Magnetic Words For Your Magnetic Personality



Image via Magnetic Poetry

I'm sure you've seen these great little Magnetic Poetry kits. Click here for their website- they have so many fun looking kits. Magnetic Poetry for every mood or interest and it is a fun, low stress way to express ourselves and share our thoughts. Maybe you also noticed that with the exception of the Really Big Words kit for kids, the magnetic word strips in the kits are incredibly small, as in .375" high. What, how much is that? More than a quarter, less than half an inch. That's the magnet, not the type print. The strips are hard to read and could be hard to handle for some folks (I'm talking to you, Arthur Itis).  The magnetic strips in the Really Big Words kit are 1.5" high and that's a more do-able size. Most kits have at least 200 words, the Really Big Words kit has 100.

Well, we're a clever bunch of folks, so let's make magnetic poetry kits specially designed for youngsters, oldsters, and anyone else totally frustrated by the teensy-weensy things of life. These are not necessarily cheaper- most of the Official Magnetic Poetry kits run $11 to $20 plus shipping and handling if you have to order. I bought the Magnet Sheets at Office Depot for $5.97 per package. There are three sheets in each package. So you might break even by making your own, depending on how many sheets you print. However-- I have included a blank template so that you can make sheets personalized to your own needs.

You will need:

As mentioned, I got the Magnetic Sheets at Office Depot and my local Wal-Mart has them as well. If, for some crazy reason, you cannot find them, here are some online resources to try. I have not done business with any of these places and will not vouch for them- just sending you to some sites where you can purchase magnetic sheets if needed.

Custom Magnets

The Magnet Source

All Magnets Inc.


A note- Scissors are lovely to use to cut the words apart but a paper cutter or metal ruler and Exacto knife work well also.

Download the word templates for this project and save them to your computer.

Blank Template- Use this template to print customized word lists: business name, town/state, family and friend's names, local landmarks, favorite activities, leisure and hobbies, whatever you can think of or need.

I have also developed six word sheet templates that you can download for free (!) I developed these templates based upon three things:

• A word list for the Magnetic Poetry that I found on Amazon.
• A list of the most commonly used words in the English language that I found here.
• Life and interests in a long-term care setting, because that is the audience for whom I originally developed this project.



It's kind of hard to see in this photo but the sheet on the far right is the blank template.
It has light gray lines as a guide when you open it in Word and these lines
also serve, on all the templates, as cutting lines.



Click on each template title below to go to the download. I hope to get these all together in one file so that you won't have to click each individual one but I'm still figuring out the publisher (or the publisher is still figuring me out, whichever). Please let me know right away if you can't get the links to open and I'll email them to you.

Magnetic Poetry- Sheet One
Magnetic Poetry- Sheet Two
Magnetic Poetry- Sheet Three
Magnetic Poetry- Sheet Four
Magnetic Poetry- Sheet Five
Magnetic Poetry- Sheet Six

I have an HP printer and set my Printing Properties to "Automatic" for paper type and "Fast Normal" for print quality. No need to use any of the "fancy" paper types- I did a few test runs and there's not much difference from one paper type to the next. However, my printer has Fast Draft, Fast Normal, Normal, and Best quality settings. Because ink is so expensive I usually print in the lowest quality setting that I can get away with. Sometimes, however, it's better to go up a level and this is one of those times. If you look closely at the photo below, you'll see that the page on the far right is not as dark as the others. That one was printed with Fast Draft, the other two with Fast Normal and Normal. So go with Fast Normal or a comparable setting on your printer. We want these to be dark enough to be easily seen and to last through being handled.

Also- these sheets are for Inkjet printers only. Avery has a printing tips for their magnetic sheets- click here.



So now that you have your sheets cut out, start by cutting along the gray horizontal cutting lines.

Then cut out each word. This takes a bit of time, but isn't that why we have teenage kids or commercial breaks during Doctor Who? (And just what is up with that Series 7 Season Finale anyway! Oh, we have theories.....)

I like to just slap these words up and let folks go at it on their own. You can use one of those white dry-erase boards on an easel but you definitely want to check it before you start printing and cutting because not all of them will hold a magnet. And folks can write in words that you might not have on a dry-erase board, though that sort of ruins the challenge of it. Metal fire doors that stay shut (without alot of traffic) are a good place to put these or paint a wall or large piece of luan board with magnetic paint. Of course there's always a refrigerator.

I bought this pencil box at Wal-Mart today for 57 cents to keep the words in when not in use.

I originally developed this project to use in long-term care settings a couple of  a years ago and part of the idea was that it is a portable activity. In the past two years, however, there has been an explosion of online possibilities and iPads are so much more prevelant, so here are some links to online "magnetic" poetry sites.

Magnetic Poetry Online
Shocked Poetry
World Village

I noticed as I previewed this post that it is almost exclusively black, white, and gray. Not very exciting and definitely not my style so how about a beautiful picture to liven things up, just for fun?



  

Photo by Allen Hsu via Flickr

And for today's butterfly picture, how about this lovely that my sister crossed-stitched for me years ago---

When I say that she made this for me "years ago" mean 1978. Maybe I've shared this here before but it had to be stored in my parents' garage for a while and suffered some water stains but I don't want to take it out of the frame because of the lovely note in her handwriting on the back. I do think I've shared that before but this is one of my favorite butterflies in the world.

OK- thanks for flittering by today. I know my posting has been sporatic, to put it mildly, but life has gotten busy so I'll post when I can and ask you to keep visiting. Thanks so much.

Have a great day!

A New Butterfly Friend- Rice Paper Butterfly



Image by Per Erik Standberg via WikiMedia

Well, it's been some time since I've posted and even longer since we've met a new butterfly. I alluded to the butterfly at the end of my last post so here it is. Today, meet the Rice Paper Butterfly, also known as the Paper Kite, the Wood Nymph, or the Large Tree Nymph butterfly. This one is a simple and elegant butterfly, marked by it's slow, gracefully floppy flight. It's size and slow flight make it a popular attraction at butterfly conservatories the world over, though the Paper Kite originates in Southeast Asia. A member of the subfamily Danainae, Paper Kites are considered to be distasteful to prey because of the host plants it feeds on, just like it's subfamily cousin the Monarchs which feed on milkweed. I've always heard that the yucky tasting butterflies can get away with a slow flight and the yummy ones have to flitter and dart about to avoid being captured.

I found this video on YouTube that gives us a look at the lovely movements of the Rice Paper butterfly. The video was posted by Weiße Baumnymphen.

Because of the Paper Kite's distinctive wing pattern, she is popular not just an a striking addition to butterfly conservatories but also to artists. OK, I use the term "artist" loosely when applied to myself- I'm more of a "goofing-around" type. At any rate, here's my latest paper cutting adventure:

I cut the butterfly first, from a heavy black paper, and then sprayed it with a light coat of black laquer to strengthen and stabilize it.

The I cut a piece of white glitter paper to fit exactly under the wings and used a light stain of watercolor to give the wings their yellow color at the junction with the body. I framed our gal by layering first a white background, then the glitter paper, than a layer of clear acrylic. I put the cut out wings on top of the acrylic then covered with glass and it all went into a simple frame.

I have decided that I need to make another one, sort of a positive-negative thing, after I saw how the wings looked before cutting them away from the black paper.

But that's a project for another day.

Hey thanks for visiting the jungle today. I'm looking forward to spring and healing things but right now I'm off to shovel snow.

Let It Snow!

This is my office door. Even though is was easy-peasy drawing that bear, it was great fun. Just sittin' on a snow bank, blowin' bubbles snowflakes. And you thought snow came from the clouds.... silly butterflies. Cutting out snowflakes is one of those things we all do as a kid and then one day, when we're all grown up and want to cut them out, we can't remember how to fold the paper! Fear not- help is on the way. Martha Stewart has a nice resource for folding, as does Snowflakes Info.

However, I think this is the easiest way to fold your snowflake paper. Folding this way gives you the marks for folding the paper into thirds. I'm sorry, I don't remember where I first learned to fold this way so I don't have a link. Just copy/paste/print the image below.

Sorry it got kind of crowded at the bottom of that page but I hope you can make sense of it.

OK, now---- stop back in tomorrow and I'll show you something very special that you can do with all of those snowflakes that you cut. It would be a great activity to share with your kids. In the mean time, thanks so very much for visiting today.

A Bit of Paper For Zippy

Just wanted to share a bit of paper play cutting that I did for my Zippy-Gal. It's not very fancy or complicated but it sure was fun to try. My Zippy-Kid is not really a flowers kind of girl so I'll probably do something more in step with her tastes, such as a Tardis, Minecraft, or tree-climbing theme.

I used water color to paint a tie-dye looking effect and then cut from that sheet of paper. Originally, the letters were just cut out but they didn't stand out enough to actually read readily so I highlighted the letters with a copic marker. Not perfect, as you can see, but huge fun to work on. It sort of has an antique-Bohemian look to it, I think.

I think it looks nice on the mantel with my husband's stick figure drawing of us he made soon after we married. We had bought a 30-acre parcel of land and we laughingly called ourselves the Land Baron and Baroness.

Speaking of paper cutting, how about my Zippy's little bit of work?

This "mask", as we call it, was a third grade art lesson in symmetry. We had just re-done her bedroom in a jungle theme and the mask seemed to fit so into a frame it went and there it is. With the Tardis. And Ten. And a Ood.

Today's butterfly is .....

Source

....the Rice Paper Butterfly, also called the Paper Kite, Wood Nymph, or Large Tree Nymph. It is native to Southeast Asia and lives in wet, evergreen forests flying high in the canopy or in tall forests near rivers in dryer zones. Just look at that striking pattern. Hmmm..... my paper cutting knife is getting some ideas.

Short and sweet today- just sharing a bit of what I've been fooling around with. It's about time to get on to some holiday festivities, isn't it? Thanks for visiting and please do pop back in again. October's birth flower is up next.

Paper Cutting, Butterflies, and Babies

One of my nieces recently had a baby girl and she had the good sense to decorate the baby's nursery with a butterfly theme. Obviously my niece is not only a wonderful person but she has excellent taste as well. A fine young lady. Anyway, I knew immediately what I wanted to do for her and the baby.

The blurred part has the baby's name cut out as well. I have made it a general policy not to use the real names of my family, friends, or loved ones here in the Jungle (and it's kind of fun making up nicknames for them- we'll call this baby Happy, because she's full of smiles). Even though only minor detective work will lead to my real name there are reasons that the in-laws (as well as Zippy and some others) might not be so easy to track down. I want it that way. I'm not calling out my butterfly visitors as untrustworthy, but the Internet is the cyber wild west and I want to keep my loved ones safe, especially the kids, because one just never knows. Any way.....

I used a shadow box that I got at Michaels, the one with the adjustable depth, and cut two layers of butterflies (three if you count the very back). It was great huge fun! Want to see?

I drew out and cut the original design first and then transferred it, upside down, to the back of the colored scrapbook paper.

Then it was simply a matter of layering the butterflies in the frame, using the different depth options. I used little 3D buttons on the white butterfly to raise it up from the background. The green butterfly is placed on top of the highest layer and is against the glass.

I used a tiny little hole punch that I found at the Dollar Tree to punch little butterflies out of a monochromatically colored pience of scrapbook paper and sprinkled them here and there.

And that's all there was to it! But oh so much fun. I'm guessing there are more kinds of this project in my future. I would love to do one for my Zippy-Gal but she's not a sweet little butterfly sort of kid. Maybe Minecraft, Doctor Who, or her dog. Hmmm...

To wrap up today, we'll do a bit of butterfly archeology. Fossils of butterflies are rare with the earliest butterfly fossils from the early Cretaceous period, about 130 million years ago. The extinct prodryas Persephone butterfly is the oldest known butterfly, discovered at Lake Florissant, Colorado. It is the first fossilized butterfly found in North America. Though about 40 million years old and known from only a single specimen, it is one of a dozen species of butterfly found at the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument in Colorado, run by the National Park Service, and is certainly the finest fossilized specimen in the park. In additon to the colors and patterns, the wing venation is beautifully preserved. It is even possible to see individual scales on areas of the forewing. Its name, Persephone, is that of the daughter of Zeus.

Source

So there you go, my precious butterfly visitors. Thanks for checking in today.



Terra Cotta Drink Coasters, Again

I mentioned in my last post, the drink coasters made from clay saucers, that I had made the coasters without painting them. I finally found the photos (three cameras, each one usually has a portion of each post) so here it is...



This saucer is smaller, about 3 inches, and has a shallow, wider slope than the other saucers I had. I just glued a scrapbook paper insert in the middle, outlined the insert with a Sharpie pen, and sealed the whole thing with the same polycrylic I used on the coasters. Just a reminder to check the depth of the saucers against what you'll be using them for. I have some saucers that have rather deep sides and for most coffee mugs, they are too deep because the handle on the mug hits the sides of the saucer and the mug doesn't sit totally flat on the saucer.

And there it is- a little ring dish to keep by the sink, because as we learned in our birthstone posts, it's generally best to remove your rings when doing anything other than sitting around looking fabulous in your jewels.

OK- that's it for today. Keep checking in at the jungle because I have a very special post coming up to share with y'all. I'm so excited! I'll give you a hint: ethnic needlework and a loved one.

Learning our ABC's with today's butterfly picture:

Image via Butterfly Alphabet.
At this site you can order custom names, saying, or symbols using images from butterfly wings. So cool!

See ya next time.

Here, Put This Under Your Glass

I wish wish wish I could remember the website where I first saw this idea: the name is almost on the tip of my tongue and I'll know it when I hear it so if this is yours, let me know and I'll give you all the credit. This is such a great little craft and I've done this several times for Craft Night with my patients at work. It's always a hit, mainly because the materials used are so unexpected. Plus, it's glorious how inexpensive these are to make.

We've had this old pair of coasters for a few years now and they were holding up pretty well. Until, that is, someone took a fancy to them. I'm not naming any names ...

... but apparently someone who is otherwise fairly clumsy can manage to get up on the table in order to help herself to something to chew on. So if the scratch marks all over the table top fit the foot .....



Huh? What?



Anyway, you'll need:

• 4-inch terra cotta trays. We usually make a set of four during Craft Night but however many you need. Usually way under a dollar each.
• Scrapbook paper, or even magazine pictures, old cards, etc. You could even use photographs (but don't use the originals for Pete's sake).
• Gesso (optional, maybe)
• Paint- I use plain old acrylic craft paint.
• Felt
• Glue stick
• Scissors
• Paint brush
• Polycrylic- more on that when we get to that step.

Yup, that's right, the saucers meant to catch the water from your clay pots. As coasters. Genius! Wish I had thought of it.

OK- the first thing you want to do is paint the saucers with gesso. This is possibly an optional step but sometimes the saucers will soak up tons of paint. If you want more of a "stained" look, like when you see wood grain, it might work OK for you not to use the gesso. I've made these without painting teh saucers at all and they can be nice (you do still want to seal them) but the gesso will make the paint color more opaque. Paint one side first, let it dry, flip it over and do the other side. I usually start with the bottom but there's no actual reason for that.

Once the gesso is dry, paint the saucer with the paint. I used a silver metallic for these coasters. Paint the bottom first and let it dry very well before turning it over to do the inside. Sometimes the paint will goop up along the edge from laying on the table surface (I use waxed paper over the table). If you do the bottom first you can use a nail file to gently even out any thick areas before proceeding.

I painted the inside with two coats since this will be the visible side, making sure to dry well in between coats.

While the paint is drying, cut out circles from your paper, magazines, photos, whatever to go on the inside. For a 4-inch saucer, I use a wide mouth canning jar lid as the template. It has just a bit larger diameter but that lets the edges of the paper go up the sides of the saucer just a bit. Keep in mind that some saucers barely curve up, some have a relatively deep side, so you'll just need to play around with this part to get what you want. I get my saucers at Lowes because they have the shape I like.

I drew out a butterfly template and cut out some little blue fellas to go inside the saucer.

OK- once the paint is dry, use the glue stick to glue down the paper inside the saucer. I like to do this as a separate step instead of with the Polycrylic so that I can smooth out the paper and get rid of any wrinkles or bubbles. Next, glue down the butterflies or whatever you might want to add to the saucer.

I use this Polycrylic product from Minwax to seal the coasters. I found this after searching for something I could use inside with my patients that is low-odor, water clean up, but water resistance once dry. This babe fits the bill perfectly. So, again working on waxed paper, coat the bottom and let it dry, then coat the inside with two coats, letting it dry well in between each coat. Don't rush it. You want your coasters to dry for at least 24 hours before you set your cool drink on them. You can use these for hot drinks as well but I've noticed that the hot mugs stick a bit for the first few days until they polycrylic is really hard.

Last thing you do is add a felt circle to the bottom. The dog may scratch your table top but you wouldn't want your lovely new coasters to scratch it. Maybe some felt doggie shoes....  I used the canning lid again as a template but then cut about an eigth of an inch inside the marking so it would fit.

And there you have it... custom coasters.

Thanks for visiting the jungle today. Hope to see ya again! And today's butterfly pic ...



Chrysalis of Marsh Fritillary
Image by Deanster 1983 via Flickr