As I have been doing fun advent and countdown calendar ideas this month, I wanted to share a very simple one, that can even be made ahead of time and stored until it is needed. It takes a 24-piece puzzle and a surface big enough to work it. These puzzles are usually around 19″ X […]
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As I have been doing fun advent and countdown calendar ideas this month, I wanted to share a very simple one, that can even be made ahead of time and stored until it is needed. It takes a 24-piece puzzle and a surface big enough to work it. These puzzles are usually around 19″ X […]
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My family has always enjoyed learning about holidays around the world, especially the winter holidays and the beautiful ways different cultures celebrate the Christmas season. One of our favorite traditions by far is the Icelandic custom of Jolabokaflod. Jolabokaflod loosely translates to “Christmas Book Flood,” and has been around since World War II when countries […]
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Everyone from LEGO to Funko is making advent calendars and holiday countdowns, which can be pretty cool but also pretty expensive. Really, the fun thing about these calendars is they are interactive, giving kids something physical to hold onto, or some sort of activity to look forward to each day. For the month of December, […]
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There is no shortage of kids’ coloring crafts opportunities around the holidays, whether they bring them home from school or a party. They do them at their place of worship or neighborhood events. They have them set up a bookstores and in malls. These, more often than not, consist of some kind of easy coloring […]
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There are plenty of opinions out there of which Ghostbusters is the best, but whether you like the original and its sequel, the 2016 reboot, the animated series, or the comics everyone has to agree on one thing: we all love the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. Well, at least we should. He’s adorable. With another new […]
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There are plenty of opinions out there of which Ghostbusters is the best, but whether you like the original and its sequel, the 2016 reboot, the animated series, or the comics everyone has to agree on one thing: we all love the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. Well, at least we should. He’s adorable. With another new […]
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It’s here! The Halloween weekend is upon us. Whether you are spending it with family and friends or just wanting to decorate the home to make it fun for those stopping or passing by happy on Halloween night, there isn’t much time to get things done. I was reminded by a text the other day […]
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It’s here! The Halloween weekend is upon us. Whether you are spending it with family and friends or just wanting to decorate the home to make it fun for those stopping or passing by happy on Halloween night, there isn’t much time to get things done. I was reminded by a text the other day […]
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With some Halloween events returning this year, there are more opportunities to create a fun table centerpiece or mantle decoration to celebrate the season: a fancy and formal, “dapper” skull. This idea is based on many decorations I have seen in catalogs, artist sites and markets, and with some retail Halloween décor. Many of these […]
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Since French inventor Georges Claude first dazzled guests at the Paris Motor Show in 1910 with his neon lighting invention, the neon sign has been a beautiful mix of commercial art and pop culture. It can be bright and celebratory like a nightclub or carnival, nostalgic like old diners or service stations, or a little […]
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Halloween decorating and décor is becoming more and more elaborate, but some of the cooler seasonal items and spooky effects aren’t in everyone’s budget. Sometimes little imagination can turn a simple, inexpensive finding into a spook, cool Halloween prop or decoration. This October, we’re going to raid some discount, second hand or dollar stores to […]
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The beautifully done anime shorts that are Star Wars: Visions are now streaming on Disney+, and costumes from another Star Wars animated series, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, are hitting Halloween and party stores for the season. For everyone enjoying these shows, here’s a little mashup DIY, with a Chibi-style Lula doll keychain or charm. […]
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This summer’s Be the Artist 2021 will help readers discover visual art-related words. The Words: Automatism and Allover Painting Two types of abstract art that seem to pop up together are Allover Painting and Automatism. These different ideas and concepts can fill a page or canvas with some very interesting results. Here’s brief look at each one. […]
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Unfortunately, the Make/Play/Watch/Read series has been a little sporadic of late. The Evil Genius Family, like millions of others, is currently in COVID-19 lockdown in Sydney, Australia. It’s not ideal, but we are managing with Lockdown Learning, Zoom calls, and the brilliantly-timed Birds in Backyards Spring Survey—thanks to Birdlife Australia. Because if there is one […]
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Last year I had one child in middle school, one child in virtual school, and one pre-schooler running around yelling “Pants! Who needs pants!” It’s been a hot minute since I’ve had to think about elementary school. Snacks, change of clothes, lunch they won’t discard, snow pants for the winter, getting on the bus, and […]
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This summer’s Be the Artist 2021 will help readers discover visual art-related words. The Word: Encaustic The word encaustic is modified from an ancient Greek word enkaustikos, which means “burn in.” In order for a painting to be considered encaustic, heat is needed. According to the Encaustic Art Institute, the melted wax used in encaustic painting […]
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If you love cross-stitch and lean toward the dark side of Disney’s storylines, this pattern book and kit might be just what Dr. Facilier ordered. With 12 patterns and enough materials included to make two of them, this Disney Villains Cross Stitch kit is all you need to get started. They even include a hoop […]
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This summer’s Be the Artist 2021 will help readers discover visual art-related words. The Word: Emulsion Those who love science and culinary arts will know the word “emulsion” as much as any visual artist, and that is one of the things that makes this word so cool. An emulsion is, in the most simplified terms, the dispersing […]
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When I was a child, I was afraid of bees. I had gone on vacation with my grandparents to Trecco Bay in Porthcawl, Wales. We were staying in a caravan, and the people next to us had a beautiful old English sheepdog. One day, I wandered over to visit him and was stung by a […]
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MTV (originally Music Television) first burst onto cable televisions on August 1, 1981, and it is still affecting pop culture trends 40 years later. Although the channel has evolved and mutated well beyond its original music video format, it is still best associated with the “I Want My MTV” golden era of its first decade, […]
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This summer’s Be the Artist 2021 will help readers discover visual art-related words. The Word: Iconography Iconography is everywhere, and we see it all the time. It comes from the Greek word for image, “ikon.” This term can refer to early, more elaborate paintings with certain images being attached to meaning. This was the case in […]
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This summer’s Be the Artist 2021 will help readers discover visual art-related words. The Word: Fauvism Fauvism is a modern art style coming from the French “le Fauves” or “the wild beasts.” Fauvism paintings include bright, bold colors, and broad brushstrokes creating a “non-naturalistic” look at the world around us from portraits to landscapes. The actual […]
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This summer’s Be the Artist 2021 will help readers discover visual art-related words. The Word: Batik Batik is one of those colorful art forms that have become popular with artists worldwide—with each unique culture and region adding its own elements and styles—and is a dyeing method where certain areas of the cloth are covered with wax, […]
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Once upon a time I was sane, and then I encountered Kerry Lord, Edward’s menagerie, and joined a whole new family of fellow crazy people; Toft addicts. Having mastered the art of the menagerie, and begun my adventures with miniatures, it seemed time to partake in something that I have avoided for years; the craft-a-long […]
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This summer’s Be the Artist 2021 will help readers discover visual art-related words. The Word: Ephemera The definition of ephemera, as well as the intended livelihood, is short and sweet, and comes from the Greek origin “ephemeros,” or “short-lived.” It is often the term for the assorted printed materials such as tickets, brochures, letters, event […]
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This summer’s Be the Artist 2021 will help readers discover visual art-related words. The Words: Diptych and Triptych Most people may recognize the prefixes in these words means “two” and “three,” but this is more than just drawing two or three pictures of the same theme. Diptychs and triptychs are pieces consisting of two or […]
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Back in March, I wrote up the Leaf’d gardening subscription service. It’s a fantastic company that provides quality seeds and healthy seedlings, along with educational material and guides, to help your kids and family learn to garden together. This post is a follow-up to that one. Now that we’ve had a couple months of the […]
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My trusty old Cricut has been well loved. It has made party decorations, lettering for Scouting events, it has scrapbooked hundreds of pictures of at least one of my children. We have made robots and dinosaurs, we have made Batman and Elmo. Cricut has come a long way in the last ten years, and so […]
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The month of June begins next week and with it the summer season and time to “Be the Artist” once again. In past summers, we’ve traveled around the globe and traveled through time. We have even covered artists who use their work for a wide range of purposes, from activism to advertising, education, and entertainment. This […]
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