Vol. 6, No. 9, March 7, 2026

Week 9

Day 57 - Getting started on props for Finding Nemo Jr. Today I used spray foam to make a rock.

Day 58 - Today's prop task was starting the jelly fish. I cut strips of fabric and slid them under the tines of umbrellas.

Day 59 - Today I continued work on the jelly fish, adding unbound loofahs to the center of the umbrellas.

Day 60 - The first week of March brings 4 more birthdays for me to celebrate. The first of the 4 was celebrated with carrot cake. I had to shred the carrots which makes a very nice orange juice that I used as paint.

Day 61 - I was subbing again this week and was greeted back with a couple belated Valentines from some kindergarten students.

Day 62 - This week we celebrated Read Across America at school. Every day had a different dress up theme and of course a lot of reading.

Day 63 - Today I met with a committee to choose the finalists for the Watercade Button Design Contest.

Vol. 5, No. 163-170, December 28, 2020

You probably noticed, this year, I have been really bad at posting work. The truth is, I wasn't enjoying writing the blogs, so I would put off posting. Therefore I decided that next year, I am only going to post to Instagram and let it do the automatic post to Facebook. That way, I only have to post once. If you want to know about my project, you will have to ask.

Before I "give up", I am going to post all of the projects that I have missed.

5163 - Squash Soup.

I was helping to make squash soup and got to run the immersion blender. When it is held at just the right height, it creates a fun woven star design.

5164 -  Quilted.

In mid-November, my mom, sister and I finally finished the baby quilt that we had started nearly 2 years ago. It was a gift for my niece. It turned out pretty well considering it was out first actual quilt.

5165 - Mixed Media Self-Portrait 12/12/09.

In college, I took a drawing class; one of the assignments was to create a self-portrait. It is labeled as mixed media, although I am not sure what I used; I am guessing chalk, colored pencil, and paint.  After the class, I filed away the project in a tube. As I was going through art supplies recently, I came across the drawing. I unrolled it thinking I would look at it quick and then put it back in storage. Unfortunately, I noticed mold spots on the paper. I decided the best course of action was to photograph it and then dispose of the artwork. 

5166 - Giving Thanks.

Thanksgiving looked a little different this year. Rather than gathering with my dad's family like we normally would, it was only my immediate family in attendance. We still had a full dinner including homemade bread and pies. We arranged this picture showing our "bounty", to share with my dad's siblings as they were all sharing pictures of their own feasts.

5167 - COVID Cardinal.

At school, we are trying to keep our curriculum the same as much as possible, while still following COVID guidelines set out by the state. Sometimes this means changing how we do certain projects and we have found that some of these changes are good and we intend to keep them. One such happy change was the addition of a cardinal to Kindergarten Paper Mache Ornaments. In the past students have been able to choose between a reindeer, a snowman, or a penguin. All three ornaments were cute, but the penguin required two colors of paint and either two brushes or water to wash the brush. I didn't want to deal with the extra setup, so I changed the project. Our school's mascot is a cardinal, so I knew that would be a great winter bird option. I love how they turned out and will be keeping cardinals next year.

5168 - Snow Globe.

The ornament project that I did with my Transitional Kindergarten class last year required a lot of prep work and it wasn't really COVID guideline friendly. Therefore, I wrote a new lesson plan, deciding on paper snow globes. Using Epsom salt "frozen" paint, we iced the background. Next we added finger print characters and decorated with markers. The plan didn't go quite how I had intended, but most of them stilled turned out cute.

5169 - Cake Construction.

It's hard to believe, but ten days ago, one of my favorite littles turned 3! I did lots of research to find the perfect cake. He is in to trucks of all kinds, so I decided to make a construction themed cake. I made a Double Chocolate Banana Cake (he loves bananas) topped with chocolate ganache and crushed Oreos. A bit of powdered peanut butter helped to create the three in the middle. The cake was finished off with some Milk Dud rocks and little toy trucks.

5170 - Quarantine.

Due to close contact, I got to spend some time in quarantine. While it may sound like a paid vacation, it's really not that fun; especially for a teacher. I still had lesson plans to prepare. I decided to use a lesson I had initially done during distance learning last spring; Guided Drawing Cardinals. As the school mascot, I figured a cardinal was something that students could benefit from knowing how to draw. I made two examples showing different backgrounds that could be added.

Vol. 5, No. 162, October 30, 2020

5162 - Creative Sprint Day 30.

I was setting out some fall decorations, arranging gourds on a tray. My mom was watching, at one point she said "that looks like a swan". I thought that was cool, so I stopped arranging and deemed the swan my trophy.

Vol. 5, No. 160, October 28, 2020

5160 - Creative Sprint Day 28.

Today at school I was removing glue dots from envelopes because I didn't want my students to struggle with opening the envelopes. When I was finished, I used my pile of glue dots in a new way as a sculpting material. I created an elephant and a heart. For future reference, a pile of glue dots is not the same as clay.

Vol. 5, No. 158, October 25, 2020

5158 - Creative Sprint Day 25.

Today was the final performance of The Little Mermaid. During the cast party, I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from the seniors. When I finally made it home about 9pm, I took time to arrange the flowers in to a scrambled rainbow in a vase. Calling any of the flowers blue was going to be a bit of a stretch, so I chose a vase with a blue ribbon.

Vol. 5, No. 154, October 20, 2020

5154 - Creative Sprint Day 19 & 20.

Yesterday was a very long and exhausting day. I didn't even have a moment to think about creating according to a prompt. So today I decided to get caught up by combining the prompts. I made toilet paper origami, folding the paper in the bathroom to create a repeating pattern. It was quick, it was easy, and it satisfied both needs.

Vol. 5, No. 153, October 18, 2020

5153 - Creative Sprint Day 18.

Today I celebrated Mom Says Day, a holiday which is best celebrated by doing what your mom says. I had a plan for what I was going to do, and I ended up spending most of my day sewing masks, because that's what my mom said we were doing today. 

Despite the difficulties with the sewing machine, it was actually a pleasant day. Besides I didn't really want to do the other things on my to do list anyways.

Vol. 5, No. 151, October 16, 2020

5151 - Creative Sprint Day 16.

This stacked rock monument was a collaboration between me and my friend H. H carried the rocks to me while I stacked them. He wasn't really a fan of this game and as soon as I got some stacked he wanted to knock them down. I tried multiple times, 4 rocks was as high as I could get today.

I dedicate this monument to everyone who works behind the scenes in theater. Theater crews come in all shapes and sizes and rely on each other to create stability for both the cast and crew. Theatre crew is often a thankless job and we put in way more hours than anyone knows. Just like the rocks when a show is over, we collapse.

Vol. 5, No. 149, October 14, 2020

5149 - Creative Sprint Day 14.

Dollar bill origami isn't a new venture for me, however I decided to mix it up a bit and try something new. I found a YouTube tutorial for an origami owl. It was fairly easy to make and I love how it turned out. I can't wait to leave this owl behind as a tip for a lucky waiter.

Vol. 5, No. 141, October 6, 2020

5141 - Creative Sprint Day 6.

This project was a large collaborative effort. The okra (green pickle looking pieces) were made by a friend for a show a few years ago. The three main courses were made by Margo and a student added the garnish. I located the materials, gave directions for completion and added some of the coloring.

These pieces were made using sheets of foam and Sharpie. The garnish is fake greenery.

Vol. 5, No. 140, October 5, 2020

5140 - Creative Sprint Day 5.

As I awaited a meeting after school today I enjoyed a piece of chocolate from my treat drawer. I folded the wrapper into a little hat. As I was leaving work for the day, I gave the hat to the whale that sits in the back window of my car.

Vol. 5, No. 138, October 3, 2020

5018 - Creative Sprint Day 3.

I chose high schoolers and paint; you might ask why those don't go together. Well, sure some high schoolers and paint would be a normal occurrence, it gets less normal when you have 10-15 high schoolers with varying abilities painting set pieces. However that is what I was working with today. This is a picture of a bathtub. I can't take credit for the construction or the painting, however, I was the person behind the work, choosing colors and ensuring it was properly finished. Well properly is a loosely used term. It was finished, but when the paint was not dry to the touch after nearly 2 hours, I went to investigate. I found globs of paint pooled in random areas and drips running down. In this picture, which was taken at least 5 hours after the paint application, you can clearly see the unevenness of the paint application. It just goes to show that high schoolers and paint don't always go well together. 

Vol. 5, No. 137, October 2, 2020

5137 - Creative Sprint Day 2.

I opted out of a collaboration today and chose a song that makes me happy. I like All Star by Smash Mouth, because it reminds me of my family and many happy times we've had together.

It may not be a super creative inspiration, but I made a simple origami star from a scrap of paper.

Vol. 5, No. 136, October 1, 2020

5136 - Creative Sprint Day 1.

I've been slacking on the posting of creative things so long that I actually found myself putting off this project. However, as I was waiting for rehearsal to wrap up for the night, I decided to take a minute to create. I used the flowers that I had previously cut out along with a straight pin and pencil that were sitting near by, to create this 3-D flower. 

Vol. 5, No. 123, July 3, 2020

5123 - Finally Did It.

Tonight I enjoyed the company of a small group of family and my brothers friends as we gathered to bid him farewell as he begins his new adventure in Arizona next week. While waiting for the party to begin, I took advantage of the nearby rock pile to practice my rock stacking skills. I only managed four rocks before the heat got to me and I decided to give up.

Vol. 5, No. 122, July 2, 2020

5122 - Garage Needed.

While waiting for an appointment with P, he decided we should build a garage for the Duplo car. It may not be grand, but P was proud of it. My favorite part is the tree.

Vol. 5, No. 121, July 1, 2020

5121 - Playing Possum.

Today I was hanging out with P. I decided that we were going to do some Nature Art. He wasn't super into it, but he did help me gather supplies, including clumps of grass clippings and sticks. At first I thought we'd make a turtle, but when it was finished I thought it's head made it look more like a possum or muskrat or some similar rodent. I dislike rodents enough that I wasn't going to Google it to figure out what type of rodent I was actually thinking of, but I knew that it should have a long skinny tail. One eye was made from a hole in the wood; the other is two rocks stacked together.

Vol. 5, No. 118, June 28, 2020

5118 - Tiny Dancer.

Last night on our family walk, we found some hollyhocks growing next to the road. Today, walking home from church, I stopped to pick a few. When I got home I created a tiny dancer with a layered skirt. The dancer is supported with a stick through the center.

Vol. 5, No. 116, June 26, 2020

5116 - Monkey Business.

As we were packing up to go home I quickly made a towel monkey. The instructions said to use clothes pins to hang the monkey, but our hotel didn't have that style hangers, so I made do. I cut an ice bag into strips and used the plastic to tie the monkey up. I sjould have trimmed the ends, but I forgot until after I had taken the picture. It was left hanging for housekeeping to find.

Vol. 5, No. 115, June 25, 2020

5115 - Leaf The Best For Last.

On our last night of vacation, I decided to fold a toilet paper leaf. I suppose you could also call it a water droplet as we spent a large chunk of the day at the waterpark. One of the favorite rides of the day was Flash Flood; you know the kind where you board a Rollercoaster that creates a huge splash over a bridge.