Purse, cards, and wallies

My Mom and sister are so creative, and when we get together we usually have craft parties late into the night.  I spent the week with them, and helped make: several stamped cards using mulberry paper, a purse with 7 interior pockets using scrap fabric and butterfly buttons, and soot sprite wallies.  (Soot sprites / dust bunnies are from my son’s favorite movie: Tonari No {My Neighbor} Totoro)

I am proud to carry my new purse, and now have pockets for all the junk I invariably end up carrying around.  I will have to post some pics later on in the week.  The soot sprites turned out adorable – my Mom actually made them using the center of a flower on the ‘Walk in my Garden’ cricut cartridge.  She then hole punched some white wallies scrap for eyes.

Mini Terrarium

Terrarium Bottle

This cute little bottle has been sitting on my kitchen windowsill since November.  I really like how it looks, so it has been sitting up there, waiting to be used in an art project.  While looking for  VBS craft ideas, I ran across a moss terrarium project.   I knew I had a good use for my bottle!

I left my hand in the photo for scale, so you can see just how small the 6 oz glass bottle is.  Including gathering my supplies, this project took about 40 minutes to complete.

Envelope Funnel

First, I rinsed the bottle off, since it was a little dusty.  I then used some scrap paper (an old envelope) to make an extension for my funnel – I wanted to be able to add the rocks, charcoal, and dirt without getting the sides of my pretty bottle dirty.  I used substrate and gravel that came our of our old fish tank, and barely covered the bottom with it.  Next I sprinkle in some activated charcoal (also pirated from the fish tank supplies.)  My potting soil was a little bit damp, so I had to force it through the funnel with a chop stick.

Chopstick Action

I used the flat back end of the chopstick to pat the soil level.  Then, I broke off small pieces of moss, and fed them through the paper tube one at a time.  I found the moss growing around my a/c unit outside, and scooped up several pretty pieces with a spoon.  I pushed them into place with the chopstick.

View from above

I left a little space between the moss chunks for future growth.  Since my soil was already damp, I didn’t add any water.  I didn’t paint the cap because I liked the simple design of red Japanese characters.  I did find tiny white worms on the sides of the bottle the next morning, but since I’m sure they can’t get out I’ll just leave them.

Child hood dreams…

As a child, there were a few things that I dreamed of doing when I was a ‘grown up:’  fly in an airplane, discover something, and write a book.  I have flown several times, the most memorable being when my husband’s pilot friend he took us up in a four passenger plane for one of our first dates.  We flew to a small airport diner, with awesome mushroom burgers – every girls dream date, right?

When I was in high school, I read a book about ghost towns in Florida, then actually researched and found one that had been forgotten about for 70+ years.  (What can I say, the state archives just interested me more than t.v.)  The park ranger was gracious enough to take me and a few friends out to see it, since he knew it was in the woods, but didn’t know what it was.  While I technically didn’t discover it, I did rediscover it, which is close enough for me. 

So, that leaves writing a book.   I love to read, especially children’s fiction, so I decided to write a short story.  It is a challenge that I enjoy.  While I know that I can’t write well enough to be published, it has been a great creative outlet that doesn’t take up much space.  (Unlike scrap booking, which requires a large flat surface that remains relatively undisturbed.)

I have drawn a few of the elements of the story, and while I can’t really draw, I have had fun trying to, and you can tell what the pictures are supposed to be, for the most part

I like how the cave and rocks turned out, but not the rest... I was going for an underground city.

The necklace I drew for my story...

The key I made for my story

Colored pencils

I decided to try my hand at drawing… and I’m not good at it.    I did have fun with the colored pencils.  Unfortunately, that’s been the extent of my creativity this week…

Scanning medium format negatives

I finally did figure out how to scan the medium format black and white negatives that belong to my mother in law.  They range in size from 2″x3″ to 3.5″x5″, so a negative scanner was out of the question.   She has more than 50, so getting them reprinted at $3-5 a piece was also out of the question.

I just scanned the negatives on a regular flatbed scanner, at a high resolution.  I then used getpaint.net’s free software to reverese the colors.  They turned out ok, but some of the detail didn’t really show up.  Since I am unfamiliar with paint.net, I am going to scan all of the negatives at my MIL’s, then bring them home to tweak with Photoshop.

It has been really neat to see the 60+ year old photos, including my husband’s grandma’s wedding.  I am also really looking foward to putting them on cd’s to share with all of the aunts, uncles, and cousins.

I would like to make a tutorial, after I figure out the best method.

Photoshop Posters

My husband volunteered me to design the posters for an upcoming conference that he is involved in, so I have been having fun playing in photoshop lately.  I found a website that prints 18×24 posters for $2 each, with $10 flat rate shipping.  I haven’t printed anything yet, so I’m not sure of the website’s quality.

I always have trouble finding things to hang on the wall in my Sunday School classroom that express exactly what I want them to – particularly since we make our own curriculum.  I decided to start designing some posters myself since they are so reasonably priced.  And photoshop is fun to play in   I couldn’t help but think that any teacher would like to make their own posters – it is so much easier to change a design on the computer than to remake something.

Scrapbooking

I love history and genealogy! My mother in law just received a gallon sized ziplock bag full of film negatives of her mother as a child.   Apparently, these negatives have survived separately from the original prints.  They are large, bigger than a business card, so they won’t fit into the negative scanner that we have.

I would love to be able to digitilize the negatives – my MIL is hesitant to take them anywhere to be printed as they are irreplacable.  I have looked around online for information, but I don’t even know what size the film is.  I am going to try scanning with the lid closed, then open, and then with a mirror behind the film (to reflect the light back) and then with a light behing the film.  Hopefully I’ll be able to figure out the best method for preserving these memories.

Star of David directions

I completed the directions to the Star of David beaded ornament last year, and forgot to post them online.  Opps!  Here they are, in a .pdf so that you can easily print it.

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=421db6326f1fc65ad2db6fb9a8902bda

And below is a screen shot.  I tried to get a picture of each step, so you won’t have to rely solely on my descriptions

Screenshot of .pdf file

Countdown to Christmas calendar

Countdown to Christmas Calendar

Only 12 days until Christmas!  I made this countdown calendar as a gift for my sister, who looks forward to Christmas all year.  You could easily make it without the hundreds place, and have a larger image on the side.  It could also be used to countdown days until another event and/or holiday if you used different papers.

I purchased a notebook / journal for $1 at a second hand store, just for the cover and binding.  If you have a binding machine, it will be that much easier for you to make.  I slid the paper and covers off the binding, and covered the covers with scrapbooking paper.

To get the holes to look nice, use one of the pages from the notebook as a guide to punch the holes before gluing the paper to the cover, or trace through the holes of the cover.   You will need to wrap the paper over the cover and punch holes on the other side as well.   I believe I had about an inch of extra paper all around, but I could have used a little more on the top.

I saved the scraps to make a matching stand.  If you plan on having a magnetic closure, you should glue it in place before covering the cover.  To get the inside paper the right size, use a page from the notebook as a guide, and glue in place below the holes.

I measured the cover, and decided to make the tags 1 3/4″ x 3″ since that fit nicely, leaving room for a picture on the end.  I decided to make the picture on the end on a tag as well, so that it won’t be boring looking at the same picture for a year.    If you don’t want a tag on the end, you could really cut the binding and just use enough for the tags, and make an easel stand on the back.

I cut my tags out using the ‘Sure cuts a lot’ program and my Cricut machine.  You could easily make a template to cut them by hand.  Use a lightweight card stock, so the tags won’t curl.  I used white, but any kind of paper, solid or patterned, will work.

I purchased a 1953 Ideals Christmas book from a used bookstore for 50 cents to cover the tags.  Lay a blank tag on top of the image you like, and cut around it leaving a little space.  Then glue the tag to the back of the image, and trim the excess off.  I have 23 tags, 2 sets of 0-9, and 1-3.  There are 11 larger tags on the side.

The magnetic easel (and cover ribbon)

I had the block letter stickers in my stash, and found the number stickers at Big Lots for $1.  If you have a Cricut, you can cut your own numbers out (the stickers are just so easy, and they matched.)  Trace around each number sticker with a black fine line marker, so that they stand out.

Make a template to punch the tags with, using a piece of paper from the notebook.  Now all you have to do is slip everything onto the binding, and make a stand.  I folded the scrap paper I had, and glued a magnet inside.  I stuck it onto the cover, and folded it where I thought it looked right.  I then glued it in place with the magnet attached, to make sure that it was in the right spot.

As you can see, my notebook came with an elastic ribbon to hold it shut, which I left in place when I covered it.  The whole thing only took 3 hours to make, and cost me a total of $2.50.

Food…

I have taken alot of pictures of food   I am hoping to post some step by step directions for a few meals… here’s lasagna:

1. Brown 1 lb ground beef. Spoon excess grease off. Meanwhile, boil 1 lb pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

2. Open 1 can pasta sauce, and stir 1 raw egg into 8 ounces of cottage cheese.Spray 9x13 glass pan with no stick spray (pam.) Spread a thin layer of pasta sauce in the bottom of the pan, then top with a layer of noodles.

3. Continue layering ingredients into the pan: after the pasta, a layer of sauce, followed by the cottage cheese, followed by 1/2 of the remaining noodles, and a thin layer of pasta sauce, followed by the ground beef, followed by another thin layer of sauce, followed by the remaining noodles, followed by the remaining sauce, followed by 2 cups shredded cheddar.

4. Bake at 350* F for 35-40 minutes, until the sides are bubbly and the cheese has golden brown spots. Allow to cool 5-10 minuted before serving to allow the noodles to absorb any excess liquid.