Palm Trees and Some Sort of Greenery

Next step.... Palm Trees. 

Now these are just the background palm trees, mind you, but I thought that they turned out pretty cool.   I checked out my Donna Dewberry books before I started to give myself a refresher in palm tree painting.  Just like I thought I remembered!

Stems?  Trunks?  Whatever you call the bottom of palm trees.

Now we have some leaves or branches or maybe they are palm fronds?  Whatever!  The green things at the top.

The trees on the other side.  See how they are nicely covering up the funky shrubs.

 Some little palm trees back there on that hill in front of the volcano.

Some sort of foliage growing around the waterfall.



Next we will get to the 3-D stuff. 

I promise. 

Can't wait to show you the waterfall!  I wish I had taken some pics of the thing in progress.  If anyone wants to know how I did it, it will really prove the point about a picture being worth a thousand words.

A Waterfall and a Volcano

Next on the list for foofifying the Children's Church is the backdrop for all of the 3-D stuff.  So.... a little paint and a little time go a long way.

The waterfall and a lovely shrub.  OK, the shrub is a little odd looking, but it will be mostly hidden.



The volcano still needs some smoke and lava.  Just a teeny bit of erupting!

Palm trees are next on the list.

Where the Heck Have I been?

A tropical island, of course!

OK, so not really, but I have been spending a great deal of time creating one for the Children's Church room at my pastor's pastor's church an hour and a half away.

He wants a tropical island and a real pirate ship that the kids can climb on with a slide and a puppet stage! 

A man with a vision. 

Makes my heart go pitter patter, I tell ya!

It started out as a great big room (when I say big, I mean a 40X40 foot room with a stage and a sink and counter) with pretty, puffy white clouds painted all over.  While the clouds were beautiful, they just weren't as animated as I imagined that they should be.

I took purple and blue paint and a sponge and added some dimension to them.  After two days on a scaffold sponging and foofing and glittering, we had some pretty nifty clouds.

That was the first step among many!  But next, I had to go SHOPPING!  Oh, Happy Day!  Shopping at craft stores to create a whole tropical island pirate hide-away. 

Think palm trees and parrots and treasure chests and monkeys and waterfalls and...

Can't wait, can you?  I'll show you some more tomorrow!

What To Do With A Worn Out Down Comforter

I had two, count 'em, two, ragged out down comforters that were losing feathers like a goose in a tornado.  Being such a cheap frugal person, I couldn't just throw them away.  Anyway, the dog loved laying on them.  (I think she goes for the high thread count stuff, too.)  But the feathers were driving me nuts!



Definitely 800 thread count.  I can smell the quality!



I decided to make the dog a pillow.  'Cause she is the princess dog, ya know.

I took a piece of an old sheet and sewed it into a rectangle, folded the comforter to fit and slid it into the case.  Then, I sewed the end shut.  The dog loves it!

Yes, the dog is wearing a dress.  The kids thought that she wanted to look good for her photo op.

Since that worked out so well and I had another comforter, I decided to make one for the outside dog,too.





36" X 24" rectangle of canvas

I sewed up two sides, and folded the comforter to fit the pillowcase.  Butterscotch thought that maybe it was a nicer thread count than hers so she tested it out for me.  She was useless at helping me get it into the pillowcase.

After I sewed the case shut, we took it out to try it out on the Brown Dog.  He was a little shy so I had to sneak a pic of him through the window.

He really does like it.  That shell-shocked look is just a ploy to get me to bring him out a little snack because I feel sorry for him.  I swear.  Really!  No, He really does like it!

Homeschooling Makes Me Happy

The minions at work. 

Assisted by a Chiweenie.

Homeschooling Rocks. 

 I love to see their smiles.

Fall Tabletops

I have two fabulous surfaces to decorate in my Living Room.  An antique buffet that my hubby's little neighbor gave him many years ago as a thank you for mowing her lawn and a vintage library card catalog from a school that my mom taught at for years.  I dusted off the summer decor and foofed it up for fall.

Look at those beauteous red dishes.  Perfect for fall, and Christmas, and Valentine's Day, and the Fourth of July, and...

Someday I will show you my fabulous 48 star flag, but right now it is a bit obscured by all the homeschool stuff.

I really need to refinish my library table, but I like to think of all those years of kids looking up books for their first report.

Amazing how you can gather up some thrift store finds and yard sale treasures, add in a few things from the 90% off after Thanksgiving Hobby Lobby sale and make your whole house feel like Fall.

I just wish the weather would cool off a little more.

I'm linking up to Tabletop Tuesday over at A Stroll Thru Life.



Camping!

Top 5 Things to Take on a Camping Trip

* Toilet Paper!!

* Tylenol

* Food that doesn't have to be prepared over a campfire.

* Extra Pillow and 900 thread count sheets.

* Tushie Donut

My dad has lots of horses that we drive and ride.  We took another trip out to Buckeye Furnace to "camp."  Usually I get out of the whole "staying over night" thing because I have the great excuse of there being no toilet and I have absolutely no peeing in the woods skills.  But...... the grandpas of this whole expedition decided to get a port-a-pottie for the campsite.  And I stupidly told the kids that if there was a potty, I would stay all night.

Huge. Huge. Mistake. 

Not really, I had a great time but I think that all things conspired against me to remind me that I am getting old!

Not only did I sleep on an incredibly lumpy bed but I actually rode a horse for the first time in eleven or twelve years.  For about five or six miles.  Needles to say, I am only sitting in cushy chairs today.

I forgot my camera, so I didn't document the whole debacle.

More camping trips are in the planning stage and I am packing accordingly.  Do they make 900 thread count sleeping bags?