ATCs and ACEOs on a Wednesday

Monday’s art class was all about ATCs and ACEOs, including their history and commercial prospects. Elizabeth has since launched into full entrepreneurial mode and asked me to begin a section for her to list her artworks on my Etsy shop: Art by Elizabeth. She will be in charge of creating, pricing, and shipping, while I will provide the artist’s materials, the listing space, and general supervision. She’s hoping to earn a bit of money towards her upcoming summer adventures, not the least of which is a trip to American Girl Place in Chicago. The ACEO pictured above is titled Mermaids Playing… isn’t it cute?!

Though art miniatures have been around for ages, the current ATC (Artist Trading Card) frenzy was born in Switzerland in 1997. There are just 2 rules for ATCs: they must measure 2.5 X 3.5, which is the size of a standard baseball trading card, and can never be sold. A complete (and interesting!) summary of ATCs can be found here.

ACEOs (Art Cards, Editions and Originals) are basically ATCs that are for sale. An ACEO must stick to the required size but can be a print of an original, either numbered as part of a limited print run (limited edition) or re-printed without limit (open edition). Of course, they can be originals, too. I’ve seen original ACEOs selling for hundreds of dollars, though most seem to sell in the $5-$15 range. Elizabeth is selling hers for $1.50-2.00 :)

BTW, David Cook completely rocks.

 

zoo classes

My daughter takes classes for homeschoolers at our zoo, and each time she gets an award certificate from the education department. We do occasional behind the scenes tours with the keepers, but this is a different program specifically designed for area homeschoolers. It’s way better than reading about the topic in a text, because the zoo has animals on hand (and skeletons of them-ew) to observe and touch/pet. After one of her other classes she totally creeped me out because she said they let the kids handle those GIANT cockroaches. I have the heebie-jeebies just typing that. The St. Louis Zoo is one of the top-rated zoos in the world, but others zoos probably have similar programs. If you homeschool, it’s worth investigating.

 

Fair Squares, etc.

My Fair & Square partner, Deb, has posted that her squares arrived safely; I’m so glad that she liked them! I always stress out when I have to choose something to stitch for someone else. Well, unless it’s for family. Besides knowing them well enough to pick something they would like, I figure they’ll be polite enough to lavish praise even if it’s icky. I didn’t design the pictorial square so much as arrange it. I based the girl on a Brightneedle ornament I found in one of the JCS mags (changing her dress), and the tall rose came from an antique sampler book I have. The bird and bunny are common sampler motifs and so I’m sure they came from somewhere, too… the butterfly and grassy knoll are all mine though.

The tadpoles have been moved into my daughter’s bedroom. They look happy and healthy, which is so nice after the fish-killing incidents earlier this summer. I was reluctant to take on more water creatures, but they really are doing quite well. I have created a chart so we can keep a record of their transformation, and we have begun a frog notebook. (notebooking is a really neat homeschool thing to do; it’s like scrapbooking only educational) One of these days I’ll have to post a bit about what we do for homeschool around here.

New releases will be announced here next week! Have a lovely weekend, everyone :)

 

the triplets have arrived

Oh boy. We have 3 bouncing baby tadpoles on our kitchen table! They are so ugly that they’re kinda cute… they have teeny tiny back legs and their skin is transparent so you can see their hearts and veins and every other little part they have. Swimming guts is really what they are at this point. I’m looking forward to the actual froglet stage, I think. BTW, if you would like some for your own kitchen table, they can be ordered from Grow -A-Frog.

This cute little biodome thing was touted as “a complete system” to go from tadpole to frog, with nothing more to buy ever. But unless these are mini-frogs, they are going to need a new home. Assuming they live to actually become frogs, we will have to buy a tank for them. And then, what if they breed? Will we be overrun with frogs? What do people DO with these? Dissect them? Give them as Christmas gifts? Buy progressively larger tanks until you have a glass wall comparable to the ones found in fancy restaurants? Oh boy.

 

this is kinda true…

Q: How does a homeschooler change a light bulb?

A: First, mom checks out three library books about electricity, then the kids make models of light bulbs, read a biography of Thomas Edison and do a skit based on his life. Next, everyone studies the history of lighting methods, wrapping up with dipping their own candles. After that, everyone takes a trip to the store where they compare types of light bulbs as well as prices and figure out how much change they’ll get if they buy two bulbs for $1.99 and pay with a five dollar bill. On the way home, a discussion develops over the history of money and also Abraham Lincoln, as his picture is on the five dollar bill. Finally, after building a homemade ladder out of branches dragged from the woods, the light bulb is installed.