Craft Club Project 2- Steampunk Robot Softies

I am a big fan of Steampunk art. It really captures my imagination and I admire the vast creativity. I knew my Craft Club Crayons would think it was neat too.Their steampunk images are coming along nicely. So far they have several robots and a steampunk Sponge Bob.  I can hardly wait to share the finished results. In the meantime, here is a tutorial.

I collected a variety of steampunk images to view. I found these all on Google images.

Here are our inspirational images:
Steampunk Robots
Steampunk Charlie Brown
Steampunk Willy
Steampunk Crow
Steampunk Dog
Robots
Cup of Robots
Pair of Robots

From there, we discussed some of the common ideas in Steampunk like stitching, rivets, metal, gears, pins etc. Because I want craft club to be free of anxiety and drawing gears would make me anxious, I googled "gears", "clockworks" and other steampunk stuff. I cut in pasted those images into a word document and made a page of all sorts of images that the kids could cut out and use in their drawings.

I modeld drawing a robot and added some gears and steampunky stuff to my image. Then when I was done I traced over some of the lighter parts with a black felt tip marker.

The red arrows point to all the images I pasted on to my robot.
Next step, photo copy.


Then Citra-Solve transfer on to muslin. (You can read my post on that process here.) I was thrilled that the lighter details came out so clear! As always, you can click on any of these pictures to get a better view over at Flickr.

To make our robots into little softies, I simply laid another piece of muslin over the top of the image and sewed around the image. The fabric was thin enough that I could see through easily.

Next, I cut 'er out and stuffed her up. Simple stitches finished her off.



I think the Crayons will be able to do every step except for photocopy (not allowed in the teachers room) and the sewing machine part. They will be able to do the transfer and the hand sewing.

Craft Club: Project One - Stained Glass Paper Name Collages

Craft Club is awesome! Just reviewing these photos fills me with good feelings!

On Wednesday I had about ten kids show up. They finished their stained glass effect name collages. We listened to classic Jackson 5 and talked about our favorite movies. 

One of the kids in Craft Club has severe behavioral problems at school. Most of my Crayons are afraid of this belligerent child and I was a little concerned about having him stay after too. I think we were all plesantly surprised to learn that he really can be a nice kid. Craft club was pure harmony.  I feel both encouraged and angered by this. How many jails will be built before the educational pendulum swings back and true arts education is available for everyone?

We can do no great things, only small things with great love.  ~Mother Teresa

To help keep things in perspective this should be tattooed on every inner city teacher's hand.

Would you like to to make one? Here's what we did:

First we taped our paper to an art board. The blue painters tape came from the dollar store and the hardboard art boards came from home depot. I think they are about 14" X 20". Then we wrote our names with bubble letters. An easy trick for bubble letters is to first write the letter in very light pencil. Then trace around the letter and finally, erase the inside letter.

Next we traced all sorts of stencils around our names. I should do a whole post about my stencils. They are over ten years old and still going strong. I made them from laminated tag board and cut them using the Ellison presses at this wonderful Learning Resource Center in East Orange, NJ.

 
Next, we mixed Elmers glue with black acrylic craft paint in these handy little bottles. The ratio was about 1/3 paint to 2/3 glue, but I just eyeballed it. We then traced over every line and allowed the paint to dry.

Finally, it was time to paint!

Doesn't this ice cream cone look good enough to eat!

The best thing about this project was that it was easy enough that everyone felt successful and had fun.

Before we knew it, time was up. Until next week, keep calm and craft on!

Many thanks to That Artist Woman for her awesome original idea!

Mini Paper Mache Egg Diorama

This is one of my prototype eggs for the Egg Swap hosted by Shara. I am completely in love with how this turned out, but alas, it is not what I will be sending out. Why? Because my eggs of another design are already done and in the mail! Whoo! Hoo!


There are several steps to make these, but overall easy and fun. I am going to do these with my fourth and fifth grade craft club. 

Tutorial:

Supplies:
plastic eggs that open
colored tissue paper
white paper towel
Elmers glue
quilling supplies
hot glue gun/ glue sticks
scissors
marker
Easter stickers or candy
Easter grass
small pebble

Step 1-
Take apart the plastic egg and tear up tissue paper into small bits.
Using glue with a little water to thin, apply the tissue paper right on top of both the top half and the bottom half of the egg. Be sure to overlap pieces so that the egg is completely covered. This will make the inside colorful. You can get creative by layering different colors or adding stripes of tissue, dots, etc.. Allow to dry for a bit. It will dry fairly quickly. It doesn't need to be fully dry.

This egg has the tissue layer and one layer of paper towel on it.

Step 2- Next, rip paper towel into bits and soak them with the glue and water mixture. Completely cover the first layer with paper towel. You want to add a few layers of paper towel. This will dry and give your egg a surprising amount of strength. Allow this to fully dry overnight.

Step 3- Remove your paper egg from the plastic mold by gently running your finger nail under the edge. I also used a toothpick to get into the edge and separate the paper layer from the plastic.

When you remove the paper egg from the plastic mold, you will have a smooth and colorful inside!

Step 4. Hold both halves together and draw a circle so that both halves of the circle line up. Use scissors to cut out each half circle.

This is the egg hot glued back together. You can see the gap at this stage, but it won't show later.

Step 5- Hot glue the egg back together lining up the circles. There will be visible gaps, this is OK.

The outer tissue paper layer covers up the hot glue and the gap.

Step- 6- Cover the outside of the egg with another layer of colorful tissue paper and let it completely dry.

Step-7- Now decorate edges with quilled flowers or other embellishments.

 I got all my quilling supplies from Quilled Creations and the flower patterns came from the book Paper Quilling for the First Time by Alli Barkowski. You could really decorate the edges with anything though. Puff paint would look very similar to the frosting used on sugar eggs. Glitter would be nice too. Get creative!

Step 8- Add grass and a small image or candy inside.

I used an image from an old Magic Cabin catalog because that is what I had on hand at the moment. I cut out the tiny image and glued it to a small pebble for a stand. However, I saw the perfect vintage Easter stickers at Michaels (similar to these images) and may have to go back and get them. To use stickers, stick to the pebble stand and add a little baby powder to the back to take away the rest of the exposed stickiness.

I put a tiny quilled bunny in this egg. You can click on the photo for a better look. Another great filler would be those beautiful Cadbury mini eggs. Yum! That would be much better!

Reminder:
I am only one, but I am one.  I cannot do everything, but I can do something.  And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.  ~Edward Everett Hale


Have you checked out the Kind Words and Warm Feet Sock Drive for Comfort Socks?


Hope you have a wonderful week!

A Call for Kids Measurements

When I made this apron for Bella I had no idea about the size of a two year old. I was out at a school function and saw a toddler. I went up to the mom and asked her if I could measure her son. It was a bit embarassing, but those are the lengths I will go to for a project.

Enter Lula in London, this mom-entrepreneur has created a blog to gather measurements and create a data base of kids measurements! What a great resource this could be for us all!

In exchange for adding your child's measurements to the database she has some prizes planned. Check it out!

Keep Calm and Craft On!

This year I have the most wonderful box of Crayons. My students are my daily salvation from an otherwise rough school year. Every. Single. Day. I say a prayer of thanksgiving for this blessing. The Crayon Box is a safe haven.

Outside of the Crayon Box...not so much. There is so much advocating for public education-especially in the defense of our most vulnerable students- that needs to be done, but alas, for the time being...I am taking a break.

One teacher at my school is really pressing on in spite of all the cutbacks and chaos. She has rallied to form after school clubs. How could I say "no" to that kind of positive energy?  Forget all the reasons the kids need clubs, I need to push myself as a defense against low moral. So, I have agreed to teach an after school craft club. No pressure. No grades. No money. Just for fun. Stencils and tracing allowed.

Every Wednesday until the end of school I will be hosting 15 or so fourth and fifth graders for some craft therapy. We have met once so far. It was wonderful. There was a brief moment when they informed me that one of my former students is now a dad. (I nearly died. He's 15! I knew the day would come when my students would be parents. Still, I was not prepared for this.) Other than that bit of shock, it was fun to hang out, making stuff and chatting.

 Stained Glass on Paper Name Collage

My go-to blog for this group is That Artist Woman. Gail is a professional art teacher and her projects are all terrific and easily adaptable.  We started with this Stained Glass on Paper project. I even had her "art boards" made up at the Home Depot. Mine aren't desk size, but already I love them and swear by them. Be sure to check them out at the end of this post. They truly do make art with kids so much easier!

After the basic introduction to the project I put on some music (the sound track to Cool Runnings- the Jamaican bobsled team - remember them?) and the kids chilled out. I even did some clean up and prep for the next day.

As the kids were leaving they said things like, " I can't wait till next Wendsday!" and I feel exactly the same way.

Speaking of needing some positive energy, something to look forward to and a little encouragement...

How about helping a homeless brother or sister with a pair of socks and a favorite quote, Bible verse or expression of care?

Please check out my Kind Words & Warm Feet Drive for Comfort Socks!

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.  ~Anne Frank





<center><a href="http://outofthecrayonbox.blogspot.com/2010/03/kind-words-warm-feet-drive.html/"><img border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/4361501146_bdfeced1ea_m.jpg"/></a></center>

You can improve the world for one person with a pair of socks and a bit of love! Check it out today!

Kind Words & Warm Feet Drive

 Last November, I wrote this post about my motivation to raise money for the homeless in my neighborhood. Comfort Socks, a charity dedicated to helping the get new socks distributed to homeless shelters contacted me about working with them. For months I have been thinking about doing some sort of sock drive for Comfort Socks.

I like puns, so forgive me for saying that I had really had cold feet when it came to writing this post.

I had planned on February...then the earthquake hit Haiti and I became distracted. I told myself, "March." Then the earthquake hit Chili and I doubted whether people would give to my sock drive.

Well, there will be no perfect time. And also, no time like the present. It's time for me to "toe the line."

 

I hope you will join my "Kind Words and Warm Feet Drive!"

 

What to do:

1.Write a small message of hope and tuck it into a new pair of ladies or mens white cotton socks.  Perhaps you have a favorite Bible verse or other quote that encourages you? Write it out on an index card or piece of stationary and tuck it into the socks. Imagine getting both a new pair of socks and a note of encouragement. It's a small way to let someone know that while they may be down, they are not forgotten.

“Remember, man does not live on bread alone: sometimes he needs a little buttering up.” 

-John C. Maxwell

2. Send the socks directly to:

Comfort Socks

C/O Out of the Crayon Box Sock Drive
PO Box 477
Supply, NC 28462

Let's save the middle man, shall we? 

3. You can also help by grabbing the button and posting about this on your blog!

When- By April 15

My goal is to get 100 pairs of socks donated. I plan to have some fun giveaways for participants.  I'd also love to read about what you chose for your inspirational note. Please blog about this! Let me know if you do, I would love to link up to your post.

Thanks for joining in this worthwhile project!


“One word or a pleasing smile is often enough to raise up a saddened and wounded soul.” 

 Therese of Lisieux quotes

<center><a href="http://outofthecrayonbox.blogspot.com/2010/03/kind-words-warm-feet-drive.html/"><img border="0" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/4361501146_bdfeced1ea_m.jpg"/></a></center>

Sew Liberated Emmeline Apron

I made this Sew Liberated Emmeline Apron for a shower gift.


It was an easy pattern and there is so much I like about it. This is a very feminine apron. But mine has a wonky top edge. I am going to gift it in spite of this wonky ripple. Of course that could be me. It might just be ill fitting on me. My body isn't best suited for empire bust lines. Maybe it's ripply because I cut that part on the bais? Too much stretch? I do not know. It has been ironed a few times. Any thoughts on this?

Anyway, this apron also happens to be black and white so I am joining in on Angry Chicken's Tie One On theme of Black and White. When she posts the slide show, I'll update this post. In the meantime, pop on over to Tie One On and check out all the other fantastic themes.