Flower Pen Workshop

It's proving to be the summer of the Flower Pen! I led a workshop with a small group of children last night and we had a wonderful time making flower pens (tutorial HERE) together.

What I've noticed from doing this project so many times is that more often than not, the boys enjoy it just as much as or more so than the girls! I had tons of supplies this time so I let each student make four pens to keep or give as gifts.

Supplies ready to go

Students focused on how to correctly use the floral tape to create the best effect and most long lasting product by using a "pull and wrap" technique.

"Can I make another?!"

Finished pens

Photo Share - Mackinac Island

Dear Poor Neglected Blog...

I could give a hundred reasons why I have been absent so much lately -- I've had family engagements, a long weekend out of town, and my biggest event of the year at work for starters, but I know that you don't care about that.

What we both care about is the fact that not only have I been neglecting you, but I've been neglecting that lovely space in my basement known as the craft room - where hundreds of project ideas are strewn around just dying to be completed -- or even started...

I promise to be better. I promise to try harder. Not for you, but for me, because I need to take artistic time for myself - now matter how busy my schedule gets.

Thank you blog, for understanding.

Love, Joanne

Hubby and I celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary on Mackinac Island, MI this weekend. I just have a point and shoot camera, but I'm hugely interested in photography.

I'm looking forward to getting a digital SLR and enrolling in some classes by the end of the year. Here are some scenic shots from our weekend...

Dance Recital Photos!

Curious as to how the dance recital costumes came out and how darling the little girls looked in them?

Head HERE and enter the password: VisserYMCA

While you're there - check out local West Michigan photographer Elizabeth Krol's site - she has some lovely images!

Let me know what you think!

Little Old Lady Land

My mother (Mum) is a costume designer and seamstress. She freelances throughout the state designing and building costumes for plays and musicals. She's currently working on a production of the Mel Brook's musical, The Producers.

Mum was unbelieveably helpful and amazing helping me get the dance recital costumes all ready to go - so in return I'm helping her with a small piece of this really big show. There's a scene set in "Little Old Lady Land" where twenty two chorus members are dressed as identical old ladies!


Crazy, right? So while Mum set about making 22 identical dresses, I helped out with the headpieces. Hats and hat forms are expensive, so we had to create hats that weren't actually hats. Plus, Mum wanted something a little more whimsical and even sillier looking than the original production. I used dark blue tulle and some fake flowers... and here's what I came up with...




I built 22 of them last night and now I'm passing them on to Mum at the theatre, where they will be sewn onto the wigs.

You end up with some crazy projects when you're a costumer - or a costumer's daughter for that matter!

It's been waaaay too long!

I'm back! It's been far too long, I know. The good news is that I've wrapped up some big projects and time-consuming commitments and am ready to take some time for me - and some time for my poor neglected blog!

I look forward to getting you all up to speed on projects I've been working on, and projects that are coming up soon. I'm also going to be continuing to play around with the format of this blog. I'm much happier with a three column template - but as my mother noted (and mother's are *almost* always right - it feels a lot less intimate now... and I don't want that!)

So thank you for hanging in there with me while I've been gone, and for continuing to be patient as I play around with formatting. I appreciate all of your comments, e-mails, and visits so much!

I'm doing a lot of teaching this summer, and am very much looking forward to it. This afternoon I taught my first of a series of art projects based on picture books to a mixed age group of elementary students. Today's project was based on The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, and was based on a lesson from Art Projects for Kids.

Children drew eight lines of any length in the middle of their paper with a pencil, then joined the tops and bottoms of the lines to create a caterpillar body. They then added a head, tail and some feet.


Then they went over all of their pencil lines with a dark crayon...

Then they painted with watercolors, experimenting with using different amounts of water and paint to create lighter and dark shades. They were encouraged to leave no white space (some of them did this, some did not) and create a really colorful piece. We discussed the way that the crayon resisted the watercolor paints, and showed through even when painted over.




Here are some of the finished products...


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It's been awhile since I taught, so this was a bit of a brush up lesson for me. I wasn't thrilled with using palette watercolors - I much prefer liquid - but they are much more expensive. I would also prefer a heavier paper - so the next time we do watercolors I will splurge on some watercolor paper that can handle the moisture a little bit better.

Working in nonprofit you work with what you have - and this is what I had. I think the students did a nice job on this project, and I can't wait to work with them some more!