Mama's House (Pt 3)

Just like in the previous years' post I will share the creativity of my mother.  Every time I visit her I  ask, "What did you paint this time?"

My mother loves to paint any accent furniture she buys from the thrift store or garage sales.  Below are some examples. ~ JM

My mom used a broken folding chair as a pot stand and painted both the pot and the chair pink with black polka-dots.

She also built a makeshift shelf with cement blocks and wooden boards and then painted it a light purple.

Painted the rim of the clock green to match the color scheme.

Painted both the plant stand and pot green.

Painted the wooden stars red and white for a rustic look.

Knitting a Scarf with a Loom

My apologies for posting a little late.  It took me a couple days to figure out this contraption!😆  The instructions that came with the loom was incomprehensible but luckily there were tutorials on YouTube (click here for the video).  Once I got the hang of it, making a scarf is really a relaxing activity. ~ JM

Materials: yarn, crochet hook, and plastic loom.

For two rows, loop the yarn in a figure-eight pattern. Use the hook to bring over the bottom row. Repeat.

After repeating the steps, the formation of a scarf is noticeable.

Starting to look more like a scarf! 

Christmas treats

I needed a Christmas cookie for a party tomorrow and I came across this idea from Pinterest. It is referred to as "Christmas crack" ...I suppose because it is so addicting. I must agree with this and it is so tasty! All it takes is a layer of saltine crackers, a mix of butter and sugar, chocolate chips and other toppings...I should have put red and green sprinkles on top!

organizing boxes

We get these special cereals when we are at our camper.  They are such a cute size and I saw this idea on Pinterest.  I used chalk paint and a white chalk pencil to create it. The possibilities are endless on what you could use in them and how you could decorate them!

Macramé

Every few months the Renwick Gallery has a craft happy hour.  September's theme was macrame.

Macrame is a form of textile produced using knotting (rather than weaving or knitting) techniques.  I did a wall hanging rather than a plant holder.  The picture below shows what I started (but didn't finish).

A few weeks later I did a simple wall hanging using colorful yarn.  There are many tutorials including this one on YouTube.  ~ JM

The primary knots of macrame are the square knot.

A simple wall hanging I completed at home.

Plant Photography

I'm lucky that my office is two blocks from the National Mall. When there is an opportunity to escape during lunch I hang out in the various gardens located on the grounds of the museums.

Click on this link to view an article for tips on photographing plants.  Some suggestions that are mentioned include:

• Check out the other visible parts such as the leaves, fruit, and bark;
• Play with light, focus, and composition;
• Focus on shapes, textures, and symmetries;
•  Experiment with black and white, zoom in and zoom out, find the abstract.

Below are the pictures I took.  ~JM

Capturing the large width of the palms as they provided shade on a sunny hot day.

Admiring the difference in texture and color of the various plants.

Experimenting with light and dark to capture the sun's rays shining on the unique shape of the roots.

lemon and lime squishies

Squishies are so fun!  My daughter and I thought we would try to make some.  We found this idea on Pinterest.  We got squishy basketballs from Michaels for 1 dollar. We cut them in half and used fabric paint to decorate them.  It ended up being quite a few days process due to needing so many coats of paint to cover up the basketball colors....but we like how it turned out!

Drawing Figures

I posted before of the area museums offering free drawing classes of their art.  At the National Portrait Gallery the focus was on the exhibit "Portraits of the World: Switzerland".  For more information on this exhibit click here.

The teacher stated, "If you can draw basic shapes you can draw anything".  The human figure is basically spheres, cylinders, cubes, and cones. ~ JM

Femme en Extase (Woman in Ecstasy) / Ferdinand Hodler / 1911

Using shapes to draw.  My drawing is on the right.

Using shapes to draw. My drawing is on the left.

candy dogs

I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it was too cute to pass up! The body is mini twix, the snout a Hershey kiss, feet are chocolate chips and the tail and ears are made with tootsie rolls. :)

Plein-air Painting

Plein-air painting is an act of painting outside. The weather is perfect so I drove eight miles to my favorite place by the river to do watercolor painting. ~JM

farm house style signs

My friend had a get together and she taught us how to make these fun signs. I even used a drill! It was fun to see all the different designs people picked.

Fabric Squares on Canvas

A simple way to decorate your wall or mantel is placing colorful fabric on a big canvas board.  I used Mod Podge for the adhesive. The end results looks like a vibrant quilt on display! ~JM

Fabric squares, paint brush and Mod Podge.

The finish product brightens the room with vibrant spring colors!

Rice Crispy hedgehogs

I saw this cute idea in a magazine and tried it for a friend's birthday.  My daughter helped and it was fun and easy!

Drawing Upside Down

I learned this drawing technique in a beginners drawing class. To start place a picture you want to draw upside down.  Draw what you see.  This form of  visualization is less intimidating because you are not actually seeing the picture. When finish turn it right side up and you will be amaze that the picture turned out quite good!  Below is a picture I drew using this technique.  ~JM

Picture of a woman carrying laundry on her head. I copied the drawing from an art book.

Charcoal Drawing

The one thing that was missing from my collection of art supplies was charcoal.  I recently purchased a kit that included charcoal pencils, charcoal sticks and a graphite pencil.  I found some great tutorials on YouTube. I drew a crow on a branch and mountain ranges. ~JM

Sand dollars

I love sand dollars!  I think when they are alive, they are so beautiful. I think the skeleton that remains when they die are so special. I found this description on Pinterest and ordered the sand dollars online.  I used candy molds filled with white chocolate that I sprinkled with cinnamon to represent sand. I put these together to share with my coworkers for Easter....I think it's such a neat way to share about Jesus.  The best part is opening up the shell to find the 5 doves!

Embroidery Project

As mentioned in the last post I bought a creative magazine which came with a kit that included a hoop, fabric and embroidery thread.  Below is what I started (I still need to sew the stems). ~ JM

The kit came with a floral designed that spelled "LOVE".

A stitch guide.

Valentine treats

For February, I made these little critters for coworkers for Valentine's day.  I saw the idea on Pinterest...I had a bit of trouble making the bunny ears, so ended up making most into mice :) The body is a tootsie pop!

Mix-Media Collage

I bought a creative magazine called "Mollie Makes".   The current issue came with fancy papers to cut and make collages or whatever.  I first drew fancy designs in black pen followed by painting water color over the top of the drawing on water color paper. With the fancy paper I cut out flower pedals and glued on top.

The magazine also came with a hoop kit along with the fabric, needle and thread.  I will spend the next month working on the embroidery project and hope to show it for next month!  ~ JM

Collage

"Mollie Makes" current issue came with a hoop kit and fancy paper!

Fancy paper I used for the collage.

tasty pretzel treats

I have enjoyed these tasty treats over the years...but finally tried making them this year.  They are so simple and tasty.  I found the directions on Pinterest. They are a great treat to make with kids also. The ring pretzels are a bit tricky to find, but Target had them. There are so many choices of Hershey kisses to put in and then of course an m and m on top once melted.