Rabbit Hole

This bunny can burrow!  I couldn't feel the end of this tunnel!  She's constantly shifting dirt around--I had to fill this in--her house was shifting--I hate to undo all her hard work, but she'll find another spot.

Willow Rounds

I twisted some fresh willow branches into circles--I have them drying, hoping they'll keep the round shape.  Can you guess what I'm going to make with these?  Take a wild willow guess!

On Beyond Portfolios

Oh no..here I go.  I had to think about how these portfolios would be kept in the classroom and if I could make it easier to file the children's artwork away.  I'm not sure, but I might have just made filing a whole lot harder?!  
I made this portfolio holder from foam core, strung an elastic through the eyelets that I set into the corners of the portfolios.  I strung them in hopes that they would all stay together and not slip on down to the bottom of the holder--I still have to figure out a flap or something to close it a bit tight, so the holder can stand?---and then little tabs on each folder with the child's name for filing ease?  Please stop me...
The major flaw in this design is that you can't pull out any individual portfolio!!  You'd have to untie the bead and pull out the elastics, then re-thread the whole thing!  This is a major, major flaw!  I should have stopped there, having seen the obvious major flaw, but I pressed on--go figure!  Another flaw is that the children's portfolio cover designs are now hidden!  But, most likely they would be hidden anyway, since these would have to be stacked one way or another, so this is a minor flaw. 
This whole endeavor was full of indecisions--so much so, that I had one of those dreams where nothing could be found:  I couldn't find a rest room and my bathing suit--I was last to leave in a water race without my bathing suit and I didn't wrap up the required gift.

Well, I'm wrapping this one up!

Really--if this system doesn't work out, then it can easily be undone and the individual portfolios will have eyelets and a name tab--no harm done--no big deal--I'm putting this behind me--now!
Oh--and it doesn't stand on its own, but does work well against a wall--OK--now! 

Portfolios

We made art portfolios in my granddaughter's third grade class.  I prefolded the tops and sides for the children to glue.  We folded them in half, painted on one side, refolded and rubbed for a simple print.  The next week, using a black marker and crayons, they drew into the print to create the image or images they found in their prints.

Now to slowly fill these up!

First Rain of the Season

I got wet...

trying to keep the bunny and its new house dry!
Bunny update:
She has now spent two nights in her house--it works!--but I have yet to let her out of the garden area

A Bunny House

I made this bunny house--it took awhile since I used an old hand saw.  The wood was kind of old too, so I painted it all over with some old paint--the flap door is from an old outdoor rug.  (using some old things to make something new--I felt like a little kid making a clubhouse)  My plan is to make a snug house ready for the bunny to stay outside during the night.  I'm hopefully thinking that it could run free during the day, and it would happily hop back to its house when the sun goes down, then all I'd have to do is close the garden gate in the evening?  Well, it's worth a try...

I made it to fit on top of an old cooler that I had sunk into the ground a few years ago for an extra planter.  The planter idea didn't work out, so I emptied the dirt, put in a cushiony layer of wood chips and pine needles, topped that with the bunny house or bunny extension walls...

Then topped that with an old boogie board and heavy rocks--should work!  I'd live there if I were small enough!  My plan is dashed though, because once again the bunny is loose!  I planned on giving the bunny a few days to get used to this new house--maybe have it out during the night to see if she'd venture inside her new house--keep her caged until she's comfortable with it.  Now, I've got to catch her first--rats!

The Morro Bay Harbor Festival, 2012

A short dance recital at the Harbor Festival in Morro Bay--then a walk around to see the sights on a beautiful sunny Saturday...

There was a creepy puppet show going on in her skirt--she sang and the puppets would bob around--she did have a nice voice though!

Crazy vine lady on stilts--she moved very slowly and would creep an arm around you if you stood close for a picture--she had the best face for this costume!

A Small Wreath in Honor of the Blue Sky

Hummingbird II

Another hummingbird, another warm day--another Photoshopped picture taken from my kitchen window.

Hummingbird

No, not a painting--just Photoshop--taken at my kitchen window on this hot day for Morro Bay.

The Bunny's Loose!--Again

We've been playing this game about every other day where we have to catch a huge white rabbit!!  This rabbit burrows out of our little fenced in garden area.  It loves to be free!  I actually like to see it free!  It then hangs around our house all along the edges of our yard--it could run off into the surrounding wildness, but it doesn't!  When we try to get close, she scampers off--big back feet--stretching its long body and bounding into the brush where, even though its bright white, it disappears!  She'll turn up later after we've given up, lounging under a bench near the house.

She'll let me get close, especially if I have a treat, some almonds or fresh greens--see, she's wondering what I've got, but she's ready to bound...

I caught her the other day, but didn't have a box handy, so yelled out to my husband to get the box--Of course I scared her and she was determined not to get caught, so she just pumped her legs and scrambled out of my grasp, gashing my hand and arms--I was so intent on holding on to her that I didn't know I was bleeding--the bright red blood on my hand was quite a contrast with the white rabbit!
Hmmm---I'm ready to just let her be, but we have all sorts of night animals on the prowl around here and my granddaughter would be devastated if something were to happen.

There she is sitting right outside her fence--munching on a root--teasing me!  I can't help but laugh--she even let me pet her!  I can see she wants to get to her food--the garden door is open--I quickly go get some fresh greens and wave them about...

I tear them up with a flourish making yummy sounds--she's in--she can't help it, she wants the swiss chard. That was easier than trying to nab her!!  I've been working on setting rocks down around the outside of the fence, but I'm not sure if that will hold her--I've got a feeling that we're making her into a wild rabbit--she's had the taste of freedom--where she can run and jump with abandon!

I won this one--or did she?

Cabbage Leaf

There was an old cabbage leaf handy when I gave my granddaughter a practice spelling test...

It must have come from the outer leaves of this--the 2nd and final cabbage plant we had growing this summer--I love its colors!

Autumnal Equinox

Yesterday's moon in the first quarter phase on the Autumnal Equinox in a sunset sky.  Even the moon is in equal halves.

Color Wheel Trees

I'm volunteering in my granddaughter's third grade class--here's the first art lesson of the year.  It was my granddaughter's idea to have a color wheel tree with the primary and secondary color fruits.  Last week we mixed colors and painted fruits for each color of a simplified color wheel.  We then painted the trees with a thinned down brown tempera, so we could create the branches by blowing the paint with a straw. (We had a few dizzy kids!)

The next week we printed the leaves with a somewhat flattened and cross-sectioned cut up toilet paper tube dipped in green tempera...

Cut out the fruits to glue on...

Colored in a tiny color wheel to add to their artwork.

My granddaughter's happy tree.

   

Space Shuttle

The Space Shuttle riding on top of a jumbo jet  flew right over my house just a few minutes ago.  The top picture not only has its escort, but a blurry image of a bird.

Chalk Art

Of all the different chalk art I viewed this weekend at the I Modonnari festival in San Luis Obispo: 3D, realistic, fanciful, stylized, beautiful and not so beautiful, I was drawn to this art work created by Benjamin H

and of course this one done by my granddaughter with some coloring-in help from me.  I was asked to help with one of the bigger squares--I helped flesh out a hand and a foot on a ballerina, but I'm afraid I don't have a good picture of that one, but it was fun to do a bit and move on!

Plus the message won me over!

Pouch-Belt

My granddaughter designed and sewed this pouch-belt with attached shoulder strap--she wanted to carry many things at one time.  I did help a little.  I persuaded her to have an opening to the belt, knowing it wouldn't stretch over her head as she wanted.  Besides setting up my mother's old Singer sewing machine and sitting close by to help with threading and such, (I'm a little protective of that machine!), I helped with the button holes and buttons.  She made this with left over pieces of a T-shirt that I had cut up awhile ago to make T-shirt yarn.