Another Episode

For all you fans out there in the High Fives and Knuckles club, here's another episode. It's kind of long which means you have a long time to have fun with us today...

I don't know where the Glozelle "goodbye" (see HERE) came from. It just popped right out. Mental note: Cut back on the Glozelle clips.

To wrap it up, here's an outtake for all those who enjoy potty-humor. It's what makes this post worthwhile.

For all you latecomers, here's the link for the past classic High-Fives and Knuckles Reruns (HERE).

Tra-La-La

Have you ever read this guy?

He's pretty great. James likes him. I like him. Naturally, there needed to be made a decorative pillow. So that's exactly what I did. All you need to do is print off a coloring page and trace the pattern on fabric. Stitch it up and whah-lah.

Here's the front:

Here's the back:

Yes. They are. Those are real underpants on the back of the pillow.

Steal of a Deal

Long time no post, I know. But I'm back. Maybe. While I haven't been posting, I've still been visiting the regular thrift stores... occasionally. Coolest find lately? SHRINKYDINKS!

You color an image on the plastic then bake it. It shrinks in the oven. What a way to spend time on Christmas break.

Here's my Where the Wild Things Are keychain. The top picture is what I traced onto the plastic. The mini ones are how they turned out after the bake:

Blurry close up:

I got the coloring/tracing pattern HERE. Free pattern. Wohoo!

In Other Words...

Mary Poppins is a childhood hero of mine. She doesn't beat out Maria Vontrap but she's a tough, close competitor. All these years since the beginning of my magical childhood viewing-times, I've never paused to learn how to say Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious backwards... until now. A couple of weeks ago I listened over and over and over and over again to the clip of that song with the magical backward word. Now I catch myself saying it in my head at random times of the day, sort of like the way an annoying song pops up in your head, only Marry Poppins could never be annoying. What? You want to say it too? Here's how it goes:

docious-ali-expi-istic-fragi-calli-rupes(roopus)

If you say it over and over and over and over again, it becomes quite catchy. Maybe if someone makes a rude gesture at you while you're out driving around, you can say it to yourself and you'll feel better. Or maybe if you want to freak someone out that's bugging you and won't go away, you could say it to them too. I'm sure the magic would work wonderfully and they'd leave you alone. If, in ignorance, that nuisance of a person asks what you just said, you can tell them it was a jinx. They won't know the difference and I'm sure after hearing such news they'd definitely leave you alone. How magical. Thank you Mary Poppins.

Differences

Friday Freebie!

Crochet much? Me neither. I only do a straight line back and forth. None-the-less, this cute frog suit pattern is yours for free HERE.

Side note: The suit sort of looks like an alligator?

Summer Reading

I got this paper-back book last year for my brother... and got one for me too since they were on clearance. Then, the other day on Amazon, I saw that the hardback is now on clearance for a mere $5.20! I ordered two. Not only is it a great price but when an emergency gift is needed, it's ideal.

Knucklehead is the autobiography of Jon Scieszka's growing up childhood with his 5 other brothers. The book is geared toward boys ages 8+ who love potty humor and mischievousness (the good kind). Naturally, I loved it. It's hilarious. There are 106 pages, almost all of which feature photos and/or illustration. Each chapter is a new story and is no more than three pages. It moves along fast and I devoured it in less than an hour. You can actually read the first 3 chapters by clicking on the cover photo that says "Look Inside!" HERE. It's only $5.20 for the hardback right now HERE!

Friday Freebie

Click HERE for the freebie "Chipmunk Softie" directions.

Happy Friday Freebie!

Yet Some More!

Here we go again... The first two original posts are located HERE. And without further ado...

And one of the bloopers...

Friday Freebie

Make It Do has a fabulous tutorial with pictures showing how to make one of these fabulous, floral beauties right HERE. You can make it into a bow, pin, or whatever. It doesn't look too hard to do at all. If I had a little girl, I'd definitely make one for her.

Jackpot

Today at work I sat next to the art room helping students with math. The thought occurred to me that I should ask the art teacher if she had any crayon cast-offs, so I did. She was storing a jackpot (more like a box) and was more than anxious to get rid of them so I gladly lightened her heavy load (figuratively speaking). Oh the joyous hours soon to come. Think I'm crazy? You won't when you find yourself hoping to get some finished product from me. I'll let you know when I finish the box.

Friday Freebie

Visit Matsutake HERE and learn the art of transferring your own printed inkjet images onto wood blocks (or just onto wood in general)!

Crayons Round 2

Just made a 2nd batch of crayons using water bottle ice-cube trays for molds (see the first batch HERE). The long ones are made of construction paper crayon bits and feel like oil pastels. You can smudge the color around on the paper when using them. The stubbier, rainbow set was made from misc. crayons. It might be hard to see but there're glitter crayons in the green, blue and purple ones...

Here's a close-up so you can see their size in relation to my hand, which looks a mile long:

Here's before they went in the oven:

Here's after they came out. The plastic trays leave very little residue compared to the aftermath of siliconish ones:

BIG TIP: Before melting the crayons in the oven, put the mold/trays on a cookie sheet. Burning crayon puddles at the bottom of the oven are not nice smelling and I'm hoping they won't be too troublesome to clean off.

Friday Freebie!

Do you remember silver scratch cards from the perspective of childhood? I loved those things. Even if I knew I wouldn't be interested in the free car wash or 10% discount possibility that existed underneath. I was excited recently to find a recipe for such silver opportunities on ARTMIND. Visit HERE for surprisingly easy directions. Have fun!

Finished

So I finished reading this not long ago...

and now I'm almost done reading this with James...

Black Like Me is one of my all time favorites now. I couldn't ever recommend it any more highly than I do now. It is an essential for every home library. Griffin is a master story teller and writer. His experiences were eye-opening for myself and I don't understand why his writing isn't more prominent today in school settings where discussion and study of universal and social issues/ideals are so fitting and essential. There's so much worthwhile in this book that I just can't whip up a quick review. You are in luck though. It's on sale dirt cheap right now. Click HERE to get your very own copy for $5.60! What a bargain.

As far as The Lightning Thief goes, well, I like it. I wouldn't have read it on my own but James wanted to read it together. It's catchy and we only have a few chapters left. It's good enough that I think I might go read the last couple of chapters while James is at school. He doesn't read this blog so I guess he'll never know... unless you tell him. I'll reread the chapters later with him. No, I better not read ahead. I couldn't do that, or could I? You see the internal battle I have to face when I'm done posting this? I guess the book is pretty worthwhile if I have within this drive and thirst to finish. I can't wait to see the movie now...

Friday Freebie

Meet Betsy McCall (1960). There are ten years worth of her HERE. Holy smokes. That's a lot of paper dolls. I hope you guys have some use for them because I know I sure don't. Someday I might. I found Betsy from the website "Teri's Paper Doll Scans" found HERE. Aside from Betsy, there are a ton more different paper dolls from last century. The variety of options is impressive; however, I didn't check them all out because, well, I don't really have use for them... now. Who knows. Maybe I'll get caught playing with them in the near future. Once a little girl, always a little girl.

P.S. Lauren, Mishawn (if you ever read this), and all you other Funny Girl lovers out there need to check out these beauties HERE. What are the odds of that?

Tromp L'oeil

I love saying the phrase "tromp l'oeil" out loud. It rolls off the tongue funny. Even more than the sound of it, I love what it represents. The French term means "trick of the eye" and is used to describe art pieces that portray such a feat. HERE is a cool link to check out some of Julian Beever's "tromp l'oeils". The below two pictures are from his site:

Dungeon

Fountain

For some Edgar Mueller's works that are neat-o click HERE. Below is a youtube clip of him in action:

After seeing these masterpieces, I bet you want to do one too. Right? I'm including this tricky dragon so you too can participate:

This optical allusion/tromp l'oeil and it's explanation can be found HERE. There is a download posted on the site to allow you the pleasure of making your very own tromp l'oeil dragon! I'll also include the link right HERE. How bout that? Your very own tromp l'oeil to display in your very own home!

Crayons!

This morning I was supposed to be doing a load of homework, but I was way to busy for it. I had important thing on my schedule to do. I spent my time making these:

"What are they," you ask? "They're CRAYONS," I tell you! How fun is that! I took old kindergarten cast offs and chopped them up and stuck them in these IKEA ice cube molds:

I baked them for a while in the oven then froze them to speed the hardening process. I didn't use the classic colored crayons. I used the ones made for construction paper. That's why the color appears pastel. If I didn't know better I'd say the new product looks like erasers but I do know better.

This is one of my favs:

One downfall of the project is that the ice cube trays are ruined. I sprayed Pam on some of the molds and left the others free of spray before I filled them with crayon bits. None of the molds came clean. Oh well. Next time I want to try this ice cube tray that seems more practical for coloring usage:

I'm going to give you some links with legitimate directions to make your very own. I'll also update you when I make crayons again. I bet you can't wait to see the "regular" colored kinds, can you? Here are the links:

Recipes

Martha Stewart's recipe: HERE

Boutique NutMeg Designs: HERE

Make and Takes: HERE

Picture of really cool ones

Pinkpicketfence: HERE

Friday Freebie!

It's been a while but here it is! Friday Freebie! I'd like to say that I strongly dislike when the things I love become trendy, so it is natural that I don't like that Where the Wild Things Are has become so; however, it is definitely a classic that I love and I can't help but participate in the trendiness and post the directions on how to make your very own Max Bag! I haven't made one yet so if you feel so inclined, you can whip an extra one up and send it on over to me. Visit "Meet Me At Mikes" for the directions HERE.

Contemplating...

I have so much to say about books and literacy. There are so many valuable, enriching, useful resources and ideas I'd like to share that I think such a catered blog is called for. I do believe I'll do that.... one of these days.