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

May 29, 2014

How I Spent Memorial Day Weekend 2014

We had some nice, cool weather for Memorial Day weekend.  My honey was home by about 4:00 on the Thursday before, and on Friday I flew into Sandwich at 8:00 to do a couple of things so as to be home by 9, long before the horrendous traffic started.  This is the unofficial beginning of summer on the Cape.

I decided to try this 'food colouring swirled in craft glue' idea from Pinterest.  It's easy - just fill a plastic lid with craft glue, drip some food colouring in and swirl it around with a toothpick.  I knew that the colours would continue to blend but I didn't think my pretty swirlies were going to all but disappear as time went on.

It took 3 days to dry and kept blending the whole time.

This is the final project.  It's pretty, but not really worth the effort and lengthy drying time.

We spent a lot of time kicking back and watching TV.  The pups were lazy too.

Except when The Beeb was demanding pets and snuggles (which she always gets when she asks).

Sagie and his cherished ferret toy, 'Fertie'.  He's been taking it to bed with him at night which is quite endearing. 

First attempt at dots-on-rock art.  This is pretty fun to do once the bigger layers dry and you can really get into the dot work.  I traced round objects for the large center circles, then used the tops of a coloured pencil and paintbrushes for the smaller dots.  Way, way easier than trying to dot with the brush end.

Also made a couple of shrinky dinks that I'd hoped would be a little bit larger for suncatcher purposes.  I traced a couple of designs out of an old colouring book, using a black sharpie then colouring in the flip side with coloured sharpies.  I discovered that if you try to use the colours on the same side as the black lines, the black will run into the colours.  Oh, and make sure you punch the hanger holes prior to putting them in the oven.

They ended up coming out the size of Christmas ornaments instead which was kind of disappointing.

 But they are still pretty anyway.



I figured I'd also take a crack at the boat in a bottle kit I got at the Whaling Museum.

Ssssshhhhh!!!!   Secret instructions!  DON'T TELL!!!!   Actually they were pretty poor instructions, only pictures and no tips or explanations so I pretty much had to wing it.

After fighting with the ship's mast for awhile I finally got it to stand upright, but not before pushing the poor ship so far down in the blue clay 'water' that the deck looks like it's going to flood.  :D  The coloured flags represent letters so I spelled out my future last name with them.  

That's not to say we didn't get out and take some walks.  I took a really cute pic of Russell walking Sagan but he didn't like the way he looked so I promised not to post it.  He happened to pick a black shirt and tan shorts that day, so he totally matched Sagan's colouring, which cracked me up to no end.

Russell had to do a quick overnighter to NY and back on Sunday, so I was alone most of the day.  I took my 2 mile walk on the Canal, which was a people-watcher's dream that day.  There was a charity 5k walk/run, plus lots of other people walking, running, biking and fishing.  I saw one guy riding his bike w/o using his handlebars, while blasting Marty Robbins' "El Paso" on a continuous loop and kind of acting it out a little with his hands/arms.  Saw another couple of bikers go by and one guy asked the other, 'where the entrance to the tunnel is'.  Not sure if he was serious, but I got a chuckle out of it.

And what's a long weekend without Chinese takeout?

Closed out the weekend by coming down with a horrible cold and sore throat on Memorial Day itself.  We went out for ice cream, for 'medicinal reasons', because I knew it'd feel great on my sore throat.  Betty Ann's Dairy Freeze really has the best soft serve combos.  I got a pineapple sherbet and coconut ice cream twist (Russell got a smoothie).

So all in all a nice, quiet weekend together, although I would have preferred not to end it sick as a dog!

20 comments:

  1. How interesting your colorful projects are! I liked the result with the colorful glue... you can also use it to catch sun I suppose :) And shrinky dinks is something new for me. Does it use glass paints? Cause it looks like that only. I like how they look lit up from one side by the day light!
    You had such a creative weekend, I also like when mine are like this. The sinking ship... well, it is pretty though :) I never had a ship in a bottle, so it must be really not easy to build it inside.
    Have a nice day Jojo!

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    1. The Shrinkies are plastic sheets and you use permanent markers on them, like Sharpies. There are also ones you can buy that have a frosted surface that will take coloured pencils. I'm not sure if glass paint would work...I never tried it but I could.

      The ship is built outside the bottle and the mast gets laid flat for insertion inside, then pulled upright with thread or string. Mine got stuck part way up which was why I had to jam the boat down into the clay so that I could get the mast vertical.

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  2. Sounds like a fun weekend to me!

    Love the rock art!

    Hope you are feeling better - better be sure to take more "medicinal" ice cream until that throat heals ;)

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    1. Thanks! Boy was I some sick after I wrote this post.....I thought for sure I was going to end up in the ER, but it broke early Wed. morning.

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  3. You certainly had a busy weekend. I have an artist friend in England who paints rocks to look like animals. They are very cute. Yours are very colourful. I've always wanted to have a/some sun catcher(s) but hubby doesn't like them.

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    1. I've done some rock painting in the past and I liked it but I really love doing the dots best. Your hubby doesn't like suncatchers?!??! My windows have so many things hanging in them. lol Poor Russell....before I moved back I warned him I liked to decorate. We've been here 3 years and he's still discovering things he's never seen before.

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  4. Sounds like you had a great weekend. It is a pity the glue didn't dry with the swirls in it. Still it is really pretty! Did it harden up like a rock? Just curious...♥

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    1. It hardened up enough to be a little bit flexible. I suppose I could punch a hole in it to hang, but the colours just got too dark. Perhaps if I only used yellow & red or yellow & blue together, they would mix better.

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  5. can you use the glue-food coloring as a sun catcher?

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  6. Watching your crafts take shape is almost as much fun as doing them, JoJo! Funny about the dressing thing, my hubs doesn't like us to be dressed alike either, too cutesie, I guess.

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    1. It was just funny when I turned around to take the picture of Russell w/ Sagan, they were identically matched....black on top, tan on the bottom. And on the days I make him wear the tie dye that his daughter & I picked out, I have to make sure I don't wear one of mine or else we will be too cutesie pie. lol

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  7. Sounds like a lovely weekend. Glad you could enjoy some of it before you got sick. Sure hope you're well on your way to better now!

    Tina @ Life is Good
    On the Open Road! @ Join us for the 4th Annual Post-Challenge Road Trip!

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    1. I'm feeling much better thanks!

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  8. I like the way you take care of yourself. Soft serve is yummy, and I hope it helped.

    Actually, I think the swirls of paint were much prettier before they dried. Oh well, Pinterest can't always full of earth shattering ideas.

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    1. I thought it was really cool too before it dried and I was really dismayed to see the colours blending that much. Maybe if I did it on a hot, dry day and left it in the sun it would dry faster than it could mix.

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  9. Looks like you had a fun and productive weekend JoJo, I love the ice-cream to end the fun. Your puppies are gorgeous!

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    1. Thanks Monica! It was quiet but very productive!!!!

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  10. JoJo, you never fail to astound me with all the many and varied crafts that you tackle. You're indeed a dedicated craftaholic. :D
    The glue sun catcher looks nice but it is a shame that the colors blended as much as they did. Wonder what one has to do to preserve all of the colorful patterns and swirls that one starts out with, as those were really amazing.

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    1. Thank you! I was thinking maybe if it's put outside in the warm sun it might dry faster and before the colours blend too much . But then you run the risk of pollen and other stuff landing in it.

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