Oooooo, Owls!

During the month of October we covered the letter "O" in our preschool curriculum, so our theme for that week was "Owls." This was a fun theme in general, but it was also perfect for the week before Halloween, as owls are enchanting and they play well in spookier themes.

Any time we have such a specific theme, though, Art becomes a little more challenging because I have to generate a lot of variety around one animal. The upside, however, is that we get to go more in-depth with each project and explore Owls in more detail! Here are the projects we did:

Our first project was "'O' is for Owl." We started by tracing and cutting a large white letter O and then we used dot-markers to cover the O in polka dots (sort of a play on a Spotted Owl.) Then the kids glued the forehead feathers, the yellow eyes, and the feet onto their O. Last, they used the markers to put the pupils into the large eyes.

Our next project was a "Texture Owl," and obviously the point of this project was to explore texture. While feathers are an obvious choice for any type of bird, torn up scraps of paper allowed the kids to have some fine-motor practice tearing, and they were just a nice change-up to the project. I cut out all the body background pieces from black paper, and the kids ripped up and glued scraps of brown craft paper to the background to cover it. They glued the eyes, the beak, the feet, and then they glued the entire owl onto a small crooked paper tree branch. Again, we used dot-markers for the pupils. 

Our last project was easel painting! We painted a large owl, but with a twist: "Hands Owl-Over." That's right, we used our hands to create a feathery texture on the owl after we painted. First, I helped each child paint the outline of the body and wings, then they filled in the body with brown paint. Next, I went around and painted their hands brown, and they used their hands to press and stamp their owl's body and create texture in the paint that looked like feathers. Last, they painted the eyes, the beak, and the feet on their owls. As you can see, some of the kids kept their hands entirely inside the outline, and some touched around the edges to make their owls look "fluffy."

Each week we do a cooking project centered on our theme. This week's snack was "Owl Snack." We spread marshmallow fluff over a whole graham cracker (to be the head). Then they took two banana slices and placed those on the fluff as the eyes, they placed raisins over the bananas as the pupils, and they placed one last raisin at the bottom of the cracker to be the beak. I always make a snack along with them to show them how to make it, and to model trying new foods-- this snack was pretty good!

For our afternoon language lessons, we focused on what owls eat, where they live, and we also learned that owls are nocturnal. The kids were excited to know that owls sleep while we're at school, and they wake up and fly around at night. The best part, as a teacher, was having the kids run up to me later in the week during recess and remind me that "right now the owls are sleeping because it's daytime!" Lesson to self: never assume kids are too young to understand! Seeing them wrap their brains around the concept of nocturnal animals was awesome, and we had fun making a list of all the other nocturnal animals we could think of!

These projects made for a perfect "Owls" week, but you can, of course, fit any of them into your "Forest animals" or "Birds" units. Happy teaching!

Sometimes I Even Sleep!

My, oh, my! It was been a long time since I've posted; this Fall has been a whirlwind, and lately I've been focusing a lot of my time and energy on my Etsy shop, Made In Flight. I started making things for the shop back in April and it's been growing slowly, but surely, ever since. (Let's not forget that our household must survive on a teacher's and a pilot's salary-- extra income is always good!) And since this is my blog and it's a post about the letter "E" theme at school, I will now shamelessly plug my Etsy shop (see what I did there?) here on my blog:

Made In Flight

Alright, now back to my actual post!

A few weeks ago at school our theme was "Easy E." This theme was particularly challenging as the art teacher because I wanted to give the kids variety and avoid the usual "elephant" crafts that we did last year in the 3-year old program. However, I overcame the challenge and actually had a blast coming up with our art for the week! Hopefully all you fellow teachers out there will find something new and different to add to your "E" curriculum. Check out the projects below!

Our first project was an Eskimo. The kids assembled all the pieces with glue, and got a little fine motor practice by stretching cotton balls for the coat edging before gluing those on as well.

Next we made an egg! The kids traced the egg shape on their paper, cut it on the line, and then used plastic Easter eggs to paint their paper eggs. They rolled and stamped however they wanted with whatever colors they wanted to decorate their eggs. 

Our third project was "Eerie Eyes". The kids traced their eyes and cut them out, colored them, and glued them in place on their papers. Very simple, but a lot of fine motor practice.

Our last project was an "Evening Sunset" (this was a fun way to teach the kids about time as well). For this project, I outlined the setting sun with a yellow marker beforehand. The kids then used 5 colors of paint to blend their sunset color gradient. It was really fun to watch them discover how layering colors can create a whole, cohesive picture.

"E" was definitely a fun week for us; I hope you'll find something here to make your "E" week more fun, too! 

And now, time to return to the hurricane of laundry, cooking, working, making stuff for my shop, working on Christmas gifts, staying sane (maybe)....

Fall Leaves and Firetrucks

If you teach, you understand that August and September are a very dizzying blur filled with excitement, to-do lists, and a little bit of nausea. The first few weeks of school are a swirl of lesson planning and acclimating to new classes and new goals! While I haven't had much time to capture pictures of all of our projects so far, I did (somehow) remember to snap a few of the most recent themes we've taught in our 4-year old classes. We have done 5 themes so far, including "Leaves and Trees" and "Fire Safety"; below are some art projects I did in my class that worked out very well. I had fun planning them, and the kids had even more fun putting them into action!

My favorite project from "Leaves and Trees" was when we made a tree using a "leaf painting" technique. For this project the kids had to trace their tree using a stencil (unfortunately most of them thought it was a mushroom, but come on-- they're four! I wanted to make the tracing and cutting simple.) After they cut out their tree they used brushes that had been fitted with faux leaves to paint their trees yellow, orange, and red.

Here are the brushes (I just attached the leaves with masking tape, and then threw them out after class):

My two favorite projects from "Fire Safety" were the firetruck we made, as well as the fire hose.

For the firetruck, the kids had to trace their truck and cut it out. We used bottle caps (from soda and water bottles) for the wheels, I cut and drew ladders beforehand, and they used large flat sequins for the lights. After all that they drew a window on the front of the truck.

For the fire hose (and this was a VERY fun project), we used toilet paper rolls, crepe streamers, scrap fabric, and duct tape! To start, the kids stuck small pieces of duct tape all over their TP rolls to make the nozzle. Then I had squares of red fabric for each hose; I helped them wrap long pieces of duct tape over the fabric to attach it to the nozzle. Last, they glued scraps of blue crepe streamers inside the other end of the nozzle to look like water spraying out. They loved, LOVED "spraying" their fire hoses all over the room to put out imaginary fires.

Hopefully these ideas are helpful additions to your Fall curriculum-- happy teaching!

(Early) Fall Food

Today is the first day of September, which means, to me, it's the first day of Fall! Now, I realize that Fall doesn't officially begin for another 20 days, and I also realize that Oklahoma weather does not care about my idea of Fall-- it will be in the mid-90's for the rest of the week. However, September is my birthday month, and Fall is my favorite season, so I have officially declared today the first day of my personal Fall.

In that spirit, I want to share a couple of recipes I have recently tried out that are full of flavor and Fall-ishness. These are both incredibly easy recipes, and the best part is how impressive and delicious they are.

The first incredible dish I want to share is my Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie recipe.

The first step in this recipe is to let go of the need to be fancy, and buy a pre-made pie crust. That's right, I said it. No need to put that much work into this pie-- it's delicious with even the simplest of crusts.

You'll also need:
3 cups of chopped fresh rhubarb
3 cups sliced strawberries
1 tbsp lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
pinch of salt
2 tbsp butter cut into small pieces

First, preheat your oven to 400. Place the first pre-made pie crust into your pie pan and prick with a fork all over. This is essential to having a crispy crust on the bottom.

Combine the fruit, sugar, lemon, zest, flour, and salt in a bowl. Fold well to combine. Pour the filling into the crust and top with the small pieces of butter. These will melt and create a savory mess of deliciousness once you eat the pie.

For your top crust, you can keep it simple and place the entire thing on top (just be sure to create some vents), or you can get a little fancy and use a pizza cutter to cut your crust into strips, and then layer them to make a lattice topping.

Once your pie is assembled, pop it in the oven for 20 minutes, then reduce your heat to 350 and bake for another 25 minutes. (If your crust starts to get too brown, top with foil.) Before serving, allow the pie to cool for at least 2 hours so the filling will thicken.


Now, for the second recipe: Pumpkin Breakfast Cake

This is a delicious and guilt-free treat for your crisp Fall mornings. The secret is that this is actually an Angel Food Cake that's just been taken higher into Heaven by adding a little pumpkin!

The recipe for this cake could not be any easier. All you need is:

1 box Angel Food Cake mix
1 can pureed pumpkin
2 tbsp ground cinnamon

To bake, you can either use a bundt cake pan, or a rectangular cake pan. I tend to use the rectangular pan because it's easier to cover and clean.

Simply follow the directions on the box of Angel Food Cake mix, and before you pour the batter into the pan, fold in the can of pumpkin and cinnamon. One step I definitely recommend is to whisk the batter for another minute or so after you have folded in your last two ingredients; this way your cake will stay fluffy, and it'll break up any stubborn clumps of cinnamon. Pour the batter into the pan and bake as the box says.

Allow the cake to cool for at least 2 hours before you cut and serve. Eric and I especially like to eat our pieces warmed up and topped with a small drizzle of honey.


Hopefully these recipes will get you just as excited for Fall as I am! Enjoy!

Dream Wedding (on a not-so-dreamy budget)

Eric and I were so lucky that our wedding ran pretty much perfectly. We had the setting we wanted, we had the decor and outfits we wanted, our families and friends were all in good spirits, the food was wonderful, and even the weather (finally) cleared up for the big event! But planning the wedding was certainly a bit of a challenge, considering he is a pilot on first-year pay and I'm a preschool teacher.

However, considering the average American wedding costs around $25,000 (someone get me a resuscitator!), I'm betting that many, MANY couples can relate to our plight. In that spirit, I am super excited to share a few ideas that we used to save a lot of money, and still create the wedding we had both imagined!

Before we started buying or committing to anything, Eric and I sat down and wrote up a list of our must-haves. I think this is absolutely a critical starting point for any couple planning a wedding, because the reality is you're just simply not going to be able to get or find everything you had in mind. For one thing, your wedding involves another person with their own specific ideas about what they want-- chances are, you two are not going to agree on absolutely everything! Eric went into our wedding planning with some very formal expectations; I went into it with visions of an outdoor party. Making a list of our must-haves helped us to find a happy middle ground. It also helped us prioritize the things we really wanted and were willing to pay top dollar for, and figure out the other areas where we could cut back or cut out completely.

Here is our list of money-saving ideas!
(Disclaimer: We were very lucky and very blessed to get a lot of help from our parents when it came to dinner, music, and flowers.)

• We bought simple DIY invitations at Target. To dress them up, I downloaded a few free fonts (there are literally millions online) and combined them to make a customized layout.

• I bought a pre-owned wedding dress for less than $250; my parents bought my veil new as a gift for the wedding. Instead of shelling out for Spanx, I bought off-brand shapewear at a discount store for about $10! My shoes were on sale at DSW-- I got a pair of heels and a pair of flats for about $60 total (and no one could tell the difference!)
  
  
  
• The bridesmaids wore adorable Lauren Conrad dresses from Kohl's (about $30) and chose their own shoes and jewelry; the groomsmen wore ivory shirts from Kohl's (on sale for about $10) and we gave them ties to match the dresses that were also from a department store, on sale. Since our wedding was outdoors in May in Oklahoma, they only had to rent pants!
  
  
  
• I stamped and filled small envelopes from the craft store and filled them with wildflower seeds as our wedding favor.
  
• Our cake fed 100 people and it was gorgeous. By choosing a simple design and a classic filling, we spent less than $400 on the cake, including tax and delivery!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• We got our flowers from the local grocery store; I chose wildflowers that were in season, and for all the bouquets, boutonnieres, flowers for the table, and flowers for the cake, we paid less than $600! We arranged the table flowers ourselves, using mismatched vases that I picked up from my mom's house (we cleaned out her cabinets), my school, and bought from the dollar store. I also saved pasta and jam jars and mixed those in for even more variety.
  
• Instead of renting table cloths and worrying about cleaning fees, I bought large lengths of fabric at the craft store (ONLY when on sale or with a coupon) and cut it myself with pinking shears. We safety-pinned it to the plain white tablecloths the venue supplied and created plenty of color and pizazz; as an added bonus, we donated the fabric to the venue so we didn't have to worry about cleaning up! We topped the tables with the vases and some small votives from the craft store (again, bought with a coupon.)
  
  
  
  
• One of the greatest money-saving blessings was that we had was on our photography. We had 2 (TWO!) photographers at our wedding-- both were family members who did impeccable work for free. We got the photos we wanted and we were able to include those family members in some moments they might have missed out on otherwise.
  
• Another fun thing we did for the wedding was to create an activity book for the kids. In hindsight this was actually unnecessary because the kids had a blast dancing and running around the grounds, but we wanted to make sure that everyone who came would have a good time, or at least have something fun to stay occupied. I found several websites that offered free puzzle-makers, and I made a maze, a crossword, and a word search-- all customized for our wedding and family. I also found some coloring pages to add to the book. I just printed the books at home and stapled them together! We also made sure to ask every restaurant we went to if they wouldn't mind donating some crayons to our wedding-- every single place gave us handfuls! The books were totally free! I set them up in baskets from the dollar store, right next to the guest book.
  
  
  
  
  

• The last thing I did before the wedding was make some fun t-shirts for our honeymoon flight the next day! Eric and I left the morning after the wedding for our honeymoon out to Hawaii, and I wanted to travel in style and embrace the cheesiness-- so we wore "Mr" and "Mrs" t-shirts with our wedding date. I designed and created the shirts myself! We got a lot of "congratulations!" at the airport, a few perks on the airplane (including free champagne), and even an upgrade on our rental car! It made our honeymoon experience even more fun and special, and of course, the best part was traveling with my "Mr." (And now, in a shameless plug, you can order a set of your own wedding/honeymoon shirts from me at my Esty shop, MadeInFlight. There is a link at the top of your screen!)

Hopefully these ideas have been helpful for those of you who are planning a wedding. We had a blast planning ours, and everyone had a great time that evening! Regardless of whether you're planning a laid-back celebration or an extravagant affair, keep in mind these two things:
1. Something WILL go wrong-- and you'll have an amazing night anyway.
2. This day is about your love with this one person, in this one life, forever. At the end of the night, that's all that matters!

A Husband-Cooked Meal

One of my favorite things about Eric is that the man can cook. He knows how to make everything, and it's always good, always impressive, and I'm always asking him to cook me something else! A couple of weeks ago he made one of my favorites from the Eric Recipe Files-- Roasted Chicken.

This recipe is one of my favorites because it's easy, it's delicious, inexpensive, and it makes for terrific leftovers. We used the leftover chicken in our Chicken Spaghetti and it took it to a whole new level.

To make a roast chicken I recommend a few essentials: a large roasting pan lined with foil, more foil to cover the chicken to keep it from getting too crisp, and a beer can stand to set up the chicken-- EVEN if you don't use beer! It's just a very handy way to keep your chicken stable and keep the moisture in while it cooks.

To start, you'll need a whole chicken, cleaned out and patted dry (inside and out). Preheat your oven to 450.

Season the chicken to your liking; we use a mix of salt and pepper, BBQ dry rub, rosemary, and garlic powder.

Salt and pepper the inside of the chicken, and stuff with a few cloves of smashed garlic, an onion cut into small sections, a lemon, and a few sprigs of parsley and sage if you have them.

Tuck the wings under the breast so they don't burn, and get the legs as close together as you can; if you can tie them together, that's even better.

Roast the chicken at 450 for about 30 minutes. Then turn the temperature down to 425 and continue to roast for another 30-40 minutes until you get an internal temperature of 165 (this is a good time to add any white wine or lemon juice to the pan that you may want for extra flavor and juiciness.) Be sure to check the chicken toward the end of the roasting period and cover with foil if needed to prevent the skin from getting too brown.

After you pull the chicken, allow it to rest for at least 10-15 minutes before you serve.

And that's it! 

Serve with your favorite sides (we made sweet potatoes with extra butter and brown sugar) and a fresh salad, and you'll have a very easy meal that will impress just about anyone. Including your very high maintenance wife (thanks, honey!) Enjoy!

First Married Fourth

It's been 2 1/2 months since my last post-- eek! In my defense, the last 2 1/2 months have been quite possibly the busiest in my life! Let's see if we can figure out what was eating up so much of my time...

I finished up my first year of teaching.
I got married.
I went on my honeymoon.
I came back to start up my second year of teaching.
I got the apartment cleaned up and updated with all of our new gifts.
I started up a side business on Etsy.
I can't get enough of my husband!

Yup, it's been busy! I am planning to post many pictures and ideas from our wonderful wedding as soon as I can; until then, I am going to share a totally unrelated, absolutely delicious recipe I just tried!

In honor of the holiday, I made a special breakfast for Eric and me. Of course, it had to be red, white, and blue. I made a delicious, sweet, and syrupy fruit crisp. Try the recipe below!

You'll need:
2 cups strawberries, hulled and cut into chunks
1 cup blueberries
1 cup blackberries
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup rolled oats or oat flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter, melted

First, preheat your oven to 350, and have a 2-quart baking dish ready.

To make the filling, combine all your fruit, the lemon zest and juice, and 1/4 cup sugar together in a bowl. Pour the filling into the baking dish and set it aside.

For the topping, combine the remaining ingredients in a bowl, making sure you stir well to mix the butter in evenly. Spoon the crumb mixture over the top of the crisp.

Bake the crisp for 35 minutes. You can serve it hot or cold, for breakfast, or with ice cream for dessert!

Go ahead and enjoy; I'll be posting more soon!

Eating on the Fly

Eric and I are always looking for new ideas for his lunchbox. Buying food at the airport is always expensive, and many times the options are limited, especially if he's flying late at night. Living on pilot and teacher salaries, we are constantly working to save money. Figuring out how to pack healthy, inexpensive, and filling foods for his trips has been challenging, but there are some tried and true standbys we have come to love over the last couple of years.

The two greatest challenges to overcome with Eric's lunchbox are space and heat (either the challenge is to pack foods that may not require a microwave, as not all hotels have one in the room, or to pack foods that don't necessarily need to be kept cold, as his days can be upwards of 14 hours long). I scoured the internet a few weeks ago looking for suggestions and ideas for healthy meals for pilots, but there was a remarkable silence on the subject. SO, I decided to offer up my tiny reservoir of ideas, especially to other women and men out there who are trying to feed hungry pilots!

There are some foods that are pretty obvious choices: crackers, nuts, snack/meal bars, fruit cups, chips, oatmeal and ramen (both can be cooked on the plane using hot water from the coffeemaker), muffins, breads (we love banana and zucchini-pumpkin), and cookies.

But let's face it, those foods get tiresome quickly, and they don't necessarily make up a filling meal. So we have come up with a list of other foods and ideas that work well:

• leftover pastas and casseroles, which I freeze rock solid before a trip so they will keep cold during flight
• cheese sticks, mini cheese wedges, individual guacamole cups and tortillas
• sometimes Eric will carry a jar of peanut or almond butter and sandwich bread for a cheap lunch
• individual microwave meals that don't need to be kept cold, such as Velveeta skillets mini-meals
• chicken salad (frozen for travel) and tortillas, to make wraps
• burritos (the possibilities here are endless!)

I want to share my recipes and ideas for burritos with you, as these come in handy for anyone who eats on the go, even if it means heating up your lunch at the office!

I have made two varieties of burritos so far, breakfast and chicken, but I plan to make some beef and even some pork burritos in the next batch. These work so well because you can pack many different flavors and food groups into a small package that travels and heats well, and they are so inexpensive to make!

For Eric's breakfast burritos, I diced and fried some potatoes, sauteed some onions, bell peppers, and jalapenos (he likes a lot of heat!), I cooked up some chorizo sausage, and scrambled some eggs. I put a spoonful of everything onto a tortilla and topped it with shredded cheddar cheese.

I was able to make a dozen burritos using only 6 eggs, 4 potatoes, 1 jalapeno, half each of an onion and bell pepper, and 1 cup of cheese. Like I said, these are inexpensive! Eric usually fills up on two of these burritos, and I just use the medium-sized tortillas.

To finish assembling the burritos, I wrapped each one in plastic wrap (to keep them from getting freezer burn, and to make them more transportable) and then stored them in the freezer in a gallon Ziplock. When he's packing his lunch, he just grabs a few and tosses them in the lunchbox.

I made a batch of chicken burritos, too, and the timing was perfect, as I had some leftover refried beans and some leftover fresh corn and salsa. To make the chicken burritos, I put some shredded chicken, beans, corn, salsa, cilantro, onions, jalapenos, and cheddar cheese in a tortilla and wrapped it up! Again, I was able to get about a dozen burritos out of 2 chicken breasts. That's 6 meals!

Knowing that Eric is eating real, healthy, whole food while he's away AND is not having to spend any money to do it is comforting to me. I may not be a traditional home-cooked housewife, but I do want to know that my almost-husband is being taken care of, even while he's working.

Hopefully this post has been helpful in providing some ideas for on-the-go lunches and snacks, especially for pilots!

Spacing Out

We just finished a unit on Outer Space-- this is probably one of my favorites so far this year. It's pretty easy to keep the attention of 3-year olds when you're talking about spaceships and aliens!

This post will be short and sweet. It's all about the resources, people!

We kicked off the week with our alphabet craft; this week it was the letter X, so we made a xylophone. The kids cut out a construction paper strip, then covered it with foil to add some interesting texture. Then they were responsible for ordering the colored bars from largest to smallest and gluing them in place. Last, they attached the xylophone stick, made from a popsicle stick and a pom-pom. 

We made a spaceship as well. The kids cut out the body of the ship, then they glued on the triangle base pieces and the top. They colored the flames and glued those on as well. They finished the ship by sticking some shiny star stickers on it.

Next we made planet Earth. The kids cut out the circle and glued it to their “space” paper. Before we started, I cut out some continent-like shapes and laminated them so we could reuse them for each child. The last step was for the kids to sponge-paint around the shapes to create the ocean and the continents on the paper.

Last, we made the moon. The kids painted on the easel and glued “craters” to the surface.

Another fun activity I found online was a printable mini-book. The kids used their imaginations and created their own planet, complete with their own drawings. They named it and included details about the planet's happenings. This was a terrific way to work in some emergent literacy. You can find the book here.

Monkey Business

To wrap up the Winter season and get ready for Spring we did a unit on Monkeys and Gorillas. It could also be considered a Zoo unit, but for Art I tried to focus on just monkeys and gorillas. It was a pretty fun week. We made a gorilla (the kids cut out the face, painted the head, then glued the face on top of the head, and used Q-tips to paint the nose and the furrowed brow); a puppet set to go along with the song “5 Little Monkeys” (the kids made an alligator puppet from a paper sack, then glued pre-printed monkey cutouts to popsicle sticks); and we also made a monkey and a jungle, both of which are pictured below.

To go along with the unit, my classroom centers included a zoo puzzle, a banana file folder game to practice counting, and my sensory table had a base of beans & noodles with some small plastic zoo animals and nets thrown in.

One of the best parts of the week was an afternoon language activity we did where the kids got to act out a story we read. They loved it so much we actually ended up doing it again later in the week with a different story. The first story we did was 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. This was a very easy activity, since the story is extremely simple and repetitive. First I read the story to the group, then I chose 5 kids to be monkeys, and the others got to be the doctors. The kids acted out the story as I read it aloud again. They had a blast getting to jump up and down and shake their fingers at each other (in a friendly way). The second story we did was a bit more challenging for the kids, as it was longer and had a lot more detail. We read and acted out Caps for Sale. While we definitely had fun, I would recommend doing this only with a small group of 3-year olds, or saving it for an older age.

Monkeys and Gorillas is a pretty open theme; there are endless opportunities for pretend play, and the art projects were all unique; but hands down, my favorite thing was watching the kids get so into the stories we read. Letting them play around and act like monkeys was fun, but seeing them comprehend and recall the story plot was very satisfying as a teacher. At 3, it's not always easy for kids to recall the details or sequence of a story, especially if it's something that doesn't interest them, so acting it out and letting them be loud and playful was a cool way to encourage their learning.

...Plus, I got to jump around and act like a monkey, too!

Where You Go, I Will Go

We live a somewhat uprooted life. At the moment, we are lucky enough to live at home in Tulsa, close to friends and family. But I have no illusions about Eric's job. Most likely, we will move at least once over the course of our lives together in order to accommodate his lifestyle. Moving across the country is not anything new to me; I just moved back “home” from Chicago, after all. But that was for school, and I always grew up knowing that I would live away from home in order to get a degree. Moving away from home as an adult for a job is a relatively new idea for me. I never imagined that I would live away from my parents and siblings; it was never something I desired.

But as we settle into Eric's job at ExpressJet, it's a reality that I'm not only accepting, but I'm growing more and more comfortable with. You see, living across the country from my family used to seem isolating and scary. But living across the country with Eric seems exciting and full of possibility. And as we have promised each other to spend as much of this life together as possible, moving has become an opportunity for our (upcoming) marriage to flourish.

To remind myself of these things, and to remind myself of what unconditional devotion means, I created and hung this piece of art on our wall, right next to where Eric's suitcase sits when he's home. I designed the text, then downloaded a free banner and printed the whole thing on cardstock. The backing is scrapbook paper, and I got the frame at a garage sale for $2.

Feel free to download the print as a pdf here and print it out from your computer!

Gallery Wall

Making our apartment homey is an ongoing project, that has mostly consisted of planning and planning... and planning. Being on a budget makes it extremely tricky to actually purchase what I want, and it makes me more hesitant—I want to be sure that whatever I spend my money on is actually worthwhile. After months of thinking and planning and looking around, the most recent addition to our place is our mini-gallery.

Before we added the frames and the “G”s, this wall was pretty bare, and I wasn't sure what to do to make it seem warmer. I had seen a lot of different gallery walls online, and after a lot of back-and-forth I settled on the idea of our (soon-to-be) last name initial. I also wanted to avoid making the gallery seem too stiff, and I wanted to keep the possibility of vintage prints and keepsakes, so I decided to add a couple of silhouettes I had cross-stitched.

I found the Scrabble “G” and the metal “G” at Hobby Lobby on sale. The tan “G” was just a chipboard letter I found for less than a dollar and painted. I also painted the top right “G” on a canvas frame I found on sale. Hopefully in the near future I will find a few small prints to add to the open spaces (I would especially love some vintage airplane prints), but for the most part the wall is complete!

Raising the Next Generation of Pilots

We just finished up a unit called “Flying Transportation” this past week. This was a theme I obviously enjoyed very much. The kids already love anything having to do with airplanes, and it was fun to see them learn about several other ways to fly through the sky. I especially enjoyed finding ways to explain how planes fly, how the different parts of the airport function, and what the pilots do-- all on a 3-year old level. Of course, the art was fun, too. We made an airplane, a parachute, a helicopter, and a hot-air balloon.

We made the airplane with a clothespin, 2 popsicle sticks, and a few pieces of paper. Each child cut out their cloud and glued it to their paper. Then they colored the popsicle stick wings. They glued one wing to the paper, then glued the clothespin on top, then attached the other wing. The last step was to glue the tail to the back of the clothespin. 

We used marble-painting to make the hot-air balloon. I cut out the balloons ahead of time, and then each child had a turn to put their balloon into a shallow tub. I splattered the paint on the paper, then they tilted the tub back and forth, side to side, to make the marbles roll through the paint several times. After they were done painting, they glued on the paper “ropes” and basket. Of all the projects we did this week, it seemed they enjoyed this one the most. 

Snow Days

For our first week back at school our theme was Snow, which was fitting considering we came close to having a snow day our first day! This theme was particularly fun for me because it presented so many opportunities to make Art a sensory experience for the kids. We used puffy paint, sponge-paint with stencils, we explored vertical drips with glue, and we used several textures to create our snowmen. I wanted to share two of my favorite (and more importantly, two of the kids' favorite) art projects from this week.

The first one was “Snow Tracks”, inspired by the book The Snowy Day.

For this project, I mixed up puffy paint (1 part glue, 1 part shaving cream, and just a tad of white tempera). The kids painted their entire paper with the paint first. Then I had a bowl full of objects for them to drag through their “snow” to create different shapes and textures, like combs, golf tees, and straws. They had free reign over how they wanted to use each object. What was fun was seeing how differently they all used the objects.

The second project we did that I loved was “Snowflake”.

This was a practice in understanding stenciling, a concept which is tough for 3-year olds to get. Many of them painted on the stencil, expecting that to be their final product. It took quite a bit of prodding to get them to paint around the edges of the stencil, but it was a great exercise. For this project I created simple 6-armed stencils with construction paper which I “laminated” in masking tape so they wouldn't get too soggy after being used by 35 kids! Then I let each child choose where they wanted me to place 6 small pieces of masking tape to secure the stencil-- this made each snowflake (proverbially) unique. Then the kids used sponge brushes to paint in blue, white, and purple. They loved getting to mix up the colors, and getting to paint with something other than a brush.

I hope these are useful ideas for your winter plans, either at school or at home with the tiny humans!

(Belated) Christmas How-To

This Christmas I gave homemade hot chocolate for the second year. Last year it seemed to be a hit, so I decided to do it again, but I also wanted to step it up a notch. So I added very cute (and yummy) peppermint marshmallows!

This was probably one of the easiest homemade gifts I've ever given, but that doesn't mean it wasn't also delicious (I may have taste-tested one or four times...) If you want to give it a try, here's what you'll need:

An empty glass jar (I just saved my pasta jars, washed them, and used Goo-Gone to get rid of the sticky label stuff on the outside)

1 cup baking cocoa

1 cup sugar

1 cup powdered milk

½ tsp salt

Jumbo marshmallows (I put 4-6 in each bag)

chocolate chips for melting

crushed peppermint candies

To make the cocoa I just layered the powder ingredients in the glass jar. I glued cute paper to the lid to make it festive and attached the recipe:

“Add 1 cup hot water to 1/3 cup mix”

If you're like me you can add ½ cup mix.

To make the marshmallows, I melted the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl in 20-second increments to make sure it didn't burn. Then I rolled a marshmallow in the chocolate, and then rolled it in the crushed peppermints. I set the marshmallows on a chilled plate to set, then packed them in these handy-dandy treat bags I found on sale!

The end result was very cute:

Sip-tastic!

Here is another simple project I did to perk up the apartment: a coffee/drink station!

I had seen a few ideas on Pinterest of how to set up a station like this, so I used what I had. The shelf unit is from Target; I got it in Chicago to add a little counter space to my 30 sq. ft kitchen. Now it sits just outside the kitchen here in Tulsa, next to the small dining nook. There are hooks on the left of the shelf unit that I use to hang mugs, and there is also a small box of mugs on the middle shelf. The bottom shelf is where I store pitchers and our tiny stock of rum and scotch. The top shelf houses the coffee maker, as well as a small basket with a kitchen towel (for spills) and our coffee. It's a great way to free up space in the kitchen.

To hang over the shelf unit, I found a small knick-knack shelf at a thrift store and painted it with acrylic paint. I replaced the original wooden knobs with cute vintage-y ones from Hobby Lobby. To redo the whole shelf cost $8. I found the “G” at Michael's and just painted it a bright color with acrylic paint, and I cross-stitched the caption in the frame, which I also painted. The saying says “C is for Coffee”-- simple, cute, and cozy. 

What I aimed for with this station was a balance between storage and appearance. We have a much larger kitchen here than we did in Chicago, but counter and cabinet space is still precious, so this was a great way to open up the storage a bit more. Every little bit helps me feel closer to living in a finished, comfortable home!

It Has Great Bones

Moving to Tulsa from Chicago presented a slue of logistical and practical challenges, the largest one being a lack of furniture. Over the last few months, Eric and I have slowly been accumulating pieces in order to fill the apartment and allow us to stop living out of boxes (we're down to 2!) My goal was to find cute furniture for as little cost as possible; in other words, I knew I was going to be hunting through consignment stores and painting things myself. Here is one piece that I'm particularly proud of:

I found this little accent table at a consignment shop in town for $20. What I liked about it most was the simple finish it had when I bought it (easy to paint) and the great design of the legs. I like having different shapes and textures throughout the apartment, and the curved legs and rounded surfaces helped to balance out the straight edges of other pieces in the living room.

To redo this piece, I started by lightly sanding each shelf. Then I applied two coats of Zinnser Primer. This stuff sticks to everything, but I found that it sticks best after a piece has been sanded. I didn't have to sand anything very thoroughly, just enough to put a little scrape on the surface. 

Then I used Valspar paint for the color, and I sealed it all with 3 coats of Poly-crylic. Here is the finished product:

The wreath is a nice touch. My future sister-in-law made it for me for my birthday, and the pillow is from my other future sister-in-law. They know the way to my heart-- Sooner pride! You can check out their business page here.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed seeing the step-by-step on this piece. It was VERY easy to do and pretty inexpensive. Now go forth and conquer furniture challenges of your own!

Pumpkins for Teachers!

Because I love my job, I want to start sharing what I do. I teach Art in the 3-year old “Pod” at my school. I probably should have figured out that this was my calling much sooner than I did, considering that I taught preschool art several times in several settings since the age of 12. It only took me 11 more years to realize there was a reason I kept coming back to it! One thing that has helped me get a solid footing has been having access to online resources. I have found so many ideas for art projects (which usually have to be tailored to our specific age and/or theme), centers, discussions, and general ways to explain or explore concepts by simply looking online. It's fun to finally be able to contribute to that pool of information. Here goes:

We recently did a unit on Pumpkins at school in the 3-year old group. As an art teacher, it was a bit challenging to find several different projects focused on the same thing. It would have been one thing to have Halloween as the theme, but with such as specific theme, I had to really reach for some variety.

I wanted to share one project that went over really well with the kids. It's very simple but gave them cutting, gluing, and puzzle practice, as well as some sensory exploration.

The kids cut out their pumpkin shape first, on the fold with guidelines. Then they cut the pumpkin into three strips using guidelines I drew on the pumpkin. The next step was to glue their pieces onto a background page in the right order. Then they got to do the fun part-- they glued pumpkin seeds onto their pumpkin!

The kids really enjoyed using real seeds (that I had dyed with Liquid Watercolor) for their pumpkins. It added texture and reality to an otherwise simple project.

Ta-da!