Rock Painting!

Do you like picking up cool or interesting rocks wherever you go? 

How many of you have kids with a rock collection on their dressers or bookshelves?

Well today is your day friends!  September 16th is National Collect Rocks Day ...(Ok seriously, who comes up with this stuff?)

Now I like to collect rocks as much as the next person, and when we cleaned out our house before moving we have no less than 487 tons of rocks in various bags, boxes and other collection forms around our house. some were from vacations. Some were from the "mine for precious gems" tourist trap places. Some were from kids school when Diamond Dave would come and they would get a bag of rocks.

But you know what rock activity has become popular the past few years? Rock painting.  

You paint rocks with various acrylic paints, paint pens etc, and then when they dry you hide them in various places like parks, flower beds etc hoping others will find them.  Some people will put a facebook group  site on the rock, and when it is found people will take a picture and upload it to that FB site.  Pretty cool.  It is amazing how an easy, family friendly and artistic activity can make people so happy!

Here is a great introduction to Rockpainting 101 video from youtube.  

New to Rock Painting? Here are some really artistic things you can do with rock painting! Beginner to advanced!

Lets Make a hat!

 So I am all for the weird holidays!  Drink your water day, make your bed day, wear mascara day (not sure if any of these are actually real holidays)  

Well today is no different. It's September 15th which means It's Make a hat day!!  This can be a fun hat for kids, a serious hat, a paper hat or even a service project hat.

A few months ago during the lockdown I was looking for something to do to combat boredom and to also be of service.  I found a local organization that provides crochet or knit hats and blankets to preemies, so I followed their directions and ended up crocheting 80 little preemie hats!!  It was such a great experience for me to be able to use my skills and also help the little babies who need the extra layers. I ended up donating these to Preemies of the Carolinas, (it was a project I had found through justserve.org.)

SO are we ready to make a hat??  I have rounded up a few cool hat making tutorials for your hat making pleasure!

we will start of easy with the ubiquitous newspaper hat!!  I remember back in the day when we would do a play at school about George Washington or Paul Revere etc, we would make the hats out of newpaper, then pain and decorate.  Easy peasy.  

Easy newspaper hat from instructables.com

Got a lot of cardstock and fun things on hand to decorate with? These patterns are perfect for kids who want to create. A variety of templates to cut out , color and bling out.

Paper cutout hats from firstpalette.com

Okay seriously, HOW CUTE ARE THESE?? If you are like me then you have an entire rubbermade giant tote filled with fabric and fabric squares and fat quarters just waiting for a project to be used on!  

Easy Fabric Covered Party Hats by Brendid.com

These ADORABLE  mini halloween top hats are PERFECT!!  These patterns  come as a digital download for members of happythought . 

Halloween top hats from happythought.co.uk

Ok my ovaries are screaming at me just looking at these sweet little hats (SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!)  Soft knit fabric scraps and a little yarn for an adorable pom pom and you have the perfect gift for a baby shower!

Adorable baby hats by madeeveryday.com

Feeling adventurous with yarn and hook?  

10 crochet beanie hat patterns from theSprucecrafts.com

Most people think that if you can crochet then you can knit. I have found this to be a patently false rumor!!  I am not going to lie and say that I can knit...because I cant.  I am a very basic beginner, and my hands are clumsy and I am all thumbs...BUT I can loom knit!  This was the greatest invention. If you can wrap yarn around pegs, you can knit a hat!

Loom knit hat intructions  by dreamalittlebigger.com

 When you think of crazy hats, what comes to mind. For me it is the Kentucky Derby.  Need a hat for a derby party? Check out an easy hat making tutorial.  Kentucky Derby Hat by Jennifermartinovici.typepadcom

Or if you are looking for more KY derby hat inspirations, head over to hative.com for 30 of the funnest derby hats around!

So what will YOU make today??

I WILL be crafty this week!

So I have a joyful find at the fabric store this week. This little beauty to the left. A crisp white cotton with beautiful turquoise blooms and brown stems and leaves. Very cool, yet almost retro looking, My gandmother had fabric kind of like this back in the 70's. She had a pillow made of something fairly similar as I recall.

I was at my local fabric store, taking advantage of the 50% off quilting fabrics when I stumpled across this sweet little guy sitting in the remnants pile. How no one had bought him in the past 6 months is beyond me. There is a full yard and a half + of this remnant. So his original starting price was $10.99. Then he was reduced to $7.99. Then slashed again some time later to $4.99.

Yesterday, when I snatched him from his life of lonliness, he was reduced to a pitiful 1.29.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? $1.29 for this gorgeous piece of fabric?? I picked him up, dusted him off, gave him a hug and a squeeze, and named him "Old Blue".

He is now sitting in my pile of fabrics, happy and content with his millions of brothers and sisters, all contemplating when exactly they will be used to their full potential, instead of sitting around in their bins screaming "pick me! pick me!" everytime I walk by..

I have decided to use Old Blue first. This week my goal is to make Old Blue into something useful and beautiful-A simple totebag. A large sac base with two sturdy handles. Something I can take to the market, take to church, the beach or the pool. I am very much looking forward to carrying Old Blue around with me wherever I go. He makes me happy. His blooms never wilt, and he is always glad to see me.

So my goal: I WILL be crafty this week. I WILL use Old Blue for something useful so I have less mouths to feed in my fabric drawer. Too bad I cant claim Child Tax credits for all my babies!