In the Full Swing of Summer - The Meek Moose Makes a Monday

Aside from some required Professional development three days this week- I am actually doing NOTHING this summer.


I didn't sign up for any classes. Partly because I'm tired, and partly because I'm being rebellious, and partly because I decided to get a masters degree as a Math Specialist and it starts at the end of August and I figured that was enough.

I did not agree to take on any sort of job at all.  No tutoring, no summer school, no helping out at a friend's store.  Being a slug and a mediocre Mom is going to be amazingly consuming.  Plus, I figured I would be getting ready to teach fifth grade, and that would be sure preoccupy my thoughts that were not directed towards eating and watching the spawn of my loins.

I DID decide to go horse back riding once a week.  And I'm doing Maker Camp on-line with the kids.  And I have a pile of books that are nothing like The Hunger Games piled up near my pillow to read. I admit, a good portion of them are professional.  But I also decided to go to the library once a week to read a young adult chapter book to get ready for the move from Biscuit to big kid books. I, of course, haven't started that library pilgrimage yet.  Maybe Friday.  I'll pencil it inside my imaginary day planner right now.

I also decided I'd try to make more of a schedule for myself to blog.  I know, I know, I say this all the time. I should at least be able to stick to it for the summer.  That's a good four weeks longer than normal New Year's resolutions.  Should count for something.

Of course, to blog, I sorta have to do things and think about things other than where I can find lemon seeds to harvest on Sims4. That damn tree in Oasis Springs isn't mature!  I can't get a seed from it!  Curses!  Anyway - #geekmoment

So- I'm going to be doing some stuff I find on Pinterest for fun!

This last week I decided to try out this little ditty on my Outside Recess Board from Homegrown Friends:

I had even tweeted about the experience and heard back from Homegrown Friends on Twitter!  Super nice people!

If you click on the picture, it will take you to their blog page, as well as a video of kids doing this art so you can see the dynamics of it.

I decided I'd like to do this one because I needed some wall art for my bedroom. I got these cheap canvases from Walmart- different sizes and enough for each person in my family to make one. And I chose colors for the paint based on my bedspread and room decor.  My first thought was to do the process painting on wrapping paper, and then stamp it onto the canvas.

Ha!  So you can see the trouble we ran in to from the beginning.  The wrapping paper was too flimsy, and her legs too long to get a good swing.  We did eventually try the stamp method with this though.

But it wasn't the look I was wanting.  We relocated to the back yard to try Ye Olde Swing Set, and tried painting directly on the canvas this time.  Long legs and low swings continued to thwart us.

We decided to just sit in the swing the regular way and I'd hold the canvas like a human easel.  This worked better for us.

So I went about having each of the kids make one, and my parents, and even tried to get my dog to walk across the first little one we had tried down by the tree swing in the front yard.  And I made one of course for a total of six paintings.

We all ended up covered in paint, especially since the littlest decided that this was the perfect way to paint using karate moves.  That he has no training for, I might add.  Like I need him to be able to chop me with any precision.  Anyway- I hosed the kids off- which made them happy as clams- and all was well.  Except for the dog.  He is still most displeased.

You might be noticing that art work already up on the wall.  That's from the littlest, during his "I love Sharpies" period.  Picasso would be proud.

To get these hung up on the wall in a decent arrangement, I utilized Pinterest again- recalling an old pin from my old Pinterest account.  I found this one here today, I think the original one I was thinking of was from Martha Stewart- but this one from BHG is the same thing.

So, the basic idea is you make paper templates of the art, and then you can move them around using tape getting them just right without destroying your walls.  Mine was already destroyed of course, but moving the papers around did make things easier.  I had a bunch of very large sheets of construction paper that I used to make the templates.

 I took me three or four arrangements until I decided on this one.  And I found two other little pictures I had around the house to add to it to make it a bit more symmetrical.

Voila! Family art, bedroom wall covered, no more sharpie. Trifecta of success.

As far as getting rid of the wall paper border at the top?  That is another battle I will have to wage with  my mother.  But until I prevail- this makes for a much nicer atmosphere in my room.

Be sure to head over to Tara's page to see what everyone has made this week!