Here I've shared some of my favorite art supplies for the artist in your life. I include great supplies for the grown up maker, and kid friendly supplies too. For the Grown Up Artist Ticonderoga pencils, the best pencils, these are my favorite. Pencil sharpener, the perfect pencil sharper to keep in your bag; so, you are ready to sketch anywhere and don't have to worry about pencil shavings. Heavy duty, sharp scissors for cutting cardboard or thick materials, these are perfe

This gift guide covers gifts for men, women, and kids. I have been reviewing all the things I've bought on Amazon for as long as I have used Amazon, and have a comprehensive list I would recommend and buy again. So, if you are on the hunt for some gift ideas, I've got you covered. For the Men So, I find gift guides for men strange. They usually have joke or gag gifts, barbecue items, cuff links, and ties. None of these kinds of gifts work for my husband. I want to share

I wanted to share my favorite things from our trip, things that could have been better, and my best advice for planning our next getaway. These were my favorite places to visit in Yellowstone. First, the Grand Prismatic Spring at the Midway Geyser Basin. We arrived here shortly before sunset and the place just had a great atmosphere. It was cold outside, in the 40s, which helped create this steam everywhere that made the place beautiful. There was a wooden boardwalk that a

Hey there mama, just wanted to tell you it's ok to take a break. It's good to go do something on your own, with friends, or get a babysitter and go on a date with your spouse. Getting to have some time away from the constant motion of chores, and assisting with all the things, helps me embrace my routine when I return. Now, that we have moved to Utah, my favorite way to get a break from mom duties is hiking. I like being outside, taking in all the nature, capturing photos

Phoebe Waller-Bridge wrote and starred as the lead character in this beautiful, hilarious, heartbroken story about a woman and her relationships with herself, family, friends, and the world around her. Waller-Bridge consciously breaks the fourth wall, and speaks directly to the viewer sharing her internal monologue, letting the audience hear how she thinks. This is also a remarkable feat of acting. The other characters remain completely unaware of the asides, and both actor

I wanted to share some of my thinking and process of designing a bulletin board. The process I use to create a bulletin board is essentially how I plan most of my projects. This procedure can be applied to planning and executing a project of your own, whether it be an art project like this one, or if you're planning on organizing a part of your home and want to plan how you are going to do it the procedures for planning work just as well. I also want to back up and introduc

The second show I recommend is Marcella on Netflix. Marcella Backland is a former British police detective turned stay at home mom in contemporary London. She gets pulled back into an investigation involving a serial killer that she worked years before. Marcella is played by Anna Friel, as a complicated, heartbroken, tenacious, and brilliant detective. Marcella is an individual I have not seen on screen before. She is messy, unpredictable, and radiates her own style, authorit

So, I have a couple new shows I want to share with you that are currently on Netflix. First, Broadchurch, this is a fictional crime drama set in a small town by the same name, a fictional English town in Dorset. The town resides on the coast with sheer cliffs that are beautiful and daunting. The series focuses on two detectives, DI Alec Hardy, played by David Tennant, and DS Ellie Miller, played by Olivia Colman. Tennant and Colman do a beautiful job with their respective rol

So, this is my favorite marinade. It comes from the Southern Living Cookbook, and is intended for lamb chops, also delicious, and works just as well on beef. Here I use it with New York Strips. I marinate them overnight, and then baste them with the marinade as they cook. These are delicious broiled or on the grill. Enjoy! Ingredients 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1/2 cup Soy Sauce or Coconut Aminos 4 tablespoons ketchup 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1 teaspoon ground gi

I don't have cable, and watch the majority of things as they come on Netflix. So, I didn't see Hannibal when it originally came on network television in 2013 through 2015. The series now has a new home on Netflix, and is now being discovered by a whole new audience, which I'm hoping will lead to continuing the series in the future. But I digress. This series is full of many things: grotesque, brutal, beautiful murder scenes, enigmatic psychology, incredible food preparati

Bodyguard on Netflix stars Richard Madden as David Budd, a police sergeant and bodyguard for the politician, Julia Montague, played by actress Keeley Hawes. The story takes place in London and we get to see a glimpse of the internal mechanism of British politics. Richard Madden is a sight to behold in this series with his performance as a war veteran dealing with post traumatic stress while continuing to evaluate and react to the stress of his job. If you enjoy political t

Normal People on Hulu stars Paul Mescal as Connell Waldron and Daisy Edgar-Jones as Marianne Sheridan. This series is based on a novel by the same name by Sally Rooney. The story takes place in Ireland and follows Connell and Marianne's life through high school and college. This story is captivating and immersive. It captures the magic, realism, pain, and struggle of a normal life. The two characters are imperfect, with many strengths and many weaknesses. They are refre

The most used toys in our house are the duplo blocks aka the larger lego blocks. My five year old builds all kinds of machines, characters, and places with his blocks that he then pretends and creates his own imaginative world. He would often build ramps and slide many unsuspecting toys down. I wanted to add to his ability to create something that could create a track or a path that objects could move on. These marble run building blocks are perfect. This set gave my hus

This project is fun and playful while also introducing students to shapes and different ways to use them in art. Materials: construction paper, black paper, glue stick, scissors, and a pencil Time: this assignment took three, forty-five minute class periods to complete, including a day to lecture and present the assignment. Shapes are a flat enclosed area created when a line connects to enclose this area. A shape can be created by surrounding shapes. A shape can be an area

A positive shape, also known as, the figure, is the foreground shape or the main subject in a design, or the dominant shape in a figure-ground relationship. A negative shape, also known as, the ground, is a clearly defined area around a positive shape or form. This is a shape created around the dominant object. Even in writing, the positive shape would be considered the letters themselves, and the negative shape or ground would be the white paper the letters are written on.

Taking photos has become easier and more convenient than ever before with the high resolution cameras available on cell phones. With this convenience, we also have a lot more photos than ever, and it can become overwhelming to sort through them all. I'd like to share my process of how to organize and print the photos I love. First, I look through the photos on my phone, and any I want to print, I give a heart which sorts these photos into a "favorites" folder on my phone.

This is a multi-step project that was a challenge, while also a project most can do. The collage took a total of six, forty-five minute classes to complete, including the initial day of lecture and demonstration. This project was created for a 7th and 8th grade art class, but can be modified for all age levels. Elementary students could color shapes on a coloring page, cut them out, and glue them down on an animal shape, with an emphasis on arranging the shapes symmetrical

I Am Not Okay With This is an unexpected coming of age story of a girl named Sydney played by Sophia Lillis. She is dealing with typical high school nonsense, being an outsider; as well as, grief over her dad's death. But soon she learns she has a whole other set of problems that she is trying to keep a secret. Although there are fantasy elements, the character of Sydney feels honest and true. The way she reacts to her mom, best friend, neighbor, and brother all feel awkw

Materials: printed photo for reference, pencil, cardboard, craft scissors, pen or extra fine tip marker, Elmer’s glue A relief sculpture is a sculpture in which forms project out from a flat surface. High relief has forms that project greatly from a surface. Low relief has forms that project slightly from a surface. First take a photo of yourself or someone else and print it out for reference. Plan ahead, and think about what features you want to cutout and add layers to t

Room on the Broom is a keeper. This is one of our favorite books. It's got rhythm and rhyme, beautiful illustrations, and a great story. We love reading this to our boys at bedtime. This book has also been made into a short film on Netflix that is just as lovely, and captures the story beautifully while showing our kids one of their favorite books in motion. If you need a new bedtime story, we recommend this one. #roomonthebroom #room #on #the #broom #book #books #read #