skip to main |
skip to sidebar
School is out for winter break and if you are like me, you need fun activities to keep little hands busy, busy, busy. Well expert figure skaters, Sebastian and Sadie, are here and ready to help with that!
To get started, purchase the download here for only $3.99, complete with both figure skaters and three tree shapes. Print out the figure skaters (I recommend using fine art heavy card stock or taking the file to your local print shop for the best quality of print) and cut them out. Cut out support tabs and glue long vertical strip to back of skater for support. (I find it's also helpful to add a piece of thick foam or cardboard for additional support).
Now using hot glue, adhere magnet to the bottom of the flap of skater
Once the glue is dry you are ready to try out your new skater on the "ice"!
To create your ice rink, take a large discarded cereal box and place it on it's side. You may cover it in white butcher paper before hand if you like, leaving one end open. Create slits in the box where you'd like your trees to go. Print out tree shapes. (You can keep them as is or cover them in black duct tape as we did here). Place large tongue depressors to the backs of the trees. Now you are set to place your trees within the slits you created in your large box.
Place your skater a top the box and than place a corresponding magnet
within the cereal box and directly below the skater. Magnets should meet
up. You are now ready to move your skater around on the ice! So fun!!
These make a great stocking stuffer or craft/toy to play an create with friends and family members during these winter months! Hop on over to the shop to get started on your very own skaters now!
(download will be emailed to you after purchase)
Happy voting day America!
So I realize that I've promised more pics of baby girl and a birth story and such...and rest assured they are coming! But we are currently holed up with icky colds that just won't ever end. I was the last to get it and it's hit me hard. Just hoping that this doesn't turn into one of my brutal sinus infections that last a month. Baby girl is getting better but I'm so nervous she'll get a new strain and end up with RSV (both my boys got it when they were babies so I'm extra paranoid).
Anyway. I also have a slew of illustration work going on this week so I thought I'd share this pic of hard working all-American June with you. Fitting for today. She's actually a paper doll and this is one of her outfits. Way to go June! Thinking of you, my boys, my baby girl and all of America's future little ones today.
Vote well America.
I just got back from LA last night and working on getting caught up on everything and enjoying seeing my Littles again (who I swear have grown in just a few short days!). The geometric painting for the GAP Kids event in LA at the Grove was a smashing success! I had such a fabulous time meeting so many little Picasso's and their parents. And the girls from A Squared Events, particularly Jen Truc, who ran the show, were phenomenal to work with. I love seeing everything all set up and ready to go. And then when the kids started coming, well it was pure magic.
I loved to see the many wonderful combinations and creative applications the kids came up with for our geometric art project. They were nothing short of brilliant! I am sharing a few photos from my Instragram feed from the LA Event, (as well as a few from other city attendees feeds), here to share with you. I'm just so thrilled with how everything turned out! (see the flickr page from all the geo painting events here! so inspiring!!)
And if you were not able to make it out to one of these events, and want your little ones to make some geometric art on their own you can now do so at home!
Materials:
- You will need either a canvas or thick sheet of watercolor paper (if you use paper, I would suggest taping it down to a firm surface).
- A fun selection of bright acrylic or tempera paints
- A paint brush
- and some masking tape (I like the 1/2" size)
Start by taping off sections of your canvas so that they make a variety of fun geometric shapes.
Now grab your first color of paint. Decide which shapes you want to be this color and paint them in within the line of the tape (overlapping is fine as the tape will be taken off). Then proceed on to the next color, until your canvas is filled with a variety of fun, colorful shapes!
Once the painted canvas is dry, you may remove the masking tape.
Now enjoy your new work of geometric art! I love how striking these turn out. There are so many options and directions you can with this.
I also love how this is a great art activity for kids of all ages. If your child is at the preschool age, and more into sensory painting, they can just go crazy and see what fun magic happens when the tape is removed. And if they are bit older, they can really get into disciplining their color selection and planning out their different shapes. They can be more precise and intentional, creating something really amazing.
If do this art project, we'd love to see pics of your final creations! And if you attended any of the geo art painting events accross the US and Canada, I'd LOVE to see your pics from that as well!
And for this weekend, get geared up for journal making! Your child's thoughts and acheivments will shine on throughout time as they record it all in their very own journal that they make themselves! See more about dates and locations for this event on GAP's Shine On Facebook page. And based on how successful this last weekend was, you won't want to miss it!!
 I can't believe we will begin our Shine On crafting weekends in just two days! I seriously can't wait!! If you live in the LA area please do stop in at the Grove and say hello! I'd love love love to meet you and see so many of your little artists!
Our first activity will be geometric art! You're little ones will be able to create and bring home a fun and bright, colorful, striking work of art. It's easy and the pay off is so great!
We will be doing geometric art from:
10AM - 1PM
And if you are not in the LA area, please drop on in on any of the following GAP Kids locations:
New York: 54th & 5th
San Francisco: Corte Maderta
Chicago: Sheffield
Boston: Burlington Mall
Miami: Georgetown
Philadelphia: Newton Center
Dallas: Dallas Galleria
Toronto: Eaton Center
If you do attend at any of these events I'd LOVE to hear how it went and to see pictures!!! I'd love to do a round up of all your little Picasso's on my blog after each event, so bring your cameras and share! You can also stay in the loop with GAP's Facebook Shine On Saturdays event page.
Hope to see you there!
xo
Mer
Friends, friends, friends!! If you haven't heard yet, Mer Mag is partnering with GAP Kids to craft the next three Saturdays and it's time to mark your calendars and get ready to Shine On!! Come on in with your Littles the next three Saturday's and craft with Mer Mag at any of the following GAP Kids locations:
- Boston
- Chicago
- Dallas
- Los Angeles
- New York
- Miami
- Philadelphia
- San Fransisco
- Toronoto
- Washington D.C.
I'm so excited about the craft projects we have in store!! To celebrate your child's accomplishments and unique abilities to SHINE I've come up with three exciting crafts for your little one to delve into! Here's the break down on what we we will be doing on the next three Saturdays:
- August 11th (from 10am to 1pm): GEOMETRIC ART: Your little on will be able to make their very own eye popping geometric work of art! They will love exploring with paint and pattern and will be sure to leave with a personal masterpiece that you both will treasure!
- August 18th (from 10am to 1pm): JOURNAL MAKING: Your little shining star will be able to create their very own colorful custom journal to take home and record all of their hopes, goals, dreams and shining accomplishments!
- August 25th (from 10am to 1pm): ANIMAL CHARACTER BADGES: You know how special and unique your little one is. Now it's time to award them with a custom badge of honor. Your child will create their very own animal character badge that they can then pin onto their lapel, jacket, backpack or more!
And if you are in the LA area, I'll be at the Grove to participate in the first craft workshop, Geometric Art, this weekend! I'd be more than thrilled to meet you and your little one(s) so please stop in and say hello! (And if you don't have any Littles, please stop in anyway and say hello! No doubt GAP will have plenty of fun things you just won't be able to live without :)). And let's be honest, I'm planning on getting all my back to school shopping done this weekend. I already have my eye on a number of great GAP Kid's clothing items!
And don't forget about GAP's online Shine On Saturdays for those of you who don't live near one of the above locations. There is just so much fun crafting to get in on!! and if you like Gap's facebook page you can keep up on all these events that they have in store!! You can also get in on the conversation on Twitter using hashtag #ShineOn. I'll keep you updated by liking Mer Mag's facebook page and on Instagram (@mer_mag) as well. I even got all social networky and finally got a Twitter account (@mer_mag). Can you even believe it ;). This is going to be fun, fun, fun!
xo
Mer
 Friends I have been beyond excited to share some great news. Mer Mag has been asked to create crafts for GAP Kids as part of their Shine On Saturdays. I'm not only thrilled to be partnering with GAP but am over the moon about the concept behind their new Shine On campaign. The Shine On campaign highlights the talents and strengths of children in their own lives and within their community and has even chosen two adorable kids, via an open casting call, to help share the concept of Shining On. And over her at Mer Mag we are ALL about celebrating kids abilities and empowering them with creativity! So needless to say we are so super honored to be a part of GAP Kid's Shine On Campaign!!
To share the news with you, Little O and I made this little stop motion video together. Inspired by the efforts of GAP's Shine On kids, who painted a mural at an LA Middle School, we decided to create our own little piece of vibrant geometric art. Take a look at how it all came together in this video!
And if you want to create your own piece of geometric art, along with two other shining crafts we have in store for you, just mark your calendars for GAP Kids Shine On Saturday's!!! In fact, I'll be making and appearance at LA's Grove GAP Kids store (one of my favorite shopping centers in LA!). So if you are in the LA area, please do stop in and say hello! And bring your kid(s), ready to get their craft on!  GAP Kid's Shine On Saturday's will be taking place in their flagship stores on the following Saturdays:
- August 11th: Geometric Art
- August 18th: Journal Making
- August 25th: Animal Character Badges
These events will be taking place at the following GAP Kids US stores (And if you don't live in the US, don't worry, I believe they are still doing this outside of the US with other international crafters. So cool right?!):
- Boston
- Chicago
- Dallas
- Los Angeles
- New York
- Miami
- Philadelphia
- San Fransisco
- Toronoto
- Washington D.C.
And for those of you who don't live close to one of the GAP Kid's stores mentioned, don't worry! There is still a load of online crafting fun that you can take part in starting this Saturday! Take a look at the first project her on GAP's facebook page.
We can hardly wait to get our Shine On!! We do hope you'll join us!!
xo Mer
(Oh and Little O is wearing a GAP Kids orange fall sweater. And if he was wearing some of GAP's new action stretch denim pants, I'm confident he wouldn't be picking a wedgie ;)).
**Update: Giveway Now Closed**
So you might have noticed the blog has a few lulls every now and again. This typically happens when things get a little crazy around here. You see, in addition to crafting, blogging and the typical mom stuff (soccer camp, art camp, music class, oh my!) I more than likely have a number of exciting illustration projects on my plate. And so I thought, instead of hiding out when this happens, why not share a few of them with you?! I do have an illustration blog, that is quite neglected and not at all updated regularly, but I think I might try to merge some of these things onto Mer Mag. What do you think? Would you be interested?
 At the moment I'm working on a super super fun project! I can't disclose what it is but it involves horses and I just can't wait to share it! I also have a number of other book projects going on that are just so cute and so much fun! If you are interested in looking up some of my work, I illustrate under the "pen name" Tuesday Mourning. Long story but basically I just loved the name and enjoy it when artist personas are as whimsical as their work.
You might have noticed from this blog that I love children's toys and so when I have the opportunity to illustrate for companies like Mudpuppy, working on great projects such as these fun finger puppets and flip draw book, I'm just head over heels! I'm crazy for this kind of stuff, aren't you? And I have to say, you should get some, because they are so much fun! And better yet, super affordable. The finger puppets are only $6 and the flip draw book is $8! Perfect birthday gifts, if you ask me.
 And guess what? I'd love to share some with you! I've decided to gift a set of finger puppets and a ballerina flip draw book to one lucky reader. What do you say?! Just make a comment mentioning one of your favorite creative summer activities and I'll enter you into the drawing to win these fun gifts! And if you like "mer mag" on facebook and I'll enter you in twice! (I know, I'm seriously a slow poke when it comes to social networking - just joined Instagram this past week - so I'm finally getting around to really sharing mer mag on facebook :)).
You have until Friday to enter. I'll then Announce the winner on Monday, June 25th!
 Last week A and I met up with with one of his newly favorite friends (and his super cool mom, whose awesome idea this was!) for the most perfect play date. Together we made custom painted plates for Father's Day at Color Me Mine, a DIY ceramic painting studio. We actually had the dad's with us but sent them away with the wee ones so we could work on secret surprises (Little O was having a hard time sitting still long enough to create, but I think he'd love this otherwise. He was entranced by the many many pottery options and just couldn't leave them be, so away to play in the fountains he went).
I always love creating custom pottery and find myself wanting to spend hours in these places, scheming up entire lines of ceramic ware. Lucky for us however we had two 5-6 yr olds to keep us moving right along.
A was more than into this project and loved picking out colors for his plate. I think having a buddy there with him just made creating that much more magical. He didn't hesitate to jump right into painting and I love what he came up with. He's really been into layering outlines of colors, one after the other in what ever shape the art material is in. So for example, he's done a number of rectangular book marks with several layers of colorful rectangles inside one another. And with this circular ceramic plate, he created a number of various circular rings stacked within each other. I really like his choice of bringing the black and green back into the color pattern right in the very center.
 As for the back of the plate, he enthusiastically painted the different portions of the plate (after trying for a dotted motif around the rim that just didn't turn out to his liking). He then wrote "DAD" in bold black letters and I just love it. I'm pretty positive that Jon will love it as well (who I've forbidden to look at this post until after Father's Day...so if there are typos it's because I didn't have my trusty proof reader to keep things in check for me on this one).
 I knew that I wanted to make something for Jon as well that could be from all of us as a family (and something that Little O could present to him so he didn't feel left out for not having a plate - although I'm sure I'll have him make something with his own hands just for Jon, at some point). After much thought and debate I decided it would be fun to do simple illustrated portraits of the kids. And if we are representing all the kids, I knew I had to put our baby girl to be on there as well, which I'm sure will make Jon very happy indeed. And I have to say, it was pretty exhilarating for me to do this as well as it really helped to sink in the idea that yes, we are indeed adding another lil' rascal to our bunch! Zoiks! I'm getting more excited every day! (which is a good thing because I also just get bigger and more uncomfortable as the days progress on. Boy I'm not looking forward to the hot months of July and August...).
 I finished the plate off with a "happy Father's Day" tribute on the back, commemorating this year, 2012. I think it might be a fun tradition to do one of these every year and show how the kids grow and change a bit each year. Wouldn't that be the most special collection ever!? I think I just might have to do this.
 And if you are wanting to do something similar for a special dad in your
life, there are a number of approaches you can take. Like me you can
grab some friends for a play date at your local DIY pottery studio or
you can create you own version at home with a simple white plate and
some porcelaine paint markers, similar to what I did for our 2011 Santa cookie plate (which I'll now have to update at the end of this year!).
And don't worry about perfection. I think simple stick figures could be really cute as well as having your Littles draw on their own version each family member (similar to what A did for his embroidered family portrait pillow). You'll cherish it!
Happy Valentines Day friends! How is your day going so far? Jon spelled out J+M in a heart for me with chalk on the driveway which started the day out just right.
I've been stuffing my face with chocolates, decadent cookies and Cinnabun pancakes all week thanks to a wonderful Valentines exchange that I was lucky enough to attend over the weekend. Stephanie Ford, from Sycamore Street Press, hosted the get together at her swoon worthy abode and several of us gals brought unique Valentines to share with one another. For my contribution I decided to use watercolor to write out "love" on several different cards. I then added a little quote about love on each card and passed them out with a little chocolate treat.
I can't decide which card ended up being my favorite but I know I had a lot of fun making these. I love the idea of having Valentines parties for just the gals. Have you ever had a get together like this? If not, I highly suggest it.
Any exciting dinner plans for the evening? A night out with your sweetheart, the gals or just a comfortable night in with the family? That is most likely what we'll be doing. Jon and I used to really live up Valentines Day when we lived in NY. We decided it was our one day of the year to really splurge and celebrate each other and our marriage. I remember some melt in you mouth pasta from an Italian restaurant where there was a dress code and the waiters would come and brush away any crumbs that might fall on your table during the duration of your meal. And then there was Cafe des Artists where I had the most phenomenal fish dish in the world. And there was an Asian restaurant that was out of this world. I think it was a star hang out spot and I even think they have filmed a couple of movies there. They had the most gigantic Buddha I've ever seen. That place was a little too fast and furious for our taste but still a lot of fun. I'll have to ask Jon what the name of it was as I can't recall just now.
But for this year, well I think we'll avoid the crowds tonight and then go out on Saturday. I'll have to come up with something scrumptious to make here at home for this evening...will have to see...
Happy Valentines to you all and I hope you enjoy yourself thoroughly!
XO
mer
How was your Thanksgiving?! Are you stuffed to the gills and sick of the Black Friday crowds? I love how on Monday we can all sit in our jammies, recuperate, and...shop some more online!!! And...In celebration of Cyber Monday I'm offering a buy one get one deal in my Tuesday Mourning shop!
Just purchase the first print and mention in a convo which print you want for free!! I've listed a slew of new prints that you'll love. And your tried and true beloved prints are there as well! Happy Holiday Shopping!
So I've been a busy, busy bee this past month. In between a number of illustration projects, preparing for a move and trying to keep my littles entertained in the California heat, I've managed to squeeze in a 2-day, day camp that I just happened to be in charge of planning and carrying out. The camp was for girls ages 8-11 and I couldn't have asked for a more ideal age range or group of girls. This age is the most common demographic for which I do much of my illustration work for and I love it. These girls are not jaded, are full of life, ready and excited for the future, are amazingly resilient and willing to see the good and beauty in everyone and everything. In short, I love these girls and had a fantastic last couple of days.
It was such a treat to see how each girl would light up when seeing her creation come to life and to realize just what she was capable of. I also really loved seeing a sea of flower adorned heads bobbing up and down throughout the camp and most every girl proudly brought along their newly sewn tote bag to the field trip on the second day. All in all it was a great success!
Now that the camp is over, we have loved having the tote bag around here as well. It makes the perfect library bag for little A.
 On our bag we varied a bit from the Purl tutorial and used an old elastic belt for the handles (which worked great!) and then I added the stitched "x" marks where the handles are attached. I was also fond of the illustration that I created for the camp flyer and thought I'd offer a print variation of it for you in the shop! Enjoy!
|
Hi friends! Have you ever heard of 
And what treasures they found inside once they did open it! Our box came complete with two fun bug crafts. Absolutely everything they needed to complete the craft was in the box. Real winner there.
Of the two crafts, the boys picked the fun lightening bugs craft first. They were outfiitted with two plastic bottles, multiple colorful transparent stickers, glow sticks and more! Instructions were simple and the boys loved creating their little bugs.
I think this concept behind 
This simple and cute craft will be a will be the perfect accessory to your little darlings summer attire. For the 
And a special thanks to our little friend for modeling. I think she looks just like an angel is this pic below. 
And thanks to her awesome mom Amelia. We had such fun on the photo shoot!
You can tell just how funny and spunky this little lady is in this pic. I think, like her pops, she's destined for the big screen!
Hi friends! My next craft installment for 
Posts
