Shoe Art

I found these paper mache shoes on clearance for 50 cents each. Now that 

is a bargain!  I love doing swaps and little crafty gifts and thought these shoes decorated would make great containers for all sorts of small craft goodies to share.

I decorated this one with my craft buddy Martha in mind.  It has images that reflect things we have in common and our individual interests.  The angel-in-a-heart embellishment on the lid I made from UTEE, a bit of clip art, and some micro beads.  I laid the beads and trimmed clipart in the bottom of a silicon heart-shaped petifore baking pan.  I poured a bit of melted UTEE on top and voila!  I made a bunch of these little heart-shaped embellishments.  They are fun. 

Inside the lid is a "mirror" made of UTEE.  There are no pictures of that little jewel here as that surprise is left for the recipient.  

I then filled the decorated shoe with various fun craft goodies and sent it on to its new home.  I hope she delights in it as much as I delighted in making it.

Kay

Redneck Pool

It is heating up here in South Mississippi.  Thoughts turn to pool time.  

We have had little luck with the preformed and blow-up pools sold for kiddies.  So, we converted this horse waterer we had on hand to a pool.  

It is fun and tough enough to take lots of play.  It is easy to empty after each pool party because it is stiff and I can just tump it over.

The kids love it.  And, I love it because it works!

Kay

More Letter Book Fun

I resorted to my old binding habits for this beauty.  I just punched a couple holes along the spine and used some embroidery thread to bind the pages and cover together.

The cover is a sample of the K and Company's Que Sera Sera paper line.  I love this stuff!  The wings were stamped on another odd piece of paper from the same line and embossed with gold embossing powder.  The lady is a piece of clipart from, I believe, a Dover collection.

I added the word "imagine" to give it a theme.  It was simple, but tied together beautifully.

Create and Share Journal:  Text Overstamping

This is definetly not a Kay Original.  However, I just have discovered how fun and effective it is to do.  Use any stamp with substantial negative space and stamp over some text.  It adds dimension and additional interest to an image.  Think of all the possibilities!  

I am a book lover, and have found it very hard to overcome my book reverence and tear up a book.  But, I also know tons of old books go through my local thrift store alone.  There are volumes and volumes of old encyclopedias that no one wants.  Give them a new use and yank some pages to create something fun.

As a two-for-one offer, this page has another technique on it.  I took a coin envelope and stamped a swirly on it.  I then cut along the swirly to make a pocket.  Inside the pocket, I stuck several images I had made by overstamping text as a sampling of the featured technique.  I am excited about this little half-envie idea.  I think it will be a fun way to include ATCs on a page in another book I am planning to do.

Kay

Potting Bench

My lovely husband bought me a good and proper potting bench several years ago.  Fancy wouldn't be too much of a word to use to describe it.  But, I cannot bare to bring it out on the porch and let it endure the elements.  So, I concocted this little potting bench on my own.

My favorite building material is cinder block.  Either I didn't get enough of playing with blocks when I was a kid or not nearly enough.  I love using cinder blocks to make a compost pile, a raised bed, legs for my plant display benches..and now a potting bench!  

The top is a wire grate from an old chick incubator.  I set my potting bench up in the corner of the back porch in the most protected shady part of the patio.  I use the garbage can to hold my potting soil.  It keeps it dry and ant free.  There are a few spare clay pots stacked nearby so they are at the ready for a quick potting job.  You never know when there may be a potting emergency.

The grating and its proximity to the wall make it easy to clean up after potting.  I can wash it all down with a water hose and keep the back porch tidy.

If you like potted plants and don't already have a bench, I encourage you to "build" you one today.  Every piece of it was salvaged!  

Kay

Create and Share Journal:  Mistress of Half the World

This title really got me tickled.  I clipped this blurb from an old encyclopedia I have.  According to this aged volume, Spain was once "mistress of half the world."  I granted the title to this beauty cut from a wallpaper piece.  

What you really cannot appreciate from the photo is the depth of the background.  I made a mix of gel medium, plum acrylic paint, and gold acrylic paint and slathered it on.  It is subtle and effective.  The swirls are various stamps from my collection stamped on with black ink.  I find that dye based ink won't dry over gel medium.  But, the ink I used for the swirls is from an Office Depot inkpad.  I don't know what is in that ink, but it has some stick-to-it-iveness.

Kay