Stealthy Around Here

Every summer in Colorado we see cars like the one above.  Cars completely covered and disguised.  I had zero idea about why until I mentioned it to Mr. UpCyclist.  I swear, that guy knows just about everything there is to know about cars.

And apparently car testing.

Since our place is nestled in the Rocky Mountains at 9,000+, car manufacturers will test new cars (actually, future models of cars) in our area.  In doing so, the car companies can analyze how their cars handle high altitudes, cold temps, mountain roads, etc.  Every insignia on the cars is hidden.  In fact, we recently saw a test driver get out of a test car and he even covered the dashboard, so no one would see the make/model/design.

Stealthy, no?  

Mr. UpCyclist also told me the drivers are sometimes called car mules.  I wonder what that job is like driving around all day in a secretive, fabric wrapped car in such gorgeous places.  Actually, if the car was mod podged with fabric, I might be totally into it.

Happy Weekend, lovely blog reader - see you on the other side,

Jen

Duck Tape Gift Tags - Awesome!

Photo from Mod Podge Rocks

Amy from Mod Podge Rocks is so clever.  I love this easy-peasy duck tape gift tags.  

Here's to the holidays,

Jen

Mod Podge Heaven

Mod Podge is a cycling team sponsor for Upcycled Education.  Can you believe what they sent?  Each rider received a phat care package of product - a tee shirt, dimensional Mod Podge, Podgeable Papers, Extreme Glitter Pod Modge, Mod Podge Sampler....I could go on!

Mr. UpCyclist and team mascot, Lil O, both have been generous with me this summer and shared their Mod Podge goodies.

Yay!  Oh, and Lil O said it best the other day.  Mod Podge is a crafter's best friend.

Love that kid and Mod Podge,

Jen

PS - If you don't already read Amy's blog, Mod Podge Rocks, you really should take a peek.  She posts super-creative Podge-based projects daily.

Mod Podge for Education

A perfect world:  Combining crafts and education into one.  Craftucation, I might call that.  Me?  I craftucator.

Happiness.

To bridge my two  three loves, I combined Mod Podge, some basic craft supplies and my trusty assistant, little O.  Our task:  To make something that is crafty and educational.

Hmmm...what to create?  How about a reflective tool?

At our local craft store, Jo-Ann, we located these fabulously, inexpensive wood blanks.  Jo-Ann had so many shapes and sizes.  I think we paid $.29 for each wood blank.

Next, little O and I painted them with acrylic paints we had around the house. 

Using leftover scraps of patterned paper, little O traced each shaped and I cut out the shapes.  We broke out a must-have, craft companion...Mod Podge!  Here you can see little O gluing on the patterned paper to the painted wood blanks.  Mod Podge is a craftucator's best friend.

After letting the Mod Podge dry (about 20 minutes), this is what they looked like.  Kind of fresh & engaging, no?

To help transform these gems into a reflective tool to be used in the classroom, little O traced more shapes for me.  This time, she used plain, colored paper.

I then cut out the traced shapes and wrote reflective prompts on them in black Sharpie marker.  The reflective prompts included:

• Describe the main idea from today's lesson.
• Describe something new you learned today.
• Explain two new terms from today's lesson.
• How can you apply today's lesson?
• What other topics relate to today's lesson?
• Why is today's lesson important to you?
• How would you improve today's lesson?

Don't you love reflective questions?

The finished product, the reflective prompt side, looks like this......

To protect these Mod Podge, craftucation treasures, little O and I brushed on two layers of Mod Podge on each side.  We let the Mod Podge dry about 20 minutes between layers.  They are sealed and student-proof now!

Not that my college students are destructive, however, now they can happily risk a vanilla-soy-latte being spilled on them.

Oh, craftucation and happiness!
Jen

PS - I just used this reflective tool with my college students after teaching a lesson about identifiying gifted and talented students in preK-12 settings.  When I polled my college students about the tool they described the colorful prompts as "cool, fun, unique and playful."  More happiness.

PSS - Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!  I personally don't need a week because I appreciate you all the time.  True.