Fruit

Once you start, it is hard to stop.  Maybe I'll try a banana tonight!

(Apple)

(Strawberry)

Make Do and Destash: Needle-felted Orange

My son spotted these adorable vegetables by the Felt Baron at B Street Mercantile.  He absolutely loved the orange but it was $7 and out of our price range.

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He was really disappointed that we couldn't take one home. And I couldn't blame him.They are so cute!!! 

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I looked around at home to see if I could duplicate it but I didn't have the right felt.  Then, I remembered that I had some leftover wool roving.  I pulled out my needlefelting supplies and made this:

Not quite the same but Noodle was thrilled with it!!!  And it only took about fifteen minutes to make!  Saved $7 and managed to destash a little bit. I consider that a win!

If you can afford one of the Felt Baron's adorable creations, do it! They are much better than anything I could ever make. If not, it's nice to know there may be resources lurking in your crafting stash!

PICK YOUR PLUM is Turning 2!!!!

On Monday, April 29, beginning at 7am MDT,  PICK YOUR PLUM will be hosting an all-day 2nd birthday party!!!  There will be all kinds of special prizes and games all day long on their Facebook page.  One of the best treats will be a 20% off coupon code that you can find on the Facebook page. Go grab the code now so you can be ready when the special sales go live tomorrow morning!!!  There will be SIX different products to choose from. I've seen a sneaky peeky of a few of them and they are going to be great!!!

Once you have your coupon code in hand, make sure you to be at PICK YOUR PLUM starting at 7am MDT.  I'll be there!  Can't wait to see all the surprises they have in store!!!



(I have found so many wonderful deals at PYP over the years that I decided to become an affiliate)

OH HAPPY DAY Craft Night

I have been wanting to attend one of Jordan Ferney's Craft Nights since she started them but they always sell out before I get  a chance! Jordan writes the wonderful creative blog OH HAPPY DAY. Last night, I had the opportunity to attend a special letterpress night at Jordan's studio in San Francisco.

When we entered the studio, we found amazing goodie bags waiting for us!  There was a fantastic sweatshirt from Hello Apparel. It was even in a size that would actually fit me!

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Usually, freebies like this are for much thinner people. And I adore this sweet succulent in a magnetic planter:

 

The problem with this planter is that now I want the whole system! You can put up a metal sheet on a wall (or use your fridge) and get a whole series of these pots on a wall.  And the succulant is so sweet! Thank you, Succulence for the wonderful little plant and thanks to Urbio for the awesome pot!

And then there was a beautiful necklace with a message in Morse Code! Mine says "lucky." I love it!!! Now, I want more!

Thank you so much, COATT!  I love it!!!

There was also a lovely camera strap and a set of letterpress cards that Jordan made.  I'll have to get photos of those later.  Jordan's friend, Andrea, made some fabulous food for us and I was so grateful.  I gobbled down the salad, lemonade and homemade oreos. Yum!!!

Once we got over all the wonderful goodies, we started the class.  Jordan demonstrated how to use her remarkable press:

It was really fun to watch her change the ink in the rollers:

Everyone had such a good time printing their very own cards!!!  We used wonderful cards from Paper Source to print our lettepress creations:

I absolutely loved the process.  There is something so meditative about printing letterpress pieces. I could have done it all night. I can't believe I didn't take a photo of my cards!  We ended up making twenty cards (10 of each design).  So fun!! I'm going to watch Jordan's blog like a hawk in the hope that I will get to attend another of her Craft Nights!!!  Thanks for a great time!!!

See the official recap here.

Life Book: Week 12

I haven't shared any creative projects lately because I have been in a bit of a slump.  I haven't been happy with anything that I have been creating. My goal this year was to create some sort of creative work every single week.  Now, I'm behind.  LIFE BOOK is in Week 17 and I just created the Week 12 project.  Still, I'm very happy with it:

Since Mother's Day is coming up, I thought I would create this piece around that theme. I asked Noodlebug what he thought this was a picture of. He immediately said, "It's a picture of you hugging me."

Mission accomplished.

LEGO Head

My son reminded me this morning as I was about to head out the door that today is Crazy Hair Day at school. Yikes!!! There is no mousse, hairspray or spray-on hair color to be found in our house.  Luckily, my sweet friend Kim had already given me an idea.

Behold, LEGOHEAD!!!

I grabbed a box of LEGOs and selected a bunch of the flat ones.  It seems like the square four-peg LEGOs and the rectangular eight-peg LEGOs work the best.  I took two that were the same size and sandwiched Noodlebug's hair in between. Done!

We'll see how long they stay but it looks kind of cute for now.

Mission accomplished.

Rube Goldberg Machine Delight

It has been a hard week.

This is making me happy today....

Thinking of West and Boston

What a difficult week!  Just when we are reeling from the tragedy in Boston we are faced with another one in my home state of Texas.

My grandparents lived in Waco, Texas and my mother grew up there.  I spent all of my childhood regularly traveling to Waco.  West, TX is just north of Waco and both are in McClennan county. My grandfather represented McClennan County in the Texas legislature.  We have strong connections to that part of Texas. That is why it is that much harder to hear about what is happening in the little town of West.

I always loved going through West.  This charming little town is known as the Czech Heritage Capitol of Texas.  It is also home of the official kolache of the Texas Legislature.  A wonderful day in Texas is a visit to West for antiquing and some delicious kolaches. 

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Each Fall, they have a wonderful festival called Westfest which is a really fun Czech and Polka Festival. My parents took me there when I was little.

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And now this sweet little town has been devastated by an industrial accident.  My heart breaks for West.  The events of this week can truly shake one's faith.  But we have to remember how many people have raced to help--how many people have offered food and shelter---how people all over the country have asked how they can help Boston and West.  There is good.  We can see it even in the face of tragedy.  My thoughts and prayers are with Boston and West today.

Playing with Our New Book

I have had so much fun exploring Jean Van't Hul's ARTFUL PARENT book.  Noodlebug and I finally sat down yesterday to try a project out of the book.

We decided to start with Salty Watercolors:

Noodlebug took the whole project very seriously:

The finished product:

He had so much fun with this project that we ended up doing two more!!!  Noodlebug often gets frustrated with the traditional cake watercolors because the color never comes out the way he wants. So, I invested in some liquid watercolors from Discount School Supply:

 I'm so glad I did. He loves them!!! I have found some great deals through Discount School Supply and I am now an affiliate for them. We are already planning our next creative project.

I am completely blocked creatively. I can't seem to get myself to get caught up with LIFE BOOK and I'm getting more and more behind. It's nice to be able to sit down with my son and just do something creative. Thanks to THE ARTFUL PARENT for the inspiration!

Happy Mail!

I love getting mail. And this is how I felt when I saw a box from Amazon on my porch yesterday:




Three of my favorite bloggers have come out with books and it seems like I ordered them ages ago!!! I have been waiting and waiting and watching the different blog tours roll out and wondering when MY books were going to arrive. And here they are!!!

First, I got A HOMEMADE YEAR by Jerusalem Greer.  Jerusalem writes the lovely blog Jolly Goode Gal.  Her sweet little book is Christian-based work filled with inspiration for a whole year of crafts, recipes and devotions. The book begins in the Advent season and works its way through the church year.  I can't wait to try some of her family traditions!!!

The second book is from the wonderful Cathe Holden who writes JUST SOMETHING I MADE.  Cathe makes these unbelieveable rosettes and now she has a book/kit so I can learn to make my own. The kit even comes with pre-scored patterened paper!!!  Cathe is so amazing and she lives in my town!  I can't wait to take her class at Art is You this Fall.  (there are still spots left if you want to join me!)

The last book is by Jean Van't Hul from THE ARTFUL PARENT blog.  I get so many great ideas from Jean's blog and e-zines so I couldn't wait to get her book.  This is one fat little book filled with inspiration!!!  Jean takes you through creating art spaces for children and selecting art supplies.  She explains why art and creativity are important for children and then ends with a ton of art activities that you can do with your kids.  I can't wait to delve in!!!

I only wish I could skip work and start trying out the ideas in these three books!!!  What a treasure of creative ideas!

Use the Soap

I used to have quite the collection of fancy Italian bath soaps.  I keep them in a lovely jar in the bathroom and I used to love to open the lid just to smell them. I never used them, though. These were my fancy soaps.  For special occasions.  Not to be used!

Then one day, I was about to take a bath and thought I would pamper myself by using one of those lovely soaps.  What was I waiting for?  I used the soap and I kept on using it. Now, I have only two bars of fancy Italian soap left.

I started using this same philosophy with my "good"dishes and my real silverware.  If I only ever use these items on special occasions, they may never get used.  And what about my perfume?  And fancy underwear?  I was holding onto all of these things and never using them for a variety of reasons.  Wanting to preserve them for special moments only or fearing that if I used them, there would never be any more. 

The problem with this thinking is that there may be no more special occasions. I could die tomorrow morning without having had the pleasure of using all of those things.  I started to learn that lesson when my father's life was cut short at 55 in a pedestrian/auto accident.  And it has been brought to the forefront of my mind with the recent release of interviews with some of the Newtown families.  I could only make it through two interviews until I completely broke down.  It reminded me yet again how precious and fleeting life is.  I must cherish my loved ones every single day.  If my son wants some cuddle time while I am folding laundry, I STOP FOLDING LAUNDRY.  Laundry can wait, love cannot. 

This year, I am trying to embrace life.  I am not putting things off anymore. And I am taking the time to cherish the people in my life.  In the time I have left, I'm going to break out the good stuff and celebrate now.  Because "night cometh" and we need to use the good soap now.