Just say no to crayons.

Essential Art Tools for Budding Artists

Below is my list of essential art supplies for my drawing class. You can order directly from my picks.

Are Crayons really harmless?

It is my firm belief that crayons do more to hinder children from growing in art skill and confidence than help. Sure, they are still fun for preschoolers to use, but will do little to help them learn about color blending, pressure, line, and shading. It is an altogether unforgiving medium. You can not change it. You can not sketch with it. 

   My anti-crayon dogma's mold began to set way back in pre-kindergarten age. I loved drawing as a child, and we didn't have art tools or even crayons at home until I was in Highschool.

   I instead drew on our chalkboard, day after day with chalk. Every time I went to church and colored in Sunday School it was with the dreaded crayons. There, i felt like I could not draw, and I couldn't understand why. I remember crying, because I had felt like I really could draw at home. Little did I know that chalk was a great medium to learn how to draw. The texture, feel, and shading one could achieve (though limited) was much closer to Charcoals or Pastels.  I had to hold the chalk with the fingers loosely (otherwise it would break). I could not make detailed, tight, or small scale pieces, but instead had to draw larger and therefore use my whole arm. I had no idea, what kind of advantage I had been given in my crayon-less home. I would often section off my favorite sketches on the family chalkboard and try to keep them from erasing away. But even the temporariness of the product, allowed me to enjoy the process of drawing and not get caught up in the pressure of completing a permanent work.  The angle of the surface I was drawing on was ideal, since my eyes were able to be parallel with the drawing. Typical drawing while sitting at a desk on a flat surface forces distortion because whatever is closest to your eyes will appear larger than what is farther from you. Standing and drawing is great since it allows more freedom to move your arms. If need be you can even fix large paper on your wall and sketch from that. For sketching on paper, I recommend using a sketching board and angling it against a table or something while it is on your lap at a 45% angle.

I have to admit, I do have the forbidden wax substance in our home. I have two kids under 4 after all, but I do make sure they have access to more flexible mediums. When they turn 5, I will be forced confiscate them and make candles or something for the sake of their future.

Subsribe below and like me on facebook , and Pinterest to get be informed about my free upcoming on line drawing lessons.
Below is my art Supply list for the upcoming Drawing Lessons as well as 

Crayon Alternatives..for when you want color without crayons :)

Memory Mural Kit Giveaway with Homeschool Giveaways Starting September 2

Two By Two ART studio will be giving away one 

 Large precut Memory Mural Kit. Ends Sept.6th. 

Press Here to enter the giveaway.

Memory Mural KIT Giveaway

Includes: MURAL, Marker, Coloring Page, BIBLE LESSONS on "memorizing with Kids" and "Treasuring Scripture" (for adults) as well as an ART LESSON on how to draw the birds from the mural, and an on line recorded VIDEO LESSON. 

Two By Two Art Studio's mission is to provide inspirational art decor products which develops faith and art skill.

Review and Giveaway from "To Show Them Jesus"

I'm so excited that Christina Fox of "To Show Them Jesus" has done a review of Two By Two's Memory Murals.
"To Show them Jesus"  is a wonderful site and blog devoted to living out the gospel and encouraging others. Christina has helpful ideas for living out redemptions story with children. She is a regular contributor writing for The Gospel Coalition.  I love her practical visual ideas of teaching the truths of Scripture to her children. 

 Two by Two Art Studio is pleased to give away one medium complete Memory Mural (cut)  Kit.
To see her full blog post and enter her give away press here.

Here's a snippet of what she has said.
 "I recently had the privilege of trying out a Memory Wall Mural. Designed and created by artist, Heidi Bashoor (she also did the designs for the Child Training Bible), this reusable mural is made to stick on a wall and be written on. Beautifully designed and created in several different colors and sizes, it can be written on over and over."  

Memory Window: Enchanting product for keeping verses memorized

Memory Mural Window : Fruitful Progress

I am pleased to announce Two By Two Art Studio's newest Memorizing tool: Memory Window.

 One of the biggest obstacles to Memorizing Scripture well is not getting the verses in our brain it is keeping them there.
Now you can keep memorized verses in clear view for review and encouragement.

This allows you to keep track of multiple memorized verses in a beautiful way.  The Repositionable Memory Window has a branch with blossoms and oranges on it which is waiting for more oranges to appear. Simply write a reference of a memorized verse on the orange with the wet erase marker included in the mural kit and place it on the branch.  The branch has a space to customize with a child’s name.  Organize the verses memorized according to category or even how well they are memorized. Memory Mural Banners helps you memorize and  Memory Window helps you keep them memorized.

Memory Mural WIndow Kit includes:

1. Repositionable Art Window Mural size 20x12

2. 20 Repositionable & Rewritable Memory Mural oranges sizes 1 inch or 1 1/4 inch (some   of each)

Simple to apply.

Close up of the Branch with the Memory Mural Oranges with reference written on them.

3. Bible lesson on Memorization “Hiding God’s Word in Your heart, not losing it”

4. Coloring Page: Memory Mural Window

5. Art Lesson: Drawing Trees

Price: $24 plus shipping.

Customized name : $9

Order Below

Memory Window

Window $24.00 USD Window with Custom Name $33.00 USD Option 3 $24.00 USD

Memory Mural Window

Without Name Custom Name Option 3

Custom Name up to 12 character

Item you will need: Visa Vis Wet Erase Marker (note only a wet erase will work)

Story of the Memory Mural Window.

Memorizing has been a passion for me since I was 18 and memorized my first large chapter: Romans 8. It changed my theology and my relationship with my Lord Jesus. I’m an avid runner and use my running times to memorize Scripture. I call it running with God. When I became a mother, I knew I had to find some creative ways to keep working on Scripture and have enjoyed figuring out how to make memorizing fun for my children.    We do lots of memory together even though my oldest has just turned three. We sing, play games and use our Memory Mural. I thank our creative God for my friend Sandy Taylor, who planted the seed for the Memory Mural by asking if I could write on this artwork. I’m so thankful to say (after many hours of experimenting) “Yes!!”  I can write and re-write as well as reposition the artwork onto any smooth surface. By the way, now there is a new Memory Mural that works for textured surfaces too.  As my daughter has now memorized over 40 verses It has gotten harder and harder to keep track of them all. So I came up with the Memory Window. This is very handy for us as all I have to do is write on the oranges the verses she has memorized and stick them on the branches and look at them. I have the window above her bed and we review some of them each night. It is a little mommy trick I do since I know she wants to stay up, and I have her attention. She always wants to do more verses. It is also so sweet to think that God’s Word is going through her head as she falls asleep. We have arranged the oranges according to category. For instance all of the Exodus 20 ( ten commandments ) verses are next to each other, all of the Gospel verses are next to each other (John 3:16, Romans 3:23, 6:23 I John 1:9) etc. It is so helpful because I can move them around if I want to see which ones need more review. My daughter loves looking at it and it is helping her learn her numbers and letters too. It is a visual reminder to of how fruitful our spiritual lives are when we absorb up God’s Word.

This has helped us save time and makes it much easier since it is on the wall instead of a flashcard somewhere. 

 One of the biggest obstacles to Memorizing Scripture well is not getting the verses in our brain it is keeping them there. Some memory experts have said that once someone has memorized a verse or a passage it will not stay unless you review repeatedly. It takes time for it to sink into the longer term memory. They suggest reviewing it once a day for 30 days. After that period reviewing it once a week for 30 weeks and then once a month from then on.

So give yourself and your children a great opportunity to keep your verses in view and peer into your own Memory Window. Look above or go to the Store page to order. Also, check out the Memory Memory Mural Banners if you haven't gotten yours already. 

God's Love: Is it Enough?

God love produces love. Valentine's Promotion extended:

Each order until Feb. 28th receives 3 mini muralette hearts free

 ( one 3 inch, one 2 inch, and one 1 inch).

God's Love: Is It Enough?

Deuteronomy 6:5 commands us that we should "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your might." Jesus reiterated this as the greatest commandment, and also affirmed that the second greatest was to "love your neighbor as yourself." What amazing commands! God's law can be sifted down to "love." But so much of the time we think that, or at least act like, God's Law consists merely of lists of dos and don'ts. God commands our heart first. And yet as soon as we think of this, most of us, if we dare to be honest with ourselves, will have to admit that we fall very short of even these two simple commands.

Is the answer to just try harder? Does the shame and guilt that we feel cause us to just work more at it?  Do we try to say to ourselves, we need to stop something that is keeping us from this or start doing something better? Is that where we stop?  We can work hard and let guilt pile on us until we finally despair of our own inability.  Sure, we may do well for a little while, until our other desires get in the way. Ultimately, it is not what we do that is the most important, it is what or rather, who we love. Love is key.

Our love is lacking. So, do we say...Oh, I need to work harder on loving then? Well, maybe. But in most of the Scriptures which command love for God and each other, there are declarations before the commands. Deuteronomy 6:1 God says, "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt." He declared His loving care for them first. The same pattern appears in the New Testament. In Colossians 3, God commands our love by telling us to “put on a heart of compassion, kindness, gentleness, bearing with one another, forgiving each other." This is sandwiched in between glorious proclamations of God's love "so as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved," and "just as God in Christ has forgiven you." It is the work which God has done which makes our desires change. Really isn't that what the Gospel is anyways?

The gospel is declaration of the good news of what God has already done. It is not about us. It is about God. It is about how amazingly good God is and how we desperately need Him. So why stop trusting in God's goodness at the point of salvation and cling to our own pitiful self-righteous or self efforts? It is so wonderful that God actually tells us to love Him. Yet He doesn't do it without showing us His love for us first. Jesus is God's best picture of love. "For God so loved the world, that he gave His only Son" (John 3:16).

When we are down, when we are overwhelmed by life's circumstances, looking towards Jesus and God's amazing demonstration of His love should be more than enough to bring us up out of the pit of despair. God sent Jesus to live amongst us (His enemies), who killed, mocked, and rejected Him. This amazing love was willing to suffer all this from His creatures, as well as suffer the wrath of God the Father as he paid for our sins in His body on the cross (I Pet. 2:25) . If we truly wrestled with this truth and weren't so self-absorbed, or so consumed with our own pain, we would never doubt His love again. No, we would never love anything more than Him, even for a moment. We would never need to try harder to love the One who has loved us that much. In fact, we could count it a great privilege to love others with that kind of self-sacrificing love since we are so filled with Christ's. Let's rejoice in His love.

I'd love to see what other passages you find which declare God's motivational love.

 Please feel free to post them below if you feel so inclined.

Love, for Christ and you,

Heidi