Maybe Monet, But Then Again Maybe Not

This past week has been a good week.  Last Wednesday, my friend, Jill, and I went to Heart to Art.  I purchased a gift certificate the last time I did it.  It had been exactly a year.  We signed up to paint the Maybe Monet painting.  It is so much fun and very relaxing.  It was a very different painting than the one we did last time.  Last time, we painted exclusively with brushes, but this time we painting with sponges and brushes.  Also last time, the instructor told us exactly what to do.  However this time, the instructor told us what to do, but it was much more subjective.  Here is the model painting.

These classes are fun because even if you can't paint or if the only time you've ever painted was once in 40 years, you can still do this.  The instructor gives you step-by-step instructions.
 

Okay so maybe my "poppies" look like I just got a papercut and smeared it on my painting. 

Our paintings.  One of the things I love about taking the class is that you can see everyone's interpretation of the model painting.  Everyone's just a bit different, but the same.

On Thursday, we went swimming.  We thought we'd give daughter's "waterproof" cast a trial run.  She did fine.  No problems.  It took a couple of hours, maybe more, for it to dry out, but did not irritate her while it did.

Thursday was my mom's birthday.  We ate dinner with my mom at my sister, Mistie's house.  After dinner, we went to a scrimmage to see my niece, A, cheer in her first game.  She did great. 

On Saturday, the officer and my daughter had a daddy/daughter date night.  They went to with another daddy/daughter to Chuck E. Cheese, Golden Corral and Pink Swirls (or Pink Squirrels as my daughter likes to call it).

My son and I had a mini mom/son date night.  We ate Chick Fil A (his choice) and then went to Target to get toilet paper.  Glamorous huh?  We ended the evening with frappuccinos at Starbucks. 

I'll end this post with a little craft my daughter made for me.  Made me smile.  Thank you Grandma for helping her.

Girls Night - Heart to Art at Cafe Pranzo

This evening my friend, Mrs. Jill, and I spent the evening painting.  I had purchased a Groupon for two to Heart to Art.  You can go to Heart to Art and choose a picture you would like to paint.  After you choose your painting, you find out what restaurant where you will spend the evening.  We choose "Make Lemonade" at Cafe Pranza. 

When we arrived, Jennifer, the owner of Heart to Art, and Danielle, the instructor were still setting up.  They set up our canvases, paints, brushes, and aprons.  There were about nine women present. 

Danielle starts by telling us how she will do each step.  She has a finished painting of what we are going to paint, a bowl of lemons sitting on a table.  She also has a blank canvas and a dry erase board. For each step, she will show us what to do on the dry erase board.  After that, she paints it on her canvas as we follow along.  

Danielle has us start by painting a red line just below the half way mark of our canvas.  Each step she tells us which brush to use, how wet to have our brush and which paint/paints to use. 

We paint the bottom portion of our canvases reddish.  This will be our tablecloth.  Everyone's red is a little different, depending on how much white they mixed with their red.  

Next we painted our background.  Again everyone's background are different shades of green.  As we are painting, a lot of questions start arising.  "Am I doing this right?"  "Why does mine have lines."  "What blend of colors did you do?" 

Danielle shows us each step.  She is very patient and encouraging.  As we all start to doubt ourselves a bit, she encourages us to not worry about the small things.  It will all work out in the end.  She tells us to blend a little here or add a little here.  Never making us feel like we are horrible job.  Even though it might seem repetitive that she draws what she is going to do on the dry erase board and then paints it on her canvases, it isn't.  It is very helpful.

Danielle has us add our gingham stripes to our tablecloth.  We then as small highlights to the white stripes. 

Oh yeah, somewhere between, we have small breaks to let our paint dry.  Jill and I order some brushutto and garlic bread.  Yummy!!!

Danielle offered to take our picture while we were adding our lemons.  This is where I had to concentrate a little more.  It required more detail and a steadier hand. 

After we painted our lemons, the rest was just adding shading, outlining and detail to our lemons and the bowl.  When we were finished we took a group picture.  Jennifer took our pictures to post on Facebook.  When she posts it, I will add it to this post.  

It was very cool to see everyone's painting.  We all had painting a picture of the same thing, but each picture was different.  Some bowls were large, some bowls were more round.  Some had more lemons, and some had less.  Mrs. Jill and I took a picture together.

I took a picture with Danielle and what our painting is supposed to look like. 

This was such a fun Girl's Night Out.  It was something different to do other than just go out to eat.  Anyone, and I mean anyone can do this.  If I can do it, anyone can.  

Jennifer had Heart to Art loyalty cards.  Paint with them five times, get the sixth time free.  Mrs. Jill and I enjoyed it so much we purchased a gift certificate to do it again.  

Here's my finished painting. 

Valentine's Day treat holder

Okay obviously I am not one of those bloggers who can come up with fancy, cute, titles for their blog posts. I just tell it like I see it.

This past week I went to Target and shopped their Christmas clearance. Since many stores already have Valentine's Day stuff out, it was on my mind. As I shopped the clearance, I found red and white felt heart ornaments. They came in a set of three and they were 70% off, which made them .30! Score!

I had no idea how I was going to use them, but I purchased nine of each color. I was pinning the other day and saw these cute felt envelopes used to hold treats for Valentine's Day. I have a lot of embroidery thread and felt left over from making my daughter felt food.

So I made my version of the treat envelope. I stitched the hearts onto the front (or is that actually the back?) of the envelope. I stitched up the sides and sewed on a button. Since I don't have anything to make a button hole, I just used sewed on a piece of string that will wrap around the button. On the back I stitched my children's name.

I don't know why I am starting so early on this. Probably because if I don't do it now, I will forget about it. Now I just have to put these some place where I won't lose them and where I won't forget where I put them. Tricky, Tricky!

Memory Jar

I was on fire last night with the blogging. It was nice. Once I sat down the blog, it was easy. I guess it's just finding the time to do it. When I started I knew I would write the Randomness post, but had no idea what else I would write about. I looked back at my memory card in my camera and saw pictures from November and I started to remember the things I wanted to write about.

Last night, I also spent a little time making a Memory Jar. I found the idea on Pinterest. Yeah, just get used to hearing about Pinterest. They had a plain mason jar filled with paper.

I wanted to add a little to my jar so I went to Hobby Lobby, armed with my 40% off coupon, and purchased a jar, stickers and matching ribbons. The jar only cost around $2.49. The stickers $1.99 (they are 40% this week at Hobby Lobby). The ribbon was the most expensive at $4.99.

Throughout this year, 2012, we will write down any great memories on a piece of paper and put it in the jar. I hope to continue to do this for a couple of years at least. I think it will be a lot of fun to read them at the end of the year and remember all the fun times we've had together.

I'm sure the officer will put a memory slip in for today. He's excited because when he left for work this morning, he found the Three Stooges on tv. He used to watch it every Friday night with the kids, but for some reason they stopped airing it. The kids loved watching it with him. I don't enjoy slapstick comedy like that, so it's just something the officer and the kids do together. The officer started recording Three Stooges before he left for work and it's still going. That's about 4 hours of Three Stooges recorded so far. That's about 3 hours and 58 minutes too long for me! :)

Good times.

DIY Coasters

I made a craft, thanks to Pinterest! :)
It's a fairly inexpensive craft to make with so many possibilities. I made coasters.
Here the are items you need:
3x3 coaster (or whatever size you like) from Home Depot (.16 each)
Mod Podge (my new favorite item $4.99 for an 8 oz. bottle )
Scrapbook paper (often found on sale at Hobby Lobby)
Sponge brushes (4 pk. .99 @ Hobby Lobby)
Small felt pads (75 ct. for $2.95)
Credit card (used for smoothing down the paper onto your tile)
Instructions:
1. Trace an outline of the coasters on the back of the scrapbook paper. Since it's a square, you can't mess it up!
2. Wipes off your tile so it's nice and clean. Brush Mod Podge over the tile.
3. Lay the scrapbook paper on top of the tile and smooth down with the credit card to get all the air bubbles out.
4. Let it sit for a couple of minutes.
5. Go over the top of the tile and sides of the tile with Mod Podge to seal it.
6. Let sit for 15 minutes and then go over it again. You can do several layers.
7. You can use a Clear Acrylic Top Coat to seal it if you want.
and
Viola!
I actually made the "K" first and did not go over it with the credit card to smooth it out. I can see air bubbles in it. It's not bothering me.

It's not bothering me at all...... much.

more deliciousness

i am finally taking the pictures of the rest of the felt food i have made. i am still in the process of making more, but i decided to go ahead and give them to my daughter this morning. she loves it.

i made a waffle, but i decided to make 2 pancakes with syrup and butter too.

fried eggs and two slices of bacon

cinnamon roll (mini)

i do want to make a bagel with cream cheese. i need more breakfast ideas. any suggestions.

kimbobs (which you've already seen) and an egg roll

hamburger patty

cheeseburger and french fries (yeah it's driving me nuts that this picture is sideways, and i'm sure when i have more time, i will come back and fix it.)

pita sandwich (used from the sandwich stuff i made earlier), doritos, carrot, and pickle

farfalle and penne pasta (need to make more, wasn't enough for a meal even for my daughter)

deviled egg

saltine cracker and cheese

strawberry, cherry and supposed to be a wedge of an orange (didn't turn out so great)

heart shaped sugar cookie

slice of cherry pie

pink (which you've seen before) and blue cupcakethere you have it.