Diorama Party Part 3: "Home Made" Trophies and Voting Ballots

I meant to get this out last week.

But you know how that goes.

At least for me.

Anyway, this is my last post about the diorama party.

And this isn't really about the dioramas, but just a fun extra I tacked onto the party.

I wanted to give out awards to all the participants at the party.

I wanted there to be voting, I wanted there to different categories for voting, and I wanted awards that were tongue in cheek.

So I spray painted some trophies.

You could use these trophies for lots of other occasions where you want to give out awards that are a bit silly.

You could/should also use them for a kid party sometime.

They are a big hit with the kid crowd.

What kid doesn't love a trophy?

So here goes:

Homemade trophies and voting ballots--a how-to.

Making the Trophies

The trophies themselves were very easy to make.

The hard part was finding the trophies in the first place.

I called some thrift stores first and they all made it sound like I was a bit crazy when I asked them if they had any old trophies.

"No," they said emphatically, "they did not!"

I thought I'd go with another award until James saw a bunch of these at this place.

I wasn't sure how I'd make just the trophy tops work, but at 25 cents apiece, I knew I had to try.

(I was wondering why just trophy tops, and my friend surmised it was because of the kid's names on the trophies.)

Step 1.

We picked out a random assortment of trophy tops, came home and laid them out for spray painting.

Step 2.
I primed the trophy tops.
I always, always prime with the gray, spray paint primer.
It makes the color coat go on so much better.

Step 3.
I added color.
Once the primer coat dried, I sprayed the trophy tops and with the assortment of colors that we had on hand.
The kids were taking these trophies very seriously and wanted them all to be gold.
But since I was going for the tongue in cheek look, I went with color.
Also, some did have writing on them and I wanted to cover that up.
Mostly though, they just looked way more awesome when they were sprayed up.

Step 4.
I made bases for the trophy tops.
I wasn't sure what to use for the bases.
Cutting wood blocks and then drilling holes into those blocks was way more work than I had time for.
Instead I bought some large pieces of Styrofoam in the florist section of Michal's.
I cut it in squares, and spray painted each square to match its trophy top.
Step 5.
I attached the trophy tops to the bases.
This part was easy.
You can do almost anything with hot glue.
Using the trophy tops themselves, I poked a hole into the top of each Styrofoam piece, filled the hole with hot glue, and then stuck the trophy top into the hole.
They stayed put and I had a nice little trophy base.




And despite the fact that they were meant to be tongue in cheek, I think the trophies turned out pretty nice.
On the party day, I displayed them with all the dignity due them.

Making the Voting Ballots
The voting ballots were even easier to assemble.
I used library pockets and library cards to make each ballot.
(These are the same library ballots I used to create my business cards for my blog.  They have come in very handy for other projects.  I just love the nostalgic feel of them.)
I purchased the library pockets and cards at a Lakeshore Learning Store, but you can get them online via Amazon if you don't have a Lakeshore store or other teacher supply store near you. 
(Lakeshore doesn't sell these online--only in their brick and mortar stores.  The Amazon links are provided above.)


On the outside of each ballot, I stamped the word, VOTE.
Inside each ballot was a library card with the 10 categories written on the card.
You can see all the categories here.
I hand wrote each card because I was only doing 10.
But if you had a lot to do, you could easily make 1 and photo copy it.

For the voting
When the dioramas were finished, each participant was given a ribbon with a number on it.
They put the ribbon next to their diorama and then all the dioramas were put on display together.
(I made the ribbons with brown painters paper, a circle hole punch, some colored paper taped to the circle, and my stamps to stamp a number on the circle.
They turned out cute and were easy to make.)


Then everyone looked at each diorama and placed it in the category they thought fit it best.
For example, Aaron's trailer was given the #2 ribbon.
So everyone looked at their ballots and put a #2 next to the category they thought best fit Aaron's trailer.
He ended up winning the Craftsmanship category.


All the guests were very nice and pretended to take the voting seriously.
They humored me, the voting ballots, the spray painted trophies and the award ceremony.
Except for the 8 year old guests.
They took the voting very seriously.
There was no pretending about it.
I appreciated everyone's response to this part of the party--those who humored me and those who took it seriously.
Either way, it was fun.
And that was what this was all about.

Were the participants stoked to get their trophies?
Heck yeah they were!

Should you make home made trophies, voting ballots and hand out awards at a crafting party?

For grown men or little kids?

Heck yeah you should!

Next up, Rhubarb Snacking Cake.

And then I have a list a mile long of other topics  want to write about.

It's summer--maybe I'll get to it!

Love from,

Greta

When Men Craft: a Diorama Party

I know it's been forever.

There has just been too much going on to keep up with blogging.

No matter how I try, I just haven't been able to find time for it lately.

And trust me, I've tried.

But I am just so excited about the birthday party I had for Aaron this weekend that I am staying up all hours to blog about it.

Being married to an artist can be difficult at times (you've no idea how long it takes him to commit to a paint color) but mostly it is lots of fun.

Aaron loves creating all sorts of things and I wanted to have a party for him that capitalized on that.

Given our mutual love of dioramas, I decided a diorama party would be a perfect fit.

It was.

Also, it was probably a bit of a risk.

Invite 10 or so guys for a diorama party and you could have a real disaster of a party on your hands.

But these guys all came through with flying colors.

We have some very creative friends.

They even participated in voting for "best of" categories and the handing out of trophies.

And they could have all been lying, but I do think everyone had a great time.

So yes, men can craft.

And they can do a darn fine job of it.

Take a look.

(The numbered ribbons are not place value.  They were for voting purposes.  Each diorama won an award for a specific category voted on by each party guest.)

Craftsmanship

Most Bizarre

Most Colorful

Funniest

Most Creative

Most Artistic

Best Theme

Most Unusual

Honorable Mention

The Sweepstakes Winner!

Aren't they amazing?

Everything was crafted on site in our back yard using all sorts of random materials, much of it recycled "trash".

James stayed with the big boys and took part in the party, as did one other younger party guest.

They were so thrilled to be a part of it all.

Obviously a diorama party works for multiple age groups.

He had an absolute blast and he, William and Lilly have been busy working with the leftover diorama party supplies for the past 2 days.

We've started them on the diorama love too!

I have lots more pictures and info on the supplies we provided and how to set a party like this up.

Also more details about each amazing diorama.

I'll post that info as soon as I can.

Until then, enjoy all this creativity and maybe take a trip to the Natural History Museum to get some diorama inspiration of your own.

Happy crafting!

Love from,

Greta

Turquoise Paint

It feels like eons since I've written a post.

There are so many reasons why I've been absent.

Some of the more complicated ones are discussed here.

Others are less complicated. 

And a whole lot more fun.

Like painting.

We've been painting things turquoise.

The weather has been so beautiful lately that we spend as much time as we can outside.

We do a lot of our school work outside on a blanket under the avocado tree.

Spending so much time in the backyard has me itching to do all sorts of projects out there.

One of the things we've tackled is the playhouse.

Take a look at this floor.

It was crying for a makeover.
So we gave it one.

James did the cutting in.
He has a steadier hand than I do.
And he loves being better at things than I am.
It's any kid's dream, right?

William and Lilly did the rest of the floor.

There are a few places with extra paint.
But I'd rather they get to paint their own playhouse and make a few mistakes, than I do it all myself and make a few less mistakes.
Because really, only James would have done it perfectly anyway.

We've done a bit more on the playhouse.
Maybe I'll get around to doing a little tour of it soon.


After painting the playhouse floor, I got out the turquoise paint again.

And I gave our picnic table it's annual, summer coat.

It looks so good in turquoise.
Practically everything does.


There have been lots of other projects, big (sorting and organizing hundreds of books) and small (spray painting light switch plates).
I hope to share them with you.
Sooner or later.
If you've stuck around despite my sporadic posting, I appreciate it.
I do like being here when I get the chance.


Love from,
Greta

A Sticks and String Mobile

James is working on his art pin for Cub Scouts.
It's a pretty big deal.
He has 6 different art projects to complete.
One of the choices was a mobile.
We decided to make one of sticks and string.

James wanted to use sticks and as we were pondering ways to make the sticks colorful, (you know me and color!) I thought of colored string.
So we went to the craft store and picked out some embroidery thread.
Next we gathered sticks from the back yard.
Those are all the supplies you need to create this mobile.

James chose his own colors.
We did have a little color palette talk as he chose.
First he chose  a bunch of colors he liked and then we narrowed down the choices by separating them into distinct color palettes.
In the end, he decided he liked the brighter colors better than the pastels.

It took a few minutes for James to get the hang of wrapping the string around the stick.
I started it for him by tying the end around the stick.
Then we tested out different techniques for wrapping until we found the one that suited him best.

He liked holding the stick in his left hand and twirling it slowly, while holding the sting taut in his right hand and wrapping it around the stick as it twirled.
For the first few minutes it was a little frustrating.
He was impatient.
But then he found a rhythm.

And after he'd been doing it for a bit, he told me he liked it because it was so quiet and he could just think while he was wrapping the string.
He's right.
It is a very meditative activity.
And after a short while he'd done his first stick.

Before he started wrapping, he had a design in mind.
He chose his sticks and laid them out on the table.
He chose what color or colors would go on each stick.

I wasn't planning that far ahead.
I would have just randomly wrapped my sticks and then decided how they'd fit together.
But James had a vision.

He found it difficult to make the string lie flat over the bumps and knots on the sticks.
And since he didn't like the bumpy look, he opted to leave the knots uncovered.
That is an aesthetic decision left up to the artist.

James worked on wrapping his sticks at 2 different sittings.
When he was done, he laid them out and I helped him tie them together.
He wanted them tied with white string.
It was a big of a trick to get them to balance just right.
That was part of the design process--figuring out the weight of the sticks and how they would balance each other.
He did a pretty good job of it.

And he was proud of how it turned out.
It's a real mobile!

I like the juxtaposition of the brown sticks and bright colored string.
Aaron likes it because it looks "boy scouty".

But mostly I like it because I like working on art projects with my boy.
Ones that are simple and still beautiful.
And you can bet I'll be wrapping some sticks of my own real soon.

Here's a funny thing about this project.

I really thought it was original.

Not that I was the only person who had thought of wrapping string around twigs,  but I really hadn't seen it anywhere else.

It was a new idea to me.

But then, like the next day, I saw this, on a friend's Pinterest board.

There was this one too.

And I had to laugh.

Guess it wasn't such a new idea after all.

But we're still very happy with our mobile.

Next we're tackling collage.

We'll be studying it and creating it in the form of mosaic.

I can't wait!

I have some amazing garage sale finds to show you from this weekend.

I haven't been garage saling in ages, but decided to try one that sounded good.

It was.

Oh my, how good it was.

Check back sooon to see my treasures.

Love from,

Greta