Crayon Day

Today is all about the color green but when I think about St. Patrick's Day

I  also think about the rainbow that is a major player in the stories of leprechauns.

 

( I think about what I could do with a pot of gold, too.

#notgonnalie )

 

 

And rainbows make me think about boxes of crayons

all lined up in the order of the spectrum.

 

This is the way my brain works... St. Patty's Day to crayons in zero to 60!

 

 

And I never think about crayons that I don't think about this...

 

Several years ago a friend of mine started teaching 3rd grade at a school in a nearby school district. We live in the Atlanta suburbs and sometimes forget that nearby there is actual need for even the basics. My friend told me about her class and the school which was an "at risk" school and almost all families qualified for subsidized lunch. All the parents worked long hours and they were not able to come to school during the day for programs or to be "room moms".

Well, Mollie was away at college at the time and I was missing those cute and fun Room Mom days.

 I volunteered to be her Room Mom and come every month to do a special project, etc.

I was probably more excited than her kiddos!

I went for the first time that October and took a very simple cupcake treat ( that they thought was the most amazing thing ever! They had never seen those little candy pumpkins that I decorated the cupcakes with. Remember that their parents were just trying to put food on the table), a favorite seasonal book that I left with the class and a craft project for them to get creative with. We played a game and it was a great afternoon. I went back in November and followed the same format. They loved everything and thought each treat, project or new to them craft supply was simply amazing and wonderful.

It was a joy to prep and go each month.

I asked my friends from church to donate small gifts for them at Christmas and we played games and chose the gifts as prizes. Several of the children chose things that they could give their moms for Christmas because  she wouldn't get a gift otherwise. So sweet and selfless.

Many of these children had little or no expectations of gifts for themselves either.

 

So what does this have to do with crayons?

I'm getting there!

 

 

 

While the children were playing games and eating their  Christmas  Mid Winter Holiday party treats  my friend and I were talking about the children in her class and how they were doing and her concerns. They would be out of school for over two weeks. The lunch they got at school in addition to a healthy snack of fruit or veggies each day was sometimes the only healthy and hot food they got each day. She was also concerned because they had testing when they came back in January and so many were so far behind.

 And then she said something I could not believe.

She told me that the teachers at this school couldn't send homework home with the students because they didn't have even crayons in their homes to do homework with at night.
A few might but it put so many of them at a disadvantage
 to not be able to keep up with homework.
 

What??? This is America.

 Every child should be able to have a box of crayons.

I could not get this out of my mind

For weeks I thought about this.

Then I asked her how many children were in that school.

I talked to the Mission Committee at the church where I was Children's Director at the time and we started a campaign to get a box of crayons for very child in that school.

And we did.

 They were stacked everywhere.

We counted and recounted. We sorted by number of crayons per box.

One of my awesome volunteers ( never married, no children and always willing to support whatever crazy scheme I cooked up) bought a box of 64 crayons for every 5th grader in that school. I think it was the first time he had ever bought crayons :)

 

People texted and FB posted about where crayons were on sale for the best price.

It was an all out mission.

 

And then the day came when we had enough to tell the school that they were on the way.

 

Almost 800 boxes of crayons were put in boxes and bins in the back of my friends' car and hauled to that school.

 

The next day I had two messages on my answering machine at work.

The first one from my friend who teaches there telling me that they ended classes early that day in the entire school and the support staff helped to pass out the boxes of crayons  to every classroom. My friend said that there were children who cried because people they didn't know cared enough to give them a box of crayons. Many couldn't believe they could take them home.

The second message came from a very choked up and appreciative principal saying that "Crayon Day" had been the most amazing day at their school.

 

So, if you can't imagine that there are children who don't even have a box of crayons somewhere near you, I challenge you to look around and see if you can drop off a rainbow of crayons somewhere nearby and change the day for a child.

 

 

And if you find that pot of gold this St. Patrick's Day maybe you can drop off a lot of crayons!

St. Patrick's Day is a lot of fun but maybe Crayon Day should be the new holiday.

 

 

#crayonday

#itshouldbeathing

 

*This post was not supported or solicited by Crayola Crayons.

Neither was Crayon Day.

It's a true story.

 

I've Got Color on a Snowy Day

Looking for something entertaining to do while you watch it snow??

(If you are anywhere on my side of things,  the East Coast above Florida, then apparently you've got a Winter white world!!)

 

 

So go to this website  Lamps Plus and shop the rainbow

Seriously so fun!!

 

You just click on the color samples

 and the lamps appear in the color with a plethora of shade options.

Need some sunshine on a snowy day? Not loving that shade???

 

Or maybe you are feeling blue??

 

 

 

Or I was reading about Design tension which is used to give a room that" little something extra", the unexpected zing, so maybe this color lamp

 

or maybe

 

this could brighten your day and room??

It's called "Lime Rickey"??

Just saying that makes you smile!

 

So go to Lamps Plus  and entertain yourself!! *

  

 

*I am I in no way affiliated with Lamps Plus or have been compensated for this post.

 I just think this is fun and I love any site or store where you can shop by color.

Those ROY G BIV lessons really stuck!

Banner Making

Soooo, every year the team gives a banner to the village we visit in Honduras.

There is always a welcome banner hanging up at the school when we arrive 

and we present ours when we are preparing to leave. 

They keep the banners and display them in the village. It's very sweet.

Wellll, I volunteered to make the banner.

 Months before the trip.

Literally months.

Last year we did it at the camp one night and I thought that it would be nice to do it in  advance with all my supplies close at hand.

Makes sense. Except I procrastinated. 

I had a zillion things going, deadlines, etc. and I just didn't get on it.

I thought about it. 

And I barely took any pictures when I finally did it.

And when I did, it was dark and I was working on a table outside on the screened porch.

So this is what I've got :)

I made the banner from a remnant of bleached drop cloth.

 It's about two and a half feet wide by 5 or 5 1/2 feet long.

I made two rod pockets - top and bottom 

and straight stitched the sides because drop cloth ravels like crazy.

I outlined a big flower in black and College Girl and I painted it with lots of bright colors.

We used craft paints and Sherwin Williams Color To Go samples.

We used big brushes and blended the colors in big strokes on the banner. 

I slid a slender branch into the two rod pockets.

I tied twine on the top branch to make a hanger and

 the branch in the bottom rod pocket was to give the banner weight 

so it would hang straight after being rolled up in a suitcase and hauled up a mountain!

But the really fun part of this banner 

was the rainbow ribbons I sewed to the bottom 

and forgot to take a picture of!!

This is the only shot I have of the completed banner which we all signed 

and gave to the village on our last day.

We provide the food for a fiesta which is a big deal and a lot of fun. 

Everyone in  the whole village gets to eat a big meal.

We sing our respective national anthems, there are a couple of speeches, games

 and hugging and goodbyes.

It's hard to leave.

Feeling A Teensy Bit.....

... Famous!!

 

A few weeks ago I was contacted by the blogger who writes and manages All Free Kids Crafts. She wanted to know if she could feature some of my recycle crafts.

Of course, I said "Of Course!" 

Today I was scrolling through FB and there was a picture of my bottle cap rainbow project on her post!!

 

 

She has a bazillion followers so it was exciting to see my project on her page!

 

And a few weeks ago I was contacted by the owner of the  Kipling House , which is the cutest little art studio/crafting cottage ever.

 

 

See. Yellow front door love.

 They invited me to teach some classes for adults and we are starting off with an owl painting project and I ended up on their FB page yesterday, too.

 

This is pretty exciting for someone who usually just hangs out in paint spattered clothes!!

Check out both sites... they are fun!

 

So, "famous" being relative ... I was feeling a teensy bit famous

 in my little world today!

 

PS. I have been verrrry busy pulling together a few things for College Girl's new place so it can be finished before classes start in a few weeks.

 I've put some pics on mollie's mom FB page and Instagram.

I love Instagram. I check it more than FB. More pictures. Less opinions. Ha!

 

 

 

 

 

Things I do when I need to be painting...

I've been busy at work, busy at home, busy with College Girl (which was a ton of fun!), busy getting ready for the craft show, you know... busy like everyone else.

And I need to be painting but instead I have been...

arranging my spray paint in spectrum ( rainbow) order. That's how my scrapbook paper and recycled plastic lids are organized... for some it's alphabetical but for me, it's by color! Is that weird?

... and unloading pumpkins at the church. I love these "white" pumpkins.

 

 

... and I have been getting ready for the craft show. I made a ton of ornaments and canvases but time is short now and some of my ideas will have to be saved for another day,

I'll be sure to take some pictures at the craft show and let you know what creative and clever things were there!!

Button Up...

... busy, busy and using lots of buttons! 



I love buttons!

 

Me too!

I'm referring to these cute little chalkboard signs we made in Color Me Happy Art Camp!
 I love Art Camp, too - we didn't even pay them to write this :)  !!
 
I had huge paint buckets full of broken crayons, peeled crayons and a few whole ones as well! We used those to decorate our chalkboards... and guess what? The chalkboard center is peel and stick chalkboard contact paper, not paint!  Easy peasy! We read "The Crayon Box That Talked"  along with this project. It's a great little story about getting along. Perfect for the beginning of the school year or camp week - anytime a group is getting started together for any length of time.

Remember this project??? Well, everyone wanted one of their own so we scaled things back a little and everyone had a great time sorting and choosing the perfect bottle caps!

 
Love the puffy clouds!

And then remember the Rainbow Flower ?? We had a whole bouquet of very unique Rainbow Flowers!

 

We had a grreat time at CMH Art camp last week and wanted to show off some of the masterpieces we created.
PS - the Rainbow Flowers in the picture above were created by 3 and 4 year olds! Wow, huh??

A Whole Lotta Stuff Goin' On...

I find myself a little bit over-committed, overwhelmed, off -task... you know what I mean. Normal for a mom with a lot to do. I'm not unique - we are all in the same boat - but I'm just sayin' !! :) and prepping you for what's coming in a minute!

There's a lot of painting on burlap going on along with my daily job obligations and yardwork and housework and some extra job obligations... ( my husband seriously told me to stand in front of the mirror and practice saying "NO!".)

So in the midst of all of this... I need an Art Camp project!! Yikes. And then on Pinterest ( funny how I can always snatch a few minutes for that!!) I see a "pin" of an adorable color wheel flower from Deep Space Sparkle and I snagged it!! I'm putting a little of my own spin on it. But what an inspiring blog!! So fun. I also think I may have to do a variation of her A Color of His Own lesson!! But I just want to put it out there right now that I already have a pumpkin lesson that looks a lot like her pumpkins that I've been doing for years !!!

Anyway, I found a pile of scrap papers and cut them into 2 x 4 inch strips. I sorted them into "color" piles. Each student can choose one strip from each pile as we go down the "Roy G Biv" spectrum! I cut a little notch in the end of mine - I'm creating a zinnia. You can round them or create your own flower petal shape. If children are younger I would limit the number of petals to simplify the project. I also gathered a green paint stick ( leftover from another project and free from my Sherwin Williams guy), and a couple of recycled bottle/can lids and an 11 x 14 Dick Blick canvas. I spritzed on a light spatter-y coat of blue spray paint I had on hand. I punched two holes with my Crop-a- Dile ( do not tell me if you have not bought one yet) and grabbed my Mod Podge. And for the person who asked : No I do not sleep with my Mod Podge under my pillow!!

I traced a circle in the middle of the canvas using my largest lid as a guide. The lids will become the center of my flower. Then I used the MP to glue my flower petals around my circle making sure that I overlapped my pencil line slightly. That way my lid will cover all the ends of the petals when I glue it down later.

Then I cut a small circle of scrapbook paper - black and white polka dots, of course - and glued that inside my smallest lid. Lid color choices are up to each artist. With enough time it would be fun to stack up a rainbow of lids in graduating sizes for the center. I just grabbed two. Remember the whole over-commited thing?

After the Mod Podge dried on my petals I put a coat over the entire canvas. It dries quickly and then you can use Tacky Glue to add the paint stick stem and the bottle cap center. (Hot glue will work as well as long as an adult does this step.)

And then I added a wire hanger and some bead ... oh, and a ribbon to the stem!

Happy Flower and ... Oh Happy Day!!! It's Friday!!!! :)  Have a super weekend!

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Somewhere Over the Rainbow...

Just look what my Wednesday Night Kids did at church this week!!!
Isn't it awesome?? We had so much fun.

Just so you know... that board is 3 feet by 4 feet. That's a big rainbow project!! I have shown you my giant tubs full of bottle caps and plastic lids before. Well, we put them to good use. We spread out on the floor and worked together to create this amazing rainbow. I had the scrap of panelling but you can buy a piece this size at Home Depot for about $5.00. The bottle caps were free ( I have all our church members save bottle caps and bring them to my office. I use them for everything! The children love going through the tubs looking for colors or sorting them. They are a free manipualtive!) and we glued them to the board with Tacky Glue.
That's it. I can't wait to hang it up outside my office door. Everyone came by to see it today and now the kids who weren't there last night want us to do it again next week :)

*This project works for St. Patricks Day, Noah, Spring, Roy G Biv and colors of the spectrum, recycling, Earth Day- you name it. However you want to tie it in is fine. Just do it because it was the most fun we've had in a long time. And for free. Our lesson was actually on RESPECT and we worked together on this while being respectful of everyone else on the team. It was so engaging and fun that we worked for an hour and there wasn't one unkind peep or bossy words out of anyone!!
 It's a miracle project !!

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