Texas Trip: Bottle Cap Necklaces

There is something so fun about being able to craft with a friend...  For me it takes some of the anxiety out of trying a new project and I love the process of sharing ideas! So when planning the trip to Texas, we decided to make bottle caps necklaces...at first for the kids, but they were so cute we ended up making some for us too! :o)

For the supplies: We saved bottle caps from the last 2 months while waiting in agony for the trip to happen. I wanted to try out Mod Podge Dimensional Magic but all the KC stores were out or had never heard of it. I ended up ordering a 3-D glaze on Ebay and it worked great! The project also called for metal washers and strong craft magnets which I purchased at Walmart. Lyndy had the great idea to check out Joann's trimmings for lengths of nylon in different colors for the necklace. We chose pink for the girls and black for us. The trip was a mad success because Joann's (in Texas anyway) has Mod Podge Dimensional Magic...just in case you were wondering! Before I forget, I also packed up a bunch of cute scrap book paper and stickers for the pendants.

Friday afternoon, once the kids were napping, we pulled out our treasures and made our caps! We put a dab of 3-D glaze in the cap, cut out quarter-sized pieces of paper and embellished with tiny stickers and fixed it to the inside of the cap. After that dried a little, we filled the whole cap with 3-D glaze and set aside to dry. Here's a few of our favorites: 

I think we made over 30 caps!!! It's a bit addicting... I also used super glue to fix the magnet to the washer, allowing some space to thread the nylon necklace through.

The downside of the project is that it took FOREVER for the 3-D glaze to dry. The next day they were still gummy and squishy. However the cute-ness factor completely outweighs this and the girls were thrilled to mix and match caps all day! Honestly, I can't wait to make more!

My Trip to Texas...Therapy, Wisdom, and Sisterhood.

I have a wonderful friend...the kind that some never have in a lifetime. She is really more of a sister to me than a friend and she lives all the way down in Texas.
When I was going through the painful process of growing up, we met and bonded...sometime around 4th grade I think. Anyway, her mom and mine were in a prayer group together. My home life was difficult due to the neediness of two "special needs" children and over-exhausted parents. Her family graciously stepped in and gave me an oasis to retreat to when life got too real. Then one day the decisions were made for her family to move to Texas and mine to Kansas....Oh how we mourned!
We have fought to maintain our sisterhood all these years and somehow beaten all odds! I feel closer to her now more than ever!
Recently my life (and hers, but in different ways) has gone through a major upheaval.  Life has almost been more than I can bear at times, and terrifying too. During the most excruciating period we had already planned for me to come visit her home. Could G-d's timing be more perfect? It was the best therapy I could have ever wished for!

While there, we experimented with a few recipes, crafted into the wee hours, and caught up on a years worth of life drama. I'd like to share some of the fun we had in hopes of holding on to that "sunbeam trip" just a little while longer!

Our daughters are "sister friends" too! :o)

The Guilt-Free Margarita!

Nothing says "summer" quite like sipping a margarita at a barbecue or on the patio at some delicious Mexican Cantina... My mouth is already watering! While I love to indulge once in awhile, on the tangy, chilled concoction, the consequences to my waistline are almost not worth it! While at a Weight Watcher's meeting a couple of years ago, I lamented over the points of this yummy summer drink and low and behold, someone brought forth this great recipe! Although it doesn't pack quite the punch of the normal Margarita it is a satisfying alternative! Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you:

The Guilt Free Margarita
Ingredients:
1 can Diet 7-Up or Sprite
1 packet Crystal Light Lemonade Drink Mix
2 tbs lime juice
1.5oz Tequila
15 ice cubes
Directions:
Put all the ingredients into the blender and mix until the ice is crushed to a desired consistency and pour into glasses! According to the old WW points system the entire blender is only 2pts!!!!!
ENJOY!

SUMMER FUN: Our Pool!!!

We all know that baby pools are really no fun for anyone over 3ft tall so when the decision was made to get something the adults could wallow in too, I was beyond excited!!! I didn't want to go too big because water testing, filters, and chemicals kind of seemed like too much work for a couple of toddlers. So I settled on a nice inflatable, rectangle pool with a drain and plenty of room to lounge whilst the yard monkeys splashed around.

We were blissfully happy for the first few days until the water got stinky and the bottom turned a weird, greenish hue. I drained it and hauled it over to the hose to scrub it, rinse it and refill it....Ok that was awful!!!  Maybe the big pools and their filtration systems were on to something?
My salvation came when, on impulse, I ducked into a small pool and hot tub store. The advice I got was to float a small chlorinator device in the pool with a chlorine tablet that lasted for a few weeks. I also purchased a skimmer (not the pole, just the actual skimming-thingy). I float the "chlorinator" at night and take it out before we all get in to play. My solution for dealing with the swarms of suicidal bugs that clog the water every morning was to buy a small tarp that floats on top of the water. Purchasing one that would cover the whole pool and tuck under the sides so it won't blow away, was ridiculously expensive!
We are now enjoying our little oasis very much and the upkeep has been surprisingly minimal now that I've got the few proper tools!

Happy Summer!

When Life Gets in the Way...

Its been such a turbulent series of months that I've had no desire recently, to blog or really share my life with people other than close friends and family. I remembered though that my purpose for starting this blog was to chronicle the many shifts in my life from working mom to stay-at-home goddess...why did I think that only applies to the fun, crafty, sparkly things?
The truth is since I left my business up on the top shelf and plugged into being at home, I've really struggled with losing my identity, trying to find where my self-worth comes from, and loneliness. Lately the pain has been more palpable due to decisions made, that I was not a part of, but drastically affected my life.

There is good news though: I'm reconnecting with the parts of me that I forgot I owned... I actually found my spine a few weeks back (it's been lost for years), and a strength that I've often admired in others but had no idea I even possessed!

I guess I'm writing this all down to remind myself that tucked inside all the recipes, fun ideas, and crafts is still a woman who is carefully picking her way though life and growing up all at the same time. I'm hoping this will be healing and help me get back up on the "blog horse", so to speak.

(re)Purposeful: Mother's Day Edition!

It has been KILLING me not to share this re-vamp with the world but now that my mom is the proud owner of this "once-ugly-little-side-table" I can finally post this without ruining her Mother's Day surprise! WHEW!
So this darling (but slightly hideous) little side table has been in her family for years... in high school she allowed me to spray paint it to match my decor. I think now she realizes that was a mistake because it didn't turn out very good at all. I felt like I should redeem myself (and the ugly table) and use some of the skills I've learned to give her a truly lovely piece she can be proud to display.

I started by sanding it all down to a smooth surface. The spindles were the hardest but I used a flexible sanding sponge which made the work much easier! Then I used spray primer and gave it a thorough coating. I decided to paint the whole thing a semi-gloss black which looked very classy however, the top looked ever so plain... What a great excuse to drag out the Mod Podge!!! Here's the end result:

<----This is the table top

Isn't it sweet? I used a glass knob for the pull and I LOVE how it ties the whole piece together! I just used scrap-booking paper and layered many thin coats of Mod Podge over it to create a seal. (Let each layer dry before adding more!) We had a Mother's Day picnic at a local park tonight and I FINALLY gave it to her!

I love you Mom! Thank you for always supporting my artistic endeavors even when they aren't so stellar.... you're my favourite cheerleader! <3

~Mother's Day Special~

Mother's Day has always been a strange but wonderful holiday for me. I'm a grown-up adopted kid, that one day woke up in this amazing fairy tale where I find out I'm related to sisters I go to church camp with and I suddenly have 11 brothers and sisters of my own! A dream right?
Now that I have my own children the holiday's meaning has deepened incredibly for me. I'm constantly filled with awe for: the woman who didn't give birth to me but loved and raised me as her own...the other woman who tenderly carried me in her womb, knowing that soon she'd have to kiss me (maybe for the only and last time) and give me to a stranger.... the woman who never met me but welcomed me into her family and loved me because her husband/ my birth-dad wanted to be a part of my life when I found out about them 15 yrs ago. Now they all get to kiss, dote on, and spoil my kidlets, their grandchildren!
SO in honor of "My Three Moms" I want to share a couple of Mother's Day crafts that I thought were very sweet!

Hand Print Poem:
This cute idea was done by my friend Monica and posted on Facebook. I asked her permission to share it because it's so very sweet and the poem is just lovely! I think it would be so special to make one every year so you and your child could see how the hand prints grow!

It's a bit hard to read but the poem says:

Sometimes you get discouraged,

Because I am so small

And always leave my fingerprints

On furniture and walls

But everyday I'm growing

I'll be grown some day

And all those tiny fingerprints

Will surely fade away

So here's a little handprint

Just so you can recall

Exactly how my fingers looked

When I was very small

Hand Lilies For Mom:

This is the project myself and lovely assistant, Grace, made with our toddlers yesterday at Synagogue. The moms just LOVED them and it was very easy to make!

We traced their little hands on two different colors of paper and cut them out. I used a pencil to curl the "fingertips" backwards so they curled. Then we rolled the "hands" together and taped the bottoms, putting the lighter colored "hand" in the middle. We used pipe cleaners for the stems and the sprouts in the middle and threaded it through the lilies so they stayed together! It was really easy and they looked mah-velous!

I found this picture on the internet..we made our the same way only we double the flowers so the lilies looked fuller.
*UPDATE: My wonderful assistant Grace sent me the picture we took of our "hand lilies bouquet"! Here's how ours came out!

Happy Mother's Day to you all and especially to my three moms who I treasure and absolutely adore! <3
(Oh and stay tuned for the Mother's Day gift I made for my mom, I can't post it yet because it goes directly to her email and I don't want to spoil the surprise!!!)