Sometimes unlikely partners make the best combinations. French fries and milkshakes. Florals and stripes. Crayons and hairdryers. Things that are great on their own can join forces to create fun and unexpected new pairings.

That’s exactly what happens when you mix Waldo, of Where’s Waldo fame, and great works of art. You get Dan Wilbur’s , where you can find Waldo while enjoying timeless paintings all at once. After hiding in every nook and cranny of his own illustrated world, Waldo has decided to duck into other artistic realms.

Georges-Pierre Seurat – La Parade du Cirque

Admittedly, some are much easier than others, but look how Waldo adopts the qualities of the paintings he hides in. His figure takes on the dots of Pointillism, the strokes of Impressionism, or the bold colors of Expressionism. That’s a whole lot of –isms, but the important part is that twenty-five years after his debut in 1987, Waldo is still up to his crafty tricks.

This clever twist on a classic will amuse art fans and provide an adorable introduction to important paintings for little viewers as well! Edward Hopper – Nighthawks

Pierre-Auguste Renoir – Bal du moulin de la Galette

Hi Scribblers!

You will always find creative inspiration for your little ones here on Scribble Blog, but have you checked out our newest blog, Scribble Shop Blog?

There you will find creative inspiration for the more sophisticated crafters. Scribble Shop Blog offers inspiration to the seasoned crafters, professional artists and even beginners with easy step by step tutorials, creative highlights and guest posts from other crafters! Check it out and let us know what you think! We’d love your feedback!

There are days when I get an overwhelming urge to draw. I feel that distant tingling sensation in my fingertips longing to grasp a pencil or marker. But as soon as I get my sketchbook out, my mind goes blank. Suddenly the white page is my Everest! Pencil in hand, I freeze up. Does that mean I shouldn’t draw then? Of course not! Any good Scribbler knows to push through the creative block and see what your brain and hand come up with. Sometimes a great way to kick start the imagination is to try out a creative prompt. If you’re feeling stuck staring at a blank page… or just want to try something different… give these fun prompts a whirl!

If Autumn was a person, what would he/she look like?

Splatter some paint or ink on the page. Now create a picture from it.

What would your dream home be? A cottage? A castle? A yert? Draw it!

Create a new animal species. Don’t forget to name it and show its habitat!

Use the whole page to design a billboard advertisement against your least favorite food.

Design a new cover for your favorite book.

Draw the most beautiful bouquet you can imagine. Is it in a vase? Wrapped in paper? Still in the garden?

What will people dress like 100 years from now?

Look out the window. Draw what you see without lifting your pencil from the page.

Create your own superhero. What are his/her special powers?

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How’d it go? Do you have any favorite prompts of your own or surefire ways to beat a bad case of the blank page blues? Leave a comment and let us know!

Hi Scribblers,

I’m sure you and your family are busy getting back into the swing of things with the kids back in school. Sometimes it’s hard to get the little ones to enjoy school and the work, but this can be alleviated if they see it as fun! How do you make learning fun?

Sometimes it helps with a song or rhyme.

Sometimes it helps to color!
Try this fun back to school coloring page to help your kids learn how to draw a triangle!

Just click on the image, download and print.

Hi Scribblers,

Everyone, whether they are an artists, dancer, musician or aeven accountant- everyone is inspired by something. Sometimes it’s music, sometimes art, sometimes the color of the sky! There are many ways to inspire creativity in your little ones. What inspires you? How do you inspire your kids? We want to know!

Looking for a few ideas? Check out this tip on inspiring creativity!

Engage the family with an after-dinner-scribble!

In my opinion I have the cutest little doggie.  On occasion she is not happy with me, which usually happens when she has to stay home alone.  Then she finds a way to convey her displeasure.   Several weeks ago she got a hold of my favorite flip flops and chomped them up.  Needless to say, for a moment while I was despairing over flip flops my pooch was not so cute to me.

The fact that my flip flop had been gobbled was traumatic to me because I live my life in flip flops.  I’m happiest when my toes are free.  Flip flops are generally easy to find, however they were not the dollar store kind and couldn’t be replaced overnight.  Finding them proved very difficult.  It’s crazy the company didn’t have their name on them anywhere, and I’m thrilled that I finally remembered the company name Leather man- Eliza B. I jumped on line and looked for their website and was dismayed that the sandals were not available on the site.  I phoned them, and proceeded to tell the sales manager about how my dog ate my sandals.  Some people are really wonderful and go the extra mile for others.  She went into the factory and requested that a pair be made special for me.  You guessed it.  My tail was waggling!!!

I realized that the sandals wouldn’t arrive for a few weeks, so I decided to craft an interim pair.  I went up the block to our local pharmacy and purchased a pair of very inexpensive flip flops to embellish.  I made a pink ribbon flower and after completing it, I realized that I didn’t have enough pink ribbon left for the second flower.  What’s a girl to do?  I decide to make the second flower from green ribbon and now these flip flops are a sort of behind the scene pair that I wear around our studio.

It’s actually fun to walk around with a mismatched pair! Have you ever run out of materials and had to improvise?  What did you make?  Please send me photos of your creations.

At last, my new shiny yellow patent leather flip flops have arrived!

There is nothing more special than the life cycle of a butterfly! To visualize the stages we recreated the magic. As with most living beings we started with the egg which then grows into the caterpillar, also called the larva; the worm-like stage of the butterfly. This part of the cycle gave us lots of material to work with! In story time we read ‘The Crunching Munching Caterpillar’ by Sheridan Cain, which got us thinking about a caterpillar who wishes nothing more than to fly.

You can’t see it now because it’s been gobbled up, but we made a caterpillar pizza in cooking class!  All of us Green Groupers rolled little pizzas and then linked them together to make a big caterpillar. To get the picture- tomatoes and olives make for great big eyes and slices of red peppers turn into little caterpillar legs!

Here’s something you can see on the display- a caterpillar we made out of yarn. Don’t eat it!  After the caterpillar grows to it’s biggest size it then transforms into the chrysalis or pupa. We used paper mache to create this stage. Unlike other animals hibernating in their caves the caterpillar inside the pupa is working away to evolve into its next stage of life. Suddenly, birds are tweeting, the snow is melting and the air smells fresh and alas spring has arrived!  When we went on a nature walk we even found a pupa on a branch. The pupa had a tiny hole in it, which must’ve been how the butterfly came out of its cocoon. We brought it inside to put on the ‘finding out table’ for everybody to check out. Hard work has paid off and the butterfly is born! This beautiful creature so naturally colorful and decorative is now flying around fluttering from one flower to the next.

From the butterfly we learned about symmetry and patterns and once again applied it to eatable art! Ask a Green Grouper how to make a butterfly out of a couple of pretzels, a stick of licorice, honey, a rice cracker, and pastels. Here’s a hint: even though it’s sweet and delicious this gooey food can be used as glue. (recipe found in Candy Construction: http://www.scribbleshop.com/content/candy-cnst-storey-publishing)  Hope you had as much fun as we did learning about the butterfly’s life cycle!

You can make your own butterfly at home! Just click on the image, download and print!

Some fun facts about butterflies:

Butterflies range in size from a tiny 1/8 inch to a huge almost 12 inches.

Butterflies can see red, green, and yellow

Did you know that butterflies need the warmth of the sun to enable them to fly?

The caterpillar stage lasts about 9 to 14 days.

Hi Scribblers!

Have you gone back to school yet? Looking for fun crafts to help you jump into the new year? Last year we made some great back-to-school crafts!

We made…

A Lunch Bag “Backpack”

Backpack Lunch Bag

A Locker Organizer

A Soup Can Organizer!

and even featured a Back to School comic!

A Back to School Comic!

Our Scribblers are hard at work creating more back-to-school crafts to share with you soon!

Making a decorative craft for the classroom or as an accessory is a great way to harness your inner creativity and show your unique artistic side! Plus, by crafting you are guaranteed to have a one-of-a-kind item!

What will you make?

Hi Scribblers,

Do you like to color? Coloring, scribbling, drawing….these are all great ways to explore your creativity. Sometimes you can sit down with a pen or pencil with an exact thought in mind and try to draw it, but if you aren’t an “artist” you can still exercise your creative skills!

Simply sit down with a blank piece of paper and a crayon, pencil, marker or pen and simply start to color. Where do the squiggly lines take you? What will you draw? You may not konw at first, but as you continue to squiggle and scribble all of a sudden you may realize that your mind is starting to draw something!

See…

At first I simply started with the orange marker at the center and started to scribble on the paper. Before I knew it, I was drawing a rose!

What will you create? Share your drawings, scribbles and sketches with us on our Scribble Shop page!

Photo of DV and Knowme

While walking the other day, I saw a family  of four children, the parents and their pet Yorkie. They were all wearing tie-dye T’s. The Yorkie was wearing a tie-dye bandana. I was so upset with myself, I had forgotten my cell phone (which is also a camera) so I don’t have a photo to show you.

Well, I was so inspired that I went on line and found this great site that I would like to share with you.
http://iml.jou.ufl.edu/projects/Spring09/blake_e/history.html It’s all about making things tie-dye.

Then, I bought a tie-dye kit and a tee shirt and my buddy, Richy, and I made this fabulous T for me. We
had so much fun!

T-shirt & Tie-Dye Kit

Put rubber bands around the t-shirt

Dunk into the solution

Squirt dye into the creases

We put rubber bands around the t-shirt, dunked it into the solution and squirted dye into all the creases.
We let it sit overnight and the next day I got to wear my wonderful new creation.

I was happy it was simple to make and that it turned out great.

There’s plenty of dye left over so I’m planning to make some shirts for my 2 year old niece. Her grandpa
is a Grateful Dead devotee…and I know he’ll love seeing her in them!

I’m thrilled to know that tie-dye was not just a fad the hippies had in the 60’s and that it remains a mainstay
in our casual wardrobes today. Do you have a favorite tie-dye shirt? I’d love to see it.