Vol. 5, No. 028, February 2, 2020

5028 - Fortune.

At nearly 40 degrees, the weather was beautiful today. Plus the groundhog predicted an early spring, so my fortune reads "feel it in your heart, spring is coming." I put the words on top of one of my paintings for yesterday. This painting was made using string. If you look closely, the top of each flower looks slightly heart shaped and the “veins” within each flower makes it look like a real heart.

Vol. 5, No. 021, January 21, 2020

5021 - Your Song.

As we sat in the theater waiting for the One Act show to start, I asked my sister Margo if she would be willing to help me with my project for today; I had to write a song. She eemed excited about the prospect and agreed to look at the prompt. She very quickly declared that she could not help me and our song was born.

Vol. 5, No. 013, January 13, 2020

5013 - To Be Continued.

I decided to try out some brush pen calligraphy. I used a piece of cheap paper and started writing, using both sides of the paper. When the time was up, and my paper was full, I took it to the sink. I rinsed the ink off under running water only to discover that it didn't completely disappear. I briefly considered leaving it to dry with the ink showing through on both sides, but gave it a squeeze instead. The cheap paper would not unfold and instead disintegrated in my hand. I threw the crumpled bits of paper into a container with water, soaking them even more. Then I pulled out an old window screen and started pressing my own paper. I think I may have found my new favorite artform and will be making more recycled paper soon. I can't wait for my paper to thoroughly dry so that I can use it.

Vol. 5, No. 008, January 8, 2020

5008 - Winter Haiku.

In Minnesota, it has been very cold this week with the temperature dropping more every day. On Monday I heard people complaining about how cold it was, when it was still 30 degrees. They had a rude awakening when the temp was in the teens yesterday and below zero today. The cold weather makes me want to curl up with a hot cup tea.

Frigid temps outside

You thought it was cold Monday

Hot tea for me please.

Vol. 4, No. 284, October 11, 2019

4284 - Embrace Your Limitations.

This one is pretty self-explanatory. I took one word from each subject line (2 from the 6th email) , keeping them in the order as they were recieved, I wrote a poem. I used Canva to create a cute layout with a picture of my spilt paint from yesterday.

Vol. 4, No. 083, March 24, 2019

4083 - One Day.

Day 24: Create a small personal time capsule that you will open in one year - a few items in an envelope will do. Include a note to your future self.

I had a fairly busy day, so my time capsule is just a note to my future self. To make it more fun and creative, I folded it up into an envelope and decorated it with Sharpie.

Vol. 4, No. 063, March 4, 2019

4063 - Unforgettable.

Day 4:  Write a note to your second-grade self.

For the life of me, I couldn't recall anything from second-grade other than that my teacher was Mrs. G. I kept thinking about off and on all and at 10:30 tonight I still had nothing. So I looked in to my archive and found an un-posted project. Last week, my Kinders learned about architecture and drew their own castles. They colored the castles using different textures. This was my example.

I guess my note to my second-grade self would say "Don't worry about anything, because 23 years from now, you aren't going to remember it anyways."

Vol. 4, No. 021, January 21, 2019

4021 - Good News Day.

This one was hard. Ultimately, I based my headline on a picture I took on my way to work this morning, as the sunrise was outstanding.

Vol. 4, No. 019, January 19, 2019

4019 - Word Play.

Today we celebrated the 24th anniversary of my little brother’s birth. He wanted to party by going to the St. Cloud Craft Beer Tour VII and then going out to eat. After having plenty to drink, he surprised me by willingly helping me with my project. He offered me the word ‘highlife’; he may have had a Miller sign in his sight. After determining that ‘highlife’ was in fact a word, he helped me to craft the definition: Drinking beer and having fun. Then, on top of all of that, he happily drank his beer while I snapped the picture.

Happy Birthday Philip! Thank you for your help today!

Vol. 4, No. 013, January 13, 2019

4013 - Pen To Paper.

I wrote a letter, but I didn't want to just post a picture of the letter. So when I was finished writing, I folded the letter into an origami cow. Okay, maybe cow-ish is a more appropriate term. It's definitly not good as the tutorial that I was following, but that's okay. The fun part is that even if I decided I wanted to send the letter, I still could, it would just come in the form of a cute-ish cow.

Since I knew my letter wasn't going anywhere, I wrote it on a recycled school paper.

Vol. 4, No. 008, January 8, 2019

4008 - Word On The Street.

I decided to make compliment cards. I painted a large paper with watercolor paint. When it was dry, I used a Sharpie to fill the page with compliments. I cut out the compliments so that I can leave them places for strangers to find. I know this isn’t the same a complimenting someone in person, but I like the creative aspect of this project.

Vol. 4, No. 004, January 4, 2019

4004 - ABC Story.

I decided to make my story art related. The background is a picture I snapped of the sunrise on my way to school this morning.

Vol. 3, No. 225, August 13, 2018

3225 - Toothless.

Growing up, I liked the movie "Toothless". Tonight, I got to be the toothfiary. Fortunately, I didn't need to almost dot to do so. Middle Miller lost his fourth front tooth the other day, but his parents have been busy and didn't get time to make a toothfiary delivery. So, I volunteered for the job. I took advantage of International Left-handed Day, and wrote the letter with my left hand. Of course, a letter from the tooth fairy wouldn't be complete without some glitter, so I pulled out the glitter glue and spread some on the corners as well as the money. Tooth Fairy payout has really gone up since I was a kid, I only got a quarter per tooth, the Miller Littles get two dollars.

Vol. 3, No. 221, August 9, 2018

3221 - Saying Goodbye.

Tonight I said goodbye to a house that has been in my family for approximately 50 years and that I was able to call my home for the last three years. I will admit that some tears were shed, as memories came flooding in as I made my last walks through the house, but it is time for a new chapter. My parents will close on the house tomorrow morning, so as my last work of art on the property, I pulled out my sidewalk chalk and wrote the new owners a note on the driveway. It reads, “From our family to yours...Welcome Home.” Fingers crossed, it doesn’t rain tonight.

Vol. 3, No. 100, April 10, 2018

3100 - Another Letter!

Some may call it cheating, I call it keeping it simple. I spent a large chunk of my time on Saturday and Sunday making envelopes and writing letters to use as props for Dear Edwina. The show is made up of different vignettes, each giving a solution to a problem that someone wrote to Edwina about. I needed 6 letters, each with a different envelope to make it easier to identify.

Vol. 3, No. 25, January 25, 2018

3025 - Abracadabra.

As I cleaned up after 2 hours of painting with Kindergarteners and second graders, I had about 50 paint filled sponge brushes to wash. As I prepped them for washing, I created my potion. It looks pretty swirling in the pail, but it is also fun to wash down the drain.

Vol. 3, No. 24, January 24, 2018

3024 - Creative Words.

When I read today's prompt I was really excited, because on Monday I had taken a hand lettering/modern calligraphy class, so this was a perfect way to practice. Unfortunately I didn't have enough time to give the project serious thought. At about 10 pm, I ended up pulling out some Elmer's brush markers and quickly scrawling out a quote "Smile Always" on a piece of Kraft paper that I had laying on my dining room table. I started with the S in smile. however, it looked upside down, so I went with it. I continued writing the whole quote upside down/backwards. It took quite a bit of thought, especially the second A on always.

Vol. 3, No. 23, January 23, 2018

3023 - Blackout Poetry.

I chose a book off of my bookshelf at school and flipped through it until I found a page with a good layout of words. The book I chose was The Quiltmaker's Gift by Jeff Brumbeau. I made a photocopy of the chosen page, because I didn't want to wreck the book. Then I got to work blacking out words. I started at one school and finished at the next. If I had been thinking, I would have brought the  book with so that I could put the text back in the book, allowing the colorful illustrations to show around it. However, I didn't think that far ahead, so I just cut most of the illustrations out.

"When eyes saw the cave, mighty bones shook. No said your needles pillow one before the night."

It may not make a ton of sense, but if you concentrate hard enough, you can make it have a deep and profound meaning. I chose the words, creating a slight zig-zag pattern through the text.

Vol. 3, No. 16, January 16, 2018

3016 - Story Time.

I figured that I would work on my project during LCYT auditions tonight, but then I ended up sitting in on the auditions, so my project had to wait. After auditions concluded for the night, I headed the the gym to check in on the Girl’s Basketbll game. My hometown high school was playing one of the schools I work for. While I teach elementary school, I knew I wouldn’t know any of the players, but I thought there could be some of my students there cheering on an older sister. As I stepped in the door, the first person I recognized was the coach. He is a fourth grade teacher at my school, so I see him on a regular basis. I ended up watching the entire game, which my alma mater won on the buzzer. As I watched, I wrote my story. Because the story itself didn’t seem very artsy, I sketched a basketball as well, which I ended up using a s the background for my story, which I typed up using Canva.

Vol. 3, No. 12, January 12, 2018

3012 - Our Poem.

I decided to base my poem off of a quiling project that I was making as an example for my third grade students. I finished both the poem and the project in the car. I had a friend with me at the time and she volunteered the last line of the poem. My sister Jessica also helped with this one. She held could as the glue dried and told me when parts of the design looked stupid.