IF your Happy and You know it...

Thank a teacher! I know I am!

I was going to make Orion's teacher a gift anyhow but then I read the unbelievably sweet note she sent home for him about how special and wonderful he is (it made me cry!)

So then I knew I really had to make something special just for her...

I altered this canvas tote bag that I bought for $1.00 at Michael's by sewing the bottom corners flat. Then I added a little turquoise flower I made and stitched a real pearl into the center.

Next I cut out the phrase " If you're happy and You know it thank a teacher" using my new silhouette and some freezer paper. I simply ironed the freezer paper to the bag and painted the phrase.Then peeled the freezer paper off and filled my bag with some nice organic hand soap, and organic lotion, and a chocolate bar.

Orion and I each made a card ( I cried while filling mine out, I know I'm silly!) and I tucked the cards into the bag.

Today is the last day of school which they call "Dance Day" All the kids, teachers, and parents dance their booty's off on the playground and each class even practices a special dance to preform in front of everyone else. Orion's class is doing the "Boogie Walk," seriously, how cute is that?

We are off to our very last day of kindergarten,  Hooray Summer!

Peace don't laugh at my dance skills!

Silhouettes (the low tech way)

For my guest room/studio space I wanted to do silhouettes of my boys for a little pop. There are about a million ways to make silhouettes, here's how I did mine...

Silhouette Tutorial 

First start by taking a million profile shots of your subject, I put my boys in front of a very contrasty background and since I live where the sky is almost always foggy and white I just do it in front of our glass doors. 

Then upload your photos to your computer and go to you basic photo editing application, I use picasa, if you have it you could use photoshop, but then that's a whole different tutorial isn't it?

Once in you editing program crop your photo and turn the shadow scale all the way up until it looks all silhouette-ish like my darling boy there.

Print photos in black and white and cut, cut, cut

Once your silhouette is cut out lightly tape it to your cardstock.

I used the traditional black but they come out really fun if you use a brightly colored paper. I wanted to do mine in yellow but the Mr. didn't like the idea as much as I did.

Apply mod-podge or regular school glue to the back of your silhouette and place it on your background. I used those boards I painted to match my dresser.

smoosh (that's the technical term) out the wrinkles and bubbles. if it seems really wrinkly then place a sheet of wax paper over it and place it under a stack of books for a day or so to dry.

find something oval (because they are really hard to draw freehand!) and trace it onto your plaque

then with a sharpie paint marker, draw over your oval. I drew a little box on the bottom for a label too

I decided to write no. 1 &  no. 2 for my boys but you could always put their names or the date, whatever strikes your fancy! I might go back and add a little more embellishments to the oval, but I think I'll live with them for a while to decide what I want.

It may be low tech but it's still super cute!

Peace and paper scraps!

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