Book Page Flowers

After my last crafting failures, I jumped right back on the horse and tried again.  This time with a book page project.  


I have seen lots of book page craft projects (esp. wreaths) all over blogland and I have been wanting to make one.  When I saw this on BHG.com, I knew it was for me.  Book page flowers...perfect!

The first part of this project involves preparing the book pages.  By this I mean tearing the pages out of a book, painting them and "baking" them (I'll explain this in detail in a minute).

Since I didn't want my husband or children to give me weird looks or ask me "what, on earth, are you doing?"  I decided to do this after everyone had gone to bed.  I'm telling you this because my pictures for this project are hor-ri-ble!  I took them at midnight and I hope they make some sense to you.

OK, here's what I did.  I tore pages out of a dollar store dictionary and "painted" each one (both sides) with watered down craft paint....pink, yellow, orange....flower colors.  Once they were nice and wet, I put them on an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet and "baked" them in a 200 degree oven for about 5 minutes to dry them out.

At that point, each page is very stiff.  To make it more pliable, I crumbled it up into a ball then smoothed it out again.  Next, I cut petal shapes out of each page making sure that I had at least one or two of them in a rectangular shape.

Here are some pictures of those steps. 

You'll see that I scalloped one edge of each book page in the top left picture.  Ignore that.  I was trying to create a shortcut and it didn't work out.  Also, you'll see different color petals used in some of the photos.  That's because I kept forgetting to take pictures and had to "catch up" on my photos on the next flower I made.

Next comes assembling the flower.  I used the rectangular shaped petals first to make the center part of the flower.  Simply roll them up (short end to short end) and pinch the bottom together with your fingers.  Wrap each larger petal around that, pinching the bottom together as you go.  My BFF (aka, my hot glue gun) helped me out alot with this part.  I put a small dab of glue at the base of each petal (about where I was going to pinch it at) and glued it to the forming flower.  Does that make sense?  Here, some pictures may help.

After the flower was formed, I stuck a small wooden stick in the end (where my "pinching" was) and covered it with green floral tape.


Here are some pictures of the finished product.

Just a little FYI, I used a 5x7 size paperback dictionary for my pages.  Each flower was made out of one page. My flowers measure about 3 inches in diameter.  Obviously, the bigger the page, the bigger the flower.


Lessons that I learned:  the shapes of the individual petals that you cut out should not match or be "perfect".  Variation makes the flower more "real".


The colors that I used were very muted.  I think this would also look great with bright colors (perfect for Spring) but I used what I had.


Again, sorry for the terrible pictures.  Doing this a night was so worth it...avoiding the weird looks and questions.  


This was so easy.  Next, I think I will paint and bake some coffee filters to make something.  That's for another night:)

Linking to:

Happy Hour Projects' Freestyle Friday

French Country Cottage's Feathered Nest Friday

My Repurposed Life's Catch As Catch Can

Petals to Picot's I {heart} Fridays Link Party

It's a HodgePodge Life's HodgePodge Friday

The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday

Making Lemonade's Refresh Your Nest

30 Days' Pity Party, Link Party

Bacon Time's Anything Goes Linky Party

Naptime Crafters' Friday Fav's Party
Have a Daily Cup from Mrs. Olson's Share Your Cup Thursday
The Mommy Club:  Share Your Resources and Solutions
Tatertots and Jello's Weekend Wrap Up Party
Natasha in Oz's Say G'day Saturday Linky Party
Serenity You's Serenity Saturday
The DIY Showoff's DIY Project Parade
C.R.A.F.T.'s Making Monday Marvelous

You're Talking Too Much's Meet Me Monday
Craft-O-Maniac's COM Monday

Why Crafting and Drugs Don't Mix

First, let me just say that I don't mean that kind of "drugs".  I usually don't take medicine but last weekend I was drugged up on muscle relaxers and pain medicine.  As I said in my last post, I had a terrible muscle spasm in my back and was unable to do anything but sleep for several days.  Muscle relaxers knock. me. out!


So during my drugged up sleep, I crafted.  In my sleep.  My mind was a virtual Pinterest board.  All I "saw" was crafty projects that I "made" in my sleep.  Yes, it's weird.


When I finally came out of my drugged up sleepiness, I decided to make some of the crafts that I had dreamed about.  Big mistake.


Today's post is not pretty.  It's about my crafting failures.  Let's keep it real, shall we?


My first "crafty dream" led me to this.  I decoupaged some plastic Easter eggs from the dollar store to display on the stand that I made back in October 2011 (here).

Here is what I wanted to copy.

Isn't that pretty?  These are some gorgeous fabric covered eggs made by Confessions of a Plate Addict.  When I saw them (from her 3/13 post), I immediately pinned them because I loved them and wanted to make some too.  


Enter my drug-induced dream.  For some reason, I used wrapping paper instead of fabric to make mine.  In my dream, they came out great.  In reality, they didn't.  

Pathetic, I tell ya.  See those wrinkles everywhere?  Obviously, I forgot how thin wrapping paper was.  Fabric would have looked so much better.  I need to work on my decoupaging technique, haha.


The second "dream project" came from another great post (10/2011) from Brooklyn Limestone.  I saw it on Pinterest and dreamed about it last weekend.

I decided to try it using a pink plastic charger from Michael's.  And I tried to decoupage the center of it with the same wrapping paper that I used for the eggs.  Bad idea.

I don't even know where to begin on that one.  So embarrassing!  What was I thinking?

The only thing good that came out of that wrapping paper was when I covered the mat in a 11x14 frame holding my son's picture.

My husband loves that picture so I did that one for him.  I hate the frame color though.  Any ideas on a good spray paint color for it?  I can't find a color that I like.

Maybe I'll sleep on it.  NOT!

Linking to:

Hating Martha's Stinky Linky Party

A Quick Hello and Party Reminder

Hello everyone,  I've been a little MIA for the past several days and just wanted to check in.  A few days ago, I had a terrible muscle spasm in my back and have not been my usual bloggy self.  


After a few days of living on muscle relaxers and sleeping (alot), I'm starting to feel "normal" again.  I actually got outside today to plant some flowers and enjoy the wonderful weather we are having. 


My only pretty picture I have for you is of the gorgeous blooms of my "walking iris".  The unique, small, purple and white blooms only last for one day but are so beautiful...it's worth the wait every year.

My mom gave me the original plant and I've been able to start another one from it's offsets.  I have them planted in pots and the largest one sits in the corner of my back porch.  It's simply gorgeous this time of year.

I also want to remind everyone about my "What's Your Favorite Aisle" linky party still going on.  You can read about it and link up here.  


I've been crafting in my sleep lately so I have some Easter decorating ideas that I need to put in action.  I'll be back soon to show you some of my "Easter muscle relaxer craftiness".   

"What's Your Favorite AISLE?" Linky Party

It's time for my first evah linky party y'all!  I'm so excited!  After seeing all the fabulous bog hops going on in blogland, I decided to host one too.


Except mine's going to be a little different.  I thought it would be fun to add a little quirkiness to it....a little "get-to-know-you-better" fun.  That's why I call this linky party/blog hop the "What is Your Favorite Aisle?" linky party.

This is how it will work:  

     1.  Take a picture of your favorite aisle in any store.

     2.  Use the picture of the aisle to link up to the linky party on my blog.  Write the name of the aisle in the "name" slot.  For the url listing, you can link to your favorite aisle post (describing why you like this aisle) or your blog's home page.  A post would obviously be better because it would give readers more information about you.  (Sort of like the "11 things" tag game that has been going around blogland).

Remember, this is a "get-to-know-you" blog hop/linky party.  The aisle picture is there to "get-to-know-you" better and the link to your blog is there to introduce your blog to others.  

I'm going to link up my favorite aisle first.  It's a picture of the school/office supplies aisle in our local dollar store.  I chose it because I love school supplies.  Always have and still do.  Picking out school supplies was one of my favorite things about school.  And yes, I had a Trapper Keeper.  Best thing ever.

As much as I like school supplies, my son hates them.  I always wanted him to go to the store with me to get his school supplies every year and he always said no.  He tormented me by just stuffing his papers in his book bag...no folder, no organization at all.  Pens and crayons/markers just haphazardly tossed in any pocket.  He is a junior in high school now and I try not to even look in his book bag.  I might pass out.

OK, now you know a little more about me.  What do you like?  This linky will be open for a week so you still have time to go get that picture.  And remember, this is all about having FUN!

There are NO RULES to this linky party!  I will ask, however, that you keep it family friendly :)

Playing With Paint Chips

The weather here in South Mississippi has been awful.  Rain, rain and more rain.  Add in a dose of wind just to make it interesting.


So, of course, I had plans for some spray painting projects during this time.  Uh, yeah....not going to happen.


Since I was stuck inside, I got out one of my favorite toys to play with...my paint chip fans.

I will admit that I have an unnatural attraction to paint chips.  I love to look at them.  I visit them every time I go to stores like Home Depot.  If I could marry them, I would.  They complete me.  


Several months ago my Mom gave me two paint chip fans that she had.  She got them from paint stores during her kitchen remodel and the stores didn't want them back.  Big score!


The first thing I did with them was make a paint chip color wheel.  You can see that post here.

I pulled them out today and cut out some of my favorite shades of blue.  I've been wanting to make a knock off of the popular painting, "WARMTH", by Volk.  Here it is pinned on my art board on Pinterest.

I did mine in shades of blue and gray using paint chips.

I used an old 12x12 canvas painting that I had to lay them on.  It was my failed attempt at painting an abstract, bird in a tree kind of thingy.  It really need to be covered up with something.  It was bad, trust me.

image blurred for your protection :)

The canvas was one of the things I wanted to spray paint.  I wanted to paint the sides a dark brown color (they are green now).  Because of the weather, I only got to loosely arrange them on the canvas and will glue them on after I spray paint the sides.  I really just wanted to play today anyway ;)


So basically, I have accomplished nothing, haha.  This weather has been depressing.  I hope to be cheered up this weekend when I get to look at the "favorite aisle" pictures from my first linky party on Sunday. 

I've had a few people ask me how this link up will work since it's different from the usual ones in blogland.  So to give you a better idea of how it works, I sent my sister to our local Wal-Mart (in the rain, hehe) to take a picture of her favorite aisle.  I then asked her to send me an email with the picture and an explanation of why she liked it.  This is what she sent me:

Ahhh, one of my favorite aisles too.  That is the ice cream aisle at Wal-Mart.  And this is her favorite section of the ice cream aisle.

               
The girl is an ice cream sandwich addict!  She likes this aisle at Wal-Mart because of the big selection of different flavored ice cream sandwiches.  In our little town, Wally World is the place to go for a big selection of ice cream.  


I'll take that box of Nestle Drumsticks at the bottom of the picture. 


This Saturday night, I will open the "favorite aisle" linky party up so you can show me and everyone else what your favorite aisle is.  Remember, it can be in any store.  


Take a picture(s) of the aisle and put it in a post that explains why you like that particular aisle in that store. Then, link that post up to the "favorite aisle" linky party on my blog using your aisle picture as the thumbnail image.


This weird kind of linky party will do two things.  It will be a "get to know your blogger neighbor thing" by learning what kind of stuff you like (your favorite aisle).  And it will introduce your blog to everyone. 


When someone clicks on your favorite aisle picture, they will be taken to your blog to find out why you like it.  Once there, they will be able to see what your blog is all about and discover even more about you.  Think of it as a different version of a blog hop.  With a little quirky fun thrown in there :) 


I still have to go to the store to take my picture.  My sister actually "liked" more than just the ice cream aisle in Wal-Mart (she's so like me!) and I'll post more of her pictures on Saturday.  She had a pretty good idea too.  More on that later.


See ya Saturday night!

Spring on the Back Porch & A FUN Reminder

I finally finished getting the back porch decorated for Spring.  Just in time for the First Day of Spring!  


Unfortunately, pollen is covering everything outside.  I had to cover my rocking chair and bench on the porch so they wouldn't turn "pollen yellow".  I took a few pictures yesterday of some of my Spring porch decor and the new wreath that I made for it.

I decorated a grapevine wreath with some silk flowers and added a MDF wood letter, F (curlz font), from Hobby Lobby.  I painted the F "Spring green" with acrylic craft paint and sealed it with a clear outdoor spray sealant.  


Our last name may or may not start with the letter F.

I decided to add a little bird nest with some small plastic eggs when I saw all the cute Spring wreaths with bird nests in them on Pinterest.  I'm also an "all-things-bird" fanatic.


We built our back porch onto the house over a year ago for my youngest son.  He is a special needs child that is wheelchair bound.  We wanted a place for him to be able to go outside and enjoy the weather so the back porch is considered his special place.  


Here are some pictures from the "grand opening" of the porch that we had for him in October 2010.  He loves balloons so I hung some from the rafters.  Furniture and decor were very sparse back then but have improved over the past year.  I don't think he cares, haha.

Here is a picture of my first purchase for the porch, an outdoor rug.  It is made of recycled plastic and I love the bright colors.

I've recently added a few things in bright colors for Spring since that is what he likes best.

I wish I could have posted pictures of the completed, Spring decorated porch but then you would have to see my pollen covered furniture covers.  Trust me, you don't want to see that!


The weather has been strange this year.  Last night, I posted a picture of the U.S. weather map on my facebook page.

It's crazy, I'll tell ya.  One half of the country is cold, the other half is hot.  I live in the South (where the red star is) and we've been running the A/C for the past 4 days.  In March.  Insane!


Don't forget my first linky party on March 25th.  To enter, take a picture(s) of your favorite aisle in any store.  Post it with an explanation of why you like it and link it up!  This linky party is meant to be FUN and a way to get to know everybody...a different way to network, make friends and grow your blog.

Get those cameras ready....let's have some FUN!

Linking to:

You're Talking Too Much's Meet Me Monday

C.R.A.F.T.'s Making Monday Marvelous

KdBuggie's Mingle Monday
Jillify It's Link Party
Savvy Southern Style's Wow Us Wednesdays
Uncommon's Uncommonly Yours Link Party
The Sasse Life's Crafty Sasse Wednesday
The Shady Porch's Rock N' Share
Creatively Living's Tell It To Me Tuesday
Kayla's Creations' Sunday Round Up
The 36th Avenue's Show Me Extraordinary
I Gotta Create's Spring Fling Link Party
Crafty, Scrappy, Happy Me Thursday
House of Hepworth's Hookin Up with HOH
Happy Hour Projects' Freestyle Friday
French Country Cottage's Feathered Nest Friday
Hating Martha's Stinky Linky Party
Have a Daily Cup from Mrs. Olson's Share Your Cup Thursday

A Lesson Learned, Blog Networking and An Idea....

First, I would like to say WELCOME to all of my new readers and THANK YOU to all of my followers!  I have met soooo many great people lately through linky parties, blog hops, Facebook and Pinterest.  I have been overwhelmed with such kindness and truly feel a part of this wonderful bloggy world.  

I have been blogging for about 6 months now and love it more and more each day.  My "creating and crafting" hobby has declined slightly in the past few weeks because I have been so busy trying to get to know you, my fellow bloggers.  Blog networking through blog hops, linky parties, Facebook and the "11 things tag game" that has been going around are my new passion.

source

That leads me to....my new idea.  I want to host a linky party to have some fun and network a little.  It won't be the typical "look at my project" linky party (that I also LOVE).  I want to do something different.  My linky party idea is sort of a combination of the "about me" and "picture a day" thing that is popular right now.


So here's my pitch:  I will host a linky party on the last Sunday of every month called "My Favorite..."  Here's the way it will work:  Post a picture (or pictures) of your favorite (party theme each month) and explain why you like it.  By doing this, we (your readers) will get to know you better and be introduced to your blog (if we don't already follow it).  Make sense?  Interested?  I hope so....


Here is the theme for this month.  What is your favorite aisle?  Your favorite aisle in any store you visit...like...Home Depot, Lowes, Hobby Lobby, JoAnn Fabrics, Michaels, World Market, Kirklands, the grocery store, the quick stop, the local hardware store, etc.  Anywhere!  Get it?  OK?


Bring your camera to the store of your choice. Take a picture of your favorite aisle in that store.  Ignore the weird looks you'll get.  Then link it up and tell me why you like that particular aisle in that store.  Easy. Right?  Are you with me?


I'll set up the linky party for March 25th., the last Sunday in March.  That gives you one week.  Get your camera.  Put it in your purse.  You never know when you'll need it.


That leads me to...my lesson learned.  I MUST start bringing my camera with me everywhere!  Obviously for the above reason and so I won't miss some of the beautiful things that I have been seeing this Spring.


Last Friday, my husband and I took my youngest son to another hospital/clinic visit in New Orleans.  On the way there, I saw the most beautiful trumpet vine tree ever!  Did I have my camera with me so I could get a picture of it?  NO!  I was so mad at myself.  It looked sorta like this (but even "more prettier", how do you like that grammar?)

source

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The city of New Orleans is also full of one of my favorite kind of houses, the "shotgun house".  

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Did I have my camera when I saw houses like this?  NO!

I've learned my lesson.  I'm taking my cute little red camera with me everywhere I go from now on.  

So, get your pictures ready for the "My Favorite Aisle" linky party on March 25, 2012.  In the meantime, I will be:

   1.  Figuring out how to host a linky party (haha).

   2.  Do some "research" in my favorite stores (with my camera, of course).

   3.  Spreading the word about my linky party idea.  I'll make a button for it soon.  Just call me unprepared :)

Spring Garden Shelf

I created a little Spring garden themed shelf for my kitchen.

It's not much but it reminds me of what I love to do this time of year...garden.  I made a trip to Wally World to buy some bedding plants and planters.  Of course, my quick trip became a long one when I was sucked into the garden department.  I swear that place puts a spell on you when you walk in.  I even got excited about the assortment of water hoses.  They come in these really cool colors.....oh lordy, there I go again.  I gotta stay away from that place.

I picked up a few thrifty items to create this shelf.  Fake daisies, a cheap 8x10 frame, some seed packets, a small paper mache garden pot and a roll of wrapping paper.  All of it cost around $10.

I made a small garland with the seed packets.  Do you recognize it?  If you follow Debbie at Debbiedoo's, then you do (that's alot of do's, haha).  Yes, I copied hers!  You can see hers here.

You do know who I'm talking about, huh?  Debbie, the queen of the newbies.  Her Monday newbie linky parties are the thing for new bloggers.  I wet my linky feet there and will graduate from "newbie" status soon.  I may not link up to those parties anymore but I will definitely return to check out the awesome creative projects of other bloggers.  

I spray painted the cheap frame white (it was dark brown) and used it to frame a "keep calm" quote that I saw on Pinterest.

I found the prettiest wrapping paper, perfect for Spring.  I used some of it to cover a mat for an 11x14 frame (still working on that project).

I also used some of it to decoupage the small flower pot.

Do you remember the clear glass vase that I used for my azalea arrangement?  I made it for Debbiedoo's Spring magazine copycat challenge.

post here

Unfortunately, fresh flowers don't last forever.  When the azaleas died, I covered the vase with burlap, wrapped the green ribbon around it and put some fake daisies in it.  That is, until I can get my hands on more fresh flowers.

I'm thinking maybe, just maybe, the daisies will last longer than the azaleas.

  

I'm already thinking about what I can do to decorate for Easter.  I wandered down the Easter stuff aisle to look for ideas (and cheap decor) but was too distracted by the Easter candy.  I have an unhealthy addiction to Cadbury creme eggs.

Hmmm, wonder who I can copy next.  Just kidding...or not :)

Linking to:

Random Thoughts' Springtacular Craft Link Party

House of Hepworths' Hookin Up with HOH

Crafty, Scrappy, Happy Me Thursday

I Gotta Create's Spring Fling Linky Party

52 Mantels' Thursdays Are Your Days

Happy Hour Projects' Freestyle Friday

French Country Cottage's Feathered Nest Friday

The Shabby Nest's Frugal Friday

Thirty Days Pity Party

It's A HodgePodge Life's HodgePodge Friday

Bacon Time's Anything Goes Linky Party