Back To School Chalkboard

Technique: Painting, Decoupage, Mixed Media

Materials:
wooden coaster
acrylic paints
all purpose glue and sealant such as Modge Podge
alphabet chipboard cutouts
scraps of red and green fabric
flexible wire


Tools:
paintbrush
scissors
sandpaper
wire snips
needle nose pliers
hot glue gun

Today was the first day back at school after more than six weeks of holidays! As much as you love your kids, by the end of the holidays they are bored and restless, and I am usually frazzled! I only have one child of school age, and he started upper primary today. The little man was quite excited, and proclaimed he felt rather "upper".

Give the coaster two coats of black acrylic paint, sanding lightly between coats, and then a coat of sealer.

This site has a wide variety of paper rulers available to print out. In Australia we are metric, but there are imperial rulers available also. Print out the ruler of your choice and cut strips that will become the border of your "chalkboard" (a little trivia here in Australia we call it a black board, because, well, it's black!!). Once your ruler strips are trimmed, glue into position and allow to dry.

Paint your chipboard letters in bright primary colours and allow to dry. Glue into position along the bottom of the board. Cut a small circle from the red fabric for the apple, and a few leaf shapes from the green fabric. Glue these into position in the middle of the board. With white acrylic and a fine brush, write the year or grade level of your child. Allow the entire project to dry thoroughly and give a finishing coat of sealer.

Wrap the wire around a pencil about a dozen times and then slip off. Bend and stretch as necessary to form a hanger. Make two loops of wire and hot glue to the back of the coaster, then attach the hanger through the loops.

On the reverse of the coaster, which I haven't photographed for privacy reasons, I have glued the school logo, and also made a note of what his teacher's name is and what class room number he is in for this year.

Distressed Gingerbread Cookie

Technique: Sewing, Painting

Materials:
calico fabric
acrylic paints
buttons
"jingle" bell
embroidery floss
scrap plaid fabric
wire
sandpaper
quilt batting
sea sponge
sandpaper

Tools:
sewing machine
sewing needle
hot glue gun
stippling or stencilling brush
thin paint brush
pinkingshears

Cut two 5" squares from the calico and one or two 5" squares from the batting (depending on thickness of batting and how thick you would like your cookie). Make a sandwich from the calico and batting so that you have one layer of calico, one or two layers of batting and then a layer of calico. Using a large glass or a circle template draw a circle onto the calico. Take 'sandwich' to sewing machine and sew along the drawn line. Cut circle out with pinkingshears.

Now that you have your base cookie, it's time to get creative. Using two or three different tones of brown and the sea sponge dapple over the cookie, being sure to get into the groove caused by the sewing and the edges. Allow to dry overnight. Using the sandpaper distress the top of the cookie, be light in some areas, firmer in others. Scrunch the cookie up to force creases and sand right over the top of the scrunched fabric. When you have finished sanding, wipe over the cookie with a damp sponge.

Using the stencilling brush and a little red paint, dry brush in high lights for the cheeks. Using the thin brush and white acrylic thinned down a little, draw the wavy line around the outside of the cookie. When dry sew on the buttons for eyes and the jingle bell for a nose. Use either black paint or black embroidery floss for the eye brows to give the cookie a worried look (she's a distressed cookie, get it?!)

Make a loop from the wire and push the ends into the top of the cookie between the layers of batting and calico, then bend the tips so that it doesn't just slip right out again. Cut a strip from the plaid fabric and form a bow, then adhere using hot glue.

Acetate Butterfly Clip

Technique used: Basic Painting

Materials:
clear acetate
black marker
Tile and Glass Medium
good quality thick acrylic paints
wooden beads
beading wire
glitter paint

Tools:
scissors
paintbrushes
hot glue gun
needle nose pliers


Transfer the butterfly image to the acetate with the black marker, then cut out shape. Coat one side of the acetate with the glass and tile medium, this ensures that the paint will bond permanently. Choose 3-4 colours of acrylic paint that you think will blend well together and randomly place 2 pea size dots of each colour on one wing. Fold the butterfly in half so that the wings are touching each other and then rub over one side with your finger "smooshing" the paint between the sandwiched layers of acetate. This is exactly the same style of blob painting we learned in kindergarten. Once the paint has been spread to all the edges and there are no gaps, spread the wings apart and allow to dry overnight.

Paint a wooden peg and the wooden beads black. Thread a small piece of beading wire through the beads, forming a loop at one end and antenna at the other. Glue the acetate butterfly to the peg, then glue the beads on top of the butterfly.