Learning to Knit!

For the past few weeks I have been taking knitting classes and learning the basics of knitting. I have been wanting to learn for a long time but I finally decided I was going to have to take classes in order to really learn. Here's Beka modeling one of the scarves I made.

I heart retro dishes!

A few weeks ago I got a really GOOD deal on some retro dishes. At one time it used to be 2 complete sets but now it has some missing pieces but it was still a great deal.

On my way to work

I saw this beautiful rainbow.....I just couldn't resist taking a picture.

Woodward Park in the Spring

When I went home for a short visit in April, Woodward Park was in bloom and full of color. I had a chance to practice taking pictures of flowers up close. These are a couple of my favorites.

More Necklace Fun

It seems like jewelry has been my craft of choice lately. I bought these longer size pendants at Big Lots and I wasn't really sure if I would be able to do much with them. As it turns out, I like the way they look. :)

Washer Necklace

I saw on an episode of Creative Juice that you can make necklaces out of washers that you can buy at any home improvement store (you might even just have them around the house or in the garage). All you have to do is pick a pretty type of scrapbook paper and cover the washer with it. I just used a basic glue stick to glue on the paper. Then I put on a coat of this liquid glass/dimensional liquid that gives the outside a glassy look. Rebekah helped with the beads and the necklace cord.

Brett Dennen-My newest music love!

Last weekend when Beka and I were visiting our friend Elisabeth in Charlotte, she introduced me to the music of Brett Dennen. I have been listening to him nonstop ever since. I think we are going to see him in Asheville in May. This is one of his more popular songs. :)

Button Necklace Project

I have always wanted to make one of those funky button necklaces that have several buttons on the necklace. I am not sure exactly how to make that happen but I have been doing a little research on the internet. I am going to attempt to make one of these hopefully this weekend. We will see. :) If anyone has ever made one of these, let me know!

Asheville Artist

There's an artist from Asheville named Sarah Faulkner that I love! I went to Asheville this past weekend with my mom and Teresa and we saw her work. Here's one of her paintings.

A scrapbook layout about change

I did this layout right after we moved to NC and I started work. I wanted it to have to do with change and transformation with pieces of our new life here. I liked being able to use so many different papers on the tree.

Anti-Bush Magnet Series

I love making these little magnets. They are one of the easiest craft projects. I recently made this anti-Bush collection for a friend at work. All you do is take clear, flat decoration rocks that you find at craft stores (usually in the floral area). Look for photos, magazine pictures, words, etc. and glue the picture face up with a clear glue. When it's dry and you have trimmed all of the edges, then you just put some magnetic tape on the back of it. That's it!

New to me

I watch the CBS Sunday Morning News show with Charles Osgood (yes....I feel old) and a few weeks ago they did a story on an artist named Charley Harper. I guess he was at his prime in the 1970s and 80s (I probably should fact check on that but oh well). I just really liked his designs. They are very interesting. I think I may have to buy this book with his art.

Wishing it was the weekend.....

On the weekends, Beka and I drink coffee in the good coffee cups. Seeing this picture of coffee in one of the "good" cups rather than a to-go cup makes me think of a nice, relaxing weekend. :)

An inspirational idea

I was looking through a Country Living magazine today and came across this great idea for a storage shelf. I think the great idea about this shelf is once again you can recycle old, small jars (such as jelly jars) to provide more storage in a craft/art room. I found SOMEONE'S BLOG who had already tried the idea. I really want to try this! All you have to do is use small nails and nail the lids onto the bottom of the shelf. Then you can just unscrew the jar when you want to get things out.

Reduce + Reuse + Recycle

Now that we are in NC, it seems like it's more difficult to recycle things that we could easily recycle in OK. I am sure it's just the area we are in since it's more rural. So I have decided that I am going to try harder to reuse things as much as possible and create new uses for objects that I would typically recycle or throw away. I buy big jars of apple sauce and I thought it was such a waste to just put the jars in with all of the other glass to be recycled. So I decided to use them in the craft room for different things. I have this scrapbooking paper by Elsie Flannigan that I absolutely love. It's from her line of products called Love, Elsie. So I love how this paper I used on this project is already a crafty theme.....I figured it would be perfect for the craft room.

I am very excited about the way my cupcakes turned out. I got Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World for Christmas and it has all kinds of pretty, extravagant cupcakes in the book. I made these for Beka's 30th birthday. I love the way they turned out!