Carved Walnut Heads

At the farmer's market a few years ago there was a man selling carved walnut heads. They were the size of... walnuts, and they looked like shriveled up shrunken old heads. We have a walnut tree, so I kept meaning to try it, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. In the meantime, I found a few pictures of carved walnut things, enjoy...

Handmade Flower Paper

I totally love making handmade paper.Anyone else? I learned how to make it when we lived in Lynnwood. I used to dry it on my sliding glass door. I once printed out a picture of my kids on handmade paper, it looked so cool- printed in Sepia tones. When you dry it on the window it comes out really smooth. I like embedding flower petals and other things into it.

It's coming again....

The monthly crafting with 4 yr olds (even though I think they're all 5 by now) thing. Will I manage to pull it together for the little book things? We'll see.... I need to look for spray paint in my garage. And I need to pick up some ink for my printer to do the little picture things. Although it could work without the little picture things. I need to spray paint, though. several times, for each page and it needs to dry in between layers. Then we need some stickers, markers, paints.... forget the paints, class is an hour...... We can swing it. We'll use markers and stickers.

Recycled Crafts

I found a website for making Recycled Crafts. This is note-worthy because the Girl Scout Promise says we must "Use resources wisely" and "make the world a better place" Which includes, of course, beautifying it with old CD's and finding ways to reuse plastic beverage bottles. The fish are impressive, though- aren't they

Crafty new Theme

Duh- of course a craft blog would have a crafty theme. It doesn't, though. I'm going to change that. You'll See...

Acrylic Paintings on Watercolor paper

I don't know if painting is a craft, but it's an art and arts and crafts go together, and if you're a bad artist, applying paint could be a craft.

That said; I hate supplying kids with inferior art materials, like peeling tempera paints and cheap watercolors and papers that crumble.

My theory is that if they have high quality supplies and learn how to care for them properly (clean those brushes ,dammit for heaven's sake) they will be inspired and pleased by their work, and be proud to show it off and I will be proud to display it.

SO- these paintings were done with acrylic paints (quality, but cheap- they're thinner than real artists acrylic, and available in bottles at wal mart for 44 cents each) on thick watercolor paper and framed in some garage sale frames (12 for $1) Arranging them all on a wall together would be pretty, especially if you only supplied the kids with the colors that matched your decor.

Don'tcha hate it when a great plan falls through

I just totally failed the board book thing. Instead, we did spring yarn flower pictures. They're the 3rd installment of our 4x4 four season tiles. We've done Autumn (silk flower leaves in fall colors with crinkled paper tree trunks) and Winter (christmas trees in felt and glitter) and now Spring (the yarn flowers) If we do summer, I think we should do the blue hot glue for water, with sandpaper beach sand- maybe pre-cut the sandpaper into castle components so they can make little sandcastles.

Anyhow- we'll do the altered board books next time. I'm collecting stickers for it. I should request some of the budget funds for scrapbooking embellishments. Why do I always use my own resources? I don't even have resources right now. That's not true, I guess I always have resources. Still, I'd have more if I'd use the budget instead of my stuff.

Pre-K crafting

Friday I get to do my pre-school craft class in our co-op. I'm thinking I want to do the little board book-altered book craft, but I'm not sure how I will manage it.

I have a few ideas...

the one I like best I can't do this month. I could take the pictures, though. I want to print a bunch of one-inch headshots of each kid, then cut out a bunch of little cartoon and clipart people , let them decorate the books and collage in the pictures with their heads attached, and let them narrate to us what they're "doing" in each picture. I think it has potential for being a craft item they're so hugely proud of, a story they wrote with pictures of themselves in the picture. Then, even at 4 they could have a story book they could read to people.

We'll see, I think I'll do it. I'll have to let their moms know why I'm taking their pictures.
OOH- I could photoshop their heads onto clipart and then cut it out for them and then we're more likely to finish the project in the 40 minute time frame. Oh yeah- I can't wait for this, it will be so much fun. I can get bigger board books, too now. That will buy me time.

So they'll all be spray-painted to begin with and we'll give them the cutouts of themselves, plus a few other stickers and things. we'll have them narrate their stories onto peel and stick labels- woohoo.

Now what will we do Friday?

Digital Scrapbooking

I just learned a new hobby- it is so much fun. Here's a lot of information that you don't need to get started, but come back here and take a peek atEveryday Digital Scrapbooking when you're ready to learn more. For now, here's my top ten reasons why digital scrapbooking rocks.


10- you can magically resize things just by clicking on the corners and dragging them into place
9- you can't mess up and waste supplies
8-you can use the same ribbon over and over again
7-if something doesn't look right you can tweak its position and never worry that your glue has dried
6-the supplies are cheaper if you choose to buy them, there's so much for free
5-if you're good with graphic design, you can make your own
4- the elements can be used in web design and other graphic design applications(like my new blog template you haven't seen yet because I haven't made it yet)
3-you don't have to worry about children gluing them to the dishwasher, their forehead, the toilet, their dolls, the car, the cheerios or the dog.
2-you can do it one-handed
1- there's nothing to store in rubbermaid, obsessively lay out on the table, and frantically clean up when I'm done.


I would list my favorite free digital downloads here, but I'll just let you explore on your own. Here's a great tutorial I found at Free Digital Scrapbooking. She mentions you need a graphic design program that can deal with layers, then she names a bunch that are costly (like Adobe and Corel) I am here to tell you that GIMP program I recommended in the Ani-Mason post deals with layers just fine, and takes up a lot less space on your hard drive than the programs she recommends, and it's free. And they have never paid me anything for this, this is an honest testimonial. If it ever gives me trouble I will let you know. Oh- here's one, there's so many options of things to do that it's overwhelming.

And- here's what I made first

Altered Books (with Kids)

Is it possible to feel lust over a craft?

I have had this crazy burning desire to alter books. It's been going on for years. It's like the naughty rebel cousin of scrapbooking. While I was browsing homeschool blogs on WordPress, I found this cool lady who did an altered book activity with a group of Sunday School kids or something. I love the idea of using recycled board books.

AND I love how she painted them all white before she started. I think it would be so much easier for the kids to see the possibilities on a blank canvas. (Did you feel the almost-deep thoughts there?)

She referenced some really cool sites she found while looking for inspiration. They Inspired me, too. Maybe I"ll finish one of those altered projects I have started.