Garden Enemy #1

This little baby rabbit was spotted outside the lower level window. He is one of a family of bunnies that live under our deck (much to the dismay of my husband). They're favorite food is almost anything in my flower garden ( much to MY dismay!). I have learned over the last few years not to plant sweet pea or cosmos. But now they have started eating things that they aren't supposed to, like marigolds and purple coneflower. But fortunately, Ihave a secret weapon called pepper wax spray. It's about $9 bucks a bottle, but it works. And once the flowers have reached a certain height they should leave things alone. I have found some plants that they don't seem to nibble, such as catmint, russian sage, yarrow, stonecrop, and salvia. I'll probably end up buying more of those in the future, so I can avoid all the spraying. And, don't worry, the spray doesn't hurt the bunnies.
This a good picture of our cat, Tigger, looking very regal I thought. He looks as though he is pondering the problems of the world, or maybe just a fly on the wall, he he! I love him to bits, even though he can be very obnoxious! But he is very patient, esp. with Sabrina. And he loves attention from anyone! Well, soon I hope to show some pix of my lastest creations for Rosanna. Bye for now! :)

Scratchboard and Treats for Teachers

Wow, today was busy but fun! I had planned on taking a gift basket for Sabrina's teacher and the teacher assistant on the last day of school (which is next Wednesday). But decided to take them today, in case I couldn't make it in that day. Which meant that I had to hurry and finish them a little faster than I'd planned. But they still turned out pretty well I thought. The top one is for her teacher Mrs. Carstens, whom she adores. I found a cute metal basket at the thrift store and embellished with vintage blue and cream crepe paper. I also made a little medallion with a vintage poker chip and more crepe paper. It says "teacher". I made her a fairy using one of the little grapevine cones that I had found at the thrift store and embellished it with a vintage key tag, flower and chenille stem. For her teacher assist. Mrs. Johnson, I uses a basket from the thrift store and added a fairy I made out of a peat pot. It has a poker chip medallion that says, "inspire".

Also, today we finished an art project that I arranged for the class. Last week they covered white tag board with different colors of crayon and then painted over with black paint. Today, we used toothpicks and paper clips to scratch off designs. They really seemed to enjoy it, thank goodness! It was lots of fun! Well, bye for now! :)

Rob's Birthday!

We celebrated my hubby's birthday this last Monday. Even though it was just the three of us, I think he really enjoyed it. Of course Sabrina was more excited than Daddy, you would've thought it was her birthday! She make him a special drawing (top pic), and a special card (middle pic). The bottom pic shows the card I made for him. I gave him a gift certificate to Barnes and Noble of course.
Bye for now!

Sleeping in Minnesota

One of my favorite things to take pictures of is my daughter sleeping. She always looks so sweet and innocent, and quiet! The second picture was after she had woken up a bit, and knew her picture was being taken, explaining the smile.

This is my latest creation for ebay. I'm really happy with it, although it almost didn't get finished, due to a creative "oops". I won't go into what happened, but I was swearing a blue streak! Thankfully I was able to fix it, and all was well. That's actually a pic of me that I had been trying to find a good use for. It's fun being a fairy! I will be listing it on ebay tonight.
Fortune cookie wisdom for the week: "Be what you wish others to become."
Bye for now! :)

First Etsy purchase!

Had to show off my first etsy purchase from a talented artist named Jennifer Conway. It's a collage done on a tile using beeswax. She did a series of these butterfly magnets, and they were all beautiful!!! You have to check her out!

Right now I'm working on some collages for ebay and more pieces for Rosanna from Italy. And I also designed a little project for my daughter's class. Her teacher asked if I could come up with something, and I suggested doing a kid's version of a scratchboard drawing. You take a piece of white tag board and color the entire surface with different colors of crayon. Then you paint over that with black paint. Once that's dry, you take a sharp instrument (such as a toothpick) and scratch a design into the surface to expose the colors underneath. I'll have to take some pix so you can see how it works.

Fortune cookie wisdom for the week: "Look for the dream that keeps coming back."

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope everyone has a Happy Mother's Day weekend! This is what my little Sabrina made for me at school. First is a bookmark with her picture and a flower made out of thumbprints! Next is a zinnia that she planted from seed in a milk carton. The carton was wrapped in pretty paper. So sweet!
This is a bush that was here when we moved into the house and it blooms like this every spring. I love it, but I would love to know what it is for sure. I have my guesses, but wonder if anyone knows what it is?
Here are my latest finds at the thrift store! Can't believe I scored these great apothecary jars!!!! The large one was $2 and the small one was $1! I also got 2 tarnished silver salt shakers. One has a paper mache dress form that I glued on as part of a project. Then there are the little grapevine cones, can't wait to make little baskets out of those! And lastly, a round wood hatbox that I will probably paint. Well, before I go, here is some Chinese fortune cookie wisdom ( literally, found in a fortune cookie, I save the ones I really like):
"Diplomacy is the art of letting someone have your way."
Bye for now! Have a great weekend! :)

Tagged!

Just a few things to show from the thrift shop and Micheals. At the thrift shop, I found this wonderful bird statue! Also, a bottle with stopper, a salt shaker, and a bag of marvelous little black plastic top hats! At least I think that's what they are, that't what I'm going to use them for anyway. The black and white toile note cards and pad are from the Micheals dollar bins. So are those marvelous pearl initials! I'm trying to get every letter in the alphabet, or at least enough to make some good words. Love those dollar items!
Well I was tagged by Jenny to list 7 wierd things about me. Unfortunately, I have already done that list once and I can't think of anything else ( I'm pretty boring!). So I will just repeat my original list:

1. When I was little I ate the tips off of matches! Must have had a deficiency!

2. I like to take chocolate cake without frosting and mix it in a bowl with ice cream till it is the consistency of mashed potatoes.

3. I also make graham cracker mush, mixing graham crackers and milk.

4. I wanted a pet so bad when I was a kid that I decided the daddy long legs spider under our piano was my pet. I named him Nicholas ( was a fan of the tv show "Man from Uncle").

5. Can tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue.

6. I'm getting addicted to scrapbook papers. And I don't even do scrapbooks! (I love scrapbooks but don't have the time). I do use them in my art though.

7. We have tv's, but no cable or dish or anything! Just rabbit ears! Haven't had it since the 80's. Don't really miss it either.

I actually added one item to that list. Guess which one. Anyway, bye for now! :)

Pixies and Fairies all over the place!

Finally finished a big order for sweet Rosanna from Italy. She is such a great lady, so I was excited to come up with something special. She requested a set of pixies that spelled out the name of her daughter. These were so much fun to do, I'd never done anything like this before! I decided to use the same colors on each but alternate pink and cream. I also alternated pixie and fairy. She also asked me to make a couple that were birthday style. I made one holding a birthday cake and the other a present. Well, back to work, bye for now!