Christmas in July. . .a little late!

I just realized I still have this post in my file. . .and it has never surfaced into the blogosphere!

So. . .ignore the title, and here was my "Christmas in August" ideas.

Yes, you read that right. I have learned from the past. There is no time to create Christmas cards prior to the Christmas season, and I had a wave of creativity one lovely day in August, so this is what I did: I made Christmas cards.

Maybe you can guess. . .it was a Pinterest idea. Well, I should say it was based on a pinterest idea. I saw cards made out of paint chips (similar to the ones at the bottom of this post) and decided I should search the web for some tree ideas. I found a gift tag (blog here) that looked similar to the tree I made, but decided to make mine as a whole card, thinking I could put a family photo on the back. Which never happened.

But here it is:

Here are the cards--done on the right, works in progress on the left.

(Stamps from Michael's clearance, ink was Staz-On, ribbon from my left-overs stash, paper from Activity Village website and my stash)

 

And below are some other cards I tried to make.

They are very, very pink. Cute, but VERY pink. Sparkle too, but VERY pink!

(stamps from Stampin Up)

(stamps from Michael's clearance bin)

 

Thank you to my many trips to Home Depot, where I was {seriously} considering painting the guest room one of various shades of green, but never did, and then considered painting a hallway pink, but never did--and didn't want to waste the chips so I crafted instead. (Am I justified in this?!?!)

Pretty clothespins

Here is a quick and easy thing I did a few nights ago.

Pretty clothespins!

No, I'm not so crazy that I need this for hanging my laundry (I don't know how durable they would be if used for that reason). I was thinking more on the lines of hanging up student art. I used the clothespins last year, but I just wanted to spruce it up a little, make it "cutesy," like a good primary teacher would. :) Using clothespins was so-o-o handy--no pushpins=so much quicker to put up and down! An easy student art wall!

 Here is how easy it is: Cut strips of scrapbooking paper--really thin! Measure your clothespins and cut away. Glue the strips on. Wait for them to dry. Then modge-podge, or whatever brand you have of that glue-ish-y paint. Wait for it all to dry again--really good this time, and there you go.

 So, now I have done my first "get-ready-for-the-new-school-year" project.

And I'm wondering where is my summer disappearing to???

Heart Garland

So. . . just to prove to you that Pinterest is not just a time-wasting activity, but results in some creativity (as simple as it may be!), here was a "craft" I did for Valentines Day as a decoration for the classroom.

First I took a whole bunch of paint chips (thank you very much local Behr supplier!) and my Super heart punch (by Recollections) and started punching away.

Next, I took a needle and embroidery floss and strung them all together (I made two garlands of 17 each), leaving about an inch between hearts. And yes, I did a pattern of light pink, dark link, medium pink as I strung them.

Then I took your regular cheap pink ribbon (again--light, dark and medium), cut it into strips, and made ties between the paint chip hearts.

And here it is!

Easy little project.

A nice bit of decoration for the classroom. . .or home. We don't really decorate for Valentine's Day at our house (although my daughter really wanted me to after making this!) Maybe next year. . .

I also made some strands of stars in this same way, only they hung down.

I used blues and yellows for that one--made 6 strands, so that there were 100 stars all together (That is a lot of punching and stringing!). I hung them in the doorway of my classroom on 100 Day. I made 5 different patters in these strands. If over the course of the day, my students could guess which one broke the pattern, they would get to pick one of my 100 treats of that day.

My frugal nature: these star strands are going to be great to decorate alongside of our "Starry Night" art projects (when studying VanGogh)

A little teacher giftie

Last week was a Teacher Appreciation Week at my son's school. This was our clever idea. Although, I have to admit, there was nothing clever I can take credit for, except for making it with my son! The idea came from this blog. It links to the printable and everything. All you do is print out the printable (small hint: leave the extra white space that goes to the edge of the paper--these labels are a hair too short!), wrap it around the water bottle, attach a crystal light-type of tea packet with a fancy ribbon, and add a tag. So-o-o simple!

Here is how they turned out for us:

And a close up. . .

It was very inexpensive, but very cute. Enough to say thanks, and useful enough, too.

Here is another way of doing it. . .although, I kinda like the first way better.

O Little Town. . . in a Formula Can

I know this is kinda late to post as it is a Christmas project to do in the classroom (or at home), but I just can't wait until next year to do it! And it turned out so nice, so. . .here you go!

My "inspiration" for this project came from two places. One, I had a collection of formula cans sitting in my basement collecting dust. (I'm dutch or thrifty. . .take your pick! I can't throw away something that could be useful!) Two, I found these cute printables that I thought HAD to be used for something good!

So, here is what I did. . .I took a project that I had done every year, and changed it into a 3D storytelling can. Here is the 3D version of "O Little Town of Bethlehem."

 Unfortunately, I can't find a picture of a finished project right now. . .but below is the general idea. The kids would either paint or use pastels to make the night sky. Then we would make the town of Bethlehem as a silhouette, glue it on, and put starts in the sky--by way of shiny stickers, stamps or paint. For this project, I did all that still, but instead of just mounting them on a black background and hanging them up on the wall, we put them on a can. Check it out:

You can use formula cans, hot chocolate or coffee cans. . .whatever.

I did this project in small parts, mostly with the help of parent helpers in the classroom or as a centre activity here and there. The first part was paining the sunset background. We talked about blending the colours together to make a night sky.

 The second part was making the town of Bethlehem. We read the Bible story and looked at some picture Bibles as well to get an idea of what kinds of houses and inns Mary and Joseph might have seen the night they came to Bethlehem. Then we drew them. Below is my "instructions" for a Centre activity.

 Once we had glued the "town" onto the background, we cut the background to the size of the can and glued it onto the can. (Next time I might first cut the papers to the size of the can as a bunch of the colours that that kids mixed to make the sunset background got chopped off. It still looks fine, but I would rather see more colours!)

 Here are the kids gluing the backgrounds onto the cans.

 And holding the edges together to make sure it stuck in place!

 Here are the cans resting until the next step.

 Next we added wire to the top as a handle for the cans. . .and to use as a place to have our Bethlehem star hang from.

 A bunch of the cans with the wires on them. . .the cardboard cans were easier--obviously. I used a hammer and nail for all of them and the kids put the wires through, but I had to actually work at getting a hole in the metal ones!

 Then we punched out some stars with a craft punch, glued two together at the ends of some yellow embroidery floss

 Then tied a bow. . .and there is a hanging Bethlehem star.

 There are no pictures of it, but at a centre, we cut out these printables, and glued them on to strips of construction paper folded in half in order to stand up. These we stored in out cans. We also added 4 Popsicle sticks used to make the outline of a stable, three wise men, and a pasture for the shepherds.

 Each year in class we have a booklet of the Christmas story. Each page has the story in an "easy-to-read" form and a space to create a directed-drawing picture. These books became more meaningful this year, as the kids were able to read their story along with their project. After each page read, the kids would get to "act out" the story using their characters and their town of Bethlehem. They LOVED it!

 We practiced reading it together and acting it out as a whole class. Then, they got to team up with their grade three buddies and read/ tell the story of Christ's birth.

 Below if a "final" scene from one group.

We will see if I can do this project again next year. . .with no more formula in the house. . .I need to start drinking a lot of coffee and hot chocolate in order to save up enough cans!

a few (more) cards. . .

Oops! I realized I already had a post started about some cards I had made, only I never posted it! So here are a few more pictures of some super simple cards I've made using scraps (see my last post about a few cards). I don't have any of these cards anymore. . .they were all sent out!

(This top one I made during GEMS once. One of my girls couldn't focus long enough to get through a whole lesson, so we started making cards together so she was being "creative" and using her hands. I figured if we were sending out encouraging cards to her friends, family and people in the church, maybe she was still learning all those important God-lessons that she might have learned through doing the full lessons.)

I love this one. . .simple, easy, but kinda cute. . .and I like the pink and green combo.

A few cards. . .

I don't claim to be a super-great card-maker or scrapbook-creator like some of the people I know and the blogs that I visit occasionally, but I enjoy doing it, whether they turn out okay or not. I was pretty proud of myself for getting my baby's scrapbook all done by the time he was 15 months. It is not nearly the size of my other kiddos, but it captures all that it needs too!

In the last little bit I have been trying to make cards out of the "scraps" I've collected. My dutch thriftiness says I can't throw out something that can be used in the future, so I figured it was about time I tried to use some scraps, to see if they were even useful! In addition to that, a friend of mine let me borrow her huge box of Stampin' Up sets, so, I figured I had to be able to create something if I compiled all the resources!

So here are a few. . .

And a few more. . .

Another thing I've been trying out is using the stamps to make"pop-ups" (or whatever the correct term for this is!) and using one of those blending brushes for watercolour pencils. I may be 10 years behind in stamping techniques, but I have had a few pockets of time before I need to head back to work, and I thought I would take advantage of it!

Washer Necklaces

Here is a small craft I got to do with my GEMS group a few months back. I tried it again with my sisters a while back (and yes, girls, thanks for making fun of me because I wanted to have "craft-time"!)

If you search google, you'll find lots of etsy  shops that sell this type of necklace/jewelry. You'll also find many tutorials that show how to make these using liquid glass.

Some I looked at are here and here.

This is the {easy} way. . .the way you could make them with a group like. . .grade 3-7 girls! (Or adults, if you want "craft-time").

What you need: large washers, scrapbooking paper with small-ish or colourful prints, pencil and scissors (or the appropriate size of craft punches to fit your washer), glue (we used glue stick, but I had to re-attach and then I used white glue), versa-mark stamp pad, embossing powder, and embossing heating tool, cording or ribbon

First we started by choosing a paper. This isn't as easy as it looks, because you only get the print that appears on the washer. . .
Then we traced the washer shape onto the backside of the paper.

Then cut it out carefully and smoothly.
(And never mind the details in the back of the photo! LOL! Next time I should pay attention to what gets into my photos!)

We glued our newly cut out shape onto the smooth, rounded side of the washer. The straight edge, or rough side of the washer is the back. You could cut out a circle for each side if you like. . .I know this works if you are doing the liquid glass way. It will take you a little longer and forces you to be more careful about it. . . I went the easy way and just did one side.

Once the circle is well glued on, trim excess around the inside or outside, or press it in with your pinkie to glue it towards the back side a bit more.

Then have the embossing powder in a place where it can be dipped. We just used the lid of a yogurt container and sprinkled an area big enough for the washer with it. Next you will rub the good side of your washer/paper on the versa-mark stamping pad. Place this same area in the embossing powder, making sure it is thoroughly covered.

The next step is using the heating gun to "melt" the embossing powder. This will act to seal it. If you are doing this with kids, an adult should probably take care of doing this as it gets kinda hot. You want to be careful because if there is any embossing powder on the sides or the back, it can stick to your skin or drying area. Not good to do. So, be careful!

So, the problem with the ones I made with my sisters was that my embossing powder was ultra glittery, rather than strictly iridescent. I guess it wasn't the same kind I had used making it with my GEMS! Oops! The ones below are pretty "sparkly." Not quite what I had in mind.

The last step is to add the cording or ribbon. Loop it around the washer and tie a knot on the other end. (My sister tied the "knot" so that it was adjustable (trying a loop on each end so the cording can be slipped through the knots)--she could then wear it long or short, depending on her clothing neckline. Smart idea.)

At the Leader's Year-End meeting, the Craft Coordinator for our particular GEMS group gave each leader a necklace. Here's mine. See how it is just shiny--not glitter-mania?

I love this one! Love it!

As a teacher, I have a typical or traditional Mother's Day craft that I do. But if I ever need a new idea, this  might be a good one to keep on hand!

Happy crafting!

Formula Can Craft Project

Yes, I have a formula baby.

And as a result, we have too many cans that make their way into the recycle--which is good, but I wanted to try to re-use them instead. So, I looked around for a good way to re-purpose them. And I found it!

Here are two sites/tutorials I found that I used as inspiration with my kiddo. (Site one and site two). These site are very cute! These gals do such a nice job when making these cans! I thought it would be nice to organize/beautify some of my scrapbook or sewing supplies by making a few of these, or making storage for my daughter. We'll see.

For now, I wanted a craft that my son could do--something he could gift to his teacher. So. . .here is what he--okay, we--came up with!
Here are some of the supplies we thought we would use. . .most of them we did use, but changed some of it, too.

First I measured and cut the background paper for E so he could glue it on. I may have helped keep things in place a bit. Not an easy task for a little guy!

E loves my scrapbooking punches. Here is one from Michael's. He punches things out and uses them as tickets, or as food, or as. . .pretty much anything! But these ones are for the craft. He punched out yellow ones and dark blue ones.

Then he wrote the letters of his teacher on them. He even wanted to decorate them "the way mommy does to letters when they have to be fancy." (See the little dots at the end of the letters--hee-hee!) We had to re-write some of the letters because he spelled it the way he thought it was spelled, then we replaced some of the letters with the "real" ones. I did help him center things a little. (sorry--the O.C. side of me couldn't help it!)

Then this part I did. Took a nail and a hammer and made a hole in each side. Then E helped me take the "paper" of the wire (See the green and white twirly wire in the supplies photo? Yah, I re-purposed that too--just wanted the wire!).

Then we threaded the wire through, I curled it around a bit, and E went through my scrap box to find blue and yellow things to tie. So, here they are:

We took some of the extra stars that were punched out and glued them together onto some embroidery floss to make the dangling stars. Cute huh? All the rest of the stars made it onto craft paper later on by both E and A. She loves glue.

Then we had to put in the tissue paper (yellow kind to match the blue and yellow already used) and put in the chocolates. . .(and maybe eat one or two!).

Voila! All done! And done by a almost-Kindergarten-er! (Most of it anyway!) See how easy it is? You can try it too--if you need any extra formula cans, we go through one or two every week! {smile}