more paintings on Etsy

  Double Yeah!

I finally finished listing the rest of my painted pieces on Etsy!  I'm so trilled!

It didn't take as long as the first....I guess I now know what I'm doing.

Thanks for looking.

Bye for now!

painted items on Etsy

 

  Yeah!  I finally have some of my painted car signs listed on Etsy. 

Do you remember this blog post from way back in March found here.  Well I have finally gotten around to taking pictures, writing descriptions and publishing the items on Etsy.

And I even figured out how to do this nifty Etsy mini showcase.  It was so easy!!  (I get excited on the LITTLEST things)

Hopefully I will be able to list my brighter more whimsical items such as these tonight or tomorrow.

Cross your fingers!

Thanks for looking.

Bye for now!

yummy gluten-free chocolate chip cookies

  I have celiac disease and I have to eat gluten-free.  2 of my children also have celiac disease.  It's been almost 2 years of being diagnosed and although it's easier to "swallow" the fact that I have to eat gluten-free for health reasons it certainly hasn't gotten a whole lot easier.

I cheated and ate some regular brownies a couple of months ago that were sitting on our counter just screaming my name.  I begged my husband to take them for lunch but he didn't.  I couldn't bare to throw them out so I ate them.  I think I felt more happiness in the anticipation of eating them then actually eating them.  What I think has happened my taste buds in my month have adjusted to my new eating ways.  I did not enjoy them.  I did not feel that "this-is-so-good" feeling like I used too.  So maybe this is a good thing in the long run. 

I am a totally sweets person!  I love all things that are yummy.  So when I received the letter showing that my blood work indicated that I had celiac disease I was devastated.  That meant no more sticky buns at Cici's pizza, no more chocolate chip cookie with my sub at Subway, or no more sugar cone at Baskin Robbins.  

Now that I am on the diet, I have found recipes that taste pretty close to the gluten version.  Like these chocolate chip cookie recipe that I clipped from a newspaper article.  They might now rise up like a normal cookie would do but they taste awesome!  Plus I will freeze them.  So all I have to do is pull out a cookie 3 to 4 times a day now and then and I have instant yummy goodness!

So here's my process pictures....I could probably eat a fair amount of this batter.  But I remember my Mother always saying, "it has raw eggs in it - not too much".

My little helper trying to get into the picture.  Or should I say he was trying to swipe a finger in my dough when I wasn't looking.

Look at that cookie!  Chocolate chips are still formed but warm and gooey.

For snack that day I thought I would make little flags for their cookies.  Also I severed them with lemonade with real lemons on the glasses.  And I even got out glass glasses and fabric napkins!  We never bring those out!

My daughter came up from the basement and saw the arrangement and asked, "Who's coming for snack?"  They were soo excited that it was all for them!  It's always fun to do something out of the ordinary...every once in awhile.

If anyone is interested in the recipe just email me.  I can scan it in and email it to you.

Thanks for stopping.

Bye for now!

  

crepe paper flowers

  While I was setting up for my daughter's birthday a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to add something orange.  I really wanted to make some orange pom-poms.

I searched several stores even a party store and orange tissue paper was no where to be found.  I had no idea!  I'm sure I could have found it online, but I didn't have the time to wait.

I remember seeing on the wonderful blog Dear Lillie she made crepe flowers as embellishments for wrapped presents.  It really added to the finished look of the present.  It was almost to beautiful to unwrap!

Well I took that idea and thought about hanging flowers from the ceiling.  But I knew once I hung them they would sway back and front and you would see the back of them.  So why not hot glue two flowers back to back?

Dear Lillie has a complete tutorial on the making of these flowers...here is my shortened version.

I started with 3 strips of crepe paper anywhere between 2' to 4' long, depending on big you want the flower to be.  I cut mine 4' long.  I ruffled one edge.  Then I wound it around and hot glued it as needed.  I found that once I started winding the crepe paper somewhat held it's shape so it didn't need hot glue.

Once the flower is completed glue strips of crepe paper on the back to hold in place.



I cut a long piece of fishing line.  You could use about anything to hang it with depending on the look you want.  I think it would be pretty to hang it from a satin ribbon tied in a bow at the top of the flower.  But in this occasion I wanted everything to be floating from the ceiling so I didn't want the string to be seen.

Next just hot glue to flowers back-to-back.

Then squish the two layers together.

And finally the fun part...separating the layers of the flower!

I separated the outer layers the most and kept the inner part of the flower together.  I liked the look of the more defined flower as it circled toward the middle.  Experiment on what you like best.

In my top picture, I love how it adds another dimension to the decorations.  The mix of pom-poms, lanterns and now these crepe paper flowers make for an interesting display.  In a way I'm glad I didn't find orange tissue paper.  A year ago I would have never mixed these things...it would have been one thing or another.  Let me tell you I'm really shaking it up now!  Watch out!  Ha Ha.

Thanks for stopping.

Bye for now!

summer activites

  Aren't fusion beads the best?  We love them at our house!

They are the prefect summer activity for when it's just too hot to go outside and you don't own a pool.  The beads keep them occupied while they are making their creations for awhile.  I iron them.  Then it keeps them a occupied for a little while longer as they play with their new designs.

Working right besides them....is me.  I am on a twine kick!

I needed a vase for some flowers for my front entry desk.  I just wasn't finding anything in my house that would work. 

I found this painted flower glass vase underneath my sink, but I wasn't diggin' the painted flowers nor did I think I ever would.  The shape and size were perfect though.

So I thought what if I were to cover it with rope?  But I first needed to address the painted flowers and how would I cover the top inside?  I had never painted glass before...is it doable? 

Yes it is!  I sprayed the vase with several coats of spray paint.

Here is a mid-way picture of my process.

I coiled rope around the vase and hot glued it into place.

You could buy rope/twine at any hardware store.

While I had my glue gun out, I've been meaning to make some "summer time" decorative balls.  I've done the moss balls pictured here at Easter time and crepe paper flower balls found here.  Now it was time to make some "summer-time" decorative balls.  There is just something with rope that makes me think of summer.  I really don't know why I feel this way, we don't remotely live close to water.  None-of-the-less it reminds me of summer and water.

So while I had my glue gun out, I grabbed some of my dollar store plastic balls and started wrapping twine around and around. 

They took very little time to make and they add such texture to any display area.

Here they are grouped with other items above our TV in our living room.

And finally pictures of my finished vase with my fabric flowers.

I hope everyone is keeping cool...it's hot in almost of every area of the country.  Enjoy your indoor activities!

Thanks for stopping.

Bye for now!

summer birthday

  Last Friday was my daughter's 7th birthday.  It was a fun swimming/sleepover that went flawless!  I don't think I could ask for a better party!  We have had our blow-up slide for 3 years and this is her 3rd pool party.  But this year we had to add a new twist to it - friends sleeping over.

Here are just a few pictures of the party.

My banner matches the banner I have displayed on my front door wreath and my invitations.  I wanted everything to coordinate....I'm not sure anyone noticed, but I like that everything matches!

The paper lanterns are from Martha Stewart and I made the pom-poms for her website found here.

The orange flowers are made from crepe paper.  I really enjoyed working with that type of paper.  I will show in a few days how I made them.  I just recently saw a hair accessory that looked very similar to my flowers that were made out of tulle.  I might have to experiment with that as well.

Lastly is my yellow ruffle.  I absolutely love it!  I purchased 3-1/2 yards of a yellow cotton at Jo Ann's that was on sale for $1.99.  I didn't really care what type of fabric it was but I needed it to be yellow on both sides.  I cut it into 8" strips and ruffled it with my handy dandy elastic thread.  (I think I'm also going to ask for a ruffling foot for my birthday - I really like to ruffle!).  Then instead of sewing the strips together, probably like a normal sewer would do, I hot glued them.

I think the ruffle adds so much color and I couldn't be more pleased!

I'm really liking this brithday decorating thing!  I so like making it a fun atmosphere for my kids and their friends!

Poor handy husband got the job of blowing up water balloons - all 100 of them.  It probably took him 1/2 hour to do them all.  The sad part was that it literally took the kids 2 minutes to break all of them!

And one more picture of our dog, Mason, just hanging out and watching everyone play.  Good old dog!

Thanks for stopping.

Bye for now!