Leftovers

After melting partial crayons in the last project there were a lot of leftover crayons!  And we LOVE leftovers!

We peeled off the wrappers and broke them into pieces and put them in an old muffin tin.

Set up the dining room art room table for four people to craft.

 Time to try Crayon Batik!

Draw a design on paper first to practice and then on a piece of white fabric.

Melt the crayons so you can paint with them (and be thankful your kids are old enough to do projects over a camp stove)

It's tricky to paint with melted crayons.  You must work quickly.

Vibrant colors from thick coating of melted crayola crayons painted on fabric.

When you are done with your painting, wad it up!  Yep...into a ball!

Then open it up and paint over the whole thing with black dye. Fun!  Scary, but fun.

Next make your husband nervous by putting black dye and colorful crayons near the nice new iron he uses every day to iron his work shirts! 

Sandwich the batik project between layers of newsprint and iron off the wax.

This is my favorite part!

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The finished project!  Love Batik...even Crayon Batik. 



Purple Rain

A dear friend told me to check out Pinterest.  I did and I was inspired! 

First I took my subjects (in this case the kids home on a vacation week) outside to pose with an umbrella.

Then I carefully cut out the picture of my awesome subjects and glued them onto a canvas I painted black.  

  

Because the only canvas I had on hand was small, I needed to cut the crayons.  Any excuse to use the hubby's power tools is always a plus.

Next it was time to glue on the crayons ROYGBIV or at least ROYGBV.   Nearly ready for the blow dryer...

  

Next we masked over the picture to protect from the "rain."
(If you decide to try this, do not use the blue tape like we did because it quickly melts off).

Grab the blow dryer and get to work!
One kid to hold the project, one to video tape it and the other to apply heat!
Nice to have a lot of helping hands.

Purdy!

Finished project.

But let's try another one...

Melting crayons feels really good.

Human Bird Feeders

I will never tire of feeding the chickadees on Birdsong Trail!  I am sure I post every year about our trips to the park to do this.  The best time is early in the morning after a fresh snow.  On Saturday, we bundled up and grabbed a baggy of seed, heading to Mendon Ponds Park.  In just under an hour, hundreds of little chickadees, as well as a few nuthatches and a tufted titmouse flocked around us and landed on our hands and heads to feed.  One little chickadee in particular was convinced that my thumb was a peanut and decided to go to town on it.  Owww!  It was hysterical.  Then on our way back to the car a bold little squirrel ate out of Tim and Jack's hands, crawling right up the arm of Jack at one point. 

Turn up the sound, you will want to hear the birds!

The black capped chickadees are so tame.

We made the mistake of leaving the seed bag open on the ground.

Timothy watches as they eat right out of his hand.

Not Just a Girly Girl

One might think that Miss Molly is a girly girl with all that singing and drama that fills a lot of her time.  However, this girl's got game!  A couple of nights a week and on the weekends she is very active in a 7th and 8th grade girls CYO basketball team.  On Sunday, her team played another very competitive team and it was an awesome game to watch.   Before Molly got plowed into and hit her head on the wall and also before she got fouled out, she had some great plays!  In fact in the video she makes 5 points in less than a minute!  This is a very fast paced game for this league and the fans enjoy it as much as the girls on the team.  Watch #1.  She is number one in our book.  Go Molly!  Go!

Christmas Came Early

I am in awe of my children!

On Friday night we went to a school concert for a choral group my daughter belongs to called Dedicated Voices.  These children get together twice a week before school to practice.  There are a few concerts a year to showcase their talent and in December the students have the opportunity to perform any song they want alone or in small groups.  This year, Molly and a girlfriend chose to do a song called "Defying Gravity" from the musical Wicked.  It's one of my favorite songs!  I am so proud of my daughter who has the poise and confidence of a woman.  She amazes me with her beautiful voice and positive energy she brings into this world.

My Angels

December means Winter concerts in the schools.  We had the pleasure of going to Molly's 8th grade concert Monday night and she has another Dedicated Voices and Jazz band concert on Friday.  Molly sings in the chorus and also plays trombone.  Tonight was Jack and Tim's 5th grade concert.  Timmy plays the violin and Jack plays the tenor sax.  They both sing in the chorus.  It was a surprise to see that they had solo's tonight.  Unfortunately, we were sitting in the middle of the audience so I was unable to get them on film as they sang in the cafetorium.  Instead, when they got home, I stuck them in front of our undecorated tree and demanded a command performance!  Merry Christmas everyone.

Upcycling

Girl Scout cookies, Chickadees, and a crafty boy named Jack.

What happens when you combine three of my favorite things?

Upcycling at it's very best!

These sturdy Girl Scout cookie boxes make an excellent bird feeder that has withstood rain and even snow.

The birds love it!

And here's a tip, buy stock in scotch tape!