)

The freedom and unpredictability of the medium was really fun and different from the controlled detail work that I usually do.  I'll definitely be doing this again.

Need a creativity boost? Look here:

Decal papers for a variety of uses that
you can print at home - oh my, the possibilities are making me swoon! 
Found via Swiss Miss.

The Importance of Creativity for Children and Other Living Things

Sir Ken Robinson, "an internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources," speaks about the importance of creativity: why we need to be encouraging it and how modern schools "are educating people out of their creative capacities."  The video (taken at the 2006 TED conferences) is about 20 minutes long but so inspirational and very funny too - try to take the time to watch it.  Every time you put a blank piece of paper or a lump of clay in front of your child or just go on a nature walk to see the change of the seasons you'll know that you're doing the right thing, the right thing for your child and the right thing for our future.

What TED celebrates is the gift of the human imagination. We have to be careful now that we use this gift wisely, and that we avert some of the scenarios that we've talked about. And the only way we'll do it is by seeing our creative capacities for the richness they are, and seeing our children for the hope that they are. And our task is to educate their whole being, so they can face this future -- by the way, we may not see this future, but they will. And our job is to help them make something of it.
~ Sir Ken Robinson

Picky Picky Picky: Making Decisions on Color

As I said in my previous post, the next project in my crochet queue is a blanket for my daughter.  Decision making is not one of my daughter's strong points so her color choices have changed dramatically over the last few weeks.  To make it a little easier, I went to the Lion Brand website and dragged off a variety of colors from the Vanna's Choice yarns and played with different arrangements on my desktop.  We finally came up with the above combination: chocolate, taupe, linen, pink, and antique rose.  If you have trouble deciding on colors this is a great way to try out different combinations and to live with them a bit before making your purchase. 

If I had figured this out sooner though I wouldn't have the yarn stash I do now.  Not sure if that's good or bad but there it is.

Book Review: The Art of Embroidery

I put off buying this book, The Art of Embroidery, for awhile.  Even though it has gorgeous photography and is full of inspiration, I kept telling myself that I don't need to buy another craft book.  But, I kept thinking about it.  Whenever I saw it in the bookstore I'd pull it off the shelf and slowly thumb through one beautiful page after another.  I tried to remember all the ideas and techniques but my brain is on overload as it is so that wasn't working.  One late evening, I pulled it up on Amazon and, well, darn that "one-click" purchasing.  Two days later I had it in my hands. 

The first part of the book focuses on the basics of embroidery while the second half explores design composition and interpretation.  Images from nature lay next to their embroidered translation.  Mimosa blossoms inspire seeding, bullion stitches and beading while grass lends itself to whipped running stitch in shadowy grays.

Ruffled cabbage becomes a scarf.  Brilliant.

The author, Francoise Tellier-Loumagne, has a wonderful straightforward writing style (even though that may be due to its translation from French) which I really appeciate.  If you enjoy Japanese craft books and Marie Claire Idees for their new take on traditional styles then you would probably like this book too.

I love these quotes from the author:

"To embroider is to look, analyse [sic], choose, explore and translate."

"To embroider is to express yourself."