Sprinkler Valve

This has been sitting in my garage since I decided to try and fix it. Apparently it is less costly to replace the entire valve with a plastic one than it is to order up the special needle tipped screw that sheared off. A throw away society. At least I'll have given it a second life in my drawing.

Hobo Artist

I know, drawing from a photo creates a much flatter image. But sometimes a photo catches my eye and I have to draw it. This is a self portrait of Dan Price that was recently posted on Flickr.

It's a little out of proportion. I don't think he looks as hunched up in the photo.

Eli's First Journal

Well, after listening to the Creative Mom Podcast recently I checked out Diary of a Worm from the library for my son. After not following through with many of the prompts provided in the podcast I came up with my own...starting a journal with my son.

I've always wanted to try making my own journal. Something fancier than folding paper in half and stapling it in the middle (although that is the core of this book), but something a little less complicated than a hard bound book of cold pressed watercolor paper and a custom foil stamp on the cover.



I started by cutting several 8.5 x 11 sheets of printer paper in half, creating twice as many strips of 8.5 x 5.5 paper. I folded these all in half individually then stapled them in the middle.

The fancy part was the cover. I cut some pieces from a cereal box to make the front and back cover. I joined the two sides with clear packing tape, with the gap roughly (no measuring here) equal to the thickness of the folded paper.

I used a transformers gift bag, cutting it slightly bigger than the cover. I glued the gift bag (fancy side out) piece to the cardboard, trimmed the corners and folded over the edges. Finally I glued the first and last pages of the stapled book of paper to the inside of the cover, over the folded over edges.

I did this fairly quickly and sloppily as I had a 4 year old hanging on my shoulder, disassembling exacto knives, and spreading PVA glue on everything.

So, what do you think? He loves it. My goal is to make a point of putting something in the journal each day, but not stressing if we miss a day. It may be text one day or a taped leaf or drawing the next. Maybe I'll post some of the results of our handiwork.