Sunday 16 September 2012

The Annual Autumn Tradition....

I got busy working on my annual autumn tradition for the kids at work.

This is super easy and the kids LOVE them.  They last for months as well!  You could even do something like this instead of carving a pumpkin at Halloween.

All you need are the little gourds that look like mini pumpkins, paint (I use acrylic), and paint brushes.

I always wash the gourds down and then let them dry for an hour or so.  Don't paint on them when they are slightly damp.  Otherwise the paint will come right off.

Here are my little guys beforehand:


Then I painted different faces with different expressions and different eye colours.  So that once I was done, the gourds ended up looking like this:





And last but not least, the final group shot:


A.A.


Friday 14 September 2012

Okay...I didn't do this but...I "supervised"

So my good friend Sarah asked me to help out with this project for her sister's nursery.  Of course I was more than happy to help out!  Woohoo!  Crayon art!!!

I didn't actually create it.  Sarah is the artist of this piece.  I provided directions/suggestions.  I got to be the supervisor.....lol.

First Sarah drew the uber cute elephant onto the canvas and wrote the baby's name.

Next we chose the crayons she wanted for this particular piece and arranged the them.  Sarah chose 2 different shades of each colour and put a black crayon on each end.  I absolutely love the colour choice!

Then we glued the crayons in place and busted out the hair dryer.

The next step was melting the crayons.

After we let the melted crayons sit for a minute, the final step was painting the elephant and the upcoming baby's name onto the canvas.

And this is the final beautiful product!
Well done Sarah!  Looks fantastic!  Drew will LOVE it!!!!!


A.A.

Monday 3 September 2012

Back to school.....

I realize it's been a while since my last post (I'm sorry!).  I guess I started to enjoy to the summer a little too much....

So I decided to make something to celebrate my new employment - something for my new (kinda) place of employment - something for my library - something that hopefully the kids will enjoy.

You can do this with any name or word.  All you need are wooden letters (or letters made of a similar material), scrapbook paper or fabric (I used paper), a pencil, sand paper, scissors, paint, a paint brush, a sponge, Modge Podge, ribbon, a glue gun, and any other embellishments you may want to add.

First, sand down the edges of the letters.
Next, trace the letters onto the scrapbook paper or fabric and cut them out.


Then, you'll want to use the Modge Podge as a glue to stick the paper onto the letter.  Once the paper or fabric letter is glued to the wooden letter, take a sponge and the paint and carefully sponge paint around the edges of the letters.  You'll probably have to dab the sponge every so often to remove excess paint.  Once the sponge painting is dry (shouldn't take long), you may want to paint the edges of the letters.  My preference would be a white or black paint for the edges of the letters.
After drying, use your finger as a brush to cover the letters with Modge Podge (to seal and finish each of the letters).



Your final step would be looping the ribbon and gluing the ribbon (which acts as a hook) to the back of each letter (near the top).

To finish the letters off, the final step is optional. Glue pieces of ribbon, flowers, sequins, buttons, or other embellishments on the letters and hang.  I'm still deciding if I want to add any embellishments to my letters.  We'll see....



Enjoy & good luck to all my fellow colleagues in education as we begin a new school year!

A.A.