Not that long ago, I stumbled onto a site called Bloesem. From there, I made my way to a site called Bloesem Kids. And from there, I found the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow… Craft Projects by Arounna Khounnoraj, otherwise known as Bookhou.

Since beginning preschool two weeks ago, Pea’s schedule has changed dramatically. While over the summer, she was in camp from 9:30 to 4:00 every day, now? Monday and Wednesday from 8:15 to 12:30 and Friday from 8:15 to 11:40. A big adjustment in our home, to say the least. But I’ve been very diligent about scheduling things throughout the day, and one of those things would be my favorite past-time: arts and crafts. Turns out it’s one of Pea’s favorites, too.

And so I am constantly on the computer in the evenings, after the girls are in bed, looking for inspiration. And did I ever find it. This is children’s art taken to a whole new level, a level I never knew existed. One in which I quite literally want to attack each and every one of her thirty or so ideas in the next week. Art-a-palooza, if you will.

These little puppets? On the docket for Tuesday. And this shadowbox collage? Thursday. And these stunning watercolor flowers? I’m doing those myself. And this fabric collage? I used it as inspiration just last weekend. A local art supply store is going out of business, and I loaded up on stretched canvases. Had no idea what I was going to do with them, but being the frustrated artist that I am? It felt so good to walk out of the store with a wagon overflowing with them. And I knew I’d find something, the perfect project. And sure enough, Pea and I broke out two of those canvases this weekend:

I had such a plan for this one, but I got carried away. It was exhilarating. We used lots of bits and pieces: fabric remnants from past projects, cut figures cut from a stack of saved postcards, little wooden trees that we painted earlier in the week, ribbon, butcher’s twine, wallpaper. You name it, it’s in there.

Pea? She had such a terrific time. She’d rummage through my fabric bin, pull out what fit the ‘vision’ for her piece, and then tell me what shapes to cut. For three or so hours, we sat there on the playroom floor, all sorts of ‘found’ items surrounding us, glue everywhere, and just went at it. Very satisfying, for mama and daughter.