“All happy families are alike”; said Tolstoy. Well, maybe it works for Anna Karenina and her friends, but I must disagree. 

Dear Mr. Tolstoy, if you have joined our young artists class, you would learn how – if you just let kids create open-ended art – all happy families are each special in their own way. 

We painted the inner side of 8″x10″ stretched canvases in green and blue. 

We hot-glued a bench, also known as a strip of a cardboard. 

We used fake pebbles, that I made ahead, using shaped and baked white polymer clay. 

(This part could be fun to do with kids, but in our case we were short on time)

We added faces with black sharpie

Cut out clothes from patterned paper

Carefully glued all pieces onto the canvas using white glue and a brush 

Some happy families put on their pajamas and went to sleep

Yarn hair was an optional

And a name sign was added the final touch. 

I hope all families are happy in their own way,

And I’m sure kids who have a chance to create are happy in many many ways!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile in the studio:

As I work on new crochet patterns, I have started uploading short videos for basic crochet stitches. 

I’m so sad to hear there are so many people who wish that they could crochet and create, but can’t find the time and place to enrich themselves with this beautiful skill. 

So here I am, working on my 30 basic crochet stitches short videos. I’m uploading them one at a time, and so far they are free for everyone to use. 

Each skill is also available in step-by-step photo tutorial for download and print. 

Here is the link to my first video in this “How to Crochet” basic stitches series:

How to Crochet a Slip Knot and a Chain. 

And here are the Step-by-Step photo tutorial:

You can find more of my knitting, crochet and sewing patterns here:

I’ll be happy to here from you ——> leave a comment!