Treefrog Art

Birthday party glass mosaics all grouted and ready to return to the birthday girl. 🎉

What a pleasure it was to spend an afternoon making glass mosaics with this fabulous bunch!

Full of creativity and assertive design ideas, these 7 year olds approached a brand new technique with flair and confidence that most of us grown ups can't match.

I'm thrilled to have been asked by if they can feature my memory quilt on their website. Their brilliant elephant bedlinen found its way into the quilt from the one pillowcase I didn't take to the charity shop when my girls outgrew it. The pink and white spots were the reverse of the pillowcase and the fantastically colourful elephants, which I have appliqued on, were all over the front. I know this design was popular on many many beds. Happy memories!

Nothing beats a bit of hand sewing. Methodical rows of tacking stitches every 6 inches or so vertically and horizontally are now holding my memory quilt layers together before it's quilted on the sewing machine.

This tiny snippet features fabric from four different dresses, two of which were handed down from my cousin's children, one dress passed on by a friend and one from a charity shop ((all worn by my girls), left over fabric from their bedroom curtains and a
pillow case. Happy days!

With the border on this is now ready for quilting. Nobody is complaining about eating dinner on their laps while the table is pushed against the wall on the far side of the room.
Fabric backing gently taped to the floor, followed by a middle layer of cotton batting and the patchwork on top.
Time to hand tack it into place to secure the layers together.....

I've been teaching a lot about colour theory lately, and how colours opposite each other on the colour wheel contrast and make each other 'pop'. .That's why the deliberate bright orange stripe bordering the blue patchwork squares on the quilt I'm making makes me so happy!

I bought this striped fabric back in the early 2000s on a shopping trip with the wardrobe department of The Duke's Theatre, Lancaster, where I was designing a production of What The Butler Saw. Another great memory in the quilt.

Patchwork pin wheel from 3 different second hand dresses and fabric remnants from a dress one of my daughters made for herself with her Granny's help. The quilt is growing!

Adding details to my memory quilt with machine applique. This is turning into a celebration of colourful fabrics from my children's dresses, bedlinen, curtain fabric and sewing projects. We were always lucky to have lots of hand-me-downs so some of these fabrics have been worn by at least 4 children. This quilt started by closely following a brilliant tutorial on Bari J. It's now more of an organic design process. Still some way to go before it's done but it's growing!!

I've made a few quilts but this one is by far the most enjoyable. Made entirely of dresses my girls wore, remnants of their curtain fabric, bedlinen they got too grown up for and leftover fabric from their sewing projects. I started by following a fantastic online quilt tutorial on www.barijdesigns.com and am now building the rest according to the sizes and colours of the fabrics I have. Looking at contrasts, balance and shape. And that's what the design process is all about. I always love the way it looks from the back too!

It's such a joy to be able to run Treefrog Art parties again and I had a brilliant afternoon today with a brilliant bunch of 8 year olds creating tie- dye t-shirts. I can't wait to see the results.... And neither can they!!

Beautiful lino prints by two fabulous 11 year old cousins. First time for both of them using the tools and they nailed it!

It's always fun to make marbling with paint but it's beyond BRILLIANT to do it with chocolate. Hoorah for the extravagant baker in the house.

Beautiful block prints made today at our last Year 5/6 Art Club at . I always really enjoy the process of printing with children. The thought, care and hours that can go into producing the design and the 'printing plate' contrasts brilliantly with the speed at which multiple prints are made. The sound of the ink as it's rolled and the magic of peeling back the paper to reveal the reversed image are always a joy.
A perfect way to end a fabulous year of Art Club. Well done everyone.

BOOM!!! The Year 3/4 Art Clubbers from untied these beautiful spiralled tshirts this afternoon. The perfect end to a very different year of Art Club.

Well done everyone!

Bingo!! These brilliant Art Clubbers from untied their tshirts today and were SOOOO pleased with their amazing spirals.

Hope you are impressed !

Beautiful wild flower mixed media paintings by the Year 3/4 Art Clubbers at . A celebration of materials, techniques and being creative outdoors! - liquid watercolour, salt, tempera, pencils and watercolour pencils, painting wet on wet with big brushes, printing and drawing from observation in the school garden.

Thanks to .org.uk for a joyful teaching resource.

https://youtu.be/Mm_LKSJgFk4

The sun is shining!! So I thought I'd make another stop-motion animation. Spring art; up-cycled of course!

Spring flowers Learn how to make up-cycled spring flowers with Treefrog Art (www.treefrogart.co.uk). Perfect for KS1 and KS2. Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

I'm so proud of this brilliant daughter of mine, and so pleased that she finds genuine pleasure in being creative. Many of her lockdown hours have been spent making all kinds of art.

Congratulations to Erica Coombes, Emma Good and everyone else who entered. And thank you to The Petersfield School for organising the challenge.

Wishing you all a very ! To all the women who are steering their family lockdown ships and have waved their children off at the school gates today for the next chapter of 2021. To all the keyworker women who have worked tirelessly on the front line. To all the teachers who have held my children's best interests and encouraged them from a distance. To all the women who have gone before us and those who are yet to come. I salute you all!

One of the brilliant drawings created in our house for World Book Day yesterday, following my stop-motion animation workshop.

Swipe left to see the books this fantastic character is from. To see the workshop, (and all my others 😊), visit www.treefrogart.co.uk. Link in bio.

I always love to see your artwork. If you followed the animation and drew a character, simply tag them .

https://youtu.be/Syo5x_g_Q0E

I'm so pleased to see my latest stop-motion animation workshop included in today's home learning for Herne Junior School. A special drawing activity for World Book Day. 📕📗📘📙

World Book Day Drawing Join Treefrog Art for a special drawing activity animation for World Book Day, perfect for KS1 and KS2. Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

https://youtu.be/Syo5x_g_Q0E

Join me for some World Book Day drawing fun!

World Book Day Drawing Join Treefrog Art for a special drawing activity animation for World Book Day, perfect for KS1 and KS2. Music: https://www.purple-planet.com

I've had a lot of fun creating a special stop-motion animation for World Book Day. A perfect drawing activity for primary aged children which had already generated a lot of laughs at Treefrog Art HQ.

Who's feeling creative?

My newest stop-motion animation has just been published. To see it visit www.treefrogart.co.uk. Link in bio.

Who's feeling creative?

https://youtu.be/ilr-7NzGmzw

Faces Use your imagination to make Faces with Treefrog Art. No art materials required! A perfect activity for children in KS1 and KS2. Music: Snap Happy by Shane I...