Earrings

I've been meaning for a while to make a screen to hang my earrings on, but had never gotten around to actually doing it. After buying two new pairs of earrings from Target, I decided it was time to get my butt in gear. Before I went out to Menard's to buy some screen, I decided to look around my house for some, since it seems like just about anything can be found in the basement or attic (lamps, records players, space heaters, giant teddy bears, etc.)

Sure enough, I found a little screened window frame. I wiped it down, spray painted it white, and started hanging my earrings! At first, I thought it would be too big, but I soon discovered it was hardly big enough. Perhaps now I will actually wear all of my earrings instead of alternating between two basic pairs because the other ones are too hard to access. Here's the finished product hanging, on my closet door:

An entirely free, and entirely useful project!

Another Painting / Framing Project

When I bought the frames from my last post, I also bought this other cute little guy that was a vertical frame with two oblong, octagonal openings. I decided to use it as part of a birthday present for Pete and paint one of his favorite Walt Whitman quotes on the inside. The frame is unchanged; the paintings were done with water color.

The hat:

...and boots:

...that can contain no man (or woman!):

Frames

Here are some pictures of the frames I recently bought and painted! The frames are from Used-A-Bit, a second hand/antique store less than 3 blocks away. All of the frames were $3 or less. I painted them with acrylic paint borrowed from the Key, and the pictures are all ones recycled from two old calendars I've been saving called "The Reading Woman." All in all, a pretty cheap (and easy!) way to decorate the wall above my desk.

The pictures aren't the greatest, because my camera has an unfortunately large spectrum of light in which the flash is too bright and the natural light too dim.

Here's the first one I did (the actual color is a forest green):

The second (slate blue):

And the third, which is a brownish gold. This one is my favorite, probably because the frame itself is the coolest:

And the trio (I had to take the photos at an angle because of the reflection):

cardboard people

Last night after you guys left I went and took some water colors from the Key. Unfortunately, the last set they bought seemed to be comprised entirely of colors in the gold family, so I was limited to working with lots of "Yellow Ombre" and "Vermillion", whatever those mean. Fortunately, there was a blue tube and a red tube as well, so I wasn't entirely out of luck.

Here are the outcomes:

The first person I painted was this little girl. I intended for her to be a boy named Konrad, but after some unfortunate hair mistakes, Konrad turned female and I named her Robin:

Then I painted a little Pete, as a companion to my alter ego Robin. Note the Cubs undershirt:

Then I painted Pete's friend Luke, who was also there painting with us:

At which point Jordan came home and decided he too wanted a paper doll version of himself. I just finished (plaid is hard):

And finally, here is an airplane that Pete painted, which I promptly framed like a proud mother:

It was fun! I think I will paint some more tomorrow! I wish art supplies weren't so expensive.

Fire Under the Behind

Han and Amy:

Meeting and talking today really got me inspired! I am so happy that I have you two to share creative projects and ideas with. I've realized I am such a big picture person that I often defeat myself before I ever even begin (I can't just sew a pincushion, I have to sew a quilt; I can't just write a poem, I have to write a novel).

Let's all challenge each other to be better about posting on our blogs, even if we have seemingly "nothing" to report. Even THOUGHTS about creative things count (and Hannie, sharing about books is fine and great!), and hopefully, if we see enough of each other's thoughts, they will cattle-prod us into action. Amy, if you send me your email address via facebook, I will email both of you my "Prince Peter" story. Can't wait to meet again!

I'm sharing one of my favorite pictures from The Black Apple: