PagesPat's Ponderings

Monday, January 18, 2021

Playing with your Food

My girlfriend and I make a monthly trip together to our favorite thrift store. It's about a 45 minute drive and we take one car so that we can catch up on our lives. Because once we get in the store, we usually don't see each other until it's time to sort though our carts and make final decisions.

Last time we went, she found a set of salad tools - a wooden fork and spoon with a pineapple topping each. While the price was under a dollar for the two, she decided not to keep them. So they went into my cart. She asked me what I would do with them, and I told her I was going to give them some character.

I gave them a fresh painting, then used paint markers to draw on a face for each. I remember when I was a kid, my mom had a wooden apple hanging on her kitchen wall. The back of it was hollowed out and she put a ball of string in there and it fed through a whole at the bottom of the apple. My Kawaii salad utensils remind me of that apple and all the great family meals we had together. Those memories are especially precious since we just lost mom, especially since that apple didn't make it through the years.
 

Friday, January 15, 2021

I'm Loving the Outlet Covers

 I am really loving the look of my painted/altered light switches and outlet covers. They are a quick craft (except for waiting for the paint and varnish to dry). Today I'm showing you 2 kitchen outlet covers that I created over the last two days. Above, I painted a background and used my last remaining fish stickers. I used a white paint marker to create the bubbles and highlights.
Below, I used Mod Podge and some handmade paper for the back ground, then painted a nice chunk of cheese. I had some House Mouse stickers which worked perfectly.
By the time restrictions are lifted due to COVID, my outlet covers and switch plates should all be altered or hand-painted!! Meanwhile, I have a new sewing machine and a bed quilt to finish. All I have to do is open the box and read the instructions and watch the YouTube tutorials. (Since COVID restrictions, the free classes when you buy a machine are NOT available. Wish me luck!!

Thursday, January 14, 2021

Trying Something Different


 Last month I received a 2021 calendar from my lawyer. It's the National Day calendar. Every day has a "national celebration" from January 1st through December 31st. Last week there was a "Plastic Straw" Day. I got this crazy idea to get inspired by the different daily celebrations and see how may crafts I can create for those days.

I rummages through my drawers and gathered up all my plastic straws. After all, I should be using paper or metal straws to lessen my ecological footprint. I also emptied (with the help of my daughter) a can of carrots that I found in the back of my pantry. First things first: I hot glued all the straws I could find. To keep my creation from looking like a kindergarten project, I spray  painted my can with Gold paint. Now I have a nice container to place my paint brushes to dry after I wash them.

P.S. (I even cut the creased parts of the straws and glued them to the top for a "rim"). I've got to check out what's next on that calendar. You never know where inspiration will strike...

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Running Out of Things to Paint/Alter...

 

I was watching A You Tube video featuring Mariah Elizabeth. She's funny, and loves to revamp squishies. She also loves to paint and alter pretty much anything. A soul sister!! And some new inspiration for the days when I just can't settle on what I want to do. So I took out my screwdriver and removed a switchplate from the hallway and created this little gem. My daughter keeps reminding me that her spirit animal is a Sloth, so she really likes the new look.
I can't remember if I showed this one yet, but I drew and painted this switchplate first. I love how it has a Disneyesque look to it, and the colors really pop. This one resides in my guest bedroom (formerly called my craft room).
Since my hallway has two light switches, I thought I should alter the other one to make a matched pair, except they don't match (except for the fact that they're both altered/painted). This is my favorite one. Now I'm hunting throughout the house for other switchplates and  outlet covers I can play with.

What's on your desk today?? 

Challenges I am Entering:
2 Crafty Critter Crazies - Anything Goes w/a Critter
Crafty Animals - Anything Goes w/an Animal


Sunday, January 10, 2021

- Holiday Flowers

 Happy New Year! I'm trying to catch upon showing my holiday crafting (I have to: it's one of my New Year's Resolutions). Do you make resolutions every New year? Do you keep them? This year I'm also keeping a list of my artwork, experiments and adventures. That way I can look back on 2021 in December and see how much I accomplished.

I like flowers, but they don't like me -- allergies! That's why I use artificial flowers for all my crafting including those for the holidays. Here I was cleaning out my cabinets and found this clear glass vase. I simply placed holiday greens and flowers in the bowl, and added those Dollar Store glass pebbles to keep them in place. A little baker's twine around the lip of the vase, and the colors really brightened up my kitchen table.

Below, I spray-painted an empty Starbucks bottle from one of their yummy grocery store offerings. After adding a few snowflake stickers to the bottle I added holiday flowers and greens. I glued a piece of lace to the top and now have a compact vase of holiday colors for my desk!!
Lastly, I used a Holiday teapot/mug set to make one more centerpiece. I glued the two pieces together. I almost gave the thin away since I had lost the pot's little cover, but after adding pinecones, flowers and greenery, I'm glad I didn't! 
Here's to a new year, filled with health and happiness and prosperity and creativity!!
 

Saturday, January 9, 2021

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER Holiday Sea Glass Artwork

Well, looks like I dropped the ball with posting my holiday crafting every day. My sister came in from where she lives in Germany and we had a nice visit. She and my other sister and I lost our mom in the Fall of 2020,so we have been very busy cleaning out her house. She had lived with my sister for over 5 years, but nothing was done with or to her own home, which is at least in the same neighborhood. It is an ongoing chore, as she was a hoarder, and there are a lot of memories while sifting and sorting through the rooms.
Since I had many other holiday projects created, I felt it was better late than never, so today I'm showing off two sea glass pieces of artwork. The one above uses a Brie cheese container. I glued the bottom and top together and painted it before using a bit of Decosse's Dynamite Doodles designer paper. I like to have a background for my sea glass and pebble creations.  I finished it off with a red ribbon and it (was) hanging in my kitchen for the holidays.
This piece uses more paper from Decosse's Dynamite Doodles. I used a wooden frame that originally came from Ikea, but I found several for 99 cents at my local thrift store. I decided to hang this one with my other sea glass and pebble artwork (in my bedroom). It's right next to my beach scene, although the photo below doesn't show all my sea glass projects.
That's it for today. Hope my artwork has inspired you. If you are the kind of person who holds Christmas in your heart and on your craft table all year round, check out the 12 Months of Christmas Link-Up blog for inspiration.