4th Grade Book Report — Summer Assignment

Well, the new school year is now in session and my 4th Grader had to bring a book report to school on the first day! His class had to read, "The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary". He had to answer a few questions and either make a poster or a comic strip about the moral of a story or fable. Wesley chose one of the stories from the book and re-enacted it with Legos. We had fun working together taking pictures and finding the right Lego angry faces for his comic strip. (Click on the image to zoom in).

Fonts used: Comic Book and Lego Thick.
Comic Strip Templates available here.

Making this comic strip was really fun and easy! I think we'll definitely use this idea again!

I'm sharing this link with these blog friends: Child made, an idea place, The Girl Creative,  I Heart Naptime and Skip to My Lou!

This Summer is Sizzlin' and Jigglin'.

WE LOVE SUMMER!

 THE SIZZLE!

AND THE JIGGLE! 

Another one of our summer favorites is Jello Jigglers! Just mix equal amounts of Jello and Knox and cut out cool shapes with cookie cutters! 

They're a hit with the kids!

Check out these great blogs for more fun summer ideas: Skip to my Lou, Reasons to Skip the Housework, Mad in Crafts and Sumo's Sweet Stuff!

The Herron Home— Mixed Media Painting

Just finished this mixed media painting while on vacation in North Carolina. I used old book pages for the house and pallet knives for the bulk of the painting. Then went back in and added details. My favorites are the crane sculptures and the address plaque. They didn't want me to include the 4th of July decor and flag.

"The Herron Home"

11x14 Mixed Media Acrylic Canvas

(Commission)

reference: The Herron residence

 Work in progress: book pages

Work in progress: just after I finished the staircase

I shipped the painting out today. Hope they like it!

Wine Cork Art

I've been collecting wine corks for years. Years, I tell you! I've always wanted to do something really creative with them. Anthropologie designed some awesome Earth Day displays this year. My cousin, Wes, did a wine cork backsplash in his kitchen. I started a wine cork bulletin board a couple of years ago and never finished it. Then the other day, my niece came over to visit and we pulled out my wine corks. 

It was so quick and easy to make! We just drew the shape we wanted on foam board, cut it outand  hot glued the corks to it. I just finished putting the finishing touches on it last night.

I put the corks with memorable dates I had written on them around the outside edges. Brings back memories. Makes me wish I had taken the time to write dates on more of them!

Jessica made this one. She loves Pi (the Math kind). She said that when she was really bored in Geometry class she memorized Pi: 3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751. Mmhm. Yeah, so just in case you were wondering... Pi is a mathematical constant whose value is the ratio of any circle's circumference to it's diameter. This is the same value as the ratio of a circle's area to the square of its radius. All righty then! I'm stickin' with the pie I can eat. But love the cork Pi!!!

I'm sharing this post with my friends at Sugar and Dots, Polly want a Crafter, I Heart Naptime, Lil' Luna, Yesterday on Tuesday, Seven Thirty Three a Creative Blog, Polka Dots on Parade, Someday Crafts, Laugh, Love and Craft, Sweet Peas and Bumblebees, Homework and Today's Creative Blog.

An illustrated look at my life right now...

Happy 4th and Happy Birthday Girls!

Happy 4th everybody! We've had a busy weekend and it's not over yet! Saturday we celebrated my nieces' birthdays— Jessica turned 18 and her little sister Audrey is 4. Audrey loves balloons, so I baked a colorful cake and topped it with a balloon bouquet. (I used water balloons because they're the perfect cake topper size.

Make a wish!

Nothing better than Snow cones in the Summertime!

No need to go in search of a Carnival to have a snow cone these days! You can buy your own snow cone maker and it will pay for itself after just a few shaves! My trusty friend, Kelley, brought along her Sunbeam Snow Cone Maker to the mountains so we could all enjoy an ice cold treat!

 $18 at Target!

Have a great weekend everybody!

Fun at the Lake with Legos.

At the lake, we swim, we eat and we fish. The kids fished off the dock all week long. Lucky for us, there are tons of Brim chomping at the bit to snag the soggy bread bait off their hooks, so the kids get instant gratification with a catch practically every time they drop their lines. We unhook them, name them and then throw them back with their friends.

I got inspired by a photo hanging in the cabin by Lorri Honeycutt. Her slice of life portraits are so fun, I thought I'd try some myself with Jackson's Legos and enlisted the help of my friend Erich to catch "the big one" for these pictures. Thanks Erich! Great catch!

Jackson built this Pirate ship from scratch and wanted me to put it on my "Bwog". Pretty cool!

I'm sharing this post with my friends at Funky Polka Dot Giraffe.

Lake Staple— Hamburger Cupcakes and Sweet Tomato BBQ Sliders!

I picked up these cute hamburger cupcakes at Target. They just scream summer!

Got this yummy recipe for Sweet Tomato BBQ Sliders here. They were delish and easy to whip up!

One night at the Lake my friend, Shona and I made about 40 of these cute picnic themed party flags. All you need is some picnic themed fabric or paper, scissors, toothpicks and glue! As you can see from the pics, we used them a lot! 

Let's hear it for Summer!

We've been having lots of fun so far this summer! 

First a trip to the mountains.

Balsam, NC

Then a week at the lake.  

Ocala National Forest, Ocala, FL

Sweet summer. I love ya!

Can't wait to share our adventures!

Cool Critter Birthday Collection— unveiled!

Just finished fleshing out my Cool Critter Birthday Collection. I designed the invite for a customer a few weeks ago. You can see it here. Thought I'd share the rest of the Collection with you. If you have any ideas of things I can add to the collection, I'm all ears! And as always, thanks for taking a peek:)

The whole collection is now available at my shop!

11"x17" The Birthday Party Welcome Sign.

 2" Party Circles for Cupcake Toppers, Stickers, Thank You Card Stickers, you name it!

Buffet Labels and Stickers for Activities, games, crafts, etc.

 Party Favor Bag Tags

4x6 Fill-in-the-Blank Thank You Cards

Well, that's about it for now! I'm heading to the Lake for the rest of the week. Hope to have some time to relax and maybe make a few things. We'll see!