Many Hands Make Light Work

Thank goodness there are "many hands" at our house today! This weekend, the city of Rayne is hosting their annual Frog Festival. Our small family business will be out there on Saturday, selling our wares, thanks to my super boss. She was willing to share a booth with us. So after tackling the few tests we have to complete today, our family will be preparing the basket of goodies we will be bringing to the festival. If you are in the area, come check out all our Kittles Family Artworks goodies and the textile goodies from the Sew What! shop.

I used to sell my jewelry under the name Rond Alainn when we were living in Texas but when we moved back to Louisiana, I had to stop. We had to find out all the ins and outs of selling things in Louisiana and we had to make new connections. There was no time to do that immediately since we also had the task of settling into the routine of living in a new place. Our old friends had, of course, moved on and grown in their own paths and made new friends, which meant we had to make new friends, as well. You know how the saying goes: "Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver and the other, gold." There's truth in that saying. I'm happy to say we've kept most of our old friends and made some awesome new ones, adding to "the family we chose."

I can't type too much today but I wanted to share a bit of my excitement about being able to sell our things to the public at a live event. It's been so long since I've done so, that I'll have to dust off all my displays! I've also had to refresh my packaging and supplies, and check through all my tags and pricing... Crazy! Well, what is life but a wild roller coaster ride, eh? Have fun! I intend to do so.

Laugh a lot and remember to breathe!

Recycled Gift Tag Tutorial

Hello again! I've never posted a tutorial with photos before. This is my first attempt. I like playing with my photo apps and this actually gave me another opportunity to do that. I hope you will enjoy the tutorial and find it interesting. You might get a laugh or two out of it, as well!

Homemade Gift Tags
I've been collecting warm beverage sleeves from our trips to the local cafe because I love the texture of the corrugated cardboard. I thought I'd cut them apart and use them in a scrapbook but then I read this post on Colorful Threads of Life blog. My husband drew my attention to the post and I really liked the ideas posted there which included nifty gift wrap ideas using recyclable items. So here's my spin on homemade gift tags.

Supplies Needed
one warm beverage sleeve (will make 3 gift tags)
Scrapbook paper of your choice (scraps will work if they are at least 2.5" square)
Pencil
Scissors
Hole Punch
Eyelets in desired size
Eyelet tool (which comes with most packets of eyelets)
hammer
Sharpie Marker in desired color
Optional Embellishments (i.e., glitter and glue or glitter glue, sparkly mesh fabric, ribbon/string/hemp cord)

Once you have all your supplies together (and you know how all the tools work... :O ), the project goes together pretty quickly.

Step 1:
Cut the warm beverage sleeve into pieces starting at the place where it's been glued together. Mine were perforated so I cut along the glue line and along the perforation there.This opens up the sleeve and allows you to cut all the sections apart.

 I end up with 3 large cards and 2 small cards when the cutting is all done. Set aside the small cards for possible use later. (I'm thinking I'll use mine as two-piece tags, one reading "To:" and the other reading "From:" but I'm sure I'll need smaller eyelets for that.)

Step 2:
Taking one of the large tags from the previous step, use a pencil to trace this shape on the back side of your scrapbook paper. I chose to use Christmas paper because that holiday is fast approaching and I'm nowhere near ready for it!

Step 3:Cut out the shape you just drew on the scrapbook paper. You could also use scrapbooking stencils if you wish to create specific and perfect shapes for your tags. Just be sure the stencil is not too much larger than your tag. Unless you are using cardstock, the paper won't be stiff enough to hold its shape. (For instance, if you want to cut out a star, if the points of the star extend beyond the edge of the cardboard tag, they will bend, ruining the appeal of your tag.)

 If you want some of the textured cardboard to show, cut inside the line you drew. I had to trim away a good bit before I was happy with the result.

Step 4:
Place your scrapbook paper, printed side up, on top of your cardboard tag. Place it where you want it and hold it in one hand. Using the hole punch, punch a hole for the eyelet you wish to use. The eyelets I chose were 3/16" (4 mm) so I was able to use a standard single-hole punch. 

Step 5:The eyelet tool that comes with eyelets used in sewing has two parts: a thick, round disk with a bit of a groove in the top which the eyelet front will sit in; and a round cylindrical piece which is flat on one end and has a rounded and recessed point on the other. (I chose to use 2-piece eyelets which means they will have a back piece. They seem to have a smoother finish and are less likely to end up with rough edges.)

 Using the eyelet tool that came with my eyelets, I placed the top part of the eyelet face-down onto the round disk. This is important! Be sure the part of the eyelet you want to show is facing down on top of the round disk! If you don't place your eyelet into the tool correctly, it will not hammer into place correctly and you'll end up with sharp ragged bits of metal that look terrible and present a bit of a hazard. (Ask me how I know...)  Place the top part of the eyelet face-down onto the disc part of the tool. Place the scrapbook paper (face down) and cardboard tag (corrugated side down) on top of the eyelet, lining up the holes over the eyelet. You should see a metal tube rising above your paper pieces. Next, place the back piece of your eyelet over the paper and tube end of the top eyelet piece, lining up the holes. Be sure the rounded edge is facing up. Using the long cylinder, place the rounded point into the hole and gently pound the flat end with a hammer until the eyelet is locked in place. Be sure not to hammer too long, or your paper pieces will wrinkle.

Step 6:
Remove your tag from the tool...or your tools from the tag. Essentially, your tag could be used this way without any further embellishment, especially if you like a more rustic design. The Sharpie markers are used to address your gift tags. You can add any other embellishment you like to your tags to dress them up. I used a bit of glue and some superfine glitter on mine. I also used a length of cord (between 6 and 8 inches long) to string through the eyelets in my tags.

Here's is the photo of my finished tags. I have four now because I had four pieces of scrapbook paper I wanted to use. I also like a bit of imperfection in my pieces so I'm not unhappy with the uneven edges or not-quite-perfect shapes I ended up with. I like that all my tags will be unique when I'm done creating them.

 Feel free to share this blog post. Any of the pictures can be clicked on to enlarge them. They are my photos, though, so please keep that in mind. I don't mind if you copy and paste this blog post to a word document for your own personal use. Happy creating! :)

Art and Science

As I mentioned in my last post, we've started a unit study on stars and stargazing. Today we studied a little more about galaxies. I thought it might be fun to let the girls use wire and beads to create an artsy model of a galaxy. This is what we ended up with. Now you can criticize if that makes you happy but we're pretty happy with the end results. :D Hope you enjoy the photos!

Spiral Galaxy and Irregular Galaxy, respectively

 a

Lazy Autumn Evening?

Do you see the question mark? Here's the story behind it.

Today was such a gorgeous day! I could almost forget the fact that today was a Monday. The sun was shining brightly in a cloudless blue sky while a soft, cool breeze tossed the leaves around in the trees and stirred up my hair. I went in to my part time job, not sure what to expect. (I work with some interesting and generally happy folks. I count myself pretty blessed to know them.) Work went on without a hitch and I'm keeping a close eye on myself so that tomorrow is the same. I came home to find most of my dishes washed and my baby goats ready to work on schoolwork. (Well, OK. School is school and if they have to write anything of length, they're generally not too happy about it but they did their work without complaining too much. Kudos to them!) It just so happens we're starting a unit study on Stars and Stargazing this week. We created Sky Journals and they had a blast filling out the first entry while John took some star trail photos. (Speaking of which, if you'd like to see John's photography and talk to him about it, you can find him at J.D. Kittles Wordpress and J.D. Kittles Photography on facebook.) While the girls wrote about what they observed and drew a photo of the observations, I heated up milk for their hot cocoa and prepped my supplies for working on my next project. I managed to get my to do list all checked off and I still don't feel any more tired than on any other day. This is the reason for the question mark. Today really felt like a lazy day but so many tasks were completed! I'm seriously feeling good about that. :) Just wanted to share it with y'all. I haven't been able to post for quite some time. I blog for our business at Kittles Family Artworks 2012 at Wordpress if you think you might be interested in reading those posts. We post at least one a day on that blog. I hope all the links work. Please let me know if they are not. I hope you've enjoyed this post and that you are enjoying the autumn weather (or current seasonal weather) wherever you are.

Laugh a lot! Remember to breathe...

What a week!

It's been a whirlwind week! Our kids just finished up a play this week called "Humpty Dumpty Is Missing". If you've never seen it, it's a hoot! They had a lot of fun and considering there was a cast of 25 children ranging in age from 7-14, not a whole lot of altercations. My son was the oldest and of course, he always knows best so there was bound to be /some/ trouble. Turns out, there was only one kid he had real problems with. And his main beef with this kid was that he held up practices with his bratty behavior and inability (or lack of desire) to memorize his lines. Anyway, thankfully the play was over before any real physical harm was caused, except for this kid stepping on my son's foot. I wonder if he knew my son has an ingrown toenail on that foot. The world may never know. I tried to upload a couple of photos but it's not working for me. Maybe I can load some later.

So all week long, we were rushing to get the kids to the play. Friday night was the last night of the play and tonight we had a birthday party to go to. A friend of ours (we met through the first play we were involved with) had a BIG birthday party for her little girl who turned 3 this year. It was a princess party and all the girls were to dress up as princesses. My two went as Indian (as in the country India) princesses. They were gorgeous! I know. I'm biased. :) They had a lot of fun and really enjoyed being a part of it all. Well, I know it's short but I have to get some sleep. My weekend is almost over before I even began it! LOL Hmmm...and my birthday is coming up soon. I better get started planning something for that...

Hello Again!

Ah, the sun is shining brightly today! There's a breeze blowing billowy clouds across the sky and I have high hopes for my laundry getting fully dried on the line. :) And so I begin my work for the day. It's been a while since I last blogged and I'm hoping for a good blog this time.  I've found myself being quite productive lately.  I've been working on Renaissance costumes for my girls.  Their costumes will match one I recently finished for myself.  (Just a helpful hint-if you wear matching outfits to a big event, it's easier to keep track of your group.  Schools do it all the time now.  I do have to say our matching costumes are much more fun than a simple matching t-shirt.)  Once I'm done with the girls costumes, I'll move on to my menfolk.  I had to make lots of modifications to the pattern I'm using for the girls.  I don't do buttonholes.  I like lacing much better.  Since my bustier has laces /everywhere/, I decided to modify the girls' tops to also use lacing in similar places.  I'm almost finished putting them together and I'll be sure to post photos when they are complete. Once I'm done with the girls' costumes, I'll move on to my menfolk.  They need jerkins or doublets and I haven't decided how I'll accomplish those yet.  I think they need the open sleeve doublet which will show a bit of the shirtsleeve underneath.  That would be most similar to my beribbonned sleeve, I think.  I'm still trying to decide.  I'll also need to buy more supplies in order to accomplish this task.  But I'm so excited to finally be getting it done! Well, I guess I better stop typing so I can go work some more.  I have a long to-do list! :)

Awesome Giveaway From Simply Stacie!

http://simplystacie.net/spring-bling-mystic-pieces-giveaway/#comment-34296 Here's a link to Simply Stacie's blog. She's giving away some Spring Bling! :) Hope you enjoy your visit to her blog and to Mystic Pieces on Etsy. Have fun and good luck!

So Blessed!

I really am so blessed. I didn't feel much like being thankful or joyful at all this morning. But I look back on the things that have happened since I last posted and I can see so many good things. I've met so many new and fabulous people online and it's such a joy to have conversations with them. There aren't so many preconceptions or expectations. You don't have to look or be perfect. You just need to be yourself. What is really upsetting to me is the fact that this is the way it should be when you meet folks face to face. Ah, well. Preconditioned to judge as we are, I guess it can only be helped when you actively try to overcome it. This is something I'm still working on. Having said all that, I love my new online friends and wish them joy and peace where ever they find themselves.

As for blessings at home, I've been working on a sewing project. I finally tackled a bustier that's been cut out for at least two years. I just finished it today. I finished a matching skirt yesterday and cut out a chemise that will be worn under them. I haven't started sewing the chemise yet, but I hope to finish it by the weekend. It's coming out well. I beaded the ribbon sleeves of the bustier. I also beaded the front of the skirt. I love all the embellishments. They are my favorite part of any project! :) I'll post a pic of it before I beaded it. When I get done, I'll post pix of the completed project.


It's been kinda gray today and yesterday. We saw the sun sporadically today. I went to the library and picked up some more Louisiana books. I also snagged a copy of 'The Jewel in the Skull' by Michael Moorcock. I've never read anything of his before...at least, not that I'm aware of. I've read a lot of stuff over the years. LOL We'll see how it goes. I love what I've read so far. He paints a very pretty picture.

Well, it will be time for a new look soon. I've decided to cut my hair short again. I'm thinking about a similar style to the female voiced by Drew Barrymore in Titan A.E. but not sure how that will work with my face shape. (sigh) Trying out a new hairstyle is so stressful. It'll be different though. I'd love to just be able to run my hands through my hair and go in the mornings. If it's not wash and go, I'm not interested. I have better things to do with my time than spend it on my hair. LOL

Last but certainly not least, the local theater group held auditions for a new play a few weeks ago. My husband, who's never done anything of the kind, read and got the lead role! We were there to offer help where it was needed, whether with sets or costumes or whatever. It was so totally unexpected and he's so totally stoked. It's been a really good thing. Now if he can just survive the performance. :) There is a lot of action involved and it's a comedy. I can't wait to see the finished production.

I guess that's about all for right now. As ever, I'll try to post more often but we all know how that's going to go... LOL!

Laugh a Lot!

Time For A Change

I can't keep the same things in the same places for very long unless they are strictly functional. Every now and again, I need a change of scenery. The only room in our house that stays pretty much the same is our music/reading room. I know it sounds grand but it's a pretty humble 12' x 12' room. It doesn't change much because it's the only room that I have been able to decorate exactly like I planned. I said all that to say this: I decided it was time to change the background on my blog.

Have any of you ever gone through the myriad pages of blogger backgrounds at a place like www.pimp-my-profile.com ? It's a time consuming process. Unless you know exactly what you're looking for, plan to spend a couple of hours looking for just the right background. (And if you have dial-up, don't even bother.) I finally figured out it was best to keep a pen and some paper handy to write down the titles I liked and the pages I found them on. Today I listed a total of 11 and went through "I don't know how many" pages to find them. The elements won because it's a simple layout in colors I like and you can see the words. I realized my old background was just too difficult to decipher.

We did have a pretty good weekend. We shared supper with friends on Friday night and had some more friends over to share supper with us on Saturday night. It was nice to be able to do that. Anything that you already enjoy is better if it's shared with a friend, don't you think? I think I might try to do some more scrapbooking today. I have a nasty headache and the weather is chilly and I just want to crash. But if I do that, I won't be able to sleep well tonight. And we have school tomorrow. Hmmm, speaking of school...I need to get lesson plans done and graded work needs to be listed in the book. I guess a woman's work really isn't ever done. :) Talk to you guys later.
Laugh a lot!

It's a Shame!

It's a shame that I have to go 45 minutes away from my home to get a good deal on dadgum groceries. How ridiculous! Gosh I got spoiled in the military... Well, I should specify that I got spoiled in the Air Force. I'm thinking Army folk don't have as many nice cities to live in. The only Army post I'm familiar with is Ft. Polk and it's nothing to get really excited about. Podunk town with nothing to do but go see a movie or go get drunk. When my dh finally got to an Air Force base, we went to Biloxi. Wow! What a pleasant change! Art museums, kid museum, historical sites to visit...all kinds of stuff to do and a home school organization right there on the base. In a way I miss that place but I'll just be thankful for the experience. The people who made it the best for me are gone to other places now and it just wouldn't be the same. Then we moved to San Angelo, TX and I thought we'd gone to the end of the world (and maybe taken a nose dive off the edge, at that). But in general, the people were nice, if not immediately. I mean can you blame people in the civilian world for having the luxury of being able to wait a while to determine a person's character? In the military, if you wait too long, people leave. Then you're left wondering why you waited so long. But anyway, SA had art museums and historical sites and kid activities...a really family centered town. And now we're back where I started from and I'm realizing why I wanted to leave this place in the long ago times of high school. There's stuff to do but you have to drive for an hour to get there! The only high speed internet at our house (and only at our house, mind you) costs an astronomical 89.95 just so you can have the amount of space you need to run all the new web pages using java and all the social sites. Sure, I could do without...I suppose. But once you've had it, it's hard to let go. Not to mention, I'd never be able to keep in touch with all my friends like I do now. At least our town has a library (though it's small and not really up to date...they are just now getting the bar code system going) and a couple of museums. There aren't that many activities for kids though. I just wish there was more that was closer to us. Well, I guess that's enough poor me's for today. It's a rainy day so this may post and it may not. My 89 bucks put to "good" use...