Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Hearts All Buttoned Up


Hearts and love. 

Who can live without these? One is necessary to keep our bodies alive and the other is our life's purpose. 

Wanting to pay homage to these attributes, especially with Valentine's day as a prompt, I had my craft class create projects just in time to celebrate the holiday and the sentiment.

I set out 8"x10" picture frames, various colored buttons, paper doilies, and strings of beads. My students chose colored paper to use as the background for their artwork which we inserted under the glass and closed the back of the frame in place. 

The students then got busy choosing the ornaments that they wanted to use. Using glue guns, they adhered the beads and buttons to the glass top. It was so fun to see the concentration and creative passion that these ladies used to make their works of art! Here are their results:

Nicole and Sophia show the love!

Nicole and Sophia's framed hearts

Rosa, Cindy, and Sarah with their "heartwork"
Detailed work of Cindy and Sarah's projects
I'm so proud of these ladies' projects! There's nothing like good friends gathering over a table covered with pretty baubles, their heads full of ideas, ending with a stronger bond and wonderful artwork.

To make my project, here's what I did:


I cut red cardstock paper to fit inside the frame using the glass as a template in order to cut the correct size. 


I dabbed a dot of gluestick on to a paper heart doily and placed it onto the center of the cardstock to use as a guide when I began laying down my button pattern. I closed the paper inside the frame and started picking out white and ivory colored buttons to use on my project. 

I cut off the shanks from the buttons that didn't have a flat back. After my glue gun was heated I got busy laying down the buttons on the glass top over the paper doily. It was like a puzzle trying to fill in the shape using the various sized buttons! Once the first layer was in place, I glued a second layer of buttons over the first in order to hide open spaces and to add more texture. 

After finishing the button heart creation, I decided that the project needed a little more pizazz. I removed the red cardstock from the inside of the frame, took the paper doily off of the cardstock and used a ruler and white ink pen to write rows of the word "love" down the entire page. I placed the cardstock back inside the frame and admired my finished handiwork. So cute!


Head on over to a dollar store or look through your stash of on-hand frames, gather your box of various buttons and beads, and see where love takes you!

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Cooking With Words


The kitchen is the one room in my house that I tend to avoid except when I make coffee, cocktail, or a sandwich, none of which need cooking skills. It's not that I can't cook but rather that I prefer someone else do it for me. I like to eat, I just don't like the making of it part. 

Recipe books, yes I have a few, with their tantalizing photos and "just 5 easy steps" type directions. When a recipe indicates that there is a 30 minute preparation time, I know I must add an additional 45 minutes in order to find the various tools and ingredients that are buried in dark cabinets and drawers filled with mysterious kitchen devices. Then there's the measuring, searing, blanching... WTH!  I'm sweating over the details and hoping that the stove and oven know what they're doing. 

My favorite thing to make for a meal, besides a bowl of cereal, is a reservation. Let experts do the job right - everyone's a winner!

By now you may be wondering why I waxed on about cooking. My writing class prompt was an assortment of kitchen tools, many of which I knew the name of but had never dared to operate. Here's my take on the said prompt.
______________________________________________

Smashing, gnashing,
Whipping and rolling.
Mixing, measuring,
Separating, spreading, and spooning.

"Half baked", "cheesy", "toasted",
"Lips like honey", "finger licking good",
"Butter soft skin", "dream whip", "shaken not stirred".

How interesting that kitchen tools and rules
can mimic life so well.

If only my cooking capabilities matched 
my appreciation for fine food.
Perhaps then I could shout 
"reamer" with confidence.
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With that said, I'm heading to the kitchen. I am very good about using the ice maker and a cocktail sounds like the perfect recipe about now!