M is for Max

I made this mappy "M" monogram for a student named Max. He was in my 5th grade class, but only for 10 weeks. He came over from Korea for an intensive United States experience. The school where I teach is part of a program that educates Korean kids for their short stay, and I was lucky to get Max in my class. Not only was he in my class, but I also tutored him in English for 2 hours a night Monday-Thursday. Our time together was a classic case of "I was the teacher, but who really learned more?"

I'm so glad I got to know him, in all his quirkiness. He hates most Korean food and his favorite food is a good ol' American hotdog. I introduced him to cake pops, and his life will never be the same. Every night after I brought him one he asked "You bring the cake candy?" At the age of 11 he's already studying English, and United States history so that he can get his citizenship as soon as possible. I hope he does. It's his dream.

Before the students come to the States, they choose an "American" name. Sang Wu chose "Max" because he heard it from a movie, and liked it. At the end of school on Thursday, his last day, I presented him with this little present, along with a card that all of his classmates had signed. I told him that even though he'll go back to Korea and become Sang Wu again, there will always be a part of him who is still Max.

I already miss him!

Tatertots and Jello

Wildflowers

I made this little wildflower scene for my mom and step-dad as a Christmas present. It was a lot of work; the flowers fill up an 8x11 piece of paper. It's the biggest piece I've done so far. I was a little hurried, and I don't think quilling was ever meant to be a hurried art. But I still think it turned out well. I meant it to look like a little wildflower patch. Anyway, the recipients liked it, and I have plans to do more projects like this. I would have taken more pictures, but I only remembered to take this one as we were headed out the door to the airport!

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Berries and Turquoise

Now that I'm on Christmas break, I finally made it to Michael's to figure out exactly what to create for our door. All season I've been wanting red berries, and something turquoise. This is what I came up with, and I LOVE it!
It was so cheap; I already had the frame, and all rest (berries, ribbon, ornament) were 50%-70% off at Michaels. I think the total cost was around $6. So worth it!

It was simple, too...I used the snipped-off wire stems of the berries to attach the berry branches to the frame (there's no glue on this beauty anywhere). Then I wrapped wired ribbon around it, hung the "Noel" from the frame, and attached a ribbon "hanger." Easy, easy easy!
I gave my not-so-traditional wreath away to a friend who loves it and will give it a good home. For reasons I won't bore you with, I was just DONE with it. I'm glad it has a good home, though. Thanks for taking it off my hands, Thai.
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Young and Crafty

Christmas Break and Quilling

I'm finally on Christmas break!
I'm a part time teacher in a 5th and 6th grade classroom.

Btw, DIY Blogland, while I appreciated that there were 1.5 billion ideas for gifts for students to give their teachers, I didn't appreciate that I didn't see one single idea for teachers giving gifts to students. It's okay, you know I love you. I also love the dollar section at Target.

Now that I'm on break, I plan on some laziness...
demonstrated by my favorite pup.

I also plan to do more quilling.
I'm just in love with making snowflakes.
Here's one that I made for a coworker.

Merry Christmas!

36th Avenue
Sassy Sites

Not-quite-traditional Wreath

This is my not-quite-traditional Christmas wreath. I actually made it last Christmas for a holiday craft fair. It didn't sell. It also didn't sell at my second craft fair. Oh well, it at least it gets to be on my door now!
Each flower is hand-cut, and glued, and lovingly arranged. It took quite a while, but I think it was worth it.
The flowers are made from a vintage devotional book, which makes them extra special.

It's not really what I had in mind for our door this year, but it'll have to do for now. My vision for the door has thus far been a total craft fail (more on that later).

Oops, how did she get in a post about a wreath? Oh well. Isn't she adorable?

Thirty Days
Tatertots and Jello
Young and Crafty

Quilled Poinsettia

Apparently I can't stop quilling. I whipped up this little poinsettia in about 20 min. See, quilling doesn't have to take a long time. Then all I did was put it against some shimmery green paper and put it in a box-frame. It's quite small. It's one of those little treasures that you get as a reward for looking at the bookshelf. One should, after all, be rewarded for taking the time to look around a home. (And hopefully you see a poinsettia, and not a buggy-eyed monster with a beady eyes and a red mane. Oops, oh well.)

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Ombre Snowflake (and basic quilling tutorial)

I really love the ombre trend that's flying around the fashion and blog world these days! I thought I'd try my hand at a quilled, ombre snowflake. And since there was a request for some basic quilling tips, I thought I'd throw those in too.* Quilling takes a bit of practice, and a lot of patience, but in the end is not nearly as complicated as it looks.

Your basic needs are a quilling tool (a pen-shaped dealy with a slotted end), a pin (for applying delicate dots of glue), glue (I like Aileen's fast-drying glue for all my paper crafts. I've also been known to use Mod Podge...basically you want a any glue that dries quick and clear), and of course quilling paper.
This is quilling paper. It can be purchased in a variety of colors at most craft stores for $3-$5. Most the time it comes an 1/8" wide. You can cut your own, but it's a lot of brain damage to cut 1/8" strips whilst making sure that the edges are straight!

Step 1:

Hold the quilling tool like so, and slip one end of the paper through the slot.
(And please ignore my water-stained desktop.)

Step 2:
Twist the paper while keeping a reasonable amount of tension until you have a tightly-wrapped coil on your tool.

Step 3:

While holding the coil tightly, slip it off the tool.
You want to hold the coil tightly enough that it stays together,
but not so tight that it bends.

Step 4:

Release the coil so that it relaxes into a spiral shape.
This part can be somewhat trial and error,
as you figure out how tight or loose you want your shape to end up.
More on that in a minute.

Step 5:

Pick your spiral up, and using your pin, dab a little bit of glue on the end.
You only want enough glue to get it to stick.
If you use too much, you'll have a gluey mess.

Step 6:
Pinch the coil/spiral into the shape you want.
In this picture, I pinched only one end to make a "raindrop."

Here's what I meant about how loose or tight your shape will end up. These two raindrops were made using the same length of paper, however, I let one relax into a larger coil, so the over all shape turned out larger and looser.

Step 7:

Build from the inside out.
Before you glue the pieces to each other
(using small dabs of glue where needed),
play around with them so that they're arranged just how you want them.
There's no taking them apart once they're glued.

(The "raindrops" here were hardly relaxed at all, just enough to give a little detail in the middle.)

Ahh, the subtle color change. It looks so fresh and wintery!

(Is that an oxymoron?)

*This is far from a comprehensive quilling tutorial. I hesitate to call it a tutorial at all, but at least you get the idea of how quilling works. If you're interested in a more complete tutorial, you can find a lot of them by doing a google search for "quilling."

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Tatertots and Jello