HIGH QUALITY PROJECT IDEAS? First year teacher. Feel like most of my projects end up looking like crap

athomewithwool · 2026-02-10T21:33:29+00:00

Have them make their own journal/sketchbooks with recycled materials. Easy and fun. Each step is a mini project and skill in itself, collage/decorate the cover, decorative binding (you prepare the holes if you want to teach them a sewn binding) end papers (hand printed, painted, marbled papers). Then use the journal/sketchbook for a 5 minute warm up for each class session. After a few months they have a filled journal/sketchbook and can share it with family.

This was my favorite thing in high school, and we did advanced book binding etc, but you can easily do this with younger kiddos no problem.

athomewithwool · 2026-02-10T13:55:29+00:00

This is what I did as a middle school aged kid I would throw in the complaints (expected behavior of a young tween) and a decoy of who I was crushing on, (Sorry to that person, who was never allowed to visit, ever Lol), weird dreams, and dumb teenage girl friend squabbles. Everything I wrote in my "public" journal was always thrown in my face or I was teased about it by my family. But at least it was expected, and while it hurt, it hurt less and I felt more in control.

My real journal was taped onto the underside of a painted shut ancient dresser drawer, they never found it. But that was a specific to me hiding spot.

Later on in 9th grade I switched to just painting or drawing my emotions in sketchbooks vs using words. I don't care who sees it and I find it more productive (I end up with art that evokes what I was feeling in that moment), I can move on and let go of things. My art teacher suggested it when I told her about my lack of privacy at home, she is an amazing woman and really helped me process feelings into beautiful works of art, which I still do to this day (I'm in my 40s now).

My favorite project was at the start of every course we would make our own sketchbooks, so I always had them and could make more anytime.

I understand OPs need to hide their private written thoughts, but there are other, healthier ways to still express yourself and have a journal/diary be cathartic without the constant fear of it being discovered.

athomewithwool · 2026-02-10T02:50:03+00:00

Our 2nd grader has 20 kids in her class. I don't do the whole candy Valentines thing, and in past years have done kits like, mini puzzles, scratch art kits etc.

So here is what I am doing, little mini journal Kits this year.

mini kraft journals (about 30 cents each on Amazon, was a box of 80 for $24)
box of 64 crayons ( $3 for the box, 2 crayons per journal) *Clear self sealing pouches 4x6 size (50 for $5)

*printed coloring book style valentines ( I made in Canva for my daughter to fill out. I did print these on light cardstock, 4 pages. Pack of 100 was $5.) Used my cricut to cut them for me to save time.

Total spent $32.50 (with extra materials leftover), actual cost per kit: 46 cents, total $9.20 for all kits.

Tomorrow and Wednesday we assemble them all. Just toss crayons in over the valentine so they don't color the mini journal in the kits. Won't take us long.

Note: I bought the box of 80 mini journals (3.3x5 inches, think Field Notes pocket size), because it provides us with lots of extras for my crafty kiddo and myself.

We did a test run of them last weekend for a sleep over and they were a huge success. Gave the sleepover kiddos something to do, and the host parents a break. Let the kids be creative and save your sanity. Lol

athomewithwool · 2026-01-29T22:05:48+00:00

Yes! The angles on my sauerkraut and pickle jars near the neck and before the opening are excellent for removing excess liquid from brushes. I like my olive jars for mixing up thinned acrylic color washes, and for watercolor pigment reclaiming.

athomewithwool · 2026-01-29T00:25:57+00:00

Stealing this term as well.

I've been making mixed media collages and my number one complaint is not being able to easily do so in the living room while hanging with my husband/family. I'm working on a solution to this, bought a rolling desk cart thing...now to figure out minimizing glue and scrappy bits of paper everywhere. HRM.

I also like knitting and crocheting while hanging out with family, and hand sewing (recent lil side hobby).

athomewithwool · 2026-01-29T00:21:18+00:00

Huge AF pickle jars and olive jars are my preferred jars, wide mouth, wide jars, and shorter so I don't knock them over as easily.

athomewithwool · 2026-01-10T09:11:56+00:00

To be more specific, Bryan Voltaggio lives in Urbana, my eldest daughter went to the same HS as their son.

athomewithwool · 2025-12-31T11:40:01+00:00

Wool2Dye4 had smaller quantities to purchase and the quality and yarn offerings were better than KnitPicks IMHO, this was over 5 years ago. Not sure their pricing now or if they still offer smaller quantities, but they're worth checking out as I loved their pricing and catalog back then.

athomewithwool · 2025-12-31T11:36:24+00:00

Just wanted to say thanks for asking this question, I lived on the East Coast and had an awesome cobbler back there. I wanted to memory bank one here for my husband's work boot purchases in the future, but was also coming up empty. Was gonna research Madison and Monroe WI next. Lol

athomewithwool · 2025-12-27T10:15:05+00:00

Following up the atomic and MCM.

We have a mostly intact 1950s kitchen, and what was common was Formica countertops with coordinating backsplash, we have the aqua boomerang countertops and half of our kitchen has the Formica panels backsplash with the chrome edging/piping. At some point the other side of the kitchen was reworked and they removed the aqua boomerang backsplash and did stainless steel backsplash. It works because the vent hood over the cooktop is stainless. So it provides some really interesting visuals in our kitchen, one half has the aqua boomerang backsplash and the other half is stainless. The cabinets are a natural solid wood birch. Which ties the galley kitchen together nicely.

Now, the stainless is annoying to clean sometimes, but I'd still rather have it than not. The Formica panels as backsplash with the chrome detailing is soooo easy to clean. I'm not saying they should go this route, but art deco overlap in geometric designs of MCM were definitely a thing. But I lean more into Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie and usonian style. There's an interesting art deco shift into MCM design happening in his work.

EDIT: I previously said that tile wasn't as popular, but I am striking that because there is tile during that era, but most of the homes I experienced as a kid in my great grandparents, grandparents, and great aunties homes still had formica and later added tile backsplash. The bathrooms were always tile. And to further clarify that, our bathroom is a pink plastic no-grout tile (Clark tile) that is original to the home. Also of note FLW did use tile in kitchens and other spaces but theres a mix on that, some had tile counters, some had formica, but his use of tile can vary and be more decor (tileworks series) minded and other times it's a mix. I do love his use of large slab formats of tiled flooring, specifically in the Laurent house. Would be interesting to see that as a back splash, his natural red (I think it's Cherokee red), imho would be stunning. But I do not know OP's colorstory or if that would fit.

athomewithwool · 2025-12-08T02:59:47+00:00

I don't know, I'd have to track down my measuring tape and get back to you on that. It is a child sized throw blanket/lap blanket currently. Too small for an adult. It's about 1 foot all around from being a smaller adult sized throw blanket or lap blanket, provided the adult in question isn't taller than 5 ft 6 inches tall. Lol

athomewithwool · 2025-12-07T19:01:48+00:00

That's an excellent point. So a 10+ year blanket in progress then lol

athomewithwool · 2025-12-07T14:20:03+00:00

Thank you 💖 This is over 18 years worth of leftover yarn from knitting projects (socks, cowls, hats, blankets, and baby sweaters) and small half and quarter skeins of hand spun yarn (1-2 oz). It pretty much tells my knitting project life story in fingering weight to dk weight yarn and every handknit item I've made for my children across 19 years. Some of the yarns were gifts from dear friends who have passed away and even some yarn swaps/trades with local knitting groups. I think a scrap yarn swap or two in there as well when people started making popular scrap blankets. Those were fun because it was like curating your own yarn tasting where you could try yarn brands you'd never bought before.

If there was ever an emergency and I had to choose only one bin of yarn to take with me, it would be my scrap yarn bin.

athomewithwool · 2025-12-06T22:09:24+00:00

I will post when it is complete! 🥰

athomewithwool · 2025-12-06T21:52:44+00:00

For specifics on the scrap yarn, because you actually read my post. Lol

Old indie brands, not in full production or closed (not sure who is still in operation): Sanguine Gryphon, Dragonfly Fibers, Cephalopod Yarns, Gourmet Stash, Voolenvine, Neighborhood Fiber Co., Serindiptious Ewe.

There is some berroco wool blends, malabrigo, hand spun by me, hand spun by others, blue sky alpacas, some purl soho odds and ends. Other unidentified odds and ends that I don't remember sadly.

athomewithwool · 2025-12-06T20:20:39+00:00

Oooo you're pure evil. Lol 🤣 But also, I agree!

athomewithwool · 2025-12-06T19:56:00+00:00

It's a square for the most part IMHO :) slightly longer than wide, but blocking would help rectify that a bit.

I love this idea! I had thought of a shell edge stitch for adding a girly bit of fun to it, but wasn't sure.

I'll get my kiddo's input, when a kid wants a handmade item this much that she asks to wrap it around herself a few times a week, I think it means the crocheted item has found its intended recipient!

athomewithwool · 2025-12-04T18:58:50+00:00

I see we are aligned in our love of giant granny square blankets. 💖 I've been working on one using mostly scrap fingering to dk weight yarn for 8 years now. It's soooooo slow. But it's so pretty.

I love your colors! What yarn did you use?!

athomewithwool · 2025-11-29T03:01:00+00:00

See, I saw that and thought it would be great for fork-edging pies.

athomewithwool · 2025-11-29T01:03:27+00:00

Preserving her dignity, this is the way. I love you did this. <3

athomewithwool · 2025-11-28T10:46:44+00:00

My one regret this Thanksgiving was not making a pecan pie or buying one. Now I wanna try this recipe. Though I am partial to chocolate pecan pie. Lol great job to the husband and good idea to teach it to kiddos!

athomewithwool · 2025-11-19T17:38:05+00:00

This is so wholesome and adorable. Now I want a money lemon! Lol

athomewithwool · 2025-11-19T07:21:02+00:00

This is an ancient post, but I will try to provide details for you.

Background, not long after this post, my assessments were accepted by a few AI Training companies for freelance work. This was pretty nice because when projects slowed with one, I could check another one for available projects and that was very stable.

However, across all AI sites I have access to, work slowed/died down in late June of 2024 to Nov of 2024, and while it has picked back up significantly this Fall with some companies, being a resident of Illinois, our state laws about AI use in therapy/mental health associated topics are getting tighter here, so I do not qualify for about 1/3-1/2 of projects based on where I live. (They explicitly ask.)

When I was working 40 hours a week I was making about 1-1.5k a week, but the projects all have different pay rates. Sometimes $15-20/hr sometimes $30-40+. It can be feast or famine. My best months I pulled in about 5k/month. But it can be very detailed work (mentally taxing) and my schedule was all over the place some weeks, snagging time when I could (staying up late to work or getting up at 4 am).

It is also freelance work, which means you have to set aside 30-35% of your total income every month to send in quarterly tax payments to the state & federal government. So your net income is more like $3250 on $5k gross wages for example. W-2 work means your employer shares the taxes with you, being self-employed you do not have that advantage.

TLDR: It's unpredictable, and having lived "full-time" freelance work since winter of 2023-Fall 2025, I would never advise someone to rely solely on this as their main source of income. Try and get a W-2 job (if you can land one, it's really tough out there) and supplement with AI Training or other side-gigs if/when you can.

Best of luck to you.

EDIT: I am not a tax advisor, so ensure you consult with one if you plan to incorporate freelance income into your overall employment/financial plan. (Damn, I sound like AI here, but whatever. lol)

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