My Newest Critter Creation

I didn’t have a pattern to follow for this owl 
that I made for a special little boy or girl at the hospital.  

My inspiration for him 

actually came from one of my cat’s toys.  

The shape looked simple enough, so I  thought I’d give it a try. Simple is good when it comes to toy making.  Some of the patterns that the ladies in my auxiliary use are so detailed that they end up being very time-consuming.  I have enjoyed the last few “critters” that I have made because I get to use a little extra creativity in my planning.

Here is the fella that inspired my colorful cuddly owl:

When I took my newest toy to my meeting, several ladies asked for the pattern.  I had to tell them that there was not one. They asked me if I could make a pattern for them. I had to tell them that I was sorry, 
that my brain just doesn’t work like that.  

I’m on to another “one and done”.  The next I think will be a bunny.  I thought this would be appropriate during the 

Easter season.  

Bug-ster

 This bug-eyed lanky-legged creature is a toy that I just created for children at the Baptist Hospital.  He’s too unrealistic to be called a bug and too silly to be considered a monster. 

 So, I present to you, Bug-ster.

I have been sewing for the hospital for many years now, but I tend to focus my time on making chemo caps and pillows for surgery patients.  I sew a few toys here and there, but to be honest, most patterns are quite tedious to make, so I tend to shy away from them.  There are a number of ladies in our auxiliary who consistently hand-craft adorable toys for the children of the hospital.  I truly admire them.  The toys that are collected are invaluable to the younger patient population.   We receive notes from nurses and parents of the the children reiterating their importance.  Many of the children that are given our toys come to the hospital through ER.  They are often car accident victims.  If they are not injured, but are just shaken from the experience, these cuddly creatures can help sooth their anxieties.  Other times, these made-made items provide much much more for these children.  If they have lost a sibling or parent in the car accident, these toys end up becoming an attachment object that the children cling to for years to come.  It beaks my heart to hear such stories, but prompts me to push past any “issuses” that I have about making these “treasures”.

  Bug-ster was created without a pattern.  I began with a pillow-type body, knowing that it would be a good shape to fit in the arms of little patients arms.  The furry hair provides something that they can run their fingers through as a stress reliever.  His eyes are made of felt and are therefore  child-safe. The lanky arms give Bug-ster a friendly feel and also make good carrying "handles”.

The best thing about Bug-ster is that he has a BIG heart!

Isaiah 49:25 “For I will contend with him who contends with you, And I will save (defend, preserve, rescue, deliver) your children.”

License to Love

Actually, I should have called this “tough love”.

 Have you ever tried to cut a pattern out of a license plate?  Sure, cutting a straight line is easy, but a heart...  Now that’s another story.  This will be my one and only heart made from metal that is this thick.  What made it that much harder, is the fact that the plates have the convolutions from the numbers and letters in them.

~Anyway~

This is what I started with.

I cut a heart shape from paper for my pattern.

I laid the pattern on top of the backside of my license plate

and traced it with a permanent marker.

Okay, that was the easy part.  

Then comes trying to cut the blasted thing!

When I was not in a curve, it was not so bad.  But it was a bear in the bend.  I would cut for a minute then clip into that area and “chunk” out a section.

And so it went until I had my heart completed cut out.

I was using my daddy’s old tin snips (at least I think that’s what they are called).  He would have been proud.  Actually, he probably would have said something like, “Monkey, you don’t need to try and such a crazy thing!"

I must admit, I beamed with pride a little bit after seeing the “fruits of my labor”.

Next, I took a metal file (another one of my dad’s old tools) and went around the edges to smooth out any sharp areas.

In order for my paint to stick to the metal plate, I hit it with a coat of clear primer/sealer.

Next, I brushed on a coat of gray paint as a base.

Brushing didn’t work so well, 

so I pulled out my sea sponge and just dabbed on the paint.

I used and hammer and awl (you guessed it, more of my daddy’s treasured tools)

and pierced a hole at the top and bottom of my heart. 

These holes allow for my hanger and embellishment.

I mixed some Gesso and white metal paint together to use for my accent color.

I used a "sequin waste” as a stencil and “pounched” (with my sea sponge) some of my 

white paint mixture on various parts of

the heart.

Using a Q-tip, I wiped some black acrylic paint around the edges to help 

define my shape and give it some depth.

I hung an old crystal from a chandelier in the bottom hole.

I used white organdy ribbon for a hanger and accented it with a snippet of pearls.

A labor of love!

Ornaments for Everyone!

(by the Project Procrastinator)

It’s Christmas Eve and I am supposed to be getting ready for the dozen or so folks who will be coming to our house tomorrow to celebrate Christ’s birth and to dine with us, but I always manage to squeeze in a craft when I need to be doing something else.  I can’t help it.  It’s just my nature.  

The project is so easy that just seeing the pictures, however poor of quality they may be, is really all you need to complete these little grape cluster ornaments.

Even if you are just an occasional wine drinker, you probably 

 have on-hand a collection of corks. Chances are that you also have  the few other materials that you will need.  

Take your glue gun and group 6 wine corks into a triangle shape.  Try to keep your glue hidden in the middle, if possible.

Next, make a loop for hanging your ornament, out of hemp or any other natural looking fiber.

Glue the loop in the middle of the top of your “cluster”.

For the grape leaf, which doesn’t even remotely resemble a grape leaf, I cut a leaf off of some old silk flowers that I had lying around.

Glue your leaf on top next to your “hanger”, concealing any stray glue from your loop addition.  I actually poked the base of the leaf down in between two of the corks so that the leaf would not be so flat looking.

I grabbed some acrylic paints from my craft closet and mixed up a color that thought came closest to the color of the wine staining on the end of some of my used corks.

Don’t ask what colors I used because the color indicated on the bottle is not always accurate,  as I am famous for mixing colors and pouring them back into the bottle.  This used to aggravate the mess out of my daughter when she went looking for a specific color for a project.  Oh well, she’ll do the same thing to her daughter one day.

 ~Almost finished~

I used some of my rubber stamps to make a little tag for the ornaments. I tore out my tags and then used a natural sponge to “antique” the edges.

I am going to place an ornament on the dinner plate of each of my guests for them to take home as a reminder of the special times that we spent together. 

-------

They will also help make my table to a little more festive too!

May God bless each and everyone of you and may His joy fill your heart this year in ways that it never has before!

A “Toast" Post

This is not a normal posting where you will find a delicious recipe or a fun craft to make.  You won’t  find any helpful tips or tricks today or any samplings from my latest 
“treasure hunts”.  

This is actually a “thank you note” to say how grateful I am for all of you who have either been following me awhile or just visit my blog from time to time.

I was feeling a bit “slack" lately for not doing a better job of posting more regularly. I’m not going to give you a long list of excuses, but between preparing for the holidays and helping my daughter plan her wedding, my blogging has had to 
“take a backseat”.  

I have however;
 been very faithful about putting my 
Thought for the Day
on my blog.  Spending time with the Lord in the morning is VERY important to me and sharing the words that He gives me after my quiet time, is something that I will do regardless of what is going on in my life. 

My less than frequent blog posting has not seemed to have affected my “viewers”.  As a matter of fact, the past few days I have had a record number of people “checking me out”.  Actually, the numbers have been awe-inspiring to say the least. If you are a blogger, then you know that you can “check your stats”, which will not only tell you how many folks have visited your blog each day, it will tell you where they are from.  For example, today I have had people from the US, Russia, Germany, Serbia and Poland take a look at what HeArtlife is all about.  
I just love it!  

If you have read any of my past posts (please excuse any typos or grammatical errors-I was not an English major), then you know a little bit about me.  I’d like to know a little bit about you!
I am curious to know...

*What brought you to my blog?

*What brings you back (is it my Thought for the Day, my crafting, recipes etc.)?

*What would you like to see more of?

If you wouldn’t mind, I would LOVE it if you would take a  moment and leave a comment. 

I am so encouraged to know that there are "blogging buddies” literally all over the world!

1

Zesty Vegetable-Vegetable Soup

This truly is the BEST vegetable soup that I have ever made! 

        It all began with me being cooped up at home with workman who have been putting in new attic stairs.  I’m here to tell you that this has not been a quick job.  We are into day two and, probably the 8th hour of this project, and the end still does not look it’s coming very soon. Such is life. The men have been very pleasant, so it’s been okay being “stranded”.  I actually enjoy days where I am “forced” to stay home.   I LOVE my home and I LOVE being here, but being a part-time employee, wife and domestic engineer, requires frequent errand running and such, so I have to be away from my sweet abode more than I’d like.

Anyway...

Today has been an overcast, cold and gloomy Friday winter's day.  All the more reason to stay put.
The conditions were just PERFECT for soup making!  So, armed with a head of cabbage and a large variety of vegetables, I sat down and consulted Pinterest.  The soup recipe that sounded the best and came closest to matching the ingredient supply that I had on hand, was a vegetable cabbage soup.  

~BUT~

I have this bad habit of jumping into making a recipe before checking to make sure that I have everything that is needed.  This usually requires a bit of “tweaking”.  Sometimes I have had to "pull a rabbit out of a hat” and use my most creative culinary skills.  A few of these, which my husband calls “experiments”, have turned out to be delicious!

This recipe was one of those times, but I will spare you the details of where my “shortages” were and just give you my newest and most favorite vegetable soup recipe, which I call...

Zesty Vegetable-Vegetable Soup

3 onions, chopped

5 or 6 cloves of garlic, chopped 

1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes,with juice

1 cup green beans 
4 cups chicken broth
1 medium  head cabbage, chopped
1 can tomato paste
7 cups water
1/2 red, yellow and orange bell pepper,chopped  
2 tablespoons dried basil
1 stalk of kale, chopped
1 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
6 1/2 tablespoons Streit’s soup base
(onion flavored)        
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning


Put all the ingredients in a very large pot. Heat to boil, then reduce to medium heat and cook until vegetables are tender. Simmer for 45 minutes and keep on low for another 30 minutes or so.


I can’t stop eating this stuff!  It is very low in calories and pretty healthy too.  Yum.

~It’s a keeper~

A great afternoon "pick-me-up"

I have seen several coffee-protein smoothies on Pinterest lately, but none of them sounded that great to me. I decided to create my own. It turned out to be quite tasty, so I thought I would share it.



Coffee-Protein Smoothie:

8 oz. cold brewed coffee

1/4 tsp. vanilla

1 Tbsp. pumpkin puree 

1 scoop vanilla-flavored protein powder

1 tsp. golden flax seed, ground

1/2 cup almond milk (unsweetened-original

)stevia to taste (I used 2 packets)

2 cubes of ice (may wish to use more, if you want it colder)

Add all ingredients to smoothie machine or blender. Process.

Enjoy!