Dumpster Diving

When some neighbors moved away, a piece of wood sitting by their trash can called to me from across the street. It kept calling to me... until I heard the trash truck coming - and I hurried across the street in a mad panic to claim it. It then sat in my garage for awhile while I brainstormed ideas for it's use. It appears to be an old table top, warped on one side with circular sweaty glass rings. I put my art on the opposite side. This is what I landed on:

My youngest covered it with my help with bits of magazine pages, mod-podged all over. I then bought stickers at the Dollar Store... and layed them down, in my quote of choice. We spray-painted the whole thing white and then lifted the stickers back off to reveal the colors beneath. I sanded the whole thing slightly to reveal a bit of texture... and left the sides unpainted. We hung it up in the stairway landing that goes to my kids bedrooms. That hallway has become a gallery of their art... enhanced by this.

2012 Class Auction Project

I accepted the assignment of creating my daughters 2nd grade class auction project last year. Almost a year later, I still love our project and need it stored somewhere for easy access. Now, when asked for photos and insights -- this will be easier to share than searching my photo archives and verbally rambling on about it...

To create this: The kids voted as a class on their favorite quote from options I provided. We ended up blending two quotes with the top votes - because they went so well together. I spent many hours at the top of a very tall ladder issuing instructions to wiggly kids down below (that didn't always recall which appendage might be right or left). My models loved the experience as much as I did though. My daughter is the letter "R," which required we creatively lengthen her left leg by sliding her boot down her foot a bit.

In art class, the kids created 6" x 6" art squares in patterns of their choice, with black sharpie outlining. I then cut these down to star shapes which I layered and layered upon themselves with other embellishments: wire, brads, circles, etc. to create the border. I printed all the photos on matte paper and cut around the little bodies/letters. The letters were stuck to a black matte board with scrapbooking glue dots. The kids signed the back of the frame and were so, so proud. As was I. At the auction, my husband got a little overzealous on driving the bids up. Accidentally, he bought it!! We ended up gifting it to my daughter's classroom and the kids loved that they could see it the remainder of the year.