So many projects, so little time....

Today was a very busy work day.  I traversed several hundred miles, all told, in addition to teaching a bit and doing some prep work.  But the whole day I just wanted to get home, hoping that I would make it home before my energy was used up.  I want to do craft projects!  Tonight, sadly, was not the night -- I got home, made a bit of dinner, and was too tired for a fun project.  The upside?  I get to spend more time thinking about my next art/craft projects!

So far, this is what's on the list:

• lamp re-do
• chair re-do
• easy skirt
• t-shirt quilt
• fabric globes
• Mod Podge coasters
• some sort of art with trees/birds ("Put a bird on it!")

Last night I was thinking that I need to add to that list.  Every evening, Honey and I have wine with dinner.  Wine is a passion -- we love to drink it, love to brew it.  This past harvest (2010), I helped haul in over 3,000 pounds of grapes to make God-only-knows how many cases of wine.  That leaves me wondering: what should I do with all the old cork?  Surely there must be some sort of creative project!  I've seen a few ideas that appeal to me:

• cork trivet
• cork bath mat (which I would probably see about turning into some sort of cork back porch mat)

Anyone have other/better ideas?  I'm looking for something that is more Martha Stewart/Pottery Barn than Average Two Year Old/I Just Went Dumpster Diving.

And to my family, I am just going to preempt you right now and say this: "Put a bird on it!' does not solve this particular dilemma.

Thank you.

Yay for followers and blog-friends!

I was just telling Honey this evening that I want to welcome new followers publicly, in a blog post, but in order to keep it manageable, I'll post something every time my following doubles, so from one to two, two to four, four to eight, and so on. Well, I am please to announce that Educator's Soliloquy has reached eight public followers!  YAY!!!!  So welcome Shiree, Christina, Katie, Jennifer, Jeana, Melanie, Debbie, and Nicole.  I am so glad you're here! And welcome to those of you (my siblings, *ahem!*) who follow but not officially.  You are all appreciated.

I think that I may take the suggestion of other bloggers and have some sort of giveaway when I reach a certain number of followers...but that's still in thought-process.  Anyone have any suggestions about this?

And while I'm asking for opinions/suggestions/advice, I have another question. I've been pondering whether I should add a page to this blog and make it a place to post at least the first chapter of my novel.  I have somewhere around 16 short chapters right now, but it's not even half-way done. I've put it aside for months in order to concentrate on work and school, but I am hoping to pick it up again soon.  I do love my characters. And of course I love to write.

Good Will + $5 = A Day of Fun

Earlier in the week while I was out running errands I decided to stop by Good Will to see if I could find a bit of inspiration for Saturday's Artist's Date.  I set a $5 limit, as I usually do when searching for craft projects, and happily began searching.  Here is what I found:

An old frame, a bunch of flowers, a small wooden plaque, and a tray covered in candle wax.  Score! A whole bunch of projects for $5!

I started with the wooden plaque, knowing that I was just going to paint a bit and then use it as a frame by attaching a picture with Mod Podge.

Before

After

It works. Now I just need to drill a hole in the back so that I can actually hang it on the wall and we'll be good to go with this project.

The flowers I just stuck in a vase.  No picture. They are just sitting on a table in my dining room, reminding me that spring is around the corner and I'll be able to have real flowers soon.

I wanted to make a tray out of an old picture frame.  This was not an original idea. My sister has a friend who did this and it looked very nice.  Then I saw someone else in BlogLand do the same thing (I just can't remember where right now), so I've been thinking about this project for a couple weeks.  I dug around in my fabric box to find some material and discovered an old table runner I bought one year at the Dollar Store.  It started disintegrating, of course, and was no good as a table runner but the material could still be used for something, I figured, and I hung on to it.

I went to the garage and grabbed some spray paint, thinking that a dark blue would look nice against the white fabric.  It was about the time that the spray paint started exploding all over my hands that I began to calculate how long I'd had that particular can and realized that since I bought it to make art for a child's room and that child is now 6, I've had that can for over six years.  This is what old spray paint does:

My hands after a solid five minutes of scrubbing

There's no way the paint's coming off the soap dispenser.

I also managed to paint some of the grass in my front yard blue because I didn't have enough newspaper to protect against exploding cans of paint.

Moral of the story: don't use old spray paint.

While I waited for the paint to dry, I cut the fabric for the inside of the tray.

Because I am lazy, I actually just used a few pieces of double-sided tape to hold the fabric in place, knowing that the glass and the wooden frame itself would help keep the whole project together.  And it worked!

The last (completed) project for the day was to take the old, waxy tray and turn it into something usable.  By this point in the day I forgot to take pictures as I went along, so you'll have to imagine.  I scrubbed the tray a bit to see if I could get some of the wax off.  When it was relatively smooth I took it outside and gave it a few coats of (newer) spray paint.  Once the spray paint dried I brought the tray inside and cut a piece of scrapbook paper to fit the bottom and then used Mod Podge to attach and seal it.  I think it turned out rather well!

I started on a few other crafty projects yesterday, but none of them are anywhere close to being done.  This week is pretty busy, so they'll all probably have to wait until next Saturday.

Yesterday as I was crafting I kept thinking about my grandmother and great-grandmother.  They did so love to craft.  I wish that they were still here so that we could craft together.

I linked up here:

I have a button!

Someone asked if I had a button for my blog.  I went into panic mode.  A button?  For my blog?? How could I possibly do that?  I had seen plenty of blogs with their own unique buttons, but the ability to create such a thing myself seemed too far out of reach.

Enter Google and some crafty html-loving bloggers.  I did a search and found a couple people with tutorials on creating a blog button.  The guide that worked best for me was at Oikology 101.  I just have to say thank you.  I've now created my own unique button:



Isn't that fun?

Welcome, followers

Today was a good day. A long day, but good. It started off with work, the kind of work that feels very productive because it's all about helping people. It continued with work, the kind that is necessary but not fun (like grocery shopping), and then more work of the oh-my-God-I-have-people-coming-over-and-I-need-to-clean-the-bathrooms variety. The day ended with the monthly family dinners that we host, and for the first time in months I felt satisfied with the evening's experience.

At the end of the long day I decided that I wasn't really planning on blogging, but I just couldn't stay away from checking stats in blog-land. Imagine my delight to realize that membership in Followersville has increased! I'm now up to four public followers, which to me sounds incredible considering I started with zero on the first day of this year. Yay for new people! And welcome, new people!

In honor of the increased followership, I thought about looking for quotes that were appropriate. That was more easy thought than done. I did find this quote by Dwight D. Eisenhawer that was interesting:

Humility must always be the portion of any man who receives acclaim earned in the blood of his followers and the sacrifices of his friends. 

Then I decided that talking about blood and sacrifice was probably not the tone that I wanted to set for this post.  I kept looking. And in that search I found one quote that I liked. It is, perhaps, the only time I will ever quote Ralph Nader, so maybe I should circle this date on my calendar.

I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers. 

It is a sentiment that has been stated by more than just one person, so perhaps I will leave it.  All I know is that I have enjoyed my journey through a creative recovery (in process though it may be) so much and I love all the fun projects that are inspired by my fellow writers in BlogsLand that if I can share this experience and get someone else to join in the fun my time will be well-spent.  And even if I can't, it's still a learning experience for me.

Thank you, Followers and Readers.  You brighten my day.