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.

I Won!

A few days ago Michelle, author of Kids Haus, posted a new print (the one above) she's illustrated. She also announced that she would randomly draw a name from the pool of comments left by visitors and send a print to that lucky, random winner.

I can't even tell you how excited I was today when I went to write up a post and found a comment on my last one. Yes, I get excited about comments but I was floored with wonderment when I found that the last comment was from Michelle informing me I'd won her giveaway! Holy Smokes, I won! As I left the lucky comment the other day, I had hopes of winning tinged with expectation of disappointment. Shame on me for harboring such feelings. Visit Michelle at Kids Haus or at her Etsy shop HERE.

Also, this may sound egocentric but it was exciting to see my blog linked on her page. It's so easy to post all the time and feel like I'm just adding a journal entry, talking to myself and feelin fine. To see my blog posted on another page is like a pinch of reality that all this posting isn't just me and a computer screen. I love connecting with others. How exciting! Snaps for me.

My Man Scott

Have you been watching the Olympics? Let me restate that. You better be watching the Olympics. My memories of ice skating competition are gilded with Scott Hamilton's commentating. I often get annoyed by commentators but never have I been bugged by Scott. In fact, it just wouldn't be the Olympics without him. I watch the Olympics, in part, just so I can hear what he has to say. If commentators could receive gold medals then Scott would get one every year. I'm sure of it.

Last night I realized that after all these years of listening to my man Scott's expertise, I've never actually seen him skate. I remedied that this afternoon. I was only too pleased with his performances. I thought he had a perfect combination of grace, power, and technical execution. Some skaters are go overboard when it comes to fluid movement and expression, and some fall short as they skate with stiff rigidity. Some skaters do o.k. when it comes to presentation because though they are making the marks, the transitions into the jumps and spins look too anticipated, structured, and planned. Not Scott. He flies across the ice and makes skating look as though it's as natural as walking down the street. He isn't too flowery in expression yet he moves with poise and elegance. He isn't stiff and rigid but carries himself confidently maintaining strong form. As he cruises along the ice he doesn't skip a beat or appear to move with anticipation, waiting and watching for the next upcoming jump. He simply skates along and when jump time comes up, he jumps, then moves right along keeping in time and pace.

Here are a couple of clips so you can see what I mean...

This one below is his long performance he won his gold medal for:

This one is just for kicks, or rather I should say, skates:

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...