Favorite Picnik Projects Before They Close

This week I am going to repost some of my favorite projects using Picnik. I believe their last day is April 19. There is time to make any number of projects if you don't delay.

Anyway, this post actually comes from my old school blog, My Many Colored Crayons. This was one of my favorite projects ever. Enjoy!

Portrait of a Drug Free Future!
It's Red Ribbon Week at OFS and this year we are celebrating with a door decorating contest. I have a slight problem with bragging about the Crayons and today is no exception. Check out this door!! See our Red Ribbon bracelets? The little "red ribbons" contain student writing on why they pledge to be drug free. I think it has a good chance at winning!

And, I really want to win which is silly since the prize hasn't even been announced.

I was inspired by a portrait project in this month's Family Fun magazine which unfortunately is not linked yet. However, their project had multiple steps and involved acrylic paint. It just seemed a bit complicated when multiplied by 25 students. Last week was the Hispanic Heritage Month Dance. This week is the book fair and OCR testing, so teaching them how to draw a self portrait was out of the question.


My version of Cheater Self Portraits used few supplies and worked out well for fourth graders with little experience with water colors.

Here's our tutorial for Watercolor (Cheater) Self Portraits:

Supplies:
drawing paper cut to 8.5" X 11"
water colors
a digital picture
a computer with internet access

1. Take a picture with your digital camera. I think a close up or a relatively simple scene would work best. (This picture is not of a student but, from an ad.)

2. Go to Picnik and upload the photo(s) for free! Choose their "create" menu and then scroll down the special effects until you find the one that is called "Pencil Sketch." Apply that effect to your picture.

3. Print the picture out on the drawing paper. At work I have access to a laser printer. At home I used an inkjet and I found worked well even with water colors.

4. Paint the picture with water colors. Less is more. It's nice to let a little of the print come through. It makes the details like a nose, much easier.
I gave my students two copies so that they could practice controlling the paint and mixing colors. I am pleased with the outcome. It took two hour long sessions to complete.

Update: That was the post from way back in 2009. Naturally, we did win the door contest and the prize was a new Connect Four game. Sweet! Later I went on to make another watercolor of my colleague's daughter. I thought it came out super cute.


I had always planned on making several others as Christmas gifts for various people. And, of course, now I want one of my own kiddo. I wonder how many I can get done between now and April 19?

Custom Kleenex Boxes

I may have the most photographed baby in the world. At least up until 2 1/2 months that is. Once I return to work next week, I doubt I will be playing photo studio quite so much.

Anyway, last year I signed up for some special promotion whereby Kleenex would sending free tissues to a friend.  I like mail and I thought that would be a sweet surprise for a friend so I joined in. Since then, I get Kleenex promotional emails. Most I delete without a glance. However, I happened to open an email telling about making custom tissue boxes. Goodness what a sucker I am!

$5.99 for the custom tissue box and another $5 for shipping. Friends, I just spent $20 on Kleenex! These special tissue boxes will be delivered to the Grandparents. Hopefully in time for Valentines Day. Come to think of it, I didn't even look at how long they took to make and ship! Watch, it's six weeks or something! Oh well. Both our parents waited a long time to become grandparents. I guess their noses deserve some special treatment.

Since my husband and I both love a good pun, the pink heart reads, "I 'tissue' were here!"

Speaking of Kleenex, (and who knew there was so much to say?) have you tried the new cooling Kleenex?
I saw a supermarket display of these with a free sample. My friends they are actually cold. The tissue has menthol or something in it which makes them cold. They feel really good on a sore nose. Expensive compared to the store brand I normally buy, but quite the treat.

By the way, Kleenex did not pay me or reward me for this post, although the should because I just spent $20 and well over 100 words on tissues! Oy vey!

Last Chance for Picnik- Pictures into Embroidery Transfer

Did you hear? Picnik, the free photo editing site associated with Flickr, is shutting down on April 19, 2012.Boo hoo! I love that site and use it a lot. Of course, I never did pay the $28 for the premium membership. So, I guess I am part of the problem. Sigh. Anyway, until April 19 all their premium features are now available for free! This week I decided to feature some of my old projects using Picnik.

Here is a post from May 2010.

I really love the Sublime Stitching patterns by Jenny Hart. Her motto is "Not your grandmother's embroidery!" There are so many fun patterns. The flickr group is loaded with eye candy. This Etsy store, Sew Lovely Embroidery, also has wonderful modern designs.

However the other night I had the itch to stitch right then and there. You know how it is when an idea strikes! So, I came up with my own way to convert a picture into an embroidery pattern that was simple enough for me to do.

This pin up cowgirl was my starting photo. I found the picture on Google and uploaded it into Picnik. Then under the "Create" tab I clicked on "effects." Next I chose "pencil sketch." And the result was the photo below.

From there, I clicked on the "Edit" tab and chose "Exposure." I moved both the "Exposure" and "Contrast" settings as far as I could so that it would look like an even simpler drawing.

The result was this. Notice how most of the background is gone now and the details are sharper? This was good, but I knew I wanted it even simpler. So, still in Picnik, I chose the "Create" tab and went to stickers. I used the rectangle under "Geometric"  (and slid the color to white) to cover up the fire and the photographer's name. Then I went to text and added the "Dinner!" Finally, I downloaded it to my computer and printed it out. I was very careful to print it in "mirror image" so that I could use Citra-Solv to transfer my pattern to the fabric.


To do the Citra-Solv transfer I photocopied my print out and taped the photocopy print side down to my fabric. I used regular old scotch tape. Be sure not to cover any of the design with tape. Then I took a paper towel with a bit of Citra-Solv on it and rubbed it all over the design. Lastly, I burnished the paper by rubbing the entire design really hard with the edge of a spoon.

Voila!


I had a lot of fun changing up the colors for this design. Here is the finished project:


Update: Since this process worked so well, I went on to create this Texas tote.

You can see that full post here.

Packing Away the Pink Christmas

Farewell pink and white Christmas tree. You were splendid. Normally I am a bit melancholy while packing away Christmas decorations. This year, the new year holds so much promise and excitement. Hello 2012!

Merry Christmas!

This is the message of Christmas: We are never alone."
~ Taylor Caldwell (1900-1985), English novelist.
 Our Christmas card photo.


My parent's Christmas card photo.


And, a month later, one chubby elf.
 

Wishing you a joyful Christmas! 

Tummy Time Fun

Our beautiful girl is one month old. Here she is having a wonderful time at her check up. She is now officially 9lbs 7oz which is just over two pounds more than she weighed at birth. We are so proud! And, since I am breastfeeding I am pretty dang proud of myself too. For real.

Anyway, while I was pregnant I started a "pin board" on Baby Activities.  Today we came up with an activity that I actually consider blog/pin worthy. While at the doctors we discovered that Marilee loves the crinkly paper on the exam table. So, we decided to recreate that fun at home with some parchment paper. It worked great. The waxy side was actually a little bit "grippy" on the bench and the paper side was slippery enough for some good play time. Now she had two parents inches from her on this padded bench. Otherwise, I would definitely do this on the carpet.

If I waited to post this until I had a chance to edit that rough ending out, it would never get posted. Warning this video contains delicious baby toes.

My Awesome C- Section

11-19                                                               12- 2

My mom just left on Tuesday, so for the first time in two weeks I have had lots of alone time to think about my birth story. For a while there I was too busy with the happiness, the nursing and the laundry to be reflective. I want my story to be out there because it is really hard to find C-section birth stories online.

Here is my birth story. It's an awesome, happy, mostly painless c-section story.

My official due date was Dec.2, but because of all my other surgeries I was scheduled for a c-section on 11-22-11. We were so excited about the date because it is a palindrome and we are nerds. On Sunday 11-20 we made plans to go to Ojai (small quaint town 1 hour away) for a sweet "last day as a couple" date. We were both a little nervous about going so far away, but Ojai is a really special place to us. It's where we have gone following every miscarriage for some peace. It's sacred Indian land and I swear it is the most peaceful place I have ever been. Anyway, Sunday night I went to bed and Baby Z was doing flips upside down and sideways. She was so active! Cliff asked, "Is there anyway she can bust out?"
"No!" I reassured him.

Well, at about 1:00 am I sat up in the middle of a dream and said, " I have to pee." That's when I felt and heard a pop and was flooded. I told Cliff, " I have either REALLY peed myself or we are having a baby!
So much fluid! Gross! Anyway, I called my doctor who was fast asleep and didn't know who I was. He told me to go to the hospital and wait until my contractions were so many minutes apart when he would come in to catch the baby. I didn't bother correcting him because when I got to the hospital I figured the nurses would set him straight, which they did.

At the hospital they hooked me up to monitors and we tried to sleep. Well, that's a joke because hospitals and sleep are incompatible. Eventually I started having contractions and although I was only 2 cm dialated they were less than a minute apart. They weren't too painful, but I did have to breath through them. Cliff had not yet been to sleep, so he was desperately trying to catch a nap. I decided to have an epidural so that I would be able to sleep. I thought Cliff might sleep better if he knew I was pain free. After all, I was having surgery anyway, there would be drugs so why be a hero?

Well, the epidural didn't work at. all. But try to convince people of that! Not too easy. Finally the anesthesiologist was poking me with a toothpick and asking what it felt like. "Um, it feels like being poked with a toothpick."

At about 6 am my primary OBGYN showed up. He ordered a spinal and friends it was MAGIC!!! Loved it! A warm blanket of mercy!

Soon my other doctor showed up. I was so filled with joy. Here were my two docotors, who've held my hand in some very dark times, there to deliver my baby. It meant so much to me that they both could be there for something good too. It was very celebratory. We joked and laughed and before long they announced that her head was delivered.

I asked if she would cry and they said, "soon." Just then came the shriek of all shrieks. Glass shattering! Whew! She was loud! God love her! This baby has always kicked just when I was panicked that she had been still too long and here she was shouting, "here I am" so I would have no doubts about her lung health.

So there she was, born 7:10 on 11-21-11, just about 24 hours before her scheduled arrival. She gets that from me. I am often the first one at a party. Even when I try to be late, I am often early. And, clearly she doesn't care about pallendromes.

Cliff followed the baby around getting cleaned up and getting some pictures. I was fixed up and taken to recovery.  I nursed her there for the first time and we spent the day just gazing at Marilee. That first night Cliff had to go home to get some sleep. I was quite relieved that my night nurse, Theresa, was a lactation specialist. She was with me throughout the night and I owe any breastfeeding success to her. She taught me about nursing while lying down, how to do "kangaroo care." I was able to nurse and doze throughout the night. In the morning, I actually felt pretty accomplished.

My parents arrived from FL the next day and we went home that Wed. There have been a few sleepless nights, an engorgement problem, a latch problem and some issues with gas pains. Step by step, one learning at a time, we are finding our way. Overall, Marilee is very easily consoled and very alert.

She's a super duper pooper! Thank goodness for cloth diapers! I don't feel so bad when she poops through three diapers in one changing! So far we are washing diapers every day. It's not so bad since our washer/dryer is right in our apartment. Cliff is especially supportive of cloth diapers which is nice. Even my mom, who thought I was crazy, was pleasantly surprised by the ease of modern cloth diapers.

My recovery has been awesome. I feel great and even fit into my clothes again. Apparently, Marilee was a tapeworm in a former life. I've been on walks most everyday. We have been out to lunch and dinner and Cliff and I have even gone on a movie date. Had to take advantage of Granma's babysitting while she was here!


 
I saw this pin today. It says, "The wold may be broken, but hope is not crazy." Amen.