Mt. Rainier and Lenticular Clouds - Dec. 2008 copyright: JMM

October 5, 2014

Back to Creating

Now that the excitement of the summer has wound down, I've gotten back into making stuff again.  

I baked some apple coffee cake muffins, which were pretty good.  The recipe is HERE.  I didn't have plain yogurt, but I did have some Yoplait nonfat apple yogurt that I mixed with a little vanilla to make the 1 cup.  I also used Fuji apples.  The batter was really sweet and they smelled really sweet while baking, but they came out  pretty good and not as sweet as I thought they'd be. I had enough batter to make 12 muffins plus one small loaf pan.  I didn't take a picture of them, but I also made a batch of apple brownies that were delicious too.

Finally got some gold leaf paint so I tried it on a crow feather.

And some shells.  I discovered 2 things:  First, when it says to use in a well ventilated area, do so.  I was painting in my kitchen and got really nauseous and headachy from the smell.  Second, I found out that when you spray clear sealant on gold leaf paint, it runs and turns copper.  Not so much on the sand dollar but on the shells.

I got a bunch of wedding pics processed but I couldn't find a compilation frame that I liked, and I looked in a bunch of places.  I finally went to Michael's Crafts and was shocked to see the $54.99 price tag on their comp frames! Even with the 40% off sale, the size of the pic holes wasn't to my liking so I passed and instead bought one large frame which was closer to $13 with the sale.  Then I mounted the pics on purple card stock and arranged them to my liking.  That's the poem Marsha read, in the top left corner. 

And a couple of shells with shells and microbeads.  I attached a hanger to this one but not the clam shell, yet.


Tiny bottles were finally back in stock at Michael's so I got a package and promptly made Floo Powder out of fine silver glitter mixed with heavier green glitter. Got the mini label off the internet and as always, the cork is glued in the top with an added green star rhinestone.  Now I can travel via fireplace.

When JoLisa & I visited the bead shop in Scituate, she bought beads to spell out her name and gave them to me to make into a necklace. 

I found a Pacman rock so I put a googly eye on it.  

Just like last year, acorns and their caps are hard to come by, which further concerns me about what the upcoming winter will be like.  But I found a couple and made owls using felt bits.  It's hard to cut felt that small and I definitely need bigger acorns.

Some acorn capped beads, and one marble (far left).

Some beach glass chips in a tiny bottle.  I hung this around my rearview mirror.

Feels good to be back at the craft table!

12 comments:

  1. Been busy haven't you. What do you do with all this stuff once you have made it? What is Floo Powder anyway?

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    1. I guess you aren't a Harry Potter fan? Floo powder is one of the ways witches/wizards travel. Throw some into a fireplace, step in, say your destination and you are off, and land at your destination in their fireplace.

      I am hoping to sell some stuff at the craft fair in Nov. I gave the shell w/ the turtle to one of my friends, and the necklace was sent to JoLisa. I keep a lot of what I make esp. if it's just a prototype. Some stuff gets taken to the Goodwill donation box if I can't sell or give it away.

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  2. So I guess the outings are nearly over for this year, and you'll be tuced up by the fire doing your crafts till spring is sprung again.

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    1. Today is beautiful and I would like to get out there but I'm a bit under the weather. But yes, I think day trip outings, except to the beach, are probably done for the year.

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  3. Our enjoyment is enhanced by seeing the things you make. I used to craft a lot but now spend time writing. I didn't have your treasure trove of supplies, but used a lot of found objects. . .Everyone got whatever craft I was doing for their gifts (macramé, painting, etc)

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    1. Thank you! The crafting thing is a real obsession. I could easily spend thousands of dollars in supply stores. Good thing I have no money and the stores are located far enough away so as not to tempt me. lol

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  4. What can I say? I am a fan of all your crafts! Prices of frames are ridiculous! When my daughter wanted to frame her art for the 4H fair last year we went to Michael's and had one of their associates help us. I about had a stroke when she quoted a price tag of over 600.00 for a mat and frame. :P Then we went and bought a ready made frame and used the coupon like you did and bypassed the mat so it would fit. I love your shells, especially the ones that you glued the smaller ones into! Love the floo powder and the acorns, and that cool little bottle. I just LOVE it all!! ♥

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    1. Thanks!!! Oh I won't pay for anything to be professionally frames if I don't have to. Back in the 90s I had a small pic of Jerry Garcia framed, it was smaller than 8x10, and it was $50!!!

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  5. Love the way you put the wedding pictures together. You caught the moment perfectly. I also really enjoyed the little beads and smaller shells glued to the big shell. The beads capture the feeling of water. Create and enjoy :-)

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    1. Thank you Liz! Of course Russell took one look at the wedding pics and quipped, 'wow, quite the rogues gallery. More like prison photos'. lol It was hard to decide which ones to use but it came out pretty good.

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  6. I love what you did with those shells. Those look awesome!

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    1. Thank you Stephanie! I picked up a couple more shells at the beach yesterday too.

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