S'more People Like You!

Happy Nurses Week!
And Happy Teacher Appreciation Week (wondering if it's only our school or is everyone else doing this too?).
And Happy May Day, Cinco De Mayo, Children's/Boy's Day, Last Day of School, Graduation Day and Mother's Day!

When did the first few weeks of May become so congested with celebrations?

It's been crazy over here but one little time saver I had up my sleeve was to use the same cute creative idea for both teachers AND nurses. Over at domesticatedlady.com I found the cutest idea for a s'more treat that says "we need S'MORE teachers like you".You can go here for the free printable. Another helpful blogger at gluesticksandtape.com provided a two-up on a page printable here, and several different other versions based on the original at Domesticated Lady's. I used the two-up version to be frugal, and regular printer paper because that's all I had and it turned out ok.

For the second batch, I changed the wording to say nurses instead of teachers. You can right click and copy the jpeg here and paste two of them into a word document to make your own.

Please feel free to borrow it if you need to. Nurses Week is still on for a few more days.

Just to share, I ended up using 1 box of graham crackers, 1 bag of marshmallows and 12 Hershey bars broken in half to fill two dozen 4-1/4" x 6-1/4" bags  for the nurses, and six more for the teachers. That's 2-1/2 dozen! Not a bad yield, eh? The kids loved helping, and eating the extras too!

 
Materials Used:

Honey Maid Graham Crackers  - $5
Best Yet Marshmallows - $2
16 Hershey Bars (Milk Chocolate or Dark) - 4 @ $3 - $12
Crystal Bags - $5
15 sheets standard copy paper

Total cost - $24 + paper, ink/printing, staples

Note that I put in 2 marshmallows because it squared off the treat nicely, size wise and visually. We test drove the microwaving portion of the instructions on the back of the label and I suggest you just use one marshmallow or you'll get the lovely lake of liquid marshmallow that we got after the 10 seconds were up. Or maybe you might like that...?

Abandoned Art Project

Are you here because you found some abandoned art? Please comment, and let me know who you found, and where you found the little guy/gal. I'll be talking more about each piece that I've made to be abandoned, to bring a smile to your day! Thanks! ~Su

Catchng up - October 2011

In October the focus was Halloween.... which even in Hawaii means a visit to the pumkin patch! This particular pumpkin patch in Waimanalo is on its second or third year going. They normally produce corn and other vegetables. You can see the beautiful mountain range in the background.

Walking past on the way to the entrance. 

A family of choices that we scraped together to choose from.

Took the tractor tour. Glad to have sat in front, that tiny little bullhorn speaker was barely doing its job over the roar of the motor.

The corn maze. Ahem.

After all that trekking through the dirt, we desperately needed a car wash!

And the witch jack'o'lantern that we made with the winning pumpkin!

 

Ending with a trip to the airport.... on All Hallow's Eve. Crazy? It was all worth it, you'll see in the next flashback post!

Catching Up - September 2011

Whoa! Moving took over, and with the holidays coming, I dropped my class, too much going on. Here's a little snippet of what happened (beyond moving) in September:

Bead swap sendout #1:

Bead swap sendout crafted item. I love this paisley! inspired by my swap partner's wist.

Bead swap package received!!! tons and tons of goodies.... (please excuse my coffee cup!)

And the piece de resistance (I know, I should spell check that phrase): and certified original by Craftster master charm bracelet maker TheSapphireMoon!!! I so love this, and the earrings are awesome too!

And a backyard burger BBQ for dear Daughter #2's birthday. No, she did not eat the tomato slice, lol!

Stay tuned for October!

Catching up - August 2011

Wow! Haven't blogged since August? Well, let me catch you all up on what's been going on. Now that school is out for the summer, here is what happened while I was studying and living life. 

Starting with that commissioned set in the last post....

Necklace and earrings, commissioned work

And then having to move household one town over, and confronting the giant empty sandlot that is my back yard....

And taking every break I could that first month. This included our last camping weekend for the summer, 

strolls and swims at the beach, 

and coffee breaks at the park while the kids ran around and burned off their boundless energy.

Then Fall took over.

Jewelry Exploration - Finis!

Last month I started some explorations with more swirl wire designs in this post, which echoes back to my Piko design from early in my jewelry career. You can see my Piko earrings in the sold section of my Etsy shop.

I've used the same modified swirl recently in a bracelet, and here are the earrings and necklace I finally finished. As with the bracelet, these are also commissioned. My creativity seems to do really well with commissions.

Detail of earrings:

Necklace center:

And necklace clasp:


Hope you like it! It will be on its way to the eastern side of the continental United States tomorrow to brighten someone's birthday.

Aloha,
~Su

Jewelry exploration

Throwing around some new wire swirl ideas.


With silver oval beads, and a square pearl with moonstone dangles...?


Maybe square pearls instead of silver ovals?


Too many dangles?


What do you think?

Aloha,
~Su

{this moment] anatomy & jewelry

Enjoy! ~Su

Adopted from SouleMama's weekly ritual:

{this moment} – "A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see."

Briar Rose / Sleeping Beauty - a pictorial

This is my latest doll, Sleeping Beauty. According to the Grimms' Fairy Tales she is Briar Rose, because of the briars that grew up around the castle while she slept for 100 years.

A bit of background: Rose is my #6 Poppet, based on a pattern created by ghilie which you can find on the thread called the The Ongoing Poppet-Along on Craftster[dot]org where I love to hang out. She was created for my partner Meleriffic in the Poppet Mini Swap Round 3. Rose was created based on a thorough study of my partner's questionnaire answers, her Wist (web+lists, found here) and profile. From these three things and a couple of extra questions I asked my partner, I gathered a theme (Sleeping Beauty), a color scheme, and a general idea of what my partner liked. Here is what I came up with.



And now on to my process: Step 1. Sketch.


2. Paint some eyes.... Decide on eyelashes, and eyelids...? Yes. Perfect for the "sleepy" look.


3. Complete head. Now choose the hair. Platinum blonde, check. Note: I could not find blonde or brown lashes. *shrug*


4. Pin and sew the rest of the body. Stuff and joint....


5. Take a break. Distract one's self with learning to spin, or whatever catches your fancy (note assembled body in the background. Don't be distracted by the body on the left - that's my mannequin.)


6. Take deep breath. Adorn. Headband. Clothing. Whatever else she wants... Or not. Funny thing about these dolls, they have a mind all their own. Even before they are fully assembled.

a. Hand-stitched headband (cloth on wire, stuffed) and hair needlefelted to her head. Maybe a scarf? According to Disney, Sleeping Beauty wore a scarf whilst traipsing through the forest.... I learned to knit during this month of crafting. Thanks for the help and the knitting needles Sid! :)


b. Start The Dress. An old-fashioned nightie. Add godets to flare out the bottom. Some lace, beads and free-motion quilting of course. Slightly gibbous in construction.

c. Front ready, back ready. Purple ribbon accents, or grey?

d. "Round the castle a hedge of briar roses began to grow...."

I let the ribbon curl where it wanted to go, but I went with the rattail instead. Yes, that had to be sewn down by hand. And I needed to make more roses.

Careful, not too much now. Ready for some vines. Place, pin, couch.


e. Some things don't work out. She said to me, "Are you kidding me with this scarf?!" So sad, it was the first thing I ever knitted, not to mention I spun the yarn by hand. Sniff, sniff. 'Sokay, I get to keep it, hehehe!

So she took it off....
...And I said, "you look like Lady Godiva - let's get you dressed!"


"...And she pricked her finger with the spindle... and lay still in a deep sleep which spread over the whole castle."


And that was it. Nightgowned and barefoot, with spindle in hand, she lay down in her tissued box and fell asleep. It was an exciting creative time, and there was both a sadness and a relief when all was done. No more dreams of Sleeping Beauty haunting my sleep.

Hope you enjoyed my process!
Aloha,
~Su

Notes: Sleeping Beauty now lives with my wonderful swap partner Meleriffic on Craftster.org, somewhere in the great state of Texas, USA. (Someday, her Prince will come.) Many thanks to Meleriffic for her questionnaire that spawned this little doll, and for sending me a beautiful mermaid that my daughters continue to "borrow" when I am not looking.