Cool Art Teacher

Little J came home from school last week telling me that she was trading cards at school. She said her teacher wanted them to do this. I was confused. Usually trading cards are banned from school especially during learning time. 

Tuesday evening she shows me this....

AH! Now I understand. 

They are making ATC's!!!!

How cool is that! Her art teacher got them started making the artitst trading cards then encouraged them to trade with their classmates.

It was interesting that she didn't realize that I also made these, although it's been a while.

  I pulled out my collection to show her that I traded them with artists from all over the world. 

We decided to make a trade ourselves.

 

Wordless Wednesday

Working the needles

Oh sorry....was the click, click, click, click bothering you??

 I apologize. I gave my mom a couple of these scarves for her b-day a few weeks ago and a bunch of the ladies in her building have been asking where she got them.  When she said "my daughter makes them", they were all excited.

I've been enlisted to make a bunch and bring them over for the ladies to peruse.

 

Green tomatoes aplenty

When I heard the overnight low forecast for last night, I decided to pick the rest of the tomatoes off my 12 plants. 

Now I have a plethora of green babies that I'm hoping will ripen over time. 

Any hints on helping them along??

 

Scrappy sleeping bag

I'm really happy with the way all the random fabrics from my scrap bin came together in this American Girl doll sleeping bag.

(etsy)

 

Girls day part 2

As I mentioned in my previous post, Little J and I did a bunch of crafting on Sunday afternoon. Not just the two salt dough recipes.

I made some cards while she painted. 

Once again...thanks to Elizabeth for the awesome handmade paper used in the "Home is where the Heart is" card.

While she waited for her paint and glue to dry, she went off to play. I started work on another scrappy sewing project. Basically grabbed scraps from the box and started sewing.

Here's a little sneak peek...

 

Pinterest FAIL!!!!

The boys were gone all day Sunday so Little J and I made plans to do lots of fun "girl stuff" that we like.
We shopped a bit, visited my mom, went out to eat then came home to get to some crafting.

We planned to make some salt dough and "better than salt dough" ornaments, tags, etc.  Little J loves to both cook and paint so I figured "two birds" right?!?

As you can see we had a bit of an issue with the "better than salt dough" recipe.


I saw the recipe on Pinterest under the most beautifully white and perfect ornaments. Yeah...what the recipe gave me was a goopy mess. I tried to salvage it by using metal cookie cutters as forms while they dried at 175°F in the oven.

Lesson learned... people aren't always careful about what they post.

We did go on to make some salt dough ornaments that actually did turn out.
As you can see they aren't the pristine white I was going for but then again I use unbleached flour so what can I expect!

 

Jalapeno Jelly

We ended up with a lot more jalapenos than last year. 

They must like it hot and dry. 

Anyway, I'm a big fan of jalapeno jelly on brie with crackers. 

Oh YUM! 

So I figured...might as well give it a try.

I used the Ball Jalapeno Jelly recipe.

Can't wait to sample it! 

 

It "niche" the end.

Now I realize that title only makes a bit of sense if your pronounce as knee-sh

...not knit-ch.

Regardless of how you say it...my Nature book is complete!!



I decided to place one of the prairie dog photos I took at the MN Zoo under the niche.

 The opening of the niche was slightly larger than the photo so I recreated the sandy hill this little guy was perched upon in sand.

Worked perfect and if I hadn't told you why, you'd have just thought I was terribly clever. *wink*

I've decided not to alter the outside of the book as it lays relatively flat. This way it can sit on the shelf along side the rest and be a big surprise to anyone who pulls it out to read.

Such a good feeling to complete another project. It's been tucked away in among the rest of the UFO's for several years. 

Thanks to Elizabeth for her online class that got this book started in the first place. 

 

Craft expo

I'm gearing up to participate in my first Craft Expo. I'm very excited!! I'm about 6 weeks out from it but I know how fast time goes. 

Over the weekend I made a bunch of wine charms. Then all I needed was a label. I wanted something wine themed so I went in search of images. Inspiration struck when I walked through our family room. 

Why not use my painting?!? 

A little help from photoshop and my label was complete.

I'm thinking about Christmas as well....

I saw this on Pinterest and knew I wanted to try it. 

Source: blog.craftzine.com via Halle on Pinterest

One of my chandelier bulbs recently burned out so now it has a new blinged out life.      

 

It's school time....