Inspiration Art - April

 

This month's inspiration art comes from a great story we read on Bored Panda.

"Ben Brucker was tired of the plain, bland walls at the office of the creative agency he works for, so he decided to do something about it. His solution was to cover the office’s walls with a series of pixelated superhero portraits made from a total of 8,024 post-it notes." - Bored Panda

Yep, you heard right, post-its!!!

Full article HERE

After reading, we decided to have some post-it fun, too. As a writer, I have TONS of post-its in my possession. They always come in hand to story board an idea.

I started working on the fridge, it didn't take long for the kids to join in.

 

Reese made a minecraft head...one of many from her collection.

 

Ethan went for a Mario villian, though our lack of black post-its made it hard to make out the full design.

 

Me, I went for a basic collage, no rhyme or reason to the pattern.

Then added our April Rule, Count Me In!

 

 

Talk about a BIG, BRIGHT reminder.

Post-it tally 1,357...we'll see if this month's rule sticks.

 

Happy Friday!

Last thoughts on SLOW

 

 

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

We wish you much FUN in 2015!!

We're going to keep enjoying our holiday this week and will return next week with our January rule:-)

ethan's fortune cookie

Last week while Reese and I had a girl's night out at a school fundraiser, David and Ethan had a boy's night in complete with some Chinese food.

I was told that the chicken & broccoli was AWESOME but the fortune cookie or rather the fortune was the WORST ever!!

"Oh Ethan, you know you can't take fortunes seriously." I said.
Ethan just cocked his head at me. "Wait till you see it, mom".

"Maybe you were right, mom," he casually added, "maybe I do play Minecraft too much."

Honestly, I didn't know what shocked me more - the fortune or Ethan's response to it. It didn't matter. The HUGE smile that then appeared on Ethan's face told me all I needed to know....he could laugh at the moment, laugh at himself and the realization, his true fortune was PRICELESS.

Don't Minecraft Me

So, we had a revealing weekend! The plan to turn off our electronics and have some FUN didn't quite "play out" as I hoped.

As much as I pulled the kids to do new things, inside and outside, their actions reminded me over and over what was still on their minds. MINECRAFT.

At the house, they made chalk drawings on the new blacktop on our driveway...Minecraft characters.

 

Reese found her paint and brushes to make some art...Minecraft art.

Ethan spent an afternoon building with his legos....Minecraft designs.

Maybe we just need to get out of the house? I thought. So I took them hiking one day at one of our favorite local state parks. Our 3 mile trek turned into 3 miles of Minecraft chatter and banter - lucky me! They took the occasional breather to have a picnic snack, to count rings on a tree stump and to admire some cute chipmunks and this beautiful horse.

So, as I said, it was a revealing weekend on many levels. We survived one another (lol) and had moments of FUN (extra points on kids' creativity) but our first rule? Yeah, it's going to take more than just a push of a button.

Rule #1 - READY, SET, PLAY!

You would think the idea of PLAY would be considered easy for kids.  It's their very first job, really, it's what they do best. So, why make a rule about it?

Answer: PLAY has changed greatly since our days as kids.

Today, if I were to tell my kids to go play, they would grab their favorite electronic device and get comfortable. (Sigh) It wasn't always this way. 

Even as I write this post, our house is alive with the sounds of our primo game of choice, Minecraft. Each and every day, my kids wake up excited to enter this strange, cubed world of Steves, creepers, enderman, villagers, spiders, squids and more. THEY. LOVE. IT. So much so, that sometimes, they let the everyday world pass them by. This won't do, so this month, our first rule puts PLAY front and center.

The computer games won't go away completely but we are looking to open up and expand their world of PLAY, as well as rekindle that original spark.

READY, SET, PLAY is about physical play, the kind where you GO OUTSIDE - what a concept!

READY, SET, PLAY is about crafty play, using the basics: paper, pencil, paint and imagination.

READY, SET, PLAY is about mental play, stretching our minds to bring more PLAY to our everyday thoughts, words and actions (and not be too serious.)

In the end, the goal is always the same, to have some FUN!

I PLAY - YOU PLAY - HE, SHE, WE PLAY...It's that SIMPLE.