Thirty Days of Everyday Life, Day 27: Storytime, and Selphy printers (updated)

Storytime! Today we painted little birdhouses.

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I had no idea if we’d have 4 children or 48… we set up the tables, paints, and birdhouses for 22, and had just enough (after adding a few extra for those who wanted to paint elsewhere) It went smoothly and everyone enjoyed themselves. Saturday, Santa will be at the restaurant while he is vacationing, and they were excited to hear about that. It was a good morning. I had started it out with a damaged tire, so it was nice that storytime smoothed things out a bit for me.

It was sad dropping my “hmmmbug” off at the tire center, but my new Canon Selphy photo printer (linked on Amazon here) had arrived and oh my goodness this thing rocks!

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Ok, I’ve only printed 3 4×6 photos so far, but they look really nice, and I’m looking forward to the card and sticker paper arriving so I can do small prints to add to my journal pages. It also has the ability to print photo booth type prints which I think could be fun if I figure them out. I looked at several mini printers. I liked the idea of a very tiny portable printer, but a couple of them have prints that are not at all archival, and these are supposed to last 100 years, and are even water resistant (or something) so I went with this slightly larger, but still portable, printer.  (it is only 5″x7″.) I never print photos anymore, in this digital age, and really miss having them, and working in my scrapbooks. I originally wanted this so we could print nice quality photos instantly at the restaurant when Santa is there, but the photographer recommended a different printer (which we bought) and I got this one for myself at home. This one only prints up to 4×6, but the one for the restaurant will print larger if we need it. (Although I only got 4×6 paper anyway to use for Santa pictures next weekend)

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Edited: There were several things I forgot to mention… a car painted in PIZZA, but that will have to go on another page… I added in the box turtle I stopped to help across the road. I’d never picked up a box turtle, that I can recall, so was stupidly nervous, but I didn’t want him to get squished. He actually may have helped ME as much as I helped him, because then shortly after I got on the interstate my tire had a big problem, and it was JUST at the last exit near the house, so it was easy to get back home safely. Another thirty seconds further up and it would have been a mess!

Then, because of that, in the evening we had to drop her (him??) off at the shop to stay overnight which made me as sad as if I’d had to leave a puppy behind. So I’ve added those two little items. And in fact, even though it isn’t laid out perfectly, it made the page look more finished as well!

Thirty Days of Everyday Life, Day 13: Storytime and thundershirts

The craft we made from Storytime today, and one of the cow themed books we read aloud. I never know how many kids to expect, but today there were close to 30.

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There have been big thunderstorms the last few days… Emmett used his thundershirt again this evening. It does seem to help a little. At any rate he’s compliant when I put it on him, so I know he likes it. At 140 pounds, it’s both sad and a little humorous when a thunderbolt frightens him (poor dude), he’s so sturdy and secure looking himself.

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I used some colored pencils and watercolor pencils for the children’s book cover. I enjoyed using them, but the process takes longer than just slapping some watercolor paint around, and I’m too lazy for it. So Emmett and the hat both got watercolor instead.

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Saturday 1/19: altered matchbox, and January’s Storytime

My first altered matchbox…and Storytime at work!

Saturday morning I led a storytime, reading three adorable books by Peter H Reynolds, (sold in a set called a Creatrilogy!), all about kids, art, and how much fun ANYONE can have with  art… We had 15 or so kids attend, I think, or all ages, less than 1 year to about 12 years old…a good turnout. (And they are not just kids who happen to be there, now, but kids actually coming in for Storytime!) The kids really seemed to enjoy the books (I know I did). Then we did a sticker craft, using dot stickers, because one of the books is all about a little girl who paints only dots. But the best part (even better than the cookies we had) was painting. The second book was about using colors, the third about how things don’t have to look exactly perfect in our pictures. We had ordered 24 Crayola* paint sets (sold here, on Amazon), and some nice quality 100% cotton watercolor sheets (sold here on Amazon) I had worried about it being too messy, but even the younger kids were very focused and there were no problems. They made some really nice paintings. (*If you need sets of watercolor paints for a group, these crayola paints are a very good price, about $1.50 a set, but know that the brushes, while much better than the hard plastic ones from my childhood, shed something fierce. The kids didn’t care)

(Okay the older one in red is actually one of our team members, helping out 🙂

Once home, I worked on a swap I have to send out this coming week, for swap-bot.  

(Swap-bot has been a great  motivation for me over the 10 past years or so, inspiring me to try quite a few artistic or creative things I would not have attempted on my own, or even thought of on my own. In fact I don’t think I’d be painting or drawing at all without it, and I have met some awesome ladies there)

Anyway, I’d been putting off this altered matchbox, because I haven’t made one before. (I signed up specifically because I haven’t done one. Then kind of regretted it!) Naturally, once I began, it wasn’t difficult at all, and I enjoyed myself, and although it isn’t great, it’s fine, I think. The theme was chosen for me, Stevie Nicks’ song “Crystal”… I’m embarrassed to admit I wasn’t really familiar with the song or even really with Stevie Nicks, (another reason I procrastinated), but it was fun learning about both.

I added a few tiny shells and sea glass inside because of the line “drove me like a magnet to the sea”, the only line that really spoke to me. (I collect seagrass bits AND shells, especially heart shaped shells, so I had plenty to choose from!)

Then did my journal page. To be honest I had decided the matchbox was enough “art” for the day, then just before bed thought Wait, why am I not journaling it? So:

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Now. Off to start my Sunday!