I watched a video today that Lindsay made where she painted a muslin scarf first then stamped it and painted in the stamps.  It was such a great idea and I started thinking about a trip we are taking in a couple of weeks to visit our nephews and their families near D.C.  Both nephews have daughters that are in their mid teens and I thought it would be so much fun to videotape us making something with fabric and stamps and paints.  I thought about the fabric bags they make that you can decorate which got me thinking about the old Keds type shoes that can be colored as well.  I have been thinking about making Keds covered with buttons and thought that would be a really great project as well.  Then again, maybe they would prefer to make jewelry and we could certainly do that as well.  It could be a lot of fun and not a ton of work.  Or maybe it will be a ton of work and not much fun, you never know.  Some projects seem so easy and once you get into it, you wish you hadn’t.  Case in point, we went on a short vacation with my sister and her husband last year and we devoted a day to my sister and her birthday.  She wanted to start the day by coloring her hair a purplish red color.  How difficult could it be?  It wasn’t all that hard except my clothes were completely covered in hair dye and I looked like I might have mass murdered someone or something. I’m a light packer so didn’t have anything else to wear so had to shop for a new shirt.  I tried to wear a cardigan over it while shopping for a replacement outfit and everyone in the store kept staring at me.  I’m pretty sure I didn’t do a great job of covering my crazy killer shirt.  In the end, I found a replacement shirt and my sister’s hair looked great.  The moral of the story is, if you are going to doing anything involving dye on vacation, pack heavier.

 

 

 

Some days the weather kicks the living crap out of me.  Today is one of those days.  I’m sure a lot of you feel like I do, so it’s no great surprise to you, but I’m exhausted.  I really want to be a real trooper and work on a couple of projects, but alas, the mind is willing but the body has decided not to play along.  I know that saying should have sounded differently, but I’m too tired to change it.  I probably should have just skipped the blog for the day, but if you read my blogs, I normally don’t talk about my health, so why not take a moment to do so.  I think I’ve mentioned that I am taking a newer biologic medicine called Orencia.  I’d like to say it’s working wonders, but so far, I don’t feel much impact.  Of course it takes 3 or 4 months to really kick into high gear, so I need to be patient and wait for the medicine to start to work.  On the other hand, patience has never been one of my strong suits.  Shocked aren’t you?  I really wish I was one of those people who could sit back and just wait for things to work, but I’m more of a take it once and think it’s going to change my world kind of girl.

As for the weather, it’s between thunderstorms so the barometric pressure is moving, thus my arthritis is not happy with the changes.  I think I should consider a career change, as I can predict the weather better than any weather person I’ve ever seen.  I listen to their reports and laugh.  I can predict a rainstorm like this.  My friend will say it’s supposed to rain today and I’ll say, it’s going to rain but not for at least five hours.  Within five or six hours, it rains.  I’d say it’s amazing, but pretty much anybody with a similar illness to mine can do the same thing.  Which begs the question, why don’t the television channels hire people with physical limitations to be their weather people?  Seriously, their accuracy would have to be a lot better than the “normal” forecaster.  Hey, it’s just a thought.  It would be pretty interesting though, to hear someone say something like, my ankles are feeling kind of still, so I think we’ll have a drizzly rain starting in a couple of hours and lasting all day.  I’d love it and I’m sure others would as well.  Oddly enough, it just started to drizzle again, my work here is done.

A C Moore called and told me that the watercolor set I ordered had arrived, so we made a quick trip to pick it up.  I was so excited to give it a try so as soon as I got home, I filled the pen with water and turned on my computer to the tutorial Lindsay did of a small water scene.  She made it look really easy, but of course, it wasn’t.  I had trouble following which colors she was mixing and how much water to use and couldn’t make thin lines like she did.  In the end, I took some colors and made a lovely abstract watercolor of nothing with a  great background color, mud.  You knew it was coming and there it is.  I have no idea how to blend effectively and used way too much water.  Lindsay said she’d used that tube of water in her water brush on three different paintings.  It didn’t last through the small mess I made, so obviously I don’t know how much water is too much, but am definitely using too much.

Oh well, it was just a first attempt.  I have a really pressing question though, that I’d like an answer for…I realize “real artists” don’t use the blacks that come in watercolor sets, but if there is a black included, why mix a bunch or a couple of colors to create black?  Isn’t black, black?  It’s really been bothering me when Lindsay tries out these sets of watercolors that come with a black.  Is it cheating to use black if it’s provided?  Or is it the mark of a true artist if they refuse to use the black in a set?  These are the pressing questions that keep me awake at night (or I’m just curious about, you be the judge.)

So I’d like to attach a photo of my first watercolor, but that would only reinforce the idea that I have absolutely no artistic skills unless the image is already stamped and I just color it in.  I’m going to continue to work on my watercolor skills, maybe next time I’ll watercolor on a stamped image which would at least give me a fighting chance at having something that looks like an adult colored it. Then again, maybe not.

I started this morning by going to a few garage sales.  Our neighbor was having a benefit sale for Alzheimer’s  research, so I bought a lot of fun things from her (including a riding lawn mower as ours has issues and now we’ll have a spare for emergencies.)  She had a lot of fun crafty things including a 50 piece set of gel pens for 50 cents.  Of course I had to have them.  She had scrapbook paper and tape runners and best of all, she let me shop early so I got my pick of the goodies.  It was a lot of fun.  We went to a few other sales and I found some foam stamps to use on the gelli plate and some small pieces of jewelry.

In the afternoon, we took a drive to visit with my friend’s mother with the broken hip.  She looked so good and was tickled to see us.  I brought her a small gift that I made for her that was a stationary set.  It was all from the Dollar Tree and I made a video tutorial of it.  I think it is a very practical gift for someone in assisted living as you don’t always have paper and a pen when you need one.  Of course there were cards for her as well.  I was so happy to see her doing so well and it made the trip an easy one.  Sometimes things are much better than you expect and we could never have dreamed that she would look as great as she did.  It was a very good day!

My dog treats are the consistency of biscotti.  Here are the ingredients for one batch.  (I make three batches each time I make them as I have three big dogs and we go through a lot of them.  If you are going to heat your oven for hours, you might as well make the most of it.)  You can freeze these treats as well in case you have smaller dogs that won’t eat them quickly.

Mama’s Treats by Sandy Parker
4 1/2 c wheat flour
3/4 cup raw wheat germ
1 cup wheat bran
1 cup cracked wheat
1 cup bulgar wheat
1/2 cup flax seed
Mix these ingredients by hand so the wheat flour is well incorporated into the mixture
2 cup oatmeal (doesn’t matter if it is fast cook or old fashioned)
1 cup vegetable or canola oil
3 large eggs
2 cups apple juice–you can use broth or stock instead or tomato juice or a combination of juice and water to reduce calories.  You could also use pumpkin pie filler combined with water.  Clean out whatever juice you have left in your refrigerator as long as it doesn’t have grapes in it.

If you can’t find any of the ingredients above, replace that ingredient with the same amount of wheat flour or oatmeal.  A lot of the ingredients can be found in the bulk section of your Whole Foods and near the flour in Walmart.  If you do have an Amish bulk food store near you, they have the best prices on these products.

It’s easiest to mix by hand and your consistency should be not runny, it should be sticky

Use old cookie sheets that you don’t care about the staining on them.  I pour oil on the pan and make sure the pan is well coated on all sides and don’t wash your hands afterward as you will use your hands to put the treats into the pan and it won’t stick to your hands then.

Press your dog treats into the pan and it should fill the cookie sheet completely (the bigger sheet.)

Take a long knife or a food mover and cut your treats in long rows the whole way across and then cut them into squares.  Cut them as small as you want your treats to be.  I cut mine about 1/2″ to 3/4″ square.  Make sure you cut all the way to the pan or they won’t separate.  Bake them at 350 degrees for 90 minutes.  Then remove the pan from the oven and let them cool.  Once cool, pull them out of the pan and break them up and put them back on the baking sheet without re greasing it and put them in the oven at 275 degrees for 2 1/2 hours.  (Also, please make sure you lean away from the oven door when you open it as it will be very humid inside and you can get burned.   I make three batches at a time and depending on which shelf in the oven, they may be darker or lighter.  If one batch is darker after the 350 degree round, then put it on a different shelf and the lighter batch goes on the rack where the darker batch was originally to ensure they are equally hard.

I’ve never had a dog refuse these treats and you should definitely try them as dogs absolutely love them.  I normally triple my batch and make three pans at a time and they will last about a month with three 60-85 pound dogs.  I hope you try this recipe and let me know at saundralparker@yahoo.com all about your dog’s response to them.

If they aren’t hard as a rock, bake them longer or they will mold.  The harder the better.

I found this expense ledger that came inside a box, both covered with material, at a church rummage sale for 25 cents.  When I saw it, I thought it might be great to make into an album.  At the time, it also had a big pocket that maybe held pens inside that I had to tear out.  There were expense pockets as well.  I thought I’d use the pockets and in the end, decided they looked bad and got rid of them.   I bought my paper from Amazon and it was from DCWV, and the paper was called Denim Stack.  I couldn’t find any other large amounts of denim paper, so settled for this even though it has a shiny finish, which didn’t thrill me and was harder to work with..  The bride’s theme was denim and lace so I spent more time with the lace theme than the denim since my paper covered the denim aspect.  The paper was primarily blues, reds and whites..    I used a Distress re inker of Frayed Denim and put seam binding, flowers and flower ribbon in the ink.  In the end, I only used the flower ribbon on the project.
I cut the paper and used Fabri-Tac from Beacons to adhere the paper with tear tape to the outside of the box as the box has a fabric outer layer.  The outside of the box has what looks like the top pocket of a pair of jeans and I added a piece of lace to the edge of the pocket and then added white buttons to it as well.  I used matching paper and cut a thin strip and threaded it through the buttons in an “X” shape then glued them where the rivets were on the paper. On the album, I found a piece of paper that had the & sign on it, so took chipboard and colored it with Chipped Sapphire from Distress Ink Stains and then adhered Mr. , Mrs. around the & sign on the front.  I covered the letters with satin Mod Podge as well to protect them.  The back spine of the album has a pull tab that I had to cut around and it was hard to keep it in frame as the album was so tall.  I put chipboard for their wedding date on the inside cover and on the right side I put chipboard letters of their initials and put big chipboard hearts that I colored with picket fence stain from Distress Inks and Mod Podged them as well.  I found buttons that were shaped like pearl colored hearts and had Rich cut the backs off of them.  I found Ide-alogy trinket pins (here’s the link to them)  http://www.joann.com/tim-holtz-idea-ology-1-1-4in-trinket-pins-15pk-antique-metallic/2035285.html#q=idea-ology&prefn1=prod_type&sz=36&start=37&prefv1=Product

and attached the buttons to the top of them and used them as pulls on the tags I put inside the pockets I created.  There was a page of pockets inside the stack of paper so I cut them apart and created pockets in my album with them.  For embellishments, I used buttons with matching twine and buttons with small strips of paper woven through them.  I used matching papers for the tags and used an ornate tag topper to cut the tops of some of them.  I used denim ribbon and decorated with it.  I made a small strip of paper and ribbon and attached it to the bottom of one page and added two pockets so they would stick inside and easily pull out.  I found small white flowers at Joanns and added them to a pocket with some small red flowers I had in my stash.  I had a cute tag that a woman had given me with hearts on it and I attached it to a craft tag so it would be more secure.  I used tiny pearls and layered them on the belt buckle and on the rivets.  I used pearls everywhere I could find spots that they worked.  I did put eyelets on each page where I punched the holes for the 3 ring binder, to stabilize the paper and make sure it won’t tear.  I made an envelope and filled it with punches of photo corners that match the papers in the album.  I lined them with double sided tape so the bride can put her photos in the album and hold them down with the photo corners.  I hope you like the album

Today was a really great crafty garage sale day.  I found Stampin’ Up things that I almost never find.  I also found a bunch of embellishment that I like to use, brads, buttons, etc. that were really nice.  I found some kids projects that I thought I would start another series with.  It seems like the YouTube channels that have the most viewership appeal to a broad audience.  I think it’s about time I made some children’s crafts so that I include them in my demographics.  Besides, there are a lot of kids with physical limitations that would benefit from a channel like mine.

I’m really excited because A C Moore called and said my watercolors are in.  You know I have absolutely no painting skills, but have always loved watercolors and have bought so many framed watercolors from artists all over the world.  One of the things we buy when we travel is art.  Not expensive art, but things that appeal to us.  The thing that’s great about it is that we have reminders of trips that will last our lifetimes.   I like the idea of buying things that take me back to a place when I look at it or smell it.  I like to buy colognes as well–one smell and you remember where you were when you bought it.  It’s fun for Rich as well.  He has colognes from different countries and even made his own personal scent at a perfumery we visited.

I made a couple more videos today and Rich is falling further and further behind in uploading them.  I think he’s probably about ready to throw in the towel.  I’m not really sure why I’ve been making so many videos, but I’m hoping it’s because of the new medicine I’ve been taking.  I have more motivation when my arthritis is under control and if that’s the case, I will be thrilled.  Even better, I’d be able to go off the steroids I’ve been taking for almost a year.  They aren’t good for bones, eyesight, weight, pretty much anything you can think of.  I’d like to go off them because of all of the above, plus the fact that I get a really round face from them and people often stop and ask me if I’m on steroids.  I’m not really excited when it happens, believe me.  On the other hand, I don’t think I’d be able to do much of anything if I wasn’t taking them, so there’s the big issue.  I’m always willing to live with the side effects if my joints feel better.  Long story short, I’ll be really happy if my new meds are working.  Maybe I’ll turn into a great watercolorist if I feel good..  Wouldn’t that be something?

I decided to do a haul video with the things I bought yesterday at A C Moore and Michaels plus the Dollar Tree.  I had bought a large pad of lined post it notes as well as a set that goes with stationary like a small miniature post it note pad, and matching clips.  I decided to make a set to take to our friend who fell and is in assisted living until she heals.  I thought it might come in handy to have a pen, pad of paper and clips to keep by her bed to remind her of things the doctor says, or items she wants her daughter to bring her.  I think the set came out really cute and made a video combining the haul with the stationary set.

I also made a birthday card video and am pretty happy with the results.  Some days my videos come out a little off because I sound confused.  It’s not that I’m confused, I just can’t do two things at once.  Isn’t that typical?  So these two videos both sound like I’m very distracted, when I’m really just off my game.  Some days just go that way!

I really should stop watching Lindsay the frugal crafter, and I’m not kiddding.  She makes me think I could be a painter, a jeweler, an artist.  In general, she makes me think I can do things I probably can’t.  It’s not that I don’t want to do these things.  It’s that I don’t have the years of training she’s had.  She makes me think I can pick up a paint brush and voila, painter!  It hasn’t stopped me from buying tools she recommends or from giving some of these things the old college try.  Wow, there’s a saying that really needs some background info.

From English Language and Usage—A newspaper column by that title by Billy Sunday which has a 1917 copyright by The Bell Syndicate Inc. Appears in an Elyria Ohio paper October of 1918.

Actually, the evangelist puts the expression on the lips of the great Giants manager John McGraw who after watching an rookie outfielder just out of college miss a heroic catch which resulted in a homer. While the “sapient birds of the Giants gave the kid the cackle” McGraw is quoted as saying, “That’s the eye, young fellow. The old college try.”

 

So the phrase dates back 100 years.  Pretty impressive that someone (namely me) is still using it today even if it has nothing to do with sports.

Regardless, I drew an artichoke with oil pastels and wasn’t overly disappointed with the results.  But I would love to be able to paint with watercolors.  So based on Lindsay’s recommendation, I set out to A C Moore today to buy a small set of travel watercolors.  Did they have them in stock?  No, but I did find out that they would special order them for me but can’t guarantee an arrival date.  I made my order and am breathlessly awaiting the arrival of my new kit.  I plan on painting very small images so that I don’t feel badly when I have to throw them in the trash.  If I ever get to the point that I’m clear on the color wheel, I may even be able to blend colors on my own.  I’m not holding my breath for that. I know that Lindsay has been painting since she was a small child.  I’m 56, so if I’m able to make a color other than mud, I’ll be thrilled.  Hey I might even be happy if I make mud,–there’s a lot you can make with mud.  There’s mud, dirt, dirty things, brown things, the list goes on and on.  The bottom line is I need to give this a try or I’ll never know if I can do it or not.  Besides, I’ve got Lindsay to show me the way.

I found this lovely old wicker rocker at a garage sale. It didn’t have a seat anymore but that didn’t bother me. There is an “X” in the base that was all I needed to take something old and make it new again. This rocker is supposed to be 80 years old, but you can be the judge of that. It was in excellent condition (other than the missing seat), and I thought it would be perfect as a planter for on my front porch. I took a large plastic planter and filled it with a variety of plants and good potting soil. I dropped the plastic planter into the spot where the seat would have been, and rested it on the “x” below. I took moss that you can buy at the Dollar Tree and placed it around the pot to cover the base of the chair and something old is now new again. Since I paid $20 for the chair, I didn’t think it was too expensive, considering you can spend more than that on an inexpensive planter, and this looks much better. I strongly recommend you looking for chairs like this one at flea markets, garage sales, thrift stores or your grandma’s attic. I also think a child’s chair would work well for this project and already bought a chair to make for a friend. I hope you’ll check out that video as well.