DIY-Kid's art portfolio

Here is a fun project to make with your kids. It's great in two ways: 1) they get to enjoy making mini masterpieces with different mediums and 2) you get to document their growth as mini-Picassos. Also, as your children grow and continue to create, you can add to their portfolio and it will grow with them.

The Mediums:

1. pastels 2. acrylic paint 3. archival ink 4. watercolors

The Supplies:

1. background paper: I used black for E's portfolio and white for S's. This paper is also the title page of the portfolio.

2. stickers for the cover, to spell out "art".

3. archival water color paper: we used this for all of the mediums. I also precut the paper and hole punched it so the girls would know how much space they had to work with.

4. transparency paper: to insert between the photo and the artwork.

5. gluestick and holepunch

6. black and white photos of the artists-printed the same size as the artwork

7. albums: I used a modern acrylic album, you could also use chipboard or an album with page protectors

8. and, of course, the masterpieces

The Process:

Remember to take lots of photos of your kids as they make their pictures.

When they are finished with their piece ask them to give it a title. Go with whatever title they choose; it doesn't matter if it makes sense, let 'em own it!

The Assembly:

Step 1: cut your photos and backing paper to same size as the artwork

Step 2: attach title to front page

Step 3: attach photo to back of front page

Step 4: attach artwork to second piece of backing paper

Step 5. insert transparency between photo and artwork

Step 6: Attach next photo to previous artwork backing.

Step 7: repeat steps 3-4

Finished Portfolio!

Sit down and look through it with your little artist.

Thanks for reading, and let me know how this project goes with your kids!

Edited: I added this to the list of other great craft ideas over at

Today's Creative Blog.

cool

I got to be one of Ali's teaching assistants at CKU Houston this past weekend!

It was cool to hang out with her and not be in labor at the same time. (see this post!)

It was cool to hear her teach for 2 days.

It was cool to see the photos the students brought for the album.

It was cool to see some of Ali's projects in person.

It was cool to visit with her other TAs.

It was cool to meet scrapbookers that have used my products and get such positive feedback-thank you!

It was cool to get a small taste of what CKU is like.

It was cool to get a thank you gift from the CKU staff at the end of the day for being a TA-totally unexpected!

catching up...

This girl loves to color, just like her big sister. Crayons, markers, colored pencils, paper, chairs, walls, pantry, face. . .you name it.


A big d. reeves design house order shipped out last week. That and two little ones staying up WAY past their bedtime as well (11 pm and midnight almost every night!) made for many opportunities for sanctification and patience testing during the day.

11:00 pm

I did manage to finish up Emma's ornament box. As I was wrapping up her ornaments to store inside, I thought I would share these.


Made by my sweet sister in law, Kelly. She made these for the tree in Emma's room and they coordinate beautifully with the bedding. The bedding in the girls room was sewn by both my mom and mother in law. Jeremy and I picked out the fabrics, from Moda's Paris Flea Market line a few years ago. These ornaments are just perfect for the room and such a treasure to us.


I also created a little thank you gift with the d. reeves 3x5 clear album. You can see more photos of the inside here.

And now for some sweet photos of Stella with her very first pigtails.

And finally a bit of a follow up on this post. A splash of turquoise, the pressed tin used to be brown and rusty. Jeremy used a paint brush to apply the paint since we could not find the right shade in spray paint. Love it!

I am so happy this girl moved to town, just a few blocks away from me too! We got to hang out and talk scrapbooking which I love to do. Speaking of scrapbooking, I created my first layout in months, so I thought I would share.

I hope to catch up on reading my regular blogs today. It has been awhile.

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Like mother. . .


like daughter...


I have been seeing a lot of these lately


We had a drawing on the d. reeves design house blog for a style file. This is my inspiration file. You can see a few more photos here.



She loves her shoes and socks

I am looking forward to hanging out with this sweet girl tomorrow. We met our freshman year of high school and here we are- both in Waco, mamas to precious little ones...who would of thought this is where we would be when we were sitting on the bleachers at the dance competitions our freshman year.

I can't wait!

saturday

I am taking it easy this weekend, I came down with a fever yesterday. And, how have a I spent my time? Browsing through each and every post on this blog, Craving Anthropologie. I know those who share my love for this store, and like me, do not get to go in one very often, will love this blog. The few times I do get to visit the store in Houston, I quickly become overwhelmed with all of the inspiration and start making a gazillion mental notes of what I want to remember.



I forgot to mention in my last post that I updated my d. reeves design house blog. You can see samples I made with our new products.

Also, we watched a great movie last night, 3:10 to Yuma.


edited: I forgot to mention Jeremy updated our family's blog with Christmas photos, so family take a look.

good morning...

The girls are still asleep, i have had my first cup of coffee, I am good to go.

I just read Ali's most recent blog post. I feel so thankful for the hobby of scrapbooking. I flew to St. Louis on Monday and back on Tuesday, with Lee Ann and Tracey, to be with our dear friend, Amy, whose father passed away last weekend. When we were at the wake, Amy showed me an album she made for her dad just over a year ago. She put together a book documenting his life and loves. It was full of photos and newspaper clippings about her dad and now this book is something their young children can look through for years to come.

It is amazing how much a short trip can teach you. It is good to be back, I am so thankful Jeremy stayed home with the girls so I could go.

oh, I hear the pitter patter of little feet, time to serve breakfast and drink more coffee.

I have updated the d. reeves design house blog. You can see images from the press we have received in 2 magazines. Ali Edwards is doing a giveaway today on her blog for 3 8x8 albums.



Here is fun project from my Heidi Swapp class. I am so excited about getting my recipes organized in one place. Right now they are all piled in a box with absolutely no organization. So, to make it easy on myself, I pull out a few recipes, jot them down on the recipe cards designed by Heidi, and simply add them to my book. It feels great to make some progress in this department.

stamp storage

I wanted to share with you my new stamp storage from Little Monkeys, Susan, the owner lives here in Waco. I love this storage system because it fits so nicely on my work space in my craft armoire. When I need a stamp, I just flip through the sleeves. Super convenient!

I have added my acrylic stamps from 7gypsies and Autumn Leaves the to box, as well as the cards from my Making Memories foam stamps, so I can reference them easily when I am looking for a stamp. You can read more about this fabulous system on her website.

all work and no play...

that is usually what happens when I have a lot on my plate, but not this time! Jeremy is wearing off on me. There is still room for fun, no matter how many boxes stack up each day.



A few weekends ago, we took Emma to a Justin Roberts Concert at the Children's Festival held at the Woodlands. We loved it! I am not sure if Emma completely understood the whole concert concept. Her favorite part was running around in the grass. Afterward, we got to meet the band and get their autographs. Maybe we will become groupies.




More photos to come...

Emma had her first preschool performance. Her class sang at a fund raiser for the school. Love it!

We went to a Harvest Ball this past weekend at our church. Lots of families and little kids. Emma running around with her friends, Stella in the Bjorn, like the other babies, dancing with their parents. We learned a lot of group dances. My favorite is called the Charleston Stroll...I think that is the correct name. Anyways, this was the second, of hopefully many more dances to come in the future. Love that our girls got to experience it.



And, I had a good mail day. These are crucial and I must have a least one good mail day a week. Wouldn't that be nice? I have had several lately. Some I can't share because it involves Christmas gifts-I don't want anybody peaking. But I had to share that I just got my Life Artist book in the mail-perfect for browsing on our upcoming road trip.



These inspire me...



OK, off to bed.

Season 3 of the Gilmore Girls is one of my favorites. I LOVE that show. I think I could watch each season over and over again and not get tired of it. There is so much quick wit. I think I pick up something new every time.

Emma watched some of the episodes with us last Sunday. She later asked me if we were the Gilmore Girls.

I told her, "Nope, we are the Reeves' girls."

I have been staying up way too late the past few nights watching Season 3, while making some cards to swap with some other ladies in my BPS online class.

I had so much fun making these. I can't wait to get me cards from the other ladies.

just thought I would share...

I put some more inspiration photos up on the d. reeves design house idea blog. Go check it out.

Wednesday: Green

I had no trouble finding things in my home for this color. We seem to have a thing for green around here. So here are some of my favorite green things:

The first picture is of our monogram on our mantle. I made these letters 2 Christmas's ago. I love the green paper on the R. One of my favorites. Next, is of a handkerchief I got a cute shop just North of Waco, called Bloom and Bee Swanky. It is a Vera. I loved it b/c of the butterflies on it. I love butterflies. The only reason I am aware of Vera linens is from an issue of Martha Stewart Living several years ago. There was an article on vintage linens. Third, this album, one of my favorite projects for a couple of reasons: it houses several of my favorite photos, little did I know, I was in labor with Stella when I made this, I made it when Ali Edwards came to Waco and I loved the whole process of making this little book. And finally, the green vintage wallpaper plate, one of a set of four from Anthropologie. They hang on the wall in our dining room. Every time I look at them they make me happy b/c of the great colors and patterns. Thanks for looking....now a couple of more photos from today.

Wednesdays are always hard around here. I am not sure what it is. Today, was no exception. We were spoiled with the long weekend, Jeremy has Fridays off, so with Memorial day, we got to have him for 4 whole days. It was so nice. Today, he took some of the junior high guys from church climbing. I am so glad he got to climb and I wish he could go more often. He didn't get home till late this evening. Then Bella escaped out the back gate- black lab, no collar, dark outside and she refuses to come when you call her once she is loose...so you can imagine how fun it was to get her back home. In between meltdowns and nursing Stella, I did manage to get a shot of Emma reading a book to her. The book is called "Bear Hunt". I cute story I might add.
I also got a wonderful package of scrapbook supplies from Janna Wilson of Junkitz. We did a little product swap and she was very generous. I love the calender tablet. It is the perfect size for my 6x6 acrylic album...I can't wait to work on that. And the journaling spotz, alphabetz and feltz flowers look like so much fun. Thanks Janna!

And finally, a little pendant I made using rub-ons and a chipboard letter. If you look closely, you can see the rub-ons wrap around the pendant. Most of the pink rub-on is on the back behind the "d" and the rub-ons in each corner at the top are on the front. That's it for now, I better go to bed. Thanks for looking.

d.reeves design house

I was thrilled to see in Ali Edwards' most recent AEzine that she referenced my blog and acrylic albums as a source of inspiration. I am so thankful for all of the emails and inquiries I have received about my product as a result. In fact, the response has been wonderfully overwhelming!

To all who have expressed interest, I look forward to responding to each of you personally as quickly as I can.

Thanks for your interest!

Diane
d.reeves design house

exciting

Guess who has d.reeves design house products in their monthly project kit?

d. reeves acrylic albums

I wanted to share some samples of my acrylic scrapbook albums. The first one is an 8 x8 album. One of my favorite features on this sample is that you can see every page through the cover. My inspiration was a quilt block. I continued the pattern of the circles on the turquoise paper onto the acrylic with a white gel pen.



The 8 x 8 albums are perfect for home decorations. The great thing is you can make 2 different signs with one album. Below are some samples I used the same technique on both signs. Attach the paper to the back of the acrylic with spray adhesive. Wrap ribbon around the front and back of the sign. Then attach letters to the front. I used Glue Dots for "Happy Easter" and Diamond Glaze for "Be Mine." I love how they turned out.

I also carry 1 1/2 in. square pendants. They come in a package of four and would make great gifts. I used spray adhesive to attach the paper to the back of the acrylic.

6 x 6 album
Another great technique to use on the acrylic is paint. I painted the back of the album cover with acrylic paint then sealed it with modge podge. I really think it comes out looking like a retro glass tile. Then I stamped the circles with Staz On ink on the front. I attached the butterfly with glue dots.


I am so excited about these products because of all the possibilities. Leave me a comment if you are interested in an album or pendant. I hope to have something set up in the future for purchasing. Thanks for looking!

The Reeves in Print

So, this is a picture of an article about our family and our friends the Barnards in a local magazine called the Wacoan. It is about our "Best of Waco" club. You can read more about that on our family's blog here. The Wacoan discovered our little club by reading our blog. I am still not sure how they found our blog...I am assuming by googling "Best of Waco." Anyways, we did not expect the article to be so big, it is a feature article in the magazine. The top right picture is also pictured on the Table of Contents page under the word "Feature." The article also talks about our families, our blog and the entry about Stella being born on the bathroom floor! Seems like it all comes back to her crazy birth.

Things have been busy and exhausting around here lately. Last week, I did some work for my Dad's company. Four times a year I help him out with mailing a bunch of packets for one of his clients. It is a great way to earn some extra income, but the week the packets need to be mailed ends up being very busy. I think Stella was about to have a growth spurt last week too, because I think I fed her all night long almost every night last week. Also, Emma has also gotten back into the habit of getting out of bed SO many times at night and during naps-ughhhh, that can be frustrating. So it has not been very restful for our family either.

I have been working on a new scrapbook product. I set up an appointment to meet with the owner at my scrapbook store to see if she would be interested in selling them. The appointment was last Friday, which meant on top of printing, folding, stuffing, sealing and stamping lots of packets for my dad, I was busy making samples to show my product. I am excited about the product and have been taking lots of pictures of my samples to post on the blog. I am also excited to say that I made my first sale! and I will be teaching a class this summer with one of the items.....awesome. I have no idea what teaching the class will be like. I have only attended one class before.

I guess this post is sort of a catch up post it seems. Stella is going to be 6 months on Friday! I can hardly believe it. We will be heading to Houston to celebrate my Mom's b-day on Friday, then I will spend the week in Houston with the girls. I try to spend a week at my parents house and at Jeremy's parents house with the kids each year. We hope this will help build a strong bond between the girls and their grandparents.