Get Artsy, Mama!

Greenhouse Ministries

2008-12-08T02:25:00.000-08:00

Artsy Mamas is so proud to have teamed up with the local agency Greenhouse Ministries. They welcomed us into their facility and embraced our mission with open arms. We enjoyed pizza and some fun art activities. There was a holiday tree theme: gratitude trees and Christmas tree magnets! Here are some photos from our evening.

El Dia De Los Muertos

2008-11-03T09:54:00.001-08:00

Ms Courtney reads a Spanish book to the moms and kiddos.

Our Ofrenda

Our sugar skulls

Artsy Mamas work on their paper flowers.

Gracias to Dos Amigas for bringing us one of the best attended Artsy Mamas events to date! Kudos! I had a blast and so did my kids!

Decorating Onesies at the Pregnancy Support Center

2008-10-24T08:50:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, Artsy Mamas volunteered to lead a onesie/t-shirt decorating activity at our local Pregnancy Support Center. Word has it that as soon as they put out the sign up sheet, all six slots filled up. I can honestly say that it makes me so happy to know that people are benefiting from the efforts made by this organization. All of those signed up came to decorate a onesie or a t-shirt for their unborn child. We provided a variety of sizes of white onesies and shirts. Also, we provided iron-on transfers, fabric paints, brushes and stencils. With the sticky stencils, this activity was super simple and everyone was quite successful. I loved learning how easy it was to decorate my own cute shirts for my kids. All of the moms were excited about Artsy Mamas and asked when we might be doing something similar to this in the future!

Apple Art Date

2008-09-21T17:44:00.000-07:00

First, we gathered apples in my front yard! Then we took them to the back porch for apple painting (similar to marble painting only with apples) and for apple print making. Check out the photos! We had a blast!

Check out that cool star pattern that the inside of the apple makes!

BOLD Red Tent East Nashville

2008-09-14T05:27:00.000-07:00

Together with Krystal Kinnunen and BOLD (Birth on Labor Day), Artsy Mamas helped promote a "Red Tent Event" in East Nashville. You can see what the event is all about here but basically, a bunch of mamas got together and shared our birth stories. I found the experience to be very empowering and I hope to offer a similar event through Artsy Mamas here in Murfreesboro in the near future. Only I'd like to incorporate the arts into our event. Check out these glorious photos of moms expressing themselves through movement and sharing their stories of giving birth.

Dinner at the Center

2008-09-14T05:19:00.000-07:00

On Friday, August 22nd, Artsy Mamas, in conjunction with Center for the Arts, hosted the very first Dinner at the Center. You can read more about the concept here. I, personally, had a blast and I'm looking forward to the next event! A big fat thank you to Adam Selzer of Adam and the Couch Potatoes for coming all the way out to the Boro and entertaining us! We really appreciated it!

Christmas in July

2008-09-14T05:11:00.000-07:00

Back at the end of July, Artsy Mamas celebrated Christmas a little early by making ornaments and decorating cards. Fun was had by all. Thanks to the Boro Book Warehouse for letting us use their space.

Come on Get Artsy: Clay Day!

2008-08-10T09:13:00.000-07:00

On Monday, August 4th, we got our hands dirty with several different types of clay. First we rolled, cut, shaped, squished, and maybe even ate a little of some home made play dough. The recipe can be found here (it is the first one listed called "Cooked Play Dough").

We also played with some brightly colored fun clay that does not dry. Seriously, guys, this stuff is all over my house. And I say that begrudgingly. I'm not sure if it is the most kid friendly clay on the planet but I really liked the colors.

For our video, we watched "Wallace and Grommit". The kids seemed pretty excited by the video tutorial on how to create the clay rabbits from the movie.

Finally, we made pinch pots with red mexican clay. This did dry and now I personally have two red clay bowls in my house... and they are simply marvelous.

Personally, I really enjoyed working with so many different types of medium. Exploring such a variety of clays was truly interesting and in the future, I'll have a better understanding of what I will need when I go to pick out supplies for projects!

Thank you so much to Hobby Town for donating our supplies. You guys rock!!

Come On Get Artsy: Week 2, Puppets and Drama

2008-08-06T10:13:00.001-07:00

Our second week of Come On Get Artsy had the theme of Puppets and Drama. We started out the morning with a few drama games led by me. I adapted a well-known drama game called Mirror by taking away a few of the "rules" and allowing the moms and kids to just simply take turns imitating one another. Kids love to be copy cats so this is a sure-fire winner! We also used our bodies to show our emotions. Most of the kids seemed to understand what we were doing and they got into it. After the drama games, we created puppets. Artsy Mama Michelle dropped by and helped us make paper bag puppets. The only materials you might need for these are brown paper lunch bags, glue, scissors, markers/crayons, and construction paper. While we worked on the paper bag puppets, small groups went to a table and created their own personalized sock puppets. We were also able to make some Disney finger puppets. Michelle also showed us how to take photos of the illustrations inside of our kids' story books, print them on our computer, and then laminate them (with packing tape) and attach them to wooden sticks. What's so awesome is that these little guys can be stuck right inside of the books so that they are readily available at story time. We took a tour of the Green Room and the Costume Room. We also got to check out the inside of the theater. Before lunch, we did a few more drama games... this time we actually acted. We became pigs in mud, bears, princesses at the movie theater, and pirates at the grocery store. I am pretty sure that I had more fun than any of the kids!

Come On Get Artsy, Week 1: Painting and Drawing

2008-08-01T15:22:00.000-07:00

What a fun time we all had learning about different types of visual arts on Monday, July 21st. Jennifer and Kristen presented the group with four varieties of activities: cave painting (natural/earth tones on brown paper sacks), perspective drawings, impressionist works (an introduction to pastels.), and collage (scissors, glue, paper, and magazines)! There was a slide show for each artistic medium that the kids really seemed to like. We all enjoyed some all natural popcorn and juice boxes/bottled water as snack and we worked to wonderful background music. While we had lunch, we were able to watch a Sister Wendy dvd. The kids and moms all seemed to have a blast I really liked getting to know some other local moms and their kiddos. We have dubbed this experiment a success and will be repeating it again in the future. Yay for Mamas gettin' artsy with their kiddos! And double yay for making new friends in such a wonderful, creative environment.

Coffee Filter Butterflies

2008-06-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

This week, we learned about Butterflies. The kids all really enjoyed learning about cocoons, migration, and of course, the pretty butterflies themselves. We made some really cool butterfly magnets out of coffee filters!

Here is what y0u need:
food colors
coffee filters
clothes pin
marker
pipe cleaner
sticky magnets

Basically you just squirt the food coloring on the the coffee filters (lightly or else it becomes saturated and as my son would say "Garbage) and then fold them together to make them symmetrical. This is called blot art.

We sat them on the porch to dry.

After they dried we brought them inside and I helped the kids to gather them in the center and put them in the clothes pins. We then made antennas from pipe cleaners and made smiley faces with markers. My clothes pins already had magnets on the backs that I'd put on there about four years ago! But you'd need to do that, of course. Anyway, they are super cute and the kids were terribly proud of their creations.

Bird Feeders from Egg Cartons!

2008-06-16T09:23:00.000-07:00

Last Monday, I had a few mamas and kids over to enjoy making bird feeders! I chose bird feeders as the craft because I pretty much run an at home preschool now and I have chosen themes for each week. Last week's theme was birds so bird feeders seemed appropriate. Everyone provided an egg carton. We took the tops off and used them as our paint palettes. Then we put holes on each of the four corners of the egg cartons and used twine for the hangers. After that, we headed outside for finger painting. Some of the children (MINE) don't like to get dirty! But I'm working on that with them. All in all the bird feeders looked pretty good. I sent everyone home with a small bag of bird seed as well. I've not hung ours yet! Please comment if you've hung yours... I'd love to know how they actually survive in a tree!

Our first book discussion!

2008-06-10T05:27:00.001-07:00

Beth Bream led us in our first book discussion on May 31st. The book highlighted was

Misconceptions: Truth, Lies and the Unexpected on the Journey to Motherhood

By Naomi Wolf. Our leader said that she felt that it went really well and that she felt encouraged to follow this discussion with future ones! (On a personal note, I'd just like to say that it was a joy to sit around and talk about natural childbirth, home birth, breastfeeding and the realities of post partum depression with women who are like minded.)

Do you have a book you'd like to discuss with Artsy Mamas? If so, leave a comment here on this blog entry or simply drop us a note at artsymamas@gmail.com. We are currently taking book suggestions for the summer!

Art and Story Time: Los Animales in Espanol

2008-06-10T05:11:00.000-07:00

Lots of Artsy Mamas (and a couple of Artsy Papas) came together on Saturday, May 31st to enjoy the second Art and Story Time at Boro Book Warehouse in Murfreesboro. Thanks to Angelique St. Clair, the owner of Bravo Ninos, for leading the children in learning five animals in Spanish: perro, gato, pajaro, vaca, y oso. Mrs. St. Clair also brought along some fancy snacks from the Spanish culture that the kids really seemed to enjoy (and the Mamas like them too... those Takis were tooooo good!!). We had such a good time wearing ponchos and sombreros!

Robert Travis creates his five animals in Spanish libro.

Our new friends Ashley and Warren.

Pals Levi and Leah!

Learning espanol.

Rianne and Brian!

Yummy Mexican snacks!

Mark your calendars for this month's art and story time at Boro Book Warehouse!
June 28th, Saturday, 2-3pm
"Acting out": Kids will make masks and learn some theater games!

Artsy Mamas Get Down and Get Funky At Mamapalooza

2008-05-19T09:35:00.001-07:00

More pics and info to come!!

Jazz Fest, 2008

2008-05-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

Today the Artsy Mamas had a tent at JazzFest! We had a table set up for kids to make crafts and boy, did they make some crafts! I couldn't believe how quickly the paint sticks for this craft disappeared. Everyone really seemed to enjoy decorating their own clap sticks. Check out some of the art work that the kiddos did today!

Once we ran out of paint sticks, we simply had the children make Mother's Day cards. The kids seemed to like that even more!!

Art and Story Time at Boro Book Warehouse: I Love My Earth!

2008-04-26T15:45:00.000-07:00

Today I led the first of many Art and Story Time's at Boro Book Warehouse.

I read Dawdle Duckling by Toni Buzzeo, complete with quacking duck puppet.
The kids sat and listened surprisingly well. Then we learned to sing two songs about recycling. We talked about recycling and being good stewards of the Earth. Then I was nice and let them get to what they really wanted... healthy bunny snacks and crafts.

Earth Day At Barnes and Noble!

2008-04-26T15:20:00.001-07:00

KC, owner of Living Green 101, generously created for our events some amazing literature about... you guessed it, green living. If you missed our Earth Day activities, I'd be happy to email the literature to anyone who would like a copy! You can learn how to make all natural play doh, be a better steward of our earth, and you'll get a copy of my favorite green and healthy smoothie recipe! Send requests to shebrakes4rainbows@gmail.com!
We made Rain sticks and Toilet Paper Roll Friends. In our rainsticks, we used popcorn. And we put the ends on with rubber bands... which seemed to work fine as long as the little ones didn't pull them off!

You can learn how to make Rain sticks here and find templates (both black and white and color) to make your own toilet paper friends here.

No need to throw out those cardboard tubes anymore! Now they can be made into toys for the little ones!!

Get Your Write On, Mama.

2008-04-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

On April 12th, Artsy Mamas hosted a writing artshop for mothers at the Edmundson Branch Library in Nashville. Meredith Grey was our instructor and she did an excellent job of helping everyone feel really comfortable and at home. She provided us with handouts that included a variety of writing prompts and exercises. Personally I could not believe how much work I got done in just a few short hours! We did a lot of free-writing mode types of exercises... which is what I'm used to. I share some of what I produced as a result of these exercises here. However, my favorite part of the artshop was our dabbling with "making stuff up". I've never been fond of writing fiction... mostly for fear that I couldn't do it. I managed to squeeze out four plays when I was in college and I was convinced that that was it... a certain TMBG song comes to mind, "There's only three plays in me and I just wrote the fourth. Don't know where I got the inspiration or how I wrote the words."
At any rate, one really cool exercise that Meredith introduced was the use of visual prompts. She laid three post cards out on the table as shown in the photo to the right. Then we were supposed to begin a story based upon one post card. I found it surprisingly easy to become lost in the Crystal Pistol, imagining the types of women who would walk inside inquiring about the Burlesque Dancer positions available. I plan to use that writing exercise again one day.

We also had to "interview our characters". I had a lot of fun making up a character and finding out more about her personality and life.

This was such a fabulous artshop! I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I hope that we can have another one day soon. For more information on attending or hosting your own artshop, please contact Mandy at shebrakes4rainbows@gmail.com.

Recycled Vests!

2008-04-21T19:23:00.001-07:00

We had a great time making the recycled vests from brown paper grocery bags.

Ronin really enjoyed decorating her vest.

And the kiddos had fun modeling them.

You can learn how to make them yourself here.