I was one of the class parents in Pre-K this year. Not a good use of my skill set. I am not one who needs to know the nuts and bolts or who relishes in disseminating the information to others. Next year I am going to invest my time (and meager energy) to the Library and GLBT committees. Part of wrapping up my duties this year was helping to put together memory books for the teachers. My son did kind of a paper doll illustration for the stories he wrote.

He drew his teacher and then I cut her out and raise mounted her on his background. I cut out a photo of him doing jumping jacks and he plopped it down and it became a story about a surfing teacher, piggy back rides, a slice of cake, and Captain Brainstorm the astronaut & scientist, “but better at being a spaceman”.

We used the same technique for his other teacher. In this little paper world she has beautiful green hair and extra arms. The latter probably pretty handy for a Pre-K teacher.

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I particularly like that he drew them into a song (The Big Rock Candy Mountain), that his shoes are super fancy and that he is a knight wearing knee pads. I’m going to do this again as a project for him to keep because he had a blast taking a “paper doll” of himself and adding details (you can’t see in these photos but he’s sporting a fierce helmet).

Here is one of the teacher books. I made her name from letters cut from the recycle bin. We saw the coolest posters at the Children’s Museum of the Declaration of Independence written out using the same technique. It was pretty profound/scary/silly to have Tony the Tiger giving me a history lesson. In the take out containers is the real present, sorry kids. Cold hard cash. Tacky but true. An interesting ‘tradition’ at my son’s school.

I dressed up the card for a class specialist with a paper flower I made from vintage dress patterns. I know a lot of you crafters actually make dresses from these vintage patterns but the thought of that makes me dizzy. Maybe this summer I’ll give it a whirl. Isn’t it funny how when summer kicks off anything seems possible? Why yes, this summer I WILL ride my bike for miles and miles. Make healthy meals for my family daily, you bet! Join this cool online book group and have clever things to say, why the heck not. It’s SUMMERTIME! Damn, it’s hot.

I covered the pattern with clear vinyl and sewed around the petals then layered them until I liked the way it looked. I added a few beads to the center and called it a flower. I love sewing with paper. I am going to dust my sewing machine off and be a creative force (all together now)

THIS SUMMER!

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