Spring Crayon Art

Hello and welcome to The Creativity Tree!

 Sorry I haven't done a post in a while. But now, with Spring and Easter right around the corner, I decided, why not create some colorful crayon art for Spring. So, enjoy!



What you need:

Crayons, new or old

A canvas

A blow-dryer

Hot glue gun

Newspaper and cardboard

(to protect your workspace)

Instructions:

Start with your crayons and your canvas. You can decide to place your crayons however you want. The rainbow pattern, ROY G BIV, is very popular for crayon art, and that is what I used, but you can do any colors and patterns you want. Be creative with the shades of colors you use. Arrange the crayons on the canvas the way you would like. Remember, they don't have to go across the top. You could glue them in the middle for example. (Also, don't worry about the brand of crayons you use. I used a large variety and it worked totally fine; it's just that some crayons melt faster than others.)

Once you are happy with the arrangement of your crayons, it's time to glue them.

I glued a strip of glue onto the back of each crayon and then stuck them into place. Don't be shy with the glue, because you don't want the crayons to fall off the canvas when you are blow-drying it. But be careful with the hot glue, it can get really hot. I even burned myself. :( 





Now, let the glue dry and cool. (Hot glue dries very quickly, but just make sure it is fully dry before you blow-dry.) To test if your crayons are dry and set, shake your canvas around a bit or knock the bottom of it on a hard surface. If there are loose crayons, they'll probably fall off.

Now, it's time to blow-dry! You will want to prop the canvas up when blow-drying.

We set up lots of newspaper on the floor and wall, and set a piece of cardboard on the wall, then set the canvas on top of that. (Beware, this is very messy and the melted crayon can splash everywhere, so set up lots of newspaper. When I did it, some splashed on the wall and floor, but it came off.)

Blow dry on high, heating all the crayons evenly. Start towards the middle of the crayons, like where the logos are. They will first start getting wet/shiny, then start splashing onto the canvas. To prevent lots of wax from splashing off the canvas, start blow-drying from the top, pointing downwards. This will cause the wax to run down and onto the canvas instead of splashing everywhere.  

Keep heating until you get your desired look. The longer you heat it, the more it is going to mix together and blend, so beware of that.

And you're done! Let it dry/cool/harden in an upright position. Then you can set it on a shelf, hang it on a wall, etc.

This project is perfect for Spring because it has bold, bright, happy colors!

It's super simple and fun! You can also make them any size you want! It is great Spring/Summer décor and could also be an awesome gift!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post! Please share it! You can Pin It on Pinterest, email it to friends, share it on Facebook, and more! Also please leave comments and subscribe to my blog so you can get notifications when I have a new post! :)
I hope to post more DIY's soon, so stay tuned!


Here is a cool time-lapse video that I took of the crayons melting.

Valentine's Day Candy Bark

Welcome to The Creativity Tree!

Today I will be doing a tutorial on making Valentine's Day candy bark.


The finished product

What you will need:
Candy melts (I got these red, vanilla flavored candy melts at Aldi)
Mix-ins (I used conversation candy hearts and valentines day candy corn broken into pieces)



Instructions:

*Begin by covering a baking sheet with wax paper.

*Then microwave 2 cups of candy melts in a large bowl, microwaving in thirty second intervals, mixing in between, till smooth.

 *Add mix-ins and stir till they are coated. (Add as many or little mix-ins as you like. From previous times of trying this, I have seen that more mix-ins adds more flavor and is better.)



*Pour the candy mixture onto your wax paper. Use a spoon/spatula to even out the mixture. You can make it thin or thick. Top it off with sprinkling more mix-ins on top.

*Let the bark cool/harden completely. Break it or cut it into pieces (I did pizza shaped pieces).



I used a spatula to pry the bark off of the pan. The wax paper makes it easy to take off.
It's like a giant cookie. Yum!

Enjoy this recipe! It's delicious.

Thanks for reading. Please share this post through email, Pinterest, and more! Don't forget to subscribe! Enter your email into the follow tab to get email notifications when I have a new post!


***
I got this recipe from American Girl Magazine, September/October 2014 issue. 



Amazing animal - Orca/Killer Whale

Orca whales are amazing, intelligent creatures. They inspire me, and I want to write about them.

Orca Facts:
(facts quoted from Killer Whales by Charnan Simon and Ariel Kazunas)

Class: Mammalia
Order: Cetacean
Family: Delphiniade
Genus: Orcinus
Species: Orcinus orca
World distribution: The most widely distributed animals; found in all oceans, from the Arctic to the Antarctic; most common in colder waters.
Habits: Highly social animals; live together in groups called pods; hunt cooperatively to capture prey; make a wide variety of communicative sounds.
Diet: Fish, squid, sharks, penguins, seals, sea lions, porpoises, and other marine animals, depending upon the location.

Killer whales are the largest members of the dolphin family. The average male weighs about 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms) and is between 19 and 22 feet (5.8 and 6.7 meters) long. So a killer whale probably would not fit in your living room.

This is an orca compared to an average human.

"Orcas are highly intelligent, curious, and playful. Orca social groups are very complex. They graceful, amazing, killer whales are a favorite at marine parks and on boat tours." 

Fierce hunters:

"A killer whales large jaw is lined with as many as 56 sharp teeth. Some of their teeth can be as long as 4 inches (10 centimeters). Killer whales don't need to chew their food, they swallow it whole. A killer whales black-and-white coloring acts as a camouflage to help the whale sneak up on prey. For example, a seal lying on an ice floe will most likely not see a the orca because it blends with the dark water."

An extra sense:

"Orcas have very good eyesight. They can spot prey underwater and above the surface. But even with excellent eye-sight, orcas can only see so far underwater. They have an especially hard time seeing at night. So instead of using their eyes to see, they use their six sense, which is echolocation."

Growing Up in the Pod:

"Female orcas give birth to one calf at a time. A newborn orca weighs around 400 pounds (181 kg) and is about 8 feet (2.4 m) long. Right after the orca is born the mother pushes it to the surface of the water for it's first breath. As the calf grows, other members of the pod teach it hunting and swimming skills and play with it. An orca pod is basically a big group of sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. These family members all take care of each other."

                                                      A baby nuzzling with a mother.


Orcas are very loving and smart. In fact, they have a part of the brain that humans don't.
That brings me to a point that was a big inspiration for this post. Orca whales are captured to be put in big attraction parks like SeaWorld, Loro Parque, MarineLand, and A LOT more. Mother orcas scream and cry as their babies are taken away from them. In the movie "Blackfish" they interview a fisherman who was capturing orcas. He said he just lost it when they took the babies away and started to cry. It's like taking a kid away from his mother at the park. It's mean, bad, and I hate it. Orcas belong in the wild. There was recently a walk to free Lolita, an orca whale that has been held captive at Miami Seaquarium for 40 years. Her tank is 60-by-80-feet and is 20 feet long. It's way too small. On January 17, 2015, thousands of protesters gathered from all around the world outside the Seaquarium, to ask for Lolita's release, and asked other supporters to tweet #FreeLolita on twitter. Some people say that she will die in the wild. They say Miami Seaquarium is her "home". Lolita won't die in the wild, and even if she does, she'd rather that than live miserably in her tiny tank. Lolita used to live with another whale, Hugo. But he died March 4, 1980, by repeatedly smashing his head into the walls of the tank. We'd rather see Lolita die free and happy in the wild then do what Hugo did.

Could you live in a bathtub for 40 years?
If freed, whales like Lolita, that were born in captivity, would be put into a "sea pen" - a netted off area near the coast) for rehabilitation. When they are there they would learn the skills of orcas in the wild. Lolita needs to be freed!

Another orca is Tilikum, nicknamed Tilly, who is the star of the movie "Blackfish". Tilikum is involved in the death of 3 trainers during his time in captivity: a trainer at the now-defunct Sealand of the Pacific in South Oak Bay, British Columbia, a trainer at Orlando's Sea World (which is where Tilikum is now), and a man trespassing on Sea World Orlando's property. Tilikum measures 22.5 feet long and weighs 12,000 pounds. His 6.5 foot tall dorsal fin is collapsed completely to his left side - a sign of a stressed and depressed whale.  Tilikum is the largest orca whale in captivity. As a person in "Blackfish" remarked, "If you were in a bathtub for 25 years, don't you think you would get irritated, aggravated, and maybe a little psychotic?!?" 

People seem surprised about all the killer-whale-involved deaths. That annoys me. They do not belong in captivity, never did, and never will. They are killer whales, that's right, killer, not cuddle whales.

Tilikum's collapsed dorsal fin. Orca whales need to be freed from captivity.

Some ways you can help are:
Learn more about killer whales and their captivity. Read books and watch documentaries.
Tell your family and friends. Tell them not to support places like Sea World or Seaquarium or other places that orcas are held captive.
Make your voice heard. Protest against captivity and help spread the word. Do blog posts, write articles or papers, post on social media, support social media anti-captivity accounts, and more.

Thanks for reading! Please help free the orcas.


***
Here are some sources I used to research this blog post:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolita_(orca)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilikum_(orca)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackfish_(film)

http://www.amazon.com/Killer-Natures-Children-Childrens-Paperback/dp/0531254798

Foster Cat Fun!

In this post, I will talk about fostering cats. One day, in 2012, we had the idea of fostering cats - and having no pets, thought it would be a fun experience, plus it would be a good cause.

Our first group:
Our first foster group was a litter of four kitties, not as small as kittens, but also not fully grown. They were brown/white tabbies and all had different personalities. One was really sweet, and we named him Sweetsie. One was shy and had swirly patterns, and we named her Swirl. One had tiger markings, therefore named Tiger. Lastly, there was the kind of naughty one, and we name him Stinker. The shelter changed Tiger's name to Susan though, and they also changed Stinker's name.
Here is a photo of Tiger (left) and Stinker (right).

Our second group:
Our next group was two gray/blue kittens, that we named Angel and Buddy S. They were sweet and cuddly and super cute!

                                                        Buddy (left) and Angel (right).

                                                                Me holding angel. :)

Third foster group:
Our third group was two kittens and their mother.
We named them BuddyJay and Buttercup. We fell in love with them and adopted Jay and Cup after fostering them. They are now almost three years old. It is slightly hard to believe, but BuddyJay is a gray long hair, and Buttercup is a tan/buff shorthair, and they are from the same litter. They are really sweet and amazing and adorable! They were only one month old when we got them.

Little BuddyJay - he was tiny and had an eye condition when we first got him.

Little Buttercup! She was an adventurous little one, but she was still wobbly on her legs when we first got her. :)

                                                       Cup and Jay now! <3

After we adopted BuddyJay and Buttercup, we took a little break from fostering, so we could monitor the kitties and slowly let them explore more rooms. Once we had had them for a long while, we started fostering again.

First cat (first cat not in a group): Our next cat was named Charlotte. Things were a little bit different with her, and all the cats fostered after her, though. She was fostered in my room, because the "kitten room" was made into a bedroom.
Charlotte was very sweet and loved to purr. She was about 1-years-old.

                                                                          Meow!!
Second cat:
Our next foster cat was kitten named Charlie.

                                                                          Purr!
He was such a cutie! Although, it's kind of hard to sleep when you have a kitten pouncing on you.
Charlie was a pretty calm kitten and loved to snuggle and play.

Third cat:
The next kitten was very hyper. He was cute, yes, but he loved to play fight with your hand or foot or anything and he was pretty naughty, adorable, but naughty. He just had so much energy.

                                                          Getting ready to pounce!

Fourth cat:
Our next cat was an adult cat name 'Jughead'.  Please know we did not name this cat - he was named by the shelter. I don't know why they named him that, all I know is I didn't like the name. Anyway, Jughead was very cute and snuggly. He did have a very bad cold/cough and so he needed care.

                                                                Mew. Aww, so cute!
Fifth cat:
Our next kitty was named Nala. She was very sweet and happy and cute. :)

                                                         She had such big, pretty eyes!


Fourth foster group:
This is actually kind of a funny story. We went to drop off the previous cat - Nala - at the shelter so she could be put up for adoption. So on the way home we were kind of talking about how we wanted some kittens. Well, we get home and a in a little while, the shelter calls. "Hi, can you take a mom and five kittens?". So we picked them up the next day, and they were so adorable! They were tiny and stayed in the crate for at least a day (probably more), because they didn't need to come out. They nursed from the mom and slept in the back of the crate. Only the mom came out to get food and water. Well, eventually, they came out. They were really cute. We fostered them during the summer of 2014, so our fostering was spread out.

                                             All of the kitties are piled up in this basket!

The kittens nursing from their mom. Purr!

So those are all the cats we have ever fostered. After the last big group, we decided to take a little break. Hopefully, we will be able to foster more soon! :)

Thanks for reading this post - I hoped you enjoyed it. Please comment, and also share this post! You can Pin it on Pinterest, email it to a friend, and more!

Hello Friends!

I am very sorry I have not posted in a long time. I have decided to do a homemade gift idea list for you. Here it is:

#1. Collage Initial

This is super fun and easy! I got this letter 'A' at Michael's but also saw some cardboard letters at Walmart. I used all different kinds of paper but stuck with a blue, green, purple, and pink theme. The butterflies are from a punch, and I pasted them on. Plus, you could use stickers. I also used some washi (craft) tape, and you can use duck tape too for an extra flare.

#2. Tagxedo / Word Cloud

I  made this on Tagxedo. You can also make them on Wordle, but you can't have detailed shapes like a cat or reindeer, etc. I think it's a really heartfelt gift. They have tons of different colors, shapes, and more on Tagxedo. Say someone you know is CRAZY about cats...this would be perfect for them! Here is the link: http://www.tagxedo.com/

#3. DIY Washi Tape Notebooks and Pencils:

These notebooks are really cute! Imagine "washi-ing" a whole set of notebooks, pencils, and more - amazing gift! Here is the link:  http://liagriffith.com/washi-tape-your-pencils-and-notebooks/
This photo and craft idea are from the blog that I linked above.

 

#4. Glass Gem Sun Catcher:

These are super pretty! Here is the link to the blog: http://kidsactivitiesblog.com/16045/glass-gem-sun-catcher-craft This photo and craft idea belong to the blog.

Well, that's it for today. I might do more gift idea posts in the future.
Any feedback on my blog or posts? You can comment if you have a Google, LiveJournal, or WordPress account.

Thanks for reading!

For today's post, I will share with you some haiku poems I wrote a while ago while on a nature hike.
In a haiku poem the first line is five syllables, the second line is seven syllables and the third line is five syllables again.  You'll notice my haikus are not completely accurate, but they are pretty close.
I hope you enjoy my poems!

Muddy river bank,
Sparkling river water,
Peaceful and quiet.


Walking on the path,
Fallen trees are everywhere,
Such a work of art.


Leaves have start to fall,
The colored trees stand so still,
Autumn has now come.


Crunching snapping sticks,
Lots of things are dry in Fall,
Dry leaves are falling.


The forest is pretty,
The sweet sounding water,
Makes me so, so calm.


Life is colorful,
Nature is full of color,
Full of all colors.


That is it for my haikus. I hope that now you will go and write your own haiku!
Before I end this post I have an announcement to make:  Starting with my next post, I will now put a haiku in all of my blog posts.   The challenge will be to match the haiku with the theme of the post.
Thanks for reading my blog! : )

Todays topic:
NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) YMP (Young Writers Program)

NaNoWriMo is a fun writing contest. It's fun even if you don't "win" aka fulfill your goal, which you'll learn more about soon.
We young writers participate in NaNoWriMo YMP, the young writers program.
What is NaNoWrimo? National Novel Writing Month happens every November. It's a fun writing event where the challenge is to complete an entire novel in just 30 days! That means participants begin writing Nov. 1st and must finish by midnight, Nov. 30th. The word-count goal for the adult program is 50,000 words but for us young writers (17-and-under) you set your own reasonable, yet challenging individual word-count goal.
I have done NaNoWriMo only once, and that was last year, so I'm super excited for this year.
Last year I did 25,000 words and this year I'll probably do 30,000 words.
A cool fact is that last year nearly 90,000 young writers participated.
For more information on how to sign up and other cool stuff, I'm going to put the NaNoWriMo YMP link down below:

http://ywp.nanowrimo.org/

I hereby challenge you all to try NaNoWriMo! Now is the time to sign up and listen to pep talks and start planning and such, so hurry up!   
And another reason NaNoWriMo is good is because it really brings out your inner writer. Don't mind the typos for now, just let out the writer in you. I especially like this event because it forces me to keep writing my novel and not just never finish my novel.
I think its really cool and you should really try it! :)
Here are some National Novel Writing Month photos:
                                                
                                               

                                  

                                       

                                        
Well, that's my post for today! Hope you like it. And please try NaNoWriMo, its really fun.