Around Here: Springtime Edition

What possibly could have kept me away from the blog for almost a month?

I promise I've kept busy, stayed creative, and had fun! 

For the first time ever, and with my mom's help, I've planted a little garden just outside our family room sliding doors.  It's hard to get a sense of it from the photo, but when I sit out under the patio table umbrella with my coffee in the morning, it feels a bit like a resort.  (I'm easily pleased!)

As for so many of you, the school year is drawing to a close for us.  My younger daughter "graduated" from preschool (complete with paper graduation cap!), and my older daughter has just one more week of kindergarten.  They are excited by all the possibilities of being in the same school together next year!

Feeling ambivalent about the end of the school year

Sunday school has drawn to a close, as well.  In addition to planning my final lesson, which has the fourth graders making flowing windsocks to remind them on Pentecost of the power of the Holy Spirit, I prepared sweet little gifties for my girls' teachers.  I used a Pinterest inspiration to create the packaging for some sweet springtime Skittles.

In an exciting development, I've created two series of Summer Craft Camp workshops, one for 1 to 3 year olds, and one for 4 to 7 year olds.  I advertised to my local MOMS group, as well as my women's circle at church, and have a little group coming together for each of the workshops.  All of our activities are being kid-tested and approved by my own two in-house crafting experts, and they are really helping me work out the kinks before we "go live."  I will share news of the workshops as they happen; the first two are at the end of this week!

A serious artist at work

Squoosh Art?  Rorschach Test Art?  Symmetrical Prints?  Call it whatever you like; it's fun!

I wrote my first guest blog post for a local "mommy blog" called Delaware County Moms.  I had the opportunity to attend the grand opening of a re-sale shop called Clothes Mentor, and write a review of our local store.  Now I'm pretty devoted to the idea of checking there first before I shop full-price at the mall!  Discovering that store came at a great time for me, as I'm really working on adopting a frugal lifestyle this year. 

Would you like a pair of shoes with that??

I am going to be working in the Vacation Bible School craft room at my church again this year, so our Craft Room Team held our first planning meeting.  We have some exciting ideas for the kids as they learn about Moses and the Israelites coming out of Egypt into the Promised Land.  Remember those matchbox mezuzahs from last year, and the foam sandal necklaces? To rival those, we'll be using cereal boxes and duct tape to make their own sandals; how cool is that?!

My first cereal box and duct tape prototype for VBS!

And finally, I've been positively delighted to watch the developments in a little birds' nest just beside my front door.  I saw the nest empty, then filled with four perfect blue robin's eggs, and then positively overcrowded with all the brothers and sisters vying for the worms their mommy has been faithfully bringing home for them. 

First came the beautiful blue eggs...



Then the silently squalling baby birds came on the scene!

Sadly, the nest sits about six inches from my mailbox, so the mommy robin has been quite disturbed by postal workers, as well as door and window openings throughout the day.  I almost think the babies have gotten used to my face peering down into their nest, and the flash of my camera catching their daily growth and development.  Very, very soon they will be flying away on their own, and I have to admit that I hope at least one of them will hang around and make their home in our yard for the long term!

We are doing some traveling in a couple of weeks, so my blogging consistency probably will not return until mid-July, but I promise I am not deserting the blogging world for good!

Enjoy these final weeks of springtime!

Good Crafternoon!

I first heard the term crafternoon on Julie Balzer's blog years ago, and thought, I need to have one of those myself!  As fun as it is to hole up in the art room and dabble away into the wee hours of the night, I also love the chance to get together with others who appreciate paper and punches and scissors and scraps and glue sticks and...well, you get the picture...as much as I do.

Just recently, Becky (aka, Snail Mailer) visited my art-making space for a crafternoon together.  (We met last year at the Allentown Paper Show.)  She came bearing gifts for me and for my girls, and while my husband kept my daughters mostly out of our hair, we had some paper crafting fun.

Good crafternoon, Snail Mailer!

Becky showed me how to make the amazing never-ending card that she recently featured on her blog, Leaving a Paper Trail.  It only requires four pieces of paper and some adhesive, and when you open it, there are two flaps that open again, and under there are two flaps that open again, and under there are two flaps that open again...and it goes on and on for as long as you are interested in opening flaps.  It's pretty mesmerizing, kind of like those Jacob's Ladder toys.  (Check out Becky's blog for the video on how to put it together.)

Becky also had an idea in her head for a kind of interactive maypole card, and worked out the details at my craft table.  It ended up being a pretty cute design!

Becky's maypole card

She makes a lot of cards for clients as part of her job, and showed me a nice way to make this tri-fold card.  I feel like it stands up in a kind of shrine-effect that I really like:

Here's the card when it's closed.

Here's the card when it's standing up, opened.

Here's the card with a few additional embellishments.

She brought a selection of her paper punches, and I punched out lots of shapes in different patterned paper to work with on future projects.  She used some of my collage scraps to work on a page in her new Smash book.  My daughter took our photo so we could share our day together on the blog:

We enjoyed a fun couple of hours working together, chatting, and enjoying lunch before she had to head home.  She was very productive in our time together; me, not so much!  But a happy side effect of welcoming someone into my craft room is the tidying up I do before she arrives.

Like-items together...stacked, labeled, and ready for action!

Hmmm....it's almost too neat in here...time to get started on a new project to mess things up a bit!

Filling the Well: Polymer Clay Jewelry Workshop

I've purchased a huge-bin's worth of materials for working with polymer clay, and have read just about all the books on the subject offered by my local library.  Yet, I've never taken the leap and really worked in that medium!  A polymer clay jewelry workshop offered by Tyler Arboretum on Thursday evening helped me "take the leap," and see how easy and fun it can be.  I think it's time to get my bin out of the basement and start playing around with all of those supplies!

Samples of Denise Pettit's polymer clay jewelry

Our workshop instructor was jewelry artisan Denise Pettit (who I found out, by the way, lives in my neighborhood!)  She provided examples of her work for us, and generously shared her supplies, including polymer clay in multiple colors, ink pads, mica powders, clay cutters in a variety of shapes and sizes, and jewelry tools and findings. 

Polymer clay jewelry artist Denise Pettit

After showing us how to condition the clay in a pasta machine and demonstrating the basic process for working with the rubber stamps on the clay, Denise allowed us to play around, experiment with our colors, and create as many pieces of jewelry (necklaces, pins, and earrings) as we desired.

A polymer clay artisan's work space

Denise prepared a comprehensive packet for us to take home with information and tips for preparing our work surface, conditioning the clay, mixing colors, cutting and baking the clay, and cleaning and storing our materials.  I tend to be a crazed note-taker during workshops, because I need to have things in writing, so having this handout freed up my focus and attention. 

The oven Denise used to bake our pieces

It was also helpful to have three full hours to play, so that we never felt rushed, and there was plenty of time to bake the clay and create multiple finished pieces.

Amy, the Director of Public Programs for Tyler Arboretum, was my pasta machine partner.

We had fun squashing together our color combinations to see what came through the machine.

My table-mates were fun and helpful, too.  Many of the participants were beaders, who already make jewelry but were interested in the possibilities for polymer clay in their craft.  A few of us tended more towards paper and general crafting.  Everyone kept a positive attitude, and seemed to be having fun, which I attribute to Denise's good instruction and encouragement. 

Participants get down to business stamping and cutting their clay.

The polymer clay jewelry workshop was a great way to "fill my creative well" this week!

My finished pieces:  The square ones are either pins or pin/necklace combinations. 
The bottom two rectangles will be earrings, and the other shapes are both pendants.

My daughter Katy wore one of the pins and necklaces when we returned to Tyler Arboretum
this morning for National Public Gardens Day!