Graduation decorations - part 1

My oldest graduates from elementary school in just over a month and I have been hard at work getting things ready for the graduation.  I thought I would share some of the (very low budget) decorations as they could work well for any party, really.

Today: the cake table...

 I have been making multiple garlands to hang on the wall behind the cake table, as well as on the front of the table cloth so that the cake table will look more interesting from far away.  I printed huge letters on the computer (Times New Roman font if I remember correctly) and then cut them out from card stock and threaded them onto some butchers twine.

 

Then I tied a whole bunch of ribbons, tulle, fabric scraps and seam binding onto the twine.  Total time:  maybe half an hour?

I usually try to avoid the dollar store so that I am not tempted to pick up extra "stuff" but I do tend to go there when I need inexpensive craft supplies for an event at the school.  I was able to pick up bags of mini pom-poms, sorted by colour in each bag, for $1 a piece.  Each bag made one garland about 6 feet long (or so).

 Total time for each pom-pom garland: 15- 20 minutes - but it's fun and you can do it while checking over your kids' homework or something.

I also made a paper garland using squares cut from one of the "too-damaged to sell" books from the used book sale and some wrapping paper that I bought for the centerpieces.  Pretty self-explanatory from the pictures, but you just lay down a large square, squish on a blob of tacky glue, lay your twine over top, and then add another square over that.  I ended up gluing squares to the back too, just in case it tries to flip all over the place when hung on the wall - so I don't end up with a whole row of blah squares.  Total time:  probably close to an hour counting cutting and gluing time together.

The last garland is made of triangles of bristol board that I got from the school's supply room.  They are sewn on my sewing machine using the basting stitch.  I cut 4 2" strips from each colour of board and it made So.Much.Garland!  Note: use quilting thread or button thread for this one - and you will have to play around with the tension on your machine.  Total time for meters and meters of garland: probably 45 minutes.

This is a very rough sketch of what it will look like.  There will be three glass cylinders at the back of the table with a flower or a pinwheel inside and topped off with a paper lantern.  There will also be a row of small glass bottles along the back and each one will have one flower or leaf popped inside.  And of course, the cake and cupcakes.

Here's the cost breakdown:
3 paper lanterns that light up from the dollar store:  $1.00 each.
3 bags of pom-poms:  $1.00 each
The card stock, fabric scraps, glass bottles, and glass cylinders are all supplies from my house.  The flowers and leaves will come from my garden.  The bristol board was from the school.  The table cloth will be one of several I made for the school a few years back so they would stop buying and throwing away a dozen plastic tablecloths for each event.  All free.

Grand total: $6.00 - not counting the cake :)  I don't want to tally the time.

Sharing today at: Keep Calm Craft on over at Frontier Dreams. 
                          Ecokids Tuesday at Like Mama Like Daughter

Another, lighter sign

 

If you saw my post yesterday, I made a sign for upcoming craft shows...you know - to make my booth look at least a little bit the same from show to show.  I decided I needed a lighter one too - a sign that can be attached to my tablecloth or even hung on a wall behind my booth (ahh, the magic of duct tape).  I still need to iron it, obviously.

I put a piece of fabric on top of yesterday's sign and traced out the wording with a pencil.  Then I used a permanent marker to fill in the lettering.  ***I wanted to test out if I'm going to like this in my set up before investing the time to stitch one or quilt one - in hindsight, though, I don't know if the permanent marker will last or if it will just eat through the fabric***

I didn't have any interfacing, or quilt batting on hand...but I did have some felt.  Two layers are sandwiched in between the front and back of the sign.

 

I pinned the front and sewed it on alone so that I could make sure the writing was straight and centered.  Then I folded the edges of the back piece down and sewed in the groove to attach it on after.

It thought about adding grommets, or ribbons on the back for hanging it, but I decided not to add anything at all for attaching as I will probably be safety pinning it to my tablecloth.

The scraps I used (I cut up an old curtain liner) just happen to be almost the same colour as the paint on the wooden sign so I will be comfortable using both together or alternating them out depending on the situation.  Cost for sign #2:  also $0.00 - it's built of leftovers.

Do any of you do craft shows or have a market stall?  I'm wondering how other people display their brand.  Feel free to leave a link in the comments if you have one you would like to share.

Preparing for craft shows - Branding

I've decided that if I'm going to start doing more craft shows again, that I want to do it better this time around.  I've decided I need to do some "branding" so that people can recognize my booth from one show to another.  My first step was to make this sign...I had painted a scrap piece of wood to prop up on risers for a "second level" at my last pottery show, but it didn't really work as well as I thought it would.  So, in the interest of reusing things I have...I printed out my name (Edwardian Script is the font) as big as I could onto scrap paper, traced it with a pen to scratch it into the wood, and went over it with a permanent marker.  This has been on my to-do list for a while but I just wasn't getting around to it because I'm not that good with a paint brush.  Permanent marker made the job so so much easier.  I think this would work well for a market stall too, or a road side stand.  Total cost:  $0.00, since I had all the materials I needed.

Do any of you have some "branding" tricks for me that you are willing to share?

Linking up with: Keep Calm Craft On over at Frontier Dreams
                         Backyard Farming Connection, for the hop

PS:  For family who haven't been to my house in a while, that's the new paint colour in the front hall, up the stairs, and all the way down to the end of the upstairs hall.

Elementary school art show

For the past 4 years, the school has hosted an art show where all of the projects are made of recycled/repurposed/waste materials.  This year, it was a tight squeeze getting things done in time with the teacher's "work to rule" but it did happen after all.  I thought I would share some of the favourites.

First, some of the class projects:

 The grade 2 class made this wooden sculpture from scrap wood.  Each student took a turn attaching a piece at a time until it was finished.  From one side, it looked like a castle, from one side - a treehouse, and from one side - a sailboat. 

The kindergarten class contributed this wall art - it's made of some of their old art work, construction paper scraps from other classes and other bits that were in a box of scrap paper.  Most adults really loved this - I heard one say she would like to do something like this in her living room all in blues and greens.

The special needs class made these awesome puppets.  These were one of the biggest hits of the show.  The heads are made of leftovers from casts (the school is across the street from a hospital) that aren't used any more.

 For years I have been trying to get teachers to use the art show as part of their curriculum - not just art.  This year, the grade 5 teacher decided that the students should build models as part of their "Ancient Egypt" unit.  I love the pyramid in the bottom right corner made of brightly coloured cereal boxes...and you can't read the sign, but it says it is made by "Hunter the Great".  So awesome.

And for individual projects, some absolute gems:

This apple made from 2L bottles was brilliant! Grade 3 student I believe.

One of  the teachers made this paper sculpture from leftovers.  We can always count on her for a great origami project.

My nephew made this cardboard mounted deer head.  Lovely.

This one was intriguing.  It was a paper honeycomb sculpture inside the branch and hanging all around it were little bees made from greeting cards.  Everybody touched it.

And of course I have to include my boys' projects...S made the woven rug on the right.  It is made from cut up T-shirts and took him quite a while.  He keeps it ON his bed, so the cat will go sleep on it.

N made the felted mat and ball on the left.  We went to an open house at an alpaca farm last spring and he was horrified that they throw out the leg fiber when they shear them.  They gladly gave him a bag full which he felted, in the tub, with his bathing suit on, into this mat for the cat.  The cat loves it and it is keeping so much cat fur off our area rug.  There are plans for more of these.  The sad thing is that during the art show, he caught a group of kids trying to rip the yellow 'circles' off the top - hence, the kinda sad state which you may or may not see in the picture.

So, all told, the art show was a success.  We had more participation than ever before (I was so busy I only got pictures of a few of the projects) and there is even already talk about what to do next year.

Linking up with: Creative Friday at Natural Suburbia
Fiber Arts Friday at Wisdom begins in wonder because the boys' projects are all about fiber!
Ecokids Tuesday at Like Mama - Like Daughter  because this fits the hop so exactly.
homemade monday at Frugal by Choice - Cheap by Necessity 

Around the "farm"

The first harvest.  Oh how I love spring and the new flavours that come out one after the other.

 Crossing my fingers and hoping that we don't get a repeat performance of last year's tree fruit disaster.

 Admiring these tiny little daffodils that a creature planted for me.  I didn't think that squirrels usually messed with daffodils, but I have two little clumps of these tiny guys that I didn't plant...and I know it is squirrels I have to thank for the red tulips I didn't plant that they bring me year after year.

The boys have painted me some red rocks to mimic strawberries.  They are spread around our strawberry patch in the hopes that the birds will learn that "those red things aren't food".  Aaah, pinterest!  Here is the pin I found if you want to follow the links.

Stringing mini pom poms onto quilting thread.  It's for part of a backdrop at somebody's upcoming graduation.  There will be lots of posts on that coming in the next couple of months as yours truly is the decoration committee (that's code for "I get to do things my way").

...and playing around with some display ideas for my next craft show.  Here's a link

to information about the show and here is a link for their facebook page with last years' pictures.

What's happening around your "farm"?

Linking up with the Backyard Farming Connection for the hop

Tiny artwork

First, the background:  I am, and have been for a while, getting ready for the school's art show.  The point is for the students to make a piece of art using recycled/ upcycled materials.  Each year that I have run it, I have made name tags for the kids that are participating.  I was pretty stumped as to what to make this year that wouldn't be a repeat of the other years.

Yesterday, inspiration hit while I was sorting books for the used book sale that we are running with the art show...it always makes me sad when we get books so damaged we can't do anything with them but put them in the recycle bin...or can we?  I brought one home to play with.

I made myself a little cardboard template (from an old tissue box) to fit these little wooden rectangles that I have (left over from a game I made for the boys...my very first blog post ever actually).  The wooden pieces were just sliced from a random piece of wood in the scrap pile...just be sure to use solid wood and not plywood or MDF.

I used the cardboard template as a little "window" for choosing the pictures to cut from the book (by the way...there were pages missing, ripped pages and the cover was ripped off - I would not normally cut from a book...just sayin).

 I traced around my little window, cut it out with scissors...

 ...glued it to the wooden tile with Mod Podge and then painted another layer of Mod Podge on top.

 I drilled a hole through the top and laced a piece of ribbon through, but I'm not to pleased with the result.  I had planned on putting the kids' names on the back with "2013" but now I think they would look better as pins.

 I made a couple...

 Every other page was colour, every other page was black and white...

 Aren't they terribly cute?

I'm going to let each child and volunteer choose their own, the one that "speaks to them" and write their name on after.  I'm about half way done (I need about 40) but I have a sneaking suspicion that there will be more of these in my near future because I think they would make FANTASTIC gift tags...personalized to each gift I make.  In fact, I have a few pictures set aside for someone I know already...

Hint: you can use the title of the stories (this happened to be a book of fairy tales and folk tales) for individual words or initials.

So, name tags almost done AND made entirely of recycled/leftover materials.  Yippee.  I hope the kids like them...I know the volunteers will.

Linking up with: Keep Calm Craft On at Frontier Dreams
                         Homemade Monday over at Frugal by Choice, Cheap by Necessity
                         Hop 29 at the Backyard Farming Connection


 

I'm back...a pottery update

Some of you may have been wondering where I have been lately...

 I was getting ready for my first pottery show and sale as a member of the Sarnia Lambton Potter's Guild.

 Oh my goodness, it was so much fun...I want to do it again and again...

...but when I showed up, my table was looking rather picked over...so now I need to/get to make some more.  Yippee!

 

This little friendly guy is Jack...he lives at the greenhouse where we had our show.  He visited every last one of us I am pretty sure (we didn't put him there, he came to investigate on his own).

Coming soon, pictures of the other reason I have been away for so long.  We have been working hard getting ready for an art show and used book sale at the school my children attend.

 

visit to the art gallery

Better late than never, I suppose...the pictures from our visit to the art gallery in Toronto during the boys' March Break.

It was very interesting.  I hadn't been to an art gallery in years, and the boys have only each been once or maybe twice with class trips so I wasn't sure what to expect from them.  We ended up staying for 3 hours, and here are some of our favourites from the day:

 We started in the lower level, with the scale models of all different types of ships.  These were some of my favourites - turns out the ships the boys picked didn't show up on my camera (no flash allowed - so even though I took buckets of pictures, I have several you can't see a darn thing).

This was S's favourite painting - he likes modern/abstract...so not like me in just this one particular matter!  I apologize I cannot give credit where credit is due because I forgot to take a picture of the name and have forgotten it already.

N, being a boy, chose this as his favourite piece - of course...a bathroom made entirely of mesh screening.  Ditto over here with the credit.

 

We were all impressed by this piece by (Kori?) Newkirk.  Look closely...

...it's made of beads strung on synthetic hair.  Amazing.

There was an entire wall of these panels covered in spear heads and other tool pieces - the boys walked right past it at first, but then came back to look at individual pieces. 

The boys loved these (even though N walked right past them the first time too - he was having "issues" with paying attention...made by Karoo Ashevak.

For myself, I discovered a new-to-me artist:  Cornelius Krieghoff.  The details in his paintings (and there were many of them) were absolutely amazing!

 He painted scenes typical of the "Canadian" experience of the times...mostly Habitants and Native Americans - in the 1800s.  Plenty of winter, fall, and stomy scenes to choose from.

 Just look at that lantern...it was maybe 1/2" tall and looked exactly like a real tin lantern (although I couldn't capture it on film).

 

N liked all of the pieces that had "cracking ice" in them...and there were quite a handful of them.  I was trying to capture individual parts of the canvas rather than the whole piece at once...the costuming and details were so intricate-and the subject matter was right up my alley.  His focus was on everyday life.

On the whole, I was impressed with the gallery, and quite frankly I was surprised by how long we stayed.  I will be looking into more of that type of outing with the children in the future.