School Days book

So with Garrick starting school I wanted a way to document things along the way, to see how he changes through the years. I had seen something like this, tweeked it to make it a "Danielle Version," so here is the result. I made one for a couple of Garrick's friends that are also starting kindergarten, but a simpler version, without the paper. Although the paper was easy to add, it was time consuming. And since that is something I don't have much of, they can be creative on their own if they wish. I have it all saved on my computer, so anyone that's interested, let me know, and I could print you off a copy and send to you snail mail. Here goes;

Front cover

Finish of the 20__ with the year they are in that grade, so Garrick's will be 2008.

All these pages are the same for each grade. So it will be fun to see how it changes from year to year. Especially his signature!

Here are a few of the other grades, but the book includes K-12.

I have some corner punches that I bought from Michael's on sale with a coupon that I used. The printed paper I just cut enough off the edges (about 1/4" on each side I think) so that it would fit. Or you could still trim the printed paper, and glue it to the decorative paper. Then I put it in page protectors. For those couple that I did for friends, you could just cut off the edge where I hole punched it, and still be able to put it on decorative paper later if you want. Let your imagination run wild! Have fun! Now, I'm going to go try to not get emotional as I am about to send Garrick off to school this week. Wish me luck!

I love Plaster of Paris

I love making things with plaster of paris. You can buy it at Michael's (and maybe Walmart too). I use candy molds to create many different shapes (candy mold too at Michael's mainly, but some at JoAnn's and Walmart too). I've done them just plain and you can glue a magnet on the back, or twisted some wire (again at one of the above stores) and made it so that you can put it on a necklace for the kids to then add beads to, or I've painted it and tied it onto the ribbon of a gift. The kids LOVE painting them, even if I just end up throwing the out afterwards (they don't know, and don't remember). But it was a CHEAP form of entertainment for them. The paints are just the cheap ($.43 ish at Walmart) paints in the painting section. To prevent the kids from painting all over their clothes, I bought cheap adult shirts at Goodwill and they wear it backwards. Very useful for Aleksia!!! To mix it, add enough water to the flour looking mix until it's alittle runnier then yogurt. Pour into molds, tap on the counter/table/etc to get the air bubbles out. Usually sets up in about 30 minutes depending on how runny the mixture was. Pop out and let set to finish drying (12-24 hours). I usually put them on a cooling rack so the back drys too. Then paint!

Aleksia painting her Winnie the Pooh shapes

Concentrating very hard!

Some Winnie the Pooh shapes with a bib from some baby ones (very cute on baby gifts!)

Sorry it's blurry, but the back of the gifts showing the wire. They take about 30 minutes to set up, so about 10 minutes into it I then put the wires in place. It needs to be setting up a little to keep the wire in place. If it's not set up at all it will just fall the the bottom.

The front of the gifts. I then spray it with a finishing coat spray (Michaels or Wally World, again) and then spray it with some sparkles (in a can like the spray at the above stores M or W).

Not shown, but I have some Christmas looking molds (obviously sold only seasonally) that I've put on christmas gifts or glued a pin to the back and then you can wear them. A cute gift for the kids to paint then give away at christmas, or to add to a gift from them!

Hopefully that made sense, if not, let me know!

~Danielle~