Shoe Painting - Like Finger Painting, But Different

So, what uber-important thing has been consuming my time lately? Well, shoe-painting of course.

And, not shoe-painting  as in using my shoes to create a painting - although that does sound somewhat intriguing - but rather, painting on shoes with brushes and paint. You know - I've done it before with Sharpies, but this time I got out my acrylic paints and brushes.

Sweet Pea is a girl much like myself with many varied interests. Yet, unlike me, she likes to have a pair of shoes to go along with each of those interests.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE shoes! But I don't necessarily wear shoes to match my interests - or fandoms, as Sweet Pea calls them. I prefer, for the most part, a more understated shoe. Although there are exceptions.

Anyway, she is a fan of one of the best movies of all times - Spirited Away and of the movie Totoro. Hence, these shoes:

She is also a fan of Doctor Who:

And then there are the shoes not pictured here - the minions from the Despicable Me movies and the Adventure Time shoes. And there has been a request for Bravest Warriors / Catbug shoes.


What fun!!


Quack!

Fever Flakes and Other Yummy Things

So, Doodlebug had to do a book report. And not just any book report, but a cereal box book report.And what on earth does that mean, do you ask? Does that mean he's writing a book report on what he read on the back of the Fruit Loops box?

Nope.

It means he has to decorate a cereal box with information from his book. The ingredients are characters and settings from the book. The name of the cereal and the prize should reflect the name or theme of the book. It sounds like a clever fun project, doesn't it? The only problem is that his book is Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson. It's about the yellow fever.

How do you create a cereal based on that? I mean, a cereal that isn't gross? Fever Flakes? With a thermometer for a prize maybe? I won't gross you out with all the ideas we tossed out but we ended up with 'Bring Out Your Bread'. The cereal was toast shaped, the prize was a miniature coffee house and the picture on the front of the box was a boy eating some awesome 'Bring Out Your Bread' cereal from a wheel barrow.

Quack!

Snow Birdies

How did they do that? I can't imagine how the birds build their own snow bird! But there it is - out on the back deck - as clear as can be. (I swear I had nothing to do with it!) They don't even have thumbs!

 

The birds having fun

Building birdies out of snow

How did they do that?

Quack!

Squirrel in the Snow

To continue with the squirrel theme - aren't you glad it's not like this outside any longer (or did I speak too soon?)

Squirrel in the snow

Doesn't he look cold and wet?

He's ready for spring

 Quack!

Pouring Bird Seed Onto My Feet

Where on earth have I been? Oh, here and there. Busy busy. You know how it is.

So, the squirrels finally managed to chew their way through the bottom of the bird feeder such that anytime I filled it, all the seeds immediately poured out the hole and onto my feet. I felt like it was a waste of time to even try to pour it in anymore, so now I just go out onto the deck and pour the seeds directly onto my feet without wasting time lifting the lid of the bird feeder. It saves me so much time. Which is why I now have time to blog again.

Really.

But then I felt bad because there were foot prints in the bird seed and if I was a bird I wouldn't want to eat dirty seed. And there was also bird seed being tracked into the house. So I got a new bird feeder.

Epic fail!

The squirrels spent two days sliding off the roof of it (and I'm not one of those people who tries to keep the squirrels out of the feeder. I know that's a futile effort and I think they're rather cute, so I don't mind if they eat the seeds). Then they got smart and figured out how to dislodge the roof, tip the house on its side and dump the bird seed all over the deck. Well, I can do that myself thank you very much.

So, this weekend I'm off to the store again. I plan to buy a nice sturdy one - like the one I just replaced. Sure, the squirrels chewed through the bottom of it, but it took them about a decade. Better than the two days it took them to figure out this last one.

Quack!

Sweet Little Squirrel

Sweet little squirrel

Sitting under a flower

Relaxing outside

Quack!

Not So Ginormous

This little guy is not so ginormous, but he's welcome here anytime!

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!

Fighting Over the Last Cookie

I created a sketch not too long ago of some turtles. Sweet Pea was mortified!

 So, to appease her, when I did a color version, I made a few changes. This is the modified one:

But I always really liked my original sketch, so to be true to myself :) I finally had to complete a color version of the original. Here the color version of the original:

I've heard that turtles can be downright nasty! What do you think they are fighting over? I'm guessing it's the last cookie.

Discuss.

Quack!

Locked In!

I have been very busy in my Crafty Corner lately and have been loving every minute of it. When I put my Crafty Corner together at one end of the room I tried to take up as little space as possible so the room could still be used, but still give myself room to work. So it's a tight squeeze to get into it, but once in I have room to move around a little bit. And since the entrance was rather tight, and since I had a large board hanging around, I made a door. It's just a large board that's between two pieces of furniture that can be pulled out to block the entrance. It's mostly a joke. But Doodlebug likes to pull it closed and lock me in. Which I don't mind in the least. I could stay in there all day. The only problem is that the 'door' doesn't slide easily. So when he 'locks me in' I'm locked in!

The other day I spent several minutes trying to extricate myself so I could answer the phone.

I grabbed the edge of the door and pushed, but wasn't at the right angle so it didn't budge. So I bent down and tried to shove the bottom. It didn't budge. After a lot of cursing, sweating and pushing I managed to get it to move an inch. I stopped to rest and draw a little. Then I started to get hungry so I got back to it. I finally managed to get it to open just enough to squeeze out. By that time the phone had stopped ringing.

Quack!