IN AND OUT OF THE GARDEN

Our young Summer Arts Camper Kids put their garden gloves on, grabbed their trowels, and were landscape designers for the day during GARDEN ARTS DAY this June.

With a little inspiration from me and my muse, Matthew, we all created charming fairy and bug houses.

  
Using a collection of petite bird houses as the fairy and bug cottages and Spanish moss, tiny terracotta flower pots, paper flowers, pine bark, mossy twigs, and a garden full of other supplies and critters, the garden homes were embellished and the lovely little landscapes were planted.

Proud builders, designers, and first time home owners!

Ladybugs, bumble bees, dragonflies, and butterflies all seemed to find their way into these sweet imaginary gardens.

When the yard work was finished we then took our plants inside and created miniature terrariums using up-cycled jars and treasures from the garden and elsewhere.

  
The inspiration for the children were these buggy terrariums made with pebbles, moss, twigs, tiny picket fences, artificial flowers {so they would last forever!}, and other natural elements.

Some of the Camper Kids selecting the perfect vessel... 

...and then getting to work!

Each and every glass garden was unique and when they were complete, we wrapped natural raffia around the top of the jars and added garden markers made from punched Kraft paper and Popsicle sticks.

Bird gardens, butterfly palaces, lazy ladybug retreats, flower gardens...precious pieces of Mother Nature.

We loved getting our hands dirty during GARDEN ARTS DAY!

MOTHER NATURE INSPIRED

We celebrated the beauty of Mother Nature during both weeks of Summer Arts Camp this year creating upcycled woodland gardens, tiny terrariums, flower fairies, and painted bird houses.

With some supplies from our sponsors, we created mixed media flower gardens by hand painting wooden boards, collected from Ahn's Karate {these were pine boards kicked in half during testings} and some crazy pieces of the same wood cut by Mr. Reg with the jigsaw. 

 Flowers made with bottle caps and Popsicle sticks were planted, bugs hatched from corks, and rainbows of butterflies flew out of a box of paint chips given to us by Acme Paint & Decorating.

While the paint was drying, the Camper Kids went on a hike in our woods and collected twigs, leaves, blueberries, roses and daisies, pods, and herbs from our garden.  Suddenly a family of garden characters came alive in our SAC tent!

With the bare minimum of tools and lots of imagination the Camper Kids began to daydream and create their very own and very own personal garden creatures ~ each with their very own story.

Winged Flower Fairies and sturdy Green Guys.

A pine cone bird.

Taking a little time to smell the flowers.

A summer romance.

Boy sees Girl.

Boy chases Girl.

Boy gives Girl flowers.

Girl dreams of flowers.

Then came the Garden Fairy houses...or so some said!  Petite bird houses were painted and bejeweled in a vibrant kaleidoscope of colors, each one unique and showing off the personality of it's owner.

It's easy to say that the Camper Kids had fun in and out of the garden on our Garden Arts Day!

HAPPY MAY DAY!

Doing the happy dance!

Less than one month left of school and...

...excited for Summer Arts Camp in June!

Do you want to create art that will make you do the happy dance?  

These are some of the projects we will be creating during our Garden Arts Day at Summer Arts Camp.

GARDEN ARTS

It's already been three weeks since our last Camper Kid packed up and left our second week of Summer Arts Camp...

...and it's about time I share some of the creations the kids made.

One of our themed art days was Mother Nature's Art and Garden Art Day.  A project that day was Garden Creatures so in between the rain showers we all took a hike in our woods and through our gardens...

 ...collected pine cones, pods, twigs...

...leaves, seeds, and flower petals...

...and created a family of Garden Creatures!

Each Camper Kid made a Woodland Creature, 

a Green Guy, and

a Garden Flower Fairy.  Then I made a photograph of each and printed them out for each of them to add to their portfolio.

These shown above are just a few darling ones.

I am happy to tell you that some of the Camper Kids have e-mailed me recently with photographs of creatures that they have made after Summer Arts Camp while on their summer vacations!  

We have just returned from our vacation at the sea shore and my assistant Matthew and I have a new collection of Beach Buddies we made with sea shells we found on the beach.  {We'll share with you soon!}

Stay tuned for more glimpses of week two's creations.