Capture the Details

buttons: from drab to fab // DIY spray paint magic

Look at these pretty buttons ~

 
They started off as drab, plain buttons and with some DIY magic they are now fruity and juicy colored buttons!

I have a big bin filled with bags and bags of plain buttons.... lots of grays and not-so-pretty colors. Someone I know picked them up at a yard sale and gave them to me, knowing I love buttons.

 
 
I set up shop outside last night to spray paint the buttons and give them a makeover. I have a bunch of bright colors of spray paint - better suiting my taste in colors! Outside is the best place for spray painting. There is plenty of ventilation and no need to worry about over-spray (I do have a patch of rainbow grass today, though!).

 
 
I simply placed a sheet of newspaper over a board (for stability on the grass) and then put some buttons out to be *transformed*...

 
 
Tah dah!

I spray painted a batch of each color and let them dry overnight.

 
 
And now I have a fresh supply of fun buttons! Simple to do with beautiful results!

 
 
Have a colorful day! xo :-)

trees and flowers

I'm finally able to squeak in some creative time and I made a few new things for my store. Yea! :-)

I love love love putting together patterns and colors to make beautiful combinations. I used to love doing that with patterned papers when I worked at the scrapbook store. That's why I enjoy making my trees - I have fun coordinating the papers to make the cutest little forest of trees that you have ever seen! I have a new collection - the Strawberry Lemonade Collection - that has shades of pinks and yellows. It's a color combo with a zing! Summer will be here soon and sitting in the shade of a big tree and sipping on an icy glass of strawberry lemonade is a summer must. :-)

 
Refreshing. :-)

I have just as much fun using recycled papers - playing around to see what looks good together. I have new sets of my Twice as Nice flowers available in my shop. I save colorful catalogs from the mail so I can do some creative recycling! reuse recycle create!

 
^ available here

 
^ here

 
^ here

 
^ here

 
and ^ here

So pretty. :-)

oh jeez

Like I need something else to look at when I have the time to look!

I just found the site Polyvore and put together a Saturday night date outfit that I'd be so happy to wear. I'll just go visit the money tree in my backyard first. ;-)

 

If you go here you can get all the deets on my ensemble. :-)

Another evil, evil site is Pinterest. Sooooo many amazing ideas and pretty things to look at. You can check out all the neat things that I've pinned here. :-) 

(*edited to add: Sarah read my post and asked why I called the site 'evil'. For clarification - i ***LOVE*** the site. Too much. And I mean evil in that it sucks you in and you have to keep scrolling through to see what other people have pinned because it's all soooo goooood. You just can't stop. Evil. lol)

Now. I really must get some laundry done. Good thing I keep a pry bar handy to remove myself from my computer! HA! :-)

6th grade field trip

Still here! Still super busy!

Yesterday I went with Sarah on her 6th grade class field trip to New York City. We spent the day around the Times Square area and the Theater District. We were dropped off at Rockerfeller Center and walked up 5th Avenue to our first destination. We saw St. Patrick's Cathedral, Saks Fifth Avenue and all kinds of amazing stores along the way.

Our first stop was Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. The figures are really neat and it's interesting to see how tall they are. When you only see them on TV or in movies you don't have a sense of their size. Sarah posed with quite a few famous people. My favorite is her and Albert Einstein - she's like, 'yeah, he's pretty smart'....

 
Her and Oprah were buddies.....

 
She and Bob Marley peaced out...

 
I love her and Jon Bon Jovi - he got a hug! ......

 
I posed with a few figures, too. My favorite was Robert Pattinson (yes, I am Team Edward). (I had to laugh when I saw the photo because his lipstick is better than mine! hahaha!!!) And, I didn't realize he's so tall...

 
Bono and I were buds for a brief moment.....

 
What a fun experience!

We had time between the wax museum and our next destination, so we walked around a bit and grabbed lunch. We went into Times Square and saw 'the ball'....

 
It's waaaaaaaaay up there....

 
Cool.

 
The amount of people grew and grew as the day went on. Soooo many people. We literally had to walk like penguins while crossing streets. People were packed like sardines in a can. Unbelievable. We checked out some stores... Hershey's, Sketchers, M & M's. And just people watched!

The next thing on the agenda was my favorite. We went to see The Lion King on Broadway. (I have no pictures of that because you were not allowed to take photos.) That performance ranks as one of the neatest things I've ever seen in my life. I HIGHLY recommend going to see it if you get the chance! The costumes and the set designs and the actors were AMAZING. It was soooooo gooooood! :-)

We went from there to Mars 2112 to eat supper. That was different. The restaurant in designed to look like you are on Mars. The atmosphere is dark with a reddish glow and you feel like you're in a cave almost. The Martians came out to dance while we were eating. :-)

Then, it was time to go home. The buses were late to pick us up because the traffic was so heavy. So, again, we people watched while we waited. NYC is so loud and busy, much different from where I live. When Sarah and I got out of the car in our driveway we just stood and listened to the quiet. NYC was fun for a day but there's no place, like home!

:-)

time flies when you're having fun

Well, hello there! I must be having lots of fun because two weeks have flown by since I've updated my blog. My calendar for the months of April and May are always packed with reminders for practices and games and appointments and field trips and special events. Crazy, but a good crazy. :-)

Sarah celebrated her 12th birthday back on April 25th. We had her parties on Easter since we would be with our families then. She had a cake at Nana and Pappy's house and another at Grandmam and Grandad's house. My niece Emily's 12th birthday was on Easter, so the two girls shared a cake....

 
We had a nice family picture taken on Easter and I'll have to have a larger print made and get it in a frame...

 
Sarah had braces put on the day after her birthday. It was a rough few days initially, but she is doing much better now. I actually had to take her back to the orthodontist about three hours after she had them put on because the wire pulled her teeth down that fast and she had to have the excess wire trimmed from the back - it was poking into her cheek.

 
 
 
Like I said, we've been busy....

Sarah and I had a field trip to Philadelphia to the Franklin Institute. The softball and baseball games have officially started. I had an eye exam and need stronger reading glasses. I'm having the new lenses put in tomorrow and I'm looking forward to being able to see what I'm working on and reading. :-) The kids and I are cavity-free, according to our dentist. Sarah completed the D.A.R.E. program at school. Todd went to a Phillies game. I'm working part time at the greenhouses for the busy season. Sarah had her show choir performance at school. The kids posed with their art at the Art Show at school (Benny's is by his shoulder)...

 
 
Mr. Benjamin had his First Holy Communion this past Saturday...

 
 
Yesterday we celebrated Mother's Day and I made sure to get a few pictures with my favorite kids in the whole world, Sarah and Ben.....

 
 
And a special photo with three generations, my mom, me and my daughter (I love our shirt colors together!)....

 
We had to throw in a fun 'vogue' pose, too, my favorite picture from the day...

 
And, since Todd had the camera I asked him to get 'just me', since there are so few of those. Here I am in all my glory....

 
:-)