James Turrell Light Art Class Party (2023)

 

Hey guys, I hope everyone is having a great summer! It's been way too long since I've touched this blog, but I'm hoping to share a few new event themes from this year and art projects I enjoyed making with my students this past semester. Today I'm sharing an art theme inspired by the Light and Space Movement, an art movement I was actually newly introduced to. I discovered it when my art appreciation class was learning about modern art movements and we had covered all of the main art movements from prehistoric to contemporary art, and I was researching lesser known but impactful movements. Basically, these artists considered light and space their art 'mediums' and made works that simply focused on and sometimes changed our interactions with light and space, making viewers consider them in a new way (or should I say in a new light). My students love Van Gogh, but I already themed art class parties on Van Gogh/Starry Night, so I wanted a new theme. One of my three students in that class expressed special interest in James Turrell, an artist who made light installations, and they all appreciated his works, so that was my theme. The student who enjoyed his work most made the one-pager poster on the whiteboard, shown below. 

For supplies I ran to Walmart the night before and found blue tie-dye balloons for around $1.50, bought white balloons, and made a balloon arch the morning of. I printed some of his works to stick on the board. I had some transparent plastic paper on hand and cut out a '2023' with that, layered construction paper ovals behind it, and at the back I attached a dollar tree button light that I had on hand to make it glow. I cut out geometric shapes used in his works to place below with the extra plastic paper. The best part was a light I found at Walmart for $10. It was pricey, but I thought it could be used as a gift or something after and I loved it so much that I ended up keeping it. My students loved it too, so I am going to use it in my classroom for future occasions. It was a small, plug-in light that moves the light in water-like motions at various speed settings, can change colors, and is super relaxing, so I had that lighting up the ceiling and walls during the class parties. 

For my end-of-the-year gifts this year, I ordered photos of individual students and class photos to send home, wrote letters on the back and made an acronym of positive adjectives for each student. I order bulk large stickers (the kind for laptops, water bottles and such) of animals and Bible verses to put inside, but the acronyms took so long, I ended up having students pick out their own three stickers. 

I hope this party theme and these class gift ideas are helpful for other art teachers and art enthusiasts. Thank you for visiting!

-Lauryn 

10 Simple, Cheap RAK Ideas

Hey guys! Today I am just sharing a quick list of simple, cheap RAK ideas that you can probably make with items from your home or for $1-2 (for a lot of them), depending on where and how you buy your materials. I am not going to describe how to go about creating them since they are pretty self-explanatory and very open-ended. That is for you to decide. These are just some ideas for inspiration, but there are plenty of examples of them on the internet. I also suggest adding a Bible verse to uplift people and share the love of Christ. Some people will write to pass on the kindness and challenge recipients to do an act of kindness in return. I prefer to avoid that since that might stress the recipient out and make them feel like they need to pay for the gift. If they are inspired, they will probably do that on their own anyway. Another item I suggest avoiding unless you know the recipient well is food such as candy since so many people are on such a vast variety of diets. As for the balloon dogs, I will share a tutorial and free printable for that in the (hopefully near) future. I hope you enjoy!

RAK Ideas:

 -Balloon Dogs or Helium Balloons

-Magnets

-Stickers

-Snail Mail

-Painted Rocks

-Kindness Letters

-Flowers

-Practical Pun Gifts (for example: "You are stupendous!" with pens.)

-Banners/Cards/Confetti (there is a free printable sunshine banner here.)

-Bubbles/Chalk/Glow-sticks (or other items that will probably cheer someone up.)

I hope you enjoyed these ideas! I hope you visit again next week for a new post I look forward to sharing with you! 

-Lauryn

What to Include in a Mother's Day Gift Basket/Box

Hey guys! Here's the second post I promised you. Today I'd like to present a list of ideas for what to include in a Mother's Day gift basket or gift box, followed by a few suggestions for putting together that gift basket or gift box.

Here are 26+ ideas on what you might include:
-Lotion
-Sanatizer
-Lip Balm
-Soap
-Fruit
-Coffee or Tea
-Books (activity, story, scrapbooks, nonfiction, magazines, journals, notebooks, etc.)
-Plants (succulents, flowers, trees, food plants, etc.)
-Candles
-Decor
-Stylish Dishcloths (or are they dishtowels?)
-Oven Mitts
-Cooking Utensils/Gadgets
-Cleaning Supplies (natural, delicious-smelling cleaning spray, sponges, etc.)
-Socks
-Blanket
-Bag (in place of a basket or box; this could be a shopping bag, beach bag, purse, etc.)
-Writing or Drawing Tools (markers, pens, pencils, etc.)
-An Art Kit or Art Supplies
-Photos (these could be a little something extra thrown in, or they could be framed or in an album)
-Nail Polish
-A DVD/CD (such as a movie, soundtrack, compiled family videos, etc.)
-A Gift Card
-Accessories
-Keychain/Magnet/Some Other Useful, Tiny Item
-Other Body Care Items (such as shampoo, conditioner, perfume, shower gel, etc.)

Some Other Suggestions:

-Go with a theme. Every gift basket or box should have a theme, and not just 'Mother's Day' but something more specific, such as cooking, florals, music, a character, a movie or book, the beach, etc.

-Stick to a color palette. To create a gift that looks professional and elegant, you need to stick to a limited color palette. There is no set amount that I can give, but I would suggest approximately 2-4 colors. For example, four pastels, or for a colorful gift, black and white with pops of rainbow, or maybe black, white, and gold or brown, white, and gold for a simple but fancy look.

-Go off of what you know they like. Buy or make gifts that you know they would love and use for sure. Create a theme based on something you know the recipient definitely loves. For example, I love Alice in Wonderland (the books, the character, the classic movie, and all), so a friend once made an amazing, special gift box with that theme full of gifts with beautiful handmade tags that said "Eat Me", "Drink Me", "Open Me", "Read Me", and such where appropriate and included other special, handmade items that went with the theme.

-Make the gift unique. Try to use a theme that the specific recipient would love and that nobody has done before. If you use a more traditional theme, try to present the gift in a unique way and with unique colors that are not usually associated with that theme. The more unique, the better!

Well, that's all of my suggestions for you today. I hope those ideas and tips are helpful!

-Lauryn

St. Patrick's Day, 2020

Hello everyone! Today I would like to share a quick post with my simple, little St. Patrick's Day party from last week. This was super last minute and therefore very easy to throw together. I made the coin banner with Dollar Tree coins that I used for the Under the Sea party in my last post by hot-gluing them to a string. I made the poster with a black gel ink pen and gold acrylic paint. I never ended up photographing food on the cake stand, so the photos look a bit strange. I wanted a unique color scheme that did not have any green, so I went with black, white and gold. 

This was just a small, brief post, but I plan to share more parties, gifts and tutorials soon, so stay tuned! Thanks for stopping by!

-Lauryn

10 Universal Yet Personalized Gift Ideas

Hello, everyone! Finding gifts can be so tricky for some people. While a lot of people are easy to shop or craft for, a lot of people are very difficult and give no helpful hints on what they could use or would like. To simplify gifting and remove the stress, I have compiled a list of gift ideas that anyone would like and could use, no matter who they are. At first glance, they may seem boring or too impersonal; however, all of the gifts listed can be customized special for the recipient. In addition, they generally are quite inexpensive. So, without further ado, here's the list:

Candles

Candles are not only very practical, but they also smell scrumptious and can be very personal. I'm not just talking about melting photos on or taping them to the jar, either. There are lots of book-themed candles for the literary people you know available to buy, or you could hand-make a candle with their favorite book scene scent. Another option I've done is cover up a regular candle label with a homemade one that transforms a pine scent into the woods of Narnia, or the like. If you make your candles, you could choose to put the wax in a non-traditional jar-thing such as a teacup, as well. A gift idea I saw on Pinterest and helped a friend of mine make is melting a hand-doodled design onto a candlestick, which is another option (great for kids to make).

Notebooks or Sketchbooks

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see how anyone can ever have too many notebooks. They're fun and so easily personalized. You can make Polymer clay covers, sew one from scratch, draw or paint on the cover of a bought one, mod-podge photos to a cover, turn the covers to chalkboard or leather... the list goes on and on. There are countless tutorials online if you need inspiration. This gift is great for kids and adults alike.

Writing Utensils

Going hand-in-hand with the previous category, everyone can always use more pens, a cool sharpener or pretty pencils. I have an addiction to gel ink pens. My favorites are the $3-4 Pen+Gear packs. Dollar Tree and just about every store offers gel pens and other neat writing gadgets. You could get creative and decorate pencils or pens, too, with yarn, paint or clay or anything, really. I've made Polymer-clay decorated pens. Also, you could purchase pencils with special engraved messages. If you like woodworking, you could even glue led into hollowed branches to make fancy woodland pencils.

Books

Now, I understand that not everyone's a book worm, but there is a book for everyone. Maybe the person you're shopping for likes magazines, or a photo album, scrapbooks, joke books, crossword puzzles, zentangle coloring books, and so on. If you want to make something really special, you could write or illustrate your own book for that person themed around one of their interests or about them. There are so many great options, and this gift is excellent for all people of all ages.

Socks 

This may sound rather strange, but socks are not only practical and (hopefully) cozy, they can be fun and personal. It would be strange to give all of your co-workers socks, so I guess it depends on the situation, but in general, socks are a great gift. I've received Two Left Feet-brand socks, and I love them! They make all sorts of designs, from cameras, to books, to tacos, although they are expensive. If this is a gift idea you'd like to look into, you should take a look at theirs. If you want off-brand socks for kids, a dollar store might be the way to go.

Water Bottles or Mugs

Maybe I'm just weird, and I do admittedly drink more water than a normal person, but I don't believe a person can ever have too many water bottles. There are so many kinds and design options, too, so they can be personalized, as well. I have received lots of mugs for birthdays and Christmas, and I absolutely love them all. I have designated each for a specific purpose and still use them all daily. So, like water bottles, I guess you really can't have too many. Who isn't thrilled to receive a special, cute mug, after all?

Music

Everybody of any age loves music, from babies to elderly folks. This could be in the form of a music book, a musical instrument, a music gift card, a CD, a musical toy, a music box, and so on. There are countless options and plenty of ways to be personal and creative with this magical gift.

Photos/Videos

You've no doubt given something under this category to someone before or received one of these gifts, but you really can't go wrong with giving someone sentimental photos or videos. Photos could be in a scrapbook, album, framed, put on a flash-drive/disc, or made into any type of household decor. Videos could be on a flash-drive or disc. If you don't have any recordings of the person, you could buy a disc from a play they performed in, or buy a movie they love, or a similar alternative.

Body Care Items

Any adult would appreciate a scrumptious-smelling, handmade and rejuvenating sugar scrub. They are so easy to make, practical and inexpensive. You could use that person's favorite scent, such as coffee, mint, rose, and so on. For children, you could do bath bubble mix, bath chalk or some other fun alternative. Maybe the bottle could have their favorite character. For adults, there are also bath bombs and Epsom salts that are easy to make, among others. For kids and adults alike (but especially adults), lotion is always a handy thing to have. There are recipes online, but you can also find special products at local shops and gift stores, too. Both kids and adults also appreciate lip balms. The best ever is Pure and Simple's lip balm.

Experiences

Before you jump to conclusions, let me say this does not have to be expensive! Sure, experiences could be fun things like movie theater/drama theater tickets, classes/lessons, trips, etcetera. But they could also be a gift you are able to offer for low-cost. I paint, so I've given my parents, siblings, and grandparents canvases and taught them a fun painting tutorial. I had the supplies and space, so I just paid for the canvases, which were $1 each. Maybe you could give free music lessons, or take somebody to free museums. Maybe you're an actor/actress and you could give tickets to your upcoming production. Be creative!


Technically, that was 12 or more gift ideas. Anyway, I hope this comes in handy for you!

-Lauryn

Mother's Day Gift Basket Fillers

With Mother's Day just around the corner, it's time to begin planning gifts. What better way is there to show gratitude to your mother than to create a special, personalized gift basket? I know how hard it can be figuring out what to fill a gift basket with, so here's a list of over 35 Mother's Day gift basket filler ideas:

Mother's Day Gift Basket Fillers:

Business/Artist/Crafting Materials:

-Notebooks
-Pens/Markers
-Lists/Notepads
-Bible Journal
-Planner
-Stickers/Stamps
-Cute Pins/Paperclips
-Washi Tape
-Paint/Paintbrushes

Gardening:

-Flowers
-Succulents/Plants
-Gardening Tools
-Planters (bought or handmade)
-Gardening Gloves

Baking:

-Treats
-Food Mixes
-Coffee or Tea
-Fruit
-Baking Ingredients
-Oven Mitt

Body Care:

-Sugar Scrub
-Lotion
-Nail Polish
-Sanatizer

Decorating/Home:

-Magazine
-Dishcloth
-Handsoap
-Candles
-Art or Photo Print
-Decor (such as a sign or bird statue)
-Banner
-Throw Blanket

Other:

-Book
-Mug or Teacup
-Essential Oils

I hope you found something on this list to put in your Mother's Day gift basket! I will share some more gift ideas soon. Thanks for stopping by!

-Lauryn