The White Stuff

Back at Christmas time I was excited to see the white stuff falling from the sky and blanketing the earth in iridescent white. New fallen snow is so beautiful.

Now it's the end of February and it's snowing again. I'm tired of the snow, the shoveling and the driving on snow covered roads.  I want spring to arrive. I'm ready for mud season, with new plants coming up, birds singing, sunshine and most of all no snow!

It amazes me how you can appreciate the beauty of new snow while at the same time craving it's disappearance for another year.  If you're in need of some snow stop by our house, we have plenty to share.  While you're here would you mind shoveling the walkways, clearing the driveway and driving me to the airport. . .I'm craving some tropical weather.

Needful Things

I'm participating in The Needful Things Swap over at Yarnigras swapper spot. As part of the swap you have to post twenty things that you need.  Easy right?  It was a challenge!  I've thought, pondered, written, edited and re-edited to come up with my list. Presenting Jill's Needful Things . . .

1.     I need my family!  My husband, my daughter, my dog Chunk, my siblings, my mom, my nieces, my nephews(including a new one on the way) and my friends. They make life wonderful.

My sisters, my mom and I having fun on a girls weekend in Maine.

2.     I need the color red in my life.  When I wear my red boots, I look at my feet and can't help but smile every time.

3.     I need books.  Children's books for school, teen books that require no brain power so I can read just for sheer enjoyment.  I love bookstores, libraries, the book section at the thrift store.  I just love books! While I prefer a real, hold it in your hand kind of book, I do use my Kindle for books too.

4.     I need to create and be creative. Creating materials for my job as a preschool teacher, creating for my house or creating for family and swap friends is essential to my happiness. The process of making something with my own hands is therapeutic and leaves me with a sense of accomplishment.

Painted canvases for my daughter's room.

5.     I need polka dots, they just make me smile. 

6.    Some mornings,  I need to wake up to sunshine and birds singing.  It always makes me feel glad to be alive. You just know it's going to be a good day when you awake to the sun shining in and the birds singing. It's a good feeling.

7.     I need zombies.  Yes zombies!  I like them; not super scary zombies, but I like zombie dolls.  I like to make them and receive them. I even like to look through zombie pictures and crafts to get ideas for new injuries to add to my future zombie dolls. I also like zombie movies, again not scary, but funny zombie movies.

My daughter set these zombies up at Halloween this year.  The photo is a little blurry but the sign reads "Silence or we will eat you next."

8.     I need wool.  I can't wear wool sweaters because they are too itchy for my sensitive skin but I love wool sweaters and wool coats.  I chop them up to create dolls, ornaments, mittens, wine sweaters and more.  Wool is one of my favorite mediums for crafting. I often compliment people's wool sweaters.  Of course the people closest to me know I'm really thinking about all the things I could make with that pretty wool sweater they're wearing. :)

Wool pencil case made from a felted sweater.

9.     I need unsweetened ice tea on a daily basis. I love it!

10.  I need crafty baubles.  There is nothing like a trip to AC Moore, Michael's or Hobby Lobby to get craft supplies. Fabric, yarn, threads, buttons, paints, papers, beads, clay, and whatever I can scrounge from the clearance section.  It makes me giddy thinking about it.

11.  I need Sharpie pens and scissors.  I never leave home without them; in fact I have them in my purse, in my car, at school and at home. You never know when crafts will happen, so I'm prepared at all times:) And don't forget the double sided sticky tape, love that stuff!

12.  I need recycled bits.  I love taking things that would be thrown away and creating something new. Bottle caps, paper towel rolls, jars, cans, ribbons, paper, old books, etc can all take on a new life. I'm always looking for a new recycling project. I'm really loving recycled glass containers lately.  I have a couple of tequila bottles that make lovely vases. I don't even like tequila, I'm more of a rum girl, but put a pretty flower in the empty tequila bottle and wallah instant joy.

These are flowers from my mom's garden, in my empty tequila bottle.

13.  I need plants and flowers.  I have to admit I'm not a good gardener so plants in my care don't always have the longest life span but I need plants and flowers. Of course I've learned to buy hardy plants so they survive living with me. That little bit of green or pretty flowers just brings joy to a room. 

These are my hearty house plants. Notice the little red bird.

14.  I need children's art work.  There is something about art created by children that always makes me smile. It's usually full of happiness and joy.  I love my daughter's art and treasure the pictures and crafts she creates. Watching my daughter create art just makes me happy.

My daughter drew this owl.

15.  I need to be around children.  They remind you to slow down, enjoy the moment and best of all take time to play.  Part of what I love about my job is playing and acting silly with my students. Have you ever had running races with preschoolers? I usually hate to run, in fact I don't run unless there is a fire; but it's tons of fun to run races with my preschoolers!

16.  I need to just be home.  I love my job but I also love to just be home with my husband, daughter and naughty little pug. Hanging out at home with my family vegging out, crafting or spending time together is good for my soul.  I love being at home! We have a beautiful back yard for summer and a cozy, comfortable home for the cold winter months. Home is a great place to be!

17.  I need thrift stores. I love to go thrifting, it's kind of like recycled bits, taking things that someone else no longer needs and giving it a new life. Plus I gets my wooly bits and sweaters by thrifting.

18.   I need handmade goodies. I love things that are handmade; seeing the time, effort and talent that goes into a handmade item always brings me joy. I love fun, interesting handmade items. 

19. I need whimsical fairytale creatures like owls, red mushrooms, gnomes and traditional fairytale characters.  I still love retellings of fairytales. I loved hearing stories like Rapunzel and Thumbelina when I was a kid.  These days our February fairytale/nursery rhyme unit is one of my favorites units at school.

My painted muslin mushroom fairy ornament. I love this little guy!

20.   I need kindness, joy and laughter in my life. I think a smile and a kind word are small things that go a long way, laughter is good for the soul and finding joy in the small things makes life better. Kindness, joy and laughter spread and they usually find their way back to you.  

Giving Bunnies & Art

Warning the photo quality isn't great, but I had to share a few bits of art I discovered mixed in with my daughter's school work. I love her drawings!

One of the spelling words this week was tiny, so this is Tiny a wee little dog.  He's so cute!

This is Mary as the title explains.  What I love about this piece of art is the sweet little bunny in the background.  He's a Giving Bunny.  My daughter wanted to make a stuffed bunny a few weeks back. I showed her a pattern for the Giving Bunny and off she went to create a family of Giving Bunnies.  

Here are the fruits of her labor or in this case bunnies.  Baby Bunny, Grandma Bunny and Mama Bunny. There was a fourth bunny but it was given to her friend in the spirit of the Giving Bunny Project.

Best Friends & Unicorn Fun

Christmas included a gift card to Justice, so I promised to take her shopping this week. After school we drove to the mall.  Of course a trip to Justice isn't complete without your best friend.  They laughed and perused the store for an hour, hunting for unicorn themed items.  After shopping they were hungry so we hit the McDonald's drive-thru.  Here they are eating french fries while wearing their unicorn sleep masks over their new mustache winter hats. Note the matching owl scarves and fuzzy white vests too.

Back at  home the fashion show began.The shirt reads "Just be yourself. Unless you can be a unicorn. Then be a unicorn."

They bought these matching unicorn pajamas so we planned a sleepover so they could wear them together. This resulted in a lot of dancing; including a tango.

It turns out, happiness is a shopping trip to Justice and unicorn fun with a friend.

New Swap

Happy new year! Now that it's a new year, it's time for a new swap. Val is hosting a fabulous new swap over at Yarnigras Swapper Spot.  It's called The Needful Things Swap.  This swap celebrates the little things in life that you just can't live without.  To participate you have to sign up (go here) then create a post on your blog made up of twenty things you need.  I've already signed up and am working on my list of the twenty little things I can't live with out. It really makes you think! Last year for Mother's Day my daughter created a biography poem about me, it was interesting to see myself through her eyes.  She was very accurate; I do need to have books, summertime, my family, chips and soda. I've since sworn off chips and soda but it was accurate at the time. :)

It's very interesting to take a look at the things that really make you smile. Most often, for me, it's the small things that make my day. If you want to know more check back on February 1st, I'll be posting my twenty things I need then.  In the meantime join the swap or just ponder on the little things in your life that you can't live without.

A Little Holiday Zentangle Tutorial

It's holiday time. I like to make something to give to my co-workers, but this year I was struggling to come up with an idea. I've decided to make some holiday Hershey Kiss pretzels and Rolo pretzel bites but I wanted a tag to go on each bag of goodies.  I found some wood flower shapes at the Dollar Tree and inspiration struck. I created some wooden Zentangle tags that can double as a Christmas ornament.

I gathered my materials:

• wood shapes(the package had 10 shapes for $1)
• red and green acrylic paint
• paintbrushes
• black Sharpie
• old plastic lid for paint
• paper to protect my work surface
• DMC thread

First I watered down some red acrylic paint.  There is no exact science to this; just squirt some paint on an old plastic lid, add a little water and mix. I painted one side of my wood pieces.  I did a couple of coats until I was happy with the color then set them aside to dry. 

Once they dried I flipped them over to paint the backside and the edges of my wood pieces. Then I set them aside to dry again.

After letting them dry, I used the black sharpie to Zentangle on the front of each flower shape. Note: I tried drawing on the wood first then painting but it didn't work as well.  Painting first stopped the Sharpie from bleeding across the wood. Plus the black turns out lighter when you draw then paint over it. After trial and error, my advice is paint first, then draw.

Here's a group of the Zentangle tag/ornaments I finished. I wrote To: and From: on the backside with Sharpie so they will work as a gift tag on my holiday goodies.The last step is to drill a hole in the center and thread a piece of DMC through. Tie a knot then hang them on your tree or attach them to your Christmas gifts.

Oh Christmas Tree

We got our Christmas tree set up last night.  I love sorting through the ornaments and reminiscing as we hang each ornament.  Our tree is a combination of purchased, handmade and handed down ornaments.  It's full of memories for each of us. We actually have more ornaments than we have tree space.

This year I have a small "handmade" tree in the front foyer.  The tree isn't handmade but it's filled with handmade ornaments from the Year of Enchantment swap, this year's bird ornament swap and ornaments I've made with my own hands. Keeping with the handmade theme, Melinda made the table runner under the tree for me as part of the Christmas in July swap. It's a perfect base for my handmade tree. I love that this tree is full of ornaments that were lovingly made! It makes me smile every time I walk by it.

Happy holidays!