desperately seeking .....

....your stuff. Seriously. In my classes we use a lot of weird and unusual stuff to create our masterpieces. So if you are doing some cleaning and would like to re-cycle some of your stuff. Please do not hesitate to drop it off at the studio. Here's a list of items I am collecting for future projects with my students.

cancelled postage stamps

old sheet music

greeting cards- any holiday or subject

 small doll accessories- you know- unmatched shoes, dishes, gloves, brushes all that tiny stuff that you always manage to step on with bare feet.

tiny trinkets- the stuff you get out of gumball machines and the empty bubbles they come in

misc. game board pieces- wood or plastic

keys

bottle caps

misc.broken jewelry or single earrings

wine corks

silk flowers

empty matchboxes

1/2 gallon empty jugs

plastic bottle caps of all sizes

aluminum tea light holders (save after burning candles)

beautifully shaped wine bottles in an assortment of shapes and sizes

toilet paper rolls

large round opaque bottles, such as those for bleach/cleaning fluid

and if you are cleaning out your craft cupboard and don't know what to do with those odds and ends of scrap papers and ribbons and stickers....

You get the idea.

it all starts with an idea

Last week I started a project with my K-2 class that I am calling "The Monster Project"  I gave each student a large sheet of black paper and a set of construction paper crayons. Then I told them we were going to draw monsters. I had a whole list of questions about their monsters. Questions like- what color is it? How big is it? How many eyes and arms and legs? You get the idea. Before I even got halfway through the list of questions they were off and drawing. I love to listen to kids this age draw. Before I knew it each student was caught up in a world they had created on paper and each monster developed a  unique personality.

I decided that I was going to make their monsters real. I got the first one finished last night.

This is Megan and Maria. Megan and Maria live in the jungle and they like to play. What makes them so special is they have two heads.  Megan and Maria was designed by Olivia who is a first grader.

After studying Olivia's monster for a bit I drew a simplified version of it.  Then I went to my sewing machine and created this~ my version of Megan and Maria. I am planning on doing this for each of my students. I want them to see how an idea can come out of your head and onto paper and sometimes that idea can then be turned into something real. 

 Everything starts with an idea.