feeling Patriotic

Truth be told I am not much for politics. Don't like to talk about it or hear about it mostly because I don't really get it all -

I don't even get involved with all the hype before or during but

4 years ago I did watch the final count and the INAUGURATION - I had my fingers crossed on who I wanted to win and was seriously happy with the winner.

I made a piece of art to reflect my JOY {4 years ago} and thought I would share it

since, I am again, crossing my fingers... 

do you see it?

here maybe this is clearer

in her hands she is holding the definition of PRIDE...

I even dated it ---and added small words to reflect the feeling of this

piece - see there - AMERICAN

I used buttons, paint, ink, crayon and charcoal pencil to make this piece.

I love the muted colors and the whole juxtaposition its a mixed media collage of

something political - my small insignificant contribution.

I am listing this up in my ETSY shop

www.embellishments.etsy.com if anyone is interested...

anyway I want to share this so I am linking this up to the following parties:

whatever you want wednesdays

the creative spark

whatever goes wednesdays

wow me wednesdays

we did it wednesdays

show me what you got

happy crafting

Project Life - month at a time

o.k. so I have to share something with you - it may sound sad or just make me

look like a fool but here goes....I am the mom that anxiously awaited the time

all my kids would be in school and I could go back to work...sad I know.

I heard it all - that I will miss them once they grew up and that I should

treasure it all and enjoy them while they are young...don't get me wrong

I love my kidlets to DEATH....truly. I do ALOT of stuff with them DAILY

but I still wanted to go back to work....

fast forward to  today---Tuesday august 28th - 2012

My youngest son started kindergarten aug 6th and I have a 5th grader, &

a 7th grader and well can I just say that life is crazier then before.

I mean I am literally driving them to and from school all day long...

with maybe an hour between each pick up - it's pretty crazy!

with that said looks like NO job for me...sort of sad but also its my reality...

I am o.k. with that and am embracing my new role as TAXI DRIVER....

yeah yeah, what the heck does that have to do with PROJECT LIFE?

nothing really other than I am totally happy that I am keeping up with it

(sort of) documenting our everyday --- This months layouts include

the end of JULY through AUGUST - see there life is too crazy.

alot has gone on since July-the kids were in a wedding - I took the kids to

Bonelli Lake and played dress up with the little dude

in August I celebrated my 42nd birthday - had my first mammogram and had a BBQ at

my friends house...

back tracking a bit in July we also added another puppy to the mix...

enjoyed late night smores with the kids

me and the hubbs went on a work trip to Santa Barbara and I kept

momentos from each place we ate & stayed at...and there on the left

are my 2 kidlets walking into their first day of school...pure sweetness...

See, I guess if I had a job there would be really NO time for much else especially

PROJECT LIFE....

o.k. so no more complaining I am sure of it...

well at least not out loud.

Hope your project life is running smoothly.

I am linking this up to the following party:

one-happy-mama-project life linky

the mom creative - project life tuesday

playing with GLUE

I know we all have our favorite ADHESIVE/GLUE...actually I think we

have a selection of several different glues for different types of projects,right?

well my all time favorite - go to - the all purpose GLUE of all glues is

E6000---it is super strong and works on just about any surface...

take for instance these bits of glass that I found at my local thrift store...

just ordinary stemware & a bowl...

grab a few other doo-dads and get to work...

{see that tube -another adhesive}

Add some decoupage medium to the bottom of the bowl then add ...

add a doily or anythign you want to the bottom...I thought this would make the

inside look vintage ---what a treat when reaching in and how cool that by adding

it to the bottomof the bowl you never have to worry about finger prints or the doily

lifting...neat!

then grab the trusty E-6000 and add it to the bottom of the wine glass

then add to the bowl and there you go a fancy recycled set of stemware

turned into a nifty candy dish or soap dish or use it in your office or studio to hold paper clips 

I know crazy cool right????

I am planning on filling mine up with small skeleton heads for HALLOWEEN & maybe some

ornaments for the Christmas season-neat idea, wouldn't you agree?

I am linking this up to the following parties:

MARKET YOURSELF MONDAY

CRAFT-O-MANIAC

MADE BY YOU MONDAY

have a crafty week

hugs

seeing orange

I have orange, brown - any fall colors - swirling in my mind. I am so OVER

this summer - I am anxiously awaiting waking up to cold mornings,

drinking hot coffee, sitting by the fire, wearing socks...basically

I long to get cozy!!! I keep telling myself by crafting with FALL in mind

I may be channelling my energy to the weather GODS and bring upon

 FALL/AUTUMN sooner

{it could work, right?}

anyway, I have pumpkins all over the house right now and had a light bulb moment!!!

why not share my ideas with you all and if I can figure this LINKY thing

maybe we can have a party and share ideas with lots of folks...

so here's what I am callin' it...

here is a photographic edit that I made to make my first set of PUMPKINS

look rustic and aged and I gotta tell you that I am lovin' this look however, in real life they

don't currently look like that but shoot---I may be able to make them a bit more

tattered & rustic --- good jumping off point...

so here is what MY first set of PUMPKINS looked like -

this is just a random self drawn pattern...I like the odd shape,

looks more rustic {ok note to self stop saying RUSTIC}

I sewed the pumpkin up with the seam on the outside, then I added a

found stick for the stem but you could use anything you wanted for the stem.

then I added some jute around the neck to cover up my thread and included

a hand cut burlap leaf---just to give it a fresh picked look :

then I just painted the PUMPKIN up....using orange first and then

white to add some shading...

here they are in TECHNICOLOR

and of course to make it extra special I added a fun tag to make it MY own...

I gotta tell you I love it...

Well I hope you like it and hope you back link me so I can come by and see your cool PUMPKIN 

I am linking this up to the following parties:

FRIDAY FROLIC

once upon a weekend

WEEKEND SHOW OFF

FREESTYLE FRIDAY

THE SHABBY NEST

A CRAFTY SOIREE

happy crafting

xo

it's a BLOG HOP

I am super jazzed today - this is my very first blog hop as a player not a participant and we, over at TUESDAY ALCHEMY

are hosting a blog hop and you're invited...to play along in our

LEARN WITH JOY/photo inspiration...

a back to school challenge, if you will.

Here is my take on our challenge...A sweet little BACK TO SCHOOL notebook.

Here is the cover

and the inside...I guess it's more of a sketch book rather than a notebook...but it'll work

with any back to school ideas or plans...I used a fun image by CRAFTY CAT---her images are amazing...please go check them out....

we have three sponsors, and will be giving away two prizes for participating in the challenge and one prize for participating in the blog hop. You don't have to follow me (unless you really want to *wink*) and visit the other blogs on my list and leave a comment on their posts for your chance to win a fun prize or 2. The more comments you leave, the more chances you have to win. Easy Peasy!!!

Tina - You Are Here

Katya Your Next Stop

Kelli 

Maria 

Corrinne 

Tuesday Alchemy

Marion

Shell

Laine

ok ya'll have a fun time visiting the blog hop players and good luck! May the crafting force be with you all...

xo

for PEET sake

o.k a couple of weeks back I shared this fun little HALLOWEEN bucket

that I made using some gardening peet pots & some burlap.

Well I had a bunch of peet pots let and decided to make some more sweet treat buckets

but this time how about a set for THANKSGIVING or FALL...

How cute would these look on your thanksgiving table with some candies for your guests

while they wait for dinner --- or some crayons for the kiddos table...

same steps...wrapped the pots with a strip of burlap - then added a velvety cool

maple leaf and some cute little rose buds and if you are a crafty girl I am sure you have

several choices of stamps to add to your pot...

here is a view from the top...pure sweetness.

here is my bucket o' flowers that I use to create alot of my crafty projects...

I am finally letting go of some - it is impossible to look through this bucket with out

a serious spillage - so I am grabbing a bunch and bagging them up and putting them

up in my shop for a really great price....check it tomorrow...

hope you like this version of these cute peet pots!!

I am linking this up to the following challenges:

MARKET YOURSELF MONDAY

CRAFT-O-MANIAC

MADE WITH LOVE MONDAY

UNCOMMONLY YOURS LINKY PARTY

SEW CUTE TUESDAY

ONE PROJECT AT A TIME

TIP ME TUESDAY

TOO CUTE TUESDAY

TA-DA TUESDAYS

SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT

happy crafting---xoxoxo



the one about a black cat

boy it sure has been hot here - like melting the witch HOT!

I have had trouble focusing on crafting or blogging about crafting...its all I can do to be still and get

myself cooled down. I did play with some fun things I got at the 1.00 store. I have seen on various

blogs people making their own apothecary jars  and well my store didn't have the right

jars to make those but I found these instead and tried to figure something out...

I used some of my trusty spray paint -and I gotta tell you I wasn't sure that the paint 

would adhere to the glass but it sure did and it was such a nice glossy finish... I painted

the bottom candle stick in black and the votive holder I used

some of this can of frosting (that I have had for over a year now) on the top holder

my idea was to spray paint a design onto the jar but it was way to hot to stand outside and

figure that out - so after a quick spray I decided to use these...

these negative stencils I created using Tim Holtz dies....I used regular black paint

and the stencil to pounce paint on the frosted votive holder. See how light it was?

I waited till it dried then went over it with a paint brush to darken the image up a bit...

see how much darker it got....Then I added some fun trim...to the top - ball fringe

and just added it with a glue gun...

and of course it needed some more color so I added an orange tulle bow to the front...

super cute right? Looking at it now it almost looks like a GOBLET - like a

Halloween drinking cup right??? Now before you stop and ask yourself what the heck

would I do with this? Well I could see this holding a candle (duh) or why not fill it with some treats

make a bunch and line them down the middle of your Halloween table...Genius right?

oh and that HUGE pumpkin there is NOT only the coolest thing ever.

Well try it out and have fun with it. Hope your day and weekend is nice and cool where you are...

we'll be staying nice and cool in the air conditioned house here...spending time

crafting...so I'll have more to share late in the week.

Have a wonderful weekend.

xo

I am sharing this at the following parties:

show and tell saturday

friday frolic

freestyle fridays

spotlight saturday

the saturday 7

witchy Poo

I got the HALLOWEEN bug and I have shared an easy project for you already and

wanted to share this sweet card that is also Halloween but a different & odd color scheme.

I picked an image from LEJ designs to play in this weeks challenge over at

TUESDAY ALCHEMY which happens to be a color challenge

sweet right?

and here's my card...

I know not exactly the right hue of colors but it still works...donthc'a think?

please join us this week over at
TUESDAY ALCHEMY
for your chance to win some fabulous prizes and just to mingle.

hope you are getting ready for FALL and have begun your Halloween prep.

have a crafty week
xo

Washi LOVE anyone?

have you fallen in LOVE with WASHI yet?

washi tape that is....have you seen all the great sales on this fabulous tape?

Do you own a few rolls or maybe have a small collection?

like me...

Because I am constantly buying more tape and not really knowing for sure

what colors I have {luckily I have yet to double up}but I decided to make something to help

me out in remembering what I have at home and of course had to make it

CRAFTILICIOUS----

I made a sweet compact - 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 key ring style file for my tapes.

and added a fun little tag cover to it...

Here are all my black & gray tapes

my blues & greens

and my reds & pinks

I suppose there are some other filing systems for tapes like a small

drawer and lay them in there so you can actually see all your tapes, perhaps use a dowel and stack them

there are a bunch of ideas - but I think this is much cuter and I can take it with me too...

sweet right? I LOVE it

try it YOU'll like it.

I am linking this up to the following parties:

market yoruself monday

craft-o-maniac

made with love monday

made by you mondays

sew cute tuesday

uncommonly yours linky party

handmade tuesdays

one project at a time

have a crafty week



out with the OLD

and IN with the NEW

I know awhile back I shared this groovy wreath I had planned to use all year long

and just change up the side panels to coordinate with the different seasons.

Well from the very beginning, I knew the wreaths were way too small for the door.

But figured I could make it work

then I found these straw wreath and they are super large and

at the dollar store - so I figured let's try this again.

I used some scraps of white & muslin and some hot glue and that was pretty much

all it took to make these 2 cool wreaths...so here is how we started.

I made thin strips of white and wrapped the entire wreath up .

I just added the strips to the other strip and tried not to add too much glue to the actual

wreath - just in case I changed my mind later...{which is HIGHLY probable}

then I cut smaller strips that I could TIE around the the wreath...and just did that for around

an hour or so until I was done with both wreaths

and after an hour this is what I was left with....cute right?

with some left over muslin I made a nice big bow for the top of the wreaths and a hanger - to

hang on my door

and here they are on my door. I just love the subtle color and best part is that I

am not done yet, I know (can't leave well enough alone) But I think it is easy to add a

some little bits to it for ALL the different holidays...

I gotta tell you that I think like any true crafter we are always looking to

re-do something that we think could be better and that's my theory behind these wreaths.

I can't wait to share with you the other little bit that I made that was way easier

and will set the erst of my porch to a nice entrance for my guests...

Hope you like it and maybe try it out yourself....

I am linking this up to the following parties:

thursdays are your days

transformations thursdays

a crafty soiree

strut your stuff thursday

EBTKS

freestyle friday

spotlight saturday

the saturday 7

happy crafting

xo