All Abord...

My daughter's homework assignment was to make a Polar Express train car to be used in the school's annual Polar Express Ride.  I wanted my daughter to be the one supplying the ideas and doing as much of the work as she could.  When I was a teacher I always enjoyed seeing projects that the parents had a hand in but overall were made by the student.  I think we accomplished that.  I stuck on boxes and used the hot glue gun.  She handed me the pieces and helped me decide where we should place things.  I found a sample photo on line and we looked at it while we assembled her train.

This is the basic shape all hot glued and taped together.

I made the front of the train by taping two pieces of card stock together.  Then I rolled them up and taped them into a cylinder.  I clipped the end so I could attach it to the main box.  This wasn't something my daughter could do by herself.

Holiday Window Decor

In order for my oldest son to attend preschool, I volunteer my time at his school in exchange for tuition. One of the things I began in September is decorating the front windows for each season.  This could be an inexpensive and fun thing to do at home as well.  All you need is acrylic paint and a brush.  I even painted my back sliding door for my daughter's birthday party!  

For the winter scene I decided to do winter animals, Birch trees and snowflakes.  This can easily last through February.  Who knows, I may even add some hearts for Valentine's Day.  

I'm a planner so I first draw my idea out on a regular sheet of paper.  Then I lay butcher paper on my floor and draw out my design life sized.  I tape the butcher paper to the outside of the window and paint from the inside.  The hardest part for me is painting backwards!  Because you are layering the paint from front to back, you have to think and paint the opposite of how you normally would.  For example.  I actually started with the whites of the eyes, then after they dried I added the black for the eyes, as well as the nose and mouth.  Once that was dry I painted the rest of the face over the facial features.  I added the trees and snow last.  I probably should have done this over two days instead of one.  I ended up rushing the snow so I'm not completely happy with that part of it.  This was a big job but a simple design like snowflakes or a Christmas tree on your front window could be really cute.