Sally and her Blue Bird

Once upon a time.....






Sally B and I made a little bird puppet together and then had a sweet little photo shoot. Is she precious or what?

In which Aunt Fabulous pretends to be Martha Stewart

I have always wanted to work on a Martha Stewart Living photo shoot. Every recipe, every craft project, every story about organizing your closet contains pictures that are true works of art. The lighting, the color palette, the props- its all gorgeous.

So the other day I decided to make clay and document it "Martha Stewart Style"! Here's my attempt......

Ingredients:
2 cups of flour
1 cup of water
1.5 cups of salt
1 T of veggie oil
1 egg

Pour the flour, water, salt and oil in a bowl and mix it up!

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface

Start creating your shapes. If you want to make ornaments now is the time to punch your holes... Oh, and now is the time to preheat the oven to about 300

Lay out your creations on a greased cookie tin. Brush each with a little egg wash... I don't really know why, I think its something about being shiny or harder.... (I'm not Martha) Bake for about 30mins or until the are hard and very light brown.

Now you can decorate them any way you choose! I chose to paint mine, and to be perfectly honest, I had more fun setting up my photo shoot than actually painting the shapes. I wasn't terribly impressed with my final product- but I think the pictures look awesome!

So. There you have it- My first attempt at telling a story through photos.

Being unemployed has its perks.

Celebrate your Family

I'm working on a gift for my grandmother- its kinda like a family tree, but not. I don't want to give away the surprise, so I'm not gonna talk about it anymore..... but..... in the course of researching this gift, I ran across some truly fabulous family trees!

Take a look.......

First is my all-time-favorite family tree from my Norman Rockwell book- remember the one I talked about during Thanksgiving? As a child I stared at this picture for hours. I used my finger to trace each branch of the tree, stopping at every couple, imagining their lives together, how they met, where they lived, how they died.... And it tickled me pink every time I made it all the way from the grubby pirate and his dark and mysterious Spanish lady up to the scrubbed and shiny red headed boy.

The next three are all from My Tree and me. Love the colors, love the lines, love the fresh take on the family tree idea..... love it all.

The next two are fabulous because they include pictures!
You can find this one here.

And you can find this one here. By the way, EVERYTHING in this gal's etsy shop is FABULOUS!!! (edit: oh man! I just found out that this print is sold out.... what a bummer. Well, it's still awesome and so is the artist.)

Now, this next piece is a non-traditional family tree. Here you just print the names of all the people in your life, or your child's life, or whoever this little creation is for- and attach those names to the balloons. What a creative way to tell someone," these are the people who lift you up, who make your life bright and cheery, who float around above your head and occasionally loose their helium and start to sink......" well, lets don't take it too literally. Isn't it SOOOOO CUTE? Find it here

Now for a little DIY.... I found these wall decals here , but you can find them all over your world wide interweb. I thought it might be fun to create your own wall art/family tree combo. You could purchase one of these trees (or paint one if you are so inclined) and then add the names of your family members by hand- you could paint them, or find a cool font and print them out.... ooh ooh! and then you could collect small frames and frame each name and "hang" them on the branches of the tree...... I love that idea. Feel free to steal it.

And finally..... click here for a super cute DIY family tree, directions and all. When you finish it should look a little something like this.....

Bye y'all!

All Kinds of Christmassy Up In Here!

Guess who got her camera back from the Geek Squad? MEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! It seems there was a battery problem so the just gave me a new one. I have been steady taking pictures since Saturday- I can't stop. I don't want to stop.

so.

Heres what I've been working on..... lets start with the Christmas Tree:








I made all the paper ornaments ( the birds and "pinwheel balls") and also made the big glitter balls with my sister Sally. The "pinwheel balls" are my favorite cause they pack alot of punch for how easy they are. And its a fun way to use old Christmas cards from years past that you couldn't bear to throw away..... (or is that just me? I can't bear to throw out any piece of paper that has a nice pattern or color, or a picture of a loved one!) I think this is my best tree so far. (and NO Clarke, I am not struggling with humility here. I didn't say it was one of THE best trees, I said it was one of MY best trees.... but now that you mention it, it could very well be one of THE best trees....)


Also.

I have been furiously crafting- having the time of my life- and wanted to give a little sneak peek....




Just in case the recipients of these craftings are visiting my blog, I don't want to spoil the surprise so thats all ya get for now.

I am so darn glad to have my camera back- can you tell?

A little on the Crafty Side.....

I may have mentioned this before, but I have the best in-laws a girl could asked for. This Thanksgiving was spent getting to know my mother-in-laws side of the family a little better and I had such a FABULOUS time! Aunt Linda (mom Williams' sister) is accomplished at all kinds of handwork- crochet, knit, sewing. For example, take a look at the gorgeous curtains she crocheted....



But I found out Aunt Linda also renovated her basement-turned it into a game room. And most recently she redid her bathroom, re-tiled, built an "open shower" ALL BY HERSELF. She has her own wood working shop in the basement with BIG saws, and nail guns, and caulk... I am jealous and she is amazing.

One of my most favorite surprises was finally meeting Uncle Hank, who is married to Mom Williams' baby sister Gene. Hank is pictured below on the porch of a little cottage he built for himself. Its a tool shed, a craft shop, a hangout and so much more. Hank calls it "Margaritaville"

I told Uncle Hank I was making a mobile to give to my Goddaughter Wynne, and he showed me the mobile he is making for one of the new babies at his church... I mean really? Coincidence? Perhaps. Solid proof that I married into the right family? Oh yes. Below are pieces of his mobile- fabulous little dragonflies and a gorgeous branch from which they will dangle. LOVE IT.


My favorite part of Margaritaville are the green doors. And yes, it does say "What would Jimmy Buffet do?" above the doorway. Look closely and you can see Hank has hung all different types of keys on the door frame. See, its the little touches that make me love this so much. Like the license that says "2 Chill".... Hank has a licence to chill....and chill he does.








Aunt Gene is also a force to be reckoned with. The pics below were taken in her sewing room. She works as a seamstress for an interior decorator and she has every color and kind of thread known to man, an industrial sewing machine, a serger, and a hemming machine... I want to sit in Gene's sewing room for a week and just watch her work. I should have taken more pics of the actual room, but I was mesmerized by this little contraption that Hank made. Its a "bench" for all Gene's bobbins- a "bobbin bench"- and the "seat" is lined with magnets so the little bobbins wont' go rolling around. Its brilliant. And very photogenic :)





And here are more pics of the table cloth that covered the "kids table" this Thanksgiving- I am crazy about it!


I was delighted to finally meet everyone on Mom Williams' side, and doubly delighted to find out how much we all had in common. Life is like that, isnt' it? Full of surprises and hidden treasures, if you just open your eyes, open your heart, and have faith.