Paper Bag Gingerbread Houses!

I love gingerbread houses. Growing up I'd spend a few hours each Christmas season decorating one with my elderly neighbor, and I loved it. It's a tradition I've continued with my children. 

My daughter has a December birthday, pretty close to Christmas, and it's not always easy to find something to do. We don't always have snow for playing, and we live in a pretty rural area. For the last few years Clare has invited folks over to decorate real gingerbread houses, but this year she opted for an ice skating party. To tie into the old tradition she and I teamed together to make these super cute goody bags for party peeps! 

Not only is this a season full of sentimental traditions and birthday celebrations; nope. It's also germ season! Can I get a big "UGH!"?! As elementary art teachers my husband and I are exposed to germs all day, and so are our children. My daughter brought home the flu in the middle of this week, and she shared it with her brother, with me, and with our elf, Mr. Bo Jingles. 

My son felt better and went back to school, but Clare had a fever, and I was feeling pretty lousy, so we stayed home. Friday afternoon she got a little squirrelly, obviously needing an outlet for her restored energy, so I set her to work painting paper bags to look like gingerbread houses as I rested nearby. 

We turned her little couch "sick bed" into a mini studio space. 

While watching Christmas movies, she used my piano bench as a desk and got to work!

They're fast and simple to make, cost next to nothing, and are super adorable! To make one yourself, you'll need:

• brown paper lunch bags
• brown construction paper
• scissors
• a pencil/eraser
• acrylic craft paints and a plate or bit of cardboard to squirt them on
• paintbrushes
• a water dish 
• a folded paper towel (to wipe and dry your brush on)
• something to stuff inside the bag (we used little prizes as gifts, but you could use balled up newspaper)
• a stapler
• tape (regular or masking, as long as it sticks it doesn't really matter!)
• GLITTER (if you're feeling festive and brave)

Let's get started!

I held the lunch bag on top of my construction paper and cut up the paper, leaving exposed construction paper on both sides of the bag. I wanted a bit of an overhang for the roof, and this oughta do it. Sorry it's not exact. You can measure it if you really want to! I just really like wingin it when I'm figuring stuff out. 

That's way too much for a roof, so I folded it in half and had enough to make 2! 

Cut along the fold line (this would all be much faster and accurate with a paper cutter, but we were sick girls at home with nothing but scissors, so.....yeah, we did it the old fashioned way). 

Fold your roof paper in half and set it aside! You're ready for the next big step! My son wants to be a photographer and is learning about focusing. My apologies for the blurred images! Artist in training!

Use a pencil to draw your design. Pencils are great, especially mechanical ones. I love them. If you mess up you can erase it like it never happened, just draw lightly at first. 

I wanted the houses to be short, quaint, adorable, and none of the items that were going inside were large, so when drawing designs I made sure the top of the door stopped at the main fold along the bottom part of the bag. I added a few decorative doodly bits just above that for fancy whimsy. Keep it simple, especially if little ones are helping.

Paint it any way you like! We improvised a bunch! I gave my daughter mostly seasonal holiday colors, but she enjoyed mixing up her own, excitedly telling me all about each new color creation. She made each bag different for each of her pals. 

Before it dries, add some ultra fine glitter! It makes everything look sugary, like a real gingerbread house, and adds some magical whimsy. I'm all about whimsy. And glitter. Lots of glitter! 

Set it aside to dry. You don't want this paint on your clothes, it'll never come out. While you're waiting for the bag to dry you can paint another bag, go whip up a real gingerbread house, or play in the snow. Just don't do chores, it'll ruin your mood for happy holiday stuff. There'll be plenty of time for that kinda thing later. 

When it's finally dry, it's time to stuff it! If you're putting tiny gifts inside, have them ready to go. For this example we used newspaper. It wasn't as heavy as the tiny gifts for the goody bags so the shape wasn't as nice, but it'll do!

It doesn't really matter how many times you fold it down, just make sure the edges along the bottom "house" part of the bag are structurally sound. If they're squished or dented, tidy it up. 

This is folded down twice! Three times would work too! You're going to staple through it later, so don't go too crazy with the folding. 

Find your folded roof paper from earlier and place it over the fold of your bag. 

Hold it in place, making sure that the fold of your bag is tucked securely inside the fold of the roof. 

Staple the roof to your folded bag! Once on each side should do!

If the contents of the bag don't allow your roof to lay nicely just make a couple of tape donuts to hold it down. 

Almost finished! Just a little more painting and glitter to go!

Paint the roof! Make it fancy! I ran out of white paint so I opted for an icy light blue.  

We sprinkled the ultra fine glitter from earlier on the main part of the roof and added extra big glitter to the very top. Look at that shimmer and shine!

Let the roof dry and you're finished! It's really that easy! My husband is a font drawing master, so he wrote out the names of the party kids on the backs of the bags with a broad line crayola marker. Since the front is what you want folks to see I'm not worried about painting the back or doing anything more with it, but feel free to fancy it up! Share your ideas, I'm always looking for ways to change things up!

Clay Ornaments

A few years ago, when our ceramics program was just getting started, the mayor of our small town decided that the town should have a community tree for all to enjoy. He's always looking for ways to bring people together for the good of the town, to create a stronger sense of community, and to welcome those passing through. He asked that each student in our elementary school make an ornament for this community tree, and we set to work! 

Making something out of clay is pretty special, but to give away the very first thing you make is difficult. So students made TWO! One to keep and one to give. Making two ornaments with every student in the school was a huge task, lots of time, lots of prep, lots of sorting! Nowadays only kindergartners make ornaments to contribute to the tree, the new ornaments are added to the collection of previous ornaments, and everybody wins! Each year students of all ages enjoy searching the community tree for their ornament!

Until this year, each slab was rolled using a rolling pin. They're for pies. Imagine rolling slabs for a class of 18-22 kindergartners. Frazzled. Noodle arms. It felt like it took forever, and they weren't always even. This year we have a beautiful, efficient, shiny new slab roller to make the job of prepping clay a breeze! A dream even! Ok, it still takes time, but not nearly as much as it used to and I LOVE IT!

Before the kiddos arrive to art for ornament makin' I have the slabs ready to go on canvas boards (they keep the clay from sticking to the tabletops and makes projects like this a whole lot more tidy), tabletop containers with a variety of things in them to make textures (marker caps, Popsicle sticks, funky pasta noodles, and anything else that will leave neat-o looking dents in clay), plastic wrap over each slab (prevents the clay from sticking to the cookie cutters), and a box of miscellaneous cookie cutters to choose from. In years past I've had students choose a cookie cutter for their two ornaments, taking turns using popular ones like hearts and boots, but little hands really struggle pushing the cookie cutters through the clay. Making my rounds to help each child with the cookie cutters gets a little crazy, so this year I tried something new! That new slab roller inspired all kinds of new! I had art helpers punch out circular clay cookies from the slabs and skipped that part with the kindergartners. It was much more time efficient and way less frustrating for the kids (and me!).  

As students finished up, I visited their work area to write their names and class sections on the back. Then I used a plastic straw to poke a hole in the top so the ornaments could be strung or hooked. When the plastic straw gets too clogged, I simply cut that section off and keep poking along!

I left the labeled and poked ornaments on a canvas board in the middle of the table, out of the way of free art activities for finishers, and continued labeling and poking ornaments at each table until all were ready to dry!

I can usually finish labeling and poking the ornaments before their class ends. With just a few short minutes before my next class, I quickly removed the ornaments from the canvas boards at each table and place them in borrowed soda bottle trays. 

They stack well in the cabinets they're stored in, allow air all around them so the ornaments dry evenly, they have sturdy handles, and make it easy to sort them into classes when removed from the kiln!

When the ornaments are finally dry enough they're loaded into the kiln. They're fired (temps are incredibly HOT!), cooled (for at least a day), unloaded (carefully), and sorted to glaze. This part is confusing for kiddos. Glaze is like painting, but the colors are mostly pastel and sometimes kinda dull when poured straight from the jar. They get darker, brighter, richer, and change SO MUCH after being fired again! What looks like light purple in the glaze tray actually turns into a gorgeous dark blue! They don't think it makes any sense, but they're always delighted by the surprise colors!

I demo how to glaze before they try it out. There's a lot to know! We talk about putting frosting on cookies. Where does it go? Usually the top! That's where we need our glaze to be. We talked about filling in the nooks n crannies, how to create patterns, how to layer colors. They needed three coats of glaze (otherwise it's not shiny and bright) and could choose any colors they wanted, and they LOVE that part! They're focused, thoughtful, and enjoy telling you about their choices.

The first layer of glaze soaks in pretty quickly, the next takes a bit longer to dry, and the last can take awhile. 

Opening the kiln after they've been glaze fired is SO EXCITING! It's A-MAZING how much the colors change! The kids are always so excited, so proud, and so careful when they see their finished work!

They're truly lovely when finished! Some students need a few minutes to choose which ornament to keep and which to give, others know right away which one is going home with them that day. After they choose, they decorate a piece of sturdy rolled paper to wrap it up in.

I wrap them carefully, tape them, Sharpie their name to the tape and a paper bag, place it in the bag, and staple it shut! They're safer, and the stapled bag helps prevent them from sharing their treasure on the bus, avoiding sad accidental breaks. 

The donated ornaments are delivered to one of the mayors many volunteers. She makes sure they're cleaned, strung, and helps a group of folks decorate the community tree!

This year my family was asked to light the tree at their ceremony. FUN! We were early, so we went for a little walk up the street to visit shops and passed this super cool n happy door handle that I wish I had on a door of my own! 

We lit the tree! We danced to Christmas tunes, sang Christmas carols, and the mayor even read a story!

We are already looking forward to next year!

Coil Pots

It doesn't matter how old or young students are, they all seem to really love clay. When they walk into the art room and see it set up for ceramic exploration you hear "YESSSS!", "YAY!", and "WHAT ARE WE MAKING?!" They can't wait to find out when they get to take it home, even before anything has been made! Yes, clay projects truly are that exciting!

Our super lucky 4th graders recently explored coil pots! This was a first, both for them and for me. I'm not the best coil maker in the universe, and I've never taught a class how to make a coil pot. I tend to plan one day ceramic projects because keeping them moist enough to continue working on days later is tough to do in my space. I was a little concerned about how much we could accomplish in a 40 minute class, but they really rocked it!

Before students arrived, I used my brand new handy dandy slab roller (it's so awesome and saves so much time prepping clay!!!!) to prep bases for the coil pots. Art helpers punched out circular discs using plastic Wilton cookie cutters. 4 "clay cookies" were placed on the top of a stack of 4 canvas boards (one for each student at each table in the room). I prepped tabletop trashcans with clay tools for scoring and water dishes to share with elbow partners. 

We viewed and discussed various examples of coil pots, looking for ideas. After a quick demo of how to make a coil, how to score and slip it to build upwards from the slab base, and how to sign the bottom, it was time for the 4th graders to dive in! They couldn't wait to get started!

Some chose to build straight up using coils, attempting to make their coil pot as tall as possible. 

Some made tiny coil swirls to sit upright atop the larger coils as they built upward. 

Others made beads of clay to add to their mix of coils for an extra bit of fancy!

We waited for them to dry on the clay cart for a few days. Any moisture in the clay could cause them to explode in the kiln, so we tried to be patient. Students are typically pretty proud of clay projects. They're treasured and students save them forever!

A retiring teacher gifted me this old media cart a few years ago, which has been absolutely perfect for storing glaze! I arrange them like soup cans on a store shelf. Glazes are easy to find and return to their spots, I can wheel it anywhere I need it to be, students can walk around it. It's pretty sweet. Opened containers have a sharpie "O" on the top so students know which are ready to use and which are not. If they want to know what a glaze looks like after firing (because they're mostly pastel and boring straight from the jar) there are glazed tile examples hanging from the side that are labeled so they can find the colors of their dreams!

Since brushes aren't always rinsed as well as they should be, we pour tiny amounts of glaze into glaze/paint dishes. This way the glazes in the jars aren't contaminated by other colors from dirty brushes. 

Students worked to glaze their pots, filling in all of the nooks and crannies.

They needed 3 layers of glaze for rich color and glossy shine.

Some used one color for the entire pot, while others really mixed it up by trying several. They're all so different!

I absolutely love opening the kiln after a glaze firing. I love the color and the tings and crackles of cooling ceramics. After cooling for a day, I removed them and put the coil pots in the hall display. 

Students and teachers have stopped to admire their work, and the kids can't wait to take them home! I've promised to return them before Christmas break!

Older students have asked who made them, can they make them too? We will definitely be exploring coil pots again soon!