Zelaya Art: My New Blog

I am proud to announce my new blog dedicated to my knitting business, Zelaya Art! Please check it out and follow along.  I REALLY appreciate the support! 

FINALLY Some Etsy Listings!!!

I am so proud and excited to announce that I have finally listed three of about eight of my hand-knit baby/toddler blankets and throws on Etsy! Here is my shop: Zelaya Art  I like to say baby/toddler blankets because the blankets are pretty large and thick... perfect for a baby to grow up with and use as an older toddler.  All of my blankets are GREAT gift ideas for things like baby showers, birthdays, wedding showers, etc. Please give my shop a look!

I was worried about capturing the blankets properly in my pictures, but I seem to have done a pretty good job, I think. Any feedback would be much appreciated! 

Toe Tats

Well now that I see my toes on this post, I realize that probably no one really wants to see them. However, among all my tatoos, I think these are my favorites. Tiny, but cute and meaningful. They look good with black flip flops, you know, the ones I wear every day (I'm not a dressy kind of gal).

The tatoos represent the zodiac symbols of my four kids: Capricorn, Sagittarius, Leo, and Taurus.

A Splash of Color

This colorful project for my backyard was inspired by Pinterest. It is a combination of a couple different ideas that I saw. I saved tin cans from soup, canned beans and tomatoes and such and painted them bright colors with cheap gloss acrylic paint. Then I punched holes in the bottom of the cans for drainage and a hole on the top of each can to allow for a hook so I could hang them on my fence. I formed S hooks using some wire that we happened to have lying around and filled the cans with potting soil and different types of flowers. I planted zinnia seeds in some of the planters. Then I simply hung the cans on my fence with the S hooks. I love the splash of color and uniqueness this brings to our back yard!

Navy Dad

I just had to post this amazing picture of my cousin having a tea party with his daughter.  They are stationed in Japan right now. I think this picture really speaks about the sacrifice service men and women make for us. Taking time out to have a sweet tea party with his daughter - priceless!

Baby Spice

Don't ask me about the title... it just came out.

So I've got a baby and HATE throwing anything away, so I was wondering what to do with these baby food jars. Enter Pinterest, yes folks, the amazing space I can get lost in for days. The result is that now all my spices are in baby food jars, attached to magnets, attached to my fridge, which in turn resulted in more space in my tiny kitchen.  I have a family of six, I'll take any space I can get!

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!
 

Magazines for Nursing Home Patients

I've got great news that I'd love to share with you, and if you can help in any way, that would be wonderful! The nursing home that my grandmother (94) lives in is attempting to create a library for their patients. Apparently they do not have much reading material for the patients, and I think this is a great thing for the center to be doing for them. I will be collecting materials for the library, and I'm super excited about adding to their library. I'm not sure what kind of books they might like, and they'd probably have to be large print, so right now I think I'll focus on collecting magazines for their library, since that seems to be what the patients like to read anyway.*

Do you have any magazines you can donate to a good cause? Please drop them off at my house any time you can, or email me and I'll send you my address. My email address is mzel@bellsouth.net. Thank you so much for considering donating to this cause!

***UPDATE (1/30/11): We are now collecting books as well as magazines! Please send in your unwanted books and magazines.. they are going to a good home filled with people who need them.***

Meridith

My New Baby

Ok, so, no, I did not have a baby, but I did get the best Christmas present ever, a Kindle! I'm so excited. I still need the learn the ins and outs of it, but so far I have downloaded about 5 books, some of them free or only $5, so I'm getting the hang of it. I wasted no time in knitting a case for it, because I plan to carry it in my purse and I don't want it to get scratched or anything, and why buy a case when you can make one yourself? Fun! I first made a black one, but it didn't work out so well because I had been drinking a lot of beer and, consequently, made a couple obvious mistakes. So then yesterday I knit a pretty lime green one, which is shown in the picture. And I have to say sorry about the pics... they were just taken at 5am so I had no good lighting and they look terrible. The case is not actually that color. It is more of a light lime green.

Since I don't usually follow patterns, I can't really share anything spectacular with you. You may be disappointed to know that I really just knit a big rectangle and sewed up the sides :) I used a double strand to make it a bit thicker, used size 9 needles, and started with 16 stitches. Then I just knit in stockinette stitch until it was long enough to fit the kindle when doubled over. Sew up the sides and you're done!

This holiday season, I also had fun making the rag wreaths shown in the previous post. Here is a picture of our mantle with three of them. They are quite addictive. It is so fun picking out the different fabrics. I ended up having a craft party at my house a couple weeks ago and we all made these wreaths. I have no pictures of that night, regrettably.

Happy Holidays!!

Beautiful Christmas Rag Wreath Project

Recently, I was looking around for a good craft to make for a Christmas present for my friend, and I saw some pictures of rag wreaths. I thought it would be a fun project and a great gift, so I tried it out and absolutely loved the result! And, it was quick and super easy, yet impressive-looking, as if you spent hours on it.. tee hee. Here is how I made it:

I started out by purchasing two fabrics, 1 1/2 yards of each, as pictured. I wanted a vibrant red and green, as it was to be a Christmas wreath, but you can use any fabric you wish to make a wreath for any time of the year, such as Easter, Halloween, etc. Also, since this project is meant to be a quick, easy, and cheap craft, you can use any fabric you have laying around the house. It does not have to be only two types.

I also purchased a round, styrofoam wreath form, found in the flowers section of JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby, or any other craft store. I also needed very strong glue (I used Amazing Goop craft glue) and some pretty ribbon, both of which are also available at a craft store. The only other item I used was a bamboo skewer, but you could use a screwdriver or something else instead, I would think. I cut the very tip off of the skewer to it wasn't too sharp, so as not to puncture the fabric, although I'm not sure that would even matter.

Next, I cut up the fabric into strips that were roughly 2 inches x 6 inches. I did not measure anything. It is not important to get it measured exactly right, and frayed edges don't matter either.

Then (you're not going to believe how simple this is), I simply popped each piece of fabric into place by stabbing them in the middle and into the styrofoam with the skewer. Make sure the vibrant side of the fabric faces up as you do it. The skewer comes out, but the fabric stays in. I placed each piece of fabric very close to the next to assure a dense placement of the pieces, so the styrofoam wouldn't show at all. I covered the whole front of the wreath, the sides, and the inside. The inside is the hardest part and can be a tiny bit tricky, but all-in-all, this is one of the easiest and prettiest projects I've ever made. It took about one hour, start to finish. In fact, I loved it so much, I turned around and made another the next day :) Don't worry about covering the back, since it will not show at all anyway.

The only other thing to do is simply glue a ribbon on for hanging, and, voila, you're done! If you make this project, I want to see pictures!

Happy Holidays!

Atlanta Twitter Knitters

This past Sunday, a group of us Atlanta Twitter Knitters (and crocheters and spinners) met at my house for some knitting, spinning, crocheting, eating, and great conversation. Here are some pics that were taken.

Above, you see Cathy (@cathycarter), Kellie (@futterwackan), and Claire (@sk8rknitr).

Below, you see Nicole (@nalmaraz) and Lia (@liaknits79) demonstrating spinning while Kellie observes.





























Here you see Cathy, Nicole, and Lia again and below, you see Kellie and myself (@merfz). I forgot to hold my knitting in that pic :)

We had fun! Let's do it again soon!

My New Etsy Shop

Introducing... my new Etsy shop! I have been thinking about re-opening my shop for about a year now and finally did it. I had a shop a couple years ago, but it had my paintings in it and didn't do so great. This time I am featuring mostly my knit items. I will list some paintings later, but for now I am only listing my knit things. Since I'm celebrating my grand re-opening, I am offering FREE shipping on all items for the first 2 weeks. Come check it out my new Etsy shop!

Knit-A-Year Project

Here is a pic of my Knit-A-Year project thus far. It is getting bigger! I can't imagine how long it is going to be when April, 2011 rolls around. I'm on day 49 today. I love the reflection that this project affords. It really requires you to slow down and think for a few minutes each day and reflect those thoughts with yarn. I have to admit, I do skip some days because of being too busy, but I always catch up when I can. I need to do better at knitting on it each and every day. I do have the time, I just struggle sometimes with what kind of a mood I'm in and what color I should use to represent it.

For an invitation to our Knit-A-Year group, just send me your email and I'll send you the invitation.

New Orleans Trip

So we just returned from a trip from my second home, New Orleans. My husband was born and raised there and it was pretty much my second home too when I was attending LSU in Baton Rouge back in the 90s. My husband, David, and I met at LSU. I don't know how many of you know this, but David's family lost their home to Katrina. It was one of the ones that was totally under water for weeks and David's parents and brother lived with us for three months. My Mother-In-Law lives here in Atlanta, right near us, and my Father-In-Law has rebuilt their home in New Orleans, visiting here when he can.

Anyway, we visit New Orleans about once a year, but this time was extra special because my Brother-In-Law, Edgar, graduated Xavier as a DOCTOR of pharmacy. A doctor! Through all the adversity this family has been through over the years, we are so immensely proud of Edgar and his achievements - it was not easy for him.

In this picture, you see my three kiddos, me in the black-and-white dress, my husband next to me, Doctor Ed next to him, my Mother-In-Law by me, my Father-In-Law near the other end, and David's 2 cousins from Honduras. Honduras is where David's parents are originally from.


Here is Andrew having fun with some crawfish.




The other pics are of my babies, Sierra(12), Stephen(9), and Andrew(6).

I took tons of pictures on this trip, but of course I can't include them all. Our days consisted of many beignets from Cafe Du Monde, muffalettas from Cafe Maspero in the Quarter, hurricanes from Pat O'Briens, and many strolls around the French Quarter and Bourbon Street, which reminded me of my old college days. Keep in mind, we did NOT take the kids to Bourbon, just so ya know, but we did see some kids there, which really disturbed me.

Thanks for visiting Merf's Turf!