Feather Halloween Wreath

This is a little late, but wanted to share:

I made this wreath one day that I was feeling creative the week before Halloween.
I just hot glued black feathers from the craft store onto a wire floral wreath frame. Then I hot glued some wiggly eyes on. Pretty simple!
I used hot glue because it was what I had and I know how to use it. No special reason. I did learn through this process why being tarred and feathered was such an awful punishment. I had feather bits stuck all over me.

Skeleton Wreath

So I got creative, sorta

I bought a couple of plastic skeletons from the dollar store, broke them apart and turned them into a wreath.

After breaking apart the skeletons, I simply rearranged the parts to create a circle. Then I used hot glue to stick the parts together.

I used a wire hanger from the dry cleaners to hang the wreath. I just hot glued the skeleton bits to a hanger that I rounded out in the shape of my wreath.

The project cost me $2!

Scrapbooking

In my quest to find a creative outlet I gave scrapbooking a go around.  Um, that was a big, expensive mistake.

First, I have no artistic creativity, so my layouts pretty much sucked.

Second, I am not able to draw or cut a straight line to save my life. I used straight edges, rulers, and all sorts of cutting equipment. Somehow, all my cuts were crooked. I tell people that I was being creative and wanted rhombuses and curvy sides, and not plain old squares or rectangles.

Third, I got annoyed that there were so few pictures on each page.

I ruined so many pictures and lots of paper trying to scrapbook. I wasted money and time to create some ugly craziness. In the end, I gave up and just started sticking as many pictures as I could fit onto one page. That actually turned out better than some of the "fancy" pages that I tried.

In the end, I learned that I will just stick to photo albums. I still envy all of you that can scrapbook really well, but I'll leave that to y'all!

One of my "fancier" pages.

Making Boxes

After being inspired and encouraged by my friend Patty to be more crafty, I decided to try sewing yet another box.

It is a cover for a power strip in the living room. The initials are my kids' first names. The holes are supposed to be different sizes because plugs come in different sizes. Other than that, it is what it is.

I am not even close to being as crafty as Patty. She is pretty amazing...check out some of her creations: www.etsy.com/shop/CuteCanvasCreations

I love the outcome of sewing. Making and creating something feels awesome, but the process drove me crazy. Sewing on the canvas was too repetitive. I did not like doing the same thing over and over and over again.

So I'm off to find another craft I can do.

I Made A Box

This has possibly been the longest 2 weeks ever! I'm not good about being inactive, but I have no choice as I recover from surgery.

Last week I made a box with those canvas sewing craft things and yarn. I had no idea what I was doing, but it turned out okay.

My laptop fits in it and it is a perfect way to keep my computer stored while it's not in use. I wouldn't use it as a carrying case, but it is pretty sturdy.

Bracelet Holder by Recycling

I have a lot of bracelets (well for me) and I needed to find a way to organize them and a place to put them. I had the bracelets hanging everywhere on shelves and drawer pulls. Half the time I forgot what bracelets I had because they were in so many different places. I am anal about organization and everything having a place, so this was driving me crazy...bat poop crazy!

One day I got really frustrated with the lack of organization, and fervently started seeking a home, one single home, for all my wayward bracelets. I looked around and found a paper towel holder and a hair dryer diffuser. And magically they fit together and produced a home for my bracelets!

I have extremely straight hair, so I never use the diffuser that came with my hair dryer. The paper towel holder was trash, of course. 

First I put on 2 coats of white acrylic paint as a primer. Then I glued the paper towel holder into the hole that is supposed to connect to the hair dryer. Last, I added a couple coats of glitter acrylic paint I found at Walmart. And Voila:

It does it's job, all my bracelets are in one place! No more panic attacks when I see bracelets every which way.

Repurposing

Today I took the kids to McDonald's (I know, but Faith got 3 shots so I felt like she deserved it), and as they were throwing away their milk containers I had an epiphany.

Okay, so maybe epiphany is a little dramatic, but I realized that my household wastes A LOT of containers, boxes, cups...

I got to thinking I should be more purposeful in the reuse of these things. Yes, I know, I could recycle, but come on! Have you been on Pinterest? Have you seen all the cool things you can do with "trash". And what's great about it is that it is trash. So if my lack of artistic ability messes it up, it is no big deal!

I think recycling is great for Earth. I think our culture is very wasteful and we are careless about the environment. I want to take it a step further, though. I want to find ways to turn these objects in useful items around the house. That way I am not only saving the environment, but I am saving money and reducing my carbon footprint. Plus, it can be a hobby, which keeps me busy and not laying around feeling sorry for myself.

Pretty cool! Now on to find a place to store all these containers I want to reuse :-P

Oh, by the way....Today's Workout (had to do something, I had McD's for lunch):

20 very painful and boring minutes on the Elliptical.
400 Crunches
50 Push-ups
Followed by ingesting 6 different pain pills