Bandana bracelets...oh, my!

It all started with activity day. We needed a easy, cheap, FUN project on a hot Friday afternoon. All they really need is to be together so they can giggle and chat. So we made friendship bracelets. All it took was a few scraps of fabric and some tutorials on braiding and off they went....

And later I decided that scraps of bandanas would be a cute alternative....

Oh and beings the lot behind the house has been sold to some developers, I am in mourning to miss my early day horseness fix. Drat for progress. DOUBLE DRAT.....

Cut and Paste (sort of)

I really wanted to find a denim skirt for the Rodeo....I looked at all my favorite boutiques...(Ross, TJ Maxx and Target!) And then I found one at Ross but it was a bit too small...see that tag? But I figured that I could fix that if I found two of the same. And voile'...it was my lucky day. Two skirts for 4.49 a piece....if I goofed it up, it wouldn't be too much the worse right?

So this is the whacking away at it plan..... Cut down the middle and take out 2 inches on each side of cut. I then cut the bands off the other skirt and layered them down the center of the cut, backing it with a piece of black fabric.

I sewed them down with a zigzag stitch bumping them up seam to seam. (This would keep the bulk down and maintain the same lined pattern....

I sewed the remainder of the bands together and then attached them
by sewing right on top of the seam of the above band. I covered any stray white showing through with a touch of permanent marker.

So, I was pretty satisfied with the result...can't beat a 9 buck skirt for a RODEO...did you see those pink boots?

Just in case....

Yeah, so ALL of my creative juices have been sucked right outta me the last few weeks. I am getting ready for girls camp. Somehow I am in charge of the crafts....that one fits really well, but being in charge of the FOOD...well that is another ship to sail.

Making menus and planning stuff is just not in my DNA. Even my mother says she doesn't like to make lists because what if she wakes up and wants to do something else that day!!! LOVE THAT!!

SOOOO, I thought I needed to put something here new so you would keep coming to visit...all those of you that come and peek without a comment, and those that follow me...my sweet 10 peeps...love you!!!

I am in the middle of a painting for my oldest boy. He was a lover of space from the day he could point. He has the coolest blog entry about the latest and last shuttle mission...check his blog http://www.denver-life.com/. Anyway, I am pretty happy with the way it is going so far so I will give you a peek. So, you can see something new....Here is the beginning of the work...lots of pencil work and then a liquid mask that goes over the white or lightest areas...it works like rubber cement. It saves the whites so I can uncover them later and paint them like I want!!Then I paint a warm pink over the whole sky and some in the lower water ....after that I begin to layer the blues and purples that I want to be the underlayer of sky and clouds. I also drop some water right on the cloud areas so they will blossom on purpose and look like clouds. The warm colors also go in behind the white-hot shaft to look like the hot spots . So, now I am off to camp and crafting and cooking...whew. I am worn out before I even get started. So stay tuned....there is more to come. Always more to come...and I have decided what my new mantra is that I saw today.

Create something beautiful today even though no one might care. Isn't that cool?

Thrifty

Saw a gardening project on studio five the other morning. So, I ditched my other pressing items (like laundry and other boring things) and went off to the DI. Found just what I was looking for and got it cheap for about 6 ish bucks. It was a lovely baby boy blue so I quickly found my trusty ivy spray paint and went to it....I almost forgot to take a pic of the "BEFORE"...so

you have to glimpse it there on the bottom rungs...I think the cuteness of this project was the matching wicker basket she had sprayed the same color as the chair. All I did was go shopping in my basement ....there is a plethera of stuff down there....just waiting for spray paint!

Let them eat cake...

I never have to think very hard when it is spring and time for dessert -one of my favorites comes to mind when they ask us to bring something sweet. No matter the process is 2 days in the making. The result is just too good to whine about that.

My grandma used to make a whipped cream cocoanut cake that she refridgerated. So my modernized version always reminds me of her. It is always a popular addition to the table.

Yummmmm.

Oh and because it is flag day, I added the blueberries and raspberries...hooray for Flag Day!!

True Colors

I have garden dirt under my nails. Lots of it. Even though I wear gloves, it gets under there. Dirty, dirt. Don says that "dirt is SOIL out of place"....he is a soil guy after all. He knows his DIRT....
Anyway, I decided I would take a break from nature and work on my front door wreath.
I made some rosettes from paper that I ALREADY HAD...and the embellished with fabric roses, and paper rosettes. I added a little metal star with hot glue.

I ran some old book pages through my printer with patriotic words strips and ruffled them through the wreath.

I stood back and looked it over. Somehow those colors are just so terrific together and I never tire of them. They make me feel proud.

Now back to the garden and the dirt...uh, hopefully soon to be soil...

Tassels- not the decorating kind....

You would think by the 5th child, I would be more organized and ready. BUT NO....this graduation business just sneaks up and clobbers me every time. Maybe it is the endless, end of their senior year. Concerts and programs and parties and announcements. I just wanted to crawl back into bed and pretend she was in tv room watching "Blues Clues" for the hundreth time. BAHH. But no, she was just standing there with her long white graduation gown needing a press. So, rather than attempt keeping it still white on my long ago stained ironing board- I put it off for another hour by making a new cover....but it didn't work. She went ahead and graduated and moved that tassel over to the right side....