A Little Mold on a Sunny Day (day 1)

Today we attended the Young Author's Book Faire, where Lila Holler received a first place award for the book of poetry that she submitted to the contest.  At the Faire they had a Scholastic Book sale.  Bunny, in true form, bought a booked called Gross Science by Paul Beck.

This book is full of creepy, crawly, stomach turning experiments like creating a bacteria farm, balloons of stink, garbage smoothies, fake snot,  maggot roundups, slimy putty and a worm ranch!

It's pretty nasty.

We've only been home for a few minutes and Bunny is already pleading to make some stinky stuff.  Some things require a trip to the grocery store, but fortunately we have many of the ingredients that it takes to create several of the projects in our kitchen.  And oddly, I have never thought of them as projects, so much as things to avoid because they could likely poison us all.

But, that's just me...

Today, much to the delight of my 9 year old daughter, we grow mold!

Bunny filled a mason jar with strawberries, cheese, bread and lettuce.  Now we will take picture of it each day for two weeks, or until the whole entire thing is full of green and blue fuzz!

And lucky you, I'll be taking a picture every day so that you can see our progress!  :)

You're welcome.

aRt

Concord is great.

There is a big movement towards children's art here in the east bay, which makes sense because this is such an inspired place!  It's hard not to want to make things when you are surrounded by beauty.

There is a small cottage near our school.  The sidewalk in front and yard are scattered with creative signage and colorful, staged, homey pieces of functional art.  It's called the aRt Cottage and you can read about it here!

Upon entering I had this feeling that I was standing in the coolest place ever.  The house hasn't been gutted and transformed into an open floor concept, as you might imagine a gallery to be.  Rather, it's still very much maintained its cottage appeal, offering small rooms that are minimally and artistically furnished, as something on display in a museum might be.  You have the feeling that a you are within the art when you are inside the cottage, and thus sort of feel that you are an actual part of the art... like a living character in a series of portraits.

Each room is beautiful, fun and really quite happy but not cluttered. There is just enough inside each room to understand the purpose of the room and little enough so that you don't feel someone is supposed to live there.

The backyard is small and otherworldly.  There are tree stumps with painted cushions and a large fire pit.

The aRt cottage caught my eye because I noticed a sign that said there would be children's art classes available there in June.  I went in and just fell totally in love with it.  My girls instantly felt comfortable there... so much so that Bunny suggested that we get a realtor and try to buy it.  To say it was a really  nice place to be, is not being fair.  I can't really explain why, but it just had a nice feeling about it.  It was definitely a place that I'd like to make a part of my children's lives.

So, I've signed them up for classes.  During the week of June 18th they'll go to 3 one hour sessions at the cottage and may even make a fairy garden.  The best part is that all materials are provided to them and it only costs $10 per session!!!!

The 99 Cent Store

On the east coast we had dollar stores like the Dollar Tree.  Usually I'd go in there for things like paper plates that I needed for a birthday party or gift bags or paper towels.  When I was trying to get pregnant I stocked up on their ovulation predictors and pregnancy tests because they measure the same thing and worked just as well (and lets face it... I went through them like candy)!   Most merchandise at the Dollar Tree was made like, well, like it cost a dollar, I guess.  I picked up a few fun Halloween decorations there and I also picked up some festive Christmas decorations, but generally, it wasn't a place that I'd normally go for anything other than an odd or end.  I certainly wasn't using its shelves to decorate my home, that's fershure.

In California we have a 99 Cent Store.  This place blows my mind.  Okay, so it is full of the same old crap that the Dollar Tree had.  I am not going to make any claims that the overall quality is something really amazing, but they do tend to have name brands and you can buy things at the 99 Cent Store that you'd pay 3 dollars for at the grocery market.  They even sell produce and groceries (though, this sketches me out just a bit... I mean, WHY is that huge bundle of asparagus 99 cents?)

Today I totally scored this old, metal, vintage "your brain on drugs," sign, which I promptly came home and nailed up to my wall of crazy colors.  For the record, I did not purchase this because of what it says or because I think it's funny.  Last night when I was talking to my husband about it and asked if he liked it, he said, "Yeh.  I guess it's funny.  It has a cartoon chicken on it."   I found this disturbing to a place deep in my core.  I said, "I didn't buy it because of what it said.  I mean, you don't buy a T-SHIRT because of the writing on it."  At which point my husband had a hardy chuckle at my expense, claiming that most people DO, in fact, buy t-shirts based on their catchy slogans and not their color.

So, to set the record straight, this sign could have said a great many things that would not have mattered to me.  What mattered to me were the colors they chose, the effect of kitsch and the contrast of color.

Also, I grabbed jalapeño plants, sweet peppers, yellow squash and green squash plants for my garden!

It doesn't look like much right now, but I'll bet we'll have some awesome little peppers and veggies by the time summer is in full swing.

I found these bright flower prints and put them on the yellow walls in my bedroom. They're so sunny and happy!

And I found these prints and used them to make a succulent grid on the big, open space in my kitchen!

My point is that the 99 Cent store is full of awesome stuff and with a little imagination you can save a bundle while making fun, quirky decorations for my home!

New Creative Project

I have been holding onto this amazing old chair, lovingly referred to in our home as Pandora's Chair. No one actually can sit in the chair because our very old cat Pandora is always there and on the rare occasion that she get up to use her litter box or grab a mouth full of Iams, she is sure to leave behind enough fur to ruin anyone's pair of black pants. So, really, this chair has become a fancy cat bed that sits in our living room and gets uglier and more disgusting by the day. What a waste and a shame because the chair is actually quite beautiful, though not entirely my style!

Here's the vision! I am going to strip this chair down:

I'll strip and bleach the wood and have a fuchsia stain made up! I have seen a lot of pink stain and I've seen a lot of purple stain and if I mix them... I just know it will be happily magical! I'll re-stain and refinish the wood and then reupholster the chair using this material that I found at DIY Upholstery Supply!

Simple, right!

Since I'm not knowledgeable about upholstery in the least, understandably I do not have the tools necessary to do the job. Instead, I found a hammer and these pliers and screw driver to be priceless in the painstaking task of staple removal.

I didn't actually rip any of the fabric. Instead, I took out every staple and kept the fabric in as good a shape as possible so that I can use it as a pattern and reuse some of the hardware.

During the process of removing the upholstery, I couldn't even keep Pandora off of the chair!

I took a lot of pictures of every step of the process so that I can repiece the chair more easily . Anything that didn't seem obvious to me was snapped. Like this:

and this

And in the end, the chair looks like this:

Tomorrow I strip the wood and then I'll spend the next few days conditioning it! Then I'll stain and finally reupholster! This is such a fun project, but I am wondering how I'll keep Pandora off of the chair when I am done?

Bookcase

One of the best things about being unemployed retired and having two kids in school is that I finally have time to do a few of the things that I haven't had the energy for in years.

I've been interested in re-purposing furniture for awhile and have a so many projects lined up. The research that I've gathered makes me feel like I've actually dug a 17,000 sq ft house into the side of a mountain and built it with just my hands, some 2x4's from free-cycle and pack of Trident. In the words of my very wise friend S, I have practically gone to the University of youtube and have my degree in furniture arts. I mean, I seriously have a stack of banged up furniture in my garage just waiting to be leopard printed or reupholstered or stained pink! It is my ambitious hope that I'll soon be turning piles of wood into furniture.

One piece of furniture that I have acquired is an old, mostly plastic, faux wood book case. There's not much that could be done with it, but I really wanted a fun bookcase for my cookbooks in the kitchen. My husbands Aunt L really set the wheels in my creative machine in motion when she posted this cake stand on my Facebook wall.

I was moved create a henna inspired cookbookcase for my kitchen!

Here's how it happened!

Before:

Primed:

First coat, inside.

Painted:

Detail:

Detail:

Almost done:

And Done:

This has totally made my crazy, cute old kitchen seem so homey. I am just going to keep on taking pictures of it.

Fun With Egg Cartons

I wasn't feeling so well yesterday, so we spent the whole morning, afternoon and evening at home! We baked cupcakes and found a fun crafting idea!

I've been saving our egg cartons for awhile. I cut them apart and then the girls painted them.

Next we covered a wire hanger with yellow yarn and strung the painted egg cups upside down like flowers.

Lila loves the way this craft livens up her white bedroom wall! Spring is a'comin!

The Monster Infinity Scarf

I'm home from work today with Bunny because she's sick. I took the opportunity to finish up that 8 scarf that I typed about the other day. Folks, I am pleased as punch! Seriously, the only way that I'd be happier about this scarf was if the owner of Spool chased me down South Street with it gift wrapped because he just doesn't feel right about depriving the world of our perfect scarf/woman union any longer. (It COULD totally happen). I'm wearing it with my million dollar fancy jeans THIS weekend when we go out to see Jay's old band play.

Each day on my way to work I pass two little stores that are owned by the same person. One is called "Loop" (and is where I buy my yarn) and the other is called "Spool" and sells fabric. I haven't gotten out my sewing machine in a long, long time (it is currently housed in a black plastic trash bag and living in my backyard, sitting against the side of my house). So anyway, I've never had a reason to go into spool before. But each day I admire an infinity scarf that is featured in the window.

Yesterday, I went to work to one of the most disastrous days that I've had. It was the sort of day when everyone I encountered just seemed mean and by the time L came in I started telling her about it and literally broke into a giant explosion of tears (please note that I might have PMS too). By the time I got home I was completely exhausted.

I decided to call Spool and ask how much the infinity scarf in their window costs. I thought that it was safer to call rather than to stop in because if it was crazily expensive I'd be less likely to buy it on impulse if I had to walk there and think about how much it costs and had to give myself a few minutes to try to justify it and fail.

The very friendly girl on the phone told me that it's not for sale, which I had suspected because I once asked if the yarn examples at Loop were for sale and was told that they aren't. But, she said, they could sell me everything that it takes to make it for $25. I explained to her that I didn't want to make it. I wanted to BUY the exact one from the window. But, her sugar exterior couldn't be cracked and several hours later I found myself heading home with a few yards of fabric and these figure 8 scarf instructions by Anna Marie Horner. It's such a simple pattern that I decided to use a straight pin and sew it by hand. After one night of sewing I'm almost done with the project.

Expect pictures tomorrow and wish me a better day at work today.

Knit News

I haven't been knitting much. This is mostly because I abandoned all of my yarn and crafting supplies in the move. At the time they were the least of my concerns... but I really regret letting them go.

Last week T invited me to start selling my knits in Big Green Earth Store, so I went out to my favorite yarn shop and picked up a few skeins of fancy yarn and circular and straight needles. I'm excited to start crafting again. I think that I'll make a few cowls, fingerless gloves, scarves and legwarmers. Also, I'd like to learn how to line knits with fabric. I'd like to have lined hats and handbags. I can sew. I can knit. So I feel like this is something that I can be taught. Yet still... it seems too complicated. I'm going to detail everything that I make with a hand felted embellishment. That's my thing. I really love hand felted detailing. I just think that it makes a knit look at the more special. That said, I don't know that I can actually sell anything for more than what I pay to make them. Ha! But, it would still be awesome to see people walking around the city in things that I made. As it is, I haven't sold knits to people who live in Philly. All of my etsy orders were elsewhere.

Also, I'm going to abandon my Etsy shop name and start using the name Little Shop of Hollers. It's the title of my new blog and I think that it's got a serious cute factor to it.

Wish me luck! Maybe people will really like them!

Oobleck on Columbus Day

One of the great things about The Please Touch Museum is that they have this giant craft room with all kinds of cool, experiments and mushy, gushy, sticky stuff that you can make at home.

Last weekend when we were there they had Oobleck. It's a strange liquid that you scoop up with your hand, run through your fingers and and drop on the table. As soon as it hits the table it solidifies and you can peel it up and mold it. Also, it's liquid on your hands... but it can be peeled off as a solid. The moment that you put it back it's a big batch of liquid again. It keeps moving between a liquid and a solid- ENDLESSLY. The museum had the recipe posted and we made a batch of it yesterday. After the girls played with it we put it away and they got it out again this morning. It kept surprisingly well and I'm going to guess that it's the kind of stuff that lasts FOREVER. The best part ever, IT WAS SO EASY TO MAKE.

Here's the recipe, plus a few more. They are easy, snappy, craft experiments that your kids will love and are fun for a rainy day!

Oobleck

1 part water

2 parts corn starch.

Mix it with your hands and have fun playing.

Finger Paint

1/4 cup corn starch

2 cups water

food coloring

mix corn starch and water in a saucepan and boil until it thickens. Let it cool and distribute into jars. Add desired colors to the jars. Viola!

Chalk

1 Cup plaster of paris

1/2 cup water

Popsicle, ice cube tray or other mold (5 oz paper cups will also work)

Powdered tempera paint or liquid craft paint

Mix plaster of paris and paint

Add water in mix

pour into the molds and allow to dry

Glue

1 part water

1 part flour

food coloring (optional)

Mix water and flour in bowl

add food coloring to your glue

Silly Goop

1 cup liquid starch

2 cups glue

food coloring (optional)

Start with liquid starch in a bowl. Add glue. Mix with hands. Add food coloring and mix well.