Happy .... EASTER! LOL :/

So, I tried an interesting technique for dying eggs this year but it didn't turn out like I wanted so .... I was pouting about it... and wasn't going to blog about it! Waah.  LOL

But a friend (you know who you are and I thank you!) encouraged me to post the results so here they are!!

Have you heard about dying Easter Eggs with natural things like red onion skins??  Well, on Facebook, I saw a great idea on how to add to that so I thought I'd try it!  And, as usual, I of course wanted to put my own little twist on the idea :)  In the FB post, they showed how to lay a leaf or flower on the egg then secure it with a piece of panty hose then after the egg is dyed, take off the panty hose and leaf and you have the imprint of the leaf where they dye couldn't go!  Awesome, huh?  OK, I can't wait and you might not want to either so, instead of reading a whole bunch before you see how it turned out, here is the end result!  Then I'll tell you how I got there :)

So, I went to the store to get supplies.  There is a fun little bargain store about a mile from my house that usually has whatever crafty type supplies I'm looking for.  The first item - panty hose.  (I did have some of my Gram's old panty hose here but.... erm.... no....)  Well, they didn't have any panty hose in the store!!  Ahh!  So, I turned on my "resourceful/plan B/won't stop 'til I get it" part of my brain and started roaming the aisles.  And I found quite an interesting replacement right in the Easter aisle!

It's a mesh bag to cover Easter Baskets!  I also found rubber bands that looked like they might be interesting.  See, here's a key to doing creative stuff -- let your mind wander and try to see things in a different way and try to "explore all options and possibilities" (If my kids are reading that they're probably rolling their eyes because I've said that a billion and two times LOL)  And I also needed the rubber bands to hold the mesh on the egg.  You can also see, in the pic, the choices for plants.  A few came from my houseplants and a few came from outside.  

So, the next step is getting the plant on to the egg!  I kinda sorta measured :) and cut the mesh into squares:

Then I put the egg on top of the plant and carefully gathered the mesh and wrapped it around the egg.  This may take a few tries - the picture below was not my first attempt LOL:

Then I secured the ends with a rubber band and kind of gathered the loose ends with each twist of the rubber band:

OK, that part is done!  Whew!  Now..... what other fun things can we do???

YYyeeaaahhhh..... Looks easy enough right??  LOL  Put on some music and breath deep and just keep working on it.  Rubber bands are snappy little things that don't always stay where you want them to but, as you can see in the final result picture, it did work :)  Once again, these were not my first attempts.  And in the next picture, you get to benefit from something that makes reading blogs and watching other people do something very useful --- You get to learn from my experience!  And my experience is --- don't do this LOL:

 Sure, a spotted egg would be cool and all ... but how do we then get the spots of wax OFF the eggs???  Not as easy as you might think :) it ended up not being worth the effort.  Lesson learned.  Possibility explored.  :)

And now it's time for coloring!!:

 So, once again, I thought I'd see what fun things I have around my kitchen to use for dye!  Of course I used red onions.  I always have them in my kitchen :) And I had just gotten some yummy grapes that looked like they could be a fun color.  And can you guess what the orange substance is???  OK, I'll tell ya LOL.  It's canned pumpkin!  Why not try it, I thought???  As you can see in the final result pic, there are no orange or yellow eggs.  Only brown from the onions and lavender from the grapes :)  So one more thing you don't have to try and get bad results!  You're welcome!! :)

Oh - add about a tablespoon of white vinegar to each pot.  That helps the dye stick to the eggs.

Also - as you can see from the pic, I left the foods in the pans.  It seemed like it would help get the colors even darker:

I left the eggs in here all day!  I wanted to see how dark the color could get.  And as you can see from the final results, the colors are pretty cool!  Here's the pic again:

So, to explain a few things - the one second from the left is done by writing on the egg with a crayon.  It's a little messy but it was kind of a last minute thought/experiment.  You can see the eggs made with the rubber bands.  I was pretty pleased with those!  The two 'artsy' looking ones are the best of the eggs that leaves were attached to.  I didn't think about the lines from the mesh bag showing up but it's a pretty cool effect!  I think with the panty hose, the leaf would have been more firmly on the egg and it would have been a clearer leaf shape but this looks pretty nice.  I think it's more 'my kind of egg' than if it were all clean and precise :)

And something interesting about the eggs from the grapes - they had a 'substance' on them - something gritty from the grapes.  It wasn't horrible but it ... felt weird.... LOL

A Crafty Christmas - Craftinator Style!!

It's been too LONG!!  So Sorry!!

Over a year since my last post??  F'reals??

Hopefully that will change :)

Well, Christmas = CRAFTING FRENZY at the House of Craftinator!!  I have to show you and tell you about one of my funnest projects!  My grandson, Kaden (must show a picture, of course) ....

has wanted a 'Dream Lite' ladybug forEVER so I was shopping around for one and was at Michaels with my coupons in hand :)  I found Dream Lites but there was no lady bug.  Only puppydogs and unicorns.  Boo.  They were ...  $27 I think so I kept it in mind but thought maybe I should look at a different store.  I wandered around Michaels looking for other things on my list and found a display of Discovery Kids Toys.  And what do I find???  A Firefly!!  And it's RED!!

AND IT'S ON SALE!!!  So, my brain-gears start turning...  This sure does look enough like a ladybug that I'm sure I can MAKE it be a ladybug!!  I wonder if anyone could see smoke coming out of my ears.  Ha.

Well, then I look at the price.  Oh. Mah.  Goo'ness.  It is originally THIRTY DOLLARS.  Yikes.  BUT IT'S ON SALE!!  For $9.99!!!  No Way!  Woot!  heehee.  And what was it I mentioned earlier??  Oh yes - COUPONS!!  I had a 50% off coupon AAANND a coupon for 20% off my total purchase!!  This is a Crafter's Nirvana Friendinators!!   What.  A.  Score.

Craftinator wins!!  

Heehee.

So, then the creative process begins...  What to do, How to do it...  I should have taken pics of the first few prototypes but that would have taken time and would have broken my concentration!  After I took off the weird looking little legs and wings, I found a black chenille sweater in my sweater stash and got out my Sharpie Markers (LOVE my Sharpies) and....

TAH-DAH!!  LADYBUG!!

  

Heehee.  Giggle.  Snort!!  I can't wait to see him open it!!

OK - BONUS PICTURE TIME!  Here are two other Christmas Crafts I made for my boys!  

I asked Kaden - OK, I make Owls and Dragons and Mice -- If I were going to make an animal for you, what would you like?  Kaden's answer....

A robot....  Hahaha!   That kid is so cool.

And for my newest grandbaby, Liam...

A Monkey!!!

And, what does the Craftinator's Couch look like after such a frenzy???  (I usually don't show such pictures but even I was fascinated LOL)

And this was not staged, people.  I walked into the living room and this is what I saw.  LOL

So, here's wishing a wonderful Holiday Season to you all!  Go hug your family and friends and eat cookies!!!  :)


 

This is what happened with my life, just thought I'd share...

Priority Lists....P'shaw....

Sometimes you can make all the lists you want, sometimes the list is made for you...

I was going to do it!  Really I was!  "I'm going to fix the steps and sidewalk 'Some time this Summer'"

  "Sometime this Summer" was decided for me when I got a note in the mail - - 


"Dear Person who lives in this really old house (Ok, I'm using my own words ... but...),

Your sidewalk and the steps to your house are ugly and I don't want to walk on them any more, they make me sad."


Nahhhh... not really LOL  Actually, it was more like this -


"Your steps and sidewalk are a hazard and are dangerous to my job.  Please fix them within two weeks or I will be unable to deliver your mail.  Signed, your Postal Carrier"


Reasonable.  And he was right.  ***Sigh***  I kinda wanted to find him and say - I was gonna do it, really I was!  Sometime this Summer!  F'reals!  But I decided I needed to find my validation in other places besides the wandering letter bearer so I left him alone.  I'm sure he would thank me.


So, I'm pretty sure I got the note about 1 week and 5 days ago :)  Last night was cement repair night!  Woot!  I've decided that I'm going to step things up and, if I do a repair, make it fun and my own!  Well, at least as much as reasonably possible considering time and money constraints.  I decided not to embellish the steps since I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to be too decorative with something that needed to be sturdy and safe so there are no pictures of the repaired steps - they would just be boring :)


But - here are the patches in the sidewalk!!!

Cool, huh???  I'm pretty pleased.  I wanted to do more on the big spot but I bought quick drying cement....'nuff said....


I have had these scrap pieces of stained glass hanging around my garage for at least 5 years!!  I couldn't figure out what to do with them but I knew someday they'd come in handy :)


So, I get to cross this off my "Some time this Summer" List!  Woot!


If you have a "Some time this Summer" List, there's not much Summer left ya know :)

Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock...

Time is an interesting thing - the concept of time, the passing of time, being short on time, having too much time.  All very interesting.

I'm becoming more and more aware of my lack of understanding of how much time it really takes to do anything - like chores or crafts.  I'm attempting to estimate how much time something takes to accomplish and then see how close to my estimate I can come.  Sometimes - ok, most of the time :) I'm way off.

I'm not sure where this comes from but I think it has to do with the way my brain is wired.  But that doesn't mean it's a deficiency, it just means different.  So, my plan is to acknowledge it, factor it in to the mix and modify what I do to fit my particular brain :)

So, the other day I was finding something fun to wear and found my really cool "Hippie" necklace 

Then I realized - heyyyy - I have no cool Hippie Earrings to go with this!!  I pouted for half a second then decided to stop whinin' and solve my problem!  I started to make a list of options in my head and decided I wanted to make some.  I was trying to get some errands done so I wanted to get out the door but my girlie side was saying "Earrings! Must have cute Earrings!"  heehee.  So, I realized this could be a good opportunity to work on my time issue.  So, I thought - hm... let's see how long it would take me to make some earrings - I already had all the pieces and parts and tools needed sitting on my work table because I had just made some Wine Bottle Candelabras (See previous post).  So, less than half an hour later (Yea, only half an hour!!), I had myself a pair of Hippie earrings made from an old pair of hoops and some beads from my stash!!!

Half an hour!  Coolness!  If I knew it was only going to take half an hour, I woulda made them long ago!

I think it'll be working on this 'problem'.  Who knows all of the fun things I'll make while practicing estimating time :)

*** Hic ***

I'm at it again :)

I am having a blast - friends are giving me things that they may have otherwise thrown away because they know I'll be able to make something out of nothing!


So.... if life gives me wine bottles...

....make Candlabras!!  :)

Ehhhh.....Watcha Gonna Do....

So, 'funny' story.

I had the privilege of being asked to do Cynthia's wedding cake! She calls me "Aunt Michele" and so do her 2 sisters :) Cynthia is the last of the 3 to get married and I made wedding cakes for all 3! How cool is that?? The wedding was yesterday.

So, Christmas day was baking day. Cynthia wanted champagne cake - oh, my word, it is now one of my new wedding cake flavors. It is just totally yummy! Christmas evening was to be frosting making time. As I went to wash the beaters in preparation, I could only find

one beater......
hmm...
mysterious....

You would think a seasoned cake decorator would have a backup mixer but noooooooo! I called my friend, who I knew was at a friend's house, and asked if they might have a mixer I could borrow.

Nope.

BUT - my friend said - don't worry, I'll handle it, I'll see you in a bit. Sure enough, she showed up and was able to find a pharmacy open that had one lone mixer left on the shelf! Yay! We opened it up, plugged it in and.......

Nothing.

It didn't work.

***sigh***

So, an adventure ensued. She left to go to another pharmacy in the same chain, so she could return the one she had and get another. We decided to hop on our laptops and cell phones to try to find something open, in the area, at 6pm on CHRISTMAS DAY where we might find a mixer!!! Well, she found one, made them plug it in before she bought it and brought it to me.

Aaaalrighty then - back on track for wedding cake production. I started making frosting and...

can you guess..... ??

The brand new mixer STOPPED WORKING AFTER THE FIRST BATCH!!

SERIOUSLY???? REEEEALYYYYYYY????

Well, I was done. I decided to go to bed early, wake up at 5 and be in the Meijer parking lot to buy a mixer. So, that's what I did. I was in the parking lot at 5:40 so I listened to music and relaxed and kept an eagle eye on the door so I could get in ASAP. Sure enough, there was no unlocking the doors until the big hand hit the 12!

I went in and found the mixers. After drooling over the Kitchen Aid stand mixers for just a moment, I moved my way down to the hand mixers. While silently thanking my mom for the gift card, I found a heavy duty mixer - stainless steel, 16 speeds with digital readout for $30 !

THANK YOU MOMMY!!

I brought home my new toy and was in 'Go Mode' knowing I had just a few short hours before the wedding. Luckily, I had helpers that were willing to do whatever I asked of them

THANK YOU JEANNETTE AND KIRSTEN!

I flew out the door at 11:20 which was going to be cutting my set up time pretty short - the wedding was at 2! I still had to go to JoAnn's to possibly find some fabric for under the cake stand. Luckily I found some and it was half off!!

I arrived at the church around 12:45 and fervently started setting up. Shortly before 2, I was still working on the cake when everyone went upstairs for the wedding. I could hear the piano playing and then the muffled tones of the pastor. I finally finished and while I was taking pictures of the finished cake, I heard the applause being given after the first kiss! Moments later, the newly married couple breezed into the reception hall to find everything in perfect order!

Whew!!!

And here is what they found!

Samples for Acquinas College

Hi Acquinas College People! Here are samples of what I'll be bringing to the craft show at the Carriage House.

Fleece Scarves for $5


Flat Glass Marble Magnets - 75cents and $1


Cell Phone holders made from the sleeves of recycled sweaters for $8


Recycled Baskets decorated with recycled sweaters and trim $8 - $25


Thanks for the consideration and I hope to hear from you soon!!

OK, I think I'm on a roll....

Maybe there really IS always a silver lining. :)

My 2 day low grade fever forced me to stop. I had places to go from Monday night through today-

Monday night - Supper with Matthew
Tuesday morning - West Michigan Prayer Center Meeting
Tuesday afternoon - Lunch with the girls from the Tuesday morning meeting
Tuesday evening - attempt to make some things for the craft show Saturday
Wednesday - Kaden Day!!


Wednesday evening - trip to Holland with my best friend
Thursday - work at the office
Thursday night - Supper with Matthew (rescheduled from Monday)

Sheesh!!!

So, while I've been limply laying in my bed, I've had time to think. I realized this is running from one thing to another with never enough time to really do anything just craziness and I have to come up with a plan. I can't just run around like a crazy woman. I need to be a crazy woman with a schedule and a plan :)

I thought about the things I want to do, and the things I need to do and thought about how I could fit the two together. I realized there were scheduled things that I had no choice in, like the Tuesday morning meeting, and other things that I plain need to find time to do like make things for craft shows. So I thought of which days are already full, which ones aren't, what days would be best for what. I opened an excel spreadsheet and made myself a chart and filled it in! Woot! I even scheduled free time :)

Now, I know that actually implementing this will be the hard part but it's kinda cool to have a plan and a tool. It will take time to find out if this is the right tool for the job and if I can learn how to handle the tool.

I printed out a copy - on lavender paper :) - and tacked it to the wall :D
And all because I got a chance to stop and think :D

Oh - and I've decided that I'm going to add a picture of something I've created to each post. Here's the one for this post:

Inattentive ADD surfaces yet again...

I'm feeling like such a schmuck right now. I borrowed a key to the nail file office from the other office worker for the weekend so I could show my family the warehouse sale stuff on Sunday. The agreement was I would put the key in a hiding place when we were done so the other office person could open the door at 9 when she came in to work. Well, we ended up not going to the warehouse yesterday and I totally forgot about returning the key. So I got a call from the OWNER this morning, asking me where I put the key.

It's.....still....in....my...purse.

Ugh.

So, another behavior modification to put in place. Next time (although I don't think I'll do this again any time soon) I'll make a calendar entry in my phone that will make an alarm sound that says "Return key". My cell phone is becoming a good tool to use for remembering things and keeping information organized and in a place I can refer to. I almost always have my phone with me so it's cool that it has a calendar, an alarm and a notepad.

ADD is a challenge but isn't crippling. I just have to find different ways of doing things. It's just a bummer when it's effects cause negative consequences for others. ADD is not an excuse, but it's an explanation. I just have to continue to work at managing it.

Behavior modification is such a big key to Inattentive ADD. So is acknowledging the truth. The truth is, my brain just works differently! So, if I acknowledge this and not lie to myself, things are much more manageable. For instance, it is a lie to think that I will remember where I took my shoes off when I want to put them back on - so I have to put a behavior modification in place and tell myself that I must NOT take my shoes off until I get to the established shoe place!! Speaking truth to myself has really helped with things like this - until I come across something that I haven't acknowledged yet - like what happens if for some reason I don't go to the warehouse so the trigger isn't there that will tell me I have to leave the key so the door can be opened in the morning.

So, I'm 48 and still learning :) I'm glad I still have the capacity to learn!

Coming Soon !!!

Ok, so, I'm now in Holland!! Wooot!! Holland, Michigan, of course :)

There's a new store in town and it's a really cool concept! The store is full of little mini-shops, different than the other consignment shops I've seen - - see ?? - -


That's the view from the front door, here's the view from the cash register -


And here's my little mini shop, at the back of the store!!

And here's the view from in front of my mini shop -




The store is called "Check 4 Fun" and it's on Washington street, just south of 36th, right before Wendy's - or 897 S. Washington suite 50. The owners are great people to work with and are excited to bring this really cool concept to Holland! They'll be opening November 1st and are looking for more crafters to fill up the cubes - but you better hurry before all the spots are filled! Here's their email so you can find out more info:

checkfourfun@gmail.com

Oh! I almost forgot! They have a classroom in the back! I am seriously considering teaching some classes - I'm just not sure what yet. If you have any suggestions, drop me a line and I'll see what I can come up with!

My 5th grade graduation dress

***Insert Music - - "Memmmoorieeeeees......light the corrrner of my miiiiiiiiind......."***

Up in the attic, among the owls, country blue geese and old china, we found it. Unstained, not too smelly, not ripped or worn out:


The year was 1971 but you could have probably guessed that :) I am the youngest of 4 kids and shopping with just me and mom was rare. And shopping at the mall was even rare-er!! But there we were, in the city, and it was all about me and my dress. Add a pair of white patent leather mary-janes and I was on top of the 5th grade world.

Good times.

Maybe some day, if I have a grand-daughter, I can convince her to wear it for a picture.

Me N My Brain.........

Do you ever wonder how or why the brain works the way it does????

Things will occur to me, or connect for seemingly no apparent reason.

The newest thing has to do with all of these craft project ideas that come into my head. I have a few really good ideas but I don't have time to try to gather all the materials, make the thing, refine it then make enough to have a display on my table or take pics and list them - all with the possibility that they might not even sell!

So, it occurred to me today that there is another way to make money as a freelancer - selling project ideas to magazines and websites!!!!! DER!!! I've thought of doing this before but really didn't get it out of my head. Then today, out of the blue, for no apparent reason, I realized - I would only have to make one of something, write up a sketchy instruction sheet for the proposal, take a pic then send it off to the publisher then hope it gets published! I already have the contact info for at least one website and magazine that buys them!

So, how cool will it be to be able to get the idea out of my head and be done with it and maybe even make some moolah????

Thinkin'thinkin'thinkin'........

Why not Cake Decorating??

My Etsy Teammate, Karin mentioned that she thinks my cakes are my most impressive crafty skill. Aw, Garsh, Thanks Karin!!! heehee



So, I thought I'd explain the reasons for focusing on my pastel and color pencil drawings instead of cake decorating.

- Health code regulations say a second kitchen, away from the family kitchen, is required- The cost of turning a room in the house into a second kitchen is unfathomable - and how is it making money if I have to put out 20 grand or more at the very beginning of the venture?

- Clean up is a drag LOL. I would want to hire an assistant to do all the icky non-creative stuff. Once again, quite a cut into profits :)

- As to getting a job at a cake decorating place -- I tried working at Family Fare as a cake decorator. Talk about a creativity squasher...

- As to getting a cake decorating job at a place where they do 'real' cakes - I am sure they would set a work schedule that I'd need to adhere to. I'm working hard at getting this freelance thing to work because I LOVE the flexibility of setting my own schedule.



Since my dad died, I've been going 'home' quite a bit to not only visit with my whole family but also to help my Mom and sister continue to sort through 50 years of stuff and help care for my Gram who is now staying with Mom. Last time I went over there for a week, I packed my van with tons of crafty stuff and worked on lots of things while I was there. And (this was pretty cool) during the week I was there, my cousin and her 'beau' decided, on the spur of the moment, to go to the courthouse and get married! Because I was in town and not working during the day, I got to be at the 1pm wedding and got out to eat with them after!
Although I'm struggling financially right now, this will be worth it. Things are already happening in a good direction. I am making contacts that have some promising posibilities - more promising than previous ventures. I really really love drawing pictures to music and am looking forward to seeing where this goes. Maybe some day I'll be rich and famous and I'll make me a second kitchen with my spare change :) Until then, I make cakes for friends and family, for our mutual enjoyment.