Busy making stuff in my workshop~

Call me cheap but I will be sharing with you gifts I am making that cost me next to nothing.  With my financials being the way they are I am having to really stretch my dollar this holiday season and use items I already have on hand.  The first gift I want to share cost me actually nothing to make because I salvaged the frame from the garbage and already had the chalkboard paint.  If you don't have any on hand Walmart carries it for under $5.00, or you could maybe get it cheaper with a Micheal's coupon.  I love this chalkboard paint because you can use on wood, metal, glass,  etc.

The frame is made from....you know I actually can't think of the exact name for it but a house marker where you put your street number.  I love how it turned out.  The natural patina on it is what made me love it so.  It might just be a gift to myself.

I am heart broken this week our shar-pei Mocha passed away.  She was 16.  Two more years and she could have contended with the oldest living shar-pei.  But she was so sick her liver, kidneys, heart.  Then yesterday she suffered a stroke and went paralyzed in her hind legs.  It was the most heart wrenching thing to witness.  Thankfully my mom and I didn't have any kids at the daycare when it happened so we were both able to go to the vet to be with her.  I am feeling so guilty on top of it because I went through the last two years of pictures and couldn't find a single one of her, none the less she was loved deeply.

I wish for everyone to have a beautiful weekend~

Halloween is huge in my house, we really get into the "spirits" of things. ~Dee Snider

But I am in the same situation as last year too busy or lazy to go to storage and get the decorations.  So I made a quick banner and want to share it with you.  If you are interested you can print out these and make a banner of your own.  I made mine with some miscellaneous background papers I had made and Dollar Store twine.  Now that it is done though, I want to make another out of just the book pages.  I think I would like that look better.  The skull image came from The Vintage Moth, the banner outline from Dover, and I am not quite sure where the scarab beetle came from but I sure do like him.

 

You just need to click to enlarge then right click and save image as.  Print, cut, and glue.  Hope you like it!

To see last year's lazy decorations see this post ~

Dang another week's almost gone by....slow down already

I saw this video yesterday where Claudine Hellmuth and Tim Holtz were using his masks and embossing the sticky side of her Sticky Canvas.  Well wouldn't you know I had some cheap sticky back foam that didn't sell at my garage sale a couple weeks ago.  So I took a break right then and there to see if it would work the same and it did. Now I am glad it didn't sell.

Uncover the sticky side of the the foam.  Lay whatever mask you have laying around and start working the embossing powder all around the mask.  Knock off the excess powder and remove the mask.  Make sure to remove the mask.  Heat with the heat gun.  Now place a coordinating color of powder on the rest of the sticky area.  I love the way they turn out and cheaper than heck to make custom embellishments. 

Happy 4th of July!

 I was lazy again and decided instead of getting up in the attic and finding my decorations; I would just make some.

This is very simple to make with items on hand and adapted for any holiday.  I did something similar to this for Halloween.  To make the pleated circles, take 4 pieces of paper in equal size and fold them accordion style.  Glue the strips together and then glue all the edges together in the center.  For the red crepe paper use a running stitch along the bottom.  Next you want to gather and pleat the crepe paper and sew the ends together.  Glue on to your pleated paper circle.  I had these vintage Americana milk caps.  They were perfect to finish it off.  I added a little ruffle of white crepe paper and glued it all together.  I glued all the ribbon with Fabri-Tac.  I added the feathers to honor our Native American ancestors since our land was their's first. 

 

The pic's aren't the best.  I swear my camera's begging me to get a better one.  

Linking up to the wonderful weekly wrap up at  

Allowing yourself to follow your heart........

Amazing things do happen when you follow your heart.  Sometimes I get stuck in a negative thinking pattern: worrying about not doing things perfectly, stepping on peoples toes, getting drained by making sure everyone else is happy while I am screaming inside.  I am wholeheartedly going to try to change my thought pattern.  Kelly Rae Robert's class has opened my eyes to the empowerment I have inside me.  I have also been reading the book Small Change Little Things Make a Big Difference  by Susan Terkel.  Which reminded me of about the Law of Inertia: objects in motion tend to stay in motion, and objects at rest tend to stay rest.  Small changes are better than no change at all.  Get movin' so I can stay movin'.

So after another frustrating family outing I came home and instead of sitting there and stewing.  I came home and created without thinking; just following my heart. I got my paints out and made a mess.  I had been saving this canvas for years waiting for the perfect moment.  I was intimidated to start because I had never painted on canvas before.  I didn't even know where to start.  I just did and watched in wonderment.  I enjoyed feeling the freedom of just being true to myself.  It came out exactly how I wanted it to, so far.  I still have the gluing to do.  That is always my most dreaded step.  This time, instead of fretting that it wont look exactly how I planned, I will be exhilarated that I accomplished my first canvas.

While Kiah and I were walking to my mom's the other day we saw a hawk.  I always get excited when I see one because I totally believe in Native American animal spirits and love the hawk's message.

excerpt from http://www.animaltotem.com

Hawks piercing shriek tears through the air. In its shrill cry lies an important message which represents illumination. Hawk teaches us to scope out the situation and focus on our talents, trying to draw them out. Hawk learns to see the big picture in order to understand the past, present, and future. Hawk asks us to be observant of surroundings so we won't get distracted from our path by others. It also reminds us not to get caught up in minor annoyances so we can maintain our inner balance.

Chris' opinion was published in our local news paper and Kiah had a minor part in a movie yesterday.  So it was an exciting day for them.

This week my goals are to:

Finish my canvas
Post a new item on etsy
Catch up on Kelly Rae's class
take some pics.

Not to much; I don't want to overload myself.  Small steps!

Hope everyone has a nice week!