Crafts/Art now on my other blog...

I think I am going to try and keep up with my artistic endevors and crafts on my other blog sHosHie and rOo Get cReatiVe.The link is on the right. Please check in there if you are interested in such stuff.

I may move it back later... I don't know... just see how it goes. :)

Mosaic Creations

I am excited about starting making mosaics. I have always seen them and thought 'I could do that', but of course never did. :0

This is cool too, because half the fun, they say, is finding the treasures. What treasure? Ceramics and china that you aquire then smash into shards and arrange on pots, stepping stone, bird houses (anything that doesn't move as one crafter friend said), put mortor on it, let dry and you have a creation.

I went to Half Price Books today and found a great step by step book on how to do this. And at Goodwill I found some neat dishes. Goodwill is still a little steep, more than garage sales, so I will have to keep hitting those. But that is fun to do, too... we have lots in our areas, especailly on Thursdays. So I will have to make sure I get out early on those days.

Biggest challenge now-- where to work. It is messy. When you smash the plates fragments can get in the carpet. Also mortor is dusty. The garage is best, but it is really hot and humid now. Maybe I could clear a space and work early mornings? I really need shelving and bins to put the materials though.. this does require some space. Well, that will come! No perfectionsim gonna happen here...

Oh, this is great for kids, too.. but make sure little ones don't do the smashing and that the edges are not sharp. Lots of ideas online for that.

I took some pictures of my finds so far. Hopefully I will soon be able to post these as they are transformed into my works of art. ;-)

Sunflower Wreath

Take this inspiration picture:
Click here to see it

and add supplies-----




















Do a little arranging....



















And get a new wreath at the fraction of the cost of a pre-made one. ;)

More Highlights as I Google my Crafting..

Found this quote... love it!

To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk. - Thomas A. Edison

**********************************
Later the same day:

Well, just an addition here to say how true this bore out to be!
I am now in search of a pile of junk. Cheap junk. Let me explain...

Today I did a lot of legwork, getting the basics I need to make my mosaic pot. Went to Lowes and got all the supplies.. then to the tile department to see if they would give me some broken tile. They did, but all neutrals. Which is good for background, accents, but I am looking for color, design, etc.

Then home and thinking. I realized it may take me a while to collect enough plates and things to smash to make my mosaic. Garage sales are hit and miss. So off to the craft store to see what I could buy.

As I suspected the prices of 'mosaic tile' were kind of high. As I stood pondering, reading a mosaic idea book a lady walked up and, glancing at the book, asked if I did mosaics.

I told her I was just beginning..

She smiled and said I will soon be hooked! She has convereted the third bay of her garage to making mosaics and we talked and talked! She told me where to get great plates, how to smash them, what kind of adhesive.. everything! Then she invited me to come to her house sometime and see all she has done (she lives about 45 min away in the town of my friend).

It was like the way the world USED to be... people friendly and willing to share and help. It just made my day. There are still lots of beautiful people in the world. Sometimes I get discouraged, but then something like this happens, and I know that God's grace is working through people.

Now, as I found out from my new Mosaic Friend (MF) I DO need a pile of junk to be creative. Most especially plates. So, my next mission is to find my ceramics and china! MF told me to try thrift stores and dollar stores along with garage sales. Soon I will have buckets of pieces to choose from. And the best part is you get to SMASH them! She is really sweet.

I told MF I am blogging some of my crafting. She says she doesn't blog... she is always out in the garage making things. Maybe that will be me, soon, too... :) Well, I don't know, I still love blogging. It is a very creative release for me, too. Even if nobody is reading.

If nobody is reading, just don't tell me. I know I have my loyal friends who will comment once in a while so I don't feel too bad.. :) 0--- (no pressure, you understand...)

Switching gears.... try and keep up!
In the meantime, I bought the makings for wreath for my front door. I have some seasonal ones, fall, Easter, Christmas.. but wanted one for summer. I know I can make one-- and the ones I liked pre-made were big, bountiful and very expensive.

I love the idea of a wreath... big, circular, welcoming. Right now my door has an empty wreath hanger since Easter is over.

I knew exactly what I wanted in my summer wreath, too. This is not usual for me. But everytime I see Maria's blog and those sunflowers it makes me happy. She took that picture herself ya know... (check it out..)

It also makes me think of summer. So that is the look I am going for. If you want to have fun with your kids, plant some Giant Sunflowers one summer. They get 6 feet tall and are beautiful!

Ok, I am going to be really bloggy and post my before picture. Here are my supplies. They were all half price... yeah! We shall see about the 'after".

Faux Wood Dog Portrait- craft---!

Now doesn't this look fun!! Found it while searching for the cracked pot instructions... still looking...

Good Morning- Flylady and Cracked Pots...

Hello friends!

Well I have been posting a lot lately... but I just wanted to say good morning before I began my day.

Today is my 'day off'. I am doing my loose Flylady schedule and it is really impacting my life in a positive way. I don't think I ever embraced the philosophy as much when I did it before.

My house looks better than it has in a long, long time. Not perfect, but that is OK. In fact that is one place where Flylady nailed me--- I was that kind of perfectionist who saw all there was to do, felt it was a 6 hour job, didn't have the time to give it (after all I am a SAHM, homeschooling,( A Serious Homeschooler, mind you) creative, lots of research to do, laundry in the hamper, etc)--- so would just let it grow.

I also felt (now this sounds dramatic!!) a bit of a prisoner in that I would not let myself really enjoy and do other things because all the jobs in the house weighed on me. Not just clutter and cleaning, but files that had not been cleaned in years, financial papers out of order.. etc.

So.

Now, I am getting there by BabySteps. Really this works. For example, this week the zone I am working on is the kitchen.

I spend 15 minunte a day with my timer in the zone. I have a list of suggested jobs I could tackle. At the end of 15 minutes I must STOP. Yesterday I set the timer and wiped out the ugly drips in the freezer door. I never did before because REALLY the whole freezer needs to be cleaned and there is stuff up there from forever and lots belongs to my chef dh (like parmesean regianno rinds he 'needs' - but are 5 years old?)-- so I just ignored the whole freezer.

Well, yesterday I cleaned the drips. Then I sorted and cleaned out the door items. 12 minutes left. I wiped the fridge edges inside. 10 min left. I took out one of the fridge shelves and cleaned it, culled the bottle that was 3 years old and replaced. Then I did the cheese drawer.

Timer went off! I looked at the fridge and it looked great. Yes there was more, but that is all for now.

Boys and I had cleaned out the pantry on my BIG zone day.. and it looked great.
This is almost fun! I mean that I can choose what little section I want to look happy and *know* that in 15 minutes I get to quit.

I used to clean all day, exhaust myself snip at the kids, then never do it again for months and feel the weight of the mess and the eye clutter.

So, all this to say, slowly, in little steps my house is looking better. I feel happier and lighter. And as a bonus, I made Thursday my day off. And I deserve it.. if you saw my post from the other day, you will see why! LIke you all, I do a lot. I think I just don't play as much because I don't have little ones to play with. I used to play all the time!

I play some with my big guys, but I also think God is telling me to learn how to play again, alone, with friend and with my dh, because my boys are growing up. Though they are not rid of me yet and we do still have fun together. :)

So.. my day off. I think I am going to spend the day researching how to make these cracked pottery pots I saw once on That's Clever on HGTV. I bought a glider bench for the front yard and a side table. It was a Mother's Day gift.. Bryan made a gift certificate for me since dh and the boys werent' sure what kind of bench I wanted.

Dh picks that up for me tomorrow.

So I thought today I might find out how to make that pot, then have it on the side table to enjoy as I sip my tea and say hi to the neighbors as they walk by.

Another aside.. when my boys were younger I was outside all the time seeing neighbors. Now I rarely get out, except to walk the dogs. One day I had a garage sale, brought out some chairs and my sweet neighbor came and sat and we talked for a hour.

I have always wanted a front yard bench, because I know if I sit, they will come!

I hope you all have a wonderful day.. off to workout then explore my pot-making! It is the kind where you take pices of pottery and glue them on.... in a mosaic. Anyone done this?