A new era of things lost and found

In my downtime during this Christmas break, and last summer, and last Christmas break, I have discovered a Pinteresting person inside me. Yes. Yes, I am that girl. I make stuff. And I want to show you the stuff I make. Whoooo, look at me be all artsy and.... and.... yeah! Buttons! Sponge art! Paper mache!

Ahem.

To the point, there is another part of me that loses things--I lose safety pins, and scrapbook paper, and whole barrels of beads and buttons. But I also find things. I find new things to make, easier ways to make old things, and rediscover love of certain crafts--like salt dough!

I'm not going to devote hours to showing you how to do things, at least I'm not that crazy yet, but I am going to put up pictures of my creations. If you're a TRUE creative person (like myself) you won't need directions. You'll look at it and say, "Psh, I can make that with my eyes closed." And I'll say, "You go, girl!" (or guy) because that's what it's all about. Artists steal each other's ideas all the time. So feel free to take my ideas and personalize them.

Here is my first example: Christmas Tag Banner/Garland

For this project I used:
-Red, green & white cardstock
-Rubber stamps (Note: ALL of my stamps come from the "value" section of craft stores. None of them cost more than $1.50.) Different stamps: "V" monogram, "be happy", bird, snowflake, various letters.
-Red, green, white and silver ink pads
-Craft paper punches (heart puch, fleur-de-lis punch)
-Approx. 6 yards (3 yards doubled over) of "hemp" craft twine
-Small-scallop craft scissors

This is the first of many crafty posts, I hope. I'll put more up soon, since I just made a bunch of shabby-chic Christmas ornaments yesterday.

The creative spirit runs free again

Some of you might be wondering, where have I been for the last several months? I know, I know--only 15 people "follow" my blog, and who could say if they actually read it? Nevertheless, there might be someone out there begging the universe to tell me of my whereabouts.

It would be simplest to say, "I've been student teaching," but it would not be an honest answer nor would it be simple because, of course, such an occupation hides a multitude of other situations and events which are probably all worthy of my blog and should be justified by having me write of them. So, to begin.

I have been reading books, such as:
Children of the River
An Ocean Apart, a World Away
The Breadwinner
Shabanu
Stepping on the Cracks
The View from Saturday

I have been designing creative, artistic writing lessons, which often include drawing.
I have been slowly re-learning everything there is to know about grammar. Like prepositions, fragmented sentences, and compound subjects--just to name a few.
I have been making friends with 94 sixth-graders, and a handful of teachers who love middle schoolers just as much as I do--or at least almost as much as I do.

In addition to all of that I have been sleeping very little and doing a lot of walking, talking, classroom-managing, field tripping, and grading. It's been an exhausting, exasperating, exhilarating adventure.

And now it's time to adjourn from this phase of my life, and move on to a more peaceful time. For now. In addition to that, I would also like to move my blog in another direction. See the next entry to discover what I mean by that statement. :)