Pop Culture Jeopardy!

I've been a fan of Jeopardy! for over 4 decades. Back in January, I finally had the chance to watch a filming of Jeopardy! and it was totally awesome. I have no ambitions of being a contestant, but I do love shouting out the answers from home. 

Jeopardy! has had a number of spin-offs over the years, including: 

• Jep!: A simpler version of the game for kids age 10-12 (1998–2000)
• Rock & Roll Jeopardy!: A version with a focus on music-related clues (1998–2001)
• Sports Jeopardy!: An entirely sports-themed version (2014–2016)

I never watched a single episode of any of them, but I have started watching the latest spin-off, Pop Culture Jeopardy!. 

Just like the regular version, whether or not you find Pop Culture Jeopardy! easy or difficult is all about the categories. I always have my fingers crossed for really easy categories, like 80's Pop Songs, 80's TV Sitcoms, or 80's Commercials. During the most recent episode I watched, I was excited for a Disney category, only to find out it was all about recent pre-teen shows on the Disney Channel. I didn't know a single one. I enjoy watching the show with Trevor, because we both are surprised when the other one doesn't know a "really easy" answer. I couldn't name the maker of Minecraft (Mojang Studios) and he didn't know what show Karen's maid Rosario was from (Will and Grace). TV exposing the generation gap!

I love the title sequence on Pop Culture Jeopardy! Check it out and see how many different pop culture references you recognize.  

I've spotted Blockbuster, Dunkin', Nickelodeon, Jaws, Friends, Coke, Wordle, Amazon, and Barbie. What else did you spot? Let me know in the comments!

Self-Portrait, Inspired by Tim Burton

I really enjoy creating projects inspired by other artists, particularly those whose style is nothing like my own. It's fascinating to see that, no matter how much I try to stay true to the artist's aesthetic, my own style is evident. That's definitely the case with today's self-portrait, which is inspired by Tim Burton. This is a great project to do with kids any time of the year, but it's especially fun during the Nightmare Before Christmas season. Affiliate links below. 

Self-Portrait, Inspired by Tim Burton

Materials: 

• toned drawing paper or cardstock
• pencil
• black Flair pen
• white colored pencil

Steps: 

Start by deciding if you will be drawing just yourself or if others (like a pet) will be with you. Lightly sketch an oval head for each character on the toned paper. Add very large circles in the middle of the oval for eyes. Then fill in the rest of the features. The mouth, nose, and human ears should be undersized. The bunny ears should be large. Draw the rest of the torso for each character. It should be very skinny - much skinnier than I made mine! 

When you are happy with your pencil lines, trace them with the Flair pen. Add hair. Then fill in the details: pupils in the centers of the eyes, short lines for eyelashes, small eyebrows, and bunny whiskers. 

Color in the eyes and the bunny's tummy with the white colored pencil. You may need to redraw the pupils after coloring. 

Use the pencil to add shading: around the outside of the eyes, on the side of the nose, along the insides of the face, under the chin, on the shoulders, under the arms, and in the bunny's ears. Add depth to the hair by filling it in with more pencil lines and shading. 

I stopped here, but feel free to add gothic-style clothing, a whimsical border, or an interesting background. You could also make a cool paper frame. Let your creativity go wild!

Craft Stick Pencil, Crayon, and Colored Pencil Back-to-School Craft

In celebration of back-to-school season, today's craft has students make a craft stick pencil, colored pencil, or crayon and use it to write advice on how to be successful during the new school year. It's a fun way to encourage kids to start the year off on the right foot. Back in my teaching days, I had my students write letters of advice at the end of the year for the students who would be sitting in their desks the following year. It was always a delight to see what they wrote. Affiliate links below. 

 

Craft Stick Pencil, Crayon, and Colored Pencil

Materials: 

• 10" craft sticks
• scissors
• sandpaper
• Folk Art acrylic paint
• Folk Art Metallic Silver
• pencil
• Sharpie

Steps: 

Use the scissors to trim the one end of each craft stick to make a rounded point. There two things to note: 

1. Cutting craft sticks generates sharp wood pieces that can potentially go flying. Teachers should prep the sticks ahead of time rather than having students do this step in class. 
2. It is easiest to cut if you put the craft stick all the way in toward the fulcrum of the scissors.

You can cut the other end of the craft stick straight across if you wish. I did that for my colored pencil and crayon but left the pencil with a rounded end. Totally up to you. When you are done cutting, sand the craft sticks so there are no rough edges. 

Paint the craft sticks. I started by painting the wood part of the pencil and colored pencil, but in retrospect that seems like an unnecessary step since the craft stick is already wood. So I'd skip that. I used green for the body and tip of my colored pencil. For my crayon, I used orange for the ends, then mixed in a little bit of coral to lighten the paint to make the wrapper. For my pencil, I painted the eraser pink, the body yellow, and the tip dark grey, then added the silver paint. 

When the paint was dry, I used a pencil to subtly define the edges between colors. Then I drew parallel lines on the silver paint to mimic the texture of the ferrule. Finally, I used the Sharpie to add the tips for being successful in school. 

Maybe it's just me, but I think it would be fun (if impractical) to tape a real pencil to the back and use this for writing.  

I really enjoyed making this craft, even though my back-to-school days are behind me. I wish all of the students reading this a successful and enjoyable school year. Ask questions! Study for tests! And do your homework!

Stamps Forever - Have You Voted Yet?

I really like postage stamps. There's something so neat about the fact that you can't send mail without affixing a tiny work of art to the upper right corner. While I love seeing all the new releases, I miss some of the many fabulous designs that are no longer available (at least not at face value.) So I was really excited to see that the United States Postal Service is hosting a contest to bring back one of their most popular stamps. This post contains affiliate links. 

There are 25 options to choose from. Some of my all-time favorites are on the ballot, including Peanuts, Send a Hello, Frozen Treats (the first-ever scratch and sniff postage stamps), Disney Villains, Mail a Smile, The Art of Disney: Magic, and Charles M. Schulz. 

 

It's so hard to pick just one, but fortunately you don't have to! You can vote manually for as many of the images as you want, as often as you want. I put in votes for all of my favorites. If I HAD to pick just one, it would probably be Charles M. Schulz, with Frozen Treats a close second. I love how many different designs each set has, but Frozen Treats aren't as versatile for year-round use. 

Voting in the Stamps Forever contest lasts until September 30. Head over now to the cast your vote(s)!

A Logo for the St. Mark's Quilters

The quilting group at my church just celebrated our first anniversary. To celebrate the milestone, I designed a logo for us. It uses the St. Mark's colors. 

The St. Mark's Quilters have come a long way in a year. Our group has grown to include community members and friends who are not part of the congregation but feel strongly about the mission of providing quilts to people in need. 

 

Not only have we grown in numbers, but we now have a large dedicated space! It has made all the difference. Our weekly meetings used to be 30% setup, 40% quilting, and 30% cleanup. Now we are able to spend 100% of our time quilting. It's such a blessing. We have two large tables for arranging quilt squares and then doing the actual quilting. We are talking about adding a third. We have sewing and ironing stations. 

We also have lots of storage. These rolling shelves hold donated fabric that needs to be ironed and cut, squares that are ready to be pieced together, and quilts that are ready to be bound. All of the quilts you see at the top left are completed and ready for Ingathering. 

I love our little group and look forward to quilting each week. Keep up the excellent work, St. Mark's Quilters! We are making a difference.