Road Trip

Traveling with my husband by car from Texas to Florida reminded me of family 
vacations as a child.  We always drove to Saltillo, Mexico to visit family.  One 
year my parents were brave enough to take their family of eight children on a 
vacation from Texas to California to visit family in La Habra California.  I was 
around thirteen years old with three older teen brothers, an eleven year old sister and 
three younger brothers.  My youngest brother was around  five years old.  The 
family station wagon was packed with bodies so all the luggage had to be stored 
on top of the station wagon roof.   Mom always packed sandwiches and a Tupperware pitcher of 
Kool-aide for these road trips.  I remember making a pit stop at a Dairy Queen 
where we convinced dad to buy us hamburgers.  Remember those teenage brothers I 
mentioned earlier.  They were growing boys who played sports and could put some 
food away.  I will never forget the cashiers face when dad placed the order for 
ten hamburgers,  four with  double cheese double meat.  LOL, Did  I mention, 
they were short handed that day, so the manager had to work as the cashier and cook.

I enjoyed those road trips and have fond memories, however, it was always nice to 
get back home to Texas.

Awesome to see the  Lone Star entering Texas Country.

Nice to be Home.

Disney Trip

Yeah! All the band fund raising has finally paid off.  The Saint Pius X  Concert

and Jazz Band had the honor of performing at Epcot in Disney World in Orlando, 
Florida this weekend. The Flag Corp and Marching Band also marched down Main 
Street in the Magic Kingdom in Orlando. 

Irene, Mickey & Juan

My two sons flew with the band while my husband and I drove for two days to see 

my son perform. We drove from Texas through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and 

down the Florida panhandle. We are so proud of my son and all the Saint Pius X 

Band and Flag Corp.  This trip was well worth the drive and I would do it again 

tomorrow to see my sons perform.  So far this is the longest distance we have 

gone to see our kids perform.  Question - What is the longest distance you have

gone to see your child perform?

Easter Eggs

I bought three paper mache eggs at Micheal's and decorated them with confetti.  Then I placed them in a bird nest that had fallen from our front yard tree.  Since this is a real bird's nest, it is very dirty and I did not want to use it on our kitchen table.  

So I placed it on my small porch table outside.  I sure hope the birds do not mistake my paper mache eggs for their real eggs.  LOL    + Have a Blessed Holy Week. +

Butterfly Project

One of my blog friends is collecting 51 butterflies to be donated to the Holocaust Museum Butterfly Project. See her blog here  http://paperturtle.blogspot.com/2012/02/butterfly-project.html 
See Museum Project here http://hmh.org/ed_butterfly1.shtml
This week I finished three small stained glass butterflies and delivered them to the Museum here in Houston.  

 While I was at the Museum, I purchased the paperback book titled ...I never saw another butterfly...  It is a collection of children's drawings and poems who were in a concentration camp.   The employees at the Museum were so thankful for the butterflies that they gave me a discount on the book.  As of last week they have collected around 950,000 butterflies.

I have toured the museum before with my children on school educational trips.  It is hard to see the film and pictures of what Jews had to endure while in the camp.  I left the Museum with a heavy heart saddened by the reminder of how cruel people were treated.

Other butterflies are in the works.  Two of my instructors are working on lesson plans for next week to include the Butterfly Project. I am making a few origami butterflies using scrapbook paper.   How about you?  Can you donate a butterfly or two?  If so, visit the Holocaust Museum website for more information.  Together we can help the Museum reach the goal of 1.5 million butterflies to represent the number of children who lost their lives in the Holocaust.

Surprise Mail

About two weeks ago I received a birthday card from my dear cousin.  It was a wonderful surprise to see  a color copy of one of her first collages on the card.  I know my photo can  not give this card justice.  Thank you Rinda,  I absolutely love it and plan on framing the card. You can view Rinda's blog at www.gallorganico.blogspot.com

To tell you the truth,  I  never thought of printing my work on cards.  It's a great idea!  I'm curious to know if anyone else has printed their work on cards.  Your comments and links are welcomed.  I would love to see your art work.

Coupon Tip

Have you found yourself at Michaels or Hobby Lobby without your newspaper
coupon? Here's a tip you might not know:  if you have internet access on your
cell phone, Hobby Lobby and Michaels will scan the coupon from your phone.  
Just go to their website and open their coupon.  By the way be considerate of
other customers in line and have the coupon open and ready for the cashier to
scan.  Some coupons will save you 40% off the original price.  Hope this tip is
helpful and saves you money. 

2012 One Little Word

Many of my blog friends have a One Little Word that they will focus on for the New Year. How cool to focus on a word instead of making resolutions that I know I will not keep. So here is my One Little Word for Year 2012 - FOCUS. Focus on what you say. It's not a matter of what, it's more a matter of staying Focused. They say a child's attention span is short. Well, I believe as I get older my attention span is getting shorter. I find myself losing focus on what I am doing. I get easily distracted and sometimes don't finish what I was doing. I can be working on a project, reading a book or just cleaning. I jump from one thing to the next and don't accomplish very much. So my one little word (FOCUS) is to remind me to keep my attention on what I am doing so that I do finish what I am working on so that at the end of the day I feel like I have accomplished something.

Click on picture to get a closer look. I altered this old pair of my son's glasses for my work desk to remind me to stay focused at work. I then mounted it in an old picture frame I had in my craft room. Because the glasses are bulky, I had to remove the glass from the small picture frame which now gives my project a cool 3D effect. I started to journal what I was going to focus on this year, for instance, Health, Family, Religion, Work, Exercise. Then I reminded myself that it was One Little Word and felt I needed to keep it simple. I am happy with how it came out and I think it will look great in my office. I

Boxed Lunch & Dinner

Around 10:00 a.m. my neighbor called and said she had a box for me. I was surprised because it was to early for the mailman and besides that we were home. The mailman knows us and would have knocked if the delivery was to large for our mailbox. When I picked up the box it had a Hewlitt Packard label on top. I wondered if my husband had bought some electronic device and did not tell me. My neighbor than informed me that she had cooked too much food and she boxed it for me to take home.

I opened the box at home and was surprised by the amount of food in it. It was enough food for lunch and dinner for the whole family. What a wonderful surprise, especially on this day, you see today I started packing some of the Christmas decorations and really did not feel like stopping to make lunch or dinner.

I have the most wonderful neighbors anyone could hope for. My family is truly blessed to have friendly and loving neighbors who always watch over us and are very giving. By the way, she is an awesome cook.

Not a creature was stirring - not even a Mouse!

I have been making these little Christmas Mice and sharing with family and friends for several years. They are usually the talk of the party and super easy to make.

You will need: Maraschino Cherries with stems, Hershey's Kisses, Chocolate Bark, White Gel, Sliced Almonds First drain Cherries. You can pat cherries dry with paper towels. Just be careful not to break the cherry. LOL

Unwrap Hershey Kisses from silver package. Melt chocolate bark (I melt bark in the microwave for twenty-thirty seconds. Stir chocolate to help melt any large pieces. Repeat in twenty second increments until completely melted. Pick up cherries by the stem and dip in melted chocolate. Unite dipped cherry to the bottom of the Hershey Kiss. The Kiss is the Mouse's head and the Cherry is the Mouse's body with the stem being the mouse's tail. While bark is still melted, place sliced almonds on top of mouse's head (between the Cherry and the Hershey Kiss. Use a dab of white gel for the eyes.

Instead of Bark you can use a Hershey Bar. You only use the chocolate as a paste to bond the Cherry and the Kiss together. You don't use a lot of chocolate for this. You can also use M&M's for the ears instead of the sliced almonds. To hurry the cooling process, I place the mice in the refrigerator for a few seconds. How do you eat a mouse? Grab it by it's tail, drop in your mouth and pull the tail off.

Ornaments

Here are some ornaments hanging on the living room Christmas tree.

Some are old plastic ornaments that I found when I moved into my Grandmother's house. What I like about these little elves are their ears. They are sooo cute.

This is the first ornament as a married couple given to us by my sister.

This ornament represents the first Christmas for my first born, John.

This ornament was handed down to me. I was with my mother at a craft show when she bought this ornament and had it personalized with all our names.

I made this into an ornament. It is a lapel pin that was given out when my dad, nicknamed "Big "O" was running for office at a Knights of Columbus convention in Brownsville, Texas.

I make some ornaments like this snowman made of a styrofoam ball.

All Texans are proud to be from Texas and we like to show our pride any way we can, even on our Christmas tree.

Some are from weekend getaway spots like, Brenham, Galveston and Kemah. My favorite - well I could not choose just one. From the cheap homemade to the expensive store bought, they are all my favorite because each one brings back special memories when I unwrap and place it on that perfect branch on our tree. How about you, do you have a favorite ornament?

Trees, Trees, Trees

Christmas Eve I will host the annual family Christmas Party in my home. It has been several years since I last hosted the party. These last couple of weeks I have been busy cleaning, decorating and moving furniture out of our house to make room for my large family.

Here is a peek at the seven trees in my home.

This tree is on the entry way table. It is made of aluminum and has magnetic ornaments. I like it because it is easy to set up.

We finally had to get an artificial tree which is in the living room. I like that it is not too wide so it does not take up alot of floor space.

The Police Blue Tree is something I started for my husband, who is one of Houston's Finest. This year, I wrapped the blue lights around the center pole.

This small table top tree is placed in my bedroom.

This tree is flat to make it easy to hang on a wall. Don't know where the tree came from, but I hung vintage cookie cutters that belonged to my grandmother. I had the red cookie cutters. It is hung on the kitchen wall.

The small tree belonged to my dad, who would use it in his office. It is placed on my son's piano along side the nativity scene. The other small tree is a mosaic I made with broken mirror pieces.

Did I go overboard with the trees? Maybe, but I really look forward to welcoming my family to my home.

Christmas Paintings

Reading blogs that I follow, I came across The Painted Garden blog that shows you how to paint a snowlady on a small canvas to use as a door hanger.  Find the blog here: http://thepaintedgarden.blogspot.com/2010/12/lets-paint-pink-snowlady.html

I used Erin's directions and painting as an inspiration to paint my first door hanger.  Making these door hangers was loads of fun.  Stop by The Painted Garden blog and see other inspiring paintings.

Scrapbook paper on canvas

 Instead of base coating the entire canvas, I adhered scrapbook paper to the canvas and then drew the snowman with pencil before painting.  I then let the entire piece dry before adding embellishments. 

1st door hanger

Gift Bag

My second door hanger was inspired by a Christmas Gift Bag I saw at a local pharmacy. I took the picture with my cell phone instead of buying the expensive bag.

 In my painting, Santa's suit and hat is the scrapbook paper adhered to the canvas.

2nd door hanger

Scrapbook paper on canvas with Pattern in Book

In my third and last painting, the inspiration came from a drawing in a book I bought at Half Price Book Store.

3rd painted door hanger

Santa's face painted on scrapbook paper.

Raining Acorns

Walkway

Eighteen years ago my mother bought us an oak tree that we planted in our front yard to give us shade as we sat on the front porch chatting and watching the world go by.  This little tree has grown and we have had to trim it several times.  Each fall the leaves would fall and the wind would blow just right that it would send the leaves flying across the street to the neighbor's yard.  The neighbors never complained about picking up leaves even though they did not have a tree.  This fall something strange happened.  The leaves did not fall. Instead of leaves falling, this oak tree is dropping acorns galore.  One evening the wind came which caused the tree to rain acorns.  So many acorns that you can hear them like the sound of hail hitting the ground.  Each night I have to sweep the driveway and walkway.  Only to wake up the next morning to find more acorns have dropped.  I am going into the forth week of sweeping and raking acorns.  Could it be because of the dry spell Texas has had this summer?  I refuse to let these acorns get me down.  You know the saving "If life gives you lemons make lemonade."  Well, I can't make a drink with acorns, but my plans are to make an acorn wreath.  Besides cutting the tree down, what other options do I have?  

Driveway

Ground covered with acorns. 
(Click on picture to get a better view of how many acorns are on the ground.)

The Birds

I was stopped at a traffic light and had one of those eerie moments when you see something and it reminds you of something from your past.  I took this picture because it reminded me of the first time I saw Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds.  At the time of the photo I did not realize the camera setting was set at black & white.  After I took the picture, the birds took off flying everywhere.  There were birds all around our van.  My son said he thought the birds were going to attack our car.  I think maybe the flash scared them.  Do you remember the first time you saw the movie The Birds.

Ahaa Moment

Sometimes it takes me a while to figure things out.  Remember those cast iron crosses I found at a great bargain.  I didn't know what they were made for or what to do with them.  I even found a way to cut the nail off the back.  Well, I think I finally figured out what they are made for.  I believe they are made to add a little spark to a plain candle.  The nails can easily be pushed into the side of any candle to give the candle a little more decorative look. I went back to Sacco to buy ten more crosses. I added ribbon around one used candle before adding the nail and displayed it at a craft show.  That display helped to sell all the crosses I had.

I just laugh when I have a light bulb moment or what Oprah calls it an ... Ahaa moment.  LOL

Sun Catchers

What could I make with two pieces of scrap glass and a marble glob?

Hmm....



Thinking ....



Thinking .....



and still Thinking.  


I've got it! 




An Angel

Stained Glass Angel Sun Catchers

Finished Crash Glass Project

Here is the photo of my finished crash glass project.
As you can see I have grouted the panel and added a cast iron cross at the top and a coin with a prayer at the bottom right.  The Prayer reads:  I said a prayer for you today, I know God must have heard.  I felt the answer in my heart, although he spoke no word. 

This project has a personal meaning to me as the religious cards used were in my collection of religious cards I have collected from funerals I have attended.  The Praying hands is from my Mother-In-Law's funeral and the Sorrowful Mother is from my Grandmother's funeral.  It took a while to finish this project as I did not know how to cut the nail off the cast iron cross.  (See my previous posts: Cast Iron Crosses and Old New Toy)

Old New Toy



Cast Iron Crosses with and without nails and Rotary Tool

I asked Hubby and my Brother how I could cut a nail off the back of some cast iron crosses.  After studying the crossing they were stumped as to how I could cut the nail and leave a smooth back.  They said I needed a small saw or drill which they did not have.  That's when the light bulb lit in my head.  I remembered that I had a Dremel that could probably do the job.  The Dremel is a small rotary electric tool used for carving, engraving, routing, grinding, sharpening, cutting, cleaning, polishing and sanding.  Now my problem was learning how to use it.  You see, when I bought the Dremel three years ago, the Quick Start Book did not make any sense.  I did not understand the directions on how to use it. So the Dremel with Case was stored in the tool shed until now.   I stayed up all night reading and re-reading the directions.  Looking at pictures and reading over and over again.  Finally a small screw in a picture caught my eye.  It finally made sense.  So, here's the picture of the Dremel and some crosses with and without the nail.  I love this Dremel, it is my old, new toy.          

Butterfly Panel

The Butterfly window panel is finished. The background is a clear glass with what looks like rain drops.  The pink wispy boarder glass was chosen to bring out the pink color in the butterfly wings.   The butterfly glass was also used on the four corners of the panel.  I am happy how it came out.  If interested in purchasing, call or e-mail me before my first show which is on October 13th.  I have a feeling this panel will sell fast.  Click on the photos to get a closer view.  

Closer view of double butterflies

Butterfly Panel - 15 1/4" x 14"

Closer view of single butterfly.