I spent the entire day and evening working on the auction basket for my son's kindergarten class. About a month ago, I lead an art workshop with the kids. It was so much fun! Tim helped out along with Aidan's two teachers. The kids rotated between 4 stations to create incredible art pieces to be incorporated into a big basket of goodies. The basket will be auctioned off next week at St. Timothy's Art Show and fundraiser. I decided a stationary basket could be a lot of fun for the children, manageable for me and would be of use to the winning bidder.
At one of the tables, the kids created gift wrap on butcher paper using themed stamps, oil pastels, markers and stencils. Today, I trimmed off the edges with various border punches to give the sheets a finished look and wrapped each roll in big beautiful ribbon.
The next table decorated wooden frames, book covers and medium sized wooden pieces with glitter, confetti, foam shapes, feathers, pom poms and other tidbits. Today, I had to reattach a lot of the loose pieces that fell off and finish each piece with diamond glaze so the bits don't fall off when they get them home. I also assembled a mini album out of double sided card stock and the covers they decorated. I will title the book and stamp corner images and quotes on the pages tomorrow. With the small wood shapes, I attached magnets on the backs so that there are 6 or 8 very bright and beautiful creations to decorate the winner's refrigerator. They turned out SUPER CUTE!
The next table played with watercolors and glitter glue. I took these gorgeous works of art and cut them into sections to create greeting cards. They turned out so amazing. I would drop $5 for one of their cards without batting an eye and the basket has 12!
The last table painted on canvas paper with tempora paints. Each child was responsible for a month in the year. They were given index cards covered with stickers reflecting symbols for that month to help them decide what to paint (they are only 5 and 6 years old). I took these fabulous masterpieces and attached them to chipboard to create a large (12 x 24" calendar, It was a much bigger undertaking than I had anticipated but I think it will be the featured item in the basket. I'm including print outs for an additional year so they can glue them down over the months that have past to get more than one year from the calendar. I still need to figure out how I want it to hang and adhere the calendar pages tomorrow. It had been a 10 hour crafting session and I was know longer able to make simple decisions...
I am so excited for the kids to see their beautiful work when the basket is finally complete. I think they will all be so proud. Aidan certainly is. Hopefully it will bring in a nice contribution for the school and some lucky family will have a super fun momento of their child's kindergarten class!
My office is trashed. This is a tell tale sign of happiness!
I stumbled on to this adorable skirt pattern and I am now committed to making matching ones for Eva and me. I ordered my fabric and spent the evening goggling gathering stitches. Somebody call me a doctor, I've gone mad with sewing ambition. I'm turning into Holly flippin Hobby.
I am really excited about this sew along - I am thrilled to be making a quilt along side my pals across the country! I struggled with the fabric factor. I have no trouble with paper but when it comes to fabric it is a totally different thing. This is because esthetically, I am drawn to bold, lush prints but I am definitely an earth tones fashionista and interior decorator. I like blue jeans, khakis, layering tanks and t-shirts and my leather Born sandals or slip ons. My flash comes from hats, jewelry or a fun sweater/ jacket but even then its pretty muted. Our home is done in wood and green - the color comes from artwork and our kids creations. Long story, longer - this makes selecting fabric a challenge. It just isn't the same as scrapbook paper. it is a skill that one has to develop with "visual translation."
So here is the selection I ended up with. I substituted the two Cathedral prints (this is Cathedral Dusk below)
with Buttoned up sea and Small Gathering Sea (both are below). 
She has a sample quilt on the webpage using these prints and it is gorgeous (at the top)! I am looking forward to having just as beautiful laying around in my house!
This is a project created by Shere Jamison, originally titled "It's a Wonderful Life" Decorative Wall Frame. I opted to go with a "My Family" and "home" theme since it is what I live and breath. I love that she encouraged stamping flourishes and mounting the paper flowers on the outside of the glass. The photo doesn't do it justice.
This project was inspired by Donna Downey's fabric scrapbooking projects as well as Susan Edmondson's casual, unfinished techniques. I love that you do not use scissors to cut the fabric, just rip and let the seems hang as they will. The stitching is not straight, the fabric buckles here and there, but this is all a part of the look.
When finished, there will be photos printed onto fabric, button, ribbon, flowers and yarn to dress up and tie together all the willy-nilly details. I love it so much that I'm almost ready to pull out my 1952 Singer and put in a fresh bobbin with really nice machine thread (I had to idea this was an important detail until last week). If I can't manage my machine, I'll just hand stitch.
These pages are so simple that you don't need a machine to make them hold up. If you don't have the pacience to securely stitch up the sides do a hybrid of glue and thread. Glue your pages and elements where you want them, then go back with a needle and colored thread to do the finishing touches and create the look of a sewn album.
I spent the entire day and evening working on the auction basket for my son's kindergarten class. About a month ago, I lead an art workshop with the kids. It was so much fun! Tim helped out along with Aidan's two teachers. The kids rotated between 4 stations to create incredible art pieces to be incorporated into a big basket of goodies. The basket will be auctioned off next week at St. Timothy's Art Show and fundraiser. I decided a stationary basket could be a lot of fun for the children, manageable for me and would be of use to the winning bidder.
The next table decorated wooden frames, book covers and medium sized wooden pieces with glitter, confetti, foam shapes, feathers, pom poms and other tidbits. Today, I had to reattach a lot of the loose pieces that fell off and finish each piece with diamond glaze so the bits don't fall off when they get them home. I also assembled a mini album out of double sided card stock and the covers they decorated. I will title the book and stamp corner images and quotes on the pages tomorrow. With the small wood shapes, I attached magnets on the backs so that there are 6 or 8 very bright and beautiful creations to decorate the winner's refrigerator. They turned out SUPER CUTE!
My office is trashed. This is a tell tale sign of happiness!
