Stamping with Yarn

After reading Play with Paint together, Trevor and I decided we wanted to try making stamps from yarn. The book suggested making a simple swirl or a geometric shape. We took it a step further.

Materials: chipboard, yarn, white glue, a pencil, paint, and a foam brush

Begin by sketching your design on chipboard. Once you are happy with your design, cut pieces of yarn to match the pencil lines you've drawn. Then, trace the pencil lines with white glue and apply the yarn.

 

When all the yarn is in place, press it firmly into the glue.

 

This is the hardest part: let your design sit, untouched, overnight.  

 

Use a foam brush to apply paint to your design.  Trevor chose a grey boat and mast, and blue water and flag.

Carefully press your stamp onto paper.  Lift straight up to reveal your design.

Trevor learned that he needed to apply a slightly heavier coat of paint to his stamp.  He refreshed the blue, then added brown paint to the parts that were previously grey.  He stamped again and got this:

 Want to see mine?  No surprise - it's a bunny.

Here's the finished stamp.

 

I stamped it three times, adding more paint each time.  I LOVE how it turned out.

Trevor loved this project so much that he continued making stamps.  Each one got better and better.  His flower is beautiful.

And so is his tree.

What a fun project, all inspired by a randomly selected book!  This is exactly what makes Library Roulette so awesome.

Library Roulette - Junior Edition (Part 3)

Here are the final books in my Library Roulette - Junior Edition challenge.

737: Numismatics and Sigillography

Coins

by Jennifer Abeyta

As you might recall, I was not a big fan of the 737 book in my original Library Roulette.  I was optimistic that this book would be more interesting, more accessible, and less esoteric.  I collected coins as a kid and have some basic knowledge, but this book provided a nice overview for a young collector.  I felt like there were a few areas where the author should have given more information and others where less would have been sufficient, but overall I was satisfied with the content.  

If I have a complaint about this book, it is that the author made some choices that make what could be a timeless book instead very dated.  For example, she frequently refers to the "new" 50 State Quarters Program that launched in 1999 and was completed in 2008.  (The book was published in 2000.)  If she had merely removed the word "new" from each of the places it appears, the book wouldn't feel out-of-date.  

Recommended: Yes, although I would encourage a young coin collector to make this one of several books he/she reads.

750: Painting and Paintings

Play with Paint

by Sara Lynn and Diane James

This book has all sorts of suggestions for playing with paint: stamping found objects (see the forks stamped along the bottom of the cover?), making stencils, stamping with potatoes, splatter painting and so much more.  The book is colorful and fun, with fun ideas for easy paint projects.  The instructions are simplistic and basic and the projects are suitable for age 3+.  

Recommended: Yes, highly!  

Tomorrow I'll share with you the projects that Trevor and I made that were inspired by this book. 

A Year of 40 Things!

Today is my 41st birthday and I couldn't be happier.  I've spent the past year trying 40 things I've never done before and it has been one of the most incredible experiences I've ever had.  I can honestly say that this has been the best year of my life.  I've learned so much and had so much fun with so many different friends.  I truly have a lot to celebrate.

Naturally, a lot of people have asked me which of the 40 Things was my favorite.  What a difficult question!  The list is so diverse that it's truly like comparing apples and oranges. Perhaps if I break the 40 Things into categories it will be easier to decide.


Places I visited:

• 1.  Have a 40 Mile Adventure.  3/12/12
• 2.  Eat at Thomas Keller's famous restaurant.  3/12/12
• 4.  Visit the Grapecrusher Statue.  3/12/12
• 13.  Eat at the Oak Cafe.  3/30/12
• 17.  Visit the Conservatory of Flowers.  4/3/12
• 18.  Go to the San Francisco Flower Mart.  4/3/12
• 23.  Do a Planet Walk. 5/13/12
• 30.  Go to a drive-in movie.  11/3/12
• 32.  Tackle the World's Largest Maze.  11/17/12

All of these were really fun and places I'd happily visit again.  We had a great time at the Petrified Forest and at Bouchon.  The Conservatory of Flowers was awesome.  The drive-in movie experience was great.  But the two that stand out most to me are the Planet Walk and the Oak Cafe.  Despite being really sick that day, I absolutely loved doing the Planet Walk. There is truly no better way to really understand the scope of our solar system and Sugarloaf Ridge State Park is gorgeous.  As for the Oak Cafe, it's the only place on the list that we've made an effort to visit a second time within the year, which speaks volumes.


Foods/drinks I tried for the first time:

• 3.  Try a macaroon.  3/12/12
• 5.  Eat at an Afghan restaurant.  3/12/12
• 7.  Try a Shamrock Shake.  3/15/12
• 11.  Try an Egg Cream.  3/21/12
• 14.  Try cacao nibs.  3/30/12
• 24.  Try absinthe.  5/27/12
• 27.  Try Miracle Berries.  8/9/12
• 34.  Try chess pie.  12/6/12
• 33.  Eat the Top 10 Jewish Foods.  12/5/12

This is an interesting category.  Out of all the foods and drinks I tried, there isn't a single one I wouldn't eat again.  That said, I wouldn't go out of my way for a macaroon, Shamrock Shake, Egg Cream, or absinthe.  I'd eat them, but I wouldn't order them.  The chess pie was fine; I'll be trying the lemon version soon to see how that compares.  I really enjoyed the Afghan food and the cacao nibs; both are things I'd actively seek out.  I had a blast eating the Top 10 Jewish Foods.  Not only did I love the challenge, but the food was delicious.  So that leaves Miracle Berries as my favorite in this category.  Getting together with my former coworkers (who I dearly miss) for the world's weirdest luncheon was truly a highlight of my year.


Crafts I'd never done:

• 8.  Try spirelli.  3/15/12
• 20.  Try a craft I've never heard of.  4/25/12
• 21.  Try glasswork.  4/26/12
• 26.  Take a Jewelry 101 class.  7/24/12
• 37.  Try lapidary.  2/2/13
• 38.  Do metal stamping.  2/26/13

Once again, it's so hard to pick a favorite.  I had a fun time trying spirelli and have made it repeatedly throughout the year.  The copper etching was fascinating, but I won't be doing it again.  The metal stamping was cool.  That leaves the three in-person classes I took: glass flamework, beading, and lapidary.  I absolutely loved all of them and I think the class format is a huge part of that.  I love learning, but I especially love interacting with an expert teacher.  Of the three, I think the beading class was my favorite.  It didn't have the steep learning curve of the glasswork or lapidary; I went home with a bracelet I love that I'm proud to wear.


Foods I'd eaten before but never prepared myself:

• 6.  Make homemade tortillas.  3/14/12
• 9.  Make cottage cheese.  3/18/12
• 10.  Make ricotta cheese.  3/18/12
• 15.  Make risotto.  3/31/12
• 16.  Poach an egg and make hollandaise sauce.  4/2/12
• 19.  Flambe something.  4/13/12
• 25.  Make squeaky cheese.  6/23/12
• 28.  Make popovers.  8/22/12
• 31.  Make fortune cookies.  11/5/12

I have such good memories of making these foods.  Some I have made again and again (risotto, poached eggs, popovers).  By far, my favorite was flambeing.


Everything Else

• 12.  Cook from a mystery basket.  3/24/12
• 22.  Be a Mythbusters volunteer.  5/2/12
• 29.  Have a Cupcake Wars competition.  Part 1  Part 2  9/9/12
• 35.  Library Roulette.  Part 1  Part 2  Part 3  Part 4  1/19/13
• 36.  See the Harlem Globetrotters live.  1/21/13
• 39.  Teach a Scrapbook 101 class.  3/3/13
• 40.  Hide a geocache.  3/5/13

This might be the hardest category of all, since it isn't really a category.  I loved teaching the scrapbook class and it's been a lifelong goal to see the Harlem Globetrotters in person.  We've been planning to hide a geocache for about two years and am so glad we finally did.  The Library Roulette was awesome and I had an absolute blast with our family Cupcake Wars competition.  So that leaves two: cooking from a mystery basket and being a Mythbusters volunteer.  I can't believe how fun it was to cook from the mystery basket, but could anything top filming an episode (twice!) of a hugely popular show?  Nope.  Being a Mythbusters volunteer tops my list of the coolest of my 40 Things.

More than anything else, this year has been about trying new things with others.  The goals I accomplished alone were great, but they don't compare to the ones I shared with friends and family.  A huge thank you to everyone who joined me for one (or more) of my goals:  Mom, Dad, Brian, Kari, Timothy, Dave, Pat, Carl, Courteney, Kylinn, Jonna, Karl, Cathy, Rita, JoAnn, Stephanie, Lesley, Diana, Marcia, Rebecca, Kristen, Miriam, Rina, Kelly, Ken, Sheena, Devin, Diane, Suzzi, and Gayle.

The biggest thank you goes to Steve and Trevor, who joined me for an amazing 25 goals (Trevor) and 31 goals (Steve).  You truly made my 40th birthday something I will never, ever forget.  I love you.  

Goal 40: Hide a Geocache

Our family first tried geocaching in September 2010 and we were immediately hooked.  After a few finds, we couldn't wait to introduce others to geocaching.  It was only a short matter of time before we were full-on Geocaching Evangelists, sharing our love of geocaching with friends, family, and a variety of different groups.

Early on, we agreed that we'd hide our first cache after we'd found 100 caches.  Well, the 100 milestone came and went back in 2011 without us hiding our first cache.  Definitely time to finally make it a priority.  

But what to hide and where?  There are very specific rules on the geocaching website about what can be hidden, how and where, but there are a wide variety of options within those parameters.  Our favorite caches are medium-sized (large enough to contain treasures), located in scenic and kid-friendly places, require a bit of a hike (but nothing extreme), and are in places where you're not likely to look like some sort of criminal searching through bushes.  So that's the type of cache we wanted to create.

Next was deciding on the location.  When you hide a cache, you need to be able to maintain it regularly as needed.  So we mapped a wide circle around our house and considered the areas where it would be easy to pop over for quick maintenance.  Then we did some reconnaissance.  We set out on a beautiful day, waiting for the perfect geocache location to reveal itself.

And then we found our perfect spot.  We'd be able to tuck a large cache amongst the rocks and no one would ever notice it unless they were specifically looking for it.

We headed home to make our cache.  You can buy geocaching containers and other supplies, but I wanted our first cache to be a DIY project.  We started with a jar of delicious honey-roasted peanuts, transferred them to some Tupperware, and washed the container thoroughly.       

 

Then we covered the entire thing with several layers of masking tape.

 

It looked like this when we finished. 

 

Trevor and I used a variety of inks to try to match the rocks and the shadows where the cache would be hiding.  

 

I gave it a bunch of coats of Outdoor Mod Podge, letting it dry completely between each coat, then let it cure the recommended 72 hours.  I sprayed it with clear lacquer, then filled it with a logbook and some treasures.  

We headed back out to our chosen spot.  Here's the container sitting on the rocks.  I think we did a pretty good job getting the color right.  It's especially well-matched to the rock in the lower right.

  

 

Backing up a few feet, you can't see it at all.   

We headed home and filled out the form to activate our geocache.  Then it was a matter of waiting for it to be approved.  There are volunteers who check each and every cache before they're made public.  I was a bit nervous that we might have done something wrong or that maybe it wouldn't be approved before my self-imposed due date of March 12.

Fortunately, we didn't have to wait long, as it was approved very soon after we submitted it. Hurray! Goal 40 accomplished!  I've been waiting all year to say that and it feels GREAT. 

Goal 39: Teach a Scrapbook Class

I love to teach.  As I've mentioned many times, I taught 4th and 5th grade for 11 years before becoming a stay-at-home-mom.  I loved it.  A few years ago, I taught art through an after-school program and loved that too.  I've done tutoring, taught workshops, and done trainings in a huge variety of subjects... but never scrapbooking.  The closest I'd come was the quilling workshop I taught last year.  

I almost ended up teaching scrapbook classes back in 2008.  Our local scrapbook store was hiring both instructors and designers.  They had an unusual policy in that all their classes were designed by one person and taught by someone else.  They felt the classes were stronger that way, as someone teaching something they'd designed might forget to mention important steps or make assumptions someone else wouldn't.  I applied for both positions, not really expecting to get either one.  As it turns out, I got both.  The owner called me and gave me a choice which one of the two I wanted.  It was a tough decision.  Teaching would be much easier for me, but it meant working evenings.  The design job could be done from home while 2-year old Trevor napped.  I accepted the design job with the understanding that I could switch over to the teaching team in the future if I wanted to do so.

I loved designing for the store and was devastated when the store closed a few months later. I never got the chance to teach scrapbooking.  Over the years, I've thought about teaching classes but haven't for a variety of reasons.  It was a high priority on my list of 40 Things.  

I spent a LONG time thinking about how to accomplish my goal, including where I would teach, who I would teach, and what I would teach.  After a lot of thought, I decided to teach a three-hour Scrapbook 101 class out of my house.  Six of my non-scrapbooking friends accepted my invitation to be my first scrapbook students.  

I put together a 3-page handout covering all the basics and assembled class kits.

 

I did my best to provide a lot of information and to give the class the chance to try out a wide variety of tools, adhesives, and techniques.  

The three hours passed way too quickly!  We all had a lot of fun and everyone learned a lot and asked great questions.  Huge thanks to Suzzi, Diana, Jonna, Diane, Gayle and Kristen for being such great students.  Goal 39 accomplished!

Library Roulette - Junior Edition (Part 2)

Here are the next three books in the Junior Edition of my Library Roulette project.

327: International Relations

Secret Agents: Life as a Professional Spy

by Claudia B. Manley 

The spy memoir I read as part of my original Library Roulette was one of my favorite books from the stack, so I was eager to dive into this book.  It starts with an introduction of the history of spying.  There are chapters about secret agents in pop culture, what agencies or organizations hire spies, what's expected of a spy, and what the training might be like.  It is well-written, thorough, and extremely interesting.  There are 49 pages of text.  The book is geared for age 10 and up.

Recommended: Yes, highly... and not just for kids.  Even after reading a large memoir on the same topic, I learned quite a bit from this book.

365: Penal and Related Institutions

Breakouts and Blunders

by John Townsend

This was another of the books I was very eager to read.  It did not disappoint.  The book was full of all sorts of true-crime stories, the majority of which end quite poorly for the criminal.  Chapters include "Oops!,"   "Big Mistakes," and "How to be a Prisoner," among others.  It is a quick and fun read, with lots of pictures and fun facts on every page.

Recommended:  Yes, highly.

500: Natural Sciences and Mathematics

Consider the Following

by Bill Nye

I am a HUGE fan of Bill Nye the Science Guy.  When I saw his book on the shelf amongst dozens of very interesting looking 500s, I didn't have to think twice.  This was definitely the one.  And I'm happy to report that I loved it!  It was classic Bill Nye - a great mix of information, humor, and experiments you can try yourself.  With 25+ topics and experiments, there's something for everyone.

Recommended:  Yes, very highly.    

I'll share the final books in my Library Roulette Jr. soon!

Goal #38: Metal Stamping

I've been wanting to try metal stamping for a long time.  I've seen so many cute projects: keychains, spoon placecards, garden markers, and all sorts of jewelry.  I especially love the necklaces where the artist has stamped her One Little Word.  

When I started my 40 Things project, I knew I wanted metal stamping to be one of the 40.  I searched for local classes but couldn't find any.  I looked into buying a set of dies on various jewelry websites.... way too expensive to justify.  But then I heard that Harbor Freight sells very inexpensive sets.  Since we have one locally, there wouldn't be any costly shipping.  I added a set of dies to my Christmas list.  I was only hoping for one, but Steve and Trevor surprised me with both a 1/4 and a 1/8 inch stamping set.  Cool!

Rather than just leaping in and trying the metal stamping on my own, I thought about who to ask to join me.  I've been making an effort to ask a wide variety of friends to join me for my various goals.  That's a huge part of what I've loved so much about my 40 Things project.  I thought my friend Rebecca would really enjoy it, so we made plans to get together in my icy garage and do some metal stamping.

We started by practicing on chipboard to get the feel of the dies, to work on spacing, and to become comfortable with the process.  Then we moved on to more practice on wood pieces.  

Using masking tape to create a guideline really helped.

We experimented with chalking our wood shapes, which worked out pretty well.  Then I discovered that you could chalk the die before striking it and get a neat effect.

As we were digging through my bin of wood shapes (left over from my teaching days), we came across a bag of animal shapes.  Rebecca had a fantastic idea, inspired by a family joke. Her 1 year old niece gets people's attention by yelling "BAH!" as loud as she can.  Now everyone in the family does the same thing, cracking up whenever they do.  She stamped BAH on a sheep, then added other animal sounds to the rest of the menagerie.

I found a rabbit shape.

Eventually, I moved on to metal stamping.  I'd dug through the garage and the scraproom to find some interesting metal surfaces.  After a variety of trials (and errors), I successfully stamped some metal tags.

 Following the instructions on this extremely helpful metal stamping tutorial, I colored the letters with a Sharpie, wet a rag with rubbing alcohol, then gently wiped off the excess Sharpie.  At that point, I learned that most of my letters weren't deep enough for the effect to work.  Oh well!

 

As I continued to struggle with the metal, Rebecca came up with another brilliant idea for the wood shapes.  Here is an apple to give to her daughter's teacher.   

 

I think the next step in my adventures with metal stamping is going to be buying some proper jewelry blanks.  The various tags, washers, and other metal items we had on hand weren't intended for metal stamping.  I suspect I'll have more luck stamping on items meant for that purpose.

Thanks to Rebecca for joining me for a fun creative day, and thanks to Steve and Trevor for the dies.  Goal #38 completed!

Library Roulette - Junior Edition

About a month ago, I completed my 35th goal, Library Roulette.  I enjoyed the project so much that I decided to declare Goal 35.5 to be Library Roulette - Junior Edition.  The plan was to pick a book from each of the 10 Dewey Decimals numbers of the original challenge, all from the Young Adult / Children's section.

        001: Knowledge

        003: Systems

        021: Library Relationships

        025: Library Operations

        225: New Testament

        327: International Relations

        365: Penal and Related Institutions

        500: Natural Sciences and Mathematics
        737: Numismatics and Sigillography

        750: Painting and Paintings

As it turns out, the children's non-fiction section is not as extensive as adult non-fiction, at least not in our county.  After visits to three different library branches, I've found children's books from 8 of the 10 Dewey numbers in my original challenge.  I was not able to find any children's non-fiction in 003 (Systems) or 021 (Library Relationships).

Here's the stack of 8 books that will make up my Library Roulette Jr. project.  It's about 1/5 the height of my original Library Roulette stack!

So, with no further ado, here is Part One of Library Roulette - Junior Edition.

001: Knowledge

The Unexplained: Area 51

by Ted Martin

I knew almost nothing about Area 51 before reading this book.  After reading this book (which has only 11 pages of text), I still don't know all that much about Area 51.  Obviously, I can't expect children's books to go in-depth on a subject, but I was hoping for a little more.  Of course, since the title starts with "The Unexplained," I suppose there is only so much a non-fiction book can cover!  I find it somewhat ironic that this is what is categorized in the "Knowledge" section.

The inside cover says this is geared toward 3rd - 7th grade students.  I agree that it would be suitable for 3rd or 4th grade, maybe 5th, but it seems far too simplistic for middle school.

Recommended: Yes, with reservations.

025: Library Operations

A Smart Girl's Guide to the Internet

by Sharon Cindrich

There were quite a few books to choose from in the Library Operations category.  Many were extremely introductory books about libraries ('Meet a Librarian' preschool type of books), so I checked the Young Adult books.  This one called out to me, being that I'm a smart girl and all.

I absolutely loved this book.  It was well-written, practical, and perfectly targeted toward preteen girls who may be interested in email, chat rooms, instant messaging, downloading music, and social networks.  Even though I read it about 30 years too late for me to benefit, it was still interesting and informative, and gave me a better idea of what children growing up in the Internet age face.

My ONLY complaint about this book is that it is so blatantly only for girls.  There is no reason it couldn't have been a smart KID'S guide instead of just a smart GIRL's guide.  But every page references girls and addresses the reader as a girl.  As the mother of a son who is just starting to use the Internet, I would love to have a corresponding book for him, but there isn't one.

Recommended: Yes, highly... for both preteen girls and their parents.

225: New Testament

Saint Paul

by David Self

You know what they say: Don't judge a book by its cover.  Based on this cover, I wasn't terribly interested in starting this book, but once I did, I couldn't put it down.  The book starts with the Pharisee Saul (as Paul was known), witnessing the trial and execution of Stephen.  It describes his conversion (and name change), his travels, and his many adventures.  It has 37 pages of text and is best suited toward upper elementary age students.

An interesting tidbit: this book is dedicated to its own author.  David Self died after finishing the book, but before it was published.  I'm sure that must happen occasionally, but I've never seen it mentioned in the dedication.

Recommended: Yes, highly.  While technically a children's book, it's a well-written book that provides a good summary for adults who might have forgotten some of their Sunday School lessons over the past 30-some years.  :)

I'll share the next books in a future post.

Goal #37: Lapidary

Back when I was researching locations to take a glass flamework class, I came across an introductory lapidary class. I had never heard of lapidary. According to the class guide:

This class will show participants how to take a rock from its rough and natural state to a polished stone ready to be used in fine art projects and jewelry pieces. In this one-day workshop, students will learn how to trim stones to size and use the grinding and polishing wheels of our circular and flat lapidary machines.

Neat! I immediately added it to my list of 40 Things.  

I found two friends who wanted to take the class with me and we all signed up using the online registration. Well, sort of. Sheena and I signed up successfully, but our friend Jennifer was wait-listed. We all crossed our fingers that someone would cancel and she'd get to join us. But when the big day came, nobody had canceled. Bummer.          

Sheena and I headed to class, excited about what we'd be learning. We arrived about 15 minutes early and found the instructor, Ian, setting up. He surprised us by saying we'd go ahead and get started. Turns out they only enroll two people in a class! We'd all been hoping someone would cancel so Jennifer could come too, never dreaming that Sheena and I were the ones who would have had to cancel for her to be enrolled!

After a brief demonstration, Ian had us jump right in. First, we picked out stones. There was a big tub with lots of choices. I had no real goal or plan in mind other than to learn the basics, so I grabbed the first stone that appealed to me.

 

Since I had no plan for the finished piece, I just started cutting it freehand to learn how to use the equipment and get comfortable with the procedure. At first, it was really scary getting my hand so close to the blade, but Ian assured us it could not do real damage to skin. Still, it's hard to believe that something that eats through rock so quickly and easily wouldn't cut through skin just as quickly! 

 

After I did a rough cut of my first piece, I slid down to the next machine to start grinding. There are six wheels that have a successively finer grit to grind down and then polish the stone. Here's Sheena using the coarsest wheel.

 

Meanwhile, I had moved down toward the polishing end.

I was annoyed at myself for not having taken a "before" picture for my first stone, so I made sure to do so for my second. I chose a chunk of agate with pinks, golds and greys in it. I used a template to trace a circle.

 

Then I used the saw to make a rough cut.

 

Here's how it looked after a few minutes of grinding on the coarsest wheel. My hand is wet (complete with wrinkly fingers) because the stones and grinding wheels have to remain wet through the whole process.

 

At that point, I moved to the right, one wheel at a time, until the stone was beautifully shiny. I set it down on a paper towel to dry and moved on to my third and final rock. Here are all three sitting on their paper towel. Once they were dry, any scratches or rough patches became quickly apparent.  

 

And here they are, complete. You can definitely tell that they're the work of a beginner, but I am very pleased with how they came out. I already mentioned that the circular stone is agate. The golden one is jasper and the "Earth" one is a picture jasper. My plan is to add magnets to the back of these. They'll look beautiful on the refrigerator.

 

If you have the chance to take a lapidary class, I'd encourage you to do so! If you're in Northern California, I highly recommend Ian as an instructor.

Goal #37 completed!