Reminders at Christmas ...

Long time, no blog. I might have even had to google how to write a post - well, how to find the screen that allows me to create a post. I couldn't find it. Sorry blog ... but Instagram is just so easy. But I'm back to share one of the most fun projects I've done - and one we're about to start during this holiday season.  

I'll start with the one we did this spring. For the past few years, the 3rd graders had done a nativity scene made of clay as their class auction gift. Me and clay, however ... do not mix. My mom has a bird at her house that I made in about 3rd grade. And I remember trying to construct it carefully & artfully as shown by the art teacher. But the clay was dry & when it all fell apart, I panicked. I believe it had to be finished that day. So I just smashed it all together in a hurry so it could get fired. My mom still has it in her basement on a shelf. And I wince every time I look at it or touch it. It has so many sharp edges, it's not only ugly, it's hazardous.

So ... when I was asked to do the nativity scene with the 3rd graders, I knew it would not be made of clay.

I had just made the tree for the school & had gotten pretty well acquainted with papier mache. And I knew it was pretty forgiving. I know people thought I was crazy. I was even a little embarrassed to tell people what I was doing because I know they had visions of  absolute miserable failure in their heads. And papier mache I think is one of those things that you even doubt yourself until you are just mere minutes away from being done.

I began by asking the students to raid their recycle bins at home. They brought in newspaper, magazines, boxes, toilet paper & paper towel rolls. I bought rolls of masking tape, flour, plastic white trays for the papier mache project and some plastic totes and bubble wrap for them to be easily transported and stored. I already had all the paint and another family at the school generously donated the wooden stable. I can't remember my grand total exactly, but it had to be about $30 - $15 a set.

We made 2 scenes, 1 for each class. Here's how it was broken down:  Joseph, Mary, Baby Jesus, Manger, 3 Wisemen, 2 Shepherds, 2 Angels, 3 Sheep, 2 Camels, 1 Donkey, 1 Cow, 4 Trees, 1 Star.  I know we had some last minute changes to this line up, but this was at least the start of breaking down the parts for 23 kids.

We started out just balling up newspaper & taping it up. The people standing up (wisemen, shepherds) were a full size toilet paper roll, the ones kneeling and the angels we had cut down to a smaller size. The sheep were just balls of newspaper. The cows, camels & donkeys were all full size toilet paper rolls. The trees were paper towel rolls cut at various sizes. For the mangers, we cut the ends off a box from a bar of soap and stuffed it with newspaper.

We had the kids come out in small groups, grouped together by what part of the nativity set they were. 

To keep the pieces straight, I wrote their names in permanent marker on the pizza box or on the paper in the space where it was drying.

There's a whole lotta imagination that is used in the beginning. Was I worried? Heck. Yes.   Nah, what can go wrong?

We covered the pieces in newspaper strips dipped in the flour & water paste. After spending 2 1/2 long days at school, I decided it was time to take the pieces home and give them all their finishing touches. Mostly, this just meant more layers of papier mache. But I also needed to put staffs in the hands of the shepherds and gifts in the hands of the wisemen.

Originally, I was going to have the kids paint their pieces. But. I had already spent 2 1/2 school days on this project, pulling the kids in & out of their classroom. And I knew it was going to take up way too much time for me to load it all back up, set up the tables, paints & bring them out in small groups. I knew I wanted a very minimal look to all the pieces anyway (no faces or details), so I thought for the minimal painting that needed to be done, it was probably not worth me loading it all up, setting up camp & dragging the kids out of their classrooms for another day or 2. 

I really loved watching the pasty looking newspaper 'blobs' come to life. It is amazing what paint can do. I wrote the names of each student on the bottom of their piece once they were all dry.

Below are the two finished nativity scenes (*the stars were then wrapped in wire so that they could be attached to the stable). I really love the way they turned out.  Together they raised almost $1,500 for our school. As I told the teachers after the auction was over ... "Not bad for recyclables." :)

I think they are a beautiful reminder of what the season is really about.  The birth of Jesus to show God's love for mankind. Appreciating the simple things around us and using them for good. This was made mostly with things people no longer wanted. Yet for our project they allowed us to create a masterpiece and allowed families to be generous with donations to our parish school. Sometimes so much more can come from giving up what you don't need so someone else can treasure it. 

Just last week I found this project called "Light 'Em Up" which gives some ideas for random acts of kindness you can spread around your city, family and friends. If you have ever been on the receiving end of a random act of kindness, then you know it doesn't take much to have a huge impact (here is  what $10 once did for our family). I love that it helps teach kids that the focus on the season should be about the giving not the receiving. We picked out some stars off the "Giving Tree" at church, but I [mom] did all the shopping for it.  So this week, as a family, we're going to pick out a few items and help bring some "goodness and light" to Kansas City. 

"Let us not be satisfied with just giving money. Money is not enough, money can be got, but they need your hearts to love them. So, spread your love everywhere you go."- Mother Teresa

THE TREE.

Better late than never, here is the post with some photos of the TREE! :) This is the tree I worked on this summer for our school. My talented architect friend, Dana, used her skills to make some layout changes to our school. In doing this, she found this little room under the stairs (by 1st, 2nd & 3rd grades) and knew it could be better utilized as a reading room. This tiny little room had 2 windows which we all know are a commodity. I never saw the "before" because quite frankly, the windows on the door were literally boarded up with paneling. I never knew this room existed. I believe it was just being used to store some things. (But when my husband went there it was the room for the school nurse! And when the school was first built I believe it was the principal's office!)

Earlier in the year, my friend & I had chatted about some ideas for the school library. We discussed a papier mache tree. So when Dana discovered this room & took on the project of converting it to a reading nook for small reading groups, she asked if I was interested in constructing the tree for this room. Of course I was ... I was just nervous. Because. The only papier mache thing I had made was {this eagle} with Brett for a school project. But I knew that was easy enough. And I figured this would just take longer. Which pretty much was the case, but when you're talking about a floor to ceiling sized tree that's covering up pipes & getting fitted into a corner where there's trim at the bottom & a metal cord cover on one side up on the wall. And knowing kids are going to be in there. Stepping on its roots. Punching its trunk. Okay, of course I hope those last 2 things don't happen. But. I have 3 kids. I know the potentials. And I wanted to be prepared. So besides all that, it was JUST like the eagle. :) *wink*

(Above) The pipes we were wanting to cover. But not permanently. So the structure has been adhered to the anchored wood strips with industrial velcro tape.

More of the room. Pre-tree. :) But my friend Dana had already gotten started painting.

Trying to figure out my plan of attack working around the awkward base trim. 

I was nervous. So I did a lot of stalling ... like taking on the fun & easy part of the project! Picking out the fun paper for the leaves! :) I decided to go with a mix similar to these {other tree projects} I've done. Apparently, that's my style & I'm sticking to it. :) I not only went for papers that worked with the colors in the room, but I also chose some alphabet letters, sheet music & shamrocks (our school is "the Irish") to go with the school theme. 

I can't tell you how long this structure (above) stood like this in my garage. Stalling. Big time. See, when I get scared ... I wait for panic mode to set in. Because then & only then can good things happen. 

Finally, I had Kyle help me anchor the sides to these bases as an attempt to keep its shape. Trying to fit it into its corner remotely (I built this in my garage) was difficult. But, I had 3 kids at home with me this summer. Besides, I'm a night owl & this worked well for me to just go out at 9 PM & work 'til I couldn't work any more. 

Then I started to add on some branches & roots. The trunk was made with really thick wire & I used chicken wire that was more pliable for the branches & roots. Then I snipped up (using tin snips which I also used to cut the chicken wire) bits of wire & wired it all together. I believe I took this photo above to show that I used some pieces of my white garden fence / stakes for support in the 'branch armpit'. I just used my trusty staple gun (which I also used throughout the project) to fasten the chicken wire to the wood.

When I felt confident about the structure, I wrapped the whole thing in brown kraft paper with masking tape. I might have overdone it. :) That happens when you don't know what you're doing. 

These supplies were my friends for about a week straight. These and a box fan to help with drying. I made small batches of paste at a time. I used 2 Panda Express take-out forks so that I didn't have to ruin anything of mine. :) And an old ice cream bucket & a dixie cup cut down for measuring the wall size powder. Oh this brings back memories!

I papier mached for 5 or 6 days. And usually I worked 2-3 hours in the morning, then a 2-3 hours again at night. Definitely time consuming & messy ... but exciting to see the tree start taking its shape & firming up!

When I was satisfied with the strength of the papier mache, I painted it using a semi-gloss. 

The kids were all over helping me paint it. But all were grossed out by the papier mache process. Davis helped me for about 8 minutes, then asked if he could be done. :) Not as fun as it looked, I guess.  But I did like involving them because Davis (3rd grade) & Libby (Kindergarten) I knew were going to be using the room. And I figured if they had invested some time in the project, they'd help preserve it once it was in the school. 

Finally it was time to move the beast up to school. My friend Dana came with their truck & we strapped it in for its short journey up to school. :)

Still nervous (paranoid) about the trunk's strength, I did decide to zip tie this little piece in there. Probably unnecessary, but it made me feel better. 

I had already planned on this happening, but I went ahead & had finished off the roots at home knowing there was a small chance it'd just "work out". It didn't. :) The roots needed to be rebuilt once it was in the room. Not a problem, I just mashed up more chicken wire & wired them onto the roots I had already built. Then spent a couple days papier maching over the bottom portion.

I loved the way the leaves turned out!!!!! I had bought a box of joint biscuits at the hardware store! Cut out a leaf shape in all the paper then used mod podge to adhere it to the wood piece & a coat on top to make it glossy & seal it. I loved these little guys. 

Dana had painted the walls a darker green, the ceiling a pretty robin egg blue & then I used the light green to paint out the tree top. Then I used 3M strips to adhere to joint biscuit leaves to the wall & ceiling! In this photo above, it's not quite finished ... I see a piece of newspaper where it looks like I did a patch job. And it's not fixed to the wall just yet. But my friend's husband did come in & anchor some 2"x8' strips to the walls. They matched the 2"x8' strips that make up the tree's frame, so when it was all done we used industrial strength velcro tape on the 2"x8' pieces and sandwiched it all together.

I mixed together another batch of the papier mache paste for the leaves that went on the tree. Took two cut out leaves (paper only, no join biscuits) & chose a thin part of a branch and sandwiched it in between the wire.

Originally from St.Louis, I'm a Cardinal fan at heart. And I thought it'd be fun to have a little 'life' in the tree. So I hot glued this little guy to a branch up above. 

As an afterthought, I tried out this little treatment on the bark. I just haphazardly dry brushed on a dark brown. It was really just an experiment, knowing if it didn't work out I could just paint over it. But I loved the results. It picked up on all the little rough edges underneath the layers of paint, it looked like real tree bark. SO COOL.

And here is the tree in its corner & two bean bags waiting to be opened. This was a fun surprise for the students, families & teachers at the before school open house.

I love this view. The school carefully cut out the panels in the top half of the door that had previously sealed off this room. Can't remember if it's just open or if there's plexiglass in there. Such a happy view.

It was definitely a labor of love & well worth it. I am happy to be a part of the team that helped bring such an inspirational space like this to our school. My elementary school had so many fun little elements that I still remember to this day. And a few of them were in the Library. I hope in 20-30 years the kids (as grown ups) include this little reading nook as part of their magical memories. Whether it's that they remember dreaming under the branches as they listened to or read a book; or that they remember being cozy in this sunny room on days that it was cold, snowy or rainy out; or even just being inspired by the artistic element & process of making the tree.  As a kid, I know I would have loved all 3. :)

We got a puppy ...

I texted this photo to some of our family & friends announcing that we got a puppy! She is a brown & white Siberian Husky with blue eyes, born on December 7, 2011 [4.5 months at the time we got her]. 

We didn't know about her or that our family was open to the idea of getting a new puppy, until 8:30 PM the night before when I read a friend's post on Facebook. The previous owners needed to find a new home for due to allergies & a friend put a note up about it on Facebook [it wasn't that family, it was a friend of the girl who posted it on FB].

My first comment was "oh I WISH!" But then, it all felt so serendipitous, I couldn't shake the feeling that we had to have her. We had made the decision to get Daisy [our black & white Siberian Husky] almost 12 years to the date, under the same circumstances. Daisy's previous family couldn't keep her due to allergies. So we adopted Daisy, giving her the middle name "Mae" [we brought her home on May 1, 2000].  So with all that in mind, I went from 1/2 joking about asking Kyle if we could get her, to convincing him why it was a good [spontaneous] decision. 

A phone call was made that night, a meet-n-greet was set up that next morning. Hazel [she came with that name, which we LOVE & it goes so well with her big sister Daisy] ... came home with me at noon that day. Miss Daisy wasn't all that amused ... but I can't blame her. :)

 Introductions ... Daisy meet Hazel. Hazel, your big sis Daisy.

We did give Hazel a middle name ... Jean. I thought it went well with Daisy Mae. And I thought it was a good fit since her eyes are blue [blue jean]. So she's Miss Hazel Jean.

I do believe it's all the romping that spooks Daisy. She's 12. Doesn't move as nimbly as her 4.5 month old little sis. Freaks her out.

Daisy's thought bubble: "D*mn. That thing quit moving. Didn't know it was possible." [she cusses occasionally, like old, irritable dogs do. We let her as long as it's not around the kids.]

The kids were ecstatic to say the least. They have energy, puppies have energy. Win-win. And it takes the pressure off of Daisy ... since Brett keeps trying to get her to do tricks that he sees on TV & at shows. [Flashback to Summer 2009, here] He would LOVE to see Daisy jump through a hula hoop. She will NOT. But, perhaps he can work on Hazel. 

This photo [above] just might be my favorite from that first day. I think it shows their ages perfectly. Hazel's a blur in a full gallop. Daisy's grazing.  

 Kyle meeting Hazel. Love at 1st sight, for sure.

Too busy & tired to think about dinner that 1st night with Hazel [like most new puppy parents ;)], we got Chinese take-out. This was my fortune. :) Sweet Hazel ... has done just that.

So we've been busy 'round here. We became puppy parents literally overnight. I've been trying to take Hazel out more to burn off some of that energy [for Daisy's sake]. She's an excellent fitness trainer. She turned my fast paced walk into a full jog. And I didn't want to stop because I knew how good it was for her - & how good it was for me. Another win-win. 

Miss Hazel is not perfect. She makes mistakes. Like choosing to get up on my patio table & dig to China in my planter. Her favorite thing is to pluck all my planted flowers out of their pots. Every day there's a new flower that I have to replant. She doesn't eat them, just grabs a leaf with her teeth, tugs & drops it on the ground. At least I can still replant them ... [but it is getting old]. ;)

But her cute pudgy paws, cool blue eyes & all that cute puppy fat around the neck are what make the clean ups worth it.  She's adorable. Puppies are cute.

Right, Daisy? Daisy ... right? [Daisy's faces crack me up]