Barb from HarmonyartMom had a lovely post today on a mother's need to be creative.  It's well worth a read!  I'm going through this creative burst lately with the quilting.  My friends and family would say "she gets an idea in her head and she runs full speed with if!"  I love trying new things, and often they don't last long, but in the meantime I have tried many different things.  Years ago, when older children were little it was cross-stitch.  However, one soon runs out of room in the house for hanging yet another cross-stitch!  For a while it was knitting baby hats and scarves and I also tried a little dress for a beanie bear on 5 double-pointed needles!  Now that I have my old second-hand sewing machine going, it's sewing & quilting.  Bethany took up hand-sewing a couple of years ago and has made countless little outfits for her beanie bear, Pinky.  Here is the latest outfit she made yesterday:

Beth has also knitted lots of little mittens, slippers & scarves for her teddies.

Pinky even has her own set of mini books:

 inspired in part by this book that Bethany was given recently:

I guess what I love about all these creative projects is the challenge of following instructions and being able to complete something.  It is so satisfying looking at the finished project that you have made yourself.  I also love it when the girls get stuck in and try things themselves. 

Here are a couple of drawings Beth has done recently.  The first is a self-portrait and the second is a picture of a horse.

Last week we had another two workshops with New Zealand artist, Graham Braddock.  To see our bushmen's huts we did last year, click here.

This year we had two workshops:  Confidence with Colour & Fun with Portraits. 

In the Confidence with Colour workshop Graham had us draw a colour wheel with a difference - a vase of flowers.  Then we added a marrow to demonstrate how to blend different colours together to different effects.

Bethany's colour wheel

Mine (left) and Emily's (right) colour wheels

In the Fun with Portraits workshop, Graham picked a boy & a girl from the audience and led us through drawing a portrait of them.  We focussed on getting proportions right before filling in the details.

Bethany's portraits

My portraits

Last week at Girls' Group we had some instruction in drawing.  Here are some of the drawings the girls did:

Bethany's (9 1/2 yrs) pictures of a girl & a horse.

Emily's (8yrs) cartoon people.

Ainsley's (5 3/4 yrs) pictures of herself (left) & Bethany (right).

I discovered this site last year when I was searching for free art lesson plans.  Karine Bauch has a lovely site with lots of free 'do-able' art lesson plans for the homeschool.  You can subscribe to her monthly newsletter in which she includes a link to her latest lesson. Check it out at www.teachartathome.com.

Last year, our pastor's wife showed our lady's  group how to make these mini concertina scrapbook albums.  I added photos of our girls and gave them to each of their grandmothers (Oma & Nana) for Christmas.  Here are some pics.

The books fold up and are tied by a ribbon.

Well, I thought I'd better post something for November!

Bethany & Emily have been doing a short woodwork course.  Here are some of the things they have made so far.  They are pencil boxes, candle holders and a set of dominoes complete with a little box to put them in.

I have been inspired by Geninne's  watercolour alphabet here so I tried my own New Zealand version.  Here it is:

I have recently discovered Geninne's Art Blog.  Geninne is a homeschooling mum and freelance artist.  She has done some beautiful watercolour paintings in bright, vibrant colours and has made some lovely sewing projects.  I have been inspired to try a few myself!  Check out her blog for some arty inspiration!  Geninne's Art Blog

Emily drew this picture in watercolour pencils.