Memory Keeper

This project is for my second grade classroom. For several years now my school has had all students do an end of the year writing sample about their favorite memory from that grade. So we always start off by brainstorming events we can remember. This year I thought we could record special events on index cards as they happen and keep them in this memory box to read at the end of the year. Of course, now that I came up with this idea, I have probably jinxed myself and our end of the year writing sample topic will probably change. Oh well, it will be fun anyway and I had a chance to be creative and feel like I was getting ready for school to start at the same time.

This started out as a plain, white, metal container. I painted the top and bottom edge yellow. After applying the paper, I also mod podged the entire thing before embellishing.

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!
Chris

More from Craft Your Art Out!

Three more mornings of craft Your Art Out flew by. The eleven girls were kept busy creating at least 3 projects a day. Below are pictures of many of the projects we did. Somehow I was kept busy too and forgot to take pictures of several of our crafts.

Water Sponges - a favorite, simply and easily made by cutting 3 sponges lengthwise into thirds. Stack them in mixed order, three on-top of three (makes a cube.) Then tie tightly with fishing line. It will take shape as you tie it. Wet, throw, repeat.

 Here's a mini-clipboard and magnet. The clipboard is just a thin piece of wood covered with scrapbook paper and a ribbon adorned clip holds papers in place. The magnet is made by gluing paper and a magnet on the back of those larger sized clear stones (like melted marbles) from the dollar store.

These are hair ties. A couple of ribbons and several beads and you're all set!

Homemade whiteboards made from cutting and drilling a large sheet of shower board (purchased at any home store.) These were decorated with vinyl pieces I had from Uppercase Living. I would suggest adding a marker with velcro.

Dog toys braided from strips of fleece. Cat toys were also made by tying smaller strips of fleece and feathers to a dowel rod using elastic string.

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting1
Chris

Craft Your Art Out!

I had the pleasure of working with 11 girls for a new session with the Victor Parks and Rec. It was a quiet group that opened up over the 4 days. Day 1 was a "road trip/vacation" theme. We made Tic Tac Totes (a travel game), funky multi-colored crayons and water bottle carriers.

Tic Tac Totes were made from small (6" X 6") totes, ribbon strips, puffy paint and pom poms for game pieces that were stored inside the totes. I'm amazed that puffy paint is still used and that even the 2nd grade girls could use it well. Here's the final results...

The crayons were done by putting broken up pieces of old crayons in a mini muffin pan and melting them down on low heat for a short time in the oven. Honestly they didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. I think the colors ended up mixing too much. Luckily the girls liked them none the less.

Lastly, the water bottle carriers. These were an innovation I came up with using thin, rectangular mousepads and that ol' camp favorite - boondogle (sp?). You know it,it's that plastic string stuff. Anyway, hole punches were done along the bottom and sides, making it easier to "sew" together, and then the a hanging string was braided together to a desired length. (P.S. the bottom was gathered with it's own piece to form the bottom.)

Suffice it to say, we were busy for a full 2 hours. More to come on our other creations.

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!
Chris

One final project for the kiddos!

Hi! This was the last project I did with the 3 girls I had in my Victor Parks & Rec class. We spent 4 mornings together, but somehow I forgot to take a picture of their projects for Day 3 and I didn't have an example to show. On the 3rd day, the girls did a chipboard mini-album. They adhered papers on with Mod Podge and went crazy with a variety of embellishments. (Bling, bling, bling!)

So, a paperbag album was the project for Day 4. I decided to use white paperbags and it was no surprise that they absolutely loved the pink & purple papers we used. The inserts with tabs that went into the bags' open ends were also a big hit. One of the girls actually came up with the idea of placing the album title on an angle (love it). And luckily their moms are all determined to print pictures for the girls to put in their albums.

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!

Chris

Day 2 of creating with kiddos!

The fun with my little group of girls continued with 3 paper crafting projects. I must give credit to others who taught me these at sometime over the years. Two, if not all 3, were from Amy, a terrific CTMH consultant-friend.

This is a book mark using a giant paper clip. (Paper clips were found at Wal-Mart.)

Next is a double picture frame made from coasters. This shows the original finished project. The pink & turquoise papers are the ones we actually used (and the girls really liked). I should have taken a picture of one of the girls' projects, because I did not complete one like theirs. 

Finally, we did  a "pocket-sized" mini scrapbook that closed with velcro. They loved stamping the large flower and then stamping the outline of the flower in a different color - they thought that was really cool!

There's more to come another day.
Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!
Chris

Sharing the passion with kiddos!

Hi! I can't believe how long it has been since I've posted. I visit blogs daily, but seem to have avoided my own. That's probably because my time to create was used up by the necessity of writing report cards and all the other stuff June demands of teachers. But alas, I've returned to my craft room with joy and have some projects to share.

The last week of June I had the pleasure of teaching a few young girls stampin' and scrappin' through a Victor Parks & Rec class. They did so well learning to use tape runners, corner rounders, the cuttlebug and heat guns. They used wood-mounted/acrylic /cling stamps, glue dots and a variety of embellishments. And like pretty much all females, they loved bling! Here are the cards we made the first day (2 are postcards).
In upcoming posts, I'll share other projects they enjoyed.

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!
Chris

Kudos To My Hubby, Again!

Forget "he went to Jared's", better yet, he went to Buffalo Stamps and Stuff! Since he was going to a Buffalo office, I asked if he would please go to the specialty store for me. He agreed as long as I gave him the address and exactly what I wanted. I don't think he expected a place busting with so much goodness - my words, and bustling with, his words - so many old ladies. He got me several wool felt pieces I was craving, so I could play around with making die-cut flowers. (As far as I know, the craft stores around here only have the acrylic felt squares.) Mike always goes out of his way to make me happy and he sure did! Thanks, honey!!!

So here's a peek at what I've been trying with my Die-namics dies for the Cuttlebug. I think there's a trick for using the Cricut too. I'll have to look into how to do that.

Enjoy and THANKS for visiting!
Chris