Yard Sales and glass for garden totems

First...I have to ask...did you watch the royal wedding yesterday?  What did you think? I thought it was just beautiful...of course the bride in her lovely gown. Kate's sister and mother looked lovely too. The church is amazingly beautiful and huge. The horse drawn carriages, colorful uniformed men on horses, and the pagentry of it all. I can't even imaging putting on a wedding that size, and never mind the cost. I did think some of the hats worn by some of the  guests were horrid, but other hats were very pretty.
I would love to revisit England again. I absolutely loved my trip to England.

I had a busy but fun Saturday morning. My friend, Betty Ann called me to come over to her house which borders the Nemasket River to watch the annual town canoe race, but before I left I snapped a couple pictures of stray kitty and Fluff Puff.
peek a boo...I see you.
Here are some of this years canoe race photos.
There is a bridge near my friends house, and the canoes have to come out of the water and cross the road as the Nemasket river is so high they can't canoe under the bridge. The spot where the canoes reenter the water butts up to my friends property. So, we watch and cheer the racers on from her yard.
this was an elderly man who made his own lightweight canoe. He told us the canoe only weighs 17 pounds. There were between 30--40 canoes and kayaks in the race and they had a beautiful day to challenge the fast moving water in the river.

After the canoe race my friend and I went to New Bedford to pick up her grandchildren, and on the way home we hit some yard sales..first of the season.
When I got home this afternoon, I checked my tube of E6000 glue, and since it was still good I was all set to make some glass garden totems.  I already had  blue plates that I picked up in yard sales last summer so I had everything I needed to make some glass garden totems.
Below is a photo of the blue and white large ginger type jar that I found this morning and used to make into a garden totem. I took the top off and glued down my plate. Thanks so much Shelly for sharing this fun idea. The plate I used has a nice rim so it can hold water or bird seed. I wish I had more of this type of plate. The bottom piece was $4, but was marked down to $2.00, and the plate cost me 59 cents. Not bad...$2.59 for a nice piece for the garden.

I then made two more  garden totems  from inexpensive vases that I found last year at thrift and yard sales. I also have some brown and carnival glass colored pieces to make into garden totems. Just need to find a couple more pieces to make what I have in mind.

Below: The first garden totem that I made last year using a 2 different sized blue glasses, 2 blue voitive candle holders glued bottom to bottom and a plate. The base is a candle holder. As you can see..I do like blue glass.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The totems are easy to make and now I am always looking for different shaped thick pieces of colored glass, plates and taller heavier vases and candle holders for the bases. I like the heavier glass, because I figure it will stand up better outdoors and not be so fragile.  Give totem making a try, as I think you will enjoy making them and they look pretty in the yard. Recyle and repurpose those old teacups, glasses, plates, vases.


Have a wonderful weekend.  Elaine

Erosion Bundle Reveal 4.29.2011

In January at the start of the project when my bundle was hung out

In April: My bundle was ready to come down

My Erosion bundle went up a little late in January, and so I left it up until this morning. As you can see from the first photo the ground was covered in snow. This morning the tree's are starting to leaf out, and it is a gorgeous, warm and sunny day. Here in southern New England we had a very hard winter; with lots of rain and snow and so I couldn't wait to see what changes occured in my bundle.
You can read my original post here....Preparing Erosion Bundle Project

I had never created an Erosion bundle before, and was unsure what to place inside of my bundle. I had some good choices and other's...not so much. Next January I will have a better idea of what to include in my bundle.
Some of my items bled...a good thing, and other that I hoped...didn't. Some rusted while others didn't...my fault. The cranberries burst open and made a beautiful red, natural dye on nearby items. Papers took on colors as did fabrics. Wood and leather also took on some color. The coffee grounds dyed some of the papers and fabrics. Ticket stub, playing card also took on some color. Crocheted fabric took on some dyes and rust stains. The silk flowers and ribbons stayed the same. Fabric that I thought would bleed didn't and that was the same with some handmade colorful papers. I should have tested them before putting them in my bundle. Anyway, it was a fun first Erosion bundle project for me.

January: my Bundle of gathered items assembled and waiting to go outside for the winter.


April...Bundle when taken out of the netted hanging bag...the stained muslin bag shape kind of reminds me of nearby Plymouth Rock. :-)

my bundles contents when taken down:

 rusted key and safety pin made rust on fabric

Now, to figure out the projects that will be made of my altered items. I alreadyt have some items for a few ot the items after a quick look thru the bundle. This should be fun.

Did any of you create and hang out an Erosion bundle this past January? Were you happy with your results? What kinds of items did you include in your bundle? One more question...if you have never created an Erosion bundle would you consider doing one next January?

Happy 88th Birthday to my mom

Today is my mother's 88th birthday. I am so lucky to still have both of my parents. I will be taking my mom and dad out to lunch, and on Sunday, May 1st we will have a small party at my brothers home with family members for cake and ice cream. Since mom has  Alzheimer's too much excitement causes confusion so this years birthday celebration will be scaled down.

So mom won't have to cook tonight, I made a big dish of chicken parmigiana and an apple pie for their dinner.

My mom and dad have 4 children..me and my 3 brothers, 12 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren. My parents will be celebrating their 65th wedding anniversary in May. If it hadn't been for World War II, they would be celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary.

mom and dad with some of their great grandchildren

Love to you mom and dad. xx00xx

Time for a change

This morning it was time to say goodbye to my yellow chick Peeps blog header. I decided to use a photo of a large and small match boxes that are covered in polymer clay. The clay was rubber stamped and stained. I made these pieces sometime back when I spent an artsy week with friends. We all took turns teaching a class, and Nina Owens, from Texas  taught us how to make these hanging purses with drawers that open. Nina does wonderful stuff with clay. I've shared with you before Nina's blog, but here it is again Nina's blog
2 different views of the large clay covered match box.
  small clay covered match box with beads on the drawer to open. Buna cord to hang.

Tom and I still haven't decided on a name for our stray kitty, so the name the kitty contest is still open for name suggestions. Stray Kitty is now sleeping inside every night, and she is now letting me pat her. She is  a very vocal kitty compared to our Fluff Puff.  If you haven't entered a name...there is still time.

I also want to wish my husband of 43 years a very happy 66th birthday.  Tom doesn't really care for cake so I am making a homemade apple pie and an apple crisp for him. Happy Birthday, Tom!!!!!

Easter Greetings

A quick hello and wishing all of you a beautiful Easter Sunday. I hope that you have a lovely day spent with family and friends sharing and making new memories.

The sun is shining, and it is really warm today. A perfect Easter Sunday. So nice, after the stormy day we had yesterday. We will be having our Easter dinner with family at Robin and Steven's house. 

Today is also Robin's birthday. This morning I made a quick birthday card for Robin using ribbon, cardstock and my Cricut.
 
I also made Robin a pair of earrings and put a hanging clasp onto a Swarovski emerald iridescent crystal star and put it on a chain.
 

My digital camera doesn't have a Macro setting and it was so hard to get a good close up photo between
shadows and glare.

Pictures of the grandchildren...missing Chris who lives in Vermont and step grandson, Adam who is serving in the armed forces  in Afghanistan as a medic.

Step granddaughter Jenea who is a registered nurse and her son Paul who is 2.

Bella 11 months

  Lily 9 and Katie 17

One more time...Peeps for Easter

for how to and recipes click on link Peeps in disguise

 

Beautiful Daffodils

Today it has been raining hard at times, it is gray, over cast and very windy outside. Temperature is in the 40's, but it sure feels like winter. This morning as I was looking out my slider door I noticed some of my larger daffodils in the rock garden had started to bloom. Such a beautiful display of color. I wish the sun had been out, because it would have been easier to get a good photo.
My aunt had ordered daffodil bulbs from Breck's Dutch Bulb company several years back and she gave me some of the bulbs she ordered. In the photo below is a  clump of daffodils that have a frilly, apricot colored trumpet, and others have a yellow with orange trumpet, and others just a yellow frilly trumpet. I love these gorgeous daffodils, but unfortunately I can't remember the name of the bulbs as the names. After these flowers are done blooming and the leaves have died back, I need to transplant some of the bulbs.

close up of the frilly center
weird...all different from the same package of bulbs with frilly yellow, apricot and apricot orange centers.
apricot centered with cream colored petals

Breck's Chartreuse daffodils
The large yellow King Alfred daffodils are also blooming and the very old double centered bulbs that I dug up from my grandfather's house when I first got married 43 years ago.
April 2011, has been cold and rainy. The grass has really greened up and spring is slowly awakening the flowers and flowering trees. Leaves are starting to appear on many of the trees. But the bright pops of color from the spring flowers are a ray of sunshine.

Quarantined

I had to take my Fluff Puff kitty to the vets yesterday, because the day before he started to limp. His left front paw was swollen and he was limping on 3 legs with his left leg off the floor. Fluff Puff wouldn't let me touch the paw, and if I did he would cry.

FP is so furry that the vet had to shave the lower left leg and foot. The vet found a slice type cut on the pad of his foot and it was infected and kitty had a slight temperature.  After cleaning the foot, getting a shot of antibiotics, and a rabies booster the vet told me, the state has become real strict, and since I don't know how he cut his foot and FP is and inside-outside cat that they have to report his injury. The vet told me it didn't look like a bite, but it had to be reported and he can't go outside for 45 days. So kitty is on quarantine.
This morning FP is feeling better and not limping and isn't lethargic like he had been, and he is crying at the door to go out. Thank goodness that he was current with his rabies vaccine or he would be condemned to stay indoors for 6 months.  I can imagine he will be driving us crazy with his crying to go outside. Poor kitty, this quarantine business will be punishment for him and us too. I've marked off the calendar and will be anxiously counting down the days till Fluff Puff is free.

I did ask the vet if his friend, stray kitty is allowed inside to visit during kitties enforced confinement inside the house, and the answer was yes.  Now that just doesn't make any sense to me, but neither did just a slice/cut on the paw that wasn't a bite ending up as a quarantine confinement.

Big 4-0...

My oldest son's girlfriend is turning 4o, and we are going out to celebrate her 4oth birthday at a Italian restuarant. We will be in a banquet room and I wanted to make something for a table centerpiece.  Wasn't sure what to make, and after some thinking I decided to make a table topper for a centerpiece.
Photo of the top of the table centerpiece made of fabric.

I also made a black silk flower corsage with ribbons hanging and a pin back.  I know it is very hard to see the flower, because its black on black. What a job trying to find a black silk flower to use. I wish I hadn't added the silver Viva sparkle glitter writer to the leaves, but it was too late after I put it on. I do like the Viva product as it doesn't run and flatten out like Stickles.
 
I used a black and white bag that I stuffed with black tissue. Inside I nestled a black sparkle drink coozie with a piece of styrofoam inside. I had a kids wand that had a foam sparkle star on the top. I cut down the star to make a circle. I added glue to the stick and wrapped black ribbon, and then added some more black ribbon for streamers. I used Beyond Birthdays and ABC cricut cartridges to cut out BIG 40 that I layered and added to the bag front.
I then cut out 2 black sparkle cardstock circle pieces and glued that to the cut down foam piece. I then ironed black iron on heat n bond to polka dot and black fabrics. I used my Big Kick die cutter and Tim Holtz flower dies to cut the fabric pieces for my flower. I also cut out black tulle with the dies. The tulle was then scrunched up to make the flower center, and I stapled the tulle to the flower pieces, and glued a black rhinestone to the center.
I took several pictures, but it is a very dark day and I just couldn't get a good photo.
Birthday card I made...layered cardstock, sponged Tim Holtz Black soot distress ink, with a crackle stamp for the cards background. Then Happy Birthday and the present were cut out on my cricut. I ran the words thru my xyron and they were added to cardstock. For the flower...I used a silver satin vellum that I stamped with black pigment ink and embossed with  clear embossing powder. I cut out 3 flowers and wrinkled the cut out flowers, then I stapled the 3 flowers together and added a black rhinestone to the center of the flower.


Tommy and Kelly who was celebrating her 40th birthday.