Yessss. Thank you, Bennet. I love this song.

(Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat: "Lucky")

Projects and Crafts: Flower Coasters and Jewelry boxes

In my new issue of "Lowes Creative Ideas", I really liked the:

Pressed Flower Coasters found HERE (you can pluck some blooms from your mother's day bouquet for this one)...


...and this super easy handmade jewelry box to store all that mother's day bling.

It's made of two fencepost caps, attached with a hinge and clasp. Such a great idea.

(Moms that I know locally, please put on your most surprised face if your boy comes from cub scouts with one of these for you.)

Projects and Crafts: Paper Lei

One lei required

• 35 or so cardstock flowers
• 5 drinking straws, cut up to about an inch or so.
• a hole punch for the flowers that makes a hole smaller than the diameter of the straw
• scissors
• yarn to string it all up.
• giant plastic needles help with the stringing
  
• Strawberry flavored Whoppers, just for fun
  

I remember making these when I was little.
Boy, those flower punches sure make things a thousand times easier.

Lose your marbles with paint

Supplies:

• Flat container with lid (I used a cookie sheet that comes with a clear lid)
• marbles
• Paint
• Paper sized for inside of the container
• Tape to secure the paper

I remember seeing something like this once upon a website or somewhere like it.

Any flat container WITH A LID works great. We tried this in a baking pan without a lid and marbles and paint went flying every where!

We were a little heavy handed with the goopy finger paint which prevented the marbles from rolling nicely. I think I'll use a regular poster paint next

Everyone needs a fun Grammy nearby.

I had grand hopess of making these incredibly cute and easily "keepable" secret pocket eggs at Sew Mama Sew,

And I wanted to try the natural egg dying method via Martha

but before I knew it, Grammy had already whipped out the Dudley's colors...

and scattered candy filled plastic eggs around the yard...

I love having Grammy nearby.

Happy Belated Easter everyone!

Color

Hey, remember how I thought I had an awkward relationship with paints?
Well, I realize that I actually just have problems with applying color in general.
This is something I'd like to improve.
Watercolors seem so elusive and I don't see myself creating any masterpieces any time soon. Still I was itching to color my Alice picture, so I broke out the Prismas and sat...
and sat
and sat some more.
I have not actually colored anything by hand for a million years.
And I forgot how much patience I need in order to do so.
And I got a cramp.

(Take one. I think I'm ready to try it again)

I took liberties here.
My daughter was looking on as I worked out the dress and the skin and said, "Mommy! That's Alice!"
And then I got to the hair.
Dark, beautiful, long hair.
And then she smiled and said, "Mommy! That's me!"
:)

Illustration Friday: Garden

Alice being bullied by the daffodils.

This particular piece seems to be begging me to color it by hand and not with Photoshop.

Like, maybe with watercolors.

One day.