Tuesday, May 8, 2012

RE:furbished

I am horrible about taking "before" pictures. I wish I had a before of this project because this was an extremely dated light fixture. I have people in my life who donate items to my family. I'm not sure if it's because they feel sorry for me, or if it's because they know I might turn it into something beautiful. I don't mean to boast...not at all, but I am really thrilled with this one! So, my mom's boss gave me this light fixture. Well, this is a similar one that I found online, so picture this in shiny brass:
So, what to do with this. I had a perfect place for this in my entry way. My house turned 104 this year so I have amazing high ceilings! That is one huge benefit of living in an old fixer-upper. But, to be honest, shiny brass is not.my.style at all. At the same time, when people give me things, I love to use them if possible. What I love to do more is to fix them up so much that they wish they had thought of it before they junked it. I came up with this:
I wish I could get a picture of it when it is dark because the colors shine so prettily on the ceiling. So, ready for the step by step? 1. Take the fixture all apart and spray paint the inside parts. (The steel tubing, the part that holds the bulbs, etc.) 2. You could tape off the glass and spray the outside globe if you wanted, but I think it's less work to buy a silver paint pen and just hand paint it. It didn't take long at all. 3. Use glass paint (I got mine in the children's craft section at Wal-Mart, but any craft store sells this in various colors) to paint the glass. Be sure to use actual glass paint because that's how you get the "stained-glass" effect. 4. I used the "dab" method. I just dipped my brush in the pain and dabbed it on to give it more of a frosted look. Play around with it and see what you prefer. You might also notice that I left the beveled part of the glass clear so more of the light can actually come through. 5. Let dry. 6. Put the light back together and hang! Your kids will love the colors on the ceiling!

Thursday, May 3, 2012

RE:ad

Okay, I'm just going to prepare you...this post is going to be a bit of a rant. Today I got book orders from the local school. I am so thankful that I have friends who let me order books through their book orders since we homeschool (and no, that's not against the rules). Ever since I was a kid, I loved book order day. I think I loved paging through those thin, newspaper-like pages (only in color!) as much as I loved the day in school when the books came in! Oh! I'm getting excited just thinking of it. In fact, my friend just delivered the books I ordered for my son the other day and I could not wait to open them and start reading...I mean, who could resist Gary Paulsen's Hatchet? And for only $4! But today, I got new book orders and do you know what I found? This.
A "Book" order dedicated almost solely to electronic devices and video games! I mean, I guess I didn't realize that Click!, with its "Interactive Learning" branding, actually means plop down in front of a Nintendo DS and play a video game by yourself. What exactly is "interactive" about that? What is this? I mean, with so many things that are wrong about the education system, why is Scholastic supporting this "screen time" epidemic? There are a few theories about this, but here's mine: I think that the company is trying to help children whose parents do not encourage any "interactive" learning by at least marketing some age-appropriate, learning and fitness oriented video games. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that it's not to make an easy buck off negligent parents and their children who reap the consequences. On the other hand, however, I wish that the Scholastic company would instead take a stand that says, "Books are enough! Books are valuable! Books are every bit as cool as Angry Birds and Wii games!" And I know there are a million people out there who would argue that the world is changing and that it's not true anymore, but I know that I have a 7 year-old kid who enjoys a good book every bit as much as playing a video game. Maybe part of it is that we don't have video games. I understand that not every parent is going to encourage reading or interactive learning--you know, the kind that requires you to actually interact with your child, but by Scholastic putting their name on this, don't they just say to those parents, "It's okay. Just make sure they're 'learning' while they're gaming." UGH!