sometimes you give yourself an impossible task. And I might have known that the feeling I have with the word home would be very hard to translate into a drawing, but here are some of them;
The others you can find on Instagram @renateandtheanthouse
Next week: toadstools
This 52 weeks of card making project is a fun challenge. This week I let my self play with scraps of magazine paper. Want to know how go to Facebook.com/renateandtheanthouse
Last week I talked about the idea for the fairytale play, this week is supposed to be about costumes. I didn’t manage to come up with a good story line.
The fairytale idea didn’t leave me though. And you know how thoughts just occurs to you when least expected. Well I think I might have come up with a modern fairytale. With in the lead a 15 year old girl and an injured bird. The magic object a raindrop ring, that is going to help her see that she is perfect the way she is. Al this in the setting of a beautiful Forrest where her and her family are camping.
So what costume can I make out of this. Well I was going to work on a birds mask and perhaps even some wings. But little girls and family life sometimes change these plans.
The groundwork has been laid though. A cereal box has been confiscated for the base of the mask. And a template has been drawn. Next week hopefully a how to and the end result.
Normally I would try and give you a PDF to challenge your creativity and my own. I had one made for today as well, but my computer decided otherwise. So we will keep that one for later.
Today I will show you some more of my playing that I talked about yesterday.
Materials
look in your crafty corner, doodle drawers, children’s craft box, pantry.
Find something you have always 
wanted to play with and go for it. I found some old cheap watercolours and on Facebook had seen different effects you could achieve. One of them salt. And I gave it a go and had fun with it. Go have some fun with stuff you find around your house and enjoy!
Last week I talked about the 
difference between my 2 daughters and approaching a task. How knowledge can stop this freedom of approach. I see it in myself, wanting to do it right, but what is right? 
Noticing my reservations in starting and seeing my 4-year-old just going for it has made me realise I need to keep on playing. Yes I need to focus and follow a path to make my creativity my source of income, but I do not want to stop playing so that my creativity stays fresh and fun. Hope you get to do the same and I can help you with that.
My alma mater is Amsterdam and I do love that city. So this week was a bit of a homage.
The others as always on Instagram @renateandtheanthouse
next week: home
There are so many wonderful things happening in my life at the moment, that I truely feel like this. So hope that all of you are having the same feeling. How to make it on Facebook.com/renateandtheanthouse
Last week I decided to research the fairytale as the story element of our upcoming craft, craft for adults that is.
I always see the most beautiful crafts in places like Instagram and Pinterest with the mention that children will have so much fun making it, but why can’t we just admit that us adults love making crafts as well. We often end up taking over from our kids to make it look “better”. But I get side tracked. And please feel free to get your kids involved, nothing better then spending time with the family. 
Back to fairytales; this is what I found.
1. They always start with “once upon a time” and end with “lived happily ever after.”
2. They have a problem with a solution. That solution comes about with some sort of magic.
3. The setting and characters have something regal or magical. Oh and they can be animals with human traits as well.
4. There is a moral to the story, a lesson to be learned.
The first ideas that have come to my mind have nothing magical 
about them. I would like to come up with a modern fairytale that deals with bullying and friendship. But a playground and normal families have no regal or magical connotations. More over they will be hard to catch in masks and props. The only person I came up with that can stay is Aunty Trollup. She will be my version of a fairy godmother.
But for now it is back to the drawing board.
Today I met with the wonderfully and delightful Kelly Southee. She is a painter of local landscapes. One of her subjects is buildings old and forgotten. She captures them before they get torn down and forgotten. They are bright and alive. 
I met her a couple of months ago at a gathering and the ladies at our table hit it of and now we meet once a month to keep each other accountable. At these meetings we show each other what we are doing and this resulted in Kelly asking me to exhibit with her in her beautiful studio. 
Now we are planning and I am learning about setting up an exhibition. It is all very exciting and I will keep you informed. The title has been decided “home is where the art is”. The subject matter “home”. The dates 10-18 September. Keep posted for more details. 
activitybookforadults 