It's the Weekend!

What are you up to this weekend?  We are going to an outdoor movie party and I am going to a spray painting demo here.  And hopefully, some grilling will also be done!

http://geronimoballoons.com

Hope yours is awesome too!

PS. Disco balls and streamers?!  Don't even get me started!!!

It's sketchy!

I try to sketch or draw or doodle everyday.  It really does not take much effort because I love to draw, so I do it as much as possible.  It seems like whenever I am on the phone, making a list or just passing time, I am also sketching or doodling.  Most of the time, I really try to draw in my sketch book, but sometimes it is on my "to do" list, or the mail, or a napkin or a receipt...you get the idea.  

The only problem that I have with sketch books is this...

They are SO UGLY!  Seriously, is this the best you can do Strathmore???  I know there are plenty of cute plain paper notebooks out there, but the paper is usually so thin in those, and I like the size of this one.  But the green cover, no I just can not deal with that nonsense!  So I doll my sketch books up so that they are cute and functional for me.

I paint the covers and then I put a strip of packing tape on the inside of the cover, by the spiral thing that binds it together, to make the cover stronger.  I also tie a ribbon around it to keep the pages together.  I do a lot of my drawing with water colors, and it warps the pages, so if I didn't have the ribbon around it, it would puff up and be extra fat.  

  See how unruly they get?

The book on top only has a few pages painted, but you can see how much they warp.  I don't really care about that, but I do want it all to stay together when I shove it in my purse!

Are you a doodler? 

  Here is a fascinating article about doodling, if you are interested.

We had a cement night!!!

I had the pleasure of working with my good friend Meg on an awesome Cement Project Night for some very talented ladies last night.  As I told Meg, I always assume most people are not into all of the crafty nonsense that I am borderline obsessed with LOVE so much.  She assured me that people would like it and they would have fun, and she hatched the plan.  Wine and cement!  It sounded like a success to me!

So last night, the nicest group of women ever, gathered to drink wine, make cement, and drink more wine!  It was so much fun.  Everyone got a little dirty, poured a little cement and made some very cool stuff!  Check out the fabulous projects now drying at Factory 506!!!

Letters, letters and more letters!

Tons of candle holders!

Cute flat shapes to put in the garden!

We are now all anxiously awaiting the 24 hour drying time so that we can take everything apart and admire our success!!!

Thank you Meg and everyone for such an AWESOME cement project night!!!  I can't wait for the next one.

More cement projects that we have done here, here and Meg's pieces here!

Action in the TeePee Department!

Look was has been happening around here!!!!

PROGRESS ON THE TEEPEES!!!!!

This is my friend's teepee, it is awesome!  She and the draping wizard worked some serious magic with that drop cloth and it looks so beautiful.

Here is my teepee.  First, the draping wizard went home (ah-hem) and I didn't have the patience for the draping.  So I picked up a scissor and then a staple gun...  and this happened!  Perfect for me and my impatient tendencies.

At this point, someone went on vacation (not me!) and steam was lost on this project!!!  Then, when everyone was back in town and kids schedules were aligned, it rained...like everyday at the time we planned to paint the teepees.  We thought mother nature was against us, but then we realized that  someone might have been doing a rain dance in their basement.  We corrected that, and so the rain stopped, the sun came out and the humidity skyrocketed...it was teepee painting time!!!

Two teepees, two moms, three children petite Picassos, a boat load of paint, about 50 paintbrushes, what felt like 500 paper plate palettes and some wine and we were ready to go!  It was seriously so much fun.  The teepees look awesome, the children had fun, lots of paint got used up (on the teepees and the children) and the teepees finally got painted!!!

My son was on a roll with the big symbols (cave drawings?) on our teepee.

This is my friends teepee in the early stages.  The picture really does not do it justice.  She has the drop cloth draped so beautifully.  I will get more pictures of her teepee so that you can see the draping and the painting better.

Moving right along with the paint!

The inside of our teepee got Jackson Pollacked!!!

We still have some finishing touches to do with the paint, and then we are going to accessorize them.

 Feathers are being painted, ropes are being wrapped and pompoms are in production!  Once they are completely dolled up, I will post more pictures!

What do you think about making a teepee?  Would you do it?

Is the weekend again already?

It is SO hot!  Keep COOL and have a great weekend!

http://prettie-sweet.tumblr.com/post/54722826258

Blogging will resume next week.  What happened to last week????

It's the weekend!

What are you doing this weekend?  The weather is supposed to be perfect, so we are planning on spending as much time on the patio as possible!  

 http://www.gourmet.com/winespiritsbeer/2009/04/eight-great-rose-wines

This will be happening!  

Perrier + Pop Art = Awesome!

I am a HUGE fan of Andy Warhol.  I love pop art in general, but his pieces send me over the edge.  I find him fascinating as a person, and I am so intrigued with his ideas, thoughts, how he lived his life and even his appearance.  Seriously, that silver wig he always wore!  He was such a character.

I am also a huge fan of Perrier, or as my son calls it, bubbly water.  We go thorough a ton of Perrier in our house.  Remember this drink?  I could drink Perrier all day, and I just love that initial bite from the carbonation!

Well imagine my excitement when I saw this...

Perrier is partnering with The Andy Warhol Foundation so that everyone can "take home a Warhol".  You might not know that you need one, but you do!  Your own Warhol, imagine how cute that empty Warhol bottle will be with some flowers from your garden in it!!!

And then I read this...

“The Andy Warhol Foundation is delighted to partner with Perrier to commemorate 150 years of inspiration and originality by celebrating Warhol’s bold portraits of Perrier from 1983,” said Michael Hermann, director of licensing for The Andy Warhol Foundation. “Warhol’s inventive, open-minded spirit lives on through this unique and authentic project, which will contribute generously to the foundation’s endowment from which it distributes grants in support of the visual arts.”

And I got that warm fuzzy feeling you get from getting something cool that you want (Warhol bottle) and knowing that something awesome (grants to support visual arts) is also coming from it!  Win Win as far as I am concerned!!!

And  then I saw this...

In addition to offering the limited-edition Warhol bottles, Perrier also is offering the chance to win an original Andy Warhol work of art as part of the Take Home a Warhol sweepstakes. From June 24-Sept. 30 consumers can enter to win “Space Fruit: Lemons,” an original screenprint work created by Andy Warhol in 1978.

Seriously, go try to win yourself that Warhol.  I did, and you better go make that lucky charm necklace from yesterday while you are at it because I was wearing mine WHILE I entered to win!!!  Hello unfair advantage!

If you need more of a Warhol fix, check my pinterest art board.  I have some cool stuff pinned.

DIY Jewelry Making...Again!

I am on a roll with the DIY jewelry making!  I can't stop myself, I just love making jewelry and am still not tired of working with my coins.  This time I have made a gypsy lucky charm necklace.  I am a BIG believer in lucky charms...when I "feel" like they are working.  When they are not working, I totally do NOT believe in them.  As my husband says, I am consistently inconsistent.  

For this necklace, I just tied two pieces of leather cord together and made knots to hold the various coins and charms in place.  That blue charm is a scarab from Egypt, there is a lucky skull and some other gold charm that I figured must be lucky since I found it.  I wrapped some pink string around the cord where it looked like it needed color.  I used the same wrapping technique that I used here.  

I can wear it as a long single strand or I can double it up and wear it shorter.

Do you like making jewelry?  Do you ever see a piece in a store and think to yourself "I can make that"?  

DIY Jewelry

Well, I was back at it with my stash of foreign coins over the weekend.  I just never seem to get tired of making things with them, and since it was a long weekend, I was very busy!

So this is what I came up with first, a bracelet using a 20 franc coin.  I drilled a hole in each side, and attached jump rings on both sides.  Then I made the band by recreating the macrame I was hooked on making years ago during the summer camp years!

After I made the band, I add a sliding knot on the back (more macrame) so that I can put it on myself!  I like to wear lots of bracelets on my left arm, but I am left handed so it is always a struggle to get my right hand coordinated enough to hook them!  

Cute right?  Have you made anything with a coin yet?  What about a coin with a meaningful year, like the year you were married? 

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!

Spotty!

Things are getting spotty around here...

Color study, acrylic paint on linen fabric.

Tree Beads

 I love all kinds of beads, but I especially love making beads out of small pieces of tree branches.  I call them "tree beads" for obvious reasons.

Tree Beads are basically small cuts of wood from branches that you might prune off of your trees or bushes.  I just cut them with my pruning clipper, they are not even big enough to use a saw.  Then I drill a small hole through the middle so that I can string them, just like regular beads.

I like to use all kinds of wood so that I have different colors and different sizes so it does not look too uniform.  Sometimes I strip the bark off, to give them another color and texture.  They are so simple to make and look so cute made into garlands and necklaces.  

  Here they are on my urn...

And on the fence...

And, as I am sure you have noticed, I like all of my creatures, statues and animals to be fully accessorized, so here are some tiny ones on this guy, who by the way is in charge of holding the incense at Factory 506...

As you can see I have added a tassel, that happens a LOT here!

Would you ever make tree beads?  Wouldn't they look cute on an outdoor Christmas Tree?