Writers Kit and Topic Generator

One of my nieces has an interest in writing and making her own funny zines so for Christmas last year we decided to gift her a homemade writing/zine making kit. This gift idea gave me the opportunity to browse through my favorite isle in every store; office supplies! After gathering up the essentials, (pencils, erasers, scissors, glue stick etc.) I put together a couple notebooks using sketching paper, scrapbook paper for the covers and embroidery thread for the binding. My favorite part of kit however is the topic generator game I created for her that she can use for brainstorming in those moments of writers block OR just as a story starter in a little creative writing sesh.

The topic generator includes instructions for playing and three flip books labeled 1, 2 and 3. Each book has 24 pages with one idea of something to write about per page. Book 1 has 24 nouns or subjects (a turtle, a toaster, the Easter Bunny, etc). Book 2 has 24 actions to write about (doing somersaults, planning a party, playing chess, etc). Book 3 had 24 places or locations to write about (the moon, a shoe store, a candy factory). In total, the three books provide 72 different topics of things to write about in various categories. That being said, the books can also be used together to make an entire topic sentence. Using the books this way will enable the user to create hundreds of story starters.

Making a silly topic sentence requires three simple steps. 

Step 1: Flip open to any page of book 1 and write down the subject

Step 2: Flip open to any page of book 2 and write down the action next to the subject

Step 3: Flip open to any page of book 3 and write down the location next to the action

That's it! The user now has a topic sentence. The instructions also suggests adding prepositions in order to make a complete or proper sentence. So in the example shown here the sentence would read: The Easter Bunny playing chess inside a candy factory (the word "inside" being the preposition). Obviously the user can throw in a few adjectives here and there to give the sentence a little more pizazz. Maybe the sentence could read: The elderly Easter Bunny played chess with his imaginary pet squirrel in an abandoned candy factory. Make sense? Okay good!

After completing the game I packaged it up into a zip lock bag and added it to the rest of the kit. I wrapped a tag around the case as a giveaway to what was inside. I sort of wanted to keep this gift for my own writing sessions (I'm pretty nerdy about this stuff) but I kept the Christmas spirit and sent it off in the post.

ABC Intermission Part II

When I was tiny I loved to print letters on paper for hours. I especially enjoyed writing in cursive (or long connecting squiggles that I thought looked quite comparable to cursive). H doesn’t care for letter writing as much as I did, well, not with a pen anyway. He doesn’t so much mind making letter shapes in a bag of chocolate pudding however; in fact, I dare say he enjoys it.

Not exactly an original project but it’s a fast and easy one my kids have started to request. Of course you could do this right on the counter top or on a piece of wax paper—this is the ultra-clean version.

(more about Project A-B-C)

Chalk Board Wall

For the past couple summers I have been neglecting my aspiration to make the kids an outdoor, moveable chalkboard wall but this summer I was finally able to scratch the task off the to-do list. Yay!

I did a little blog research to find out how others accomplished this same pursuit. I was mostly taking note on what type of wood people were using but once I was at the home improvement store I ended up leaving with a bedroom door as a canvas for my soon-to-be chalk board. This actually worked out really well because unlike the wood planks I was considering, the door was already primed, the inside was hollow so although it was somewhat heavy it was hardly impossible to move and the price was well within my budget.

The door I picked out was 3 feet wide and we had one of the workers cut off a couple feet in the length of the door making it about 4 and a half feet long. This means, even though I am just over 5 ft tall, I can carry the board around lengthwise without too much difficulty.

When I brought home the supplies for the project, I figured the kids would be breaking out the chalk after lunch the next day but I didn’t consider the 4 hour time gap required between coats (I think I painted 3 coats just to be safe) and I really didn’t expect the 3 day time gap required before conditioning and writing on it but maybe that was just the brand of paint I bought which I purchased at Home Depot. For a finishing touch I painted the edges of the board with pink acrylic paint. I quite like the way it came out. (These photos aren’t the greatest but you get the idea. And don't worry, chalkboard writing is not as dangers as the pictures make it appear, my kids like to alternate chalk board writing with their skateboard riding—hence the helmets.)

Although I originally wanted this to be for outdoor use, we’ve enjoyed it indoors just as much and it does make a pretty sweet photo back drop as a bonus. 

Sketching with Dr. Seuss : Hardback Sketchbook Tutorial

As a birthday tribute to Dr. Seuss (and because we had some Dr. Seuss book covers lying around from a different project) we decided to make some Dr. Seuss Sketch books. I have created a quick tutorial for you to make these at home.

You will need:
An old hardback book (check out your local thrift store)
Paper
3 hole punch or hand held punch
utility knife and ruler or scissors
Paper cutter (or one of the cutting tools above)
Drill and a 7/32 bit
Scrap block of wood or thick stack of scrap paper
Yarn/twine or metal book rings (they come in various sizes)
Large eyed needle (optional)

STEP 1: First you will need to remove the pages from the hardback book you have selected and cut out the spine. If the original pages are sewn into the book you can snip the twine found at the center page using a sharp pair of scissors or your utility blade and remove all the pages at once. If the pages are glued into the spine, you can cut them out right along with the spine of the book using your ruler and utility knife. Set book pages aside for another project.

STEP 2: Gather the paper you have chosen for the guts of the book and cut down to about 1/4 inch shorter, (vertically and horizontally) than the book over itself. This will give you a nice border when your stack of paper is centered on the inside of the covers. (Our book covers were about 6 ½” x 9 ¼” so we cut our paper to 6 ¼” x 9”). Next you will want to punch holes in the long edge using a 3 hole paper puncher or a hand held punch.

STEP 3: Line up and center one of the papers you just punched near the edge of the book cover. With a pen mark where the book shows though the holes this will be your drill markings. Place the cover on top of a piece of scrap wood and drill through the marking you just made. Repeat this step for all holes and the back cover. If you don’t want to bother with a drill or if you want to get really fancy, you could take the covers to a copy center like Fed Ex Office and they can drill these for you. If you choose this alternative, have them drill your pre-cut paper while you’re at it.

STEP 4: Now for binding. The easy way of doing this is to use metal book rings which come in many sizes. They pull open and squeeze close which makes it easy to remove and add pages to your sketch book. (The image above is sketchbook a friend of mine made for me and it depicts this method).

If you don’t want to have to buy these rings you can always use twine or yarn to tie your book together which is what we did for ours. We did this by inserted the yarn through both ends of facing holes. Then we crossed our yarn strands and stuck it through the hole opposite of the hole it was coming through (one end at a time). We stuck the yarn back through its original hole, double knotted it and snipped off the excess. If you choose to go this route when binding your own books, just make sure the book is able to lay flat with the spine lightly touching when you are knotting the thread, otherwise you could bind too tightly causing the paper to get stuck or tear as you turn the pages.

STEP 5: Get sketching!

I hope you have fun trying this simple project at home. Also, if the original paper you have removed from your book is still in good shape you may want to frame some of your favorite illustrations for instant home decor. Otherwise you could use the scraps to make envelopes, gift tags, postcards…the list goes on and on. What ideas are you brewing up?

Sweet Talk: DIY Conversation Hearts

After purchasing our customary bag of conversations hearts for this month of love, I began to wonder how much research it would take to come up with a homemade version of these little candy treasures.

I decided to ask internet to help me investigate the possibilities of this task. As usual, Internet came throughand provided me with the perfect recipe and photo tutorial for making these famous treats from scratch.

I helped Hendrix and a little girlfriend of his make these over the Valentines weekend but I think it would make a fun anytime kitchen activity.

To MAKE THESE at HOME you will:

Mix ½ cup of water and 2 tsp of light corn syrup to one packet or 2 tsp of unflavored gelatin until the gelatin is well-distributed. Microwave the mix for 30 seconds to dissolve the gelatin, stir well.

Add gelatin mixture to a mixing bowl along with 1 cup of powdered sugar. Mix ingredients using the paddle attachment (you can also use a handheld mixer). When the sugar is well blended you will add another cup of powdered sugar and mix until well-blended again. Continue this process until you have added 2 lb of powdered sugar. The dough should be stiff at this point.

Next you will knead the sticky dough on a generously-dusted powdered sugar surface. Roll the dough over itself adding powdered sugar as needed to decrease the stickiness.

When the dough is the right consistency, you can add color and flavoring. We separated our dough into 5 balls for 5 different colors and flavors. We added the color first (lightest color first) and then we added the flavoring extracts using what we had on hand; vanilla, coconut, bubblegum, banana, and cinnamon. The flavoring possibilities are endless.

Finally you will roll your dough and cut using small heat shaped cutters. You can make as thick as you like but you may want to roll out a thinner version of the store bought candy if your cutters are large.

You can place cut out candies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Leave treats uncovered on cookie sheet overnight to dry—NO baking necessary!

Once dried you can add you own special message to each heart using food writing makers which you can find in the baking aisle at most craft stores.
If you didn't notice, the ingredients and supply list for this project are the items are in color above. For further details see recipie HERE.

There you have it, your very own conversation hearts!

(top image credit: Brittany...my sister!)

Writings on the Wall

Yesterday morning Hendrix woke up and said, “I have a great idea! Let’s wrap ourselves in paper and put paper all over the walls then we can draw on ourselves and everything!”

I wasn’t so sure about the “body wraps.” I envisioned myself imprisoned in a stiff sheet of butcher paper roasting over an indoor campfire, makered-up from head to toe while my kids marched around me sporting loin cloths and tribal body paint. The paper on the wall however, that I was willing to attempt.

So right after breakfast we got out a brown roll of paper and colored chalk to create an imaginary city.

My favorite part is the plethora of fruit falling from the tree in a perfect row (click on photo to enlarge) and the scribbly clouds, I wish they were real

P.S. Since taking these pics, I have made it a goal to have the kids (and myself) dressed before noon.