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Organizing Art Supplies for The Kids

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I’ve been on an organizing kick since school let out for the summer.  The weather is terrible anyway, so I figured that I might as well get as much indoor work done as I can before the sun comes out.  So far, I’ve gone through my closet, my kids’ closets, my son’s entire room, the pantry, old games and electronics, and the bookshelves in the family room.  Whew.  I’m tired, just thinking about it. 

One of my first organizing projects was the kids’ art cubby.  We have one of those awkward cabinets on the back side of the kitchen cabinets.  A few years ago, we converted this to the kids’ art cubby.  It’s right by the kitchen table, so it’s the perfect place to store art supplies.  Well, it was absolutely overflowing with art supplies.  I couldn’t even close the cupboard doors, but with all of the craziness of the end of the school year, there was no way I could get my act together and reorganize this area.


My kids use this cupboard all the time.  My son only uses it when he has an assignment to complete, but my daughter pulls out art supplies almost daily.  An organized space makes it so much easier.  We have bins for watercolor paints, washable paint, stickers, light table and tracing supplies, markers, gel pens, drawing pencils, and card making supplies.

 

I also restocked the writing center with notepads, envelopes, paper, cards, and premade blank books. My daughter and her cousin started writing a book, within about 5 minutes of noticing the newly organized writing center.

I love having the time to get my home organized again.

Happy organizing!

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Grape Slurpees At Home

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After weeks of dealing with kidney infections, I thought I was finally on the mend.  I headed back to work for 4 days and I was finally off of my antibiotics.  4 days.  That’s all it takes when you live in the petri dish we call kindergarten.  Saturday morning, I woke up with a sore throat.  When you’re a kindergarten teacher, and you have a sore throat, you don’t hesitate.  You take yourself directly to the nearest walk in clinic, where they proceed to stick a giant Q-Tip down your throat to find out which nasty bacteria is bringing you down this time.  Yep, 4 days off of antibiotics and I wound up with Strep Throat.  Lovely. 

What do you do when you can’t eat anything and you’re craving something cold?  Make Slurpees!


I saw this idea on Pinterest.  Here’s the recipe I used.

2 cups club soda
3 cups crushed ice
1 packet Grape Kool-Aid
1/2 cup sugar

Blend and then put in the freezer for about 30 minutes. It tastes just like a Slurpee, and you don’t even need to leave the house. 

Happy blending and happy healing!

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We’ve Been Robbed!

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Those darn squirrels!  They are so cute, scampering across my yard, but they drive me crazy.  Every year, we battle it out with the sunflowers.  The minute my sunflowers bloom, the squirrels attack.  They nibble the head off of the flower, drag it away, and leave me with a green stick with leaves on it. Pretty.  A few weeks ago, my daughter planted a few sunflower seeds in some egg shells.
 

We put them on the front porch, but guess what!  They are ALL gone now!  I’m sure it was those pesky squirrels.  They can probably smell sunflower seeds from a mile away.  We’ll try again.

Happy planting!

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Simple Things Sunday

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It’s been a while since I’ve linked up with Rebecca, over at Simple Things Sunday.  This is an older picture, but it doesn’t change how much I love it.  There’s something so sweet about seeing my little girl, swinging on the beach, as the sun goes down.

Mixed Media Art Project

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I have a confession to make.  I’m a wanna-be-artist.  I’m the first one to admit, I have zero artistic talent.  I took a drawing class in high school, because I truly wanted to learn to draw.  I learned how to shade an apple, but that was about it.  I work with two talented, artistic, teachers.  Jennifer and Angela are my mentors when it comes to art.  I strive to be more like them.

I really enjoy the artistic process and I’m constantly trying to find ways to instill a love for art in my classroom, school, and home.  Even though I’m not “good” at art, I still have a true appreciation for the beauty artists bring to their spaces.

When I think of “art” I automatically think of drawing, sculpting, and painting.  I am horrible at all of those things, which makes me say that I’m not a good artist.  I try to remind myself that their are many other ways to enjoy art.  I absolutely love to sew.  I make quilts, pillows, home accessories, drapes, valances, and recover furniture.  I could easily get lost in the kaleidoscope of colors and textures in a fabric store.

 I also have a passion for photography, another form of art in which I have to remind myself, “This really is art.”  It takes an artistic eye and talent to compose beautiful images the way professional photographers do.

 There you have it, two things that I love to do, that bring me a little closer to being artistic and a little further away from wanna-be.

Over the break, my kids and I tried a new mixed media quilting project.  I’m not sure I love the way the finished products turned out, but we all enjoyed the process and IT’S ART!

We started with a piece of felt.  Mine was 12×12.  The kids both wanted 12×18.

We used spray adhesive to hold down the strips of cut up fabric.

Next, we added pieces of scrapbook paper, with the same spray adhesive.  It’s important to be careful to only get the spray adhesive UNDER the pieces of fabric and paper.  My son got a little carried away with the spray and some got on top of the art work.  That made the sewing step very challenging.  Once the fabric and paper are secured to the felt with spray adhesive, you’re ready for the sewing step.

I was really excited for my daughter to try this step.  She’s been wanting to try out different stitches on her sewing machine, but isn’t so interested in just practicing on a piece of scrap fabric.

I choose to do lots of straight lines all over my piece.  I made the lines a little crooked.  I didn’t want my piece to be as precise as I make my quilts.

When my kids were ready to sew, I showed them that mine wasn’t perfect.  The lines went every-which-way.  My kids loved trying different stitches all over their pieces.  This was a great way to try out the sewing machine without feeling the pressure to make things perfect with a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Then, we were ready for the gel medium.  I bought a jar of glossy gel medium at the craft store.  We brushed the gel over the whole art project and let it dry overnight.

Finally, the last step was adding acrylic paint over the top.  I told the kids they could do anything they wanted.

My daughter added little dots and swirls, while my son added black lines and quick brush strokes.

We just used the plain-old acrylic paint, from Michael’s, that we had in the kids’ craft cupboard.

The kids’ project turned out great!

I like the way the paint brought out the stitches in my project.

As finished products go, the kids’ were great.  My project looked a little poopy, if you ask me. (It’s been a long time since I’ve used the word poopy in a sentence.) My project is the one on the left, with the brown paint on it.  I was going for a neutral look, but poopy brown paint didn’t work out the way I had envisioned.


Well, there you have it.  As I said before, I’m not artistic when it comes to painting.  I’d say the project idea was really fun, even though I didn’t like my finished product.  It gave the kids the chance to do some collage in a mixed media fashion and I was really excited about the practice they had with the sewing machine too.

Happy art time!  (I hope your project turns out less poopy than mine!) 

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Eight More Summers

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Summer is winding down.  I go back to work tomorrow, although the kids don’t start school until next week.  Yesterday we hit the new pool in town.  The new Lynnwood Rec Center pool is like a mini Great Wolf Lodge.  I have to say, it’s pretty cool.  We had to get in line about 45 minutes before it opened, but we all had a blast.  This picture only shows about a third of the pool space.

 
As we were walking to the car, after playing hard in the water, my son asked what we were going to do next.  My response:  “Umm, let’s see.  We just got out of the pool.  What do we do next?”

 
Duh!  I thought it was a rule that you always have to get ice cream after swimming.  Well, I didn’t actually have to answer my son’s question.  He knew the answer. 
 Driving home, with tired sticky handed kids, I started to think that one more summer was coming to an end.  My oldest is 10 this year.  That means we only have 8 summers left together.  In reality, we probably only have 3 summers because we all know teenagers don’t want to race their mom down the waterslide. (sniff, sniff)  I like to think that I make the most of my time with my kids.  We didn’t sign up for any summer camps, day camps, or special classes this summer.  We spent every waking moment together, having fun and making memories.  We were able to cross out most of the activities on our summer to-do list.
 
Eight more summers.  Eight.  Here’s to making them count!

Biringer Farm and Making Jam

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It was sunny for about 5 minutes on Monday, so we piled the kids in the car and headed north, to our favorite berry farm. 

Every year we pick fresh local berries and bring them home to turn into jam, freeze for winter, and of course eat fresh.

As soon as we get there we pick up our baskets and wait for the tractor to come get us.  At this point my mom usually says, “Oh, look at all of those people out there getting the best berries!  We should have come earlier.  All of the good berries will be gone.”

Then, my son says, “Do we HAVE to wait for the tractor?  The berry patch is RIGHT there.”  At that point I usually say, “YES, you have to wait for the tractor.  We are here to have fun, darn it, and the tractor ride is fun! And, yes mom, I’m sure there will be plenty of berries for all of us.  Now, everyone smile and look like you’re having fun.”

Eventually, the tractor arrives and takes us on our short ride to the field.  I love this time of year.

My mom was right, the berries had been a little picked over.  But we still ended up with plenty to take home.

We move onto the raspberries and WOW, were they ever amazing!

I swear, some of them were as big as small apples.

Pretty soon, Farmer Andy came back around with his tractor to take us back to the barn.  With an extra 15 pounds of berries to carry, no one complained about taking the tractor on the short trip back to the barn.

So many berries, so little time!  Fresh picked berries need to be used or processed on the same day.  They don’t have all of those chemicals and preservatives that the berries from the grocery store have, so they mold very quickly.  No problem, we’re usually up for the challenge.
One for me, one for the bowl, one for me, one for the bowl.
I love to have my kids help with jam making and the canning process.  My mom and grandma taught me how to make homemade jam.  There is nothing better than this fresh, homemade treat.  I love knowing exactly what is going into our food.  I love that my kids have had a hand in making their food.  I love that there are fewer chemicals going into our jam.  I love that I can pass the lost art of home canning onto my kids.  Involving them ensures (with any luck) that this art will make it to the next generation.
Happy berry picking!

Meet Cookie!

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Friends, I’d like you to meet the newest member of our family.

This is Cookie.  She’s an 8 week old Holland Lop and we just brought her home today.  My kids have been saving their allowance (and begging Dad) for quite some time. 


Cooper was nice to his new sister and was on his best behavior.  I finally got a turn to hold Cookie when my kids went to bed.  She’s very cuddly and sweet!

Happy Monday!

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A Great Summer Writing Course

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Summer is almost here!  My kids know that their teacher-mommy will have lots of “summer school” type activities lined up for them.  Most oldest will be spending time reading and practicing math facts.  My youngest has just learned to read on her own and can’t get enough of it!  I also have some great sight word practice activities for her to work on.  Don’t get me wrong, there will plenty of time for swimming, parks, zoo trips, and just taking it easy in the backyard.

This summer I’m super excited for summer school!  We are trying something new at my house. Through The lens is an online writing course for kids, incorporating photography.  My kids both enjoy writing and were excited about the idea of taking pictures to add to their journals.  I’ve shared about my love for keeping learning “real” and engaging for kids.  Mariah’s Playful Learning website is just that.  It’s real and engaging. 

I took an online course over at Playful Learning earlier this year and LOVED it!  Mariah and the group formed through her online course, inspired many of my projects over the past few months.

Remember the new art area?  The high quality materials have made a huge difference in my kids’ excitement level when it comes to art.

The book slings I made were a hit with my daughter.  This was one of Mariah’s  suggestions for creating a reading nook for kids.

The writing center was inspired by one of Mariah’s links.

These are just a few of the many inspirations from Playful Learning.

My favorite subject to teach at school is writing.  I love teaching in a workshop model, having kids write books, poems, recipes, and letters.  I like to think I do a pretty good job at encouraging my kids to write at home, but there comes a time when my kids are done listening to mom’s suggestions. I can’t tell you how excited I am to see how they respond to this online course.  I would really love it if you’d join us!  If you have kids, between the ages of 6-12, go check out this course!

Happy writing!

A Great Garage Sale Find

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Is there any 6 year old girl on the face of the earth who isn’t in love with horses? My daughter usually brings her ponies out when she’s playing with her Barbies and the princess castle. We were out at the neighborhood garage sales today and ran across this beautiful horse barn.

The roof even comes off so little girls can easily reach in and pet their ponies.

This is a beautiful, heavy, wooden barn by Breyer. I found one on e-bay for $200. We paid…. drum roll please…. $15!


My daughter has been having SO much fun playing with her new barn! Oh, how I love garage sales!
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Here are a few linky parties I like to participate in.