Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

Time to Sign Up for Fall Classes at Bullseye Portland

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The schedule for fall classes is up at Bullseye and it’s a great selection. Having just taken a series of classes there I highly recommend making the trip over there if you’re not already in Portland. Their facility is “heaven on earth” for all glass lovers! There’s a vitrigraph class with Nathan Sandberg, which I know you’ll love since I’ve seen what he can do with glass and a vitrigraph kiln. You’ll also get a chance to see Larry Cunningham’s Turbo Lift in action.

There’s printmaking and reaction classes also. So cool. I want to take the printmaking class. Something to think about. The reaction class is awesome. I recently posted about reactive glass. Really good stuff. So if you need to further your glass knowledge this is the premier place for it. It’s where the artists go to play with glass. Aren’t you tempted?

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Tropical Bird Crafts and Learning Activities

I don’t know why tropical animals feel like something you should learn about in the summer, because these tropical bird crafts and activities are great to do any time of year. Let’s take a look. 

Homeschool Giveaways has a printable tropical birds copywork book kids can use to practice cursive or print writing. They also have links to more fun printable activities, mostly about parrots, toucans and cockatoos.

Homeschool Share has a printable lapbook all about parrots. This one is a lot of fun because it includes things like the pros and cons of owning a pet parrot and some parrot jokes alongside information about where parrots live, why they have hooked beaks and their lifespan, among other things. 

Use colorful bird puzzles to reinforce number order with this free printable puzzle collection from Craft Play Learn. It includes five different bird puzzles that are each eight pieces. 

And if you want to look at toucans in particular, check out this toucan study guide aimed at elementary students from Tina’s Dynamic Homeschool Plus. This isn’t a free resource but it’s 31 pages all about toucans, their life cycle, anatomy, what they eat, role in the rainforest ecosystem, activities and more well worth the cost. 

How about some tropical bird crafts? This 3D macaw parrot from The Craft Train is a great one, also not free but super cute and easy to make with the printables. 

I Heart Crafty Things has a super cute parrot made with cardboard and card stock. If you hang it from the ceiling it will even spin.

Or try the cute cardboard tube parrots from Kids Craft Room, which kids will love to decorate (you could even use feathers if you have some). You can also make a parrot (or whatever other tropical bird you like) from a paper plate with these instructions from Crafts on Sea.