Upcycled Education

Global Collaboration Excites Me

I have a thing for collaboration. Global collaboration is a big favorite. Which is why I think this event (click here for details) on August 31st at 5pm Central Standard Time (CST - US) is hilarious. And why I think the Sing app Lil O loves is so intriguing.

Are you with me?

Jen

Tech Tuesday Round-up

Since it is back-to-school time, I thought today it would be useful to round up several of my techie favs for the start of the school year. Are you ready? Actually, putting this list together reminds me of a few of these I haven't used in a while.

Dafont - I don't know about you, but the perfect font speaks to me.

Jing - I love making short video tutorials for my students. Do you?

Newsmap - This free site is one of my favorites to have on the projection screen when students are walking into class. The colors and headlines captivate them (and me!).

Poll Everywhere - If your school is cool enough to allow cell phone use, I think this free polling site is awesome.

Wolfram Alpha - Did you know Siri (of all the iPhone/iPad products) uses this handy-dandy data collector? I love Wolfram Alpha. Students do, too.

Doodle - Nothing annoys me more than trying to schedule a meeting with colleagues and the deluge of emails it takes to pick a date and time. With Doodle, that dilemma is solved. Huzzah!

Delivr - I lace all my syllabi with QR codes. Isn't that too-cool-for-school?

Ha! Happy Back-to-School!

Jen

Yes to Lil O's Yes Day!

You might remember from last summer, our family celebrates Yes Days. If you are unfamiliar with the concept, check out my original post here. Lil O is always uber-eager for her Yes Day. Here's how it went down this year.....

Lil O's Yes Day started with cinnamon rolls - her request, of course.

Straight to the dog park for Puppy Jedi and Lil O, we went. I think Lil O had just as much fun at the dog park as sweet Jedi. That day, the park had its fair share of little dogs who all seemed to gravitate to Lil O.

On the way back home from the dog park, Lil O requested a trout stop. Breckenridge has all sorts of lakes, rivers, and ponds. This particular one, right in town, has the largest trout (because you can feed them from a candy machine; the machine has some sort of kibble in it for fish).

Kim at the Fresh Soap Company invited Lil O and I to work at her store that day. Lil O was sooooo excited to work and be around Kim and her soaps that afternoon.

We helped Kim package soaps and tie on raffia. Seriously, how cute are these cupcake soaps below we packaged? Lil O left that day with an appreciation for work (Yahoo!) and a tote bag of soaps. Thanks, Kim!

On our way to the new art supply store in town, we stopped to admire the flowers. Breckenridge - the entire town - does such an incredible job with their flowers. #breckenridgeisamazing

We visited the crazy hat store.....

We picked up two yummy desserts from the French bakery in town.....

Lil O is such a reasonable gal. This was the only tangible-non-food item she asked for all day. A craft!

Here is the finished craft. I really appreciate the updated line of Melissa and Doug products lately, do you?

Because Lil O wanted to stay up super late that night, she was 100% agreeable to a Yes Day nap. Seriously? I really thought it was my Yes Day at this point.

Onto dinner.....Just like last summer's Yes Day, Lil O chose her favorite meal - Udon noodles with chicken minus the vegetables. She ate. every. single. bite.

My sweet diva (don't you love the towel and Sprite drinking?!) ended her Yes Day with a French bakery delectable and a late night viewing of Disney's new Teen Beach Movie.

Such a great day! Saying yes to everything Lil O wanted was totally easy and really so much fun.

Love that kid,

Jen

PS - One of my summer goals was to have a Yes Day for me, Jedi and Mr. U. However, I have to say, this summer has been incredible. I feel like everyday is a Yes Day.

Now, We Are Really Upcycling

If you follow Upcycled Education on Instagram, you know about this special present Mr. UpCyclist brought back for me from a jeep trail. Yes, a trail! He, Lil O and Jedi were hiking along in Colorado and all of a sudden an old bed spring appeared. Now, I have something to confess. I have a thing for old bed springs. I like their lines and their antique-ness. I could have worse fetishes, right?

After some serious brainstorming (say, for 15 minutes), Mr. UpCyclist suggested we incorporate paint swatches within the springs. What? Did I hear you correctly? My FAVORITE free item in the world. Pinch me!

....Then, I feel even more deeply in love with him.

As always, I have a collection of paint swatches on me (or at least nearby). We played around with a few versions of how to incorporate the swatches. Mr. U then ran off to our local hardware store to buy the hardware to hang this lovely sweetness. Ahhh......

As you can see, the swatches are just nestled into the back spring. Mr. U trimmed them to fit (they are more square now compared to their original rectangle shape). The colors are vibrant and fun.

Did I mention this bedspring is gigantic? Which is a great thing as the wall where it hangs is so tall. See what I mean?

And because it hangs right in the loft by a king-sized bed, I thought this detail would be fun. I used my alphabet stamps and Staz-on ink (the best ink for stamping paint swatches, in my opinion.).

I love little details like this.

I know I've mentioned this before, but you can rent our condo in Colorado when we are not there. If you do, you'll see these upcycled bedsprings in all their colorful glory.

Over-the-moon,

Jen

Wake Up + Be Awesome Artwork

This summer, I've been obsessed with painting the town of Breckenridge, Colorado. See....

But, I didn't always love it. The artwork, that is.

So, I decided to paint over the sweet town in country red acrylic paint. Then, I carefully added some adhesive letters - which were not very adhesive at all! But, I was careful painting over them in bright turquoise - which looks more like slate blue below. See how the letters barely stick?