Monthly Archives: January 2012

Jan31

Crafternoon

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This past weekend I took some time to do some crafting. I found a few tutorials online for bracelets and decided to give one a try. Here is how one of them turned out…

bracelet

Very shabby chic if you ask me. I like the unfinished, frayed edges and it took very little sewing. You could very easily do it without a machine. Here is the link to the tutorial. Give it a try! They are really pretty quick to make and it is a great stash-buster for those random scraps of leftover fabric you just can’t throw away! This yellow was from a pillow I made for the guest bedroom.

Oh! And the button that I used is a piece of seashell I brought home from our girls trip to Florida…a great beach find that was just begging to be used as a button! Wouldn’t you agree? Thought so.

I also got started on a little sewing project that will be a birthday gift for sister #1. I will reveal that after she get it…still have some work to do on it. It is just too hard for me to finish a big sewing project all at once since I have to sit on the floor to sew. Someday I will have a house with a proper “studio” for my creative endeavors and it WILL have a place to sit in a chair and sew.

Jan29

Terrarium lovin’

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I took a community ed class the other week on making terrariums and it spurred my interest. I have always had issues keeping house plants alive. Don’t know what the issue is – probably a combination of things, but terrariums are something I have never tried.  There was actually a book at the library I had rented a few months ago about terrariums – they were all so beautiful, and during the winter months house plants bring a little bit of life to the frozen deadness we get accustomed to.

Anyhow – jumping around a lot here.

Terrariums. Love the look of them. Can I keep one alive? We’ll see!

This weekend I tackled the project. I had gotten a few of the items needed to build a terrarium in the community ed class and then went on a search around town for small, terrarium sized plants. I didn’t have a lot of luck…I got a small pot with two succulents for under $2 on clearance and then some kind of little fern for $2.50. I also bought a bag of moss at the dollar store and had everything else on hand.

Well, until hubs and I stopped at TJMaxx and I found about thirty different glass vessels that I wanted to buy to make terrariums. We decided on a tall cylinder with a lid and the thought that if the terrarium thing didn’t work out, I could use it for decorating.

terrarium

Here is my first terrarium! And I would like to say – I don’t think this is a hobby I will be getting deeply involved with. It was a serious pain in the rear to get everything situated in there! Yikes! Oh, and then the lady that taught the class said that terrariums should always have a little something extra in there. She had a tiny little fairy house, some really cute toadstools, and all kinds of other crap. Now, generally, I am not a big fan of things junkin it up, I like it natural, but there are a few things that my mother-in-law has given me that I’ve become quite fond of. So I got out my shoe box of tiny things mainly reserved for my printer’s box and thought that this little set of deer would be very appropriate and not gaudy at all in a big forest terrarium. I kinda like them in there actually!

terrarium_deer
So cute! Well, I had enough stuff left over to do another so I used the glass I got from the class and made a second terrarium. This one got a little skunk for decoration. :)

terrarium_skunkWe’ll see how they survive. I do hope they will thrive – it sure is a nice sight to see when you walk in the door.

Jan26

I am a 7 year old

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What is it about melting snow that turns me into a seven year old? I could walk around in slush for hours and not get bored. I always looked forward to spring melt on the farm because the water would make tiny little river all the way down the driveway by the barn and I would find different things to float down and see how far they would make it and what would do best at not getting stuck.

Given the opportunity, I would still spend an afternoon doing that.

Today, husband left me the instructions that I could chip off the driveway if I felt like it. Wasn’t that nice of him? So kind. (there wasn’t icepack yet, just snow packed down real good) Well, it was almost 40 degrees this afternoon so I thought that it sounded like the perfect kind of day to tackle it over my lunch break. I got almost all of the driveway done and then noticed that the snowplow had gone by and plowed in the sidewalk approaches so I cleared those out as well. I still had 30 minutes left so I went inside, dug out my rubber boots, and went for a walk.

Most of the sidewalks were clear of snow with just a little water, so I walked in the streets. Kicking the slush and stomping it, dragging my feet through it. And I must say, it still feels good, even at 27. :)

boots in slush

Jan21

New Artwork

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While in Florida, we happened upon a small art gallery co-op and ended up spending hours looking at all of the wonderful pieces. Right off the bat I was drawn to one particular artist, Maria Barry and was obsessed with her work. A good kind of obsession, not a bad kind! She does watercolors and they are AMAZING. Oh my god amazing. The colors are so intense and vibrant – not at all what you would think of in a watercolor. I picked out a bunch of prints that I wanted and slowly narrowed it down. I came home with this beauty titled Jellyfish II.

jellyfish watercolor

Are you freaking out right now? Because I am. I love looking at it. It makes me happy. I just happened to have a frame that fit the print/mat and it is hanging in our awesome bathroom. (speaking of, still haven’t gotten before and after pics up yet, have I?)

My mama also picked out a few of her prints, Jellyfish I and Flamingo Ballerina.

watercolors
Are you feeling obsessed now too?

We actually got to meet her when we went back the next day to pick up prints -she was lovely! It is always fun to meet people with talent like that. I wish we could have taken painting classes from her – what fun that would have been!

Here is a website with some of her work on it – you can order prints from here if you find something awesome you can’t live without – which, let’s be honest, you probably will.