Directions:
Make sure to clean your container completely and remove any stickers. Add a coat of paint and allow to dry completely before adding a second coat of paint. On my container, I did 3 coats of paint, and made sure to allow each coat ample time to dry before adding another. When done, decorate with pretty fresh (or dried) flowers!
A few years ago, I saw some painted recycled plastic bottles sold as vases in some online shop. It appeared to be painted with this chalky looking paint, and I always wondered what paint was used to make them. I saw these paints at Michael’s a few weeks ago and thought it might be it. Now, I never bought those vases I saw, so I can’t say for sure if it’s exactly the same, but it looks reminiscent to it, so it works for me. These chalky paints are kind of fun and I want to try painting some candlesticks with it. I really like the matte finish and the pastel colors they come in.
I disappeared for a bit, but the end of last week was just so busy with homeschooling. My best friend texted me and said, “You haven’t blogged. Are you alive?!” I am indeed, but it’s been hustle bustle over trying to get our new routine down (and curriculum) for this new school year. On top of that, I have been preparing to be part of the Misha Lulu Art Show happening this coming Saturday at Leanna Lin’s Wonderland in Eagle Rock.
The show will be featuring Misha Lulu and all her wonderful works of art (her paintings are amazing!). The additional collaborators are Gracie Miller, Miko Design, who is coming all the way from the Netherlands, and me. I’m so excited to be sharing some of my felt floral wreaths for the show! I love using them to decorate a spot on the wall, and my girls like to steal them as crowns for their heads. There will be 10 there (and one dollhouse pillow) available for purchase, and they will eventually be up for purchase on Leanna Lin’s Wonderland online shop as well (if they don’t all sell that evening).
I know everyone has been working hard on it and I can’t wait to see it all come together. Unfortunately, I won’t be there since it’s Glow’s birthday, but I can’t wait to hear how it all turns out. I’m sure it will be such a fun evening, so if you’re free this Saturday, I hope you can make it (and please snap lots of pictures for me)! #mishaluluartshow
I bought Beci Orpin’s book Home from Amazon when it came out several months back. I was just drawn to the cover, so I bought it. I love the color scheme of the book, it’s totally the color scheme I gravitate to, and the projects are just so fun and quirky. Really such an inspiring book! And though we have had it for awhile now, it’s just this past weekend that I handed it to the girls and said, “Pick a project.” They picked the fridge magnets and I love how their’s turned out. From order from the top to bottom: True’s, Brave’s, Glow’s (really done by True and Brave), and Soul’s.
And there’s our fridge decked out in my daughters’ artwork… just the way I like it!
Their first day of school was to their enrichment classes (we homeschool, but they go to a school once a week), and they each picked what outfit they wanted to wear the night before. Brave picked her birthday dress and True picked out this dress that we made together for my book, Let’s Sew Together. I have don’t have a pattern to share for Brave’s, but if you want to make True’s dress, there are instructions and a pattern for it in my book. It’s actually reversible too! Their backpacks are also projects in the book, and their lunch bags were projects in the pre-order packets that came with the book if you pre-ordered it.
I also love how True wanted to channel Hello Kitty, so she took her cat headband and added a bow to it. When Brave saw these pictures, she said, “I love that picture of me. It looks like I’m flying to school!”
Oh these girls! I can hardly believe they are in second and third grade already.
Brave’s birthday was robot themed, so I made her this special “A Robot in a Pocket Dress.” Her original request was a Transformer party before that changed to a robot one, so since she loved Optimus Prime so much, we put a little one in her pocket. She loves that little guy. Since I’m always running out of time, I went for the simplest style for her dress. I used a lightweight denim (same as my dress here) and I think I cranked this out in 45 minutes (or maybe less).
She had a full birthday weekend, but we made sure to stop by the San Diego Zoo Safari Park before going home. Our passes are set to expire soon, so we’re trying to go as much as we can before the end of September. We got our passes for Glow’s birthday last year and we will probably go again for her birthday this year.
Ingredients:
3 cups milk (we used skim, but go with your preference)
2 1/2 cups frozen strawberries
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Using a blender, blend all ingredients until smooth. Pour in a tall glass and serve with a straw.
Funny Face Straw Toppers
Supplies:
Funny Face Straw Toppers Template 1 and Template 2, printed on white card stock
Bendable straws (the bendable ones work better to get the funny face lined up with your face when drinking)
Scissors
Crayons (markers, colored pencils)
Glue
Glitter
Hole puncher
Directions:
Cut out the faces, including the inside of the glasses, and the small rectangular pieces (1 per funny face). Color and decorate the faces. Punch a small hole on the dotted line of the mouth and on the dot of the small rectangular piece. On the small rectangular piece, fold the opposite end of the punched hole down 1/2″ from the end. Glue that 1/2″ to the back of the face, right above the punched hole of the mouth. Insert your straw through the hole in the mouth and through the hole on the back rectangle piece. Place straw in your milkshake and drink.
These straw toppers make drinking any glass of milk, shake, or smoothie so much more fun!
My mom would make me a similar milkshake when I was a child, but I think it was loaded with sugar instead of honey. The honey adds a tinge of sweetness, but you could probably even do without that ingredient too. Using frozen strawberries is a much healthier way to make a milkshake, since then you can do without the ice-cream, and blended with milk it makes the perfect shake consistency.
My girls don’t have any trouble drinking milk (they have a glass every morning, but True is mildly allergic so she has a glass of soy milk in the mornings), so they get extra excited when they see me blending up a shake for them (and they had two helpings for snack time this particular afternoon). Between their glass of milk at breakfast and their milkshake this afternoon, they sure got a load of calcium, protein, and vitamin D (and other good stuff milk has) in them. Then, add the funny face straw toppers and we were all laughing at the silliness that was ensuing from all the silly characters. We had a librarian, professor, cool guy, and a glamour girl, and everyone was getting into it, but it was especially funny to watch Glow because she was being the funniest of them all
I have a large growing pile of fabric scraps. I refuse to throw them away because I am sure they can be used for something. I have been seeing different types of interesting necklaces made of buttons, beads, and fabric. Then, I figured why not make one out of my scraps...
I think it made my white shirt a little less boring. This was so quick and easy to make.
How to make a recycled scraps necklace (which is very similar to the straps on my braided tablecloth bag):
1. Take your scrap fabric, I cut a .5''-1'' snip and tear the rest of the fabric down for a nice frayed edge. Used 3 different fabrics for each strand.
2. Take 3 of the torn pieces and tie the ends together with a rubber band.
3. Braid the 3 pieces together and tie ends together with rubber band when done.
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 for more strands. Remember you can make the strands any length you want, if run out of fabric, just weave more into the braid.
5. Once all the strands you want are braided, gather one end of each strand together and straight stitch together with sewing machine. Repeat for the other ends of the strands. Snip off any excess.
6. Gather ends of the necklace and sew together (snip excess) or a ribbon can be sewn at the ends to be able to tie the necklace closed, but I just sewed both ends together.
7. Voila! A nice way to make use of all your lovely scraps.
Sorry if the directions get you a little lost, but it really is easy. I promise. Maybe I should put some in the shop. Please share any other good ideas you may have of things that can be made with scraps. I would love to hear (read) them!
Chalk Finish Recycled Bottle
Directions:
A few years ago, I saw some painted recycled plastic bottles sold as vases in some online shop. It appeared to be painted with this chalky looking paint, and I always wondered what paint was used to make them. I saw these paints at Michael’s a few weeks ago and thought it might be it. Now, I never bought those vases I saw, so I can’t say for sure if it’s exactly the same, but it looks reminiscent to it, so it works for me. These chalky paints are kind of fun and I want to try painting some candlesticks with it. I really like the matte finish and the pastel colors they come in.
This project is part of the Michael’s Makers Series.
