Watercolor of Israel

This week in art class, we painted pictures of buildings using watercolors. I decided to paint a picture of buildings in Israel and since I haven't yet visited Israel, my teacher told me what the buildings should look like.

My Mommy likes my painting so much, she says she is going to frame it. I think it turned out really well too : )

Happy Mother's Day!

Love Zoe

Glitter Art from JoAnn Fabric & Craft Store

My school is closed for almost 2 weeks for Passover so my Ema has been busy trying to keep me entertained.

I wanted to share with you a fun ... and according to Ema ... cheap project that we did earlier this week.



My Ema found it in the Busy Kids Camp stuff at JoAnn Fabric and Craft store and it only cost around $1 per pack.

Each pack comes with a picture and several packets of glitter. You just pull off the tape on the picture and sprinkle glitter on the sticky area to fill in the design.
I made an elephant and a bird and I saved another elephant and bird for my Ema to make later.

Since the glitter packets are so small, we poured each one into a small bowl and I used my fingers to sprinkle glitter where I wanted it to go.

One important lesson we learned is that you should only pull off the tape on the area where you are working because if you pull off all the tape at once, your glitter gets all mixed up and your picture turns out crazy.

I totally recommend this project for anyone looking for something to do during spring or summer break.

But as with most of my art projects, it does get a bit messy so you should probably put a piece of paper underneath your picture and maybe even on the floor.

Happy glittering and have a great weekend.

Love, Zoe

My Passover Art

So I promised you I was working on something special recently for Passover and here is the finished products.

First is my custom, handmade Afikomen bag that we'll use tonight at the Seder. My Aba and Ema will hide a piece of Matzah in my bag and I'll have to find it later. I'm really proud of the beautiful flowers and my lovely writing on the bag.

Next, is my Seder plate, which I hand painted and you can't see it very well in the pictures but I glued the symbolic foods on the back of the plate so you can see them through the plate. My teacher left strict instructions with my Ema that the plate can't be used for food and it can't be washed so my Ema displayed it in our dining room so everyone who comes to our Seder tonight will see it. I'm really proud of it as well.

Finally, the last photo is a collection of Passover art I've made over the years.

The red one is a Matzah cover that will use tonight during the Sedar and the green one is my Afikomen bag from last year. As you can probably see, I'm really progressed as an artist since last year

Have a wonderful Passover if you're included to celebrate that kind of thing and I'll be back with more fun art after I've caught up on my sleep from the Seders.

Art everywhere at my recent debut in a Pesach play

From my great costume to the powerful way I delivered my one line, my recent performance in a Passover play at my school is truly a work of art.

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Fun spinning art with the Rotator Painter

Last year for my birthday, a friend gave me this wonderful Rotator Painter set. It's a bit messy so my Ema only lets me get it out on special occassions, and this past Sunday was special because my cousin Ayla came over to play.

We took turns making wonderful spinning art creations with paint and lots and lots of silver and gold glitter. I always say, a girl can never have too many shiny things.

When we ran out of paper, we decided to see what would happen if we squirted paint directly into the spinning machine.

We thought the results were fabulous, but my Ema wasn't nearly as excited as we were so she took the rotator away from us.

In the end, we made a really big mess on the Rotator Painter and on ourselves, but we had lots of fun and made some beautiful pictures.

Have you ever used a Rotator Painter? Any idea where my mommy can get some refills for me to use cause Ayla and I used up all the paint and glitter and paper : (

Happy art spinning!

Mould & Paint Glitter Princess Kit

My Ema and Abba were going out one night last week. I was really sad they were leaving so I tried to cheer myself up by digging around in the gift closet until I found this really fun Mould & Paint Glitter Princess kit by ToySmith.

I then BEGGED my Ema to help me make the princesses right as she was about to leave. No go. She refused to help me. But all wasn't lost because my Safta soon arrived and she agreed to help me.

Once we got started, I realized I might be a bit too young for this project since the box says it's for ages over 5. Thank goodness my Safta was around to mix up the plaster and help me pour it into the mold because I never could have done that alone.

Next, we had to wait like 30 minutes before the plaster dried, but I kept sticking my finger in the plaster to check it. Safta finally gave in after 20 minutes and let me pop the princesses out of the mold. They came out so easily and I got myself set up with the paints that came with the kit plus a few others I had from other projects.

I only got a few of the princesses painted before I pooped out and had to stop. But I did paint one special princess that we made into a pin for my Ema. The kit came with 2 pins but I lost one of them before I had a chance to use it.

 My Ema loved her pin and wore it the next day. She got several nice comments on it. I'm now trying to talk her into buying me the Mould & Paint kit that has mermaids in it. My birthday is coming up you know : )

Happy moulding & painting.

Passover is coming

I'm working on a surprise for Passover in my class at school. I can't tell you exactly what it is just yet, but here's a sneak preview of me working on it during art class.

Can you guess what the finished product will be? There's a hint somewhere in this post : )

My Wall of Art

I just realized that I've never shown you my Wall of Art and I think it's such a thing of beauty, although my playroom is a bit messy around it.

My Ema and Abba went to this very cool store called IKEA and got this wire hanging thingie and hung it up across one wall in my playroom.

Now anytime I make new artwork, we hang it on this string with a clothespin but as you can see, my artwork has greatly out-numbered the space on the wall and I really need another wire hanging thingie or a really big scrapbook one.

Either way, I love my art wall and it's so great to look at all my projects and remember how fun it was to make them.

Maybe one day, I'll pull each one down and share it with you individually but for now, I'll share the "big picture" with you.

Enjoy and happy art making.

Love, Zoe



Best Friends Forever

I started worked on my very first book this week. It's about a Princess and a Mermaid who become best friends.

My teacher Gail helped me with the words because I'm not so good at that part yet but I figure I'll fill most of this book with pictures anyway.

The cover is a drawing of the two main characters: the Princess and the Mermaid, and the first pages feature more drawings of those lovely ladies.

I have a few more pages to fill before the book is completed so I'll keep you updated on my progress.

It's sure to be a best seller.

Love, Zoe (aka soon to be published author)

Art from friends

When I arrived at ice skating class this week, my friend Tessa handed me this beautiful picture of a puppy that she had drawn and colored just for me.

I love when my friends give me art, and I wanted to share it with you.

Have you shared some art with your friends lately? If so, tell me about it ... I'm sure it made them so happy.

Love, Zoe

Peek-a-Boo Kitty

Today, my Ema did a crazy thing. She brought my kitty Ruby with her when she came to pick me up at school. I was so excited to see my cute little girl, and the timing was so perfect because ...

Today in school I made a Peek-a-Boo Kitty. My teacher helped me with some of the writing but I drew the cute, little kitty cat all by myself.

I took two pieces of paper, one white and one yellow and I drew a kitty at the bottom of the yellow paper and we wrote Peek-a-Boo Kitty above the cat.

Next we taped a piece of white paper over the kitty cat so you can only see her when I raise up the paper and say ... Peek-a-Boo!

My kitty Ruby was so happy to see the drawing so I put it in her

carrier to keep her company on the ride home. My Ema said Ruby didn't meow nearly as much on the way home as she did on the way there. I think it was because she had me to keep her company.

And she hung out in her carrier after we got home even though I opened the door. I think she really liked playing with my Peek-a-Boo kitty drawing.

I'm so happy I could share my kitty art with my kitty cat.

Have a happy art-filled day.

Love, Zoe

Happy Purim!

Not really one of my art projects but that's my cousin singing and the man who appears in the video at the end used to push my stroller home from Shul when I was a tiny baby. Enjoy and have a lovely Purim if your inclined to celebrate that kind of thing.

Love Zoe

Purim celebration art

The celebration of Purim offers many opportunities to "make art."

We made gift boxes that we painted and decorated and then filled with candy and yummy Hamentashen cookies that we made during class. Traditionally, we'd give these gift baskets out to our family and friends but I'm keeping the one I made for myself : )

Also, a big part of this Jewish holiday is dressing-up in costumes, similar to Halloween so it's always fun to make masks like the one I'm showing in the picture. I was the only one in my art class who put flowers on my mask and my Ema LOVED it.

And finally we continued the celebration with a big Purim Carnival at my school today. I dressed up as Rapunzel, complete with long blonde wig. I wanted to go barefoot like Rapunzel but my Ema drew the line. I wore ballet shoes instead, which kind of blend in and make me look almost like I'm barefoot.

Happy Purim to you. May your weekend be filled with cookies, candy and lots of art projects.


Love Zoe

My Little Pony on Canvas

As most everyone already knows, I'm a BIG fan of anything My Little Pony. I have lots of the ponies and my favorites are the ones I got at the "build your own My Little Pony" display at the toy store at Downtown Disney. And after painting the cupcakes at Painting with a Twist, I was hooked on canvas painting so ...

My Ema was kind enough to buy me a blank canvas, draw an outline of my favorite pony Pinkie Pie and set up a bunch of different paint colors for me. Then I went to work painting my beautiful rendition of Pinkie Pie.

I'm pretty proud of the results and especially love how I added my own flair of colors to the mix. I hope you enjoy and you have a lovely, paint-filled weekend : )

A tribute to Louise Nevelson

This week in art class, we learned about the artist Louise Nevelson. According to our teacher, Louise was born in Russia but grew up in Maine. Her Father owned a lumber yard. She used to nail or glue wood pieces to create assemblages (art created from odds and ends). She also painted but it was her wood assemblages that made her famous.

Our teacher let us pick our own colors and the items we wanted to glue onto the paper. It's hard to tell from this picture but the item in the upper left corner is a cupcake holder, which is by far my favorite : )

Painting of my Ema

Our teacher gave us an opportunity yesterday to paint whatever we wanted and I decided to paint a picture of my Ema.

I used regular paint but watered it down to get more of a watercolor affect.

I wanted to add some grass, trees, flowers and sky and had planned to do that when I got home yesterday but after looking at picture again, I decided it was perfect the way it was.

How about you? Have you painted anything fun lately?

Animal Wednesday - Paperoni Art Project

During my recent snow days, I was digging through the closet where my Ema keeps potential presents and I came across this colorful Paperoni (paper and fun rolled into one!) box. It seemed like to perfect outlet for my snow-day boredom, and Ema was kind enough to let me have it.

The kit includes this very cool Paperoni cutter, lots of colorful sticks and some pre-cut pieces of Paperoni paper, and a few sticky molds that I could use to create things.

My favorite was the 3D mold that I could turn into an animal so I went to work on that one first. There were 600 Paperoni Pieces that were already cut into 1/2" sizes so I started sticking those on the animal's head. The pieces were tiny and although the kit came with these big tweezers, I found it was easier to just use my hands.

But it wasn't long before I noticed the big purple and red cutting machine and started trying to figure it out. I had to ask for some help, but I quickly discovered that cutting the sticks of Paperoni was a lot more fun than sticking the pieces on the animal mold. I cut piece after piece until there weren't any left to cut.

And then I didn't feel like sticking the pieces on the animal mold anymore. So I tried the flat molds but that really wasn't much fun either.

So I moved the tiny cut pieces into a big bowl and played with them instead. After I got the pieces all over the living room floor, my Ema made me pick them up and put the whole thing away. I'm sure I'll eventually get back to the Paperoni kit but it just wasn't my thing on that particular day.

Since I didn't finish my Paperoni animal, Happy "naked" Animal Wednesday to everyone!

My Belated Menorah

I know I'm a little past the season when it comes to talking about a Menorah, but I didn't have an art blog back then so I'm showing it off now. Ms. Lindsay, our teacher, glued the glass bottles to a wooden board and then gave us a bunch of different containers of colored sand to choose from. We scooped out the colors we wanted with a spoon to fill the bottles in rainbow layers. It took a really long time to complete. I can't remember exactly but I think we worked on filling the bottles during four different classes.

Next Ms. Lindsay glued a little metal ring on top of each bottle to seal it off and give us a place to stick the candles.

During the first night of Hanukkah, my Sabba wanted to know where we bought that beautiful Menorah. He had no idea I had made it myself. So far, it has been the funnest project in my art class, and I'm really proud of it.

A painting that is good enough to eat

A few weeks ago, my Ema went to a ladies night out at a place called Painting with a Twist in Dallas. The next morning, I walked into her office and saw the most beautiful picture hanging on the wall. I asked, "Ema, where did that beautiful picture come from?" She told me she had painted it the night before during her girls' night out.

Well, I was so excited that I asked when I could get in on that painting action and last week, she hooked me up at Painting with a Twist in Frisco, Texas.
A few days a month, they offer an after school painting class for kids who are six years and up but they were nice enough to allow me to come as long as my Ema stayed with me to help.

I can't tell you how much fun we had painting those yummy cupcakes and they even served us popcorn during the break. Best of all, our teacher was soooo nice and very patient with me. Even when I ate some of the green paint.

I'm not bragging but I think my cupcakes turned about pretty nice and I can't wait to go back to paint something else very soon.

If you live in the Dallas/Frisco area, check out Painting with a Twist's Web site and let me know if you'd like to join me for an afternoon of painting. Since I've been there before, I'm no longer a rookie, and I totally know the ropes. I can definitely help you get set up.

Have you painted anything fun lately? I can't wait to see your work!

Sleeping bags like my great great grandma used to make

My sweet Grandma sent me $50 for Valentine's day so My Ema let me spend a little bit of it to buy a Strawberry Shortcake camping set. The only problem is that the set only came with 2 sleeping bags and I have 4 Strawberry Shortcake dolls so I begged my Ema to help me make 2 more sleeping bags so all of my dolls could join in the camp-out fun.

Ema recently found a box of Barbies she had when she was a little girl, and they all had these very cool clothes that my great great grandmother made for them. My Ema doesn't sew much and neither do I but we decided to give it a whirl anyway and I think the result would make Lilly Helen (that's my great great grandmother's name) proud. 

We dug through the drawers in the sewing room and found 4 different pieces of fabric that we really liked. 3 of the pieces were thanks to Deb. She sent them to my Ema  a long time ago, and we just hadn't found the right use for them yet but sleeping bags for dolls turned out to be the perfect choice.

The 2 sleeping bags on the right came with my new Strawberry Shortcake camping set and the 2 on the left are the new ones Ema and I made. Ema folded down the light pink one just like the sleeping bags from the set but I decided that the 2nd one should go all the way to the top so if more than one doll wanted to share the same sleeping bag, everyone could be covered completely.

I love all 4 of my sleeping bags and so do my dolls. We're about to start our first camping trip right now.

Have you sewed any fun "art" lately that you'd like to share with me?

Welcome to my art blog

During a very fun experience at summer camp, I discovered that I really love art. I started painting and drawing and making all sorts of great things. And then my mom enrolled me in a "Little Piccaso" class at my school. I've having such a great time and want to share my art projects with you.

Thanks so much to Auntie Mim for suggesting this blog to my mom. The minute I heard the idea, I knew I had to make it happen and share my art with everyone.

Oh and did I mention ... I'm 4-years-old. My philosophy is that one can never get started creating art too early in life. Enjoy and I look forward to getting to know other artists out there and seeing your projects as well.

Happy Creating!

Love, Zoe D.