Around Here Lately

Hello friends! It’s been a while!

Wow, it’s been quite the ride around here for the last few weeks!

So, I thought I’d give you the nutshell low-down of some of the things that have been happening around here lately!

1. There was a lot of this! My husbands family came to visit in March, which was closely followed by my folks visiting from Germany to celebrate my father’s 70th birthday with us!

{Please ignore my sinusitis induced swollen face!}

 

 

 

And this is the portrait I painted for him as a birthday gift.

 

2. Both my daughter and my husband are currently rehearsing for plays at the local community theater. Two different plays.  Which means rehearsals every night and all weekends between the two of them!

 

{Anna during the performance of her last play!}

 

3. While we got through the winter with very little sickness, it seemed to have caught up with us now. First I went down with some icky sinusitis (right in the middle of my folks visiting!) then the kids went down with something too, even though not nearly as bad. They had the good sense to wait with the real icky stuff until my folks left and Max is still down with it right now, having been home for 4 days, sick!

 

4. I have also had a bit of a redecorating bug, as I have already mentioned, and in addition to being busy sewing a bunch of stuff for the redecorated bedroom (curtains, pillow cases, duvet covers, etc.) I ended up making a few decorative pieces for various spots throughout the house, too.

 

 

 

I’m not quite done yet. I think the living room is next in terms of a redo, which will require quite a bit of DIYing on my part as well. I’m planning on using some of our existing Billy system, but as they don’t make our color anymore, I will most likely have to paint the lot to make it uniform with the extension pieces I am planning on adding and making into a custom “built-in.” However, that is a whole different story and will probably be one of those  “I do a little when I can” kind of projects, as well as a “now that I have this down, let’s paint all the walls while we can and have a minor renovation” type of project.

For now I have, yet again, given my little IKEA drawers another make-over. I think this is the third décor/color change they have been through over the years. I wish IKEA still sold those! They are so much fun to alter!

 

 

4. And while looking for something else I came across the instructions for these little beauties and I just adore them! I’ve made two so far but I think I have a few more in me! Aren’t they so cute?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-V9qmKE9wN4

 

My idea at the time was to make a paper mache mannequin stuck on a candle holder with a chicken wire skirt for my earrings, but then I cake across these sewn ones and I just had to try them!

One as a pin cushion:

 

 

By the way, for this one, I used a “candle holder” that I made this way from dollar store items.

 

The other is for my earrings:

 

 

I used drawer pulls for the top of the mannequins.

 

5. Of course, there is also always the garden. Lots to do there! Planting, harvesting, processing ... weeding!

 

 

    

 

 

And Mr./Mrs. Squirrel is back too, which would explain the disappearing strawberries!

 

{We caught him/her in the act this morning!}

 

6. Even though I’ve been doing a lot less of the painting kind of art these last few weeks, I have still kept up with  it somewhat. I’ve been working on several faces with the pastel/watercolor/gesso method. Totally new experience for me and really a different style, but I’m loving it!

 

 

7. I am currently really into expressing myself through things other than just paintings, so I am also working on my first art doll!  Totally still a work in progress at this point:

 

 

8. The other thing that’s been rocking my world:

 

 

I love, love, love this pot! It’s amazing! And I’m sure it will be the subject of many a blog post and recipe to come!

For now, let’s just say I haven’t cooked a day without it since I got it!

What is it?

InstantPot is an electric, programmable pressure cooker!

My favorites so far: Perfectly soft boiled eggs in 3 minutes, a full pot of potatoes in 10 minutes, beautiful, rich bone broths/stock in 1 hour (!!!), fluffy brown rice in 20 minutes, whole chicken, incredibly moist and tender in 25 minutes! Oh, and it makes yogurt too (dairy and non-dairy) .... and I get to make it in mason jars!! Oh and dairy-free cheese cake - yep, in the pressure cooker! In 20 minutes!

Basically, it has taken over the function of a pressure cooker, the crock pot, the rice cooker, the yogurt maker and so much more! And the insert is stainless steel, so no issue with non-stick coatings and such!

And non of the scary parts of pressure cooking are involved with this little machine! It has a bunch of built in safety features and  clean-up is so easy!

Anyway, as you can see, I am totally in love with the thing!

If you are interested in knowing more, there’s a nice little video in the amazon listing I linked you to.

And no, I am not affiliated with InstantPot, I just love the pot!

 

9. I’ve been working on quite a few blog posts recently. But they seem to evolve. So, they started out one way and while writing, they turn another way! As a result, I have quite a few blog posts in my draft folder, none ready to post and all in progress. I will get them all to you at some point. I hope!

 

10. There has also been a fair bit of this.

 

Gelli printing is so much fun!

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Painted Feathers - Dream Catcher

So, recently, I have developed a “thing” for dream catchers!

I have always liked them, but of late they have shown up for me all over the place, even in my dreams. A girl can take a hint!

Even though initially, I didn’t know what to do with it, once I relaxed into the notion of making myself a completely personalized dream catcher, ideas started to tumble in left, right and center.

Not only that, it all fell into place!

For years now, I have had this empty spot above my bed. It has never really happened to me before, that I couldn’t easily find a "decorating solution.” Sure , sometimes I would put something some place, then a while later find something better, but I’ve never had a spot where just nothing felt right! Except for that space above my bed! Anything I have put there, just didn’t feel right. It didn’t belong there.

But after listening to the whispers about the dream catcher, and we’re talking quite a big one, it is finally clear that this is what that empty wall has been waiting for!

 

So, I went and looked for some more unconventional dream catchers on the web for further inspiration and what a treasure trove I found!

 

Let me share just a few with you:

I was so inspired by this amazing dream catcher, made by Rachel Rice! Isn't it just gorgeous? It set all sorts of idea wheels in motion in my brain!

And I love the organic shape of this one.  It’s flowing and multi-level and just amazing!

And this one - so pretty! And all made from paper!
And one last one - so colorful and more unusual!

 

I’m hoping to make mine somewhere in between all of them, even though I will keep it in more neutral tones, with a few pops of color.

 

This is going to be quite the labor of love, and an ongoing project for a while, but I am already having so much fun with it.  So far I’ve wrapped the hoop in suede bands and stretched the crochet inside of it!

The hoop is 14” and was a left-over from my pantry project many years ago! I had used the hoops around the lazy susans, to stop the cans from sliding off!

 

 

I’ve been going through my little treasures, to find things that I want to incorporate in that dream catcher “dangles.”. It has been such fun picking out things that felt like they wanted to be part of it. Crystals, gems, lace, rocks, beads - yes, all of it will be part of the dream catcher.

 

 

And feathers.

Feathers will be playing a big part, as they often do in dream catchers.

I also want to incorporate my word for the year (courage) into the dream catcher, as well as some other words and phrases that are important reminders to me.

Initially I thought I’d make some paper feathers from some of my art work and write the words on there, and I may still do that in addition, but then I remembered seeing words written on actual feathers somewhere and I just HAD to try it!

The perfectionist in me was quite exasperated with my haphazard approach of “just trying it” and felt very strongly that I should be doing some good research on this first. Watch some tutorials. You know, learn how to “do it right!”

But, I’m happy to report that she really didn’t get a say in this, as I just wanted to go and try it! 

And it’s so much easier than I thought!

 

 

I am seriously in love with this and I think there will be many more stamped, decorated and otherwise made meaningful feathers before my dream catcher is all said and done!

As my first one, I used a somewhat more ragged looking feather, just in case it all goes wrong. However, it didn’t go wrong and I love the less-than-perfect edges!

 

Ok, let’s get started.

You will need: some tape, a small brush and just about any medium, paint etc. you want, as long as it’s not water based. So, acrylic paint is fine, acrylic ink is fine, solvent ink pads are good, oil based pens, glitter pens, metallic paint and pens, sharpies, alcohol ink - whatever you have on hand.

If you have none of the above, glue and glitter will work too. Stickles are great for this, as is just some glue and perfect pearl powder.

Failing that, glue and glimmering eye shadow will do the trick too.

See what I mean about this being versatile?

And if  you are going to stamp your feather, you’ll need some stamps, of course.

I would also recommend a clear, glossy fixative spray.  It will keep everything nicely adhered to the feather once you’re done and really brings out the depth of color on your writing/drawing on the feather. Acrylics tend to dry a little dull on a feather, so this will take care of that!

 

1. Tape down your feather to your work surface. Try and do this as gently as possible and as much on the edge as possible, to give yourself maximum working space. Make sure you catch enough of the edges though to keep your feather steady and all the little feathery bits in place.

 

 

2. Start decorating. I started at the end of the feather, then did the word later, but you can start anywhere you like.

On this feather I used Pearlescent acrylic ink, gold stickles, diamond stickles and some of the glue and perfect pearl powder mix I used for the word.

 

 

3. Writing. I made up a tiny bit of of a paste of mod podge and some gold perfect pearls powder and mixed it together. Then I wrote the word “courage” on the feather. At first, very faintly, with just a tiny bit of water, so if I made a mistake I could maybe wipe it off.

Then I went over it again, this time with a stronger mix, just to strengthen it.

 

 

You could also brush your feather with mod podge or Elmer’s glue, or write in Elmer’s glue, or paint patterns in glue, then sprinkle some glitter on, shake it off and let it dry!

 

4. Let it dry. The stickles took a while to dry, but I LOVE the raised quality! So shiny and they look almost like little beads! Love it!

 

 

5. Seal it. My last step was to give both sides of the feather a couple of spray coatings with a clear, acrylic fixative spray. Do this outside though please, this stuff stinks!

And voila! Here’s the finished feather!

 

 

And here’s another!

 

This one I stamped, sprayed with alcohol inks, decorated with sharpies and stickles. I haven’t sprayed it with the fixative yet however, hence it’s still looking a little dull!

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My latest little canvas

If you’re following me on Facebook or on Twitter, you’ll have already seen the little canvas I finished this weekend!

Here she is:

 

 

The words on the canvas say: “What is calling you"?” “What makes your soul sing?” “What makes you come alive?” {Follow the whispers!}

And the really amazing thing for me about these somewhat more uncontrolled background methods is, when things seemingly randomly connect up.

On this little canvas, I typed the words on some book pages I had lightly gesso-ed, but some of the words were still faintly visible. On the word strip where it says “Follow the Whispers,” the words that are still visible behind the typing are “to go,” “the smart” and “way or course”! How totally awesome is that?!

I so love it!

 

 

 

She didn’t make it into my Etsy store - she sold before I could list her! It fills my heart with such gratitude and excitement when my art sells to people! I mean, real life people, who hang my art in their homes or offices! Wow! This will take some getting used to, but I have a feeling that it will be one of those rather more delightful “getting used tos"!”

I have a whole series of these little canvases in mind however and I’m already working on the next one, so keep your eyes peeled if you’re interested in one of them!

 

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Beautifying The Garden - Easy, Inexpensive Solar Lanterns

It’s summer time and everything moves outside - except for around here, where everything starts to move inside! We do, however, have the privilege to spend most of the rest of the year in lovely temperatures and outside, including the “Winter” when everyone else is holed up!

Just lately, I’ve been gardening a lot, turning much of our unused patio and portions of our yard into planting areas for fruits and vegetables! I have been growing things in the odd container here and there, the last 3 years or so, but I really want to kick this up a notch or three and grow a lot of our own stuff!

We do get a double growing season around here, which is great (Spring and Fall) but this year I am also trying to grow at least some things through the blistering heat. It requires a lot of babying of the plants, especially in the early stages and some creative use of shade clothes and watering techniques.

So far, so good, but with temperatures of 120 F in the forecast, things are getting pretty dicey out there!

Since we can’t be outside much and the kids are of course on summer break, we’ve been making things for the garden inside.

My kids totally delight in rock painting, which we have done several times now.

 

 

 

They love the walk around the neighborhood, hunting for the roundest, smoothest and biggest (or smallest) rocks.

And they love the actual painting - and then the playing with the finished product, as well as placing them all over our garden!

 

And I’ve been busy making other things for the yard, mostly inspired by a variety of pinterest pins I have collected over time,  which I will be sharing with you over the next little while.

The first little project I want to share with you, are quick and easy solar lanterns. Very little effort and a lot of savings by doing it yourself, even if you purchase all the components!

 

 

You will need:

These mini solar stake lights. I purchased 12 and with shipping and tax, they came to $1.80 each. If you can find them at your local Dollar Tree, they’ll be even cheaper!

Mason jars (1 pint, with lids and bands)

Wire

 

I got the  Heritage Collection Pint Jars at Target for $10.99. As  I wanted blue lamps, that worked out pretty well. If you can’t find them at Target anymore, they are also available here.

You can also do it with different lights of course, but these happen to be the exact size of the mason jar band, meaning you just need to wedge them in the band, with no glue or anything, screw them on tight and you are done!

If it seems a little loose, you can  put a ring of hot glue around the inside, where the band meets the solar light. If you get a lot of rain where you live, you may want to do that anyway, so the rain won’t fill up your jar over time.

Mine worked out just perfectly, so no glue was needed!

I put the band (minus the lid) on the jar and screwed it on loosely.

 

 

Then I took the stake off the solar light and dropped the top in through the band.

 

 

 

 

Then I tightened the band and that was it! The light settled into a nice and tight spot. But not so tight that I couldn’t get it out again!

 

 

Then I just made a little hanger with some wire by wrapping it around the lip of the jar a couple of times, wrapping it around the side and up to be joined into a hoop.

 

 

 

 

And that’s it!

 

 

Twelve solar lanterns for $3.70 each. Not bad, considering that the solar lids alone usually retail for $11 and up ... each! And then you still have to provide the jar, which would add another dollar or so to the final cost!

I put mine on Shepherd’s Hook Stakes all over the garden! Not only do they look lovely, they have functionality since we have a lot of raised beds and containers all over the garden now and it helps to know where the corners are, when it gets dark!

 

Other notes:

• Of course you can also use these without the hanger for table decoration or just by placing the jars all around your garden.

• Or you can use the  more inexpensive clear mason jars, which also make a beautiful light.

• Or you could color your own mason jars by thinning out glass paint with some nail polish remover!  Just pour it inside your mason jar (band and lid taken off!) and swirl it all around to cover the inside as evenly as possible. When you get to the top rim, don’t be afraid to help it along with your finger a little. It will even out once it dries. Once your have coverage, turn the jar upside down on a kitchen towel and let the rest of the pain drip out.  Once it stops dripping, remove the paper towel/scrap paper, give the jars a quick twist on a clean kitchen towel to remove any glue residue from the top rim and allow the jar to dry completely.          Don’t just leave it to drip and dry in the same spot though, as you may find yourself peeling and scraping stuck kitchen towel off!

• There are several tutorials all over the internet which use mod podge or Elmer’s glue and food color to tint glass. Those methods work great, however, if these solar lanterns are going outside, that method won’t work. It flakes in the sun and it washes off in the rain, even when applied to the inside of the jar!

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Project Life - Workspace Organization

Since I have decided to go with Project Life for another year, I also, finally, rearranged my office/craft room to accommodate that and I can’t believe how much easier it is for me now to stay current, when it’s not nearly as big a to-do to get stuff out and put it away again! In this post I’d like to share some organizational tips with you, that have worked for me over the last year or so!

 

Up until, oh, 2 years ago, I was really only scrapping and art journaling digitally. I was doing many other hands-on crafts, but they lent themselves more to being stashed away in a cupboard until you need the supplies.

Then I started getting into the “get your hands dirty” arts and crafts a bit more again, and then added the non-digital version of Project Life and suddenly it wasn’t just my computer workflow that was important anymore!

Here’s a picture of my desk space before I went non-digital:

 

 

On the other side of this space is a full wall of upper and lower cabinets that houses pretty much all my other arts and crafts supplies. Everything in it’s place and a place for everything. Lovely! But ....

The issue is however, that it means I either have to get up every few minutes to get something else, and then spend quite some time putting everything away again. Or get everything at the beginning and clutter up the work space. 

What happened was that I let things accumulate, both on the “doing my cards front” as well as on the other end when it came to clearing it up. Since my crafting desk is also my computer desk, this can turn out very disorganized.

So, after purging my way through the craft room and de-stashing a bit while I was at it, I also implemented quite a few changes that now put the things for Project Life, scrapping and Art Journaling/Mixed Media within easy reach!

And what a change it has made!

 

For example, I have a fair amount of stamps and they are all organized. I talk about them in this post.

As great as that system is, it wasn’t working out so well for me when it came to Project Life. I’m all about the work flow and if it ends up being disrupted, then my productivity and inspiration somewhat go out of the window!

 

 

One of the first things I did, was take out the frequently used PL stamps and keep them in a little drawer, together with my most frequently used stamp pads. SO much easier! I can always go and get more or different stamps or stamp pads if I so desire, but I don’t have to go through a whole drawer full of stuff every time I want to stamp a date on a PL card! Now I can just take the little drawer out and have everything right there!

 

 

I did a similar thing in the next little drawer with all things adhesive! I already have an adhesives and mediums drawer, but it covers everything from Mod Podge, gel mediums, Micro Glue Dots , etc. Again, I really don’t need that for PL. My two most frequently used adhesive mediums are the Perma Tac adhesive glider (the best adhesive roller ever!)  and the Micro Glue Dots. Occasionally I will use the Xyron "X" for intricate borders and such, but that’s about it.

So, now they live in their own mini drawer on my desk. Easily accessible!

 

 

When you see my PL journaling cards, you will see a fair amount of embellishments on them. Over the last year, I have had all my little cut things and embellishments nicely organized, but out of sight. Turns out I’m more of a visual person when it comes to embellishments and I forget what I have, or don’t even get all that inspired unless I see it.

Along came a bargain bin closeout find at Michael’s. I got these little trays for $5 (down from $27 I think) and they are perfect for all the little odds and ends that I put on my cards! Now I have a lovely overview of what I have and have easy access!

 

 

Speaking of embellishments - I have a little confession to make. Yep! I’m ever so slightly obsessed with wood veneer shapes! I LOVE those things! And I have a lot of them.

Some of them are very small, some are fairly large, which makes storing them in a uniform and easily accessible way somewhat difficult.

Can you guess my super sophisticated system that has worked SO well for this last year and a bit?

 

 

Yep, stapled together sandwich bags!! (Note: I only staple them on one side, right under the closure strip!)

I know it’s not the prettiest, but it really works for me. I have all the room I need, I can see all of them and choose whichever I need. It’s easily opened and closed and size really doesn’t matter in this setup! If I get a new set, I add a bag, but simply stapling it to the others!

Incidentally, I organize all my chipboard alphas the same way! This whole mess of bags goes in the box with the other alphabet sheets.

 

 

Next, I used two IKEA drawer organizers for my main supplies. I pretty much make all my cards myself, other than the 3x4 and the 6x4 grid cards. I use those a lot as the base for my journaling cards!

 

 

One houses all the cards, 3x4 and 4 x 6 , as well as wood veneer embellishments and some tag pads, garlands and larger embellishments that don’t fit in my little compartmentalized trays.

I have my pre-made journaling cards to the front, and the blanks further to the back.

 

 

The other one houses my most frequently used tools. I have my punches, stapler, and small scissors in there, which makes for an easy cleanup, just dropping them back into those compartments when I’m done.

 

 

In the back I employ the sandwich bag organizational system again, only this time not stapled together. I have borders in one, misc. scrap paper cut-offs and border strips in another. Simple and inexpensive system, but it keeps it all nicely divided and organized, yet visible.

 

 

I built this little table as an addition to my work space just so the PL workflow would work better. Previously I only had the little cart there.

 

 

The top of the table (to my left)  now serves as my sewing machine station (for stitching cards), while the top of the Art Journaling /Mixed Media cart (to my right)  has the Vintage Type writer on it.

 

{One of these days I hope to replace this one with some grey/black drawers to match the room, but this is what I had at the time!}

I used to have both the sewing machine and the type writer in another place in the craft room and it just became too cumbersome to drag out the machines and then put them back just for a card or two! And even though that places carts in front of the drawers of my desk, both are easily wheeled away, should need to get at the drawers behind, which I don’t nearly as frequently as I do Project Life and Art Journaling/Mixed Media!

Now I just need to swivel one way or another and it’s all right there!

 

 

I also got these photo boxes at Michael’s. One houses all my alphabets and alpha stickers, the other holds all other sticker type of material. Those are still stashed away in the box and I do still have to rummage through it, but I can deal with it for those two things.

 

 

 

The cart houses all my card stock in the top drawer, all my scrapbooking papers in the bottom drawer and the middle drawer has all the misc. things in them, like lesser used punches, refills, printer color etc. Stuff I don’t need on a daily basis but want to have close by!

 

My Silhouette cutter, craft dryer and card reader are housed in the cupboard right next to me, on a little shelf above the computer and are permanently hooked up, so when it’s time to use something, I just need to pull it out and go.

My printer, with all the photo paper and label printing supplies is to my left, also nice and accessible! The PL album I’m currently working on is also stashed right next to it, as is the paper cutter. And of course all of this is happening on my “computer desk” all be it a very large one, so I pretty much have one stop crafting now!

 

 

Anyway, all in all, this latest organization has made such a difference to my work flow when it comes to project life. From getting the photos off the camera, to printing, to journaling, to embellishing, to journaling, to adding them to the album - once I sit down, I have it all within arm’s length, readily accessible. And clean-up is a breeze - not just for Project Life activities, but for all the messy Art projects!

I’m a happy super-organized crafter right now! Yay!

How do you keep your craft space organized?

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