Route 66

(Tap, tap, tap.  Is this thing still on?  Hello?  Bueller?  Bueller?  Anyone?)

It has been quite a while since I last posted. Really, I have no excuses, unless you would like to consider both kiddos in cross country, the Oldest Kiddo simultaneously in flag football, working everyday and just all around general fatigue that makes taking and editing photos seem more like a chore than a joy to share, haha!!

I'm really not complaining. I'm enjoying every minute that I can of the Oldest Kiddo's last year in high school. I've just put blogging in the freezer for a while!!

A couple of weekends ago was the annual fall fair. This year, the Youngest Kiddo's teacher made a friendly wager with another classroom mom that her class would win the "Best Fall Fair Booth".

Ha!  No pressure to come up with an awesome design. The teacher kept saying it was all in fun and she didn't care what the out come was.

Did I mention that this teacher has also coached for many years and EVERYONE knows she is competitive, lol?!!

I was recruited to help determine the booth's theme. This year's theme was Route 66  The internet and Pinterest gave lots of inspiration.  We decided to base our booths on this old gas station.
We placed both our booths side by side and made a false front with large sheets of cardboard.  Two old window frames were wired onto each side of the "door" (basically, a screen door leaning against the front of the facade).

I painted two large gas tanks to go in front of the gas station. These were about  6x2'.  I snapped a few photos of the creative process:  All these photos were taken with my phone.  I don't know why I never actually grabbed my camera. Too lazy, I suppose!! LOL! So. less than stellar photos ahead.  Bad, bad blogger. I was also too lazy to transport the pictures and do some basic editing.  BAD, BAD, BLOGGER. On the other hand, I did take photos that I am sharing, and figured you'd rather actually have me post sooner than later, lol. YAY me!! One or two points in my favor!

Youngest Kiddo giving the thumbs up for the job finally completed

This picture shows a bit of the "windows" that we used for taking orders.  Anyone for an ice cold root beer, churro, pretzel or shaved ice?!

The facade door can be seen in this shot. The roof tarp and name of the gas station can also be seen in this photo.  After the initial set up on Saturday night, I decided that the pumps need that last final touch of the actual pump handle.  I think these little details really added to the completeness of this booth.  We also swapped out that little gas can for a larger one.  

Notice the Mobilgas horse and the Coco-cola bottle on the front of the booth?  Those were done by one of the girls in the Youngest Kiddo's class.  I informed K that she is going to do help out more with the painting embellishments in the future!! She did an AWESOME job!!

The Toad got into the spirit of things and was willing to don a pair of borrowed overalls, sit on the bench with his oil rag and a bottle of root beer, playing the part of  "Willard " (the namesake of the "gas station" )

And yes, we won the contest. An extra $50 from the Home and School were added to the classroom coffers.

Next up, the Youngest Kiddo outshines both his parents with his photography skills.  Stay tuned!! 

The End is Upon Us

The End of the YEAR is quickly approaching!!

Oh wait!  You didn't think I was referring to anything else did you?! (wink).

This time of year gets CRAZY with having 3 teen age boys. Baseball is cramming in 3 games a week. Senior recognition for baseball that will require me to go through 680 pictures multiple times in order to put together photo collages for the senior boys and their coaches.  Teacher's are cramming in as many last quarter  projects that might be possible to complete without parents hiring a team of hit men. Music performances are doing double services at the local churches, not to mention the spring concerts that will be upon us soon.  Award banquets.  Teacher appreciation days. School golf tournaments.

A family wedding to attend.  Oldest Kiddo's birthday coming up.

And let us not forget graduation and the party announcements that still need to be made up and sent out. And graduation cards for classmates.

Cloning. That may be the only answer to get all of this done.  

To add the final cherry on top, the Youngest Kiddo decided that it would be the perfect time  to break his wrist.

The Toad suggested he get a white cast so that I could custom paint it for him.  The first idea was to do the Terminator look with mechanical parts bursting out of the skin.

Uhhhh.  Nope!! It would seem that when mom has not drawn or painted in a loooong time, such skills required for that type of detail are no longer an option.

And yes, I did try.

Next option, Ironman.  As simple as this should have been, it took me several tries.  This cast has more paint on it than the Sistine Chapel.  

You may have noticed that I didn't share the top of the cast.  It would seem that became my nemesis. While it doesn't look bad, per say, it just doesn't look as good as the palm.  It looks like it went through a battle to get painted and it won.  Oh well!! The Youngest Kiddo has informed me that I'll have the chance to have another go at it in a couple of weeks.  Yes, this Kiddo will have the pleasure of multiple casts as he fractured the scaphoid bone in his wrist, which just so happens to have the poorest blood supply.  This meaning more x-rays in a couple of weeks to make sure it is healing.  

It goes without saying that further posting will be sparse over the next couple of weeks!! I hope the month of May finds you with plenty of time for creativity! Enjoy a few extra moments for me!!

'Till next time......................

  

Cartoons

Soooo.  Would someone please tell me how we are already into the second week of May?!! The Kiddo's will be out of school at the end of the month and in the mean time, every teacher is cramming in as many possible end of the year activities as they can come up with in 5 days a week.

One of those end of the year activities is for the Youngest Kiddo's class.  They will be spending the night in the Pit (assembly area of the main school building) later this week while watching the live cam of the watering hole, Pete's Pond., in Botswana.  

Unfortunately, it is also the rainy season this time of year in Botswana, so the teacher is a bit afraid that there may be NOTHING to see that night.  She has planned some games and other activities to occupy the kids.  One of her ideas was to have a safari photo prop. She found a the "perfect" photo prop board that fit the fun safari theme she has planned.

$99.  $99 dollars for a photo prop that is probably made out of cardboard.  Seriously?!! Who the heck would pay $99 for a cartoon style photo prop?!

So, Mrs. L. asked me if I could draw and paint a similar style of photo prop.  Looking at the picture, I thought to myself "piece of cake.  Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours."

Want to know why people pay $99 for a photo prop?! HAHA!

Actually, it really didn't take me too terribly long to draw up and paint the photo prop.  I wasted more time trying to take the "easy" way out and use a terribly cheap light bulb projector to "trace" the picture idea.  I finally admitted defeat and just got out the picture, pencil and a large eraser and drew out a sketch myself.  

Mrs. L. had originally planned on using a single piece of large cardboard that she had ordered from the local paper company. Life got in the way and she was not able to pick up the board. Plan B:  duct tape two project boards ($1 each, by the way!) together.  Worked for me!

After drawing and tracing with a black Sharpie, I got out my cheapo acrylic paints, a little tub of water and painted in a very loose, cartoonish (is that even a word?!) fashion.

Want to hear something funny?  There is a teeny tiny little blip of brown paint that I smudged on the board that just bugged the beejeebees out of me until I had Youngest Kiddo pose behind the prop.

THEN I had the the very disproportional left shoulder bug the major beejeebees out of me.  

And the fact that this guys thighs must be three feet long and his calves about 6 inches.  

I keep telling myself that this is a cartoon drawing.  I keep saying it really doesn't matter that the shoulders look like someone stuck a 9 foot pole in the shirt for shoulder pads and that the body is totally out of proportion.   I'm saving the classroom $99 that they don't have to spend on such a silly photo prop. Right?  

The shoulders are bugging the beejeebees out of me.  The legs are now bugging the beejeebees out of me.  

And as I keep staring at this, the feet are too little too. I needed to make the jacket shorter in length.  That would have helped considerably.

Sigh.

It's a CARTOON.  I am willing to bet that not ONE kid will notice these silly mistakes.  This is one of those projects that I just need to take a deep breath and say, "it is what it is.  Let it go."

So, 'till next time.  Remember, they can't all be zingers! HA!

It's a VerDay

I have continued to work on my new project, but while waiting for parts and pieces to dry from various mediums, I decided to play around with some new VerDay paint and patina from TenSecond Studios.

I think I may have a new obsession.

This paint is an acrylic paint that actually have metal particles in it that will react chemically with the VerDay, giving you a wonderful patina, without having to do layers of faux painting. 

Did I mention that I may be slightly in love with this stuff?  Good.  Because I'm looking at everything in my house trying to decide what I'll be painting next. 

I started with a off white, faux rusted cross that I have had for a while.  I have a collection of crosses on the wall over my couch and this cross never fit in.  I bought it with the intention of painting it, but just never got around to it. 

I began by painting a base coat of the Copper VerDay paint.  After letting it dry for a couple of hours, I used a rough sea sponge to lightly dab sections of the cross with more paint.  While the paint was still wet, I misted with the VerDay. 

Then the hard part.  Walking away for 6-8 hours and just letting it react.  Once the waiting was over I lightly dry brushed more copper paint over the raised portions to highlight the edges.



click on the picture to enlarge

Did this not turn out fabulous?!!  Ok, I really should have waited to take a picture when the sun was up to show how awesome this turned out, but I was sooo excited that I couldn't wait!!  This even got the Toad's seal of approval without asking what he thought. 

It's looking like it is going to be a beautiful day here.  I'm going to take advantage of the lovely morning and head out for a long walk with the neglected pooch before I start my day of running errands all over So. Cal.

Before I leave, here is another sneak peek of the upcoming project

Did I mention that I'm obsessed?!! hehe

'Till next time.............enjoy the day and explore some creativity!

Extreme Makeover

This past weekend was our little school's Fall Fair.  Each classroom, from K-12, is responsible for a booth (or as in the case of some classes, booths) that will provide either entertainment or food and hopefully raise some funds for the classroom.  The last couple of years, the Home and School has picked a theme for the fall fair and has asked each of the classrooms to decorate with said theme in mind.  This years theme was "Hawaiian/Luau".  And luckily, the weather decided to cooperate and give us a beautiful sunny day to enjoy!

This year the oldest Kiddo's class had three booths:  churros (which, by the way, were very yummy!), shaved ice and a sponge throw. 

One of the teacher's asked if I could update the sponge throw booth.  This is one of those booths where a "volunteer" sticks his/her head through the cut out in a piece of plywood and has the privilege of having someone pay to throw sopping wet sponges at him/her.  There was a board that had been used in years  past and all I needed to do was just update the theme. 

This is what I was given to work with (here comes the photo disclaimer again.  All of these were taken in the garage where I was painting.  The board was 8 ft. tall.  I leaned it up against the cabinets in the garage and had only about a 5-6 ft space between the cabinets and the opposite wall.  Not a lot of room to take decent photos):

 

This photo does not accurately show the horrible condition of this board.  While I saw it come out of the storage bin, it had obviously been left out in the elements for an extended time.  In addition to it being extremely dry with a wonderful splintered texture, it also had CHUNKS of wood missing.  I seriously considered sending the Toad out for a new piece of plywood, but given the fact that it would probably face the same fate as this one, I just decided to work with what it was.

The rattle can paint job was obviously done by the previous students who used this board a couple of years ago.  While I really do admire their skill with spray paint, I do not possess the same ability.  To be honest, I don't know if I ever even attempted to paint a "picture" with spray paint.  Objects, yes.  Picture, nope.  Don't think so.  One full quart of Kilz primer later.....

Then I painted the entire board with a base coat of light blue.  Let me just insert this one fact for anyone who is going to paint a project.  Whether it be a weathered piece of plywood, your living room or a canvas, you get what you pay for in the paint.  I bought the cheapest paint I could find at Walmart for the base.  And the clumps of paint that came out of that can prove it.  For years I have used a combination of the cheap craft paints and good quality paint to  paint murals. Mostly because the small containers are very convenient to haul to work sites.  And the large selection of colors.  But for my house, baseboards and such, I ALWAYS pay for quality paint. It makes a HUGE difference in the coverage and in the "workability" if you are doing any special faux or painting techniques. 

I found a piece of clip art as my inspiration and then drew the rough draft of my image.



Pulled out my drawers of cheap  craft paints and went to work.

I had thought about going with a "buff" body builder, surfer dude, but thought it would be rather funny to use a scrawny surfer instead, given the fact that most of the "volunteers" for this booth would be 8th grade boys.  8th grade boys who think their bodies are getting buff, but in reality, are still scrawny.  Just a glimpse into my demented sense of humor!

The Toad giving his "gnarly surfer impression"

The youngest Kiddo giving his "cool surfer dude" impression

The oldest kiddo giving his "Do I have to do this" surfer impression

Then finally giving in to the stupid fun of it all



And The Toad's favorite part of the whole project:

The "gnarly" mess that I make when I create taking over his garage!!

I still haven't downloaded the actual pictures of the Fair.  That will be for another post!! Thanks for dropping by again today!!  Remember~~creativity comes in all different mediums.  Make sure you explore one today!!

Till next time.......

Going to the Circus

What does this mess have to do with paper crafting?

Our school's fall fair is this coming weekend. The last couple of years the "planning" committee has picked a theme. This years theme: Under the Big Top (or something like that...too tired to go look! ) Each class has a booth or activity that they use to raise $$ for their classroom. Now in all honesty, I feel that this is a HUGE hassle and it usually doesn't make much $$ (more likely, COSTS $$) but supposedly it is fun (can you tell that I'm just worn out?!!). The booths are about 38 inches high (for the table top....doesn't count the "frame" and 8 ft long. Somehow, I managed to open my mouth and say that I would help decorate the 3rd grade booth (we will be gone for the fair....how do I get myself in these messes?!! ANYWOOOS!!! This small portion of mess was used to create this:

This was terribly hard to get a decent photograph of. These guys are on a cardboard panel (that's paper, right?! hehe) that is 8 feet long and 46 inches high. They are to be the front of the booth that will have a circus theme valance and "tent" drapes off each side (like they are coming out of the backstage for the show). I had to draw and paint this with the cardboard leaning against the storage cupboards in our garage. I probably....no...I SPENT waaaaay too much time on this as it will just be thrown away. But somehow, I have forgotten how to just throw on color vs adding all this shading and details (like....the wasted "metallic paint for the motorcycle, that IRL barley shows shine!! grrrrr!!! or the added pom-poms to the hat or the Pretties Kit flower on the blue top hat!) I still need to cut out the green hat and attach it with a paint stick and lots of tape!! I'm hoping that one of the mom's will take a picture of the completed booth so that I can share the "CLOSING" act at a later date. But it is FINALLY done. That is all I care about at this point!!

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On a personal note: We leave tomorrow afternoon for our bike trip down the coast of California. Now, I am really not in shape for this but was looking forward to it. Until yesterday. It would seem that in my over scheduling of myself this past week that I have worn out my poor ol' body to the point of waking up with the start of a lovely cold. I don't know how that is going to affect me on riding on average 60 miles a day for the next 5 days. Luckily, I can always drive the sag vehicle....but that doesn't sound like much fun either. Oh well!! Such is my life!!

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On another note: Can someone tell me how to do a prepost in blogger? I have some more projects to share (I told you I had over scheduled myself!!) and could spread them out over the week we are gone. Or, I can just post one again tomorrow and the rest will just have to wait until I get back (sadly, you all are used to the lack of posts!!)

I'm off to cut off the head of the clown!! BWHWHAAAA (personally, I find clowns kinda creepy!) Thanks for dropping by and I'll be back!!

Thanks for dropping by today!

Creating Goals

Being the new year, everyone thinks about goals they'd like to meet. Mine? Easy, lose that extra 20 pounds (again!), keep the house picked up (hehe) and yaddayaddayadda. Creative goals? Easy: Do SOMETHING creative each week. I'd LOOVE to say that I'll create something every day. But in reality, no way. Soooo, here is a quick little project that I did this weekend.

I bought these frames at Michael's for $1 with the idea that I would alter them for the office girls that I work with. Yeah, ok....soooo, moving on to January and I still have 6 of these frames!! My husband had mentioned that he needed to get a frame for the picture of him and our oldest son that was taken while they were out paintballing with a group of friends. I got out my small tubes of acrylic paints and primered then put a base coat of the green on the frame. Then I just lightly drew out some camo shapes. Using my small paint brushes and added the other colors. I had thought that I would add some rub ons to this, but my husband likes things clean and simple. He requested that I "just leave it alone". OKAY!! Fine. Clean and simple it is!!