Who here is cozied up at home today waiting out this hurricane?

Now that you’re prepared for Sandy’s arrival and tucked away inside, it’s a great time for some scribbley art projects! It’s also the perfect activity if by chance we lose power! Candles, water, and flashlights are absolute necessities, but let me tell you—I always try to stock up on some art supplies before a big storm. You can always draw by candlelight!

While rain (and in this case, hurricanes) can put a big damper on our schedules and lives, it can also provide some beautiful inspiration and quiet time to be creative. Here are some lovely works of art that explore the beauty of rain.

See what pictures this crazy rain and wind inspires for you!

Wishing you all a safe, dry, and scribbley hurricane day!“Rue de la Paix, Rain” by Edouard Cortes

 via Street Art Utopia

 “Rain, Rain” by Gina Brown

Hi Scribblers!

Scribble Town is excited to announce that we  will be participating at this year’s Pumpkin Fest in Central Park! Last year we had a blast making pumpkin-themed crafts with the kids at the event and this year we will be getting scribbley making even more pumpkin crafts!

Pumpkin Fest is taking place on Saturday, October 27th from 11am-3pm in Central Park at the Bandshell (enter at 72nd & 5th)

Along with our crafting table, you will also find a hay maze, a chance to go pumpkin picking, fun sponsor tables and more! Hope to see you there!

Chalk is a great medium—it’s the cornerstone of sidewalk drawings, hopscotch boards, and school lessons, but people tend to be limited to chalkboards and pavement.

Chalk can be used for so much more than that! It’s easy to blend, erase, color and write. But with the blunt edges, it can be tough to be precise with details or calligraphy. Like most writing utensils, a point is certainly helpful! Who’s to say we can’t put a sharp point on chalk, though?

Similar to our tip on how to get a fine line with paint, here’s a tip to get a fine line with chalk. It sounds obvious, but just sharpen it! Take a small manual pencil sharpener and use it to create a point on a regular piece of chalk.

Chalk Pencil

 Photo: The Creativity Exchange

You can use this for any surface you cover with chalkboard paint, elaborate sidewalk drawings, but also even writing on black matte cardstock. With this one simple technique, you can open up a whole new world of projects and pictures to create with chalk. Pretty sharp, huh?

Photo: The Creativity Exchange

I really like a cartoon called Adventure Time so I draw a lot of that.

Adventure Time drawing by Chase, 12 years old

This is one of my recent realistic ones.

Realistic Drawing from Life by Chase, 12 years old

My realistic drawings usually take awhile. This one maybe took thirty minutes. I really like drawing little cute colorful drawings because that’s really what my personality is.

I’ll be drawing more realistic drawings soon and I’ll be sure to send some pictures to Scribble Town, so maybe you’ll see them here.

A few of my drawings are on the page.  You can share your drawings there too!

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So today is my birthday! Woohoo! Time to eat cake… although I don’t see how that makes today different from most other days. Anyway, I’d like to use my birthday as an excuse to share this absolutely adorable sponge cake postcard created by Sandra Denneler at She Knows. Instead of just a regular ol’ card in an envelope, you can send that special birthday someone their own little cake!

To create these delectable desserts, you’ll need: a large sponge, spray paint, caulk, spray adhesive and heavy paper. And with only a few simple steps, this project is (literally) a piece of cake!

For full directions, and even an instructional video, head over to She Knows. If you want to see the Thanksgiving version, check out Sandra’s pumpkin pie variation on her own blog, Project Denneler.

These are the tastiest looking sponges I have ever seen—seriously, good enough to eat and awfully realistic! What a unique way to wish someone a celebratory day. Would you give these a try? Do you have any fun birthday traditions? Anyone out there also celebrating today!? Well, as a gift to me, you can all go have a joyous, creative, wonderful Wednesday!

 Photo: Sandra Denneler for She Knows

If Halloween had an official animal mascot, I think it’d have to be the spider. Okay, also maybe the black cat, but we’re going to focus on spiders for now. We’ve had a few crafts this month spotlighting the spider and I think this one is a pretty perfect combination of creepy and clever.

If you’re looking to showcase some festive and unique décor in honor of Halloween (and a creative scribbler like you might as well!), then it is time to check out these spider web balloons!

You’ll need clear latex balloons, small rubber spiders, a product called Hi-Float to help create the spider webs, and air or helium. The project isn’t time consuming at all, but you will need two days so the Hi-Float can dry overnight. Check out this tutorial at Crafty Crafty for directions.

 Photo: Crafty Crafty

Halloween is such a perfect time to flex those creative crafting muscles. Between costumes, decorations, and treats… there’s no limit to how many spooky, delightful, funny, or tasty homemade creations you can come up with.

Have you already started decorating? Do you have any spooktacular crafts to share? We’d love to hear how you’re gearing up for the fun day.

Are you having a Halloween party this year? Since my birthday is a week before Halloween, fun décor and party favors always catch my eye. While I haven’t mixed the holiday with my birthday celebrations in recent years, I have plenty of fun memories from my childhood spooky theme parties.

Obviously, tasty treats, candy or otherwise, have to be included in the festivities. A great substitute or addition to any basic goodie bag is this clever candy hand! You can get creative and fill them with whatever you like, but here are some cute ideas.

They key is to fill out the hand form, especially the fingers, like in the two examples below. One uses rolls of Smarties for the fingers and the other uses candy corn as fingernails. Both are adorable and work to pronounce the digits! Now on to the palm… you could certainly just stuff it with an assortment of candy… that’s what Halloween’s all about, no? You could also fill it with popcorn if you want to lighten up on the sugar. Tie it off with some ribbon… or a bandage if you want! And try accessorizing with a fun spider ring to finish off the look.

Photo: Preschool Alphabet

 Photo: Pinterest User

 What creative snacks do you whip up for Halloween? Maybe some spider pops? Are you looking forward to trying any new treats this year?

I am more of a baker than a blogger but I had to share this adorable Ghost Cake for Halloween.

Step 1. Grease and flour baking pans and line with parchment paper.

Step 2. Bake cakes according to instructions. Note the deeper bowl will take longer to bake. Keep checking it with a skewer.

Step 3. Cool and remove cakes from pans.
Chill cakes in frig, (wrapped in plastic wrap to prevent drying). This helps make fewer crumbs while icing.

Step 4. Stack the two 8″ rounds with a 1/2-inch of butter cream icing in-between layers. Top layer should be the bowl, (dome side up).
Note * use a sturdy plate or board that will support the weight of the cake.
Use offset spatula to apply butter cream icing and smooth over the entire assembled cake. Butter cream Icing will set; also referred to as “crusting”. Set cake aside.

Step 5. Sprinkle your counter with powdered sugar. Knead the white fondant and then roll it out with rolling pin. Fondant should be rolled out large enough to cover the entire cake.
Lift fondant off counter and drape over cake. Work quickly. Creases and folds add to the charm of the ghost.

Step 6. Roll out a small amount of black fondant, cut out free form eyes and a mouth shape.
Apply a small amount of water with paint brush to the back of the cut out fondant shapes and gently press to the front of the cake.

I promise you this Cake will be a big hit with all the ghouls & goblins….

What’s your favorite kind of paint to work with? I like certain paints for different things (like many artists, I assume). I always forget, however, that we can also break the rules a little and combine art supplies to create new mediums. Watercolors are gorgeous and soft, but don’t often have much in the way of texture. Why not add something to watercolors to change that?

Like what, you ask? How about using glue and salt? It’s a great way to add depth, texture, and an element of surprise to your watercolor creations. The salt lifts the pigment from the paper and makes those white speckles on the page.

Regina from Chalk in My Pocket provides not one, but two posts on how to achieve this look at home. What I love about art is how there are no limits to creativity—you can always try combining different mediums or tools, experiment, and see what happens. We should all remember to give that a try more often.

In the meantime, I’m going to get out my watercolors and go find me some salt and glue! Happy painting!

Photo: Chalk in my Pocket

So it’s the middle of October! Are we preparing for Halloween yet? These creepy crawly spider lollipops from House of Baby Piranha are a perfect treat for the spooky day! They could be great favors or snacks at a Halloween party… or even an extra-special treat for trick-or-treaters.

All you’ll need are your favorite lollipops, black pipe cleaners, googly eyes, and glue. Just twist a pipe cleaner tightly around the base of the lollipop stick (make sure each side is even) and repeat this three more times so you have four pipe cleaners making eight legs. Bend the ends of each spider leg to finish the look. Then glue on two eyes and you’re all done!

Photo: House of Baby Piranha

 Do you have any fun Halloween treats that are both spookily festive and tasty? Any plans to make the most of the holiday that combines all things creepy and candy?