"These Colors Run"

Different versions of these have been been showing up on pintrest and various blogs for the last few days. It seems to be the latest thing in homemade art. I of course, was intrigued. I had new crayons. I had foam board. I had hot glue. And I had a hair dryer. I had to try it. =D

The original plan was for Dill and Sweet to work together and make a print for my livingroom.  I thought it would be a great first of the year art project.  And indeed it was a great project but as they were picking out crayons Dill thought it would be great to make one for Gaga's birthday instead. Now, how could I say, "No, you can't make one for your 91 year old great-grandmother." So I, being the unselfish person that I am said,  "GREAT IDEA!" (I hit the dissapointment...lol)

The picklets knew that Gaga wouldn't want a huge picture to hang.  In fact they weren't sure if she would actually hang it up at all but that didn't stop them.  They planned, measured and cut a peice of foam board to a size they though was just perfect for Gaga.

They played around with the crayons, moving them around until they thought the light to dark ratio looked good.  They then played around with whether the crayons should be glued straight across or in a design.  They opted for the swag window vallence design.

It was very pleasing to the eye...at first.

Once the heat of the hair dryer started melted the wax we found it wasn't so pretty.  The wax started splattering across the room.  We had crayon wax on our hands, our shirts and in our hair.

Plus it all melted together and created not so nice colors. 

We concluded there were two reasons it turned out looking the way it did.  The first being we mixed the colors up instead of keeping like colors together and the second being the swag design.  There wasn't any barrier when the heated air melted the wax.  So, the picklets tried again.  This time they hot glued the crayons, "CRAYON" side up keeping the colors in the same color groups.

And when the colors started melting, they melted in streams, keeping the colors bright and vibrant.

It turned out gorgeous!

On the back the picklets wrote "Happy 91st Birthday Gaga.  This is an original piece of art created just for you called 'These Colors Run'  Love, Sweet and Dill."  They wrapped it up and took it to Gaga's 91st birthday party. 

She opened it and really liked it.  In fact, everyone at the table liked it.  They liked it so much that I think there might be a crayon print  making factory in the picklets future.

(c) 2008-2011 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

Snow Flake Making

Our supervising teacher visited with us last month. It really was quite funny. She came in, set some books down on the desk and told the picklets she needed help. She had bought some really neat snow flake books and needed help figuring out how to fold the paper. That set the picklets in motion. Who woulda thought that we could spend 2 hours folding paper and snipping snow flakes? (I never did figure out how to fold the paper so I took pictures)

After folding the paper the right way, the picklets found it easier to draw the pattern on and then cut. This is a western design. It has covered wagons, cacti and bulls head.


Despite Sweet's fake smile, the snowflake turned out quite neat.


Sweet also made this neat butterfly snowflake.


Dill was the first to figure out how to fold the paper. When he tried to show our supervising teacher he couldn't figure it out and had to go thru the process again. He made some neat snowflakes too.




Chip made this into a challenge. After making regular sized snowflakes...


...he decided to see how small he could make them.


He had to use tweezers to hold the paper.

But the end result was great!


It was a fun afternoon. I totally plan to borrow these books at some point within the next year to make some presents. I have some neat ideas swimming around. :-)

(c) 2008-2011 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

Peace and Poetry

We did a quick mini unit for MLK day. I did no research, just a google search this morning at 7:30 for lesson plans, before walking out the door for Gaga's house.

On the way to Gaga's we discussed why we celebrate MLK and how life as we know it would be different if he hadn't been courageous enough to do what he did.

The rest of the way we played the last letter game. Basically what ever word is said the next word has to start with the last letter. An example would be: day, yellow, Wallace, each, house, entire. It can get quite involved. In our ongoing game through out the day Dill tried to give Sweet only words that would begin with E...lol

On and off throughout the day the picklets worked on their school work. They listened to "I Have a Dream" on the way to the grocery store. Dill and Sweet wrote Diamante Poems (see their poetry below), did copy work (poem at bottom of linked page), read a biography of MLK and completed a dictionary page while at Gaga's. (Chip did his at home.)

Once we were home, had the van unloaded and the picklets got back from the sledding hill, we did an art project on peace (see project below). While working on their art project they listened to Drum Major for Justice, a free download I received this morning from Learn Out Loud. We talked about the Martin Luther King Jr. poem, what it means etc. We then discussed if they thought there were people who don't think MLK Day should be holiday and why while we ate some pizza and drank some pop.

To end the day we talked about Dr. King's vision of people helping people in need and what we can do to help. We found that the Civil Rights Commission is holding a book drive all week. So, we cleaned out our books to donate. We then talked about Haiti and the devastation caused by the earthquake. We are working on donations of toys and household items that might be of help.

Hopefully by the end of the week we will have a nice pile of donations for those in need.

Diamante Poetry by (in order) Chip, Sweet and Dill Pickle

Freedom
love right
needed loved admired
liberty justice money greed
wronged loathed death
distrust hate
Slavery

Dream
hope vision
hoping wished desired
illusion enchanted scary frighten
screaming scared quivering
terror horror
Nightmare

Freedom
sweet powerful
loving limited caring
gift property hard cruel
uncaring hating condemned
jail destructive
Imprisonment

Hearts of Peace Pictures

Caption and Picture by Sweet Pickle
"This is what it should be like across the world." (the captions say "thank you" and "you're welcome")

Caption and Picture by Chip Pickle
"Even when all chance of peace seem lost there's always HOPE."

Caption and Picture by Dill Pickle
"Dark and light. Balance and harmony. Just as life should be."



(c) 2008-2010 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

Day 3: Windows

We won a prize containing a bunch of crayola products a few months ago. Included in that assortment were Window Crayons. How exciting! Cool forbade me to use them for fear they would ruin the windows. Being the good wife that I am I "obeyed" him for a period, biding my time. Guess what honey? The time has come.

Day 3: Decorate windows with window crayons.

The picklets loved this project. They did their own designs.





I even got in on the action.

Things I learned:
First off make sure to wash the windows before decorating them. Dog slobber and Christmas decoration don't go together.
Second, write backwards so it can be read from the outside.
Third, taking pictures of window art is very hard.

Fourth, the picklets knew to write backwards but not me, why?
Fifth, Dill either views Santa as an evil entity or we need to concentrate on art a little more.

Sixth, this is really fun and I can't wait to do it again.
Seventh, Cool head didn't explode because we decorated the windows.

These crayons are great!

(c) 2008-2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

Make Something Cool Last Project and Final Thought

Since "Make Something Cool Everyday in April" ended 6 days ago I thought I should probably post the last, and by far, (my) favorite project. This one was Chip's baby. He drafted the design, engaged the help of our friend Marj Nedjl and went whole hog measuring, sketching and painting.

He used a projector to sketch the image on the wall.

Some of the gymnasts helped him paint but the design and most of the work was done all by hiim. The end product was very cool and admired by everyone who attended the competition. The design includes from left to right: a falcon, the Sokol logo, the American Flag and the Czech Flag. The words underneath the American flag mean "work hard for success". Excellent job my lad, excellent job!

As for my thoughts about making something cool, I think it is a great idea and we are going to keep it up the rest of the year. Thanks to dabbled for hosting this during the month of April.

Make Something Cool Project 6

Sweet received The Double Daring Book for Girls from the Easter Bunny this year. The last few days have been filled with making these cute little worry dolls.
These are made with twisties from bread bags, cross stitch thread a bead and hot glue. She has really had a lot of fun making these for important people in her life and the resemblance to these people are uncanny. Plus they are pretty darned cool.

Sweet doing the splits in her uniform.

Sweet and her coach. Sweet is in her uniform and her coach is in her instructors shirt.
Sweet and mommy. Sweet is wearing a very cut outfit that matches the outfit she was wearing that day. Notice all the Sweets have purple hair because Sweet wants me o dye her hair purple. I am in a jean skirt and am sporting red hair. She put me in my grey hoodie because I wear one all the time. She even put a hood on the back made from hot glue.
Sweet with grandma and grandpa in their camping clothes.


© 2008-2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines
All Rights Reserved

Make Something Cool Project 5

Thanks to our great friend Marj Nejdl, the picklets decorated fantastic eggs for our fifth make something cool project. The picklets have worked with Marj in the past and made these eggs.

Though we didn't use the "Czech Old World Way" of decorating this time, we did use the technique of dipping and double dipping using the wonderful dye she gave us a couple weeks ago. Marj is a great lady and we are privileged to not only know her but to be friends with her.

Here is a 6 minute video about Marj. It shows a class she gave plus some of her eggs.

If you are interested in learning more about Marj and decorating eggs, here is a lesson plan.

Here are some of the Pickle Family's eggs.

I absolutely love the vibrant colors.

Cool decorated an egg to resemble the world with hurricanes and a tye-dye peace egg.


He used q-tips to tye-dye it.

Chip made this flag/USA egg.


Dill make this purple egg with swords and jewels.

I made my own "tag" egg.

Sweet made a lady bug.


We plan on doing this again soon using the "old world" method so we can keep them.

© 2008-2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines
All Rights Reserved