how to: mother's day crayon art

For mother's day this year I decided to try one of the crayon drip paintings I've seen all over the internet these days. It was a real trial & error process but I'm really happy with the end result. Since I had to figure out a few things about the process along the way, I figured I'd share them with you here.

SO to make your crayon art,

YOU WILL NEED:

 crayons,
a canvas board,
white school glue,
a hair dryer,
a tablecloth or newspaper.
an x-acto knife or scissors,
paint (optional)

(click the pictures for the big versions)

After deciding on the kind of colors and design that I wanted, I took off the wrappers of the crayons. This isn't necessary, it's really just about how you want the finished product to look. I wanted less crayon to show and more wax, so I used to x-acto knife to cut a slit down the length of the wrapper for easy removal (dulcie's idea, props). Then I used elmer's glue to glue the crayons on the board.

I put aluminum foil in the shape of the letters I wanted to be on the canvas later. I planned on removing the aluminum foil and hoping the canvas would show through, but it didn't work out as I planned. This was part of the experiment but I worked it out later.

A word of wisdom, do NOT use spray adhesive on these puppies. Just in case you were thinking about it. The stuff is the devil. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING will stick to your hands, and also the adhesive does not hold up under heat. When I used it and started the blow dryer up, the crayons literally blew off the canvas. Boo hoo.

Next came the fun part, the blow drying. :D The crayons were so cool to watch as they melted. My strategy was to sit in one spot (preferably the spot that you want to show through pretty well) for an extended period of time. The colors don't run together nearly as much. I did this on the yellow and orange bit of the painting.

This project gets messy which is why I recommend a tablecloth.

 

I melted the my painting one way but I didn't like the sharp edges of the crayons on top, so I flipped it and blow dried it upside-down.

 As I was saying, the aluminum foil didn't really turn out. So I used white paint to cover it up. After the paint dried I outlined the letters with a sharpie. :)

VOILA!

The finished product.

:)

Check out my friend dulcie's crayon art!

may photo a day: 13, mum!

This is my mother!

She is like super woman. She raised 7 kids, homeschooling all of us, and also works at our church as the Director of Faith Formation. She loves her job, her family & her faith. She's written a number of books (which I designed the covers for, of course). Back in the day she was a craftaholic and made the coolest things. She's talented at anything she sets her mind to. (Well, except math - our family is chronically bad when it comes to arithmetic) We've had our ups & downs but my mom is a person who I can always count on to be there for me, to be willing to listen and to give advice. The older I grow the closer we get, and the more I appreciate her :) Today is the day dedicated to HER!

So to my mother I say: Thank you for all the words of wisdom you've passed down to me, whether or not I was listening at the time. Thank you for giving me healthy eating habits. Thank you for teaching me to treat everyone with kindness, to help everyone in need and to always be the smiling face in the room. Thank you for being a literary genius and for giving me a head start in life, academically.Thank you for always encouraging me to do hard things. You have given me all of my knowledge, talents & drive to succeed in this world. Where would I be without you?

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!  I love you!

May photo a day: 12, something that makes you happy.

Today my brother Ben, my twin sisters Emma & Rachel, and my best friend Dulcie and I packed up my 2 door Honda with all our belongings, and headed on our merry way to Tulip Time in Holland, MI. :)

Although an extremely mild winter and an early spring meant that most tulips have already come and gone, we brought our cameras and walked around the city for a few hours snapping some shots. It was too early for the carnival to be running but the ferris wheel still looked interesting, and the Dutch dancers were out in full force.

We stopped at The Peanut Store and stocked up on some candy as well... Pictures to follow in an edit of this post. After I get them on my computer :P anyway this place is awesome. There can be found a plethora of delectable candy options, and our favorite part is the bulk candy. For $5/lb. you can have your own little white sack filled with your personal picked favorites of sugary goodness. Needless to say, we bought almost two pounds worth...

Also, one of the things we sought on our quest was some classic fair food. Since we're allergic to half the crap (or more) that was being sold (gluten intolerance) we settled, finally, on cheese fries. After buying a bag of cotton candy for the road, we went to Meijer for some sandwich supplies for real protein ha. :) the kids felt so unhealthy.

A fantastic day. I love that my siblings are getting into photography, and I love how we're all older and can hang out like this :) happy Saturday!

may photo a day: 7, someone that inspires you

these are my parents!

they are awesome and have always inspired me to be the best possible person that i can be. they both work soooo hard, for me, and my brothers & sisters. they've taught me to be as nice as i can to everybody i meet, they've taught me to always be willing to help people, they've taught me to keep working towards goals. they've taught me how to survive in this world, they've taught me how to be 'in it but not of it', but most of all they taught me how to love. they are some of the greatest people in the world and they are my heroes in life.

:)

thank you mom & dad for being amazing, always.

twenty-two.

Well today's my twenty-second birthday. Which is just strange to type, I barely got used to being twenty-one! And now today I'm like an old fart, I'm 22. Ridiculous. So anyway, here are some highlights from the year 2011 / the year I was 21.

• The first full year that Trevor & I dated.
  We started dating August 2nd, 2010 and 2011 was the first year we were together for the whole thing. :) On August 2nd of this year will be our two year anniversary! And after that, hopefully many more. Over there is a picture of Trevor & I at the Thayer company Christmas party this year :)
  
• Got my violin fixed!
  My beauuutiiifulll violin which I got in like...2006? I think, broke on Easter Vigil in 2010. I was devastated - the bridge cracked and the soundpost was rolling around in the violin. I was really broke and the time and couldn't get it fixed. :( But my boss, Chuck, bought me a brand new violin to use in the meantime!! I played it all summer long but then finally decided to get my real violin fixed. I teared up when I first started tuning it, missed it so much. <3

• Went to Colonial Williamsburg!I got to go with my whole family (minus my brother Rob) to Williamsburg in Virginia, where we had a whole week full of history & fun :)

• Went on my first business trip :)I went to Toledo, OH to the headquarters of Spartan Chemical Company to learn about their program, CompuClean. Yes, I work in the janitorial supply business. But along the way Dulcie & I got to explore the city! We shopped and went to the art museum there :) Great memories!!! To the right is a picture of all the people at the seminar. Needless to say, I was the youngest. :P
• Turned 21!
  Ok this one's kind of obvious. Like, duh I turned 21. But what happened as a result of being 21 is that my tastes, as far as alcohol goes, matured greatly. I got really into beeeeer this year. Before I just drank whatever, whatever was cheap and available. I had no idea what a lager vs a pale ale vs a pilsner or what. So I learned a lot as far as that's concerned. The beer I had last year on my 21st was a Blue Moon Belgian White; that was first time I drank it and it's still a favorite to this day.
  
  
• Learned guitar (kind of)
  I always dabbled a little when it came to guitar, but 2011 was the year that I really worked on it. It's a good instrument to carry around with you so I'd bring it to the beach! It was a great instrument to learn because I found a songbook of Beatles and then a Simon & Garfunkel book in my mom's music, and brought them EVERYWHERE with me. This is one of my favorite pictures from this year, me playing guitar for my little cousins on my Grandma's deck.

• Became friends with 65 people?
  According to Facebook, I gained 65 new friends in 2011. That's not counting the people I met who I didn't end up adding on Facebook of course :) but this new timeline thing makes it really interesting to look back on the past year of your life!

Also, this is the year I started this blog! I've been at it for about seven months now, and it gets better every post I'd say.

So looking back on the year, I'm content. I've had a 21st year filled with family more loving and more fun than any I could ever ask for, friends who fill all my spare time with awesome memories, and a boyfriend who is always there for me, no matter what. And I am so grateful to have another year to spend with all of them :)
Happy birthday to me! Thanks for everything.

the new year post

It seems like time goes by faster, the older I get. Last night at midnight we rang in the year 2012 at my house with Dick Clark, party poppers and a champagne toast. (classic) We then proceeded to stay up entirely too late, acting more and more ridiculous with each passing hour. Today is the day we spend recovering from all the drinks & goodies we consumed last night.



I do want to talk about one thing we did, which is this board game, Quelf.

Maybe I'm behind on this, but I've never heard of it before and it was nuts! 

The game has you do some crazy things.

This is my cousin Liz, after she picked a card that said any opponent who messed up her hair got to move forward two spaces.

My brother Ben, and his character Mr. Lugnut.

Rob, who had to go find a tie, knot it in a square knot, and wear it for the remainder of the game or suffer the penalties (good thing he likes ties). Luke is in the background acting like a weeping willow because Rob rolled a four, the result of a 'rule' card Luke had drawn.

Me, and Trevor. Yes, I am wrapped in toilet paper. I drew a card which said I must be a mummy until someone rolled a certain number.

All in all, it's a great game that I'd recommend to anyone. The box says 12+ but I don't think it's possible to be too old to play this game! You just can't be afraid to be crazy.

And I happen to like crazy. :)

On another note..

In honor of the year 2012, here are some desktops for you to download :)

time & fireworks

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&

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happy party hats

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I hope you enjoyed your New Year's celebration :)

Don't forget -

LIKE!

Thanks, and happy new year!

-clare.

autumn picnic

#4 - I've gone on dates with Trevor.


Trevor & I still like to celebrate the one month anniversaries, but when it came to our November anniversary I was at a loss for what to do. Neither of us had very much money so I thought - ah! A picnic!

I googled fall picnic ideas & found a lot of awesome websites. Here are some for you to visit!
- delish.com
- foodandwine.com
- howdoesshe.com
- the-picnic-site.com

After this, I was inspired. I went to the store and put together a gourmet picnic. I packed napkins, a blanket, and even some candles. It was chilly but not too chilly, the week right before daylight savings kicked in. (meaning the sun was still out when I got off work. Ha!)

 I got the stuff ready so that we could head straight to the park after work. I bought those Soup at Hand drinkable soups and microwaved them so we'd have something warm to drink :)

The lighting was beautiful and the temperature was definitely tolerable.

I'm all for ambience, so I brought a couple tea lights with. :D Heh, call me cheesy but I loved the way they looked.

We had chips, rice cakes with salami & provolone, deviled eggs, those soups and strawberry cheesecake for dessert. We played some music from my iPhone and watched the sunset.

Great memories <3

One tip I'd add - for any picnic in the fall/winter, BRING A BLANKET. We ended up just sitting on it but I think it really prevented us from getting cold. Although when the sun started going down more, the chill set in and we decided to leave. So I definitely recommend sunlight for picnics. :)

Your assignment:

HAVE A LIVING ROOM PICNIC!!

Show me your pictures!

ideas here :)

Friday Night - a photo journal

Friday night was my brothers Rob & Ben's music camp concert. First up was Ben in choir:

 (click any picture for a bigger version)

After that came concert band, in which my cousin Christopher played percussion:

And after that was orchestra, Rob's last concert at music camp. I love strings :)

Last but not least, musical theatre!

 

Ben had a solo :) The highlight of the performance, to be sure.

(again, click any picture for the bigger version)

A great way to spend a Friday night, I'm so proud of my brothers. And music always makes me so happy! I love my family.

My cousins, Alex & Melanie with signs they made when my cousin Lizzie was in another performance of Bye, Bye, Birdie. Haha :)

Ben's shoes. :) In this blog post I finally figured out how to get my pictures to cooperate with me! Hallelujah. That was the one downside of Blogspot until now.

Hope you liked my photo journal! Au revoir!