Art Lesson - Summer Accordion Books

Today and last Friday I did these accordion books with the two fifth grade classes. With Summer Vacation so very near, it was a perfect time for a Summer theme. This project was excellent for fifth graders, and they truly enjoyed it, lots! They really loved sharing their ideas at the end of the lesson also.

Brad had got a whole bunch of old post cards from a job a while back, and they were fun to use as the covers of the accordion books. The kids each got 2 post cards, and 2 strips of pieces of paper for the inside pages. I made the strips 4 times as wide as the post cards. I showed them how to make the accordion folds, and they glued them into 1 long strip, and added the post cards as the covers. We used white glue for the gluing of the book, and glue sticks for decorating. I hate how so often glue stick falls apart, so the structure I thought would be better glued with the sticky white glue. But too much of it, and the book sticks together.


We talked together about all the things we think about when we think of summer. Funny, both classes right away said "sleep" as an idea. I had to agree! I made sure to add Reading, Fruit, and Art to the list.

Check out this young lady's idea of relaxing by the water! (above) She told me he was relaxing and enjoying the flowers nearby! What a joy!


After our talk, I let them go. There were magazines, and other misc recycled paper to choose from, as well as markers. I was surprised at how busy they stayed, for the entire hour. In fact they could've gone longer. That's when you know you were a success.


Another clue to the success was when I was talking with one girl about how she was dreaming of going to Ireland this summer. Then her neighbor said "My dream is to do this forever"!... Those kinds of comments make it all worthwhile!

Wacky Weather in May

It hasn't rained or snowed in months here, so what happens? It decides to rain nearly consistently for 3 days, Memorial Day Weekend! Not only rain, but a little snow at my house in the higher elevations. Also near by, at the bottom of the mountain, I hear there were some tornadoes! Very wacky for California!! I just feel sorry for the businesses up here since Saturday was a complete wash out. Memorial Day Weekend is usually one of the biggies for our local economy, with tourism and yard sales. Luckily today (Sunday) the sun came out, so there's still a little time for money making.


My poor little pitiful flowers are so sad drooping in the snow. It looks like most have made it through. I just hope my nice crop of apricots also survive. Yes it was unexpectedly cold, but we really did need the rain, and this big soaking sure has helped with our drought, and fire season! It felt good!

Illustration Friday - Wide

"She Needs Wide Open Spaces." My entry for this week's IF - Wide. I know the feeling of that need.

I was so sick of slacking on Illustration Friday, that I had to just put up an older drawing. Old is better than nothing at all. When I thought of "Wide," my immediate thoughts were of the Dixie Chicks. This made me remember this drawing from 1992. Back then I had dreams of my own patchwork fields. I don't really have wide open spaces of patchwork, but at least I do have my own bit of land now, no longer throwing money away to rent. And I now get to grow whatever I want, without having to possibly uproot it anytime, to transport to another rental.

Nothing beats owning your own piece of land, even if it's only 1/3 acre, not 33 acres!

This is a colorful drawing done with pentel markers, approx 8x10 inches.

In Honor of Ol' Blue Eyes

I meant to post a little something for the 10 year anniversary of Frank Sinatra's death, which was 2 days ago. So I'm a little late, well That's Life.... especially my life.

A Disneyland Treasury

I'm in an Etsy Treasury curated by the CCCOEteam. What a fun Treasury! It's a Disneyland theme, and as you may know, I love Disney! But this isn't your run-of-the-mill Disney. This is Disney with a twist, making it that much more creative and fun.

That's my "Tea With The Mad Hatter" print up there in the 2nd row, first on the left.

Go give the Treasury a click, it has a couple of days to go, and needs some love!

Batik Lesson - Revisited

Here are some of the batiks that I did with 33 sixth graders a couple of weeks ago. Aren't they gorgeous?!

This is a very ambitious project to take on. Learn more about the process here in my last year's post. This is the fourth year I've done this, and each year I hope I'm improving on the process, making them better and easier as I go. I should be a real pro for next year when Wesley's class gets to do the project.


As I said, it's a lot of work for this project and I suggest having at least 2 helpers. I unfortunately had only 1 for the second day. Luckily she's a good helper, and was able to stay to help me clean up. But it took us about an hour to clean up.


What else did I learn this year? Again, to emphasize BIG, BIG, BIG! and BOLD!! Don't be a push over and allow tiny little drawings. I seem to give in to kids when they do art. I don't like to sway their creative process too much, but they really need to keep their designs simple for this project. Also I liked the lime green color, but if I use it again I must make sure to not add as much water. There just is not enough contrast with the white with this color... keep to dark colors for contrast with the design. I'll also emphasize to just do an outline with the glue, not completely fill the image with glue. It just makes for a better final product.

Anyway they turned out pretty good, even with the minor improvements I need to adjust for next year.

Oh yeah, on a related note... I've noticed I get TONS of people coming to my blog who are looking for art lessons. Sadly these people NEVER leave a comment. If you are one of these people, I'd love to hear a comment from you!!!!!!!!!

Mother's Day Award

The so sweet and talented Emila over in Malaysia gave me this ever-so-special award. How honored I am that she thought of me! Click on the award to see Emila's long list of other Great Moms.

Why can't I be more considerate and give little awards like this? I guess it's one thing on my long list of improvements I need to accomplish in the rest of my life!

So until then I must give this award to all the mothers I know in blogland! (and those I know in the real world as well!) I'm sorry I can't list them all, but you can find quite a bit in my fab blog list over on the right :) I know, what a cop out!!

Happy Mothers Day!

I hope all of you Mother's got some lovely flowers or whatever your heart desired for today! I enjoyed my day with my son, and received some goodies including some flowers. Delphiniums for my garden.


I've been learning how to crochet amigurumis the last couple weeks. I've made 3 of my own designs now. With each one, I improve a little in my skills, learning little tricks. The little girl "Miss Mousey is #2.


And this is my 3rd creation, her little friend, "Manley Mouse," named after Almonso Wilder, of course. He's all ready for hugs. I may offer some of the little cuties in my shop soon.

Baby Birdie

My mother has baby parakeets at her house. They are so adorable, and helpless. This first photo was taken a few weeks ago.


And this is the same little guy just 2 weeks later. How fast these babies do grow and change. If you've ever had a couple of parakeets, you know just how many babies they can have. It can be hard to stop them at times. And too many is just not good for the mom, so my mom should separate her male and female soon. And if you want a baby parakeet, you know where to go!!

Craft Event

We went on a quick journey down to Garden Grove for a quite-little Craft Event. A bit of a bust, but fun anyway. I met some people, and networked, and luckily was less than a mile from my mom's house. So that made it convenient enough to give it a try. I do believe Wesley had the most sales of anyone there! And it got me ready and eager for another sale soon. Although I should've stayed home and did the local little art show, but I had already made plans for this one when I heard about the local one. Oh well.



I enjoyed the people that I met. I even met someone who is an old friend's cousin. It's so true what a small world it can be! I met fellow Etsiers, and CCCOE street team members.... oceanavesilks RedBessBonney cigarboxbeads and needleinascrapstack. So that was fun. Some other people I enjoyed were psychoproducts and Whodini Handmade. And of course the friendly, energetic event organizer Lacy Ink. So not a complete bomb and waste!

My little table looked kind of cute, I thought.



And my mom's leaf creations looked stunning! These are made of concrete, and the colors are so lovely.

Craft Show This Weekend

You haven't heard from me in a over a week, and this is partly the reason. I'm doing a craft show this weekend! I've been trying to get my stuff all ready for the event. And of course, my volunteer work keeps getting in my way. My annual batik lesson was this week (lots of time and energy). And also baseball has started - we're coaching for the 6th year straight. This seems to take over my thoughts more than anything!! I'm not sure why, I'm not the sporty type AT ALL! But I guess when I take something on, I get way into it, trying to improve myself, and do the best job possible.

So just a short post to check in, and to tell all of you who just may be in the OC this weekend, to stop by and see me, Wesley and my mom!