Art journaling

I'm making a "52 things I love about you" book for my husband for his birthday... I got the idea today. His birthday is on 1st. As in first of October. As in five days. :-D

I'm mad.

I got a deck of cards, but I can't find my punch, so I can't punch holes in it, to bind it into a book.
I considered other binding options, but then I found an old calendar. It has some 60 pages, but that's fine, because I have more than 52 reasons why I love my husband. And that's just what I came to think about right now. I'm sure I have forgotten half of the reason why I love him :-D
THAT's not the problem here... the problem is... it's an old calendar.
It's like making an altered book.
It IS making an altered "book".
I need to cover the text on the pages...

Now... that's really not the problem either. Paint, paper, collage, stuff... it's relatively easy to find things to cover the pages with. The problem is that I have some 60 pages I need to cover, embellish and write in five days.

Oops...

I didn't think about THAT.

You see, had I used the deck of cards, I wouldn't have needed to cover the cards. Except that it's an old advertisement deck, so I need to cover the back of the cards anyway, but there's plenty of pretty and funny pictures around for that purpose. Also, it's easier to cover 52 separate cards than 60 pages of a book - the pages are bound together, so I cannot paint all of them at once, I need to wait for the first pages to dry before I can start covering the next page. Didn't think about that...

Perfect teacher gift?

Somebody came up with this "amazing" idea... you take crayon boxes (possibly empty, to keep the weight down), glue sticks, notebooks, post-its, index cards and tie these things on round tins (empty) and toilet paper rolls with pretty ribbons, and then decorate with pens. This is supposed to be a "great teacher gift".

Now, a teacher gift is a sign of your appreciation to what a teacher does for your child. "Teachers often don't get paid a lot for the tremendous effort they do each day"... so a teacher's gift is sort of a tip, gratuity or bonus.

Think you're a teacher. You love your job, you love the kids, you love teaching... you're the best teacher there is. Every year there's a load of gifts waiting for you. Some fancy, some expensive, most of it school supplies, apples or owls, because that's what people think are "great teacher gifts!" You are sort of waiting for something good... something one of these kids made him/herself, thinking of you... Perhaps you realized early on that people are going to give you owls, and you like owls, so you collect them.
Now, you come to the class room and see this...

It's extremely flashy, not the least personal and you will find it hard to give the things on it to the kids, because there is "21 boxes of crayons, 14 glue sticks, 12 notebooks, 4 composition books and 10 packs of index cards". You can't use the composition books, because they have been glued to a cardboard piece to be the base. You can't really use the crayons either, because they too have been glued on a tin, so if you try to take them off, they'll rip. Also - the instructions tell you to empty the boxes for weight... so - that's just decoration. You can't use the tins or toilet paper, because those have been hotglued together. There are not enough notebooks for the whole glass, and... frankly, the only thing you can do with this crap is to use it as school supply themed decoration, and who would want this in their home? Or even in the class room or teachers' lounge? To take space and collect dust? Great teacher's gift? Oh dear!

Also... how are you going to deliver this monstrosity? The first one was created for a teachers' meeting of some sort and given to one of the teachers as door prize. She/he then divided the items to his class. I hope there were not more than 12 kids in the class. But - if you are going to let your child give it to the teacher in class...er... talk about show-off. Do you really want your child to be bullied, and for something that is 100% impersonal, and practically useless, and will be remembered as one of the worst things the teacher ever got? And believe me... THAT is how the teacher will see this.
And how do you think the poor kids will feel? Or the kids with parents who don't care?
Oh, this must be the WORST teacher gift ever!

But - I fear a lot of teachers are going to get one... 82 pins and 195 repins... Oh dear.

Go here and read a bit about what really is a great teacher's gift.

I would knit my teacher a pair of socks and add a card my child made him/herself. Or then I'd give a box of cookies, again with a child-made card. Or any of the "canned gifts", naturally with a child-made card.

What would be a truly great idea is Christmas tree ornaments - if the teacher celebrates Christmas. If not, find out what she/he celebrates and let the child create an ornament fit for that holiday. If the teacher celebrates no holidays, make an ornament of his/her initial. Those are always nice.

I really like these woven hearts - if you want, you can fill it with candy, or even school supplies :-D
I like these "pretend stained glass" thingies :-) If you let the child draw the teacher, to be used as the image in the middle, your teacher will love it.

Pinterest inspiration and ideas

Things to do frame

- a cute frame to make - you can also blacken it with fire
- make your own mosaic frame with glass and pretty paper scraps

make ring storage box with old sweater

Paint chip calendar, wall art, matchbook notebooks of paint chips, paint chip bookmarks, boxes from paint chips, paper punch garland, other paint chip garland,  paint chip inchies,  and other things to do with paint chips.

New organizing uses for old things

Dyeing electric cords :-)

Festive Fall

I've found Pinterest... so much to look at, so inspiring, so much more things I want to try and experiment with and do and all that... *sigh*
For example this, this or this... and there's so much more in there! I have just began looking around!

Isn't life wonderful? Aren't human being amazing, creative creatures? Indeed the Creator has made us into Her image :-)

Anyway, here's "101 festive fall tutorials"