Using The Talents We Have...we all have them!

As most of you who read my blog know, up to this point my blog has consisted of a weekly "conversation" with my son Aaron each Sunday. As his dad chooses to describe it, at 38 our son Aaron " transferred". He transferred from this earthly life to do what he always said he would do, be a jester in God's heavenly court. That's how I choose to think of him now; bringing joy in heaven just as he did here on earth. Do I miss him? Evey single moment of every single day! I cannot look at his picture without tears welling in my eyes. Does it hurt? Yes! Do I understand? No! Would I want him back? No. Does that shock you? Me too. But, I know God has a plan, I may not like it, but I will do it. My son taught me that. That being said, I've decided to expand my blog and do more writing. I think I will always have my  Sunday "conversations" with my son but I want to write more, share more and do more. 

Broadening the scope of my blog has been my  hubby's suggestion. At first I just poo-pooed it but then as I thought about it the last couple of days, I thought, why not? I know that many bloggers have specific ideas to share: food, crafts, photos, etc. I think I'm going to stick with an "eclectic" blog. Just like our home. I love a wide variety of decor, art, food, and crafts. In fact sometimes my interests are so eclectic I get confused about what to do next. That being said, I still manage to get things done and have a ball doing it. So, there are no guarantees about what you'll find on my blog each time I write with the expectation that we'll have fun, be creative, share knowledge and ideas, and our endeavors will absolutely be eclectic.

 Let's get started!

 

I know everyone has heard about Pinterest right? Sometimes as I peruse the boards on Pinterest I am totally amazed at how very clever and smart people are. I look at the ideas others  have posted and think, "Now why didn't I think of that"! Whether or not you have a creative bone in your body, I encourage you to check it out. If you want a better idea of what I will be doing, my eclectic  likes and loves, I would love for you to share your thoughts and comments with me as I progress along. Please fee free. Now, that all being said, I'd like to share my current endeavor, A Valentine Tree in progress.

I thought that since it was February, Valentine decor would be a great place to start.  My goodness, the ideas. It never ceases to amaze me at the creativity that lives within people. If you think your are not creative I challenge you to give it another try. If you don't have an idea of your own, begin with someone elses. I'm sure they won't mind!

As I perused the Valentine ideas I came across one where a mother and daughter decided to make salt dough Valentine necklaces. Salt dough! I hadn't thought about that in years.

Valentine Necklaces

I've taken their idea of Valentine's Day Jewelry and salt dough and, as always in my eclectic way, put my own spin on it. 

Salt Dough

1 Cup salt (table salt works great)

2 Cups flour (I used Walmart's  Great Value white flour.)

1 Cup water 

Mix it up. I did it with my hands. It mixed very easily. I broke it out in four sections because I thought it would be easier to roll out.  I rolled it out to about 1/4 inch and cut out the hearts with heart-shaped cookie cutters and baked them on a cookie sheet at 200 degrees for 2 hours.

The first batch of hearts I

My "Partner in crime" painting her heart

rolled the dough out, cut my hearts and just before popping them in the oven for 2 hours at 200 degrees, I made a hole at the top, center of the heart with a 1/4 dowel I had on hand. If you don't have a dowel handy you can use a straw, ice pick or similar item. What I found though, is once baked, the hole was smaller than I had thought and my partner in crime Josie, whose now 5, and I had difficulty adding a ribbon to make the necklace. Later that day I noticed a small "eye" laying on the floor that had dropped out of my picture hanging kit. As I picked it up I thought that would be the perfect solution to use on the necklaces for the ribbon to pass through. I could just insert it into the dough ornament prior to baking. But, to use as many as I needed would be cost prohibitive. 

The one on the right is my version

So, I came up with my own solution. I had both silver and gold very fine wire. I cut off about a 1" section. I curved the wire and holding the curve between my thumb and index finger of my right hand, with my left hand I crossed the ends making an "X". Still holding the round end of the wire and continuing with my left hand I twisted the "X" into one swirled wire end. I then inserted the straight end at the center of the top of the heart pushing it all the way down until just the hoop was showing. The other thing I did when inserting the loop was  I turned it so that when I put the ribbon through the loop the necklace and ribbon will lay flat. Here, I'll show you.


Here are some horrible pictures of the "eye" process. Please excuse the photography. I'm trying to hold the wire in my right hand and take pictures with my left hand. I am definitely NOT left handed. I hope you get the idea. 

Very fine wire and wire cutters. Scissors will work on this wire too but will dull scissors.

Cut about a 1" piece of wire or, longer or shorter depending on how large or small you want your "eye" to be.

Curve your 1" piece of wire so it looks like a horseshoe.

Cross the legs of the horseshoe and twist.

You should end up with an "eye" that resembles this.

My first attempt

At first, I began painting the hearts with acrylic paints, just like Josie except I didn't use 5, 4oz bottles of 5 different colors on one heart! I hope she didn't fall in love with the color she created because there is no way we could ever duplicate it! It was a beautiful heart thought. Just like hers.

 I painted a few in pinks and reds and as I sat there looking at them I thought to myself, you really should jazz these up a little. I mean the person we're making these for has glitter in her veins! So,once the paint dried, I added a coat of Mod Podge. I make my own of equal parts white Elmer's Glue and water. While the "mod podge" was still wet,  I "dipped" them in a bowl of glitter. Just like you would do if you're making a cookie and the recipe says "roll in sugar". I used very fine white glitter and it did make them sparkle. They still needed more. They were too bland for my liking. That's when the light bulb went off in my head. I scrambled through my papers and art supplies and found some old wrapping paper, very thin because it was cheap. It was in a flowered print of reds and yellows. Perfect! I tore up small pieces, donned the latex gloves and began. I coated another heart, including and especially the edges. I then took the small pieces of torn paper and one at a time coated heart with mod podge under and over each piece of paper until I had covered the entire heart. I then coated the entire heart with a coat of mod podge and rubbed it over the entire surface of the heart with my hands working out any folds or creased that may have appeared during the process until they were as flat as I could get them. Make sure to work the edges so that everything is coated and no edges standing out. I let them dry overnight and then gave them all a spray coat of Krylon gloss spray. Once dry I added the ribbon and viole' a Valentine necklace. Later, I also made some pins by adding a pin clasp I had from some old projects. I gave these to Josie to give to friends and teachers for Valentine's day. To make ornaments for our Valentine Tree we will simply shorten the length of the ribbon.

I also made larger and smaller hearts that I will make into other Valentine decor. You can glue these little gems to picture frames, cards, make door "wreaths" for the special day. My thinking is, hearts are great anytime!  If  it would be helpful to have to have additional details of of my process just let me know. Or, if I need to clarify anything. The entire process should be fun for any age. Enjoy!...and let me know how your hearts turned out.

And here is our Valentine tree!

 Here's another version of a Valentine tree I completed yesterday. I took a branch from our yard. Painted it with white spray paint. I used Krylon Gloss White. While that was drying I scrounged in my supplies and found various sized wooden hearts. I think I had paid about $4.00 for the bag of 50. I found a string of very small pearls that I'd purchased at Joann's several years ago in the $1 bin. I painted my hearts in shades of raspberry, aqua and mustard, (I used colors that coordinate with my living room but you can use any color you like) added some stickers of cute little fairies I had on hand. Hot glued a 5-6" strand of the pearls in a loop at the top of the heart and my ornaments were ready. I hot glued a 4' square of floral Styrofoam to the bottom of a vase. By now, the paint on my branch was dry. I pushed it firmly down into the Styrofoam, added about a dozen white silk roses I had on hand from the dollar store around the base of the tree, added the hearts to the branches and voila', my Valentine tree. This project took me about 2 hours. You still have plenty of time. Start creating!

Here's my two hour Valentine tree!