Going Dotty at World Market..

I don't need these, they are too small, I like my mugs on the gigantic side of huge, but I do like the organizational aspect of these and they are polka dotted!!!

 

I left these behind at World Market and I drink my French Vanilla International Coffee and Earl Grey tea out of a big green polka dotted mug anyway.

Someone asked why I love polka dots so much... I don't know for sure but maybe because my sweet mom's name is "Dott." That could be it!!

Woodland Fairies...

Looks more like peg doll blanks than woodland fairies, right?? Just wait...

The theme for the Mother -Daughter banquet at church is "Woodland Fairy Garden." Try to get a committee of women to agree on a theme that is appealing to all ages... tough. Luckily that wasn't my job :)  And we are having a ballerina which will be very fun and the little girls  (or anyone, for that matter) can wear tutus and fairy wings. But back to peg dolls... my assignment was centerpieces and, as always, on a budget at church!

So we did a variation of this project and changed the peg dolls from gnomes to woodland fairies. And for fun someone at each table will win the centerpiece at that table and take it home to their porch or garden! I prepped everything and then the committee got together and we did an assembly line to put the little gardens together. It went very quickly.

 I used Liquid Nail to glue the saucer and pot together. This has to be done a couple of days in advance so it will be dry and sturdy when you get ready to put things together.

I spray painted some little birdhouses, now fairy houses, green and spattered them a bit. They came from the dollar store.

Then I gathered up silk flowers, moss rocks, moss, paper grass, little rocks, those glass blob things, butterfly crystals from Michael's, tulle, and leftover clay mushrooms from the gnome project. Our colors for this event are deep purple and fuchsia with all the deep woodland green.  I had odds and ends of most of this stuff and the rest we bought at the dollar store. We plugged in the hot glue guns and put it all together...

... and Ta-da!!  A woodland Fairy Garden centerpiece!
I think they will be very cute on our tables. And, I can cross centerpieces off my "to do" list :)

April Showers Bring...

... May flowers, I hope.
I have been pruning like crazy - it was a jungle out there - so let's hope there are some May flowers left. But just in case, here's a little burlap in bloom.

PS. Blogger changed their format, etc. and I actually like it. I wasn't sure because every time Facebook changes I am not a happy camper!!

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A Whole Lotta Stuff Goin' On...

I find myself a little bit over-committed, overwhelmed, off -task... you know what I mean. Normal for a mom with a lot to do. I'm not unique - we are all in the same boat - but I'm just sayin' !! :) and prepping you for what's coming in a minute!

There's a lot of painting on burlap going on along with my daily job obligations and yardwork and housework and some extra job obligations... ( my husband seriously told me to stand in front of the mirror and practice saying "NO!".)

So in the midst of all of this... I need an Art Camp project!! Yikes. And then on Pinterest ( funny how I can always snatch a few minutes for that!!) I see a "pin" of an adorable color wheel flower from Deep Space Sparkle and I snagged it!! I'm putting a little of my own spin on it. But what an inspiring blog!! So fun. I also think I may have to do a variation of her A Color of His Own lesson!! But I just want to put it out there right now that I already have a pumpkin lesson that looks a lot like her pumpkins that I've been doing for years !!!

Anyway, I found a pile of scrap papers and cut them into 2 x 4 inch strips. I sorted them into "color" piles. Each student can choose one strip from each pile as we go down the "Roy G Biv" spectrum! I cut a little notch in the end of mine - I'm creating a zinnia. You can round them or create your own flower petal shape. If children are younger I would limit the number of petals to simplify the project. I also gathered a green paint stick ( leftover from another project and free from my Sherwin Williams guy), and a couple of recycled bottle/can lids and an 11 x 14 Dick Blick canvas. I spritzed on a light spatter-y coat of blue spray paint I had on hand. I punched two holes with my Crop-a- Dile ( do not tell me if you have not bought one yet) and grabbed my Mod Podge. And for the person who asked : No I do not sleep with my Mod Podge under my pillow!!

I traced a circle in the middle of the canvas using my largest lid as a guide. The lids will become the center of my flower. Then I used the MP to glue my flower petals around my circle making sure that I overlapped my pencil line slightly. That way my lid will cover all the ends of the petals when I glue it down later.

Then I cut a small circle of scrapbook paper - black and white polka dots, of course - and glued that inside my smallest lid. Lid color choices are up to each artist. With enough time it would be fun to stack up a rainbow of lids in graduating sizes for the center. I just grabbed two. Remember the whole over-commited thing?

After the Mod Podge dried on my petals I put a coat over the entire canvas. It dries quickly and then you can use Tacky Glue to add the paint stick stem and the bottle cap center. (Hot glue will work as well as long as an adult does this step.)

And then I added a wire hanger and some bead ... oh, and a ribbon to the stem!

Happy Flower and ... Oh Happy Day!!! It's Friday!!!! :)  Have a super weekend!

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Seriously??

I may need a small break... seriously.

 A vacation, a pedicure,
a really nice meal ( a step up from a Lean Cuisine would be nice), something....

You know how I know???

 I just got home about 30 minutes ago (Wednesday is a looooooong day for me)

 and
I found the Mod Podge in the fridge
and

the mayonnaise on the counter.
Seriously!

I know the last time I used Mod Podge (practically a daily occurrence)

but I have no clue about the mayo!!! I haven't used it lately, I rarely use it, and certainly not today!!!
So, What's up with that??
Seriously.

This One Just Flew the Coop !

I think he looks wise...

...but he has flown the coop. He's been sent off in the mail to someone special :)

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The Buzz Word...

Atlanta looks like this so the "buzz word"....

is actually "BEEEEEEE!!!!!" screamed at the top of your lungs on the playground

 ( if you are 4, that is !)

I don't know about where you are but we have these huge, fat bumblebees that we call "carpenter bees " because they bore into your deck and screened-in porch and make piles of sawdust. They are not the stinging kind but they are huge and their buzz is very loud. The fact that they are not the stinging kind is not comforting at all if you are four!
So in an effort to make bees seem more friendly and hopefully lower the decibel that is used to yell "Bee" on the playground ...
here's a little bee project. I mean little. It is on 3 x 3 Dick Blick canvases left over from another project, some scraps of scrapbook paper, Mod Podge and , again, in the effort to make bees more appealing we used some Sparkle glaze and sparkly ribbon, too.
Ta-da! A nice, friendly bee ...

{It's a quick and easy project and you can throw in a little lesson on shapes if you wish... square canvas, oval bee, rectangle stripes, circle eye and a circle cut in half for the wings.}

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