Merry Christmas!

 

Yikes!  I haven't posted since March & we are just shy of Christmas now!!  To say the last year has been a busy one is indeed an understatement!!  Below are our newest Sharpie/Bic marker plates....just in time for the holiday season! 

Bic vs. Sharpie - the Ultimate Crafting Showdown!

OK - 2 more plates with the Sharpie markers....and this time we tossed a few Bic markers into the mix.  And the Bic ones ROCKED!!  (I have the ultra fine & fine ones for my journal - I LOVE how they write!)  My ultimate test was doing lime green (my fav color) on the new plates.  The Bic marker kept its color through the oven process, the Sharpie brand turned green/grey.  

And, once again they are not (to my knowledge) dishwasher proof or food safe, 

but they are ADORABLE!!

We are gearing up for Memorial Day, the 4th & Coast Guard Festival with this one!!

The Sharpie sample....need I say more?

The Bic green sample.

**NOTE THE GREEN DOTS** 

Sharpie Plates!

I had to jump on the Sharpie / plate phase....and here is my take on it....

Are you really going to toss this in the dishwasher or eat off of it, ever?  

Not me - so, in my opinion it doesn't need to be dishwasher safe.

....so....I let my son color our family portrait on a Dollar Tree plate with Sharpie brand markers, baked it at 350 for 30 minutes, let it cool & put it on a stand.  BAM!  cute art accomplished!

If you are going to eat off of it, make a birthday or "Great Day" plate, then you will want to try different markers & methods of washing the finished plates.  *I hear that the oil/paint based Sharpies are the way to go, but have NOT tried them myself.*

**I also had C decorate small glass candy jars at Christmas for his grandparents, also from Dollar Tree, and then filled them with their favorite candies.  

And he did a napkin holder in an owl motif for my office.

Our Valentine plate!

...the black is covering our name....not my son's handy work...

Next up, an Easter plate!

Family Reading Night - Seuss Style

We held a Family Reading Night at our Elementary school last night.....of course we had to do a Seuss theme....here are some of the snacks, decorations and activities we did.  

One of our PTA moms loves to do woodwork....I gave her the picture Monday afternoon, by Wednesday she had this made!  THANKS AMY!!!

Truffula Seeds! (Glitter Jelly Beans)

Hop on Pop Popcorn!

Peanuts for Horton!

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish!

Green Eggs & Ham of course!

Kohl's Cares animals and books for our Grand Prize Giveaways!

We went to the Scholastic Warehouse and loaded up on books to give away!

Our woodworking mo also made the Seuss sign as a giveaway - she then personalized it for the winner!

Reading area in the middle of the gym.  We had our principal come and read a Seuss story to the kiddos.

  We also had a Reading/Therapy dog come for shy readers to practice reading out loud too.

PHOTO BOOTH!!

We also made: 
Clover Pencils, Design your own Seuss Creature, Write a Seuss Story, Make a Bookmark & Decorate a Seuss saying!  And it was the last day of our book fair, so parents could come in and shop too!

Seuss on the Loose Rhyming Word Wall!

READING MONTH!!

These are the doors that I did for Reading Month (March) 

at my son's elementary school.  

I actually didn't do this one - whoops - the kids did! Too cute, Pigeon cartoons, Mo Willems style! 

Kindergarten class.

Clifford - Kindergarten Class

Gerald & Piggie & Pigeon - First Grade, this one is for my son's room.  The kids drew pigeon & I did the other characters popping through their creations.

Horton Hears a Second Grade Who!

Clementine tumbling into 2nd grade.

The sidewalk ends at fourth grade (the highest grade in our school & this class is the last room at the end of a long hallway)

Diary of a Fourth Grader!

3rd grade and the Lorax speak for the trees!

Mrs. Binkley's class loves Big Nate!

Pete the Cat rocking Young Fives!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DR. SEUSS!!

For the last two years our city has done a summer art project with proceeds going to a local charity.  The first year it was ginormous plywood fish decorated & sold throughout town & this past summer it was dogs $300-ish donation & puppies $35 donation.  This inspired me to make a Ferry Falcon, my son's school mascot.  After mentioning this at a PTA meeting a fellow mom, who loves to do woodworking projects was enlisted & the Ferry Falcons were born!  Each class is doing one for our upcoming auction.  Here is the one that I did in celebration of Reading Month & Dr. Seuss' birthday - this one will not be auctioned, but roost  in the library, along with the "Fish in the Pot", which I got the pattern off of Pinterest for!

 Here are a few examples of the dogs around town......

This one even has real grass!

HAPPY VALENTINE's DAY!

It's a little hard to see, but we did a photo Valentine this year....It was from our Star Wars photo shoot that we did for C's birthday.  Then I simply cut a slit at the bottom of the light saber & slid a Pixie Stick in, for extra security, I taped it on the back.  

For his teacher gift, we did a glass container ($1 at Dollar Tree) with candy message hearts ($2 at Target & some were left over for snacking!), and colorful ink pens ($1.99 at Target) & a sucker that read "Teachers are all write!" ($1.00 at Meijer). 

Archiving Art!

Yes, Yes I do keep EVERYTHING my child creates.....whew, I said it.  Now, to tackle it!  I started taking pictures and making Snapfish / Shutterfly* books with his art.  I chose a 12x12 style & lots of clip-art & poems off of the internet to highlight the "theme" of his art.  Because I am a saver/hoarder, I also still had his preschool calendars....so, I knew the date and "day" (theme) they were doing at school when the art was made.  I then measured them & typed up a caption for each piece of art, in the same way a gallery would label a piece.  The best part of the book was being able to put in pictures of him doing/showing his art or even a field trip after a week of themed art projects on the page as well. 

*To get such a big book at a great price, I use MyCokeRewards and cash them in for Snapfish / Shutterfly credits....they have great deals when using "Coke Points" to pay!

Every Owl Needs a House!

I love getting my son to be creative & artsy with me...and he LOVES to paint!!  So, I pick up little items, lie this birdhouse at JoAnn's for $1) and let him go crazy 

with the paints! Here's a little creation he made for the tiny puzzle owl 

given to me by a friend.  

 The flowers in the background are from hen he was 3.  I cut-out a MILLION flowers on the Cricut, let him paint them, once dried - I glued them to popsicle sticks and made arrangements for all the grandmas in our life for Mother's Day.  A very inexpensive and easy gift!  (The glass container and rocks are from Dollar Tree!!)

*The leaves were made using 2 sizes of Creative Memories square punches in 2 shades of green.  Simply use a corner rounder on 2 sides of the square and voila - you have a leaf!

OWLS!

For my 34th birthday, I re-did my craftroom/office!  I went from a minty green & BRIGHT everything, to a gentle tan & pops of bright "grown-up" colors....well, then came the owls.  In German, my maiden name means "owl", so I have always loved them & right now they are more popular than ever.  Here are a few of the owls that I have made or commissioned my 6 year-old to make for me.  (Last year he made an adorable owl in Kindergarten & I had to have a 

room/place for it! :)

This is the one that started the owl craze for me.  Made in kindergarten with crayon on construction paper, plain & simple.  I bought a "fat" square from Jo-Ann's to mat it & have used this fabric in other places of my craftroom as well.

This one was from his 4s preschool class.  Yes - I do save EVERYTHING he makes...you never know when you are going to redecorate a room & have just the right piece of preschool art to decorate with!

$1 at JoAnn's - he LOVES coloring these wooden pieces.

Pinterest Inspired owl.

A little doodle in a 4x6 frame.