Let the testing begin! Today is the start of the ITBS Testing - all week! I get a class combined of 13 students - I am taking the 7th graders while the other ESOL teacher takes the 8th graders. I am showing them a movie when they finish. I am getting irritated at the whisperers in back. They annoy me!

I spent the morning sending e-mails to my students. I have set them up with e-mail accounts and with diary accounts (no, not on Diaryland or any other!). I am hoping that this will improve their writing skills. I have the computer lab reserved from now until Spring Break, and I am looking for journal prompts and other assignments for them to write about.

Of course, that will be besides their regular work, that is!

Since I am so fascinated by La Loteria - the game! - I asked them to write what they knew about how to play it. I plan on then sending them to Teresa Villegas's website to see her lovely installation and to learn more about the background of the game. I have a couple of other made-up loteria games that I will show them, and then I am going to have them make up their own cards. I may have to have my Mexican students emcee a game or two so that the students from other countries will understand about the poem/riddle they have to write!

Yesterday, I went to the Rubber Stamp and Art Festival. It was fun after I found it - I got pushed into parking at Arena Football first! I knew that there was something wrong when I saw all the men there!

I stayed at the Festival for over two hours. I bought a few stamps - crowns, fleur de lis, and some milagros and two Virgin Marys. I also got tips on how to use an embossing tool and how to clean rubber stamps!

I met the people behind my favorite stamping sites, such as Stamp Camp and Stampland Chicago. I gained some new favorites, like Lost Coast Designs. I also found out about a local stamp shop that gives lessons on cool things like shrine-building and making microscope slide necklaces!

When I got home, it was so gorgeous outside that I painstakingly set up my work table on the back deck. Then I covered it with brown grocery bag paper - stuck on with duct tape! - and set up to prime and paint frames and coasters. I worked a long time on that, while the doggies played out back and in the woods. It was lovely, if a little windy at times.

After dinner, I finally was able to get down to some actual art. I decoupaged the little loteria images to my painted coasters. Then, while looking for foil confetti, I found a couple of pieces of wrapping tissue decorated with funky flowers. I brought that down and decoupaged them over white based coasters.

I finally opened my box of I don't remember how many glue pens to embellish my designs. I overblobbed a tiny bit on some, but my coasters look gorgeous now that the glitter glue and everything has dried. I will next need to layer Modge Podge over them, and I am going to go get some waterproof sealant from my mom so that they can actually be used as coasters.