Upcycled Terrariums and First Day of Age 9

Today is Caitlin's 9th birthday. That means we have been in Florida for exactly eight years. Can't believe it. Each year we take a picture of the kids on the first day of that year, or their birthday, and the last day of the previous year. This is just something fun we do. Caitlin chose to stand in front of my very huge yellow rose bush for her picture. I need to tie it back again, because it has gotten so big. It currently has no flowers, but it will. On Tuesday, we had our Earth Kids meeting. This time we made upcycled terrariums. The first picture is a butterfly terrarium I bought for Caitlin as a school project. It cost 20 dollars, and as you can see it is growing nicely. It waters itself, and the holes in the top should attract butterflies once the flowers bloom. The ones we did at Earth kids were made with recycled jars, that were upcycled into a terrarium. The total cost for all the supplies was 10 dollars, and there were seven kids. You can see which one is more affordable. Anyway the Tide pod container was the perfect container for this project. However, the Tide sticker was almost impossible to remove, and it scratched the container in the process. I upcycle jars all the time, and have removed upteen labels and the glue, with not much difficulty. If you decide to use this type of container, it will be very time consuming. DJ put a car in his, so the flowers will grow around the car, and some colorful rocks. Caitlin put a few stickers on hers and a kitty and puppy figurine inside, with some glass stones. I will take pictures as the plants begin to grow and bloom. As long as you leave the top on these are self watering systems. Their own little ecosystem if you will. I found a page you can print and use in your class to help teach the kiddos why making a terrarium is educational. Have fun, we did! Next meeting we are doing hummingbird and butterfly feeders that hang in the tree. We have tried other ones with little success, but this one I think will be awesome, and it is upcycled as well. So stay tuned for that.

Upcycling Project: Make Bowling Pins

Well it is freezing here, thanks to Superstorm Sandy. So far our family in NY has been untouched. I hope the same is true for our friends in the upstate area.

My mom gave me some plastic containers the other day. I thought, what am I supposed to do with these. Then I found the book 365 fun filled learning activities book, that had been given to me, and forgotten. In it was a way to play bowling with household items. So, I thought that is what I can do with those containers. So, I painted them, added some goofy faces, and after they have been lightly sealed I will fill them with sand. Then at the next park day we will be bowling for a class. Now that is cooler, did I mention too cold, we want to do more outside activities rather than indoor co-op days. Tues, Wed and Thurs are regular school days. Tonight is trick or treating and Friday is our volunteer day at the food pantry. This will be our first time volunteering with this particular group.

Art Class, 4H Scrapbook and Homeschool Evaluations

I think we are officially changing the name of painting class to Arts and Crafts class.  Why?  Because my mom is teaching Caitlin to sew, DJ and I really want to take up drawing and painting both, and DJ honestly really enjoys drawing more than painting. 

Tomorrow are our homeschool evaluations, and I will let everyone know how that goes.  I am always a little bit nervous.  I signed DJ up for a Science class for 7th grade, on the FLVS.  By 9th grade I would like him to be all or most of his lessons on the FLVS, so he can earn the proper credits for graduation.  We will see how it all plays out the next two years.  This year just one class, next year at least two maybe three, then go from there. 

It was a busy and beautifully creative day!

Yesterday I drew some roses with colored pencils.  I enjoyed this immensely and was only my second try at drawing them.  The first set I drew I tried to paint last night, but I did not like it at all.

We finished our 4H Scrapbook.  Just need to get fasteners to hold it together.

These are painted roses using the Donna Dewberry method, and some other things I painted.  This is just a practice paper.

If you are into upcycling, take a spaghetti sauce jar, like this one from Bertolli, paint it a pretty color, paint the word flour on it and then put flour in it.  Cool, cute and inexpensive canisters.  You can make a whole set in any design that will suit your kitchen.  They look two different colors because of the lighting on the camera, but it is the same color, same jar. 

Keep the lid and paint that as well.

Again an upcycling idea.  This light bulb had blown in my ceiling fan.  Rather than throw it away, I set it aside to paint on it.  I made this cute snowman, which will end up as a Christmas tree ornament.

My mom made more garden watering bottles today, using my favorite blue bottles.  I have been using the two that we made earlier in the year in my garden, and they are still as bright and all the paint is present, from when I first put them out there.  These will eventually be listed into my Etsy store.  It is a process because they have to sit for two weeks, then I heat set them, and then seal them just for good measure.

Caitlin is learning to sew.  Two weeks ago we painted clothespins with hair and faces.  Caitlin and my mom will now be making clothes for the clothespins and they too will be listed in my Etsy store.  I bet they will be a doll, LOL!

DJ opted not to paint today, and that was fine, because he spent all that time messing with his new Tracfone trying to get it to work.  What a pain!