More necklaces…

I’ve been painting more necklaces…all of these need to be drilled and some of them need their coat of acrylic. I particularly like this one:

I know I’ll be painting paper airplanes on everything now…I really love them!

This cute little robin caught my youngest son’s eye and he came running in the house yelling “MOM GET YOUR CAMERA!” So I did…

There just hasn’t been much time or, to be honest, much drive to craft any more than what you’re seeing. Today I get to clean my house because I am hosting my book club tonight. How we managed to destroy a clean house in one day is really beyond me…the fact that I’ve spent the morning unclogging my kitchen sink might have something to do with it. Abby thought it would be OK to put a good quarter pound of hamburger down the sink…grrrrr.

I really do love painting these little tiles…I can just dab away here and there…and it doesn’t take up much room. If any of you have any ideas for cute little images that I’m capable of painting let me know. Well, back to the kitchen sink…

Happy Crafting!!!

Necklace and card…

I got these little wooden pieces at a garage sale and decided to turn them into pendants. Here is one painted with the over-used owl. smile. But I love these little guys!

Here is one painted with a mushroom and spider. It still needs to be glittered and sealed.

I am going to a baby shower this weekend and made a card. You can find the pattern here. (Thank you for the pattern!) I can’t wait to buy my digital cutter…but this one was cut by hand…

Well, that is about it! Today is my daughter’s last day of school, because she is a Junior (a Junior!) she gets out a week earlier than the rest. She is very excited! I think we’ll have a nice time together next week…I’ll have to think of something special.

Happy Crafting!!!

Craft Funny…

We will have to make do with some cruddy pictures…there is no sunshine to speak of here. I do however have a house, unlike many who lived through tornados over the weekend…God Bless you all!!!

I saw this idea for a succulent ball and really loved it. Had to try it. I picked up two mini hanging baskets with coconut liners at my local Dollar Store and was raring to go! Heck, I even thought they would make great Mother’s Day presents. Mothers, be glad I didn’t follow through…cause this is what you would have ended up with! Here is how it is supposed to look!

In my defense, I didn’t want to add any more Hen and Chicks until I knew they would root in the coconut liner. Cause that sucker is so thick the roots don’t even touch the dirt inside. The dirt that got everywhere when I tried to put the two halves of the baskets together…right before company was coming…in the kitchen…sheesh! It’s been a few days now and they haven’t blown off so maybe I’ll add some more…or maybe I’ll just plant them in the garden and try again next year! Click on the picture to be taken to the link if you are brave enough to make your own…

Over the weekend I got to go to a few garage sales. At one there was an awesome table of free stuff and I picked up:

and

I can’t wait for Valentine’s Day to set up the centerpiece, it looks as though it has never been used! And the bottom picture is an embroidery patterns that includes the fabric and floss. It is printed in another language so I’ve been trying to figure out which embroidery floss goes where…I think I have it. It will really brighten up my office when it is done…I love orange!

Happy Crafting!

Painted bowls, coasters, and wooden tiles…

It has been a busy week, but I find if I leave my paints and something to paint on at the kitchen table there is always time to paint…I get a lot done while browning hamburger…These paintings are up to six layers of paint thick! It takes time for the paint to dry between coats…

My wooden coasters are coming along…I now have two painted…

Only thing left is to clean up the outsides and the edges…

I liked the colors so much I also painted this bowl…and left the background natural. I LIKE it…this will only work for some of the bowls though.

And since that was so much fun I started painting wooden tiles…cause I’m gonna run out of bowls…I want to put a pithy saying in the blank area…how about “Food or Foe”?

I loved adding the dots…made it more frilly. I had two consultants ages 10 and 8 giving me advice…they have wonderful advice! They don’t know the “rules” and aren’t afraid to break them! I have three more wooden tiles in the works…it’s great practice…I learn something new every time I paint…only problem is that I forget what I learned and have to relearn every time!

Happy Crafting!!!

Owls and bowls…

Actually, owls and coasters…

I came across this…

at The Graphic’s Fairy…click on the picture to be taken to the post. I left it laying on the kitchen table for a few days and as I had time I’d try my hand at drawing one of these owls. To my surprise my hubbie and son tried too! Anyways, even though they aren’t finished, here is what I’m doing with my new-found skill of drawing owls…

I still have to add the needles on the branches of the top one and I really like the bottom one better! I let my youngest son pick out the colors for it and he was spot on!!!

In other news…we spent Sunday at the land leased by a hunting club we recently joined…we now have access to 1,800 acres of forest, trails, ponds, swamps, lakes, and the mighty Mississippi…we also used the gun range and we had a picnic. It was heavenly!!! Here is just a quick picture taken with my phone.

And it really doesn’t do it justice…I’m sure you’ll be seeing many, many pictures in the future, because we plan to spend a LOT of our time there this summer and fall.

I also made sourdough bread for the first time this weekend. I made the “starter” on Friday and baked on Sunday before we left so we could eat it on our picnic.

I can’t find the exact recipe on the Betty Crocker website, but it is a pretty basic sourdough recipe. LOVED it! I will be making this again and again…if you like a crusty bread with a soft center this is the bread to try.

Well, I have a crazy-busy week ahead of me, I hope I can get some crafting fit in…but I always do seem to find the time…

Happy Crafting!!!!

What a week!!!

It has been crazy-busy around here!!!

We went to Abby’s Special Olympics track and field event. She ran a relay and her team placed second…she also did the softball throw and the results aren’t in yet. Here she is giving hubbie a high-five after the relay. She was so proud of herself!!!

I went to a garage sale and got these and a couple books…

All the items came to under $3.00! The original price of the book on the left was $24.95 and on the right $12.00. I’m excited about a couple of the patterns in each…

I can’t believe nor understand why this woman who was holding the garage sale spent so much money on so many things! There were piles of books and patterns and piles of fabric…all that consumerism actually turned me off so much that I limited myself to these three things. (The bottle stoppers were packaged together) She commented that she paid full price for the quilting book…sheesh!!!

This was a happy accident! I’ve been working on this bird in the evenings and it is nothing like what I had envisioned!!!

But…it makes me smile…so I’ll keep it…I’m even working in a red one now.

I fixed a kitchen cupboard. See that gap in the back? What you are looking at is the bottom of the cupboard that is pulling away…my dishes were in danger of crashing to the counter! It was much worse than the picture shows…so I added a strip of molding to the bottom, and that will hold the shelf in place.

Here’s the molding. Now that shelf isn’t going anywhere!!! My collection of Correll dishes is safe!!!

And I finished my washcloths. I got 23 washcloths from the fitted flannel sheet, and a nice pile of narrow pieces to be used as rags. Sweet!

Last evening we cleaned two miles of ditches as a part of the adopt-a-highway program. It was for Frito-Lay…and then we all got taken to Pizza Ranch for supper! Good reinforcement lesson for the kids, work hard and get rewarded. Now, we know that isn’t always true…sometimes you work hard and get kicked in the teeth…but it’s still something I want the kids to strive for…

Happy Crafting!!!

What a weekend…

Our weekend started on Friday night with a concert…we went to see Tesla!

Hubbie bought a sweatshirt and had it signed by a band member (Dave)…Tesla is his all-time favorite band…and after this concert they are in my top three!!! They sounded as good or better than they do on their cd’s. We had a ball!

OK, this isn’t the best picture of me…I tried for some “dramatic eye makeup” and forgot to curl my hair. heh heh…ah well, hubbie thought I was cute…

Then on Saturday evening we went to my sister’s wedding reception. It was held in this barn. Yes a BARN! It looks nothing like the barns I’m familiar with…it reminded me of a castle…with the brick walls and fairy lights…it was lovely.

And yesterday was Mother’s Day and I was spoiled rotten. My older son did the laundry, my daughter emptied the dishwasher, and my youngest promised to do anything I asked WHEN I asked. My hubbie got me breakfast and treats and gifts. I spent a lot of the day reading…in bed…spoiled rotten!!!

And this is one thing on my work table today…I’m making washcloths. I ripped up another flannel sheet and am now putting two together and serging the edges. How long will it take before I’m not afraid of my serger? Cause that machine is a MACHINE…

And I’m messing around with paper and embroidery patterns again…

Happy Crafting!!!

It really is solid oak!

The finish is sanding off beautifully!

Crafting palooza…

My youngest sister got married! She asked me to make a card box for the reception…less than one week before the reception!

So I raided my hoard stash and this is the best I could do with supplies on hand and not much time to think of a design…

I glued pearls into silk flowers and used some shell necklaces I’d picked up at garage sales and just went nuts with the hot glue gun. It only took a few hours…I hope she likes it! (She had a destination wedding in Florida – hence the “beachy theme”.

Then I had to make a card. I actually started this one quite some time ago…and just cut out a couple letters here and there. Cause they are a pain in the neck and boring…

Then I got to add the fun stuff! Quilling!!!

This card was inspired by a post I saw at Ann’s blog All Thing's Paper. I thought I bookmarked the exact post…but I guess I didn't. I don’t dare go back to search for it or my whole morning will be gone. I get sucked into all that wonderful art and lose track of time…

Then I made up some mother’s day cards…

Mary, this one is for you. (above)

Mom, this one is for you. And if either of you like the other one’s better…I’d be happy to make them again!!! I couldn’t decide who should get which so I did a coin toss…(They are fun to make) I used an embroidery pattern from The Antique Pattern Library. Again, embroidery patterns translate well into paper.

And LOOK! I got a new couch! This is almost exactly what I’ve been looking for! It was at my church’s garage sale with a matching chair for $20.00. It was made by Howard Mfg Co Inc. It is solid oak with that funky 60’s finish on it with those little black specks. I’m going to sand it down and seal it…keep the wood light. Then refinish the cushions with denim and add some pillows. (There are three back cushions that go on this…I have them in the truck…) Aside from that one button that popped on this cushion the cushions are in perfect shape. No stains, tears, or wear to be found. AWESOME! I can change out the covers on the cushions whenever I want…and I’ll make sure to add a zipper or something so I can wash the cushion covers whenever they need it. I sent my hubbie over to look at it before we bought it and told him to look at it with my eyes…look beyond the finish and the cushion color…he did! I can’t wait. However, my projects are stacking up like logs. I have to do this soon…and get it out of the garage, refinish that dresser that the TV is going to sit on, and paint the basement. Before I can paint the basement I have to clean it. I tell ya, I could start moving and stay moving for six months…it is a little intimidating.

Happy Crafting!!!!

What I would rather be doing….

Please enjoy pictures of my thrift-store-finds…purchased this weekend… (I bought this for the frame)

No crafty crafts happening around here…because I have to clean the house. But I seem to have great talent today in not cleaning the house and not getting anything else done either! I wish I could have a “do-over” today. If I’m not going to do anything anyways I would PLAN on not doing anything and just enjoy the day. Instead I’ve been in “I’ve gotta get going” mode all day. sigh.

 

I had loads of enthusiasm and great intentions to clean like crazy this morning…

And then my kids went off to school, and my hubbie left for work…

 

And after a crazy busy weekend my house/life was quiet! And all that energy drained away…and I haven’t gotten much done beyond turning on the dishwasher and starting a load of laundry…

Oh-well, there is always tomorrow!!!

Happy Crafting!