Co-op Craft

On Monday I led our small co-op in creating this Tiffany style art project.  I was efficient enough to gather all the materials, but unfortunately not so with-it that I brought my camera.  Thus, there are no pictures of the process or any finished artwork besides Rebecca's.

 

 I followed the instructions on Kids and Glitter--visit there for the details.  The children drew simple designs on cardboard and glued yarn onto the outlines.  The yarn was covered with foil, then colored with permanent markers and outlined with black Sharpies.  If the cardboard is cut to the suggested 6 1/2" x 9" it can be attached to colored cardstock to frame the picture.

We followed the suggested Lenten theme, but this technique can be used to make all sorts of beautiful images.  Enjoy!

Second Try

While Marianna was shadowing at next year's school, Rebecca and I had another go at gathering and dipping leaves.  This time we used beeswax (instead of candle scraps), with beautiful results.  The leaves smelled better, of course, and their color has held up reasonably well.  They are fading and browning, but more slowly than our first batch.

Becca and I sewed a few garlands, too.

 Can you see the other end of Becca's thread taped to the door handle?

 One garland drapes between the kitchen and family room.

 Two more hang from the school room and kitchen chandeliers.

By the way, these are the ten-days-old leaves.  They were stunning a week ago!

Napkins Galore!

It took us several sewing sessions, but we did finish our napkin project.  This was the first official lesson (after 3 mini-projects) in Stitch by Stitch.  After completing one napkin, we made the rest smaller, as the girls thought the specified measurements were just too big.  The bonus is that we now had enough fabric for almost a dozen napkins (plus a few for the dolls, plus leftover cloth). 

All three of us practiced mitering corners and sewing straight lines.  Some results were better than others.  :-)  I'm nearly as much of a beginner as they are.

A cloth napkin may not need laundering after each meal, so it's useful to keep your own until it's soiled.  Somewhere long ago (probably on a blog) I read about personalized napkin rings, which inspired our next creations:

Using already on-hand memory wire and beads, we began a collection.  The wooden beads are for the boys.  We girls made our own, plus a few for guests.  Maybe we'll get fancier eventually, but this works for now.

A final image:  Learning to sew has brought out Becca's inner ironer.  I'm not surprised; even though she can be messy, Rebecca usually prefers things "just so."



The Fun Stuff

Saving the best for last may be a fine way to manage ones dinner plate, but it's a poor way to run a [home]school.  Maybe it's distractibility or perhaps my temperament, but I tend to get caught up in the urgent--laundry, math, cooking, grammar--and run out of energy or time before enjoying crafts, music, or art.

This year I'm tackling my habit two ways: by prioritizing and co-oping.

I've set aside two big chunks of time on Monday and Friday mornings (not after lunch or "regular" school) for sewing with the girls. Even when I slack off, we usually manage something enriching.

For me, co-oping is an excellent way to make me do what I want to.  Two years ago I ran across this post about waxing autumn leaves.  Even with that bookmarked, and further encouragement from Elizabeth and Ginny last year, nothing happened.

This season I added leaf dipping to the list of group activities, and voila!  Accountability and responsibility for someone else's kids brings out the do-er in me.

Better late than never?

Disclosure:  A week later, our leaves are no longer brilliant.  I used white candle scraps instead of paraffin or beeswax, but I don't see how that would make a difference in preservation.  Wax is wax as far as sealing the leaf, right?  If you know something about making the colors last longer, I'd love to know about it.  We still have some brightness on the trees here . . .  Thanks!

Simple Gifts

You've probably seen these flower-topped pens before.  They make such great little gifts: 

• party favor
• stocking stuffer
• birthday present
• hostess gift (along with notecards, perhaps)
• teacher treat
• etc.

My niece (and goddaughter) made one for me several years ago.  Amazingly, it still has ink!  And it's still my favorite pen, easy to find and difficult to "borrow."  ;-)

Marianna and Rebecca created daisy pens at Christmas for friends and family, and recently decorated a few more for the birthdays of teammates and fellow club members.  The process is simple: 

1. Cut artificial flowers so the stems are almost the length of the pen (we usually pick up random pens already in the house).
2. Hold the stem against the pen and start winding it up with florist tape.  Pull slightly on the tape to make it stick to itself better.
3. We wind the tape from top to bottom, then back up to the top before securing the end with a dab of glue.

Quick, easy, adorable, and practical--who could ask for anything more?

Dreams of Summer

When the girls and I went shopping to replace our bird feeder, we spied the garden seeds and snapped some up.

Every year our perennials return:  chives, thyme, and mint.  Traditionally we add parsley and basil, but last year I got a (too late) hankering for cilantro, and Lauren's Greek dishes have inspired me to try growing dill as well.  Besides, our favorite Eastern black swallowtail caterpillars eat both parsley and dill (and carrot tops).

I was having so much fun admiring those seed packets that I decided to hang them up.  It was that or consignment to the black hole of my desk . . .

I am not much of a decorator, but all my hours of reading other peoples' cool blogs inspired me to create something more attractive than pictures held up with masking tape.  That little garland on my pantry door makes me smile both because it's cute and in anticipation of the growing season to come.

What's your summer dream?

Fireworks Shirts

We spent several glorious days at the beach last week, although Lauren and David stayed home to work (selling fireworks and repairing bikes). The weather was fabulous, the company was grand (cousins, siblings, aunt and uncle), and we enjoyed sand, water, and ice cream. Refreshing!

Inspired by JoAnn (via Elizabeth), I brought supplies for decorating t-shirts. Marianna remembered the project on our last evening. I'm glad I was urged out of my chair, because this ended up being a lot of fun!
I made stamps from pipecleaners, and we used fabric paint to create the firework designs. We had red, white, blue, and silver glitter paint. I'll try to get around to taking a picture of a dry shirt--the glitter looks so much better now.
Len had to work Monday, so we drove home Sunday in time to watch our local display. God bless America!

At Last

Lent, Day 10: The Jesus Tree is finally ready! The plan is to cover two stories/ornaments each day until we catch up.

Daniel, who is on midwinter break (crazy, I know--my high school boys are going to end up with just 6 1/2 days of school this February!), helped us cut and glue some more ornaments today. This will be our Friday school craft until all 47 are done.

Friday Crafting

Looking back over the school year thus far, the themes of our Friday craft time are clear. We are nearly always working with clay (making creatures for the ocean box) or food.

With Lauren going back to Richmond this afternoon (sniff), it was time to fulfill my promise of making the peanut butter balls she's been craving. We mixed, rolled, chilled, and dipped.

Fun and tasty!

Notes: We used this recipe with very little tweaking.

• The cereal was mixed in by hand (literally--a gloved hand was gentler than a spoon).
• The balls should be chilled for more than the required hour before dipping. Ours flattened a bit today as we tapped off the excess chocolate, I think because they weren't cold enough.
• We used chocolate chips (milk and semi-sweet) rather than chopping bars. All semi-sweet would probably be fine. Twelve ounces is about 2 cups.
• The printed recipe lists a yield of 36 treats. They must be huge! With a #60 scoop, we made 85.
• There has been melted chocolate left over both times I've made these. When there is excess, I usually coat cashews or peanuts with it, but they've never been popular. Instead, today I stirred in as much crispy rice cereal as possible and spread it on wax paper before chilling. I just offered samples, and am confident the rest will be easy to dispose of. ;-)
• The cookies last in the fridge for ages without spoiling, but the cereal will lose its crispiness over time.

Hung by the Chimney With Care

Len hung the stockings several weeks ago. After the lighted tree, the mantle is my favorite Christmas decoration. I smile whenever I look at it.

These stockings are an ancient family tradition, being almost as old as me. ;-) My mom's friend, Sue, made mine when I was little. Mom copied it, creating new ones for each of my siblings. Every stocking was uniquely decorated, but mine was the best--the Christmas tree adorned with bits of cast off jewelry. When Len joined the family, Mom made his with animal ornaments. I took responsibility for Lauren's stocking, and eventually made hers with a tree like mine.We (Mom and I both made some) then followed tradition, making different designs for succeeding stockings.

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Eventually I was no longer satisfied. David didn't like his, I didn't like Daniel's (the sequin snowflakes got bent when I ironed webbing on the back), and Joe's ornaments seemed babyish after a few years.

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When Marianna was a few years old and overdue for her own stocking (this non-sewer procrastinated but wouldn't let her mom make one, either...), I decided to remake the boys' while creating hers. I wanted everyone to have a Christmas tree.

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It was fun to map out the different decorations. Every tree has a candy cane and a garland shaped like mine.

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Putting them together was NOT fun, especially because I waited so long. As I remember it now, I had a crew going in the basement, sewing on trinkets and writing names with fabric paint--Mom, Len, Lauren, me, and maybe my dad, too. When the Christmas Eve festivities were over at my in-laws', Mom and I stayed up LATE putting the pieces together. Of course, my mom did most of that work, since she can sew. Maybe that's when I glittered on the names. It's all a bit hazy now...

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As the years have passed, I've also made stockings for the young women who have lived with us, plus some of their babies and my Rebecca, usually finishing the ordeal at the last minute. Although satisfying to complete, I have to admit I'm relieved to not be making any this year!

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Here are a few more close-ups:Sorry, the rest of my photos came out even more blurry or dark or bright, and I'm not retaking any now! Instead of indulging myself by posting I should be making egg nog or cinnamon rolls or onion soup or breakfast casserole right now, or maybe wrapping presents. It's still too early to run out for the last groceries. :-)

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Enjoy your day and have a blessed and happy Christmas.Still waiting for Jesus...

The Ocean Box

As I've mentioned before, we homeschoolers are studying swimming creatures. Our science book recommended building an ocean box and filling it throughout the year.

So far we've had two successful clay sessions!The first week, Joe and Marianna made dolphins. One is under the water while the other leaps above.Didn't they turn out great?As you can probably imagine, Rebecca wanted to participate but was frustrated with what her four-year-old self could produce. Eventually someone suggested she make an underwater volcano and her cheerfullness reappeared.

Whales were this chapter's topic, so Marianna made a gray (baleen) whale and Joe built a narwhal (toothed). They have been doing their own work, too. This Friday I didn't even stick around to offer moral support; Len was home so I went to the grocery store. :-)

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We still need to hang the narwhal so it can "swim", and we're planning to cut the gray whale and glue part above and part below the lid to simulate breaching. Meanwhile, here's what they look like:Rebecca wanted to make a surfer. Marianna helped her come up with this beauty, who I've been told looks like me (green IS one of my colors):

The red squiggles are surfboard decorations.

Homeschool Crafts

I love the idea of crafting with my children, but let's be real--it's not a priority for me and hardly ever happens.

This year I'm going to try again, and to that end have blocked out a few hours on Friday afternoons. Hopefully it won't become "make-up-our-unfinished-work" time!

Our science book features swimming creatures, and at the author's suggestion we've painted an "ocean box." We made varying shades of blue for different depths, and glued sand to the bottom. For each chapter the children will make clay animals to install in our box.
That means I've already got about 13 weeks of crafts scheduled, and they're ones that need to be done as part of the science curriculum. Either that will MAKE me do it, or I'll feel even worse when I slack off. Stay tuned...

Today's "craft" was a little more up my alley: we made pesto for the freezer. The four of us worked together, harvesting, washing, spinning, peeling, pressing, measuring, pouring, etc. etc. etc. Call it edible art. As part of my "it's really going to happen this time" campaign, I'm trying to plan specific crafts weeks ahead. There are the sea creatures. I've also scheduled four weeks to make and freeze Christmas cookies, and some dates to work on Jesus Tree cutouts for Lent (which I bought last year but--no surprise--didn't use). We'll see. Hope springs eternal, at least at the beginnning of the school year.

Almost a Disaster

Remember my belated Christmas trip to Clay Cafe with the little girls? Part of their designs included ladybugs inspired by the perky, friendly lady at the store. She showed the girls how to make red thumbprints which she then turned into bugs with detail paint.

We spent two hours working, and when we left, Miss G was helping someone else. She made one ladybug on Marianna's plate so as to remember the preferred direction, but decided to transform the rest during a quieter moment at the store.

Fast forward a week or so, to Len's pickup of the girls' treasures. He brought them home, they were unwrapped, and then the weeping began: red thumbprints (NOT ladybugs!) on both plates. Even my heart sank when I saw them. All that effort, wasted.

I emailed Miss G (she wasn't in when I called), but the best I could hope for was a refund or free redo, neither of which would be truly satisfying. Imagine my delight when she told me (for you real artists, this is no surprise) that she COULD paint the details and refire the plates!

We've had them back for awhile now, and the girls use them almost daily:
I'm sure you can imagine how pitiful the heart plate looked with one ladybug and a zillion red thumbprints:Yes, Rebecca painted the rainbow herself, although I did tidy it up with additional coats. The colors are even in the correct order, although she didn't have room for indigo.