Vol. 2, No. 160, June 9, 2017

2160 - Bookmarked Skull.

This week the Miller Littles and I have begun our summer filled with reading and fun. Of course if you are reading, you need a bookmark, so today that's what we did. I had some precut bookmarks that were sparkly on one side and plain paper on the other.  The kids chose the sparkly color they wanted and then drew pictures on the plain side.  I chose a white sparkly bookmark and cut it to resemble a skull.

Vol. 2, No. 159, June 8, 2017

2159 - Skull Park.

Today, I took the Miller Littles on a walk around the lake (well more like a quarter of the way around the lake). When we got to a park, we stopped to play. At the Lake Ripley Campground Park, while the kids were playing, I used moss, wood chips, and sand to create a quick skull.

Vol. 2, No. 158, June 7, 2017

2158 - Found Skull.

While contemplating what I was going to do for my project today, I was wondering through Litchfield High School, waiting for one of my charges to get finished with matching band. I was admiring the painted ceiling tiles when the Miller Littles started pointing out the artworks that had skulls in them. That's when I got the idea for my project. I would make a photocollage of the skull I find today.

I ended up with 6. We found 3 on the ceiling tiles (although one of them is actually a helmet, it still has skull characteristics, so I included it). Then we went and found my brother who was doing some electrical work in a class room. The room happened have 3 animal skulls sitting on a shelf!

The Miller Littles also practiced drawing skulls today, but they were erased before I got a chance to photograph them.

Vol. 2, No. 157, June 6, 2017

2157 - Left Over Skull.

The Skull-A-Bration continues! Last night we had BLTs for supper. There were 2 end pieces left over. It wasn't enough to save, so I decided to use it for my project.

I ripped the bread to make a skull. After it was photographed, I fed some of it to the Little Millers and we saved the rest of it to feed to the geese at the lake later.

Vol. 2, No. 156, June 5, 2017

2156 - "Left" Out Skull.

This week's #64MillionArtists challenge is : Getting 'Left' Out - draw or write something as a lefty. To continue with the Skull-A-Bration, I drew a skull using colored pencils and my left hand. It was pretty easy until I started shading and kept wanting to switch to my right hand.

Vol. 2, No. 155, June 4, 2017

2155 - Skulls Galore.

Happy Skull Appreciation Day!  Join the Skull-A-Bration by making and sharing your own original skull artwork today.

I decided to join the Skull-A-Bration, a 30-day skull making challenge to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Noah Scalin's Skull-A-Day project.

I start my summer nanny job tomorrow, and I wanted to have drawing kits for in the car. I saw a cute idea on Pinterest using DVD cases and decided to give it a try. It wasn't as easy as it sounds, because DVD cases aren't very thick. I had to rework the idea multiple times, but I am okay with the final product. The plastic on the cover creates a great dry erase surface. I put in a label that has an art quote on the spine, various activities on one side and the other side is left blank for free draw. Inside the case is a small note pad for drawing, a pen and dry erase marker. Each case has different activities on it; a traceable alphabet, a maze, a dot to dot, a board for the Dot Game, and tic-tac-toe. Each case also has a different color marker and pen, making it easier for the kids to play games together.

For the Skull-A-Bration, I tested out the kits, drawing two skulls, one with pen on the notepad, and another with the dry erase marker. Hopefully by the end of the month, my skulls will have improved.

Vol. 2, No. 154, June 3, 2017

2154 - Money Matters.

I have my last graduation party of the year tomorrow, so I had to finish getting the gift ready. I decided that I would fold the money creatively rather than just throw it in a card. I decided on a graduation cap. It was easy enough to make and looks pretty cool too.

Vol. 2, No. 153, June 2, 2017

2153 - Take Two.

I tried my hand at the 90-unit Sonobe ball again. While I wasn't able to make it circular, I did manage to get an enclosed shape.

I will take that as a win for today. I was going to go back and try it again later in the evening,  but I ended up with huge migraine and had to call it an early night.

The picture shows the ball from 9 different angles. Sure it looks cool, but it's not quite what I was hoping for.

Vol. 2, No. 152, June 1, 2017

2152 - Sonobe Recycle.

Today I was a substitute math teacher in Howard Lake. When I was planning my project for today, I knew that there was a stack  of art club registration forms sitting in the office that needed to be recycled as art club was over 2 weeks ago. What better way is there to recycle paper than to make origami?

I picked up the papers, brought them to  the art room, and used the paper cutter to cut them into 4.25" square pieces. Why this size? Well that's the size of half the short edge of the paper, allowing me 4 squares per paper. I brought the squares to the math room and got started on my project.

I wanted to make a large origami ball, like the blue ones that I made in April, only I wanted it to be larger. Bigger balls require more squares of paper, but I didn't know how many, so I did some reasearch. I discovered that this form of origami is called modular origami and it can be used to build lots of different models. In modular origami, you combine multiple units folded form single pieces of paper into more complicated forms. The Sonobe unit is one form of unit that can be used to  create modular origami. Sonobe is the unit that I learned how to make in high school math class.

As I said before, I wanted to make a large ball, After my research my goal was to  make a 90-unit ball. I got all of the Sonobes folded and started to assemble my ball with 30 minutes left in the school day. As hard as I tried, I couldn't figure out how to connect the Sonobes to make a circle. I wanted to leave a completed ball at school, so I eventually gave up on the 90-unit and settled for three smaller balls, a 30-unit, a 12-unit, and a 6-unit. I left all three balls lined up on a table in the math room.

I still have more squares, to be folded, so I think I will try the 90-unit ball again tomorrow.

Vol. 2, No. 151, May 31, 2017

2151 - May Tree Time-lapse.

This month started out pretty well, I had my photo guides so everything lined up pretty well. All of a sudden, mid-month, I realized that the leaves had come in and bushed out so much that I could no longer see my guides. This posed a problem. I went back and looked at pictures from before the leaves had come in and drew a line on my phone screen where the edge of the sidewalk was. I knew that the sidewalk wouldn't move and wouldn't get covered up, making it a good guide.

Looking at this picture, the tree looks really lopsided and not lined up correctly. However, this is just an illusion caused by going from no leaves to full leaves. I can't believe how fast it happened.

Vol. 2, No. 150, May 30, 2017

2150 - Creative Cards.

I was a 4th grade substitute teacher again today. The students had to make cards for two teachers who are retiring. I figured I would make my own card as well. I started with pink paper and balloons. Then I wasn't sure what to do with that card, so I gave the cutout pieces to a student. She glued the balloons onto the card, added string and felt pieces for reflections and then wrote a very nice message inside for her teacher. We left it on the teachers desk so she would see it when she returned tomorrow.

I suppose I could have cou Ted that card a a collaboration project and been done, but I felt like I should do more. Plus, I need 2 cards for graduation parties this weekend. So, I found paper and got to work. I reallt likd how the three page card turned out. The picture shows page 1 in the top left, page 2 top right, and page 3 bottom left. The bottom right is the collaboration card.

Vol. 2, No. 149, May 29, 2017

2149 - Ballpark Challenge.

Today I went to a Twins Game with my brothers and mom. We had seats in the Skyline Suites, this meant padded, covered seats with free food and drinks! I figured since the food was free, I didn't have to feel bad mutilating a ballpark hot dog; if I had been paying for it I would never thought to do this. Anyways, I grabbed a hot dog and a knife and then sculpted a baseball bat. The finished sculpture was okay, but not perfect; turns out it is harder to carve a hot dog than it sounds.

My brother looked at my finished sculpture and said he could do better using only his teeth. So I went and got him a hot dog. His bat is on the right, mine on the left. In the middle is a baseball made of sour cream and ketchup.

Don't worry, there was no waste here. After I took pictures, we ate the hot dogs.

Vol. 2, No. 148, May 28, 2017

2148 - Chalk Children.

My sister works as a nanny; today, she brought the kids to my parents. I took them outside to play with chalk and bubbles. In between removing chalk from the bubble containers and keeping the baby from eating the bubbles, I managed to get four pictures drawn. One of the kids helped me with the bike. The pictures are a brown and pink horse (requested by the 3 year-old), a lemon that got walked on and smudged and a fish.

Vol. 2, No. 147, May 27, 2017

2147 - Craft Queen.

I wanted to try my hand at balancing rocks today, but them my plans changed and I was at a friend's house and didn't have access to rocks. So about 9:30 pm still without a project made, I asked my friend for help. She dug through some drawers and found some random craft supplies. She handed me a baggie with some ribbon flowers, silver flower beads, and glitter glue. Then she found toothpicks and floral tape. I combined all of the elements to make a mini flower garden. I gifted the garden to my friend's daughter.

Vol. 2, No. 146, May 26, 2017

2146 - Thank You.

Today was another fun challenge from #64MillionArtists. As you may recall they have teamed up with A Book of Me to develop a set of Creative Challenges to help you Live Well With Dementia. Here are the details of today's challenge:

Whether you are living with dementia, or live or work with someone who does, or you’ve just picked up these challenges for fun, we all have people that play a really important part in our lives and everyday wellbeing.

Today we’re going to think about saying thank you.

Do
Make a thank you card for someone special. Someone who means a lot to you, or who has contributed to your life. This might even be someone no longer with us. You don’t have to send the card. But you could! In the video below, Juanita is making a card and you could follow her instructions - or you could just have a go at doing it yourself in your own style, whatever is easiest for you. Think about what the person would like and draw or design a card especially for them. And then write them a message thanking them for what they do for you. 

I decided to make a thank you card for a friend. When I thought of this person, the first thing I thought of was a sunset, so that is how I decorated the card. I made a collage using paper scraps in a a wide range of reds and oranges, with a bit of blue an yellow to finish it off. The most challenging part of the card was making the silhouette that said 'Thank You'. I didn't have an X-acto knife handy, so I had to make due with a broken scissors. It's a little choppier than I'd like, but it still looks good. I outlined the letters with gold colored pencil to make them stand out more.

I wrote a rough draft of the thank you I would like to send, but right now the inside of the card is just blank because I haven't decided if I actually want to send it.

Vol. 2, No. 145, May 25, 2017

2145 - Wine Not?

Today was Holy Trinity's last day of school. It was a half day consisting of Mass, locker clean out and an awards ceremony. I figured I would have plenty of free time and could use it to do a folded book project. I ended up with less free to be than anticipated, and the book project turned out to be too overwhelming for the last day of school excitement. So I needed to come up with something new and easy.

After much deliberation, I remembered it is National Wine Day and I had a wine cork project kit at home. So when I got home after the end of the year party, I dug out the kit and quickly assembled the project.

Vol. 2, No. 144, May 24, 2017

2144 - Collaborative Hunt.

Today, as I was subbing,  I collaborated with  Mrs. McGraw's 4th grade class at the School of St. Philip. I had subbed for them before, and I know some of them outside of school, so they know about my art projects. They asked to see what I was working on today and I decided that rather than just showing them, I would involve them.

Today is National Scavenger Hunt Day, so I looked online for a picture scavenger hunt list. There are lots of lists out there, so I just randomly chose one. I divide up the list among the students. I had them find each item and bring it to me to be photographed. I would have been fun to split them into groups and take their own pictures, but I didn't have enough devices or time.

One of the  students really wanted her picture included, but since I didn't have permission to share their pictures, I was avoiding people pictures. I did eventually compromise for #18 and #25 (Something Short and Something Tall). I had the girls stand with their backs to the camera, so you could see their height without their faces.

Each picture is numbered to make it easier to match to the list.
1. something red: a dog
2. something to eat: CHEEZ-IT
3. something clean: dry erase board on an empty desk
4. something sharp: scissors
5. something hard: a rock
6. something tiny: a pencil stub
7. something blue: pens
8. something that moves: a solar powered dancing flower
9. something noisy: a whistle
10. something wet: a vase filled with water
11. something pink: an eraser
12. something soft: a stuffed sheep
13. something heavy: a box filled with toys
14. something special: a ring from my grandma
15. something with hair: a doll
16. something white: a charger
17. something black: an alarm clock
18. something short: one of the shortest 4th grade student
25: something tall: the tallest 4th grade student
19: smaller than a mouse: a pony bead
20: something green: a plastic roof
21: something smooth: a glass paper weight
22: something with wheels: a toy car
23: something alive: a potted plant:
24: something orange: a stack of folders
26: something light: a feather
27: something fluffy: a cotton ball
28: something purple: Relay For Life Medals
29: something colorful: a globe
30: something dirty: my empty lunch container
31: something shiny: a foil Birthday banner
32: something yellow: a book
33: something stinky: a garbage can
34: something glittery: a fabric scrap on an art project
35: something tasty: a cupcake
36: something you love: lilacs

Vol. 2, No. 143, May 23, 2017

2143 - Taffy Turtle.

Today is World Turtle Day and National Taffy Day. I combined the two holidays and celebrated by making a turtle out of taffy. It was one of those quick, under 10 minute projects, that don't always turn out exactly as I had hoped, but that were still fun to make.

Vol. 2, No. 142, May 22, 2017

2142 - Instrumental Money.

Today we are celebration Accounting Day and Buy a Musical Instrument Day. I decided to do some dollar bill origami (moneygami). The only musical instrument I could find instructions for was a guitar, so that is what I made.

Vol. 2, No. 141, May 21, 2017

2141 - Rainbow Walk.

This week #64MillionArtists has been teamed up with A Book of Me to develop a set of Creative Challenges to help you Live Well With Dementia. I really liked today's challenge and decided to do it. Here are the details.

One of the Five Ways to Wellbeing is to Take Notice. So often we rush around in our day or we get stuck in our thoughts and we forget to notice what’s around us. Today we’re inviting you to take a closer look at your surroundings.

Do

Go for a walk (you can do this indoors if the weather is bad or you are unable to get out) and try and spot all the colours of the rainbow.

I walked around my parent's house and my grandma's house (inside and out) searching for the rainbow. After collecting over 40 pictures, I made a photocollage, arranging the pictures in rainbow order.