Sketchbook

I've been playing with watercolors lately and thought I'd just post some pictures from my sketchbook.  Just for the fun of it.  Maybe not exactly great works of art, but at least bright and colorful!

After I sketched them, I made some more and cut them out and glittered them...

Inspired  by my son who was sitting with me while I was doodling....

Have you used your imagination today?

To see LOTS of creative genius... go to The Girl Creative! Loads of crafty, creative links!

Fun Kid's Valentine Activity

You probably did this sometime in your childhood, but it is one of those fun projects that amaze kids, so I thought it would be something to remind you about.  Buy some white carnations (light pink will work too), and cut the bottoms right before you put them in the water.  Add some food coloring to the water and the flowers will suck the color into their petals.  This will also work with daisies!

I put these together yesterday, so this is 24 hours later.  You can already see the color in the petals!  If you get carnations that are a little bit closed, they work the best because they are still drawing water.

It would be really fun to do 5 smaller vases with 5 different colors in them.  If you give it a try, comment here and let me know!

Have fun!

Here are some vases on Amazon which would be cute to use for this project.

Mikasa Cheers Set of 3 - 7-Inch Bud Vases

13" GLASS VASE ON RACK

DCI Magnetic Bud Vases, Set of 5

Don't Discount Thrift Stores - Thrify Finds

My friends and I had so much fun hunting through thrift stores today.  We really did find some fun things.  I generally buy glassware, while one of my friends goes for linens and tablecloths.  Whatever you collect or search for, you can find it it you thrift enough.  My other friends buy kids clothes, books, whatever! 

This is one of the things my friend Janet found and knew I would love and she was right. I didn't take a before picture, but imagine this little stand in an ugly gold finish.  Now see the "after" which I painted up with some light blue spray paint.  She actually got this free at one of the thrift shops!  I also go the cheese dome as a freebie at a thrift shop.  The plate is a Martha Stewart plate which Janet also found for me (knowing my love for pink!)  It really is amazing what a spritz of spraypaint can do!

I also found this little apothecary jar on the right which I plan to fill up with Valentine's Day candy.  I LOVE
apothecaries!    Oh... and this one was $1.

Everything in this tray is from a thrift store or dollar store except for those little angels which my Aunt Gretchen sent to me.  I need some flowers for my vases.

Tami

It Pays To Ask!

Around Christmastime, I was shopping in our local dollar store.  They had some adorable hand-painted keychains on a display that I thought was awesome.  I asked the lady there what they were going to do with it.  She said they may use it again, but that she would ask the store owner. She took my phone number and I forgot all about it.  The other day, the owner called and asked me if I still wanted it.  I said, "YES! How much do you want for it?"  She said, "$1.00"!  Whew hoo!  Here it is on my table (with my Valentine's centerpiece).  It isn't staying here...

  Here it is closer.... it is all hand painted and that sign comes off of the top.

 And here is what I've done with it in my craftroom....  I am going to use the sign and make a topper for it,
but I haven't had time to do that yet. 

I had these black curtain clips which I found at Salvation Army long ago and they fit perfectly

over the balls on the ends of the rods, so they are holding the pictures.  I can change them out

as I get new pictures developed.  Love it!

So, my Aunt Gretchen sent our boys a microscope for Christmas with a follow-up box of rock specimens for them to look at with the microscope. They were really cool and I ended up using my camera to get a few macros of the rocks. I thought I'd share because they are so neat.  You could barely see the little hairs sticking up on these rocks with the naked eye....

Okay..... my inner nerd is coming out... but I thought it was pretty cool.

Also, the birds found our Christmas tree which we decorated for them.  It took a long time for them to find it!

Hope your weekend was a great one and that you stayed warm.  I think our high was 6 today and our low is supposed to be -12.  Brrr!!!

Attention Crafty Ladies

I have to share with you this CUTE project done by Kim and Kris at The DIY Dish!  You won't even believe how simple it is to make these placemats and the great prize they are offering up!   I've made several of their projects and they are always well explained step-by-step.  Once you've seen the video, make sure you leave a nice comment on their site, The DIY Dish, because they are having a drawing for 10 prizes! 



I've never embedded a video before, so let's hope this works!  Enjoy!

Snow Day 2011

It is awesome to have my little guys home unexpectedly.  We spent the afternoon shoveling the driveway and making snow forts.  Unfortunately, by the time we were done shoveling the snow into fort-worthy piles, we were too tired to play in them!  The piles will be there tomorrow. 

Anyway, here are some pictures of our front yard this morning.  The snow is still falling!  We probably have about 6-8 inches on our side of the mountain in upstate NY....

This is taken out our living room window....

The Christmas Tree come Bird Feeding tree.... they still haven't found the food! 

The corner of the deck on the side of our house.  So pretty!

The sun started peeking though...

Off to take a rest.  All of that shoveling has worn me out!

I posted this at



It is a bit like this outside, don't you think?  Sooo pretty!

Pack of 2 Musical Scenic Pond Christmas Snow Globe Glitterdomes


Paricon Winter Lightning Sled (3-Pack)
Flexible Flyer Snow Screamer

Bird Feeder Tree

Taking the tree down after Christmas is somewhat disappointing .  All of that hard work putting it up.... all of that pretty glitter gone... that cute little tree lying on the ground on its side looking all sad. 

Well, this year, we decided to reuse the tree after we undecorated it.  I love it!  My boys and I made bird food ornaments out of two-day-old bread and some old English Muffins which were a bit dry.  We also strung popcorn for the birds. Here's my little guy with the bowl of goodies for on the tree....

It is on the deck outside of our kitchen window so I can watch for birds while I do dishes and cook.  Of course, let's hope it isn't a bird trap for these guys who also hang out outside my window all day.

And yes, they brought me a present.  This picture is taken from inside my window.  They are our neighbor's cats and I feel them about 10 pieces of dry food a day.  The way they hang around, you'd think I was feeding them sushi!  So sweet!  Look at those faces!

Thank you, Catz!  But Just SAY NO to Birdies!

Anyway, back to our tree...

We used a large cookie cutter (the new scalloped one I got in NY City) and cut ornaments out of bread. We put holes in the rounds and tied string through the holes.   We then spread peanut butter over some of them and "dipped" the pb side in sesame seeds and sunflower kernals.  We left some plain so that the birds can eat just the bread.  We also decided to use the outsides of the bread too so we won't be wasteful.  I think the birds are going to like it! 

We popped popcorn and strung it with needle and thread...  (don't mind the purple shirts... it was school pride day at school and our school colors are purple and white). Only two fingers were pricked.  It only takes once to learn that lesson!

One bowl for stringing... one bowl for eating!

Now we just have to wait for the birds to find it!  Of course, overnight we might have some furry friends who decide that this is all for them!  That's okay too.  We love our woodland creatures and it is so easy, we can make more in the morning for the birds!