Trees and Dogs

Trees and Dogs

Unknown   Desember 10, 2014   Comment  

I have two random things to share with you today so I thought I would lump them together into one post. 

First, in art class we carved lino blocks and printed the designs onto blue-striped IKEA tea towels. You can see them in the photos above - the green trees are mine and the red trees are my mom's. Have you ever done any printing? It is a very satisfying project.

I printed evergreen trees down the sides of the tea towel and then dipped a pencil eraser into silver paint and dotted the sky with stars (I'm sure you knew those were stars, right?)  It is a fun project and I like that you end up with a useful item.  I'm using mine as a table runner rather than a tea towel. 

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It was the husband's birthday last Friday and we celebrated on Friday with dinner out and on Saturday with lunch out with the family.

It was a significant birthday so the kids and I went all out and did some extra special things for him. One of the things we did was list all his accomplishments on a long paper. It was so long I hung it across the lights in the dining room. We had fun reading them together and adding more things we had forgotten to the list.

And the really big news is that the husband is getting a dog for his birthday. And no I didn't wrap a dog up in that big box on the table - it if filled with dog paraphernalia. The husband has wanted a dog since Juno passed away in February, but I have been reluctant to get another one because of the difficulties when you want to go away. There is always give-and-take in a marriage and since this was the husband's heart's desire it seemed the perfect time to give it to him (well the permission to get his heart's desire anyway, as getting a dog is turning out to be quite the process). 

A funny thing happened - on Wednesday I bought a dog collar to give him as a placeholder for the actual dog and tucked it carefully away. The next day I realized I had no idea where I had put the present (honestly, I can be so absent-minded sometimes) and the husband's birthday was the next day. So at lunch on Friday I had to run out and buy another placeholder. Since I was in the pet store anyway, I decided to buy a bunch of things like a dog bed and a leash and some food which is why the box was so big. 

Now we just need to find the right little dog - one that will fit the adorable coat and sweater I bought for it!

Christmas Craft Party

Christmas Craft Party

Unknown   Desember 07, 2014   Comment  

Last weekend was my third annual Christmas Craft Party. There's nothing better than spending an evening sitting around eating and chatting with friends from my art class while we make Christmas crafts.

So here is what we made this year.

1. TWIG SANTAS

What you need:

• twigs and sticks in a range of thicknesses
• acrylic paint - red, flesh-coloured, white
• corn starch
• paint brushes
• trays for the paint 
• popsicle sticks for mixing
• black Sharpie

This was probably my favourite craft of the evening. My Mom and I collected twigs at the cottage about a month ago so we could make these Santas. We chose twigs that were a range of thicknesses from about a pencil size to a couple of centimeters across. We used the large clippers to cut the end on an angle to form the hat. Then we painted the hat red and the face using flesh-coloured paint. We mixed corn starch with white paint to make the beard fluffy and we added eyes using a Sharpie. I made more Santas on the day after the party (it isn't easy for me to get much done during the party itself so I took advantage of having everything set up and I crafted the next day too before I cleaned up) and on some of the Santas I used fluffy white wool for the beard, instead of paint.

2. TWIG LETTERS

This craft really got everyone being creative and making different things which is always fun to see what everyone does.

What you need:

• twigs and sticks in a variety of sizes and shapes
• wire to hold the sticks in a round shape
• ribbon, wool, twine, baker's string, fake berries to decorate the letters
• blocks of wood
• clippers, scissors, wire cutters
• glue guns

My Mom and I gathered all the twigs we would need for this craft at the cottage too. I kept them in the garage so they would stay pliable which seemed to work. I want to give a shout-out to Lowe's and Rona as both stores gave me wood blocks for free and even cut a few scrap pieces up for me. I was so grateful as I didn't want to spend a lot on the craft projects and I had initially tried one other hardware store and they had said no, so I was very happy when Rona and Lowe's were so generous.

I made more letters on Sunday. I finished up "NOEL" which you can see in the back row of the first photo that is missing an "L" (get it, no 'L'. Ha! Ha! I crack myself up) and made "JOY" as well.

3. CARVED ORANGES

We've done this craft for three years in a row so this will be the last one, but I really wanted to do it again so I would have a bowl full of carved oranges. I only had four and that just isn't a good number to display so now I have seven and I'm good to go.

What you need:

• oranges
• carving set
• bowl to put peels in

The only trick to this craft is to make sure the oranges are really dried out before putting them on display. I do that by putting them on our floor heat vent for two weeks and then they are fine.

I have to say that this craft party is one of my favourite Christmas activities. I love sitting around chatting and visiting with people who like to play with twigs. 

By the way, if you are curious what we made in previous years, you can see them here, here, and more details here.

Snowmen Chandelier

Snowmen Chandelier

Unknown   November 28, 2014   Comment  

I hope all my American friends had a lovely Thanksgiving. Today seemed like the perfect day to share this adorable Christmas craft idea made by my friend Jill from the art group I belong to. When she sent me a photo of this snowman chandelier she made I asked her if I could share it on my blog because I thought you might find it as inspiring as I did. I asked Jill how she made it and I've included the details.

Here's what you need to make it:

4-inch styrofoam balls

floral wire, cut into 2-inch lengths and bent to form a hook

air-drying clay

black beads for the eyes

orange acrylic paint

black Sharpie pen

Here's how Jill did it:

1. Push the bent wire into a styrofoam ball

2. Carefully cover the entire ball with air-drying clay (be sure to anchor the wire) and form a nose with the clay if you want one.

3. Push two black beads into the clay for eyes.

4. Then allow to dry for 24-36 hours (depending on the thickness of the clay)

5. When they are dry you can paint the nose orange and use the black Sharpie to draw a mouth and enhance the eyes.

Aren't they adorable. I love all the different expressions on their faces. Jill hung them from an ornament-photo chandelier from Crate and Barrel (which you can find here). It is a fun way to hang the ornaments, but wouldn't they also look sweet strung in a garland across the fireplace (or maybe they would melt, Ha!) or hung from your real chandelier or hung on the Christmas tree. 

Thanks Jill for sending allowing me to share your great craft.

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I also want to mention that it will be Christmas Cookie week here on the blog starting on Monday - which really is just an excuse for me to get my Christmas baking done on time. I do share my favourite recipes and tips though, so check back every day next week.

Yummy Mummy Treats

Yummy Mummy Treats

Unknown   Oktober 22, 2014   Comment  

Hallowe'en is in just over a week and I know that our two kiddos off at university are working super hard right now so I thought that a little treat would be appreciated. It's a miracle of organizational skills but I actually got these mummy treats made and mailed off last weekend. I know, I know - amazing isn't it. 

I thought I would share the idea with you because, friends, these couldn't be easier to make and yet you look like you put some effort into the gift. To make the mummy treats you just wrap a chocolate bar in black paper. Then you wrap over the black paper with toilet paper (white crepe paper might have been better, but I didn't have any) and add a pair of googly eyes.

It's all about the eyes don't you think! 

Linked to A Pretty Life in the Suburbs Halloween Link Party

Aluminum Foil Birds

Aluminum Foil Birds

Unknown   Desember 15, 2013   Comment  

We made these cute little birds in art class last week.  They were made out of foil lasagna pans from the dollar store.   I found the pictures I wanted to use in bird books which I traced using tracing paper.  Then I put the tracing paper on top of the foil and went over the lines with a pencil leaving little indents in the foil.  Then before cutting them out, I added the pin-prick detail by tapping a darning needle with a little hammer making a series of little holes to outline the wings and beak and outside edge.  Then I cut them out using scissors (no fancy tools needed) and attached them to twigs and raffia. Can you see them on the mantel - they are kind of hard to see, but I like the subtle detail.

The other change I made to the mantel was that I had to replace the carnations as they finally died.  I bought a poinsettia from the grocery store and cut the branches and put them in the tray.  They looked great ... until we put the fire on in the fireplace.  The leaves were not too impressed with the heat and now most of them are wilted.  I need to find some faux branches or possibly snip some evergreen from the tree in the front garden.

It did this all weekend and now we have loads of snow and everything looks very Christmassy.

And finally I wanted to show you this photo that my daughter Kate sent to me that she took of the harbour in Halifax (can you see the lighthouse over on the left).  The air was so much colder than the ocean that it produced this magical effect.  She's almost finished her last essay and will be heading home this week and will be here on Wednesday.  Yay!

Christmas Craft Party

Christmas Craft Party

Unknown   November 25, 2013   Comment  

I had my second annual Christmas craft party this past weekend. It was a lot of fun to hang out with my friends from the art class, to make some Christmas crafts, and to eat delicious food.

Everyone brings something to nibble on which makes things much easier.  I baked brownies, cut up some veggies, and whipped up some of Sarah Richardson's Spiced Nuts (recipe from this post).  They are delicious, although they burn easily so watch your timing on them and I only put half the amount of cayenne in because I'm a spice-wimp.

Sarah Richardson's Spiced Nuts

The bag was opened and then the bottom was rolled in under itself to hold the chips up near the top - clever, eh!

This year we made four different crafts at three different stations.  I had them set up so people could just move between the tables whenever they were ready to.  

You can see the three stations in the dining room and family room below - thank goodness for open concept homes at a time like this.

Here's the low down on what we made:

1) Twig Stars 
They were simple to make and looked so pretty all lined up along our bench at the end of the evening (why is it that Juno photo-bombed every single photo I took of our finished stars).

Here's what you need to make twig stars:

• twigs - I used some dogwood branches that I clipped from our bush in the backyard
• glue guns
• clippers 
• different sized star templates
• ribbon, twine, and berries to decorate the stars

2) Glass Ornaments and
3) Glass Tea Light Holders

These two were at the same table because they took many of the same materials. Everyone got really creative here and there was a lot of variety in how the ornaments and tea light holders were decorated.

Here's what you need to make these:

• glass ornaments
• glass tea light holders
• glue
• paint
• glitter
• paint pens
• small containers to put the glitter, paint, or glue into
• small funnel for pouring the glitter into the ornaments
• paint brushes

and this is how pretty the table covering looked after the party 

4) Orange Carving

We actually did this last year, but almost everyone's oranges went mouldy except mine.  I put mine on the floor heat vent for two weeks and they dried out perfectly.  You can see the ones I made last year all dried out and displayed on my mantel this year, in the photo below.

Orange carving requires the following:

• oranges
• a carving set - the kind for carving linoleum
• a bowl to catch the carved orange peel

Not everyone in the class lives in a home with floor heat vents so I'm drying mine and a few other people's.  And now my family room heat vents look like this and the whole main floor smells like oranges.

You can see what crafts we made last year in this post (one of my favourite crafts we did last year were the beaded stars which I used in the first photo of this post).  Have you ever been to a craft party? We had ours extra early this year to accommodate everyone's schedule - which means, apart from the tree, the house is decorated for Christmas. Wahoo!

Linked to DIY Christmas at It's Overflowing