Trevor at 6

Each year on his birthday, Steve takes portraits of Trevor holding up his age.  Then I take a minute to list the adjectives that best describe him.  These are some of my absolute favorite layouts to do.  Here is Trevor at 6.

 

My layout is based on this sketch by Shannon White.

Here's a look back at Trevor's birthday portraits from ages 1-5.  One of these years, I want to do a 2-page layout with one birthday portrait from each year to show how much he's changed and grown.  Maybe I'll tackle that soon....

1st Field Trip

Remember the vacation planning folder I made using the Heidi Swapp 'No Limits' collection?  Here's the latest project I made with that collection:

It was perfect for a layout about Trevor's first field trip.  It was my first field trip too, in a way.  I went on around 50 field trips as a teacher, but this was my first field trip as a parent.  Much easier!  

Seinfeld Superfan Gift: The Seinfeld Food Quiz

My sister Kari just celebrated her 37th birthday. About 5 years ago, she announced that she has too much stuff and would prefer that any gifts she's given are consumable (no more knick-knacks or things that take up space). Since I feel the same way, I was happy to comply.  

About 5 months ago during a random visit to Cost Plus, I noticed Bosco. If you're a Seinfeld fan, you'll know that Bosco features prominently in an episode. Kari is the world's biggest Seinfeld fan, so I bought the Bosco. It would be a fun addition to whatever I'd be giving her for her birthday. Then I realized I could build a whole gift around food items that have inspired Seinfeld episodes. And I could challenge her to tell the plot of every item in the bag! Fun!

Here's what I got her:

As she removed each item, she had to tell us the plot of the episode. She breezed through all of them except the Snickers, Pepsi, and Twix. I had to give her hints for those ones.  

 

If you're a Seinfeld fan, see how you would do!

1) Bosco
2) Cinnamon raisin bagels
3) Fusilli
4) Jujyfruit
5) Junior Mints
6) Mango
7) Oh Henry!
8) Ovaltine
9) Pepsi
10) Pez
11) Pretzels
12) Snickers
13) Twix


Here are the answers. I've added affiliate links in case you'd like to buy these to give to the Seinfeld fan in your life!

1) Bosco

“The Secret Code” (episode 117): George reveals to Mrs. Peterman's dying mother that his ATM code is Bosco. He later needs to reveal his ATM code to save a man who is trapped.

2) Cinnamon raisin bagels

“The Strike” (episode 166): Kramer returns to work at a bagel shop after 12 years on strike. This explains why he's never held a job.

3) Fusilli

“The Fusilli Jerry” (episode 107): Kramer makes a statue of Jerry using fusilli because Jerry is silly. Frank Costanza falls backward onto the statue.

4) Jujyfruit
“The Opposite” (episode 86): Elaine's boyfriend Jake is in an accident and she stops to buy Jujyfruits at the movie concession stand before heading to the hospital.

5) Junior Mints

“The Junior Mint” (episode 60): Kramer drops a Junior Mint into the open chest cavity of Elaine's ex-boyfriend Roy during his splenectomy surgery.

6) Mango

“The Mango” (episode 65): After eating a bad peach and insulting the store owner, Kramer gets banned from the shop. Jerry gets banned too. George ends up buying their fruit and discovering that mangoes cure his sexual dysfunction.

7) Oh Henry!

“The Caddy” (episode 122): Elaine runs into Sue Ellen Mischke, an acquaintance from high school who is an heiress to the Oh Henry! candy bar fortune and a 'braless wonder.'

8) Ovaltine

“The Fatigues” (episode 140): Kenny Bania has a comedy bit about Ovaltine (“Why do they call it Ovaltine? The jar is round; the mug is round. They should call it Roundtine.”) His notes get mixed up with George's presentation on risk management. George ends up speaking about Ovaltine at a board meeting.

9) Pepsi

“The Dinner Party” (episode 77): The group is headed to a dinner party and Elaine wants to bring wine and cake. George prefers to bring Ring Dings and Pepsi.

10) Pez

“The Pez Dispenser” (episode 31): Elaine laughs loudly at George's girlfriend's piano concert after Jerry offers her pez.

11) Pretzels

“The Alternate Side” (episode 28): Kramer gets a line in a Woody Allen film, “These pretzels are making me thirsty!”

12) Snickers

“The Pledge Drive” (episode 89): Elaine's boss Mr. Pitt eats a Snickers bar with a fork and knife, which sets off a citywide trend.

13) Twix

“The Dealership” (episode 167): George buys a Twix from a vending machine at Puddy's car dealership, but the Twix fails to fall. He ends up making a candybar lineup, made entirely of Twix, to prove that a mechanic stole the dangling Twix.

How many did you get right?

Ramona Owls

Trevor has just started to get into Beverly Cleary books. I'm thrilled, as she was my favorite author when I was in first grade back in 1978 (and for several years after that). The drive to my inlaws' cabin in Bear Valley is just over 3 hours, so Trevor and I checked out a Ramona audiobook for the drive up and a second one for the drive home.  

In one of the key scenes in Ramona the Brave, Ramona's first grade class makes owls from paper bags for Back to School Night. Ramona adds creative and unique details to her owl and then her nemesis Susan copies Ramona's ideas. After their teacher praises Susan for her creativity, Ramona destroys both Susan's owl and her own.  

I paused the audiobook for a teachable moment:

Me: Trevor, what would you do if someone copied your art ideas?

Trevor: Nothing.  I wouldn't care.

Me: Why do you think it bothered Ramona?

Trevor: Can we make those owls when we get home?

So much for the teachable moment. Yes, Trevor... we can make owls.

Materials: 2 brown lunch sacks (used is fine), a piece of newspaper, brown ink and a stamp of the letter V, glue gun, scissors, yellow and black cardstock scraps.

Start by stamping brown V's on the front, back and sides of one of the lunch sacks. (You could use a pen and draw V's, but stamping is faster and more fun.) Set aside the second lunch sack.

 

Wad up a sheet of newspaper and stuff it into the stamped lunch sack. Fold the ends of the sack over and glue them down.

 

Fold the flap down and glue in place.

Use the yellow and black cardstock to make eyes and glue them into place.

 

Cut wings and a beak from the second lunch sack. Add stamped V's to the wings. Glue the wings and beak into place.  

Here is my Ramona Owl:

 

And here is Trevor's Ramona Owl:

Thanks to Beverly Cleary for books that I loved as a child, enjoyed years later as a teacher, and that are just as good now that I'm rereading them as a mommy. Thanks for stories that leave my son begging for trips to the library. And thanks for inspiring a fun art project.  :)

More Art from Vacation

I did a few more art projects while we were in Bear Valley.  These were all done lakeside, but I didn't photograph them until later.  (Obviously, since lakeshores are rarely carpeted.)

The inspiration for my first project came from, of all places, CraftFail.  I followed the instructions from the original artist at The Forest Room.  (The instructions are in the comments, not in the body of the post.)  That's Trevor's hand on the paper.  I think the illusion works pretty well except for the thumb area.  I was going to leave it uncolored, but Trevor wanted his hand to be underwater.  

Next, I tried an Op Art Inspired project from the Art Club Blog (original source: Art with Mr. E).  I read the instructions at home before the trip but didn't really remember what to do once I was on vacation.  So my project looks almost nothing like the ones that inspired it. Next time I go on vacation, I should print the instructions and try again!

 

This was a quick sketch I did.  There's nothing like sketching in Sharpie.  There's no erasing, so every mistake needs to be made into something else.  There's no way to vary the color, so 'shading' can only be done by using more or less lines.  (Speaking of color, the pink blobs on my sketch are from Trevor's 5 Dot Art that soaked through the page.)

 

Finally, I did a couple pages of layout sketches.  I haven't done much scrapbooking recently. With Trevor out of school for the summer, 95% of my creative time is doing kids' crafts with him.  I have a huge pile of photos waiting to be scrapped, so I created sketches with those in mind.  You'll be seeing a few of these sketches in finished form (and the layouts that go with them) soon.  I hope.

So that's what I did to stay creative on vacation, with nothing but a sketchpad, a Sharpie, some markers, and a pencil.  I'm curious- do any of you pack art supplies on vacation?  What do you do?