Soot Sprites

Have you seen the movie Spirited Away? One of the best movies ever. I love it! A few weeks back, Sweet Pea and I made our very own soot sprites. A few pom-poms, some googlie eyes, a little glue and some star sprinkles and we have our very own fleet:

Quack!

It Has a Purpose!

I found a really neat star-shaped box at the thrift store a few years back. It sat in a closet, empty and alone for several months, maybe even a year or two. But it finally has a purpose! It makes the perfect place to store buttons! Everyone has a huge assortment of buttons around right? For sewing, crocheting, scrapbooking, collaging, jewelry-making and just sorting through when the mood strikes...

 

Quack!

What Time is it? Adventure Time!

I like to decorate my shoes. It's part of my weird crafty nature. My latest venture into the world of shoe decoration was done at the request of Sweet Pea. She has a favorite TV show - Adventure Time. It's a fun show - I like it too. So, to pay homage to Finn, Jake and all the other characters, I made these:

Quack!

Tiny Snowflakes

So, we were making snowflakes the other day and we ran out of paper. Not to be discouraged, we decided to use the scraps and just make small snowflakes. It turned into a contest of sorts to see who could make the smallest snowflake. And then there were arguments about what was a valid snowflake what wasn't. It it was so small that only one tiny cut could be made, did that count? It went on for quite a while. I won't bore you with the details, but here are some of the results:

Quack!

Snowflake Blisters

  It's winter. Well, not yet officially. We have a few more days. But it's snowed already, so as far as I'm concerned, it's winter. Winter solstice be darned!

And since Christmas is quickly approaching, we are in full Christmas mode. Christmas music, cookies, decorations, the works.

The other day we fired up Elf - that delightful Christmas move with Will Farrell. Actually, last year was the first time we ever watched it, but I think we found a new tradition. It's fun, funny, ridiculous, heart-warming - all that stuff. You know where he decorates the house with all the paper snowflakes and paper chains and stuff? Well, that looks really cool. So we got out some white paper and all the scissors we could find and all of us (except the hubby who isn't a big fan of paper and scissors and glue and anything resembling crafts) got to work making snowflakes. After the first 30 or so my finger was a little sore, but after the next 30 I had a full blown snowflake blister!

All of us made some awesome snowflakes:

All that cutting and careful snipping through 6 layers of paper was tedious (and fun), but my poor little finger had a boo boo! I was going to let it rest for a bit on a fluffy pillow with a warm drink but I just couldn't part with it, so it came along while I hung the snowflakes up. And let me tell you, it's not as easy as you'd think to hang snowflakes like they did in the movie - strung all over the room - zig-zagging and cross-hatching and looking like a regular ol' winter wonderland. I mean, I know he's a Christmas Elf and all, and has super Elf powers for Christmas decorating, but I thought I was up to it. I guess I'm not made to be a Christmas elf. But I managed to get a few up without poking the ceiling full of holes. We have a nice snow storm over our Christmas village:

Next up, decorating the living room. I can already hear the hubby muttering about the snowflakes in front of the TV, blocking his view of Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas!


Quack!

You're Not Going to Wear Those Out of the House, Are You?

Every once in a while I drag out my Sharpies again. Remember this posts from way back when? You can do amazing things with Sharpies if you have the time. Since I don't have the time I content myself with the decoration of my shoes. Colorful, fun, wild:

And yes, I do wear these out of the house. My husband pretends he doesn't notice. The kids love it. I beam proudly as the colors flash in the sunlight and blind everyone around me with their stunning beauty (or something like that).

If you decide to do this yourself, keep in mind that even though these are permanent markers, most of the colors will bleed when you get caught in the rain, wear them in the bath or splash in puddles. The black stays put, but the colors bleed into the white in a very pretty, but unexpected way.

Quack!

Garbage and Other Detritus - The Possibilities Are Endless

When I take a walk, I can't help but look around me. I mean, who doesn't. But do other people notice the little things that I notice? The interesting bits of metal in the gutters? The cool-shaped rocks flaking off the sidewalks? The discarded feathers and colorful leaves at the side of the road?

I'm sure many people do. But do those people put that stuff in their pockets and bring it home? How can they not? That rock would make an awesome cover for a tiny book! That feather would delight the kids! That piece of metal, well, I don't know what I would do with it, but it's so cool! The possibilities are endless.

However, there is a line I will not cross. You won't catch me rifling through your garbage or recycle bin, and if I find a rock, no matter how cool it is, that is too heavy to lift, I will leave it behind!


Quack!

Random Acts of Sewing and Arts and Crafts

Do you remember this post from a while back where I totally dissed my Catholic school education by turning my old school uniform into a trash bag? Well, the other day as the family was sitting around reminiscing, somehow the topic of nuns and uniforms and my misguided youth came up. We were talking about someone rebelling and the topic of my old uniform came up and Snickers chimed in with "Way to rebel, Mom!"

And we giggled and chuckled and chortled for several minutes picturing me furiously cutting and sewing the maroon and gray plaid fabric, swearing and cursing the nuns with each prick of the needle. Hah! Take that Sister Daria! In your face Sister Mary Magdalene!

Sure beats getting pregnant at 16, or dropping out of school to become a drummer, or getting heavily pierced and tattooed. I can only hope my own ducklings take after me and rebel with random acts of sewing, arts and crafts and baking.

Quack!

My Wrists Are Smmmooookin'

  So, you know that I like to make and wear beaded bracelets, right? Did you also know that in the winter I like to blast the heat in the car? And by winter I mean the snowy cold months of January, February and March as well as the three months leading up to them and the three months after them.

Now, when I have the heat blasting out, it has to blast in just the right way. It can't blast directly into my face. I hate having hot eyeballs, not to mention the fact that since my laser eye surgery several years back my eyes are drier than normal, so having hot air blowing on them guarantees they will dry out like unbuttered toast and fall out. Not a good thing. So, rather than risk that, it blows out onto my hands and feet. This has the added advantage of warming up my hands, which for a good percentage of the year, are basically hand-shaped chunks of ice. However, I've recently discovered that having the car's heater blasting out onto my wrists - wrists that are covered in beaded bracelets with metal clasps and sometimes metal beads - is not always a good thing.

For instance, I'll be driving down the road, heat blasting, and will notice that my wrist feels funny. I'll wiggle it and, Ouch! Damn! Holy smokin' wrist bones batman! The metal beads get very very hot. This is going to interfere with my warm-up routine.

Quack!

A Taste For Beads

Yes, I'm still beading. It's slowed down somewhat now that I own beaded necklaces, bracelets and anklets in every conceivable color. But I still get back to it on occasion. Here are some of them:

I even make one for the cat now and then. She's developed a taste for beads and loves to bat a colorful strand of beads across the floor.

Quack!

Attacked With a Sharpie

  As we move up the ladder in karate we need more and more gear. We started out with punches and kicks (gloves and foot-covering), shin guards and mouth guards. Now, we've progressed up to rib gear and head gear, both of which are fairly large. And of course, we need some way to carry this stuff back and forth. With the addition of the head and rib gear, the small bags we were using just weren't going to cut it. So, I went out and got some sizable duffle bags. Since we needed 5 of them, I went for the cheapest bags I could find. So, of course that limited my choices, including color. We all ended up with identical red bags. They have our initials on them to distinguish them from each other, but just to make mine more distinctive and just because this is the way I am, I attacked my bag with a sharpie. Voila!

Not bad. Makes it easier to tell apart from the others now. Maybe I'll decorate them all. Sweet Pea might like porcupines on hers, or bunnies, or peace signs. Snickers might like a Pac Man game board. Doodlebug might like skulls or maybe kittens. The hubster would like zombies, or maybe guitars. Hmmmm. Time to get out those sharpies again!

Quack!

Leprechaun Traps and Cakes and Stuff

 Happy St. Patrick's Day! I wasn't creative at all this year for St. Patrick's day, but I had to blog about something, so here's some pictures from the last few years where I did manage to get my butt in gear and do something creative:

The leprechaun trap:

We almost managed to catch one. We could tell by the scattering of gold coins and the dirty, tiny footprints, that he had fallen in the trap. Unfortunately, he escaped. But it was a fun experiment anyway.

And  here's the leprechaun cake. This one was fun to make!

Quack!