Arts and Cwaps! :D .. Silhouettes.

We've been crafting maniacs lately! ...I'm not sure where my motivation is coming from but I'm going to run with it until I wear myself out!! I have finally realised that this is who I am.... I will throw myself into something wholeheartedly.... and then suddenly something else shiny will catch my eye and I'll throw myself into THAT.... then THIS... then THAT... eventually I come back around to whatever I was enjoying the first time, but it must make my friends and family bonkers!! "I love ALL ethnic things!!" " I will only wear clothes made in Italy!" " I love to wear sports and fitness gear!" " I will only wear skirts from now on!" " I have too many clothes!" " I have nothing to wear!" ..... all things I have said.
"I will no longer eat meat!" " I will only eat fish!" " I will only eat Raw foods!" "I am vegan!" " I need a cheeseburger!" **sigh**
" I love rubber stamping!!" " I am going to scrapbook our entire lives!!" "I am going to sew all our clothes!" "I will make all our bedding!" " I will sew our curtains!" "I'm going to make candles!" " I love to knit! Latchhook! Crochet! Weave! Felt! Quilt! Paint! Bead! Draw! Oils! Watercolors! Pastels! " "I want a potter's wheel!" "I wonder who would take the Potter's Wheel?" **more sighing!**
"I'm going to write a book!" "I'm going to be a journalist!" " I'm going to blog EVERY DAY!" "I'm going to write and article every day!" "I'm going to go to Boot Camp EVERY DAY!" "I'm going to go for a run ! ride my bike! work out to DVD's! do yoga! meditate! EVERY DAY!" "I'm going to do the laundry every day! " "I'm going to clean the toilets, wipe off the sinks and wash the mirrors..... every day!" " I'm going to make the beds...... every day!!!" ..........

Wow!! Even I get sick of myself!! ;D So anyway, what I'm getting at is, though I'm thrilled to find myself in the crafting cycle of my life once again, I am going to make the most of it knowing it's very fleeting!! Maybe I'll get some of my (really?? You have unfinished projects?!?! ) unfinished projects finished off...!!

Today we made silhouettes of the kids!! ;D I've always ALWAYS wanted to try this and was intimidated thinking it would be really hard... BUT it's not!! I'm here to tell you it's a cinch!! :D

Here's how we did it! ;D

First have your subject stand in profile and take their photo.







Then you print out the pics (it's easier in black and white ) and carefully cut around the profile making sure to keep in the sticking up hair etc!




Place that cut out on some black paper or card and cut around it again... carefully! Place your silhouette against some nice colourful background paper...





And there you have it!! Easy and awesome silhouettes!!! Now, be warned... I have since taken profile pics of the dogs and cats.... it's a liiiiittle bit addictive!!

Happy 4th Folks! ; D

We had an absolutely lovely 4th today! The kids and I started out making crafts by painting watercolor fireworks onto water soaked paper. It was so pretty and fun.... we made loads!! After that, in the spirit of liberation from tyranny, I chose to fold all four baskets of laundry that had been sitting in my living room!! Huzzah!!! ;D It was pouring with rain today... all day long from the moment we woke up .... we were mildly concerned about the firework display tonight but doubted it would rain all the way through to 10 pm..... anyway, with the rain and such it got pretty humid outside, 90% !! We spent much of the morning inside. I had a bit of a headache after lunch so went to take a lovely nap whilst the rest of the gang watched 7 Brides for 7 Brothers! Soon Jack turned up in my room and he and I slept for an hour. Actually I should say I slept for an hour and it was all I could do to wake the poor little guy up !!! He wanted to help me make S'mores on a stick so I couldn't let him keep sleeping... but still ... he was tough to wake!! We made our delicious S'mores, then moved on to making our Fruit Flag Pizza. Whilst the cookie dough cooled Rex took us to the local Kiwanis firework stand and we picked out some fun fireworks... some for the day time and some for when it got dark.

When we got home I set the kiddoes to work slicing fruit... Jack got bananas and Jessie the strawberries. We use a drinking straw to hull the strawberries by the way..... I think my friend Diana showed me how to do that and it's sooo quick and easy! You just poke a straw from the bottom of the strawberry up through the top and Voila, the hull pops right out !! You can thank me later! ;D LOL!! So they sliced and then they layered. It looked awesome.

We went outside and lit the fireworks..... FUN!! The children love the smoke bombs and the parachute fireworks of course! This is the first year that Jack didn't have his fingers jammed in his ears the whole time....in fact he used to stand INSIDE the house with his headphones on!! BIG strides!! :D

After the fireworks we finished off preparing the last of dinner, a pasta salad and cool watermelon stars.... Rex lit the grill and cooked some lovely sausages and a vegan DELICIOUS sausage for me ( Apple and Sage...!! ) ... we set up a table outside with my checked white and red picnic blanket on top and we had ourselves a wonderful picnic whilst watching the displays put on by the neighbors!! At one point I went over the street and delivered some Smores to the neighbors.... I knew I'd only eat them all otherwise!! ;D

Once it grew dark we lit the remainder of our fireworks and the kids played with sparklers.... Jessie was scared and it took her a while to get over it, but she eventually realised how much fun it was! :D At around 10 pm our local city fireworks began.... we can see them well from our driveway though can't hear the huge BOOMS.... I sort of like the boom, but it was handy to not have to leave home!!! The kids grew antsy and tired before the show was over and both of them ASKED to go to bed. I was hardly about to argue so we went up and I put them in bed. All in all I think we had an absolutely lovely day!!!

Once again, photos on Facebook guys.... sorry about that......!!
Click here for photos....

I hope you had a lovely 4th too!!; D

Night all, from the land of the free and the home of the brave.