Mermaid Magic ...

And that's exactly what Jill's package to me was ..... magical!!!
We arrived home late last night from a weeks vacation in Missouri, and I found her package waiting for me .... lucky me:-D

Cast your eyes upon all that goodness!!!

Look at this beautiful treasure. She is made from a piece of driftwood that Jill found a number of years ago - isn't it just the perfect shape for this queen of the sea.

This mini quilt she made me is just precious. I'm going to add loops to the top of it and hang it with my other swap treasures, that I've recieved .... all from women I consider friends, although I've never met them in person.

No, we're not finished yet ..... this pretty bracelet was also included. It is so me!!! I wore it to Church today, and got a number of compliments on it
.
Is she not just sooo cute? Way to cute to stick pins in!!! This mermaid pincushion has joined my little group of "to cute to be pricked" pincushions:-D Every time I look at that little tail, I just have to smile!!!
She also included some crafty bits and pieces, as well as lots of ribbon ..... oh, can you see my big smiley face:-D
Jill, THANK YOU so much for spoiling me .... you made my day:-D
Frogs ..... oohhh ..... time to put my thinking cap on. Have fun with the theme girls, it's oh so cute!!!

August's theme!

Ready for a challenge?

Think of all the sweet fairy tales we read as children....
and think of how many have been turned into movies....
and think of how many had singing FROGS in them! Or frogs that were princes/princesses! (if you were me you'd also think of the campy flick FROGS!)

Hmmmm.....getting the idea?

YEP!

August's ornament theme: a frog, a frog prince, a frog princess, a dancing frog.
August's activity: rent the flick or read the book...
August's challenge: REALLY? Isn't this ornie CHALLENGE enough?

NO?

Okay then, create a toad adobe somewhere in your yard/garden or on your patio.
Pick someplace that will attract flying creepies that toads and frogs want to munch on. Add a flipped over broken pot for shelter and a bit of water and you are done! Leaky faucets are very popular with toads and frogs.

"Up high the flies are playing
and frolicking and swaying.
The frog thinks, DANCE...
I know you'll end up here below!"
- Wilhem Busch

Mermaid Awesomeness!

Yesterday was my lucky day, I received a box of mermaid awesomness from Kerry! I was positively giddy as I unwrapped all of the goodies Kerry sent! So now to share, here are some of the goodies Kerry sent.


Just look at this amazing mermaid pincushion. I have long admired Kerry's pincushion creations. I'm so excited to have this beauty! I think this is the beginning of my new pincushion collection!


Kerry also sent this beautiful mermaid ornament, 3 spools of ribbon, a beautiful seahorse pendant and some of her homemade raspberry jam. The jam is delicious! I enjoyed it on my toast this morning.


She also included goodies for my daughter. My daughter was so happy to be included and loved the owl pencil set, fun eraser set, a mermaid that grows in water, plastic shells, mermaid glass charms and this adorable owl/ladybug apron, bag and toy pattern Kerry sent.

Kerry, you really spoiled us! Thank you so much for this amazing box of mermaid goodies. We loved everything! This was an awesome package! Thank you!!!

my water sprite

I knocked out the dotee doll challenge the other day and wanted to make a water sprite for my regular ornament.
I used this photo as loose inspiration for the fins. My fins weren't as airy since I was using foil. At one point, I had them curled but decided I liked them better wavy instead.



and here she is on my YOE tree....


I took this photo at night....she stands out from the tree better than this.

ok, dotee mermaid painting and flower fairies!

First of all, the best...I got my package from Sherry full of fairy things....I love her creations so much. She is so humble about the things she makes too...I would be showing them off all over the place if they were mine!

I have a feeling she knew that I would go crazy over these paper dresses on a clothes line! They are hanging in my dining room. Even though it is a mess I couldn't wait to hang them up.











She sent me two tiny little altered matchboxes, a crocheted book mark, a flower fairy ornament and also some cupcake sprinkles

which I adore....











She even sent me "You are a star" magnet....very sweet I think.

Here are two of the little ornaments hanging on my tree...












Thank you so much Sherry! You are such a good friend and I can tell you really thought of me and tailored it to my "likes"!

Last of all my dotee mermaid painting....I saw this style of painting on Etsy....I just took bits and pieces and made it mine...I REALLY enjoyed painting this one...Whimsy and color is kind of my thing anyway...I don't care if it is good or bad cause I really like it....












Happy swimming, and watch out for octopii that masquerade as hats...(that was my original idea.).....

mermaid paintings...

I havent been able to sew much lately. Everything feels too scattered and I spend all my time searching for things....I have had a lot of anxiety so I started playing with a piece of printer paper...(really) and some cheap little kids paints in the little containers....It turned into a mermaid painting....













At first she looked like a transvestite with a big square, jutting chin and I kept wanting to paint an adams apple on her neck but I refrained and redid the chin....You can still see the hint of a drag queen, but I am fine with it....I was so relaxed and really enjoyed the whole process..The next night I used heavy watercolor paper and I got some good acrylic paints and I painted another one...























These might turn into some kind of mermaid cards or something, but maybe not....maybe I will paint a mermaid dotee doll just for you Val.......

Finally Some Mermaid Creativity

I've been very excited about this month's mermaid theme but haven't been very productive in terms of creating mermaids. We have a new puppy who has been taking up a lot of our waking hours so I've been slow to create. I have my mermaid ornament done but haven't created anything else. Last night I decided to try my hand at making my mermaid dotee. I have this great sparkly fabric that looks like scales that I psyched to use. I made a mermaid costume for my daughter using this fabric 4 or 5 years ago and didn't remember struggling to sew with it. I almost called it quits last night and considered scrapping the whole idea when my machine tried to eat the fabric because it was so lightweight. I persevered and figured out how to add some weight to the fabric. This was at midnight and I still wasn't happy with the my dotee's skin and almost threw her out, but I broke out my paints and started painting skin and hair instead. I finally dragged myself up stairs to at 1:30 am feeling better about my dotee. When puppy woke me up at 6:30 this morning I was tired but finished my mermaid. This wasn't my original vision for my dotee but I'm happy with her. Now that I'm feeling a little better in the mermaid creativity department it's time to finish up my mermaid package for Kerry.

Bird's Nest Clay Pot Ornaments

Hi everyone! Due to a neck injury back in January I haven't been doing much blogging or crafting but I have been visiting alot of blogs and surfing the web. I came across a fun project that reminded of Val and the YOE swap group. I emailed Val and she suggested I put it up on this blog. Duh! Now why didn't I think of that? LOL

I don't know if any of you have seen Favecrafts but they are a wonderful site full of all kinds of free projects.  In their Christmas section they had these cute clay pot ornaments.

These birds are cute but you could also put other things in the pot. I think a cute little hedgehog would be adorable.

 I like this one with the glitter around the rim too. This one would be nice with a little baby to mark the birth of a new little one or a small couple to celebrate a wedding or one of those mini graduation caps. Then you could write the date and occasion on the bottom of the clay pot.

here are the two mermaid dotee dolls I made for YOE.

Lovely Little Ladies From Lovely Melinda

Was I spoilt or what?
Melinda, THANK YOU so much for sending me a treasure trove of handmade goodness - I absolutely LOVE it:-D
In my package was 3 of the most delightful little clay creatures .... 2 little ladies and a mushroom. I also recieved a glass ornament that had more little ladies painted on, and that was finished with some lovely red fluff. The ladies have a little house of their own - Melinda made me a fabric ladybug house .... so very cute:-D
She rounded off the package with a set of handmade ladybug cards - gorgeous, and some ladybug pushpins, which I've had to hide from my daughter, to stop her rehoming them!!!
Melinda, thank you for making my day ... you sure brought a smile to my face:-D

Ladybugs

I received my ladybug YOE goodies from Sherry. I have to apologize because the pictures are terrible and don't do the goodies justice. Sorry! My phone is on it's last legs and I don't know where the camera is.

Sherry sent a cute ladybug basket, ladybug ribbon, cards, pom-poms for making ladybugs and two sweet little matchbox ladybug ornaments.

Here's a close up of the matchbox ornaments. Each of the ladybug ornaments was filled with loot. Look at all of these great embellishments for my future projects. Sherry thank you for the sweet ladybug package! I love ladybugs and this was so much fun!

Gnome pattern

Girls, I squealed with delight when I saw this pattern while scrolling through the pages on Craftgossip.com.
http://www.feelingstitchy.com/2011/07/july-stitchalong-mimilove.html

If you LOVE gnomes (that's all of us taking part in YOE, I'm sure), you really need to check this out .... it is SUPER CUTE!!!!
I'm popping back there now, to print off the pattern in all 4 sizes:-D
I'll be back a little later today, to share with you the truly enchanting ladybug package I recieved from Melinda yesterday - she is so awesomly talented!!!

happy 4rth of July!!!!

I got the most amazing little package from Kerry full of red white and blue...oops I mean I red and black ladybugs! Benny the gnome pincushion also came along and I think he tried to get into my chocolates...I found itty bitty little teeth marks on the box. In fact, yeah, he did eat my ladybug chocolates! That is my story and I am sticking to it cause' the box is empty. Bad Benny, bad. (he is glaring at me over the top of my laptop.)











She also made me the cutest little lady for my tree......










Ok, here you will see the cutest little salt and pepper shakers, ladybug ribbon and that darn empty (Benny, how could you?) chocolate box....











I have about 3/4 of my house unpacked and Olivia and I put up my enchanted tree...It is wonderfully full of the best handmade ornaments ever...She thinks I should put up my little pink one too and start filling it up too....We are all the most talented group arent we? Can you spot your ornament????
















And Last of all, Kerry, here is a little teaser picture of your package ready to send. I wont be able to mail it until Friday as I am working during business hours and before all next week! They are all ready though to go....










Thank you again Kerry for the amazing pincushion and the lady bug treasures...Everything is so fun and it really put a smile on my face....and chocolate on Benny's!

Happy Independence Day!

Ladybug Package

I've been anxious to post the picture of the ladybug goodies I sent to Sherry for June's YOE theme. USPS delivery confirmation says it was delivered so I'm posting the picture. This month I tried modge podge and paper mache with tissue paper for my ornaments. The ornament on the right is made using a silver frame that I bought at a yard sale then modge podged a page from Alice In Wonderland on it. I drew a little ladybug for the center but Sherry could replace it with anything she wants. The green leaf ornament in the center was made using wire and tissue paper that I paper mached to the wire. The ladybug on the leaf is also made from paper mached tissue paper. I altered a small Altoid can using modge podge to be a ladybug ornament or maybe a little pill box for Sherry's purse. Of course my personal favorite is the wool ladybug pincushion. I promised myself I wouldn't use recycled wool this month for YOE ornaments but I couldn't stop myself and this little ladybug fairy was born. I think she's very cute and rounds out the package. I had a great time making these ornaments and hope Sherry will like them!

Now I'm looking forward to July's theme - Mermaids, water sprites, sirens, and water nymphs! I can't wait to get started!