Vol. 2, No. 365, December 31, 2017

2365 - Simple Spiral.

Being the end of the year, I wanted a simple project. I was looking through my sister’s art/game closet hoping for inspiration and came across a Spirograph Kit. I loved playing with my grandma’s Spirograph, so I decided to play with it today. I quickly made a small design, then decided to take it a step further and attempted to cut it into a snowflake/firework. My paper was small, my design detailed and my scissors pretty big, so it didn’t turn out very well.

Vol. 2, No. 364, December 30, 2017

• 2364 - Doh-licious.

Today I went with my sister to her nanny job and got to play with brand new Play-Doh. Some of the Play-Doh toys were a cupcake form, an extruder, and little molds, so I got inspired to decorate a cupcake. I even added sprinkles and a candle which the little decided she wanted to blowout. She had lots of fun and then got to help sort the Play-Doh colors back into the correct containers.

Vol. 2, No. 363, December 29, 2017

2363 - December Time-Lapse.

The year has really flown by, I can't believe that this is already my 12th collage. I missed a handful of days throughout the year, but overall I did pretty well. This month, due to my New Year's Weekend plans, I will miss the last 2 days, thus I am posting the collage today. The collage process this month went really smoothly, but I did notice that there were a couple days that weren't quite lined up right; I guess I got a little sloppy in the cold weather.

Vol. 2, No. 362, December 28, 2017

2362 - Not Baked.

I spent the day with the Miller Little’s again today and when they invited me to stay for supper I said yes on one condition: I needed help to do my daily project. We decided to make chocolate chip cookies, but upon investigation found out we didn’t have any brown sugar. So we had to find a new recipe. We chose No-Bake Cookies. I mixed up all of the ingredients and scooped them out. Then Oldest Miller decided to decorate some of the cookies with a concoction of sprinkles, jellybeans, Tootsie Rolls, Andies Mints, and Hershey’s Kisses. Because not everyone wants jellybeans on their chocolate cookies, we limited the number of cookies she could decorate. Littlest Miller helped me take the picture, then cried when I wouldn't let her eat one until after dinner. When she did finally get one, she declared them the "best cookies ever!"

Vol. 2, No. 361, December 27, 2017

2361 - It's A...

Today I got to take baby pictures for a friend. I had done this once before about 7 years ago and it went pretty well, but I really had no idea what I was doing. So in preparation for today's photo shoot, I searched Pinterest for helpful tips. I found some, but it is always easier said than done. While shooting conditions weren't ideal, I did walk away with some adorable shots. This is one of my favorite non-face shots.

Vol. 2, No. 360, December 26, 2017

2360 - Crafty Canes.

I was putting some little gifts together for the Miller Littles; the gifts included candy canes. Since today is National Candy Cane Day, I decided to decorate the candy canes with googly eyes, red foam balls, and pipe cleaners to make reindeer.

Vol. 2, No. 359, December 25, 2017

2359 - The Bottle Challenge.

Weekly Challenge 25th December 2017  The Bottle Challenge

At this time of year there can be a few empty bottles kicking around, this week the Friendship Sudanese Association wants you to think about the endless possibilities for recycling them. Grab those empty bottles and make them into a decoration, instrument or gift. Create a bird feeder, a vase or candle holder… be practical, beautiful, or both.

By the end of the day today, my family had many empty bottles in the recycle bin. I looked on Pinterest for some fun ways to use up the bottles. One project I came across was covering a bottle with a balloon and using it with a vase. We had a balloon lying around, so I decided to try it. Turns out it is a lot easier said than done. After lots of team work and pulling, I eventually got the balloon on the bottle. The balloon ended up ripping a couple times, but I was able to work the rips into the design. I used Oil Paint Sharpies to decorate the bottle, then filled it with water and added two miniature roses that were blooming on my mom’s plant.

Vol. 2, No. 358, December 24, 2017

2358 - Blessings.

At Christmas brunch with the family, someone commented on how my sister’s Fiancé has been coming to family functions for 4 years and he still doesn’t know our dinner prayer. He said that if he had seen in it writing he maybe would. So for my project, I put the prayer into writing. I used paper/ink transfer to make a sticker which I stuck to a piece of decorative paper to make a small bookmark style prayer card. I made 2 copies in case one goes missing. The convienent part of the paper/ink transfer method is that I didn’t have to laminate the cards.

Vol. 2, No. 357, December 23, 2017

2357 - Food Fun.

I spent a large part of the day preparing food for my family's Christmas festivities. I, with some help, made a Double Layer Chocolate Cake, half of a Double Layer White Chocolate Cake, and Bread Bowls.

Vol. 2, No. 356, December 22, 2017

2356 - Bowed.

Last night at 7:30 my mom called wondering if I wanted to go over to bow Christmas presents. I told her no, but if she labeled them, I would stop by today and add bows. When I got there, she only had 4 presents for me to bow, but that was fine. I quickly tied around some ribbons, taped on the bows and added the tags. If I had wrapped them myself, I would have chosen better wrapping paper, but I had to work with what I was given.

Vol. 2, No. 355, December 21, 2017

2355 - Christmas Bright.

As an elementary school teacher, I receive a number of Christmas gifts from students. I decided I was going to be on top of it and write thank yous to those students before I left for break. So today, I made Thank You cards. When I cut the paper to fit in the envelope, I ended up with small scraps that were a good size for bookmarks. So each child who gave me a gift, got a handmade card and bookmark. All of the cards and bookmarks are fingerprint lights with Sharpie cords. Each design is slightly different. The bookmarks also got red and green ribbons, but that part wasn't done yet when I took the picture.

Vol. 2, No. 354, December 20, 2017

2354 - Thrifty.

A while ago, I made peach pit poinsettias. I knew as soon as I made them that I wanted to put them on a Christmas wreath. I am cheap and didn't want to go to the store and pay full price for a wreath, so I waited for a Christmas sale at the thrift store and bought a used wreath for 40% off! There were a  few to choose from but I liked this one because it had a few different styles of pine branches and it had pine cones and berries. When I got home, I put wire on the poinsettias, made a bow and attached everything to the wreath and then hung it on my front door.

Vol. 2, No. 353, December 19, 2017

2353 - Ornamints.

In the teacher's lounge, there was a dish of peppermint candies. I was instantly inspired as I remembered that today we celebrate National Hard Candy Day. I grabbed a small handful and headed home, searching Pinterest for directions for Peppermint Candy Ornaments.

The directions were easy. Coat a metal cookie cutter with oil, lay on a parchment paper covered baking sheet and layer with candies. Bake for 6-9 minutes. Let cool for 2 minutes. Poke hole with oiled toothpick. Remove cookie cutter within 15 minutes of removal from oven. Hang with a ribbon.

I thought the ornament would make a cute decoration for my co-worker gift.

Turns out the ornaments are very fragile. I had to reheat both of them because I broke them the first time.

Vol. 2, No. 352, December 18, 2017

2352 - Christmas is Coming.

Today’s project is a large gift bow, measuring 12 inches across. I’d love to say more about it, but I don’t know who actually reads this and I’d hate to spoil a surprise. So to quote my mom, anytime she doesn’t want you to know what something is, “Christmas is coming.”

Vol. 2, No. 351, December 17, 2017

2351 - A Christmas Story.

I procrastinated on my project today. All of a sudden it was 7, I was watching A Christmas Story Live on TV with my family and I still had nothing done. That’s when the famous leg lamp was opened. I decided to create an origami version. Turns out there aren’t any origami patterns for leg lamps. So I created my own. Not perfect, but my mom was able to identify it.

Vol. 2, No. 350, December 16, 2017

2350 - Angels Among Us.

Today, I baked another batch of Christmas cookies, German Raspberry Almond bars. This was a recipe that came from one of our foreign exchange students. The tricky part about the recipe is that the mesurments are by weight rather than cups. The bars are supposed to be cut into strips, but I decided to make them more festive and against my mother’s wishes, I cut them with cookie cutters. I made Angels for my sister Jessica because it’s her birthday today and and Holly because it was easy and cute. The shape in the middle was a left over from the holly. I laid the cookies out creating a snowflake design.

Vol. 2, No. 349, December 15, 2017

2349 - Drink Up.

This morning the school staff was treated with a beverage cart. The principal walked around serving everyone a morning drink, coffee, clear, cocoa, pop, and punch. I had an iced coffee, which provided me with a bottle for crafting. After breakfast, I hit the supply room finding coffee filters, Mod podge, felt and foam. I combined everything to create a snowman lantern. I stuck a light inside when I got home.

Vol. 2, No. 348, December 14, 2017

2348 - Totally Teal.

I decided to turn to my many saved Facebook posts for inspiration today. The project that struck my fancy was crayon shoes. I had saved video of someone painting canvas shoes to look like a Crayola crayon. I conveniently had a pair of teal canvas shoes sitting at home that I didn’t love, so why not paint them. Because the shoes were already teal, all I had to do was add the wave and the color word. Really the hardest part of this project was deciding what color the shoes were. My initial thought was teal, but then I wasn’t sure that that would be accurate according to the Crayola color scale. I did lots of research, googling colors, comparing with real crayons, I even phoned a friend, who voted for teal by the way. In the end I settled on teal, not because I really thought that was the best color choice, but because the word was short and would be the best fit for the size of the shoe. Now the next dilemma is what outfit to wear with my "new" shoes for school tomorrow.

Vol. 2, No. 347, December 13, 2017

2347 - Mix it up.

My current K-2 lesson is an introduction to the color wheel. We learn about the primary colors and then we use them to mix the secondary colors. Since this lesson focus on technique, it is a guided practice lesson. Therefore, I paint and then the students copy me. This means that I end up with a lot of colored dots. Tonight I used many of these painted dots to make a rainbow ornament. The assembly was easy, the documenting was hard; in the end I settled on this short video clip.

Vol. 2, No. 346, December 12, 2017

2346 - A-peeling.

Yesterday, I did my project, typed my blog, and then forgot to post it. Then today, I almost forgot to do my project altogether. I was sitting at a gymnastics meet when I remembered. So I thought hard, 'what do I have with me that I could use?' I didn't bring my purse, so options were limited. Then as I was eating the orange I had brought for supper, it hit me...I can make something with the peel. I started playing with it and when I was finished, i was holding a rose. I conveniently had a safety pin to hold it together.

Vol. 2, No. 345, December 11, 2017

2345 - The First Day of Christmas.

There is a Secret Santa at school who is re-creating the 12 days of Christmas, giving each staff member a little gift. It was started last week, 12 days before Christmas vacation. Each gift comes with a little poem. Day one reads: “On the first day of Christmas my Secret Santa gave to me...a partridge in a pear tre. Now you realize that partridges are hard to come by, and the weather turned mighty cold so planting a pear tree is a stretch too. Cut me a little slack on this one. Please sop to enjoy a piece of fruit in the staff lounge today.” Conviently, one of the fruit options was a pear. I chose one and brought it home to ripen.

I noticed it this afternoon, sitting in my fruit bowl, perfectly ripe and decided to play before I ate it. I don’t know what a partridge looks like and I didn’t want to take the time to look it up, so I give you a Pear Owl in a Lefse Tree, with a hint of orange.

Vol. 2, No. 344, December 10, 2017

2344 - Process.

On Friday, I introduced the ornament project to my first class of third graders. They struggled following the steps when they got back to their tables. I decided to help the other classes by making step-by-step picture instructions.
 1. Brainstorm ideas of winter/holiday items.
 2. Pick your favorite idea and draw the outline on the yellow paper.
 3. Show your design to the teacher to get foil taped to your yellow paper.
 4. Trace the design on to your foil with a magazine underneath.
 5. Flip foil over and trace inside the lines of your shape on the backside of the foil.
 6. "Color" in the shapes on the back side of the foil.
 7. Flip foil back to the paper side, lift up the paper, and re-trace the outside line of the shape.
 8. Flip foil over again re-trace the inside line of the shape.
 9. Draw in details, adding patterns and textures.
10. Cut out your shape with at least 1/2" on the edge.
11. Lay your ornament on the table, front face up, and flatten the outside edge or your shape.
12. Show your ornament to the teacher to have a hook attached.
13. Use Sharpies to add some color to your shapes.

Vol. 2, No. 343, December 9, 2017

2343 - All Riled Up.

I was watching the Miller Littles today and I asked Middle Miller what I should make today. After quite a bit of jumping around, he settled on a leopard mask. I cut it out and we colored it together.

Vol. 2, No. 342, December 8, 2017

2342 - Smile.

I got invited for a fun night out with the Miller Littles and their parents. While putting toppings on my burger, littlest Miller said "put a smiley face on it!" I already had a nice ketchup swirl, which convienently made a nice nose. Then I used mustard to add eyes and a smile. Littlest Miller approved by smashing a tomato on top.

Vol. 2, No. 341, December 7, 2017

2341 - Holiday Spirit.

Today we had lunch provided for us at school. Included was Hershey's Kisses in a variety of holiday wrappers. I saw the Santa hat ones and thought they would be cute as a little Santa or elf. So I gathered up 8 Kisses in a variety of wrappers and hot glued the candies together. I drew on a face and set him on my desk to watch over the classroom.

Vol. 2, No. 340, December 6, 2017

2340 - November Tree Time-Lapse.

I was enjoying a relaxing night at home when I glanced at the clock and saw it was almost 9 pm. All of a sudden I was struck with the realization that I hadn't done a project yet today. I quickly started racking my brain for quick ideas when I remembered that I hadn't made my November Tree yet. While it was a little time consuming, it wasn't difficult and I was finished within an hour.

Vol. 2, No. 339, December 5, 2017

2339 - Drawn Out.

I am getting close to finishing my drawing unit with K-2. Week 1 was learning how to draw animals using shapes; week 2 was learning how to draw a landscape and then adding the animals we learned the week before. Being that I have 14 K-2 classes, and only 2 classes per day, I have been working on this for over a month, drawing the same thing over and over again. Today, like most days, my SMARTboard was being finicky, so after struggling through with the first class, I switched to drawing on the white board. Each day, my pictures vary a little, these are the 2 jungle scenes that I drew today; the top is on the white board, the bottom on the SMARTboard.

Vol. 2, No. 338, December 4, 2017

2338 - Fresh Press.

Tonight I was doing food prep for the week, as I cut up celery and lettuce, I took notice of the rose patterned ends that I cut off. I decided that they would make a great rose stamp. So I grabbed some paint and got to work filling a sheet of cardstock with lots of little flowers. I also painted a few leaves. When the paint was dry, I cut around my favorite flowers and arranged them on a blank greeting card.

Vol. 2, No. 337, December 3, 2017

2337 - Batters Up.

I was making pancakes for breakfast this morning and I decided to try picture pancakes. I found a syringe for drawing and raspberries for dye and got to work. I decided to keep it fairly simple and I just made flowers. I used plain batter for the outline and raspberry batter for the filling.  I need to keep practicing to make them better, but it wasn’t bad for the first go. One thing that was difficult was waiting for the outline to be golden before adding the filling. As well as getting the outline laid quick enough that the coloring was even.

Vol. 2, No. 336, December 2, 2017

2336 - Master Chef.

This morning my brothers asked me to help them move a dishwasher and then spend the rest of the day playing games. Since we would need to eat at some point and I had some bacon that needed to be used, I planned dinner. I found a recipe for bacon wrapped, cream cheese stuffed chicken. To make it more fun, I took time to weave the bacon. I paired the chicken with stuffing and Broccoli Normandy and plated it on my mom’s fancy china.

Vol. 2, No. 335, December 1, 2017

2335 - Extras.

Yesterday as I was leaving school yesterday, I was asked if I could make two large guitars that can be used to track student progress in something. Of course I agreed, so I stayed late today to make them so I wouldn't have to haul supplies home over the weekend.