Happy Birthday, Dawn and Valerie!

I can't believe I'm the mom of such awesome young women! I always wanted to be a mom, but having twins was a life-long "gee, it would be neat if..." bonus!

Happy birthday, Dawn and Valerie,

I love you more!

Life Hack

An accidental life hack: I save the scoops from laundry detergent for my crafting and discovered it holds a paint brush perfectly!

England Bound!

These shoes will be walkin' around London, England, soon! I haven't had a lot of time to craft, so that's why my posts have been sparse. I hope my next one will be about all the fun we've had over the pond.

We're all nervous about the plane trip and bus and train rides we're taking (we get motion sickness quite easily), so please keep us in your prayers.

I'M SO EXCITED!

Shrinky Dinks and Julie Nutting Paper Dolls

I had a couple of ideas kickin' around in my head and decided to put them to the test. I stamped a couple of my favorite things on to Shrinky Dink material, colored them in with water color pencils and coated them with Glossy Accents. I put a couple of holes in the London piece because I'm hoping to make a necklace out of it. I need to back it with something white first, not sure if I want to use paper or felt.

I haven't decided what I'm going to do with this pretty pink and blue doll. At first I wanted to make a pin, but now I think it would be better for the cover of one of my Smash Books or maybe even a card.

I'm pretty pleased with the Shrinky Dink pieces, but next time I'll be more careful with the Glossy Accents while it's wet. I laid the DVD remote control on them and had to quickly add another coat so it would dry smooth. There are more bubbles than there should be, but at least they weren't ruined.

The larger Julie Nutting paper doll stamp was cut and then embellished with all sorts of things. I've seen some pretty fabulous outfits on these stamps, so I wanted to try my hand at making a multidimensional version.

I had a piece of parchment paper sitting in my scrap pile and wondered how it would look as a skirt. I cut it into a small rectangle, gathered the top edge and glued it in place. I used clear glue, but it wasn't holding very well, so I added Glossy Accents. That stuff will hold down just about anything!

The bodice is colored with a blue glitter pen. I put tiny pearls in her hair and added a paper flower to her waist.

I also added strips of white ribbon so they would cascade down her skirt.

Underneath the parchment paper there's just a touch of light blue colored pencil along her hem. Her shoes were colored with a blue glitter pen then tiny pearls were added to make them extra fancy.

I like how the parchment looks like fabric. I think I'll use that stuff more often.

I enjoyed making this trio, especially because I was able to try a few things that have been puttering about my virtual list of things to try.

A video version of my kielbasa stuff, fried golden potatoes in olive oil with Kielbasa and sweet onions, topped with cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese. Made in one of my favorite cast iron skillets.

I could fall asleep to that sizzle.

My plan is to make a cookbook for my daughters, so I've been taking photos of my not-gourmet-by-any-means things I cook. I figure after I'm gone they'll be able to recreate some of their favorites instead of lamenting as I did about missing my dad's cooking and having to experiment to get as close as I could to his version of meals I miss. I may as well do a digital version and include videos like this, eh?