Little Rock, Arkansas : Arkansas Art Center Pt.1, Art Show on Toys 2010

              Hey everyone! Today, I'll be splitting this post into two posts, since I viewed two different areas of the Art Center. Now, the Arkansas Art Center is like hitting the jackpot for an art
enthusiast, and I say this because it's one of the few art museums I'm aware of that doesn't ask for an admission price. (You can give donations, but they never ask for money.) They also have a
Children's Theatre that hosts plays, but I've never been to it, as well as a lovely but expensive gift shop, and a restaurant right next to the gift shop.~ The first event is photos I took when I got invited to the opening night of the Toy exhibit. Many regional artists from the United States used raw materials to make toys, or something reminiscent of toys, and they all went on display. My friend had a sister who had metal work displayed, and I got invited during the evening event. They had some finger food available;in the photo I'm holding a small Red Velvet piece with sour cream icing on top.~ (It might have been small but it was some of the best Red Velvet cake I had!) This was around 2010, the second post will have photos of when I went to some of the back galleries a few days ago.~
(Some signs will not match the correct art, sorry!)

                                                                           

                                                                              

                                                                            

                                                                              

                                                                               

                                                                              

                                                                               

                                                                              

                                                                                

                                                                               

                                                                              

                                                                                 

                                                                               

                                                                                

                                                                               

                                                                                

                                                                              

                                                                                 

                                                                              

                                                                            

                                                                              

                                                                               

                                                                               

                                                                               

Dippin Dots Candy

                Hey everyone! So a few days ago, I went to buy a snack and saw this on the shelves:

                                                                                    
                                 If you've been in the United States for the past 5 or 6 years, you
                 probably have heard of Dippin Dots. For those who don't know, it's a specialized
                 iced treat, in icee or ice cream flavors in the shape of hundreds of tiny little balls.
                 So, when I saw a candy version available, I had to give it a try.~
                                  The candy tastes great, but of course nothing like the actual ice cream.
                 Each little candy ball had different flavors, as it was a "Banana Split," but tasted
                 like different variations of the vanilla yogurt you see put over pretzels or raisins
                 and the like. I like those types of confections, so I had no problem eating it, but
                eating too much of it will leave your mouth dry. I wonder if this will become
                popular? At the very least, I like it! XD

Little Rock, Arkansas : Great American Cookies

                           Good evening everyone! Tonight, I'm going to post about one of my favorite
                sweet shops, Great American Cookies, in the Park Plaza Mall. Like the name suggests,
                it sells cookies most of the time, with some seasonal pastries like brownies. I've been
                here quite a few times, and liked everything I purchased, but I do prefer some of their
                sweets over others. All of their cookies and brownies are soft, (how I like it!), but some,
                (even for someone with a big sweet tooth like me), are too sweet. In particular, I have a
                hard time finishing one of their Double Doozie cookies any time I tried them, because
               the cream is very thick,and a tad too sugary for my liking. (I think the perfect pastry needs
               the right amount of sugar; too much and it doesn't taste sweet anymore to me;it makes me
               slightly nauseous. ><) Uhm.. but of course, everyone has different taste tolerance levels,
               so if you would like to try it, don't let my opinion stop you! The following photos are from
              different days of items I tried. The red square is a Red Velvet Brownie, (I recommend this;
               it doesn't taste exactly like Red Velvet or a brownie, but it reminds me of a sweet fudge), a
              chocolate chip cookie slice with lemon icing,( it tastes like lemon icing and isn't too sweet,
              I like it~), and two mini Double Doozies; one with sugar cookies and the other with
              chocolate chips. ( I had a rare craving that day for them; I could handle small quantities,
              though as I said, it's not my favorite.) One other photo below is a regular chocolate chip
              cookie with a floral design; the icing wasn't bad, (it's not the same type used on the
              Doozie's), but I mostly got it cause I liked the flower. XD

                                                                                  

                                                                                   

                                                                              

                                                                              

                                                                             

                                                                               

                                                                               

                                                                               

Art's n Crafts! How to Color a Paper Mache' Box

                             Hi everyone! So here is something I've meant to do but held out for a while;
                             which is to offer a tutorial.~ This is the first one of a few, and what I have
                             listed will be steps that worked for me through trial and error. I'm sure you
                            can find plenty of other tutorials, all with similar/different methods, but I think
                            it's good to have different methods of making something. ^^ I got all of my
                            supplies at Hobby Lobby, but any craft shop should have these available.
                            (Or online! Amazon, Ebay, or Etsy all sell craft supplies!)

                                 Materials:
                                Paper Mache' Box (Or anything Paper Mache')
                                Gesso (Any kind does the job.)
                                Various brushes
                                Acrylic Paints (Any brand should work; some will work better.)
                                Water
                                Varnish (Any glaze should do; the extra coating is for protection.)
                   
               1)  Before you do anything, make sure you have plenty of water, and a place to put
                     your project on that you don't care if it gets dirty.
              
                2) Taking a brush or a craft sponge, use it to place gesso all around your item.
                     If the item is not a one-sided flat surface, and you intend to paint different
                     sides of the object, wait for the gesso to dry before putting it in other sides.
                     If you're unfamiliar with gesso, it's a liquid that dries into canvas for objects
                     that don't usually have canvas, like certain fabrics, cardboard, etc. It will
                     make the paint stick much easier and not flake off or difficult to see.
             
               3) Now you're ready to paint! You don't need to be a professional artist for this; put
                   whatever you want. If you're not familiar with acrylics, they mix well and look
                   very vibrant, but if you don't have a covered palette that can store paint from
                   drying, you might want to use tiny ball sized amounts of paint, because
                   acrylics dry up very fast.

              4)  After you paint, (like the gesso, it's best to do it sections at a time if it's not
                   one flat surface), put any varnish you think works best with you. I haven't
                   tried it on acrylic, but Mod-Podge should work albeit a bit sticky. In a past
                   project I did with paper mache' I used polyurethane, (which was recommended
                   by an art teacher), and it made the paper mache' as hard as a rock. Keep in mind
                   though, that if you want to use this, polyurethane is originally created to put
                   on wooden floors, and will make a light yellow overcoat on top of the paint.
                   (There might be clear ones available, but I haven't looked.) Also, it has a lot
                   of chemicals, so if you want to use it, it might be preferable to use it outdoors
                   or in an area with a lot of ventilation. (Or wear a mask if you can't.) You also
                   will need to keep it in a well ventilated place until it dries; it takes about 3-4
                   days for the smell to wear off. I didn't use it in this project; the box has no
                   coating on it yet, but I hope the steps are somewhat helpful for paper mache'
                    projects in general. ^^