The Village Art Studio’s Ann DeRosier shares how
to make a snowman bell
Story and photos by Samantha Pogue
Children enjoy receiving presents during the holidays, but they also like to give their loved ones something special.
Ann DeRosier stands by a variety of holiday gifts and crafts children have made in The Village Art Studio’s annual Santa’s Workshop sessions.
Since they opened five years ago, The Village Art Studio, located in the historic Warwick Village on East High, gives children the opportunity to create their own gifts during its Santa’s Workshop sessions. Inspired and borrowing many ideas from Pinterest, artists and former elementary art teachers Ann DeRosier, Charlotte Middleton and Cindy Schnieders lead eight different sessions where children can create unique items such as snowy candles with Epsom salt, Santa Claus wooden spoons, Christmas tree pictures and personalized holiday oven mitts.
“They will tell us who they will give the gifts to, and they are so excited to see the finished piece,” Ann DeRosier said, noting they get a lot of supplies for these projects at Hobby Lobby and other local businesses and prep materials to allow more time for creation. “The best thing is when they come back. That tells us that they liked us and liked what they created.”
Ann said children often return to other Santa’s workshops or the Kids’ Workshop held the first Saturday of each month, summer art camps, the annual spring break art camp or group after-school art lessons. The skills they learn doing art help them in other aspects of their lives.
“We find the more experiences children have, the more confident they are to try new things at school,” Ann said. “Our Santa’s Workshops are probably our most popular next to summer camp. I think it is because they get to make gifts. They can walk out the door with their finished project and give it to their grandma or a loved one.”
Ann shared how to create a popular Santa’s Workshop craft, the snowman bell.
SNOWMEN BELL
Materials
• Small flowerpot (3-by-3 inches)
• Two paintbrushes
• Black Sharpie
• Scissors
• Needle and thread OR hot glue
• White acrylic paint
• 2 other colors of acrylic paint (for scarf)
• Tacky Glue
• Bell
• 2 pieces of yarn/ribbon (each about 14 inches long)
• Piece of felt (7-by-3.5 inches; color of your choice)
• 3 small pom-pom balls (one orange for nose and two of same color for earmuffs)
• Glitter
Attend a Santa’s Workshop
Attend one of this year’s Santa’s Workshop sessions Nov. 17, Nov. 24 (Small Business Saturday), Dec. 1 or Dec. 15 (also Christmas Open House from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. at The Art Bazaar, next door) at The Village Art Studio. Sessions are held from 8:30-11:30 a.m. or 1-4 p.m. Price per session is $35, which includes all supplies. In addition, For more information on the sessions or other classes such as fused glass with Andy Cleeton, call Ann DeRosier at 573-230-1414 or visit http://thevillageartstudio.com or their Facebook page.
The post HER DIY: Let your child create in ‘Santa’s Workshop’ appeared first on HER Magazine.