SMMART Time-out:

Summer Activity Calendar

If I don't write it down and plan it, there's no guarantee it will be accomplished in my world...even then, it may not happen.  I am hopeful, though...and so I have written down one fun activity each weekday of summer to share together.

Grab an empty calendar and start jotting down ideas.  I think that I may skip around if I don't have something on hand, or just feel like doing a different activity and I'll highlight an activity when we've shared it, so I can easily see the activities that are left.

-Build a tower out of marshmallows and toothpicks
-Play store with a purse full of coins to practice adding money
-Break out the home-made sewing kits the girls received for Christmas
-Make pop-up books
-Papier mache
-Food color diffusion
-Expand marshmallows in the microwave
-Journal, journal, journal...
-Bake something fun each week together
-Color salt with chalk and make sand art
-"All about me day" (Look at baby books, watch home videos, photo album)
-Expand Ivory soap in the microwave...

Note to self...be sure to explore new playgrounds, splash at the pool, and go on plenty of walks in the cooler mornings.

Blogger Nominations

  These blogs are some of my favorites.  As a nominated blog, they should now nominate 15 more of their favorite blogs.  I gotta say, it's nice to be loved.  So here comes some more love...

 Awesome Blogs that are deserving of the Versitile Blogger Award!

1. http://theteachingstudio.blogspot.com/  Two piano teachers who share their tips, tricks and love of teaching

2. http://deceptivelyeducational.blogspot.com/ Fun ideas to sneak in learning. Great printables.

3. http://www.artprojectsforkids.org/ Great ideas to share art with different mediums and artist techniques

4. http://www.thislittleproject.com/ Lots of ideas for mommydom.  "Friday Favorites and Freebies" is always fun.

5. http://science-at-home.org/ Australian Science blog exploring science at home

6. http://teachkidsart.blogspot.com/ Creative art ideas

7. http://familyvolley.blogspot.com/ Great insight into being a wife, mother, and good person
8. http://www.babywisemom.com/ Anyone else love the Babywise series? Here are some insights into living it
9. http://ohhappyday.com/ Love the pictures, fun home ideas, printables, American in Paris
10. http://kitchenpantryscientist.com/  An artist, a scientist, a mom... sharing fun science projects to do at home
11. http://learninghypothesis.blogspot.com Question. Discover. Grow.  Downhome learning!
12. http://familylicious.com/  10 years of preschool experience and home-grown learning experiences.
13. http://www.dillydaliart.com/  An interior designer/architectural designer  turned art mom with lots of fun ideas.
14. http://theeducatorsspinonit.blogspot.com/  Two teachers, now stay-at-home moms with some GREAT ideas to keep your little ones learning at home.
15. http://www.cometogetherkids.com/  A mom with darling ideas on how to share time and activities with your kids.

SMMART SUMMER FUN

(Local to SLC):

 Farmer's Market

Did you see my list of fieldtrips from summers past and to experience this summer?  A few more that I forgot to mention:

Rockstar Pets- I called up a local pet store and they are going to meet us at an outside pavillion in our neighborhood to show us some reptiles, rabbits and other store pets.
Benson Grist Mill "Fun at the Mill"  A historic mill is hosting a fun-filled day of games for the community.
Tooele Fire Museum- Free tour of the museum and the kids get firehats and can climb on a few real firetrucks!

Another adventure I am excited to try that I just found out about is the Farmer's Market at Wheeler Farm and Gardner Village in SLC. 

Breakfast at the Farm: Farm-Fresh Breakfast served every market day! (Proceeds benefit the Wasatch Front Farmers' Market)

Breakfast at the Farm Special: Large Pancake, French Toast, or Scone served with one egg and two maple-sage sausages, juice or milk….$5.00

Mini-Farmer Breakfast: Small Pancake, French Toast, or Scone served with egg, one sausage, juice or milk…..$3.00

There is an animal barrel train for $2.00/ride.  Vendors set the pricing for pony rides, a petting zoo, face painting, and more! Sounds like a summer morning of fun!

 

Saturdays at Gardner Village Market

1100 West 7800 South, West Jordan

Hours: 9am-2pm

 

Sundays at Wheeler Farm

6351 South 900 East, Salt Lake City

Hours: 9am-2pm

SMMART Time-Out: 

Picnik

I was just thinking that I should share the sites I learned about to help you edit your photos.  Did any of you use Picnik?  Like me, you are probably FREAKING OUT!!!! that Picnik is no longer available!

When the site closed, I was searching for other options and found a post on google+.  I haven't tried all the sites, but have found www.fotoflexer.com to be GREAT!  I just did a  cute invitation for my daughter's birthday party with fotoflexer and found the software intuitive and it got the job done! 

Here you go...Happy editing!

PicMonkey (http://www.picmonkey.com/)
The world's friendliest photo editor got a chance to start again. If you loved Picnik, PicMonkey is back in town and better than ever. It's faster, more powerful, and easier to use.

iPiccy (http://ipiccy.com/)
iPiccy makes your photo awesome with many easy to use photo tools. Edit pictures, apply beautiful photo effects, add text and even paint! Enjoy free photo editing online and show your creativity with iPiccy editor!

BeFunky (http://www.befunky.com/)
BeFunky Photo Effects allow everyday people to easily create photographically rich and artistic results from their digital images without the need for any technical knowledge. These “one-click” photo effect options produce desired results effortlessly and each effect comes with the option to make simple adjustments.

FunPhotoBox (http://funphotobox.com/)
The FunPhotoBox site is a place where you can create funny pictures from your photos. FunPhotoBox is a free photo editing online service. FunPhotoBox allows you to add special effects to your photos.

PicArtia ( http://beta.picartia.com/)
Create photo mosaic Online and Free! A powerful photo collage maker in 3 easy steps. Get your photo montage in less than 2 minutes!

Photo 505 (http://www.photo505.com/)
Huge collection of photo templates, which will keep You busy for quite a while.

Loonapix ( http://www.loonapix.com/)
In a few words – Loonapix is going to beautify your life. A lot more photo templates.

Funny Photo (http://funny.pho.to/)
Even more photo templates – just upload Your images and choose one of funny effects available!

Dumpr ( http://www.dumpr.net/)
While not all of templates are free, still there are enough to choose from.

WriteOnIt (http://www.writeonit.org/)
Here you can easily create your fake pictures, captions and fake magazines (Wired, Playboy, Playgirl, Glamour, Time) and other funny jokes for you and your friends.

MagMyPic ( http://www.magmypic.com/)
There are 30 different magazines to choose from for now. You can select any of them and make an impressive, unique, custom fake magazine with ease and Your own picture – it’s simple as that!

Hollywood Hair Virtual Makeover(http://www.instyle.com/instyle/makeover/)
Try on the hottest celebrity hair and makeup looks!

Hairmixer (http://makeovr.com/hairmixer/ )
Lovely tool and it does exatcly what it says.

BigHugeLabs Flickr (http://bighugelabs.com/)
Have fun with Your photos, a lot of photo editing tools available here, You don’t need any knowledge of professional photo editing programs.

FaceInHole (http://www.faceinhole.com/us/)
With FACEinHOLE you can easily and in a matter of seconds create a totally “new look” for you and your friends. You just have to select a scenario, upload and adjust a photo (or use your webcam) and there you have it; a great FACEinHOLE that you can send to your friends, post in your blog or make available to the world.

Personalized money (http://www.festisite.com/money/)
Create your own personalized money bill with Your own picther with just a click of a mouse button.

Fake Magazine Cover ( http://www.fakemagazinecover.com/)
Here you can personalize magazine covers online (no software applications to install, just use your web browser) by uploading digital photos you have on your computer.

FotoTrix – Image Generator ( http://www.fototrix.com/)
Upload a digital photo to add fun effects and novelty layouts. FotoTrix have over 2,500 templates for your digital photographs! Make it look like you had your photograph taken with a celebrity or add some goofy props to spice up your photos.

JpgFun ( http://jpgfun.com/)
Jpgfun is an easy-to-use free online service to edit Your photos! You can improve Your photo with different interesting and funny effects or put Your photo on a magazine cover. Mention that it is ABSOLUTELY FREE and easy as one, two, three! One more photo template resource.

Photovisi (http://www.photovisi.com/)
Choose from 18 photo templates and create collages from Your photos as wallpapers and more.

PixiSnap (http://www.pixisnap.com/ )
Pixisnap allows you to create your own pixisnap photos in 3 easy steps: choose a mosaic type, upload your photo and customize your mosaic art.

Pizap (http://www.pizap.com/pizap.php?width=1920 )
Pizap is a fun free photo editor that lets people easily create wacky images with their digital pictures. PiZap was created as a tool primarily for social networking users who want to post their images to their favorite social networking sites

PhotoFunia ( http://photofunia.com/)
PhotoFunia is an online photo editing tool that gives you a fun filled experience. You upload any photo and just wait to see the magic. Our proprietary technology automatically identifies the face in the photo and let’s you add cool photo effects and create funny face photo montages.

Pixlr ( http://pixlr.com/)
Pixlr offers Pixlr express for basic editing like cropping and re-sizing, adjustments, and photo effects. The full version includes a lot more functionality that allows you to create an item from scratch or edit an existing photo. The full version works similar to Photoshop or GIMP with a lot of different tools that can be used.

Pixenate (http://pixenate.com/)
Get started with Pixenate by uploading a photo, entering a URL, or get one from your favorite photo sharing website. It includes basic editing features like cropping and re-sizing, brightness adjustments, and drawing lines on photos.

Dr. Pic ( http://www.drpic.com/)
Dr. Pic allows you to get started by uploading an image or entering a URL. It includes basic functionality like cropping and re-sizing, brightness and contrast adjustments, sharpen, adding text, and a little more.

Lunapic (http://www.lunapic.com/editor/)
Lunapic is a feature-rich online image editor. You can work with existing photos or create new images. There are tons of effects to choose from, and many adjustments that can be made, plus drawing tools, anitmation, and more.

Phixr (http://www.phixr.com/photo/userindex)
You can start using Phixr by uploading a photo from your computer or by entering the URL of an image, or pull it from a photo sharing site. You can do basic things like crop or re-size, or use the other options like red eye removal, camera and lense effects, blur, and more.

FotoFlexer (http://fotoflexer.com/)
FotoFlexer is the world's most advanced online digital photo editor. It performs advanced effects previously only available to professionals using expensive software

Pho.to ( http://editor.pho.to/)
With Pho.to you will upload a photo from your computer or enter a URL for the photo. It offers options like cropping and re-sizing, color enhancement, and several artistic effects. You can also automatically create a caricature from a photo.

Pixer.us ( http://pixer.us/)
Pixer.us allows you to upload a photo from your computer, and perform basic editing and touch ups. You can crop and re-size, plus adjust things like brightness and contrast, saturation, sharpness and more.

FreeOnlinePhotoEditor (http://freeonlinephotoeditor.com/)
Edit or adapt your Photo or Image Online in your browser for free. Upload your picture or photo or use an URL of an image on the Internet.

SMMART ART:

Robert Delaunay

"The French painter Robert Delaunay began his artistic career as an apprentice to a stage designer in 1902. In 1904, he turned to painting, initially in the style of Impressionism, but soon moved away from more traditional practices in order to explore the abstract qualities of colour. By 1905 he was painting in large patches of bright colour in the manner of the Fauves. During the period 1908-10, he made his own contribution to Analytical Cubism by producing Cubist-style works with vivid colours instead of the fashionable browns and greys of Picasso (1881-1973) and Braque (1882-1963). His subjects also differed: he chose dynamic urban imagery rather than the more conventional but static still-life forms. This is exemplified in his series of pictures of the Eiffel Tower, such as The Eiffel Tower and The Red Tower (1912).

 Delaunay's style at this time featured loosely painted patches of rainbow colours laid out in overlapping planes of contrasting or complementary hues, which the art critic Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) interpreted as having a 'musical effect' and dubbed it Orphism or Orphic Cubism. (Orpheus was a mythological musician of ancient Greece.)" (www.visual-arts-cork.com)

"Aprons on" for our formal art class... in the style of Robert Delaunay's Orphism.  We tried some different techniques.    The first technique aimed to replicate his "The Eiffel Tower".

Each child was given a half piece of poster paper.  Then they were told to lay a smaller piece of paper on the posterboard and paint a building so that only half of the building showed up on the posterboard.  The smaller paper helped to create a stark line of nothingness and only half the building.  Then the artist continued to paint the other half of the building on the posterboard, but so it didn't quite line up.   Some children painted buildings, others painted half-shapes and half-objects.  This is how we attempted Robert Delaunay's Orphism technique. 

After the posterboard painting was dry, we went outside and laid cut out shapes on top of the pictures.  Some shapes were cut from cardstock and some were cut from shelf liner (it has teeny holes- you can pick up a roll at the dollar store).  We spray painted black on top of the shapes that were laying on top of the artwork.  When the shapes were removed, there were patches of black, spotted black from the shelf liner, and patches of white where the original artwork showed through.

My favorite piece of artwork was of Rapunzel's Tower.  Half of the posterboard was left blank and the shelf-liner paper was placed in the blank area.  The end result showed Rapunzel's tower with  lanterns floating in the night sky.  Very creative!