As if it ain't cold enough!

Earlier this week we did a lesson on ice!

Messy

I put bowls of water outside the night before and brought them inside in the morning.  The were partially frozen.  When we turned them upside down and popped the ice bowls out, they all sprang a leak and a tiny fountain of water flowed from each of them - actually, one had two holes.  The kids got a huge kick out of watching through the ice as the water level inside decreased while the water leaked out.  We talked about the different states of matter.

Messier

Next, the kids used water and food coloring to make different colored ice blocks.  We put the color combinations in ice cube trays and froze them. 

Messiest of all!

Finally, the kids painted a picture on freezer paper and then used "ice cube paint brushes" to draw designs in the painting.  I froze popsicle sticks in blocks of ice the night before and popped them out in the morning for the kids to use.  They loved this.  After they were done, we put them out in the freezing cold to dry.  The finished products are cool - they still look wet but are completely dry!

Christmas Distress

Here are some Christmas tags that I tried to do Tim Holtz style.  I first cut the tags out of manilla file folders.   I used glimmer mist, a mask, TH Tea Dye distress ink (on the edges of the vintage music and the words December). Stamped green swirlies and black Noels. I distressed the edges with my scissors since I don't have the neat TH distressing tool... yet.  Then I inked the edges of the tags with TH Vintage Photo distress ink. I folded the wreaths using this tutorial, attached them and added tiny green bows, along with bows at the top of the tags.  I really like how they turned out!