Spoonful of Imagination

Add it to a Family for Something Beautiful

Butterfly Nature Craft for Kids

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What is a better way to celebrate that spring is here with young kids than to do a craft together!? This butterfly nature craft is a perfect opportunity to have fun, get outside, encourage the imagination and teach new vocabulary with your young artists.

This multi step project allows you to prep a little and the artists to paint, explore, and design. It’s fun and I’m pretty sure it can keep your artist happily entertained for a WHILE! Let’s dive in…

The first step is to collect some cardboard.

Grab a cardboard box and cut it into a fun shape. We did a butterfly in this sample, but you could also keep it simple with a rectangle and turn that into a picture frame!

Divid the cardboard into sections with rubber bands.

Simply slip rubber bands onto your cardboard image to create some natural divisions in the design.

Painting comes next!

We kept it pretty simple with including only 3 tempera paints for our sample and a q-tip for each color. One thing with creating is we can control the mess by how many supplies we put out. Don’t be afraid to put out less.

It allows artists to experiment and try new things. Simplicity breeds invention. For example, we didn’t give purple paint. In the creating process, colors can be combined to make new colors and purple can be created with the colors we provided.

This paint project allows your artist to learn some new vocabulary.

  • They can paint by doing lots of dots to create a pointillism look. The goal is to collage each section of the butterfly with color to fill the whole image.
  • They can practice painting semetrical so the sides are identical or not- it’s up to their taste!

While the butterfly dries, your artist can go on a scavenger hunt.

Can they pick, find or cut small nature clippings like these:

    • dandelion
    • grass clipping
    • leaf
    • feather
    • stick

Once the butterfly is dry, your artist can stick the little nature clippings into the rubber bands on the butterfly.

This butterfly nature craft can be done or you can explore with more details and textures.

We added some circle stickers to help hold the natural elements in place and allow another texture to be in the project. Kids love stickers, right!? You can’t go wrong with stickers as a detail.

It is our hope that in each step of the project your artist can create, play and imagine the possibilities! There’s even a good chance that on the nature scavenger hunt, your artist starts playing organically outside. It’s a win-win.

If this craft sounds fun, but you don’t want to do all the prep- you are in luck. We have a few kits listed in our online store. You can jump over there and see if they are still in stock!

Have fun and get out and enjoy the blooming plants this spring season!

Celebrate Earth Day 2023 with your artist!

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I love teamwork. (**stay tuned to later in this post where I share Earth Day Craft kits for $1). In celebrating, Earth Day 2023 we can practice working as a team.

It can sometimes be overwhelming to work with others. We may feel like we get lost in the discussion or like we could handle things better, if we did it on our own. Yet, we have all been there, when the overwhelm and stress sneaks in from trying to tackle something too big solo.

We need one another.

There’s big issues like our planet that we literally can’t take on by ourselves. We need everyone working together as a team to help preserve our earth. This Saturday, April 22 is Earth Day.

Earth Day is an annual celebration that honors the environment and raises awareness of the need to protect the Earth’s natural resources for future generations.

These are all little changes to our habits, if we collectively do together, they can leave a big wake of change. Just imagine the possibilities! One of those above ways may be easier for you than the others. Lean into it!

For me, recycling and reusing trash is one of my favorite ways to give more life to already created objects. We can do so much with tools and resources that come into our home daily-rather than just tossing them out!

One of my favorite materials to recycle into something new are soup cans!

As an art instructor and mom, I know one of the easiest ways to have a conversation with a child, is to have a project that goes along with it.

It opens the door to have a tangible, physical element to refer back to.

Save your cans and use them in a craft with your artist this week to talk about Earth Day 2023!

If you need help, I have some pre-prepped cans with paint + yarn as a kit for just $1 each this week in honor of Earth Day. Snatch up your kits today!

What to do with the nerves that come with trying something new!

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Those pesky nervous butterflies come at us just when we have gotten the courage to try something new. Do you know the ones I am talking about? As if trying something different, new, or stretching isn’t hard enough to overcome the mental hurdle-those butterflies then show up!  I have come to learn that those butterflies that get in our nervous system is our bodies way of warning us. It’s saying, “Hey, we haven’t done this a lot. I’m not sure how it’s going to go, so I can’t warn you in all the feels and triggers yet”. They make you more alert. It can be helpful to be aware of the nervous feelings emerging, but I have also learned a few tricks of how to deal with the nerves that come with trying something new.

In this post, we are going to dive into 5 things I have learned over the years from leading an art studio, stepping into leadership, and having the courage to try something new or grow in something that makes you uncomfortable. These tips might sounds basic, and I hope they do. Don’t think too much and over analyze as the butterflies come. Just prepare and act. You can do this. Let’s dive in…

For me, going on camera is still something that is stretching.

I’m not sure exactly why. I have been doing marketing, teaching, and brand vision casting for years in videos. I’m not super self conscious by how I look, yet I get those pesky butterflies every time it’s ‘go time’. For me, I think it is that there isn’t any audience to really read in the video setting. I love to teach. I love to connect with people. When you are doing a video, it’s just you talking to a camera. There is no audience to read to know if they are tracking with you. There is no head nodding, staring off, or encouraging words immediately after to know if what you did was right and you hit the gauge of the assignment.

As much as I don’t like the nervous feelings going live on video, I know it’s part of my job and I have gotten better at it. I have learned to picture the audience on the other side in my mind. Maybe you can relate to being nervous for videos? Or maybe for you it is simply picking up the phone and calling someone? Having to do an interview or conduct a presentation are all things that can bring the butterflies your way as well.

I recently went live to teach an art workshop online, and was reminded that although I’m not super comfortable with it, the nervousness no longer controls me.

I sleep fine the night before. There is more excitement than stress. I am able to be present in the situation so I can think on the spot, remember it, and be present to feel the wander of it. For me, I see/feel growth and there’s tricks that helped me get there. Let me share these with you on what to do with your nerves, so you too can tell your body that you are ok and prepare mentally and physically to do a stretching thing.

1. Wear clothes that are you.

In our excitement or maybe even in our attempt to prepare, we may buy something new to wear for the occasion. It can be looked at as we are thinking ahead and want to be ready for the part for this new, stretching activity. My advice is wear something you already own. Our bodies hold memories. If you can wear that favorite hoodie, pair of jeans, or flip flops, do it. If the occasion calls for something fancier and you have to buy something new, buy something you know you will wear again. Make sure it is something when your friends see you in it, they think you either already owned it or it just screams that it is you.

If you are able to be comfortable in your clothes, you will feel the most like you. That is the goal. For you to be present in the situation and activity, we want you to be YOU. So, go ahead and give yourself a win from the beginning by wearing something that is you.

2. Eat before the event.

Often we have those nervous feelings, we don’t want to eat. What I have come to find is we still NEED to eat something. Try to eat the meal before your event or at least eat some kind of healthy snack. Be smart about what you eat. Maybe a sugary donut is not the thing to eat, but try eating something like a banana, egg, granola bar or cheese stick. These are a few things that are my go to items to grab.

It’s helpful to have something in your stomach, so you don’t begin to feel sick or have only caffeine in your body and get the shakes. Remember food is fuel and your body needs fuel to keep going, especially at a time when it is working in overdrive with extra feelings and fears at bay.

3. Don’t try something new for the event.

Buying new high heals for the event, is not the time to practice walking and standing in high heels, if that isn’t something you already do. Trying a new hair do or a new makeup technique is not ideal either. Be yourself and do what you know. If you do things you are already comfortable at, even when your body might begin to get locked up you wont have a freeze moment. Your body will kick in and do what it always does.

For example, I love to teach about the creative process. When on video and teaching live, I teach the project or tips I know that helped me create the sample craft. I might experiment a little with the supplies, but only as it applies to the project. Breaking out a circuit, stencil machine for the first time, while teaching on a live video would not be smart. So, in this new lesson, I will show how to cut a heart the good-old fashion way that I know. Do what your body has done lots of times.

4. Arrive Early for it.

Give yourself the gift of time. Wake up a little earlier if need be, but definitely get to the event early. You don’t need any extra stress of walking in at go time and having to quickly switch gears. Allow yourself to get there early, walk around, use the restroom, get accustomed to the space, and be alert to any thing that might have changed in your planning.

5. Be yourself.

This last tip is my favorite. Be yourself. I’m quirky. With my dyslexia, I mess my words up a lot. I think I am using the right word, but it’s totally the wrong usage of it. My family will call it my “Erica-isms” as if I have my own language. It’s just part of me. It use to stress me out and I would want to practice what I was going to say to prevent these mess ups, but now I just roll with it. I might ask out loud, “did i say that right?” or “what is the word I am looking to use here?” I engage the audience. I will even catch it, laugh at myself, and fix it live. I think when we are the most ourselves, we are the most comfortable, and it gives everyone around us permission to be themselves too.

People like to know you are real, and if you aren’t all polished and smooth- that’s ok.

When painting our snow room, I stepped into a bucket of paint. Instead of hiding it in the room reveal video or blog post, I just laughed about it and pointed it out. If you are polished and smooth naturally, that’s amazing too. Just be you! People can read through the fake and know when you aren’t being genuine. At the core, we all just want to connect to what’s real.

Whew, do these tips help you feel a little more empowered to try that new task or to do that stretching activity? I hope they do. We were made to be life long learners and it’s never too late to try something new. Just take note of a few tips to get you through it. You will be so proud of yourself after you do that stretching thing. You can do hard things!

I still don’t love to film, but on this day (the pictures were taken), I took my kids and showed them I could do something I don’t love. Isn’t that a good trait to model always!? It did help to film to be at the beautiful, DreamOn Studios and have their amazing team do all the video components. Yet, in their professional amazing-ness, I psyched myself out a bit by that too.

In all the nerves though, I was more excited than nervous.

I wore my favorite jeans and flip flops. I had a banana and drank water. I arrived 20 minutes early, and I told everyone live that I love cutting cardboard. Is that a quirk? Maybe. I went with it. It was honest and me. If you would like to see the video from this shoot, you can pick up the craft kit + lesson here. I’d love to encourage your imagination in this online workshop! 

There are nerves that come with trying something new, but we can deal with them and teach our body that it’s ok to grow.

It’s ok to change and be stretched. Otherwise, what all could we be missing out on? Allow yourself to be stretched. You will be so proud of the YOU you are becoming.

Which tip sounds like it would be the most helpful to you? Please leave me a comment or find me on social media to let me know. I’d love to encourage you on!

If this post was helpful to you, it would mean so much if you would share it with someone you know or post it somewhere others can find it. Thank you for allowing me to encourage your journey, and I will be back again soon!  

How to Support your Teen’s Creative Endeavors

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Watching my kids create has always been something I love. Before they could even hold a paintbrush, I was letting them play with paint. We would smash a footprint on something and I would turn into something else. We have all turned a handprint into a turkey around Thanksgiving at some point in our lives. As our kids grow and their interests change, their creative process may change. Teen’s will experiment in new creative endeavors, and I believe it is just as important to be present in these efforts, as we were when they were young. We can support our teen’s creative endeavors!

It may look different in the how we support.

When kids are young, some simple ways to encourage their creative efforts may look like…

  • Listen to their stories
  • Hang up their art
  • Watch the amount of screen time they consume
  • Make boredom possible, so they have to tap into their imagination
  • Provide supplies from paper and drawing materials to blocks or legos
  • Plan a project with steps
  • Get them outside to explore the woods and dirt
  • Be present in showing and demonstrating.

When our kids were younger, I had these frames that I could easily switch art out of. It was a constant changing museum in our home.

As they began to grow, they would have their own projects and ideas.

Once they start dreaming up their own ideas, you begin to become a little more of a questionnaire than the one leading the charge. Asking lots of questions gets them processing. Not all their ideas will work, but by asking questions and letting them start to play with an idea, allows your child to figure out on their own if something will work or not. That is embracing the process and letting them grow as confident decision makers.

I will never forget how Caleb painted a cityscape at our studio. It led into us hosting several cityscape sign workshops. He even lead one! Letting his idea develop into something that then inspired other artists and peers was pretty special.

I have to believe that supporting his creative endeavors at this new stage helped encourage him to keep experimenting and doing art.

We all remember when we started feeling like our art wasn’t good enough.

Do you remember that moment that you stopped creating for the process and fun of bringing an idea to life? You started creating and working towards a finished product only if you knew it would be amazing and it would be useful? So many stop creating because of the pressure they feel in creating and lose the freedom to tinker, learn, make mistakes, develop and take a risk.

One of our jobs as parents is to keep encouraging the process and supporting their creative endeavors as they grow.

As Caleb has grown, his love for basketball and shoes has only grown as well. He started drawing shoes, designing shoes, filming shoes and even painting his own custom shoes.

What began as an interest slowly grew into a hobby, and now it is a full blown business.

As Caleb’s dedication to this interest grew, we saw him investing time and his own money into it. Those are all signs that this is something that really matters to him.

My encouragement to you is to not necessarily buy the next piece of equipment the minute an idea is born from your growing teen, but keep asking questions and grow in the interest as they do.

We helped loft Caleb’s bed, so he would have more work space. It didn’t happen over night, but one step at a time.

Caleb says on his website, “I did my first custom a couple of years ago and loved doing it. Back then I had a cheap battery powered airbrush and a couple of colors. I’ve been working hard to upgrade my skills and my gear to professional grade tools. Every sneaker is an exciting new opportunity and I’d love to create some for you. Hit me up on the contact page or check out my Instagram.”

I still love to watch this kid of mine create.

Now, it’s not as much of me setting up a creative project and inviting him in. It’s more of me wandering to his room and watching him do it. The how we support our teen’s creative endeavors can change, but not the why.

A lot of the ways you support your young artists still matters as they grow.

Let them hang their art. Be present in the journey and listen to the stories. There are new ways to encourage their creative endeavors as well. My two biggest encouragements would be one, help invest in the equipment if you can. It can be lofting a bed, sharing your computer and camera, or even buying a stencil machine and spray gun. You can always get creative in how you give it. For example, wrap it up as part of their birthday present. Caleb got one of his paint guns as a Christmas present one year. 

Find a way to connect your interests together.

It’s important that your teen feels supported in their creative endeavors to feel the freedom to keep developing. The second way I think it is important to encourage your artist is to combine your interests and theirs together. Find it. It might not be obvious at first. That’s ok, keep looking. My latest way to connect Caleb’s interests and mine is taking the pictures he took of his shoe designs and turning them into greeting cards.

I have been on this greeting card creation journey, and what a fun way to connect his art with mine for a new card design. Not everyone may want a pair of custom shoes, but they may know someone who is a shoe fanatic and would appreciate a fun card so I listed them in my store.

We can support our teen’s creative endeavors.

The heart behind encouraging your artist, growing teen, and child is that you want them to believe that their ideas matter and the world needs what they got. Maybe those interests turn into a job someday, like they did for Caleb. We just don’t know, but the beautiful impact of embracing this creative journey together is you grow a deeper connection with someone who matters most to you.

I am going to be sharing more ways to connect with yourself and those you love most real soon. If you are interested in learning more, join my newsletter today so you are the first to hear about it!