Polymer Clay?

TweetFor the past few months my daughter has turned into quite a gifted sculpture artist. She has been crafting Polymer items.

Polymer clay is a man-made material that will not dry out when exposed to air for a long period of time, but bakes in your home oven at a fairly low temperature to a hard, often pliable surface that can be painted and decorated.

It's such a cute way for kids to show a very creative side of themselves. And the clay and other items (such as paint) are very inexpensive. My daughter started just making figurines. Now she turns them into jewelry, pencil toppers, ornaments and cell phone charms. Her sculpting is awesome, and I can see her doing this same type of sculpting as a career, whether in a bakery or crafting her own art pieces.

I'm really impressed with her, because she studied all about it and has been practicing and perfecting her pieces all on her own. One of the coolest things she has shown me is how you can use regular white silicone (yes the type you use in home repairs) to decorate your clay pieces.

If the kids are looking for something fun to do this summer, why not try polymer clay projects. Polymer clay can be used by kids ages 5 and up. The younger set can start with sculpting their pieces and then you can bake them for them. As they get older ages 12 and up, they can then add items such as paint and silicone decorations. Packs of clay can be found anywhere, such as Michaels, Hobby Lobby and Walmart for about $1.29 a pack.

Check out Family Fun for polymer clay ideas

More clay ideas

Research clay lines here.

Last Day of School

The end of May means the arrival of 110 degree days and the end of another school year.

While the kids are usually excited that summer break has arrived, I can't tell you how excited I am. When my daughter was getting ready to start the 6th grade, we made the decision as a family to let her enroll in a home school program. With larger classrooms and low test scores within our local school district a home school program was a better option. And while I think the program my daughter is enrolled in offers a great program, this was a tough year as a parent. The 7th grade was hard, for both parent and student. Math is a hard subject to teach in a traditional classroom, can you imagine what it's like for a home school program. And of course when your child is enrolled in a home school program, the first source of help with their questions comes right to mom and dad (the learning coaches). So this will be a nice few months of no school and it gives us time to recover from all the stress that math brought into our lives this year.

So until we meet up again in August, thank you math for a very memorable year.

New Banner. Any Thoughts?

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Looking for a Mother's Day gift from the heart. Buy a small pot and your mom'

Looking for a Mother's Day gift from the heart. Buy a small pot and your mom's favorite flower from your local home improvement store. If your child is making it for their mom have them paint the pot. On my example we used the kids hand and feet prints. What a great gift for only about $2.00.

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Tin-Can Desk Organizer

During a week your family most likely would use a few different Tin-Cans, whether you are eating soup or serving corn with your dinner.  This is a great project for the kids that cost very little money.  And it's an item where each room in your house could use one of these handy items.



Step 1: Take and wash a tin can and let dry thoroughly.

Step 2: Cover the Tin-Can in decorative tape, like we did.  Or you can even paint your can with paint you might just have laying around.

Step 3: Purchase cork wall tiles(picture above).  They are very easy to come across most office stores and Walmart carry them.  When we bought ours we paid $6.00 for a pack of 4.  A pack of four allowed us to make 10 of these tin can holders and still have some left over.

Step 4: cut a strip of the cork board to fit around the can.  Then hot glue the cork board onto the can.  The cork board is very flexible and wraps easily around the can.

Step 5: As an added touch, place some pushpins into the cork board so that the recipient can attach notes or pictures to their new Tin-Can Desk Organizer.

This is a great gift for your child to make anyone in the family, a friend or even teacher.

Borders Gift Cards

I have seen Twitter messages and some Facebook posts saying that Borders gift cards expire on April 3, 2011.  I called Borders customer service and after speaking with them she sent me this email response.  They do not expire, since not all stores are closing.  In addition if a store in your area is closing, you can still shop online 24 hours a day or locate another store in your area.

Dear Joe,


Thank you for contacting Borders.

Thank you for sending your inquiry to Borders Customer Care. We would like to apologize for the delayed response. We aim to answer all email inquires in less than 48 hours and we will ensure the necessary steps are taken to improve the timeliness of future responses.

Please be informed that our Borders Rewards programs, including Borders Rewards Plus, remain in effect. Customers can continue to earn and redeem their Rewards in stores and on Borders.com http://www.borders.com/ and they'll also continue receiving coupons. As always, we are honoring gift cards and will not expire on April 4, which can be redeemed in stores and online at Borders.com

I hope this information is helpful. If we can be of further help, please don't hesitate to contact us at our Customer care at 800.770.7811. A Customer care representative will be glad to address any concern.

Sincerely,

Lara