I fixed our broken recliners!

I'm rather proud of myself. I fixed the two broken recliners on our couches. Sidenote: my side is just fine. Doug has broken his side on two couches! 

We were so frustrated with them that we were looking at new furniture. But it wasn't in the budget. So I decided to try to fix it. 

Who knew it would be that easy!

And should he break another one in another 6 months, no biggie. A $10 fix is all it takes!

I was so excited about it that I made a snapguide tutorial. I haven't done that in probably 2 years!

Check out How to Fix a Broken Recliner by Emily McLemore on Snapguide.

Tutorial for a super easy Tshirt Quilt

I've had on my to-do list to make a t-shirt quilt for a while. I finally got around to making one. I LOVE it!! I can't wait to make another!

And if you want to learn how to make one for yourself, see my tutorial below!

Check out How to Make an EASY Tshirt No-Border Ruffle Quilt. by Emily McLemore on Snapguide.

Art Convention Wrap Up

Another art convention has come and gone. 

I truly enjoy attending as I always learn something new, make new connections with people in the art world, and get refreshed.

This year I taught two hands on workshops and one technology workshop.

I even remembered to take a picture at my final workshop.

I have to say, I love teaching teachers!  

They are a hard crowd at times because they already know the content and unless you can catch their interest quickly, they will leave your workshop in a flash. I say this, because I've been this person!

My workshops went great. I had wonderful feedback and was able to share new ideas and methods for teaching traditional concepts.

In my technology workshop I taught about making snapguides. It was so much fun watching everyone get so excited about making online tutorials. I'm hoping that some of these teachers will start making tutorials that I can use in my classroom.

And in a departure from the hands-on workshops that I usually stick with, I went to a seminar called Current Research in Higher Education. It was really informative and opened my eyes to the fact that some of the processes and teaching methods that I use in my classroom I could use for research publications.

Like I need anything else to work on!! :)

The September Plank Challenge.... and a new Snapguide for getting your kids to work out with you!

A facebook group I'm a part of... Women's Running Club has a September challenge of doing the plank move every day. So, I figured I might as well get my girls involved!

And while we were playing, I figured we might as well do a little more... and then pictures were taken, and then it was like, well, we might as well make it into something as Lexi LOVES taking pictures!

So I made a snapguide. 

Check out How to Incorporate Your Kids Into a Core Workout! by Emily McLemore on Snapguide.

Another Card Making Tutorial

While I have been resting, I've been making cards. 125 cards actually. Truly, I just love giving little cards for no reason. I am one of the worst about giving birthday cards and special event cards... but cards just because... I love that. I am aware that it makes no sense. No surprise really!

Anyway, here is my card tutorial.

Check out How to Make Your Own Cards by Emily McLemore on Snapguide.

Making a colored pencil "old master"

I love the look of the Old Master's painting. I really like Jean-Batpiste-Simeon Chardin's works.

http://www.jean-baptiste-simeon-chardin.org/

 

 

And as much as I would love to have student's work in oils, there is not enough time or money to devote to oil painting.. at least not for Art 1 and 2 students. So, after seeing a process last year at art teacher convention that used India ink and Lyra pencils, I have created my own, "Old Masters" lesson using lower cost supplies and addresses multiple art standards. It has become a keeper lesson!

 

The first thing I have students do is draw a still life from observation. This is done on just normal paper that you would do a colored pencil drawing. You can use the good stuff or just tag board. This takes a while. They must color the drawing in its entirety and need to have at least 10 layers of pencil wax. I like using a number of colors on each item as well. While the bottle is green, it has many shades of green, blue, purple, yellow and white in it. This is the easiest way to build up layers of wax, by building up layers of color.

 

 

Once the drawing is complete. TAKE A PICTURE OF IT. Or scan it. Because it won't look like this again! And if the student's haven't used enough layers of pencil, the piece is going to be ruined in the next step!

Take India ink and some cotton or gauze and rub ink over the BACK of the drawing. Completely coat the paper.

 

It should look like this.

 

 Flip the paper over and now coat the front. Yes, you are covering up your drawing!

 

 Now take a clean piece of gauze/cotton and rub off the ink.

Once you have rubbed off all the ink you want off, go back in with colored pencils or wax crayons or oil pastels and add color back in areas of the drawing.

 

These are the supplies that I used.

 

Here is a close up of the finished piece.



 

And there you have it. My "old master" colored pencil still life!

 

Want to make one for yourself or have your class do this project? Click on the image below to take you to my Snapguide! This let's you view the in depth tutorial on your smartphone, ipad or computer! (I've even included a couple of video segments!)

http://snapguide.com/guides/create-an-old-master-mixed-media-drawing/?_exp=02&utm_expid=69945963-37&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fsnapguide.com%2F%3F_exp%3D02

 

Enjoy!



My first Snapguide tutorial

http://snapguide.com/guides/begin-a-basic-cardboard-loom-weaving-project/

http://snapguide.com/guides/begin-a-basic-cardboard-loom-weaving-project/

For my grad class, I had to make a snapguide tutorial that I would use in my classroom. The above tutuorial is the one I made this morning.  It was so fun!! And super easy!!

Get ready, I'm about to make a ton of these!