Santa Sticks!

Christmas crafting has begun!  I am so excited to be working on Christmas crafts.  I will be honest and tell you that I start up with the Christmas stuff much earlier than I really should.  If you are one of those people who does not like the stores to put up decorations until after Thanksgiving, then you don't want to be involved with me.  I like to start early!

Which brings me to these Santa Sticks that I made, ahem, right after Halloween.  It has taken great restraint not to post them until now!

Do you remember these sticks from early in the year?  The Santa Sticks are my "holiday sticks"!  Ha Ha, who knew I would need seasonal sticks for my backyard.  Good thing trees always need to be pruned because my son's stick "collection" is dwindling very quickly!  Once I get the evergreen branches in the urn I think they will look a little more at home.  They are a little lonely right now!

These were so easy to make.  I just whittled the tops a little bit to look like Santa's hat, and I carved a little bark off for the face.  Then I painted them up to look like Santa.   For the face I just put two tiny black eyes, I'm not sure you can see that in the photos.  I had a hard time getting these bad photos, sorry.

Have you painted any sticks for your yard yet?

Squirrel Update, etc...

This is not my baby squirrel, just a random squirrel that I found on Pinterest, but he is just as cute!

http://2winks.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html

The squirrel lived through the night!!!  So, my sweet husband took the baby squirrel (named Francisco) to the Wildlife Refuge.  I had to do something at my son's school and so Mark got roped into the "squirrel of 2013" project.  We have been married 21 years so he is totally used to my "animal emergencies" and general nonsense.  

Anyway, he drove Francisco to this awesome refuge.  The woman there estimated that he was about 6 weeks old, she said he never would have survived the night, it was just too cold.  He was still a little cold even though we cranked the heat up in the garage and filled his cage with towels.  She said it sounded like he might have a little respiratory infection so she gave him antibiotics.  She thought that as long as he responded to the antibiotics, he would be fine.  Yea!  

She also had 3 or 4 other baby squirrels about his age that he would live with at this refuge until spring when they would be released.  

How sweet!  A happy weekend can be had by all!

In other news I spent a couple of mornings at my son's school painting a backdrop for the Third Grade Worlds' Fair, which apparently, was a huge success.  They had all different kinds of food and activities.  

Ferris Wheel

Part of the skyline.

And finally, it's the weekend!!!

I will be doing some painting, hopefully some hand printing, some kiln loading, and of course...

What are you doing this weekend?

Hand Painted!

Guess what I did this afternoon?  I painted sangria pitchers and may I just tell you, it was one of the most fun afternoons I have had in a while!  So, I mentioned yesterday that I have been hired to paint pitchers for a restaurant, and I worked on them for about two hours this afternoon and I just had the best time.

 I actually painted these same pitchers, for the same restaurant, for about 10 years.  Then...I became burned out on the design (which I always loved) but after painting it about 1,500 times, I had had enough.  So I walked away from these pitchers and never looked back.

Then, earlier this summer, I ran into the owner of the restaurant.  He told me how much they missed the pitchers, the replacements were not as pretty, nobody liked them, they broke too easily, etc...  And for some reason, I was ready to paint them again!

So here I am in the early stages of the LaTasca Sangria pitcher.  I am so excited to be painting them again!

The first load will be going into the kiln on Wednesday!

By the way, pitcher aside, LaTasca has fantastic sangria, red and white!

Sketchy!

A random assortment of pages from my sketchbook!

Cheap Art Supplies!

I love to make stuff, and I have a son who also loves to make stuff.  Add the two of us together and you need a lot of money to keep us in supplies.  I have found supplies in unexpected places, including the recycling bin.  Does this look familiar?

I am not proud that I have to show off the fact that I feed my baby Capt'n Crunch, but there it is!!!  Cereal boxes, granola bar and fruit snack boxes (nothing but the best at Factory 506) are some of our favorites.  Almost as fast as I unfold them and cut them up, they are painted, cut and turned into something. 

Look at the sweet heart my son made as a thank you for our dear friend Jude!

Cereal box + paint and puffy paint + pompoms = total cuteness in my book!

Would you ever paint your recycling?  We paint on almost all of it, it saves money and it is good for the earth!

Take a Note!

Have you ever considered chalkboard paint?  I painted a small wall outside of my son's room in chalkboard paint.  ORANGE chalkboard paint, to be exact.  We love it and most of the children who come over love it too!  It seems someone (mostly me) is always doodling or writing something on it!

I know there is a ton of chalkboard paint out there, but this is the one that I used. 

 I just fell in love with all of their color options, and it is so easy to use.  I was considering the bakery green but ultimately decided on the safety orange, and it is awesome.  It is literally the color of a traffic cone!  The white chalk shows up really well, and it is bright enough that the wall does not seem dark.  And look at that polka dot can, seriously, how could I NOT use it!?

Hudson paint also makes a floor paint that I am seriously considering.   I am giving the floor in our bedroom the side eye, I think paint might be in it's future!

Would you ever paint a chalk board wall in your house?  Guess what, it is not as dusty as you might think!