Coffee Stirrer Art

A few weeks ago, when browsing through all the awesome and creative ideas on Pinterest, I came across a pin that showed how to make cool art pieces with coffee stirrers. Some crafts you put on your internal to-do list, and others you simply HAVE to create at that exact moment.  This particular one was the latter of the two. So, I went to Walmart and got my supplies. I altered the directions and supplies a bit to meet my needs.  For instance, I bought two 11x13 wooden frames, cheap ones. I also bought some skinny craft sticks (not rounded edges) that look like coffee stirrers and some cheap paint in the colors I envisioned for my art pieces.

This art project is very simple, but a bit time-consuming.  First, I painted the frames black, let them dry, and used one of those green scrubby dish things (what are they called?) to distress them.

I simply painted the sticks and glued them in different lengths directly onto the glass of the frames. I used wire cutters to easily cut the sticks. I also tended to make a few of the sticks a bit "messy" because I wanted a distressed look.  I dabbed or smeared other colors onto a few of the sticks.  You could have a cleaner look by not doing this.

You may wish to paint the glass black or another color before gluing the sticks on since tiny spots of the glass may show a bit when you are finished.  We have noticed that when light shines on the art, it tends to reflect off of the glass in some spots.  It looks like a mirror is behind the sticks.  I don't mind it since it doesn't happen often, but perhaps if I retraced my steps I would paint the glass black so it wouldn't show at all.

The picture above is of the very first one I completed.  I quickly realized I wanted more than one and that I wanted the next one to be very similar, but a tad different in some way.  I decided to use all of the same colors for the sticks except for the green. I chose a different accent color for the second piece - blue. The picture at the top of this post shows both of them, but I'm not done yet.  I am working on another, this time with a reddish accent color. We'll see how three of them look together above our fireplace, but I'm thinking I may end up with four of them.

**Note: The pictures here are not nearly large enough and you really can't see the detail.  Sorry, getting used to Blogger and having some issues!**

Updated 11/17 - just hung the reddish one

DIY Hand/Foot/Body Scrub

I have an addiction as of late.  It is called Pinterest . I joined several months ago and looked around a bit, took a hiatus, and now I'm back - IN FULL FORCE. Someone rescue me from my obsession with cool-looking owls, making things with pallets, and DIY goodness.  I'm not getting any work done.

Anyway, enough of that and on to a Pinterest-inspired idea I came up with today. I saw a pin about do-it-yourself body scrub and kind of forgot about it, but then, today, I saw a bag of Epsom salts lying around (always have this on hand for injuries and various ailments such as ingrown toenails, which my kids seem to acquire from time to time).

Feeling inspired, I grabbed a plastic container and poured in some Epsom salts.  I don't measure, so I'll venture a guess and say I poured in about a cup.  I then added in the powder of one tablet of ginger root, which I found stashed in my medicine cabinet, left over from a failed attempt at treating morning sickness last year, I would imagine. Then I poured in some olive oil and, as I was returning the oil back to the pantry, I spotted some honey.  Seeing as how honey is great for the skin, I quickly decided to throw some of that in to my concoction.

I remembered from that pin yesterday that you should not use metal utensils when mixing your body scrub, so I found a wooden spoon and stirred it up very well.  Then, I promptly took a hot bath and used my new and homemade body scrub on my feet.  It worked!  And... smelled great!  And my feet were all soft and stuff!

Dressing Up Candles

Before

                                                                                  
As I'm writing and stuff in my dining room, I often look at these
boring candles on really cool, gothic-looking candlesticks.  Today I had an idea.  I merely bought some pretty black ribbon and glued it around each candle with craft glue (I LOVE Amazing Goop).  Made a big difference, didn't it?  I love it!

After

After

                                                                          

Fun With Buttons

I've been meaning to share these pictures for some time now.  I got both these ideas from Pinterest.

My daughter, Sierra, and her friend Mary made decorated a plain white lampshade with buttons to create a super cute lamp for Ian's room.

I am quite proud of how these letters to the right turned out! I bought plain letters at Hobby Lobby and glued buttons on with craft glue. Cute, huh? 

Shot Glass Succulents

Browsing Pinterest this morning gave me an idea about my tiny little Hens and Chicks.

I guess they would really be just considered "chicks", since they are babies, but, anyway, I came up with a cute idea for growing and displaying them.  I looked around for containers in my garage or cabinets... you know, the ones that sit around and don't ever get used.  I found some shot glasses and thought it might be cute to perch tiny little plants on top of them.  I gathered a few small stones, placed them at the bottom of the shot glasses, and added some potting soil and the tiny plants.

I think they are cute!  And, since we don't use the shot glasses but they are kind of cool, this seems to be a unique way to display them.

Top Baby Must Haves

I'm not a pediatrician or even an expert in the area of babies and children, but I do have four of them (ages 15, 12, 9, and 6 months), so I have picked up a few tips along the way.  I know what baby items work and don't work, for us, that is. For instance, I'm in love with the Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder... my baby LOVES to suck on a piece of ice using the feeder.  I think it feels good on his teething gums, plus it gives him something interesting to do so it cuts down on "fuss time".

I have written a few pages about baby-related things, including feeding avocado as a first baby food, my top baby must-haves, and the Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder.  Please check these pages out and let me know what you think. Do you have a baby?  What works or doesn't work for you? What can you absolutely NOT live without?

New Happenings!

Well I haven't been to these parts in quite some time!  My life has changed so much over the past year, it is hard to keep up with all of the chaos.  I had a baby in April (he's over there on the right looking all proud in his Tigers garb), quit my job as a prek teacher, and now I'm a freelance writer.  I write content for the Internet from my home while baby is sleeping and I'm not running a mile a minute trying to keep up with cleaning and what not.  Oh, and our house is being overrun by gigantic wolf spiders, but that's a whole other story.  Ewww. I still knit when I have time, which basically means the baby blankets I'm working on take about a month each.  I have two new nieces, in fact, one is being born TODAY!!! Shhhhh... don't tell them they're getting pretty hand-knit baby blankets for Christmas.



I'd like to share my latest writing projects.  Most of the time I sell my work so I can't share it once it is no longer "mine", but I've been working on building lenses on Squidoo as well, and I'm very proud of what I've done so far.  I love to write about baby and kid stuff, crafting, health-related topics, recycling and upcycling, science, mental health, and other topics.  Please check out my pages and my profile and let me know what you think!

Food Related:

The Best Spinach and Artichoke Dip EVER
Spinach, The Superfood
Crawfish Etouffee Recipes So Good You'll Wanna Slap Your Momma

Baby:
Avocado For Babies
My Top 5 Baby Must-Haves
Munchkin Fresh Food Feeder For Babies

Others:
Danger: Diet Soda
How NOT To Talk To a Person With Bipolar Disorder
Celebrating Grandparents Day
Recycle! Upcycle! Downcycle!