Props! and Good Ideas!

Grave stone for A Christmas Story inspired play,

                                                                       

                                                                         Front

Back

Bouquet of flowers for a Dance Recital! ( A lot of work went into these, all hand work by a few kids) 

Front

Back (Below: I asked for them to draw designs on the tissue paper to make the wrapping look like professionally gift wrapped flowers that you would get at the grocery store.) 

                                                                              

                                                                 All Together!

This 11 year old came up with these Stayrafoam turtles made out of the school lunch trays. All her friends wanted one, so she had a small business of making these... all credit goes to her...just thought I would share a great idea!   

                                        

                                        

                                                         The End... :) 

Fake Flowers for a Dance Recital!

TODAY

The kids I work with are having a Dance Recital!

I was asked to make fake flowers with them so that they can throw the flowers out into the audience at the end of a dance routine.

So...

In order to find out how to go about making them I had to do some research. If you are a craft buff then you will find this research helpful, if you are looking for craft ideas.


My goal is to make light weight, easy to make step by step flowers either with tissue paper or duck tape.



First, duck tape roses:

                                              (Photo From:  http://www.duckbrand.com)

Step by step - how to make petals and wrap them around a stem. For the stem this website used a straw and wrapped some green duck tape around the straw...brilliant! That solves the light weight riddle for me.

http://www.duckbrand.com/Home/Duck%20Tape%20Club/ducktivities/flowers-and-roses/How%20to%20Make%20a%20Duck%20Tape%20Rose.aspx


But...I am still curious about tissue paper flowers....so lets see what I found:

Note: I like really simple steps...laid out with pictures of course! I am very picture oriented, and I feel like a good instruction includes images. Videos are also pretty awesome references! (video below)

                                                                      (Photo Courtesy of http://crafts.kaboose.com/flower2.html)

Tissue Paper Flowers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXNeVq2RxFU

For this Project.. I CHOOSE TISSUE PAPER! :)

The tissue paper is perfect for throwing (it will not scratch or injure anyone in the audience because they are planning to throw the flowers individually.) Tissue paper is also just what I have in the closet and is perfect for making flowers fast and in different colors.

(I will use the duck tape roses for another project later for another lesson.)

The website uses string...however...for my project
Instead of using string, I will use pipe cleaners for the stems, since I have a brand new package of pipe cleaners at work! ALSO: since my goal is to make two bouquets of flowers, just like you get a bouquet wrapped at the grocery store, I will have students decorate two plain sheets of white tissue paper and help them wrap the paper flowers

Making God's Eyes Today!

Remember These?

               (Photo From: http://mycreativelife101.blogspot.com/2012/07/gods-eye-weaving.html)


Planning to make these today with the kids..did some research on God's Eyes... :) This is what I found... :)                                                                                                                                  

Great Website for How to Make God's Eyes.

How to make a basic one with a loop knot:
http://www.caron-net.com/kidfiles/kidsapr.html

With Beads!
http://gingerbreadsnowflakes.com/node/73

It is the Holiday Season! Check out Chickabug's way of getting into the Holiday Spirit!

 http://www.chickabug.com/blog/2011/12/diy-miniature-gods-eyes.html

The Color Scheme is Beautiful in this one, but here is some history about "Ojo de dios" aka God Eye's:

"Ojo de dios is a traditional Mexican craft for good fortune. Kids enjoy making Ojo de dios on Cinco de Mayo. Cinco de Mayo is celebrated in US as a day of Mexican heritage and pride.

The Ojo de Dios or God’s eye is a ritual tool, magical object, and cultural symbol evoking the weaving motif and its spiritual associations. For the Huichol peoples of western Mexico, the God’s Eye is symbolic of the power of seeing and understanding that which is unknown, The Mystery. The four points represent the elemental processes earth, fire, air, and water. [Source: Wikipedia]"

I found this information at this site (a great site also!):

http://www.myscrawls.com/crafts/ojo-de-dios-eye-of-god

Water Color Animals

                     

Fairy Wings...

Today was the kids drama show, and there was a request to make two pairs of wings. It was a lot of fun  making these. My dad used to make wings for me out of paper stabled together and would cut handles in them. <3 love using old kid memories for inspiration. :)

My Elementary School Scrap Book

Scrap books! I showed the kids my old one from elementary school...and then they made their own.
                                         
                                                    First, take a look at theirs. Beautiful!

Check this out:

Now, take a look at mine...lol

My Scrap Book:


                                                                      Third Grade

Can you decode this? 

It says... "I found out that I learned that I heard a cricket."

Fourth Grade

We had to write a story about thanksgiving..

My favorite couple of lines...

Fifth Grade

Side note: Interesting...this is the year that 9/11 happened..

Sixth Grade

I was a soccer buff. I wanted to be a professional soccer player. I find it strange that Mia Hamm retired in 2004...time flies.

        And...some extra photos:
                                                               Universal Studios

                                                 
                                                Nashoba United Team Soccer...N.U.T.S.

                                         
                                       Dooma when she was a baby. She still acts like one. <3

Nazzaro Community Center

                                                                      ^^^Anthony

                                                                 ^^^ Mira ^^^

                                                              ^^^Ava ^^^

                                                                       ^^John^^

                                                                   ^^^Emma