Succulents in English Teacup with Decor

At Nathan & Co. on Piedmont Ave., I saw these succulents planted in vintage teacups. I loved them, but thought I could make them myself, especially after seeing how much they sold for. So that's what I did. I made my own to give as gifts.

I went to the Alameda Point Antiques Faire and found two English bone china teacups. Once I found my teacups, I got the succulents and soil to work on my project.

I then made a gnome and a bird with Sculpey to give the succulent a friend. I loved this project so much that I'm looking forward to finding more teacups next month at the faire.

Birdie Branch

The office looked so bare, so I made a branch. Hubby helped me put it up.

It's just made out of cardboard, SF Chronicle, and Mod Podge. But it looked a little lonesome.

So I got some felt and made a little birdhouse for it.

One day, a bird came to take a look.

It must have told his friends about it because suddenly there were several other birdies that were fluttering and twittering around the branch. The office is such a lively place now. Hope we can still get work done in there.

Hubby's Crafty Creation

Hubby made his first Shrinky Dinks charm. I have to admit that it's pretty good. Don't you think? He used colored pencils and a thin Sharpie marker.

A few days ago I noticed that they have ink jet Shrinky Dinks. Maybe Hubby would prefer designing something on computer. :)

More Shrinky Dinks

Are you Shrinky Dinked out? I'm not!

I'm sad because the last two I made got ruined. I used the toaster oven today. But for some reason the toaster oven was too hot for it. I noticed that the parchment paper was turning brown and I even noticed some smoke. Yikes! So, I learned to stick with my regular oven.Here are the last two that got too hot in the toaster oven. See how they are warped and the ink are smeared?This is the back of the pink butterfly one. I put so much detail in it! All ruined!

Shrinky Dinks Addict

Wee!! I made more Shrinky Dinks pendants. I don't know what I'll do with them yet... Wear them, use as wine class charms, trinkets for presents... I thought of making pendants that say, "Listen to your teacher" or just "Focus" to wear in class. There are times when I'm helping a student one-on-one and the kid would look over at my necklace and sometimes even reach over and touch it. Even my accessories will make them learn!! Hahahaha!! Anyways, I'm so addicted! I need to go buy gloves tomorrow so that I can experiment with Shrinky Dinks rings. I bought the Softies Kit after school ended so I have crafty things to do this summer, but I haven't touched it! It's all Shrinky Dinks until I get bored or it's time to get ready for the next school year. :(

Inspired by Hubby's friend's bee video. Our parakeet. Just a design.

Shrinky Dinks

I bought a book on making Shrinky Dink jewelry today. It was so much fun! I always wanted Shrinky Dinks when I was a kid. I ended up making a little pendant. I made it 3D by drawing the cage on the shiny side, and the bird on a tree branch on the rough side. Looks cool, no?


Here's how it looked before getting shrunk.Here's after it shrank.

Children's Clothespin Dolls

So here are the clothespin dolls my fifth-graders made. They were supposed to fashion it in the time of the US Westward Expansion. So miners, railroad workers, pioneers, frontiersmen, Native Americans, etc. I told them that they are to use any material they have at home because long ago, children made these because they didn't have money to buy dolls. So, my favorite is the one wrapped in snake skin that he found. He made a bow and arrow with toothpicks, bubblegum wrap, and hair rubberband. With all these random items, I knew exactly what he made. You can also see which students have support at home or the amount of effort or creativity they put in.

Here's the snakeskin Native American doll I like.

Crafty Reward

Today, we went to The Paper Source and saw The Softies Kit. I so wanted it!! I keep thinking about. I ended up not buying it since I have so much end of the school year work to do... Like prepare for Open House, the Science Fair, report cards, class cards that go to their sixth-grade teachers, memory books, etc., etc., etc.... I can't procrastinate by doing crafty things. I can, but I shouldn't. So I told myself that I'll buy it as a reward when I finish the report cards. Ugh!

Clothespin Doll Craft Day

Today I had a Clothespin Doll Craft Day for about an hour after school. Only about 6 students showed but it went really well. For a crafty activity like this, it was best that I had a few kids stay anyway. They're due Wednesday, so I'll post more photos when I get more turned in.

About Class Projects

So I introduced the Pioneer Exhibit project to the fifth-graders today. I put the two dolls I made in a tupperware and they were so nosy. They were trying to peek through to see what was in there. They were so distracted by what was in the tupperware that I actually had to move it and hide it at my desk. When I finally showed them, they loved the whole idea of making an artifact exhibit and especially loved the doll part. The letter writing part as a historical person was a little more difficult when I got them started on it. I have one who already wrote up a draft for it though. When I got home today, I quickly made up an outline the kids can follow for the letter since they had difficulty with it.

I can't wait to see how the dolls turn out! I will post as soon as the kids turn them in.

My next creative project is for Father's Day. For Mother's Day, I had them write a diamante poem made into a card, and wood photo frames (from Ikea) decorated with silk flowers. I would love to post them but their faces are on there so I'm not going to. As for the Father's Day gift, I'm still figuring it out. I was thinking of getting those cork tiles from Michaels and cutting them up to make coasters. The kids can then paint them. Ikea used to sell round and square cork coasters, but not anymore. I have some still, but I've been using them for ourselves. I like painting on them for fun.

Clothespin Dolls

Hello! I wonder if anyone checks this blog once in awhile. Geez. It's been over an year! Anyways... I'm just going to dive into blogging again.

So, tomorrow, I plan to introduce their new Inquiry project to my fifth-graders. They have to imagine that they are living during the time of the US Westward Expansion in the late 1700s to the late 1800s. They are to write a friendly letter to someone as if they are a miner, farmer, slave, Native American, Chinese immigrant working on the Transcontinental Railroad, etc. Then, they are to make a doll dressed in that time period using a wooden clothespin. For Open House, they're going to display it like we have an artifact exhibit. Neat, huh? I think the kids will like it.

I made two examples for them. One is a pioneer woman, and the other is a slave. I need to give him props though.

Ladybug Gift Decor

I got my friend a little gift for her "BIG THREE-OH". The store clerk put a ribbon on the box, but it just looked so plain. So I added a ladybug sitting on a leaf to the ribbon. I made it out of felt and added the line and spots on it with black embroidery floss. I'm quite proud of the antennae I added to the head. That's also made of the embroidery floss.

Cards and Gift Tags

Whoa! I haven't blogged for a long time. I finally started working on my job applications so I got a little busy. Well, here are some things I worked on. Although, I think I worked on these in May... Yup. I did. Those are Mother's Day cards for my mom and my mother-in-law. I got the idea and patterns for those cards from a Japanese felt book. And the tin cans are filled with tea from Lupicia and chocolate from Scharffen Berger as gifts for my girlfriends. The gift tags are another idea taken from that book.

Smiley Kidnapper

My friend and her husband got me The Cute Book by Aranzi Aronzo for my birthday. It turns out that we both really liked the Kidnapper in there. It's weird that it's a kidnapper, but it's so awkwardly cute! I love how he has a white bag to collect the child. So, we finally got together on Friday to make him. It was difficult trying to trace the pattern of the body onto the black felt with the white pencil. Especially up the armpits and between the legs. So when I had to cut the shapes out, I kind of had to guess how far to cut up on those parts. And of course, sewing those parts got a little tricky. He's just so skinny! I didn't bother trying to fill his arms or legs with the fluffy stuff. I don't think you're supposed to anyways.

Once I finished the Kidnapper, my husband and I had fun positioning him out in the balcony to take different creepy or sneaky shots of him. Unfortunately, I didn't make his straight mouth long enough and he looks like he's smiling. My friend who has never sewn except to put on a button seemed to struggle with it, but was really persistent. She still hasn't finished it yet. I can't wait to see her finished product. I think we ended up with such a tricky one to do for a first time crafter.