Decisions....help!

So, I'm afraid that my friend Jess inadvertently created a monster.  Ever since she showed me the basics of jewelry making, I've become addicted.  This morning, since hubby had to work, my mom came over to play and took Noah and I to Michaels, where I stocked up on some new supplies so I could really get creative.  Here's my new storage box...thanks, Mom!

My first project of the day was to make a simple pair of earrings to match the birds' nest I made the other day.  I just put a blue and a silver bead on a head pin, made a loop and attached them to the earring hooks.  I wanted to keep them simple because the nest is really the focal piece.

While I was at Michaels, I also browsed through a book on all kinds of ways to bend wire into cool earrings.  I didn't buy it {I'm admittedly cheap}, but I did give it a go when I got home and here's the result.  I know they aren't exactly symmetrical, but I still think they're fun, don't you?

In retrospect, I think I'd add a bead up top for some color, but I'm not going to tear them apart now.

I tried again, mixing wire shaping with beading and this was the result.  I think they're really fun!  The hardest part is getting them to look the same!

Here's another pair in purple plus a pendant I made to match:

And, my favorite project of the day is the super cute Mother's Day gifts I'm making for Noah's grandmothers {and of course for myself too!}.  Grammy and Grandma, it's time to stop reading!

I mean it!

You want to be surprised, don't you?

So here's the idea: I found these super cute little photo frame charms that hold a tiny picture.  I thought it would be special to not only have a necklace with Noah's picture in it, but also to include his birthstone...even though it's August, which is admittedly not the prettiest one!  I tried out two different photos and also two different methods of attaching the green beads; one has a dangling bead hanging from a jump ring, and the other is actually connected above the photo.  I'm super-indecisive, so I want your input please!  Which photo do you like better, and which bead method do you like better?

Here's the color profile photo with the dangling bead:

And the black and white photo with an attached bead.

I can also do either photo with the opposite type of bead...arrrgh!  Decisions!  I stink at them!  Help, please!

The best part is, the charms came in a pack of 5, so they cost about 50 cents a piece, and each chain was $2.99.  A great, personal, wearable Mother's Day gift for less than five bucks.  Win, win, win!

I linked this post to:

Saturday Night Showcase

Show and Tell Saturdays

Weekend Wrap-Up Party

Debbie-Doo's Newbie Party

Making the World Cuter Mondays

"P" is for...

It's been a strange day around here, to say the least.  As that nasty band of storms traveled up the east coast, our area was under a variety of tornado watches and warnings from about 4:30 this morning until 3 PM.  We've had ridiculously hard rain, storms, and wind mixed with periods of warm and beautiful sunshine.  At one point, things looked particularly threatening, so Noah and I headed to what I figured was the safest spot in our basement...but thankfully nothing dangerous ever materialized.  Whew!  Anyway, it's been a kind of random day, and I figured out that it's best summed up with a bunch of "P's."

P is for Patience. 

Mine is gone.  Little Crafter has been a ball of energy all day; mad because he couldn't go outside, sad that Grammy couldn't come, and a little off-kilter since he could tell I was kind of worried about the weather.  So, he responded in typical 2 year old fashion.  Making big messes, having a five-second attention span, banging his head on purpose, picking his nose, and {my personal favorite} yelling, "Noah needs his mama, Noah needs his mama" at the top of his lungs for five minutes straight while hanging from my neck as I tried to have a phone conversation.  Nice pic, huh?

P is for Practice.

So, if you read yesterday's post, you know that my super-awesome friend Jess gave me a crash course in basic jewelry making.  She helped me with a pair of earrings and I tackled a birds' nest.  This morning, while I sat in the basement watching the constant weather and radar reports on TV, I decided to practice what I learned.  Noah was busy watching {of all things} the Charlie Brown Christmas movie on his little travel DVD player at the time, so I actually was able to get this necklace made.  I like it!

P is for Puddles.

When the rain stopped around 1:00 and it looked like we were finished with storms for at least a few hours, I told Noah to get his froggy boots on; it was puddle time!  Both of us were relieved to get out of the house a bit, and he was more than happy to run and splash.

P is for Precious.

While we were out splashing, we decided to take a walk.  Noah found these lilacs and I was lucky enough to capture the moment.  Nevermind that he forcibly ripped them off a neighbor's bush...it's still precious. :)

P is for Personality

Which Noah has in abundance.  He is the funniest, sweetest kid I've ever met, and possibly the most talkative too...which is interesting considering that he was so late to develop a big vocabulary.  A few weeks before Christmas, he could say about 20 words.  Now he talks ALL day long.  Nonstop.  I love it...most of the time.

P is for Pink.

I love, love, love the tree in our backyard.  In the fall, it turns a gorgeous orange, and in the spring it's full of puffy pink blossoms.  Every year I wait impatiently for it to bloom.  This year it was about 2 weeks late and didn't open up until this past Monday.  And so, I'm really ticked off that today's storms knocked a whole bunch of the blossoms off.  I had hoped to set up the tripod and get a family photo in front of it one day this week...so much for that!  At least we got these separate shots.  I am loving the one of my two favorite boys!

...and P is for Photo Enhancement.

If you've been reading lately, you'll know that I had my first giveaway recently when I hit 50 followers {yay!}

Carmella, who has a fun blog called Creative Carmella, was the winner of a photo enhancement.  I asked her to email me a picture, and she sent me this sweet shot of her oldest child, Nola, who shares my love of dance.

The tutu was just begging to be the focal point, so I based the edit around it.  Here's what I made for her:

Hope you like it, Carmella!  Enjoy!

Alas, P is also for Productive, which I probably should be right now.  Laundry calls.  At least hubby will be home in a few hours, and we all know that P is for Pizza!  Hope you have a Perfectly wonderful day!

Jewelry-Making 101

 Meet my friend Jess.  She's generous, smart, and has a huge heart for other people.

She also has a fantastic sense of humor, which is why she won't kill me for posting this picture...{I hope!}

Can you say 80's Dance Party?!

Anyway, the other thing about Jess is that she's good at a lot of things, one of which is making jewelry.

Despite all the many creative things I like to do, the one thing that's always intimidated me is jewelry making.  I've done my share of "string a bunch of beads on some elastic" bracelet projects, but real bona-fide jewelry with jump rings and head pins and clasps...I had no idea {I didn't even know the names of any of those things until today!}  A few Christmases ago, Jess gave me a little starter kit with some basic essentials and tools because I had expressed interest in her hobby.  I looked at it wistfully, but had no idea what to do with it.  So it sat in my closet.  The following year, my hubby gave me a jewelry starter kit with a book full of ideas and directions.  The only trouble was, they didn't give me the supplies to make any of the things that were in the photos.  How is that supposed to help?  So there they sat, side by side in the closet, until today.

This morning, Jess and I, along with our good friends April and {the other} Jess and all of our kids went to a super-fun place called Storyville.  It's a part of a library and boy is it cool...it's like a little village with all kinds of hands-on stuff for kiddos to do.  But more on that later; that deserves its own post.  Anyway, here's a quick pic...this was the one with the most people looking at the camera.  You can see we were outnumbered 6 to 4.  :)

Anyway, we had a fabulous time.  Jess and I had carpooled, and on the way home, her daughter Rose and my Noah were watching a movie in the car.  When we got back to our neighborhood, they put up a revolt and demanded another movie.  Rose invited herself over to our house and Noah seconded the idea.  That's when Jess looked at me and said, "oooh!  Want me to go home and get my bead stuff?"  That was all this Artsy Mama needed to hear.  I told her we could just use all the things I had sitting in the closet and go from there.  I decided my first attempt should be earrings...she assured me they're the easiest.  I picked out 3 beads for each one and told her I wanted them to dangle at varying heights.  We used a necklace I had as an inspiration; it had a center chain and all the beads hung off of different links {jump rings, I'm told}.  I ended up having to use silver beads too because one of the beads I'd chosen had too large a hole for the head pins...but I like the effect of the silver a lot.  Here's the finished product...  Jess made one and I made one; can you tell which is which?  Me neither!

Then, I told her about the cool birds' nests I've been seeing literally everywhere in blog-land lately.  I think they're just adorable and I'd really been thinking of having hubby order me one for Mother's Day...but at the time I was thinking of getting it with just one "egg" for Noah.  Then I saw a few samples and decided one egg looked kind of dopey.  Anyway, I was just curious to see if we could figure out how to do something like what I'd seen.  Here's the nest I made with some craft wire and a tool...shoot, I already forgot what that one was called.

I happened to have a few beads in the kit from hubby that were a perfect robin egg blue, so I popped those in.  It's not as good as some of what I've seen other people make, but not too shabby for a very first effort, right?  At least that's what I'm telling myself. ;)

So here's what I learned from my introduction to Jewelry making.

1. It's hard!  At least at first!  I'm used to picking artsy things up kind of quickly, but I felt like I was all thumbs.  The concepts and design weren't the trouble, the actual physical execution was.  My jump rings kept coming back open and everything fell apart.  I had trouble bending the wire into a circle...I forget what that's called too.  My bead kept twisting around and making it hard to bend the wire how I was supposed to.  It's tedious work and you have to be very meticulous and patient.  Neither of which are my best qualities.

2. If someone makes you homemade jewelry as a gift, make a big deal out of it.  Jess has made me things before and I've always loved them, but now I realize how much effort and time and love go into a handcrafted piece!  So be sure to "ooooh and aaaaah" a lot and maybe offer to pay them too. :)

3. If your wife makes jewelry and shows it to you, make a big deal out of it.  After all that effort, a "that's nice" just doesn't cut it, guys!

4. Jewelry making is rewarding!  I love that you can totally, totally personalize it and make just what you want.  Plus, it's cheaper than buying it and you get a cool, very useful finished product.

5. You will get better with practice.  At least I sure hope so! ;)

So, a big THANK YOU and I LOVE YOU to my patient friend who introduced me to my biggest intimidation in the crafting world, walked me through it step by step, and promises to keep being a resource.  We need a Michael's date soon!

Hope you all have a fabulous day and hope you have fabulous friends like my Jess{es} and April to share it with!

A Winner and a Few Good Laughs

It's Giveaway Time, and the winner is................{drumroll, please}......

CARMELLA!

The winning comment: "I also like you on FB."

{You can see we do our drawing old-school!}

Thank you to everyone who entered.  My new goal is 75 followers...only 20 more to go, and then it'll be giveaway time again!  Carmella, please email the photo[s] you'd like me to enhance at dancers4life@gmail.com and let me know what you have in mind.

Today, Little Crafter and I have been pretty busy; a trip to the grocery store, Storytime at the library, and then an afternoon at the park, playground, and walking trail with one of Noah's great-grandmothers.  Which means we had very little time for a project...so, instead, I wanted to share with you a few things that have made me laugh this week in the hopes that a little humor will brighten your day too.  Here goes:

 

I cracked up when I saw this shirt at The Children's Place.  Since Noah is a hot dog fanatic, it was definitely a must-have.  The best part is that he's been running around all day saying, "What's up, hot dog?" 

This is Little Miss Makenzie, the 8-month-old daughter of one of my best friends, April.  When I saw this pic on facebook, I howled.  Funniest. photo. ever.

 

The other thing that cracked me up, I can't find a picture of!  It was a Passover card that had a cartoon of this little old lady sitting on a park bench and feeding matzo to the birds.  It hit one of them in the head and he said, "Ow!  I can't wait until she switches back to bread crumbs!"  Ha.

Well, off to be productive while Little Crafter takes a much-needed nap!

Hope you have a day filled with laughs and joy!

Why I Love Being Mama

Years ago, when my hubby and I first got married, we started to notice a disturbing trend.  Every time we talked about how happy we were or how much we loved each other, people were quick to dismiss us as "newlyweds" and tell us, "that'll wear off soon enough."  Then they'd start complaining about their own husband/wife/marriage.  It's just plain sad how so many folks are quick to tear down their spouses in public, and what's more, it seems that people love to complain about their kids. 

Now, trust me, I do know there are some not-so-glamorous things about the life of a mama.  I have worn "mama perfume" {aka spit-up} more times than I care to count, and I can't remember the last time I slept in past 6:30 on a weekday.  And I do from time to time {ok, frequently} feel clueless and need to seek advice from my mommy friends when Noah is going through certain challenges or stages. 

But all in all, I love being Mama.

Today, I wanted to take a minute to share why.

1. Nobody else's hugs and kisses are sweeter than my son's.

2. I love to see myself reflected in another little person.  He has my smile.

3. My son can make me laugh just by being himself.  For example, when he cracks himself up and then announces, "Noah's laughing."  Or when we're at the playground and he shouts into the echoing slide, "Noah made POO-POO!"

4. I learn from my son that I should smile at everyone, accept and love everyone, and see the world for the wonder it really is.

5. Motherhood has made me less selfish and has taught me what it means to love someone with God's kind of love.  The unconditional, unending kind that truly puts another person's wants and needs before my own.

6. There is no better gift than a flower picked by grubby hands because, "it make Mama happy."

7. Now I have an excuse to swing on the swingset, play tag, write with sidewalk chalk, and do all the fun things that grownups without little kids are too "dignified" to do.

8. When Noah wants to hear a "time machine story" about Moses, Zacchaeus, Noah's Ark, or Baby Jesus and starts filling in all the details, I know I'm doing something right. 

9. I love to teach, so there's nothing like watching him learn his ABC's, numbers, colors, and all kinds of other things about the world we live in as we explore them together day by day.

10. He's a great date at the coffeehouse...if only he would treat once in awhile!

What do you love most about your kids, spouse, or family?

PS- Don't forget about my GIVEAWAY going on now...entries close at midnight EST.

Blessings,

Because He Lives...

Happy Easter, friends!  Here's hoping you have a day filled with blessings and joy.  We have much to celebrate.  I'm reminded of a good old Gaither song I grew up with that goes like this:

"Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.  Because He lives, all fear is gone.  Because I know He holds the future, life is worth the living just because He lives!"

In the midst of all our busy-ness today, we did take the time to make a special Resurrection craft I thought you might enjoy.  Here's how we did it:

RESURRECTION CRAFT

Materials:

- disposable foil baking pan [we used 9x5; you can also use 8x8 or 9x9]

- paper or plastic cup

- dirt, moss, grass

- rock

- scissors

- flowers

- small sticks

- long piece of decorative grass or yarn/string

STEP 1: Cut plastic cup in half.

STEP 2: Fill baking pan with dirt and half-bury the piece of cup with dirt/moss...this will be the tomb.

STEP 3: Place large rock in front of cup.

STEP 4: Add grass.

STEP 5: Form a cross using small sticks and tie together with grass or yarn.  Push into dirt.

STEP 6: Decorate with flowers.  You can mist the flowers with a spray bottle to keep them fresh-looking.

Many thanks to my awesome friend Jessica S. who inspired this project by doing it with her girls and posting a really cool photo on facebook.  She also gave me the instructions.  Here's the one her family made {I like hers better...lol}:

Oh, and while I have your attention, don't forget, I have my first GIVEAWAY going on!  There are 4 ways to enter and win a personalized photo enhancement.  Click on the link to enter anytime between now and midnight EST tomorrow. :)

Well, from our house to yours, Happy Easter!  Here are a few pictures from our day so far:

"Living, He loved me.  Dying, He saved me.  Buried, He carried my sins far away.  Rising, He justified, freely forever.  One day He's coming, oh, glorious day!  Glorious day!"



Linked to Debbie Doo's, Made by Little Hands Monday, and some of the other sites on my sidebar.

Good Friday GIVEAWAY!

As of this afternoon, One Artsy Mama has fifty followers!  That's super-exciting for me, because I just started this blog a little over a month ago with not other goal than to share ideas and inspiration and hopefully brighten someone's day along the way.  Soooo....in honor of this milestone, I'm hosting my first ever giveaway!  What's the prize?  A free photo enhancement of your choice.  When I'm not playing with Noah, blogging, or otherwise crafting, I enjoy working with photos and turning them into works of art.  Here are a few samples of pictures I've enhanced:

Sometimes I keep it simple, just adding text and a few effects:

Sometimes I combine a few photos:

Sometimes I get fancy and add graphics too:

And I've been known to create announcements and invitations using photos:

The winner of this giveaway will get a custom-edit; you send me one or more photos and tell me basically what you want done, ie: black and white, a particular quote or other text, an invitation, whatever you like.
Sound good?  Here's four ways to enter...

1. Be my friend!  Follow me!  If you're not already a follower of One Artsy Mama, become one and then leave me a comment telling me so.  If you already follow {thanks!}, just leave a comment that says "I follow!" {1 entry}

2. Like One Artsy Mama on Facebook.  Then, leave me a comment here on this post telling me you did so. {1 entry}

3. Post about this giveaway on your blog or facebook page.  Then, leave me a comment here on this post telling me you did so. {1 entry}

4. Go to the "Photo Fun" tab on this blog, look at the samples, and pick your favorite.  Then, leave a comment on this post telling me which one you liked best. {1 entry}

So, there are 4 ways to enter, and if you do all 4, your name goes into the hat 4 times, increasing your odds.  Clear as mud?  Just make sure that each time you leave a comment here telling me what you did.  You can leave a separate comment for each action, or if you do them all and leave me a comment that says, "I follow, I liked you on FB, I posted you on my blog, and I like the dancing photo," I'll figure it out and count you four times, k?  I hope that makes sense...remember, I'm new to this giveaway business. ;)  Contest is open until 12:00 midnight EST on Monday, April 25.  Good luck!

In the meantime, I want to leave you with a few photos from today.  First, we did get to do my favorite Easter tradition and make some beeeee-autiful brown eggs.  And theh best part was that Noah could really get involved in the dyeing this year.  He had a BALL!  Just ask my parents, who got to clean up after us all.  He was a little egg making machine, and the best part was that he decided he wanted to get in on the "let's mix the colors and make the ugliest egg" contest.  Here are this year's lovelies.  My dad gets the credit for the really chocolatey brown one, Dan made the "Ugly Egg," and my "He is Risen" isn't too shabby...  Noah did the two on the far left, plus all the ones on the bottom row.  Way to go, kiddo!

Today wasn't all fun and games, though, we also took time out of our day to remember Jesus' sacrifice on the cross by participating in a local event where bunches of folks from all different churches and denominations come together to follow a large wooden cross through the main street of town.  A bagpiper plays music and there are stops along the way where different pastors do readings and prayers and we sing a song.  This year, Dan got Noah to help carry the cross part of the way, which was a really special time.

As I reflect on Good Friday, I think Isaac Watts summed it up best when he said, "Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small.  Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all."