Homemade Label for Homemade Treats

I designed these labels for my friend (and #1 fan), Carrie. I have been turning away graphic design work lately because I want to focus on a few new ventures. But I couldn’t say no because she really is the best kind of client. She gives me a few boundaries, like color and size, but then lets me be completely creative. Most importantly, she trusts me.

Carrie wanted stickers and a tag for all of the homemade goodies she makes and gives to family and friends. This is not a business for her (yet), but I still wanted to create some branding. I gave her several ideas, but I love what she chose best because it reflects a playful side of her. The concept was to create something that looked like a coloring book. She has two young boys who loooove art and I thought it would be really fun to have them color in the tags. This way, they are always fresh and stay with the theme of “homemade”.

For these tags, we used some of my favorite coloring markers. If you invest in any of them, pick the Letrasets. They are beautiful!

Supplies: Le Pen // Letraset // Yummy mini highlighters // Le Plume // 1/16″ Hole punch // chunky Baker’s twine

As always, happy Monday!

8 Apr 2013By: Barbara Rucci Category: Featured, My Studio, Studio Tags: homemade label, labels, tags

Simple Signs // Make

My family and friends have seen me make these signs for years. They are my last-minute, in-a-pinch, go-to idea when I need something colorful + sincere – but fast! I would say it takes about 30-45 minutes to make these from start to finish, which is pretty good. Usually my family is waiting in the car while I’m finishing up, but that’s alright. It’s not officially a family outing until kids are screaming and husband is honking anyway!

Here’s what you need:

Large paper (14 x 17)

Colored paper

Pencil + scissors + tape

Hole punch (1/16″)

Twine or Ribbon

To make the sign, fold the colored paper in thirds. The folds will guide you as to the size of the letters. Draw your letters free-hand with a pencil and then cut them out. Cut out any embellishments, like the hearts. Or you can just leave the sign plain + simple. Use rolled tape to adhere. I have tried white school glue, but it dries all buckled. And rubber cement takes too long. I find that rolled tape is just the fastest. Punch holes, tape on embellishments, weave in the twine, and you’re done!

This sign was made for my dear cousin who had an impromptu joint baby/wedding shower. Long story short, she found the man of her dreams a bit later in life and they didn’t want to waste any time!

You can make these signs for birthdays, baby showers, welcome homes….just about anything. I’m already planning my next one which will go on my front lawn and say something like, “Scoop your poop”. I’ll let you know how that goes.

4 Apr 2013By: Barbara Rucci Category: Crafts, Create, Decorate, DIY, Easy, Featured Tags: banner, hand-letters, sign, simple sign

Martha Rich // Artist

Born in Bangor, Maine, Martha Rich lived the typical suburban life, her bio says, “until she followed her husband to Los Angeles where, just short of a picket fence and 2.5 children her average American life unraveled. To cope with divorce, fate lead her to a class taught by painters and brothers Rob and Christian Clayton. They persuaded her to quit the pantyhose, corporate world, leave her human resources job at Universal Studios behind and become an artist full-time. She graduated with honors from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena”.

Now living in Philidelphia, Martha’s art has been in galleries all over the world and she does commercial work for magazines, books and even music videos! I love Martha’s story as much as I love her paintings. In her artists statement, she says:

“I am giving myself permission to make useless art, and by useless I mean driven by impracticality, that is informed by moments quietly noticed and not by what is shouted. What is noticed now has been built upon what was noticed before…insignificant moments that accumulate and become something significant.”

Reading this statement is like getting a pass from the teacher that says, “Relax. Just create.”

What I love most about Martha’s art is that her paintings feel both satisfying graphically, and have a social commentary that we can relate to. Funny + colorful yet evoking a conversation. She’s a genius.

2 Apr 2013By: Barbara Rucci Category: Artists, Featured, Inspire Tags: artists, Martha Rich, painter, paintings

Best Easter Bunny Story

We love this book, it is one of our favorites of all time in this house. Have you heard of this great tale? It’s called The Country Bunny and the Little Golden Shoes and it is a gem in every way.

It is about a busy mother of 21 babies who has always dreamed, since she was a little girl, of being chosen by Old Grandfather Bunny to be one of the five official Easter Bunnies.

The boy bunnies always teased her, saying she was just a girl and girls weren’t fast enough to become Easter Bunnies. When she became a mom, they laughed at her still and told her to leave the Easter eggs to great big men bunnies like them. So mama Cottontail took care of her babies. Once they grew up a little, she gave them each a job and taught them how to be self-sufficient.

One day, she heard that a spot had opened up to become an Easter Bunny. She took her children to watch the big race to see who would be picked. As she was standing there with her lovely children all in a row, she caught the eye of the Old Grandfather Bunny. Through a series of observations, mama Cottontail gets picked to be an Easter Bunny because she was not only swift (from running after her children), but also wise and kind.

On Easter eve, she gets injured while delivering the most special egg to a very sick boy. But in the end, through her perseverance and courage (and a pair of golden shoes) she succeeds! When the sun finally rises on Easter morning, she has made it home just in time to bring eggs to her own children. She finds the house in order and all of her children asleep in their beds (this is our favorite page).

As a reviewer once wrote so poignantly…”It is difficult to believe that this very modern feminist tale was originally written in 1939. A gem of a fantasy in which kindness and cleverness win out over size and brawn.”

Happy Easter! xo

28 Mar 2013By: Barbara Rucci Category: Featured, Inspire, Picture Books, Read Tags: Easter, Easter bunny, Easter story, picture book

Silk Dyed Eggs

I saw these on someone’s blog recently, or maybe it was Pinterest? The internet is a fascinating place but it sometimes turns my mind into a warped speed slide show. (Hence my one word resolution which is staring me in the face right now.) Ok, so this idea has been around for a while but is a new discovery for me. I bought a kit on Etsy which arrived just in time for the weekend. I made these with my daughter and it was equal parts frustrating and amazing! Here are some tips if you want to make these yourself.

Silk Tie Eggs // Art Bar

First of all, I forgot to read the directions and I hard boiled all my eggs. With this method, you actually have to use raw eggs because you hard boil after they are wrapped. Duh! (for me, not you – because you’re smarter). Secondly, the scraps from Etsy were just a teensy bit too small. We had trouble wrapping them around the eggs. We ended up doing each egg as a team. One person would hold the scraps in place while the other wrapped with the white scrap. It then took two people to twist tie. In the future, I think I will just go to the thrift shop and get some old ties to cut up myself so that I can use bigger scraps. Oh, and one more thing…the tie scraps looked sort of dark and dull to me. But afterwards, they transfer onto the egg much lighter and they really do look so beautiful! We used both white and brown eggs.

Silk Tie Eggs // Art Bar

I really love these eggs. The best part was that I didn’t have to take out any dyes! No dyed hands, no mess to clean up for a change. Give it a try!

{Ages 8 and up with a parent just because of frustration factor.}

25 Mar 2013By: Barbara Rucci Category: Crafts, Create, DIY, Featured, Products, Recycled, Science Tags: Easter eggs, eggs, silk tie dye

Egg Garland

Is it really almost Easter? I have to admit that I just took down all of the hearts around the house from Valentine’s today to make room for these cute egg garlands. (Truth be told, my Christmas cards are still in a basket in my living room. Seriously, who has time to keep up?) Holidays can’t just be ignored when you have kids, though, so over the weekend we got down to business. These garlands are pretty simple, and what I love about them is that they can be made with just about anything. We made one for each of the kids, plus one for each set of grandparents and one for my mantle. That’s seven garlands all in a matter of a few hours. Easy!

Egg Garland // Art Bar

Here’s how to get it done. First, you need an egg stencil. I thought about including a download, but then decided that really…we all know how to draw an egg, right? I know you can do it!. Just fold a paper in half and cut like you would a heart, but make it an oval. Next, decide what you want to use for your eggs. We used the following: marbled wrapping paper, map of paris, watercolor paints, washi tape, and old art (in this case it was the color studies from a few months ago). I got the wrap from the Papyrus in my town. They do not sell the map and marbled sheets online, but you can get some great wrapping paper at Paper Source.

Egg Garland // Art Bar

Then we got busy painting, cutting, taping, stringing. Sometimes we embellished with pom-poms or beads. We even cut up some straws to string! When the paper was thin, like the wrap, we glued the eggs to cardstock and then cut a second time. We used an 1/8 inch hole punch and a needle to string the embellished garlands.

Egg Garland // Art Bar

I’m slightly obsessed with garland (if you haven’t noticed), so I could make these day and night. But really, they are super easy and fun…so get busy. All you need is one cute decoration and you’re done (in my book). These might even be up until Thanksgiving!

20 Mar 2013By: Barbara Rucci Category: Crafts, Create, Decorate, Easy, Featured Tags: Easter, Easter eggs, egg garland, eggs, garland

Cardboard Creations // MacBook

My middle daughter is in love with technology. She is ten now, but this love of all things electronic started long ago. I dug up this photo of her from when she was about four years old. I remember this day – her dad and I decided that she needed a day out with just us. We gave her options: movie, lunch, skating, dog park. She chose to go to the Apple store. We tried to talk her out of it, but then we decided there was no point in that. She would be happy there and that’s all we wanted.

At the Apple Store

Now she is ten. This winter, she had a sick (ish) day at home. I told her no computer/iPad/TV. By 9:05 she was bored, and that was fine by me. I don’t mind when my kids are bored because it actually forces them to use their imagination. She was dyyyyinnngggg without her iPad and could she pllllleeeeaaaaase use it for just 10 minutes. No, no, no. (You have to be strong with this one, she will wear you down). All that was left to do was craft! I had to laugh when she said she was going to make a laptop. After all these years, she still loves those keyboards. Steve Jobs would be proud.

She set herself up with supplies: cardboard box, glue, paint, string, sharpie. I helped her cut the initial shape of the laptop, but after that she did everything 100% on her own. She asked to borrow my keyboard, which I was working on at the time…of course. (Her little way of taking technology away from me.) And then she set about creating. I watched her looking back and forth, counting the keys, writing all of the symbols. She was in her flow!

Cardboard Creations // MacBook

Later on, we both got back on the real computer and found a photo for her screen. After she was finished, she made some tea and helped herself to some dipping cookies, and then she played on her laptop. (Like mother, like daughter). I love the One Direction photo she found and how she drew in little pink mustaches. Ha! That girl makes me laugh.

Necessity is the mother of invention!

12 Mar 2013By: Barbara Rucci Category: Crafts, Create, Eco Friendly, Featured, Recycled Tags: cardboard, recycled boxes

Gallery Wall // Children’s Art

I have collected lots of my children’s art over the years. I have some in boxes, some framed, some taped up, and some hanging from string. But mostly, I have piles. We use some of the art in the piles for projects and birthday cards. The other stuff I plan on hanging up. However, I am stuck! Do I switch out the stuff in frames, create a new wall, hang it in my living room or maybe in the bathroom? Or their bedrooms? I have been scouring Pinterest for ideas so I thought I would share them with you. If you are type A, look away. I have mostly chosen gallery walls that cluster and mix children’s paintings with other art. I love this look, but it can border on messy (“artistic”) if you’re not careful. Limiting clustered art to one wall is the trick!

Here are four different ways to display your child’s art. {I will try to source the photos, but some of them just float around on Pinterest, sourceless.}

Gallery wall // Hang on a line

Hang on a line with clips or clothespins. Easy and cost effective: {from top left, clockwise} Ikea clips // Amsterdam home // sweet dreams // strip of wood // art room {our home} // work space // inspiration wall

Gallery wall // Art on a ledge

Prop art up on a ledge, mix in photographs and other found objects. A more organized look: {from top left, clockwise} small art // mudroom {our home} // art studio // kitchen // Swedish bedroom

Gallery wall // kids art

Hanging art in a cluster is an art in and of itself! {Click here to see how it’s done}. But it can look so cool that it’s worth the effort: {from top left, clockwise} living room // bedroom {our home} // hallway // den // bathroom // common area

Gallery wall // taped art

Last, but not least, the easiest way to hang your child’s art is to let them hang it themselves! Whether pinning to cork, using magnets or just plain old tape {love the washi tape frames}, it’s a really fun and free way to display talent: {from top left, clockwise} cork wall // craft room // dining room // her own creative space // office

These selections are just a few of many (so many!). To dig deeper, click on some of the links and they will lead you to more photos. Or come see my Pinterest boards where I have pinned oodles of artistic and eclectic ideas!

Good luck! Let me know what you decide (and I’ll do the same).

6 Mar 2013By: Barbara Rucci Category: Decorate, Featured, Kid Spaces, My Home Tags: art wall, children's art, gallery wall, hanging art, picture wall

Painting from Nature // Observation

I’m so glad we packed our travel art bag on our trip to the D.R. because the vegetation was incredible! I collected leaves and flowers obsessively. I was the strange American lady who kept jumping into the bushes to pick up fallen leaves and snap off flowers. (Even my kids started taking a different route back to the room.) These were some of our lessons.

I set up the watercolors by the pool on a rare cloudy afternoon. Teaching them to observe and paint from a still life was interesting. I always love watching their eyes and their hands trying to coordinate. My daughter got frustrated because she couldn’t create the fine lines in the leaves. But I love the gesture and life that she put into her painting. My son’s leaves are more delicate as he is a very prolific artist. He spends no more than 12 seconds on any particular piece of art.

Back at the room, I put some of the cut flowers in a glass. My oldest daughter and I both painted the same flower. I don’t really like painting the same thing as my kids because they tend to look over and say that mine is better. But actually, this time my daughter became so focused she never even looked up. And it was fun for me to paint, too.

My last little lesson was with my son. I really wanted to paint the palm trees because they were everywhere! And there were so many different varieties. I told him to just look right in front of him and pick a tree or a leaf and just really try to observe. He looked at the light and shadow, the different greens, the bark and the roots, and the direction of the leaves. I loved watching his head look up and down as he was drawing. I’m not sure he understood me at first when I said “observe”, but now he is very confident with that word.

These paintings mean a lot to me. I am really proud of how much they cared about their work. Maybe they were just amusing their weird mom, but I even appreciate that! Wait until I take out all of the leaves that I’m pressing in between books in the living room right now. I hope they are ready for round two.

1 Mar 2013By: Barbara Rucci Category: Create, Featured, Summer, Travel Tags: en plein air, nature, nature painting, observation, travel, travel art bag

Travel Art Bag

We’re back from our February vacation! It was beautiful in the Dominican Republic and we feel so fortunate that we were invited to share a very memorable family vacation with grandparents. Despite several trips to the infirmary for various problems (which I will not elaborate on because I am pretending none of that happened), we were able to relax, read, eat, play and best of all…create some pretty art! I threw together this little travel bag for the trip and it was perfect. I’ll include sources, but you can really just grab anything that you have on hand (or make a run to CVS) and even just put it in a ziplock! My goal was to get the kids to draw and paint from the beautiful nature that surrounded us. (I will share their art later this week.)

Here’s what I put in our travel art bag:

watercolors // colored pencils // washi tape // 1 pencil, 1 eraser, 1 sharpener, 1 sharpie // sketchbook // brushes // tempera paints // merimekko tote

I hope you had a nice little break as well (or will have one soon!). Don’t forget to pack a few art supplies when you travel!

{Travel tip: Remember, when traveling to a foreign country with small kids, curtail the habit of picking off of your kids’ plates or having your kids share any food. Also, don’t share utensils or have the whole family drink from the same water bottle at the airport. And wash hands frequently! Sickness could be spreading and you won’t even know it until it’s too late. And that’s all I have to say about that.}