All I can say is: Why didn't I think of this? I came across a Catholic homeschooling blog Pondered In My Heart while searching for other Catholic homeschoolers since I don't know any in our area. I figured I'd turn to the internet to find others with similar interests. I scoured through the blogger's posts with real interest and saw Many things I found she did I wished I had time to do ,which I don't because life is over scheduled for me right now. I oohed and ahhed over many of her creations and the fact her children were so artistic. I marveled at the fact that she too has a younger child with special needs just like I do, and was able to make her homeschooling work. I loved the photos of just the simple things they do in life together as a family.
(Not ours but some beautiful ones from Pondered in my Heart website.)
After all that oohing and ahhhing I found a post about an art activity they did called Artist Trading Cards. After looking at the photos and reading about it, I knew that my daughters would love to do something like this because they have such a love for art and drawing. The concept is so simple and yet so enjoyable to do.
This requires paper, art medium, and your love for drawing.
So this morning I shared the idea with my girls ,and in true form they got right to work practicing and warming up their artist skills.
Hannah, Marilyn, Maggie and Katie working very hard on their practice Artist Trading Cards. They were using the book A Year with God (sadly out of print) from Catholic Heritage Curriculum, to practice drawing a picture of Mary and the Christ Child.
Sorry about the fuzzy looking picture. It was Marilyn's beginning sketch of the Blessed Mother and her child.
Which was shown how to do step by step in our A Year with God book.
Who's pictures are who's? Starting from left to right , Maggie(6), Hannah(9), Marilyn(14) and Katie(12).
So now that we've practiced a little bit. The girls are ready to draw and trade with others.
If anyone is interesting in creating their own Artist Trading Cards and trading with us. The theme is Saint ATC's. Since All Saints Day is coming very soon.
Here are the rules ( that I graciously copied from Pondered in My Heart):
1. Each participant will create cards that are 2.5" x3.5" ( 6.35 x8.89 cm ) in length. . You can buy ready made cards, cut out your own on heavy paper such as cardstock or watercolor paper . It is said that a 9x12 sheet of paper will give you ten cards.
2.You may use any art medium that your heart desires.. whether its pencil, pen , water color, colored pencils , graphite, acrylic, marker or ink. Whatever you prefer to use.
3. The swap is open to all ages from the very young to the very experienced. LOL
4. Each participant will create 5 ATC's to mail out, and that person will receive 5 different cards in return.
5. Cards will be addressed to me and I will sort out cards to each child by age group/ability of the creator .And we'll mail out our cards to the new recipients. When you mail out your cards please include a self addressed stamped envelope and we'll send our cards out to you.
6. International swappers are welcome.
7. Is open to to all ages.
8. Each card should be labeled on the back with the creator's name,and how ever much info you'd like to share ( age of child, or adult, date, title of piece , media used,and location if you wish). Some participants like to participate as pen pals and can include more personal info but its not required.
9. If your interested in participating with us please email me at : reedfamily( at) yahoo (dot) com. And put ATC Card Swap in your subject line. We'll send you more info and the more who participate the better.
10. Please mail your cards post marked by November 19,2012 ( one more week extension , by November 26th).
I'd like to thank Pondered in my Heart for sharing this really neat activity and giving us something to do this winter. It also gives us a reason to add more art into our homeschool days , as it was always taking a back seat to our other subjects. I know the girls will enjoy starting out their day with art and even better, art to give to others.
And if you need some inspiration check out the the post Pondered In My Heart has of all the ATC's they collected when they did their ATC swap.
We're looking forward to having others participate with us and we can't wait to see all the art work that comes to us and we're looking forward to sharing ours with others, too.
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