Capture the Details

new new new

I've been adding some new things to the store....

^trees, in a new color collection 

^ glittered owl tags

^ a bunch of recycled envelopes in a new, smaller size with label stickers

^ nature walk tags

Hope you can take a peek! :-) 

Princess Aubrie and a story of endurance and true love

Once upon a time, a little princess named Aubrie set out on a journey to rescue her prince. She was told he was being held captive aboard a pirate's ship.

She rode her faithful steed across the land as far as he could carry her...

 
...until she had to finish her journey on foot.  She walked for miles and miles, enduring many hardships along the way (like pesky pebbles in her slippers) before she finally reached her destination, the pirate's ship.

There she sat, on the gangplank of the ship, where she removed her slippers, dumping out the pebbles and carefully holding her princess wand...

She snuck on board the pirate ship and whispered loudly, "Prince! Where are you?" She searched high and low, in every nook and cranny, peeking out doors and windows...

"Prince! Where are you?!!!" 

Finally, she heard a reply ~ "I'm here!"

"I'm here! I'm here!!!! Princess Aubrie ~ I'm so glad you have found me!" 

Princess Aubrie used her wand to pick the lock of the Prince's cell, rescuing him and saving the day.

They lived happily ever after. The end.

Cast of characters: Princess Aubrie, my niece  •  the Prince, my brother Doug (Aubrie's daddy)

:-)

my pretty ring

Silver setting? Yup.   Purple stones? Yessireeee.  Flower shape? Unh huh.

Bonus: 30% off sale

My latest purchase. LOVE it. :-)

refreshing layout

It is HOT out there. So, I did a layout with nice, cool, refreshing water. :-)

Some close-ups...

Stay cool! I hope you're in the AC or sitting by the pool sipping a cool drink! :-)

the latest

The latest digital layout.....

Unh-huh. That's right. Miss Att-ti-tude. My niece, Eva. :-)  Digital layout made using elements from Stacy's latest kit, available at Two Peas. I altered the colors in the patterned paper design to match Eva's shirt. That's the great thing about digital layouts!!!

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the latest items added to my store....

 
Fancy Forest trees

Glittered Owls 

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the latest items added to Leann's store....

Lucious Cream Baby's Blanket

 
Sunset Baby Blanket I love the colors in this!!

Enjoy!!!! :-) 

July birthdays

My family has lots of birthdays in the month of July. Here are some photos from just a few of the celebrations....

(click to enlarge)

I'll do this again after the next batch! :-) 

recycled honey bear container

I'm pleased to meet you. Patty was up to her creative recycling again, and here I am.

I once had a belly full of honey, but those days are gone. Now I am happily stuffed to the brim with buttons.

I can hold anything small enough to fit through my hat. Beads, eyelets, paper fasteners, thumb tacks, even candy. I really like M & M's. But, Patty has a gazillion buttons and she chose to fill me with those.

All you have to do when my belly is empty of honey, is scrub me out good with hot, soapy water and then let me dry completely. (While I'm taking my hot bath, remove my front and back labels. They come off easily in water.) And then ~ accessorize. I've dressed pretty plainly up until now. I'm looking forward to a new outfit.

Patty even thought of my backside!

Yeah, life is looking pretty good for me now. I am no longer shut inside a dark cabinet. I sit on Patty's art table among all kinds of pretty things.

If you have one of my brothers or sisters in your cabinet, think of me when their bellies are empty. I'd like to know that they were given a second life and used creatively.

reuse recycle create  :-)

girls and jewelry

When I was Sarah's age, and even younger, I used to love to look through my Grammy's jewelry box. I can still hear her voice telling me, "Oh, it's just junk", meaning she didn't think anything in there was valuable. To me, it was like looking through a treasure box. I'm guessing her jewelry was mostly from the 1950's, probably some from earlier, some from later.

She kept her jewelry box in the middle bedroom on the second floor of her house. It sat on a low table, next to the fold-out sofa bed where I slept when I spent the night. I would kneel in front of the box and pick up each piece, marveling at how pretty each was. I remember being enthralled with her clip-on earrings. Grammy never had her ears pierced, but mine were. I would match up all the pairs and take my pierced earrings off and try on her clip-ons.

Fast forward thirty years.

The jewelry box came to me when my Grammy passed away. I have it stored in a drawer of an old chest of drawers that was covered and unaccessible.... until our basement was finished a few weeks ago. On Sunday afternoon I pulled open the drawers and went through each one, showing Sarah all the mementos that are stored in there.

Guess what caught her attention. Yup, Grammy's jewelry box.

My Aunt labeled a lot of the pieces and matched up earrings with necklaces before passing it on to me. Sarah got everything out. And I smiled when she matched up all the clip-on earrings like I used to do so long ago. She doesn't have pierced ears, so it was fun for her to see what it could look like if she did. She tried on a few. These were always my favorite....

And Sarah loved the big butterfly pin...

I told her that someday the jewelry box and all its treasures would be hers. And maybe another thirty years down the line another little girl, Grammy's great great granddaughter, can marvel at all the sparkly jewels.

:-)

  

Monday make it: glittery daisies

This is a super easy project that needs only a few supplies....

 
...wooden skewers (like for shish kabobs), 1" STYROFOAM balls, green paint, assorted 2"  flowers and assorted glitter colors.

Start by painting the wooden skewers green....

Cut the STYROFOAM balls in half and insert a painted skewer into the half-ball shape, without going all the way through...

Coat the top, rounded half of the ball shape with an adhesive... I used a gel medium and brushed on a thick coat...

... then sprinkle with glitter....

Do as many glitter colors on as many half-ball shapes as you want. Then, let them dry....

Poke a hole through the center of a flower. Slip the glittered half-ball shape off the end of the skewer and slide the flower on. Add glue (I used STYROGLUE) to the center of the flower and the very end of the wooden skewer....

Slip the glittered half-ball shape back on and press the flower up underneath to adhere the glue. Again, repeat this step to complete all your daisies.

I added a little something special to one of my daisies. I bought a hair scrunchie a few years ago because it was loaded with clear, colored butterflies. I figured I'd use them for something creative (wink) and Sarah only wore the scrunchie one time. I inserted two white pearlized pins through the hole in the butterfly accent so it looks like antennas. Then I pushed the butterfly into the glittered STYROFOAM shape.

Have fun making glittered daisies - and be creative - think outside the box.... can you come up with a cute accent for your bunch of daisies? I'd love to see! :-) 

 

quick poolside craft project for busy moms

I was hoping that once summer vacation came I'd have more time to play and create. Nope. I feel like I'm still just as busy, but doing 'summer' things instead. What's a busy mom to do when she has the hankering to create but she's gotta supervise the kids in the pool??? Slather on some sunscreen and grab a cute tote bag filled with a few simple supplies. We are going to multitask.

I love banners. I see them everywhere on design blogs. They are so fun and versatile! That's what we are going to sit by the pool and make today. A kraft paper banner decorated with spunky polka dots and colorful buttons.

Everybody have on their sunscreen and have a refreshing drink close by? Great! Let's begin.

You will need a flat surface to work on. I used a clipboard. I had a scrap of kraft paper left from wrapping my store orders, but you can use a grocery bag or even a brown lunch bag. Buttons in your favorite colors. A white pen. Some sort of string or thin ribbon. A diamond template, which you can make inside before heading out to the pool. Scissors. And adhesive. I used mini glue dots for the buttons and a Dotto for the paper pennants. That's it!

 
You can throw those few things into a tote bag, right?

Are the kids behaving so far? Awesome.

Use your template to draw diamonds on your kraft paper. (I forgot to mention that you may need a few paper weights depending on the breeze.) You can make your template any size you want. Mine is about 1 1/2" wide across the fold and about four inches from point to point, unfolded.

Cut out your little diamonds. 
Go fetch the swim noodle that blew out of the pool. I'll wait.

Okay, fold your diamonds in half to make the little pennants and make simple dots along the two side edges with the white pen.

 
Cover the inside of the pennant with adhesive and then fold it over the string so the folded crease lays along the string. Leave about 10 - 12 inches at the end so you can tie your banner up.

Attach all your little pennants and trim the string at the other end, leaving 10 - 12 inches for hanging.

Now the ball got thrown out of the pool? Might as well go get it. And take a sip of your drink, too. :-)

Grab your buttons.

And start attaching them here and there to your pennants.

That's it. You're done! See ~ moms are great at multitasking!!! This project took me about an hour from start to finish, including multiple swim noodle and ball retrievals.

After we came inside so I could start supper, I took a moment to hang my pretty, new banner from the shelf above my art table.

I love it.

I hope you get the chance to make this poolside project! :-) Enjoy!!!!