Artist of the Week Wrap-Up: Keith Haring

I'm making an early post for the wrap-up this week since Wednesday's class currently has FOUR openings. The kids today had a great time making life size Haring-inspired "portraits". We had to spread out of the classroom into the kitchen and front hall to have the space needed for these creations. There was a lot of cooperation as everyone helped measure, cut, gather rocks to hold down the corners, outline and then move the giant wet paintings to the basement for more drying time.

Sign up by 6:00 pm Tuesday, February 24th to get into Wednesday's class!

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090d4ea4a72fa46-heatherannes1

I Mustache You a Question...

Make your very own Mustache Valentine using PicMonkey online photo editor.

Step One: make or buy a mustache. We made ours out of black, sticky-back felt. This was TERRIBLE on my scissors, but was relatively cheap and easy to do.

Step Two: have a photo shoot.

Go ahead and include the little sister while you are at it. 

Step Three: pick your favorite picture and head to www.picmonkey.com. Hover over the "Design" button and select the custom size. Enter 1800 x 1200 for printing to a 4x6 print. If you accidentally click the button without hovering first and selecting custom size, select "Resize" in the options on the left of the new screen to change the size to 1800 x 1200.

Step Four: click Canvas Color and select the background color you want. 

Step Five: click Overlay in the far left menu (a butterfly icon). Click "Your Own" in the 2nd column menu and upload the picture you chose. Drag and the drop the image where you want it, resizing by dragging the corner or sides of the image as needed. 

Step Six: if you want to add a frame, click Frames in the far left menu (a little frame icon). Select the frame you want. 

Step Seven: click Text on the far left menu (a Tt icon). Choose your starting font. You can select the ones that PicMonkey provides or the fonts already on your computer. Type your text in the text box then resize the box as needed. You can highlight then change text color or font type as you wish.  For the heart symbol ♥, you can use Alt code 3 (press and hold the Alt button, then the "3" button, release together).   

Step Eight: Save your creation somewhere you can find it on your computer. Send it to your favorite photo lab for 4x6 prints. You can regularly find 4x6 prints for $.19 each and often can find deals for them cheaper. Tada! Easy peasy, fun Valentine. If you are feeling REALLY spunky, you can attach a fake mustache to each. 

From the MUCH younger kids you see in those pictures, we made these a few years ago. It's still one of our favorite Valentines. 

Artist of the Week Wrap-Up: Katsushika Hokusai

As usual, we ran long in class. The two art projects we made both really turned out well. I started with the water color on the lanterns so it would have time to dry. We moved to "carving" the styrofoam sheets for our printing. Unfortunately, my brayer is lost in a box somewhere and I didn't get it replaced before class. A wood dowel and a short piece of PVC pipe worked just fine in a pinch. After finishing our prints, we took markers to the lanterns and started folding and taping. In between projects or while work was being done, we watched several videos on the life of Katsushika Hokusai, as well as on the woodblock printing technique. We discussed Japanese lantern festivals and the common practice of changing your name (A LOT) in Ancient Japan. Hokusai changed his name over 30 times in his life!

A Peek Behind the Scenes

My dear friend, Melanie, over at The Knotty Elf, had a birthday last week. We most often are working on our handcrafts when we're spending time together so last Saturday, instead of JUST taking her out to lunch for her birthday, we also spent time shopping at Joann and taking pictures of our jewelry pieces for our respective Etsy stores.

We're still getting the hang of good pictures for online. We really want to take some outside, natural light pictures, but right now, the weather in Kansas City is just way too cold for spending any amount of time outdoors. So we got creative with some cardboard, white fabric and my Ott light and set up a light box. Melanie took some "process pictures" as we worked. Toward the end of our marathon session, I had my daughter pick up Melanie's camera to make sure Melanie was in some pictures too. This is what Melanie found when she checked all the pictures.

Yep.  My daughter. 

Car Activities for Travel

My kids love to fight. I'm not sure if it's the four year age difference, the gender difference or just a deep desire to drive their sibling-inexperienced parents CRAZY. I have a sister ten years old and Jason has a half brother nine years younger so neither of us has ANY experience in sibling rivalry.

When we were planning our big trip to Disney World last month, I knew I was going to have to pull out all the stops to keep them occupied and minimize arguing on the long drive to Florida (and back). I stalked Pinterest, Google, my Feedly blog feed, everywhere to gather together ideas for how to keep them busy. 

All told I spent maybe $70 on everything, including extra special snacks. Once I was done shopping, I gathered everything together and wrapped each project in plain paper (I used bulk Uhaul wrapping paper leftover from our move). I numbered each package and kept notes so I knew what was in each package before they opened it. Some packages required daylight and some were better for evening so I wanted to guide those choices. In addition, there were some duplicates and I didn't want them to open the same things back to back. I stored everything in the "hole" in the floor of our minivan. 

They also had their 3DSs, a DVD player with lots of movies and half the library worth of books but those have already proven to not be enough to avoid the fighting on road trips. At every stop, I would let them each pick out one package. Most of the projects would keep them busy for an hour plus. And the best part, the only fighting was when they were playing their 3DSs together and one was upset that the other was "cheating" (i.e., winning). Since it was really easy to take the 3DSs away, the fighting was kept to a minimum. 

To help keep everything more organized, I gave each kid a small cookie sheet (also from the dollar store) to use as a (magnetic!) lap desk. We also picked up and put away things at every stop. 

Here is the list:

Pre-packaged Items

Items from this list may vary for you. These were pre-packaged mostly complete. I found these at the Dollar Tree, Big Lots and the Dollar Spot at Target. 

1. Magic Kits - There were two different sets and I wrapped them together so each kid had one to play with. These were simple rope tricks, disappearing ball tricks, etc. with instructions. 
2. Sticker books 
3. Word find books
4. Sudoku books
5. Create-a-Town Sticker Scene Activity Sets
6. Matching game
7. Miniature 4x6 puzzles
8. Classic Activity/Coloring Pages pads (I think they are the same ones I had as a kid)
9. Learn to Draw workbooks from the school supply section
10. Science Trivia card game
11. Lanyard jewelry making kit

Toys & Fun Snacks

1. Candy jewelry - this didn't last long as an activity but it's not the sort of thing the kids get often so it was still very popular. 
2. Squishy critters - those rubbery, squishy toys that stretch a LOT. These had lights inside them. My kids LOVE playing with these things. 
3. Glow sticks - These made for GREAT after dark fun during those last few boring hours. I let them listen to the dance station on Pandora and they had their own mini "dance" party in the backseat. 
4. Light-up Rings - Same concept as the glow sticks

Craft / Creative Projects

1. Post-it notes - to make art. Canvases for post-it note art can include the cookie sheet lap desk, blank paper or even the car windows. 
2. Pipe cleaners - I don't know about your house, but at mine, I have to hide any pipe cleaners I don't want acted upon by children. They LOVED having a large supply to play with to their hearts' content. 
3. Colorful paper clips - to hook end to end for all sorts of creative, imaginative play. 
4. Aluminum foil - probably the most popular item of the trip. A whole roll to sculpt as they wished.
   
5. Balls of yarn - my kids love finger knitting and used up many balls of yarn knitting away. 
6. Squiggle cards & a box of markers - I saw this idea at the Make and Takes blog. 
7. Travel Scavenger Hunt - Found at free.puzzles.net. I printed on card stock but these could also be laminated to use over and over. 
8. Sticker Story books - I made a half dozen mini books (out of a single sheet of paper, instructions found here).  I wrapped them with sheets of Halloween stickers for the kids to make story books with the stickers.
   
9. Would You Rather? Cards - printables found at The Measured Mom
10. Fruit Loops & Yarn - I found Fruit Loops cereal already packaged in round bowls at Big Lots. I paired those with balls of bright orange yarn for cereal jewelry making.
    
11. Origami books from the library & a stack of origami paper
12. How to Draw books from the library & new drawing pads from the craft store
13. Play dough & a few play dough tools 
14. Legos - we made travel containers out of old wood wine boxes a few years ago. We cut large Lego plates to size and glued them to the slide out top of the wine box. 

Seat Back Supplies 

Both of the kids have seat back organizers. I stashed the following supplies into each of their organizers before we hit the road. 

1. Scissors
2. Colored pencils & crayons
3. Tape
4. Pens & pencils
5. Erasers
6. Pencil sharpener
7. Water bottles
8. Snacks
9. Headphones
10. Gum

Bonus Ideas 

I thought of these but didn't have the chance to organize them for this trip. 

1. Marshmallows & pretzel sticks - snack and engineering project in one
2. Lacing cards 
3. Embroidery books from the library plus fabric, floss & other supplies
4. Finger puppets
5. Funky scissors, construction paper & tape

My kids enjoyed everything. I had them rate each item out of 5 stars and most things got 4 or 5. The preteen boy gave the sticker scenes from Dollar Tree only 3 stars but that was the only thing that didn't get good reviews. We didn't get to everything I had packed so I have put everything left away for our next road trip. I hope these ideas help you keep the peace on your next road trip!

So what is Forest School?

The first time I ever heard of Forest School was from the following Ted Talk about hackschooling.



The name sounds AWESOME, right? What's not to love about something called Forest School... even though I had no idea what it was. The Wikipedia article was not all that helpful and www.forestschools.com is only really helpful if you live in the UK. And in reality, none of these definitions came to be what our Forest School is like. Every Forest School is different as defined by the varied locales and the individuals who attend. My most promising lead was from my friend Jerritt, who attended Forest School with her kids!... and lives half a country away. So it became evident that if I wanted the Forest School experience for my kids, I was going to have to create it myself.

So then, what is Forest School? It is fun, it is educational, it is freedom to explore, it is turning nature into a self-guided classroom, it is wet, and it is often muddy. The first step to starting a Forest School is to find the right forest. Wild, but maybe not too wild and relatively conveniently located since the idea is to visit the same place year round at least once a month but possibly more often. While many excellent choices were around the KC Metro, since I was going to be the "leader" of this muddy band of nature lovers, I chose a location close to me. The park where we go has a rocky bottomed creek, bluffs full of fun rocks to climb on and lots of beautiful green... all behind a park with ample parking and a play ground. The nature area is hemmed in by the park, a neighborhood and two streets so the kids can safely roam without getting lost. The creek always leads back to where the adults are. On the other hand, when you are in the creek bottom chasing tadpoles, those "civilized" spaces might as well be miles away for they are not intrusive to the peace of the nature area at all. 

We go year round... every second Tuesday and any (bonus) fifth Tuesdays. Rain or shine or snow. (We do skip dangerous weather). Because the creek is in a small dip (it's not really deep enough to be a valley), the temperature there is often warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer and the winds aren't as strong. Once there, the kids just... go. They play. They explore. They swim (even when it's 60 degrees out and the water has only just thawed). They get muddy. They get SOAKED. No agenda, no curriculum, no lesson plan. Nature teaches them. And even the most screen-obsessed kid jumps in with both feet, literally and figuratively. It's a beautiful thing. There are no rules (though parents are encouraged to require a buddy system of exploration). Every family lets their kids explore with the supervision with which they are comfortable. If I have an interested audience, I'll point out different plants and explain their medicinal and culinary uses. But mostly, it's all kid lead exploration. And in a couple hours, worn out and wet, we'll ascend from the creek bed reconnected a bit to nature and to ourselves. 

Wordless Wednesday - Proud Boy

Wordless Wednesday - Forest School

2012 Christmas Ornaments

Every year the kids get to both make an ornament to gift to family and friends and buy an ornament.  When they are on their own, I'll give them all the ones they picked out to buy plus one of each that they made to decorate their first trees.

In 2011, Jasper made a Golden Snitch Ornament and Risa made a Glitter / Handprint Snowman Ornament.

In 2012, we are still sparkly.  Jasper selected a penguin / snowglobe ornament inspired by a Parent's.com craft.

You can follow directions for how to make the pipe cleaner penguin on their site... though those instructions aren't perfectly clear.  I may do a step-by-step pictorial of how to make them.  Jasper went with one penguin, a tree and a cupcake pick that says "Merry Christmas".  I couldn't find clear sided cups but Jasper actually likes the looks of the rippled sides better.  I used old Christmas cards to cut out the bottom piece so the ornament is fancy on the bottom too.  And I hot glued the hanger to the top.  I was afraid the cup would break if I tried to poke a hole through it.  

Risa went with a lovely peacock / pine cone ornament inspired by a craft from The Kids Fun Review.  

We used craft foam for the body and Risa added lots of peacock blue glitter paint to the pine cone.  

Christmas Greetings 2011

Create your own greeting card

Press Dough! Oh no!

I long for the days when the children's favorite shows were on Noggin and PBS Kids.  Noggin and PBS Kids don't air commercials.  Now that their favorite show is My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic... okay, EVERYONE'S favorite show is now My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic... we are a family of bronies... where was I?  Right!  MLP:FIM is on The Hub.  The Hub airs commercials... a lot of commercials... a lot of the stereotypically awful children's commercials that involve every marketing ploy known to entice your kids to want everything they see.

We make it pretty clear that requesting something they've only seen on a commercial just doesn't fly.  We show the kids reviews online of products that seem so cool on TV.  The reviews almost always point to the product being less... WAY less... than implied in the shiny commercial. Fushigi anyone?  Occasionally though one product just sticks with one of the kids and he or she won't drop the desire for that product.  The most recent obsession was Risa's and Press Dough.  She really REALLY wanted to make sugar cookies like they had on that commercial.  The requests for Press Dough have been consistent for several months and were brought up at times far removed from the viewing of any commercials.

Wanting to honor her desire, but not really wanting to pay $20 for over-glorified Playdoh tools that would be used once, I came up with the next best thing... or rather, the original best thing... Playdoh tools!  Press Dough is essentially tools for dough.  Playdoh makes fun, colorful tools for dough.  We already owned a LARGE box of fun, colorful Playdoh tools.  After a spin in the dishwasher, they worked GREAT!  Risa and I had a fun time making sugar cookies.  We used a sugar cookie dry mix.  Divided in half and alternated between using the dough and keeping it cold, the dough worked great with the Playdoh tools.  We didn't dye the dough though that would be easily done.  We had a pleasant afternoon, saved $20 and satisfied her cookie making wish.  WINNING!

Golden Snitch Ornaments

My die-hard Harry Potter wouldn't even consider looking further once we found the Golden Snitch ornament idea on Tiny Apartment Crafts found here: http://tinyapartmentcrafts.blogspot.com/2010/12/golden-snitch-ornament-tutorial.html  The wings are a multi-day process with drying time so plan ahead.

Supplies needed:
Crafting wire - I used 20 gauge. I used silver because it's what I had in the gauge I wanted. You can get it in gold.
Sheer white, ivory or gold fabric - I used some white leftover from making window sheers
Fabric or other multi-purpose glue - I used Liquid Stitch
Gold glitter fabric paint
Small gold plastic ornaments - found ours at Target, 24 for $5
Hot glue
Metallic gold paint
Gold paint pen, optional

Cut a 6" piece of wire.  Make the first bend at 2 1/2".  That 2 1/2" length is the top of the wing.   Bend the bottom scalloped edge into the remaining wire, twist the end around and snip off any extra.  I used a combination of round-nose pliers and chain-nose pliers to shape my wings.

Cut small pieces of the fabric, slightly bigger than your wings.  My son used a paintbrush to get the glue onto the wire.  Once the glue is on, attach the fabric and set aside to dry.

Once dry, trim the excess fabric.  I debated trying to fold it over and gluing more but that didn't look good when I tried one.

Paint the wings with gold glitter fabric paint. I debated getting the Soft variety but it was twice as expensive as the standard dimensional paint. The dimensional fabric paint worked just fine. This took a couple days too as we painted each side twice to make sure they were very glittery.

I strayed from the original directions in two ways with the wings... one, I used fabric and not tissue and, two, I used fabric glitter glue instead of straight glitter.  One word for my reason... kids.  The tissue would've been too fragile and the glitter was a wee bit more potential mess then I wanted to risk.

Once the wings are dry, it's time to make the snitches!  I used hot glue and it worked beautifully.  I spread a bead of glue around the coiled end of the wing first, then applied a pea size dollop to the ornament.  Attach and hold... you have to wait for the glue to cool and mostly set.  Fortunately, with low-temp hot glue, that only takes 30 to 40 seconds.  However, if you are making a dozen like we did, that does add up to some time as you hold each little wing individually.  Once the glue was fully cooled and set, my son painted over the hot glue with metallic gold paint.

The optional paint pen is if you would like to take a plain gold ornament and mark it with snitch designs.  Jasper decided he liked the polka dots, stripes and other designs on some of the ornaments in the bundle we got so we didn't do this.