Birthday trip

 Amanda and I had a fun day out to celebrate her birthday. This was on the Saturday before her birthday.

It started with breakfast at Cracker Barrel

I can't remember what it was called but we both had this. It was so good but we could only eat half of what they gave you.

Next was Hobby Lobby, Dollar Tree and the Romolo store. This is a local chocolatier. They have a cafe, gift shop and the chocolate store. There is also an outside sitting area to eat.

We got some of these chocolate butterflies and I also bought a chocolate cat for Amanda but forgot to take a picture of it.

Our last stop was Stans garden center.

Amanda picked this plant out. It was quite unique

It was called Dracula

And that was our day. Sorry about the overload of pictures again. I've got lots of material these days and am writing and scheduling far in advance. Right now I'm cramming extra into posts to use things up.

Birthday crafting.

I'm a bit behind on posting these but today I have what I made for my sons birthday and the cards I made for Brad and Amanda's birthdays.

First up is the money cake. This was a free file from Dreaming Tree. It hold 20 bills of whichever denomination you choose. I only put 1's in as I was also giving him a gift card. The hardest part was rolling up all those bills to insert into the holes.

Here is the birthday card I made for him. It's pretty plain. I started with a watercolor background and then added the Happy Birthday that I cut on my Cricut and then some strips of coordinating cardstock.

Amanda's gifts were all purchased and I never thought to take pictures of them but here is the card I made for her.

Play ball

 It's been a lot of years since I've watched kids play ball. When my daughter in law texted me Presley's schedule for her T-ball games I jumped at the chance. This was I believe their second game. I'm going to try and make at least one game a week. They are so cute to watch. I'll let the pictures do the talking. Sorry about so many of them but I just couldn't choose. I left them all small to help with loading time.

Presley got the game ball that day so I asked if I could get a picture with the girl who got the game ball. My son was kind enough to take the picture.

Happy mail card for June

 This actually went out quite a while ago but because I've had so much blog material lately I'm just getting to it now.

This is called a rocker card. The bottom part is a circle folded in half. It's supposed to rock back and forth but this one is probably a little too top heavy. It will stand up but tends to lean to one side a bit.

In this picture I did get it to stand up straight. 

But like I said, they tend to lean a bit.

The bottom circle has a small piece of cardstock to hold the two halves together so that it doesn't open up too much. There's room on the back of the card for your message.

Patriotic crafts

 Back when I posted my seasonal shelves I mentioned that I had added two things after I took the pictures. Today I have those two craft projects to show you.

This first one I actually started last year and never finished. This was a plain wood star that I covered in fabric and then I glued it to a wood crate that I painted red and white. I finished it off by adding some patriotic flowers and picks. The star and the crate were both Dollar Tree items and the flowers and picks were from Walmart.

This one used a Dollar Tree chalk board. I painted it black and then on the backside I glued on some scrapbook paper. Then I used the scrabble tiles (can't remember where I found these) and spelled out home of the brave and glued the letter on. I left the chalkboard side alone that way if I wanted to I could turn it around and write a message on the chalkboard as well.

Cartoon customer

A while back I was scrolling through Facebook and came across this cartoon.

When I looked at it my first reaction was that the guy looked just like a customer who comes in every day. I saved it to my phone. The next time I saw him I told him I came across a picture of him on the beach that someone posted on Facebook. He was a bit surprised and I pulled out my phone and showed him He got a big laugh out of it and said that they got it right all the way. Now while the head on this guy looks just like him the body does not. However I totally agreed with him when he said the picture was spot on. 

A few days later he asked if there was any way I could get him that picture because he wanted to show it to someone. He gave me his phone number and I texted him the picture. I was glad that he got as much of a kick out of it as I did.

For the birds.

 I was on my way out one day when I spotted a bird hopping through my flower bed. It was apparently a fledgling. As I was getting in my car I spotted mama bird flying in with a worm. She was looking for the little one to feed it breakfast.

I snapped a picture but against the sidewalk it didn't turn out so well.

Here it is cropped a little so you can see the little guy.

And here are a couple of silly bird drawings I did recently

Extending my life.

 Recently Jean did a post on her blog entitled Hurray for Doodling. She posted the following from an article she read.

Most people don’t pick up a coloring book, paintbrush, poetry collection or museum membership for the health benefits — but maybe it’s time to start.

Research shows that art experiences, whether as a maker or a beholder, transform our biology by rewiring our brains and triggering the release of neurochemicals, hormones and endorphins.
—Do this once a month and extend your life by up to 10 years. No gym required

So here is my most recent efforts to extend my life. I apologize for overloading this post but lately I find myself with an abundance of blog material and I've got lots of posts scheduled in advance.

These are not in order of  when they were drawn.

I have to say that I think this cat looks a bit sinister.

This one may be my current favorite.

Not a favorite.

This cat looks a bit more friendly than the other one

Who doesn't love trees.

Greenhouse

 Back in May, Amanda wanted to stop at a greenhouse and get some flowers. This is one that's owned and operated by Amish. It's out in the country and such a beautiful spot

I took this picture in one of the greenhouse and I'm not sure what happened but I thought it looked kind of cool.

Just a picture looking in to one of the greenhouses.

I thought these were so pretty.

Amanda did get some flowers but I didn't take any pictures of what she bought. I just went and admired all the pretty stuff.

How to fix a screen, crafty style.

 The weather was getting warmer and I wanted to open the windows and air out the house. Not all of my screens are in the best condition and one of them had two holes at the top. We're talking holes that are big enough for a large bug to gain entry and invade my space. I could just replace the screening but I've discovered that I suck at doing that. Plus I procrastinate. Instead I did a crafty solution. Now this is not my original idea. I saw it on Facebook I think and I thought I would give it a try.

So what's the solution? I cut out vinyl butterflies on my cricut and used them as a patch over the hole. For each hole I cut 2 identical butterflies. I put one on the inside and one on the outside.

When I went to apply the butterflies, I discovered that in order to put them on right side up it wouldn't cover the hole. Therefor my butterflies are flying downwards.

To help insure that they would stay stuck to the screen, I used a heat gun and carefully heated the vinyl just a bit to make it stick together better.

Not a professional job but I think it's a pretty clever solution. Plus, no more holes.

Seasonal shelves.

 Back before Memorial day I finally got around to changing things out on my seasonal shelves. I put away the spring stuff and pulled out the patriotic decorations. These will be good throughout the summer.

The top shelf is a Dollar tree candle that I added the vinyl to. A small red vase with blue and white flowers and a flag. Some beads and the Dollar Tree decoration on the right.

This shelf has another Dollar tree decoration (the star) and that cute little hat. I also pulled out the red bird decorations. Not necessarily patriotic but they're the right color. The picture is one I picked up years ago at either a thrift store or yard sale.

The liberty bell was something my son got when his grandmother passed away. Of course when he moved out of the house the bell stayed and I confiscated it for my season decorating. The flag votive holder is another thrift store find. Uncle Sam was a recent purchase from Walmart.

The bottom shelf, I was running out of things that fell into the category of patriotic. I pulled another red bird decoration, a small flag and I had a fabric star that's on a stick. 

And there you have my season shelves. I actually added a couple more things after taking these pictures. There are two craft projects I made but those will be another post.