Watercolor Fern {or how to make a blown egg}

I have a collection of watercolor eggs that has slowly grown over the years. This year I painted a fern egg to add to the lot. These are blown eggs--the whites and yolks have been removed. 

Although they are quite fragile, blown eggs will last for years if treated gently.

If you've never blown an egg before, it's easy to learn! 

Use a needle or safety pin to poke a hole in the top and bottom of the egg.

Make sure the hole is 1/8 inch or so in diameter. 

If you are having trouble getting the whites and yolk out, make the bottom hole a little bigger.

 (No, I'm not losing my dinner.)

Then gently (but with quite a bit of force) blow through the top hole. 

The contents of the egg will pour out the bottom. Now you can make scrambled eggs! 

Rinse the egg shell and let it dry thoroughly. Then paint, sketch, dye, create!

 

Happy Easter!

Chalkboard Inspiration

Inspired by Dana Tanamachi's amazing chalkboard creations, as mentioned by these two bloggers, 

I decided to jazz up my dining room chalkboard this week.

I've enjoyed keeping a passage of scripture or some other poetry or lyrics displayed in this busy space. Hopefully, these true and restful words can give my soul a moment of pause and reflection 

even while I'm wiping mashed eggs off the floor or giving a spelling test (or both).

The look I was trying to achieve with this hymn took some pre-planning on paper in order to determine how the phrases could fit together in an eclectic way while still being readable and balanced. 

I especially like how the word "Grace" stands out in the center of the board.

Praise God for the sufficiency of Jesus' blood and rightousness, 

and the sure anchor of his unchanging grace which holds us safe, 

even in the midst of the whelming flood. 

 I'm looking forward to seeing this daily reminder in the weeks to come.

DIY Boxwood Wreath

I love spontaneous projects. 

I've been wanting to hang some simple boxwood wreaths 

in the windows in the dining room, but the price tag was a bit steep for me. 

Today as I drove up the driveway, I suddenly saw that I have a wealth of boxwood 

all around my yard just waiting to be harvested.  I unbuckled baby boy, 

postponed big brother's math lesson, and went to work.

First I clipped a bunch of boxwood and washed it.

Then I shaped a metal hanger into a circle.

Next, I gathered the twigs into little bundles and tied them with fishing line.

In order to get a sense of how much I needed, I arranged the bundles around the wire circle.

Then I attached the bundles to the hanger with floral tape.

Add a bit of ribbon, and ta da!

{a quick and easy boxwood wreath}

I love creating new things from stuff I already have!

Happy Birthday Baby! {and how to make a paint chip flag garland cake topper}

One week ago (on the first day of our family reunion) our baby Van turned one! 

 He's a bright eyed, inquisitive little guy who loves to make things go 

and fit things together and he's ready to dance to any tune available.

He loved the chocolate birthday cake--but I think he loved spending a week 

with his cousins (and Mimi and Topper and aunts and uncles) even more.

I fancied things up for the occasion with a fabric flag garland 

and a little cake topper garland made from paint chips and wooden skewers.

Did you know that the big home improvement stores are happy 

to let you take many many paint chips from their stash?  

I have quite a collection that comes in handy for random crafty projects.

For the cake topper I selected shades of green and ivory 

and cut enough flag triangles for two lengths of garland.

Through the magical powers of hot glue I attached them to two short strings 

and secured each end to a wooden skewer.

Then, layering more of the same paint chip colors, 

I made a number one sign and glued it to two toothpicks.

It's nothing too fancy, but it communicated the essential information.

Happy Birthday Van!

Princess Party from the Past {and how to make a castle cake}

When Elizabeth turned five we threw her a princess birthday party, 

complete with etiquette lessons and castle cake.

Even though this took place a few years ago 

I thought it might be fun to document the sweetness.

I made the invitations from scrapbooking stickers and shiny purple paper 

I picked up at a yard sale (thanks Alli!).

I perused pictures of castle cakes online and came up with this design,

cut out and fluffed up some puff ball decorations.

strung some tulle streamers,

and plotted my cake construction. Here's the basic plan.

Assemble:

• various candies (for cobblestones, entry decoration and battlements)
• wafer cookies (for doors)
• sugar ice cream cones and large granulated sugar
• two round cakes (to make the main part of the castle in two layers)
• six cupcakes
• toothpicks or (even better) wooden skewers
• plenty of frosting

• first freeze your cake and cupcakes
• layer your frozen round cakes and frost them
• layer two cupcakes for each turret, skewer them for stability (the skewer can extend up into the roof (sugar cone) area
• stack the other cupcakes on top of the round cakes for extra towers
• frost the cupcakes
• frost each sugar cone and roll in sugar, stack on top of the cupcake towers
• decorate the whole shebang with candies and cookies

The birthday girl was costumed early.

Then the little guests arrived.

We helped them decorate party hats 

with stickers, ribbons, and tulle for their craft and favor.

My dear friend Melissa dressed up and taught the girls princess etiquette.

After the princess tea the girls played outside.

 

Such a sweet group of pretty princesses.

How to Make a Giant Waterfall

Last week was Adventure Week, our church's version of Vacation Bible School. This year our theme was On Safari: God Makes a Way. As a part of the planning team, I was in charge of transforming the church campus into scenes from an African safari.  The big impact piece was "Victoria Falls" at the entrance to the sanctuary where the main meeting took place.

I used a combination of ideas I found online, and then added some new elements, to create our giant waterfall display.  Here's how we did it:

You will need:

• a tall structure to use as a base for the waterfall (we used set walls from a theater production)
• cardboard to provide shape for the "rocks"
• brown packing paper (for the surface of the rocks)
• flat blue paper (butcher paper would work)
• metallic blue fringe curtain (both straight and curvy)
• irridescent fringe curtain (both straight and curvy)
• water pattern gossamer
• panels of cardboard layered with styrofoam cups hot glued into place
• live ferns
• green butcher paper (cut and stapled to resemble palm leaves)
• wooden boxes to build out the base of the waterfall and to provide "shelves" for the ferns
• a life size plywood gorilla!

These are the steps:

1. Erect the wall structure, angling the panels to create dimension, and cover it with blue paper.
2. Fold and shape cardboard pieces for rocks at the top of the wall and staple into place.
3. Arrange wooden boxes (or other shelf-like or stair-step like pieces) in groupings around the base of the wall.
4. Cover cardboard pieces and some of the wooden boxes with crumpled and shaped brown packing paper, staple into place.
5. Place/hang ferns and paper palm leaves.
6. Hang metallic fringe in layers over the blue paper. The top layer should be irridescent.
7. Arrange panels of cups around the base of the wall to create "foam."
8. Weave water patterned gossamer around cups and any gaps in the paper.
9. Set up faux palm tree and gorilla.
10. Bring in the kids!

We had a great week learning about how God has made a way for his people in Christ!

Branch Art (or more decorating with sticks)

The Jacaranda trees that line our street are a constant inspiration. 

Especially when a curvy, twiggy branch appears as if by magic in my front yard. 

And when the latest Pottery Barn Kids catalog appears as if by magic in my mailbox (see page 9). 

When the stars align like that, you have to pay attention. 

And make branch art.

Step 1: spray paint that baby.

Step 2: cut out paper leaves.

Step 3: hot glue.

Step 4: hang it.

Step 5: sit back and admire.

 

Oooh... Ahhh...

magical.


Linking to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch and Before and After at TDC. 
Taking a risk with the Nester!