that artist woman: January 2010

The Grade Ones are studying Penguins right now...we just finished our Paper Mache Penguins but I thought I'd put together a Penguin Valentine.

This card has a wheel mechanism. They are pretty easy to do once you get the hang of them. Soon you'll find lots of possibilities for future projects.

The wheel on this project turns the penguins belly from grey to red revealing a heart.

And this is what it says on the back or the inside of the card depending how you want to finish it.

Materials Required:

white cardstock
penguin templates 1 and penguin template 2
paper fastener
black paper
glue
scissors
paint or pencil crayons
googly eyes (optional)
scraps of yellow or orange paper
snowflake sequins (optional)

Take a round object slightly smaller (about 1 inch) than the paper you want to use for your card.

Trace around on a piece of cardstock.

Cut out.
Now you can use your decorative scissors for this if you want to give the edge a bit of "tooth", this will make it easier to turn but a regular cut is fine.

Position your wheel slightly off to the side of the paper you will be using for your card....I'm just using the black to show you the position.

Taking a sharp point poke a hole thru the wheel in the middle and thru the card paper. This will help with positioning later.

Put wheel aside.

On your card paper (was black in the previous photo) trace around the penguin base from your templates. My finger shows where the mark is from the wheel.

Cut out the heart window. I just poke a hole in the center and then use my small scissors.

Turn card paper over and line up marks you made when you punched holes.

Tape the wheel in place.

Turn back over and paint the belly of the penguin including the area in the window.

I used grey making the penguin a chick..this was so there was some contrast with the background.

Remove tape from wheel......you'll find a heart shaped grey area.

This shows use where to start painting.

Using the same colors paint a larger portion of the wheel grey.

I then went to a pinkish grey...then to pink...ranging all the way to red.

At the end I went back to pink blending it back into the grey.

Set aside to dry.

While your paints are out add a little color to the background.

This is also a good time to do the printing on the front.

Using the penguin back template cut out the shape from black paper.

Glue into place on the penguin base.

If you have some pencil lines showing you can erase them at this point.

Using the penguin face template cut this shape out of white paper.

Glue the face onto the penguin and you can add some googly eyes or paint/color some in.

Cut out the beak and the feet and glue these into place.

Take your wheel and make your hole in the center a bit bigger using a pencil or knitting needle. This will allow the wheel to move free.

Cut a scrap of white cardstock and mark a hole that corresponds to the one you made earlier on the card paper. Make sure none of the scrap shows thru the heart window.

Put the paper fastener thru the hole.

Apply glue on the scrap but not on the fastener.

Secure to the back of the card lining up the fastener with the small hole you made earlier. By attaching the fastener this way you don't have to worry about the fastener showing thru on the front of the card.

Place the wheel color side down onto the paper fastener.

Fold down the prongs but not too tightly.

The wheel should stick out slightly on the one side enabling you to spin it.

If you want you can add in small letters "turn me" around the edge of the wheel where it will stick out.

You can also add a "stop" where the heart is fully red.

Finally add a back sheet. Take a piece of cardstock that is the same size as the card paper.

Apply glue along the edges making sure to leave room for the wheel to spin....do not put any glue on the wheel.

Secure backing.

You then can paint it and add the words "You warm my heart"...If you want this to be a full card then you need a backing piece that is twice as large, fold in half, and then secure the left side of the backing to the penguin.

That's it...I'm sure you can think of other cards to make with a wheel mechanism.

Give it a try.

See you next time.

Here is a special Valentine Diorama that the Grade 1's are going to make. The inspiration comes from a vintage photo I came across about a year ago.

Made from a frozen juice can...you have this decorated container which inside.....

.....contains a photo of the sender, a token heart, and the saying "you captured my heart".

Easy to make with recyclables and bits and bobs you have lying around the house.

Let's get started.

Materials Required:

frozen juice container
newspaper or old book pages
white and colored tissue paper in Valentine colors
blue paint
white paint
photo of sender in sitting position
wing template (you can use mine if you want)
colored pencils, crayons, or paint to add color to wing
thin cardboard or chipboard (cracker box)
colored paper
glue
embellishments
pipe cleaner for handle
string or embroidery floss
2 pony beads

Now when I was making the sample I pre cut the door before applying the decoupage papers...I now realize it is probably better to leave the container intact, decoupage and then cut the door...less warping that way.

I had also put a layer of gesso on the can but you can skip this as you are covering the can anyway.

Cut or tear your newspaper or book pages and decoupage them onto the can with a diluted glue mix..about 2 parts glue, 1 part water.

You can cut some hearts out of the tissue paper and lay them on top of the decoupage while it is still wet and they will stick on nicely.

Let dry.

Now cut out your door.

Paint the inside of the remaining can and the door sky blue.

I painted the bottom sill of my door silver.

You can add some white clouds if you want.

Let dry.

Take the metal top of the can and trace out a circle in thin cardboard and 2 circles in colored paper.

Cut them out and glue the paper to both sides of the cardboard circle.

Set aside, this will be the top of your container.

Take your photo and cut out figure from background...you want your figure to be about 2 and 1/2 inches tall.

Here is the inspiration photo.

Make a wing...you can use the wing templates or make up your own...it can be a butterfly wing like mine or an angel wing, even a dragonfly wing.

Add some color....I'm using some watercolor pencil but I think the kids will use pencil crayon.

Cut out your wing , add a little glue and secure to the back of your photo.

Instead of the ugly metal bottom to the can you can glue in some white tissue paper like a cloud.

Take your photo and glue into the can....with the person sitting on the cloud..now I only glued the wing and the feet of this photo because I wanted it to sit a bit forward...

If you're looking down into the can you can see how the photo is sitting a bit forward and not stuck to the back.

Now add your token heart...I lucked out on that trip to the dollar store and found these jewel hearts (18 for $1.50)...but you can cut a paper heart, a felt one, or make one from what you have lying around.

I glued mine in place because this is a sample and it will get handled a lot but you leave yours free if you want.

Using an awl or knitting needle, or tip of scissors punch some holes at the top on either side for the handle.

Insert pipe cleaner and twist to secure.

Now if you wanted you could leave it like this and just write "you captured my heart" at the back for a simpler project.

If you want the door punch matching holes in the door and on one side. I did one at the top and one at the bottom.

Now I used embroidery floss and sewed little hinges...but before you do this its a good time to either write or stamp in the words "you captured my heart" on the inside of the door and the name of the recipient on the outside.

I did this after it was put together and it was a bit tricky.