Jute ampersand

If you've been around my blog much you know that I have developed a love of jute twine.
It's beachy and cheap! 2 of my favorites

Most of my inspiration comes out of the blue and fast, if I have something in my head I must do it NOW.
I woke up with the crafting bug eating away at me and soon decided I wanted to make a 3-D letter.
My 1st thought was of making a letter 'C' and to glue EC coins all over it, like those I made the earrings out of.  I quickly changed my mind to doing the ampersand instead... and after playing around with the coins I decided that it wouldn't look quite as sleek as I wanted so I scratched that and turned to my reliable twine.

I sketched out an ampersand on the cardboard which was leftover from some packaging

cut it out

and started wrapping the twine around

the back is messy, but no one is going to see it.  I tied a knot when I started and used hot glue to secure it down.

the angles made it hard to continuously wrap the twine around... so I had to leave some bare spots which I later when back and filled in.

I decided to dress it up with a couple sand dollars I had laying around and add to it's beachy-ness
It is photographed hanging from our shutters outside because the lighting was much better than inside.

I made this ampersand mostly as another souvenir to take back to America with me in December.  I am running out of space in this tiny apartment to keep up with all my crafting!  I can't stop!

So it gets added to the growing pile of souvenirs I have.  Are there support groups for this type of thing??









linking up with:
http://www.creativejewishmom.com/

Back to the future

Have you seen those images floating around of re-created retro pictures?
like this

via here

Haha, amazing right?!
My plan for this Christmas is to have this image of my mom re-created for my Dad as a gift!!
He will LOVE it!
and I can say this here because I'm sure the man has never, ever been on this blog.

First off, how more adorable can a person be? 
Second, she is FOURTEEN here!!!! 14!  Doesn't she look like a grown woman??
Third, this was taken in 1966.
Fourth, my mother still looks exactly the same. exactly.  and she is almost 60.
Don't believe me?

Dear God, please, please, please have let me have inherited these genes!

Here is another photo taken the same day of my parents!  They were 14 & 16 years old. 
Can't you just see them in Grease?!
Dad is 100% a greaser, a T Bird & my Mom is totally a pink lady :)

So does anyone know where I can find a tee shirt like she is wearing??
Looks like something Forever21would sell now, eh?
If I can't find one I guess I can just draw this image out on a plain tee... and finding those glasses should be a snap.

Have you ever done anything like this?  Do you have a picture you'd love to do this with?
& honestly..... are you parents nearly as cool as mine? ;)


Linking up with : http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/

Glitter Nails!

I am so happy that I wasted valuable space and weight in our luggage coming down to Grenada on.... nail polish.

Today is the big Carnival parade here in Grenada & I am so overly excited to see all the costumes and the general craziness that will be going on!
I was trying to decide what to wear to the parade.... keep in mind that it is literally 100 degrees here with probably 100% humidity AND we're only 12 degrees north of the equator. the.sun.is.melting.
I also didn't have the hundreds of dollars it costs for an actual carnival costume and my husband won't be happy if I show up in a bikini with feathers I've sewn on myself..... :)

So it's a couple hours away and I have no clue what I'll wear... probably shorts and a tank top. again.
but at least I'll have festive nails!!!

see how blue that sky is?! no cloud cover. it's an spf 10000 day.

to do this I started with bare nails.
I painted the tips pink (use any color)  Don't worry about it being even, you just want a darker base for the glitter so you can gradually lighten up.
I then painted over it with glitter polish, heavy on the tips and dragging the brush lightly towards my nail bed.
I sealed it with a clear coat and admired my super girly, sparkly nails.

Happy Carnival Day!! pictures to come!

a splash of... yellow.

My sister has really been into yellow lately & it inspired me, because I guess I'm really into yellow too...

Source: anthropologie.com via Ashley on Pinterest

Source: amberinteriordesign.blogspot.com via Kirsten on Pinterest

Source: achadosdedecoracao.blogspot.com via Katerina on Pinterest

Source: atypicaltypea.com via Emma on Pinterest

Source: google.com via Mandee's on Pinterest

Source: prettypay.wordpress.com via Paloma on Pinterest

Source: inspirationfordecoration.blogspot.com via SMP on Pinterest

Source: sprk.ca via Jessica on Pinterest

Source: pinkandgreenowl.tumblr.com via Beth on Pinterest

a saturday afternoon picnik #4

There is something I've only just discovered on picnik this week!
curves
It's amazing! you'll just have to play around with it!

It is an advanced effect that allows you to fine tune the color balance.
It is found on the "create" tab under "advanced"

I also like to layer my effects for an even bigger overall result!
so before or after playing around with curves you could make your image black and white, sepia, or  do the cross process effect.  whatever you want!  the options are somewhat limitless...

These are all images created using the curves effect...  just dragging the curve and the points around until I liked it. no real strategy.