Day 73: Work with gravel, sand or rocks.

Rachel: I live very near a beach, so I feel a little guilty for not having taken advantage of that! But anyway, I've had this handful of rocks hanging around here since 2005, when I picked them up (still warm) on a crater in Lanzarote during our honeymoon. What better to make with them than a heart? Someday I will frame this in some creative way, and I'll probably cover it with glass so it doesn't collect dust. Right now, they're just super-glued onto a boring plastic board.

Hannah: I found so much inspiration in my backyard! Here is my trio of birds.

Day 72: Use all of your shoes or a single one to make something.

Hannah: Trapped in a shoe...This was the perfect shoe to work with. I am having printer issues...the photo could be better.

Rachel: A butterfly made of all my daughters shoes from this past year.

Day 71: Time travel. Make something that seems like it came from another era.

Hannah: I glass etched a beer stein, with my last name initial. I really like the photo App from my iphone making the photo look old too! I don't know if it looks like it is from another era or not...but it does look sort of vintage.

Rachel: I am making a "stained glass" window decal (using some kit with colored glue-like tubes in it), copying a Tiffany window from the internet... definitely from another era. It may end up getting finished in yet another era. It is taking FOREVER. I worked on it an entire afternoon, and it's still not done. I've had to modify a lot of the colors by adding glue and gold shimmery dust, because the colors are too bright.

Day 70: Work with only numbers today.

Hannah: Since my last name is the number 10 is french, I chose that number. It is made out of apple branches.

Rachel: I chose the number 1, as in "We are one". Or, I suppose my husband might like to think he's number one... I installed this paper cut-out in front of his desk! The idea for this cut-out came from a flower-shaped piece of wall art in my doctor's office. It would look better if a thicker foam were used, instead of just thin paper... but I didn't have any.

Day 69: Make a puzzle or make something with puzzle pieces.

Hannah: Orange #2...I made an orange puzzle. Harder to put together than it looks!

Rachel: Well... cutting this very stiff cardboard was a lot harder than I thought it would be! If I ever make another puzzle, more thought will have to go into the type of material used. Basically, I had this piece of white cardboard, and I made a drawing on it, using my daughter's colored pencils.

Day 68: Create something with papier-mache.

Hannah: I love working with papier-mache, and have taken on a rather ambitious project. I was inspired by clocks made in my son's class. I am making a clock that will be a tree stump. This is not a 1 day project, I will post the completed project when it is done.

Rachel: I am not a huge fan of papier mache objects. I feel like they might get infested with bugs (that eat glue) over time. I suppose that if they are properly varnished, that could be avoided. In any case, I have not worked with paper mache since I was a kid, and I found it sort of calming this time around. I made my own glue out of flour, water and salt (cooked). After applying about 10 layers of paper, I was getting tired of it, but that's probably because it's midnight. What I am making here is a musical instrument (a rainstick). I have covered a tube with plastic wrap and am covering that with paper mache. It's propped on top of a bottle for drying purposes. Needless to say, I don't think that a paper mache project really fits into this 365 project, as it is VERY time consuming, and definitely takes more than one day.

Day 67: Write a ten-word science fiction story. Bonus: Illustrate it!

When we fight over ice cream we seem so human!

Hannah: I used one of Patchen's many alien drawings laying around the house for inspiration and my illustration. I love the aliens and ice cream!

Rachel: My story is ambiguous, and I felt very strange drawing a fictitious character... I should do this more often... maybe something could develop.

Day 66: Go grocery shopping and pick up something new specifically to work with.

Hannah: I chose two different Duck Tapes to work with. I have been a fan of Hello Kitty since I was about 5, so I couldn't resist! I made this cool little bag with a button closure.

Rachel: There is no duct tape at our local grocery store... and I don't think they even have printed duct tape in this country (Italy)! It's really cool! Anyway, at our store, I found mascarpone cheese and cocoa powder. I made a cut-out and now I have tiger-striped mascarpone. I'm going to try this on my next tiramisu and probably on my next cappuccino.

Day 65: Work with only the classic tangram shapes.

Hannah: I made a clip art self-portrait tangram puzzle...fun

Rachel: I didn't actually take measurements and make my own tangram, as described on Wikipedia. But I did take a tangram puzzle from my child's cereal box and draw on the other side of it. I made it so that the lines match up in several different kinds of puzzles you make.

Day 64: It's all about you. Incorporate yourself into whatever you make.

Hannah: Here is a Hannah flower using a 3 year old photo of myself! Sort of surreal.

Rachel: I believe this qualifies as incorporating myself into my piece... basically, I've had this unfinished bellycast around since I was in week 33 of my pregnancy back in 2007. I decided to take this opportunity to FINALLY finish it! I've been contemplating what to paint on here for over 3 years now, and never came up with anything... so my process for this painting was to begin with a pink background, then make the red flowers, then the stems, which were a great place to write the date... then I thought of the big white flower and the name. Lastly, the dots and the blue "sky". Now it's having an overnight dry and then will get a final coat of clear varnish.

Day 63: Create a unique mask. Have someone wear it.

Hannah: My lovely sister wearing my bird mask #2!

Rachel: Well, the process for this mask was: WTH am I going to make? Found a piece of corrugated cardboard, which lent itself well to being curved. Started by drawing a large "mushroom head". Cut that out, then cut out eyes (placed a little too wide), which turned out looking Asian. Then I painted it with tempera. So, it turned into a sort of Chinese-looking head with vintage colors for makeup. Modeled by my husband.

Day 62: Make something with your dinner before you eat it.

Hannah: More pizza art. Patchen wanted an Octopus, I tried my best..the other two I don't know what they are.

Rachel: We had breakfast for dinner, so these are the french toast twins! Made of french toast, honey, bananas, cherries, plums and whipped cream.

Day 61: Use only things you find around the bathroom. Bonus, make in the bathroom

Rachel: Flowers on the mirror made with a variety of different lipsticks, mascara, and baby butt cream. unfortunately I couldn't find anything green for leaves. I was thinking of trying to stick some dental floss on somehow, but time did not permit anymore experiments this day.

Hannah: Woman looking from behind shower curtain...shampoo, lipstick, mascara, bronzer and painted in the shower.

Day 60: Make something that casts a shadow and only document the shadow

Rachel: I was supposed to document the shadow only, but I like the cutout I made, so I'm documenting that too.

Hannah: This is my bird and tree shadow.

Day 59: Mix and match - work with 2 materials that generally don't go together

Rachel: A fully experimental really bad piece of "art"... I decided to try working with oil and water, seeing as how they generally don't go together... result: oil spreads and the picture looks whacky.

Hannah: My not very cute yogurt and dirt woman!

Day 58: Make something as big as you possibly can. See if you can make it lifesize

Rachel: I had a large amount of tissue-type paper because I had taken some from the recycling bin at a factory I did a job at. I couldn't bring myself to make any 3-d large object because I just didn't know what I would do with it, so I decided that a large surface such as a window could be a useful base for a piece of art. I intended to color/paint it, but I decided it looks nice white.

Hannah: I made large mushrooms. They are called Fly Agaric, a poisonous mushroom. This mushroom if consumed causes delerium, raving, and profuse sweating. Ha! doesn't sound too good. I put a bottle of wine next to, to show size.

Day 57: Use a disposable plastic bag to create something new

Hannah: Here is my disposable bag flower. I am going to dispose of it right now!

Rachel: I don't much enjoy working with plastic. This is a "flower" made out of a ziploc bag. How funny that we both ended up with blue and green flowers! Basically, I had this oil/vinegar holder and it had a bad chrome job so that handle was scratchy when you picked it up, and I wanted to cover it.

Day 56: Make something heavy seem light

Rachel: all is possible with photography. I've always wanted to do one of these "illusion" photos. It didn't turn out as perfect as I'd hoped. Some people aren't as precise as I am (namely the person clicking photos). But we had fun.

Hannah: Here is Rino being a good sport and balancing a bottle of wine on her tongue! I make all of my dinner guests work for their wine!

Day 55: Write an advertising jingle for something in nature. Bonus: Make a commercial to go with it.

Hannah: I didn't make a jingle, however I have had a lot of creative time updating old school chairs for a school fundraiser. Here is one I did with some 5th graders. It is nature inspired.

















Rachel: here is my jingle (no commercial... no bonus).

I am a key ingredient in curing your ailments and physical blemishes. I am a key component in architectural and fashion design. I come in a variety of colors so vast, it’s beyond your imagination. I’m the gift that doesn’t need to be given to be received. I’m the color you can put anywhere you want. I could be all you need on any given day. I am a flower. A simple, amazing, symmetrical, intricate blessing. What would your world be without me?

Day 54: Connect the dots. Make something using only dots. Pen, paper, hole punch, round stickers

Hannah: T-shirt #3...gift for Sophia. I used dots to create these flowers!

Rachel: Some old glass "dots", the kind people usually fill vases with. I had considered getting rid of these last year. Glad I didn't! I tried a mandala. It turned out a lot like some kind of Hawaiian quilt design. Very fun. Notice that I photographed my work while wearing my polka-dot slippers. Next morning my daughter was inspired to work with me as well.