Its so EGGCITING!!!

Here is an eggciting craft how to, I cannot begin to tell you just how fun and amazing these eggs were to create. My son is a newbie chicken farmer ( hobbyist really) He has serama chickens which produce the cutest lil chicken eggs you ever have seen. Because I am an artist I see everything differently than most people do. I could not wait to get a hold of these beauties. I knew I had something up my sleeve for them; and I began to think about what I wanted these eggs to look like. What did I want them to say about me? I decided I wanted them to represent the colors of my life, the sometimes fragmented parts, the serious parts, the fun parts the lighthearted moments and the dark moments as well. My life has been a journey through many ups and downs and some serious challenges the last several years. And somehow through all of them The Lord has held me tight.

Here are the supplies you need.
1. Eggs.
2. glue pen
3. 3d gel pens ( I purchased mine at michaels, with a coupon, of course)
4. Flocking powder in various shades
5. mod podge
6. alcohol inks


I knew I wanted them both to be different. I wanted one to look like stained glass and the other one to be a mosaic type.
Here is how I created the Mosaic egg.
First the eggs have to be blown out. This is relatively simple. Begin with a room temperature egg and make holes with pins on each end. I also used a tiny eye glass screwdriver as well to enlarge the hole to make blowing the egg out easier ( blow the egg into a tiny glass bowl so you can scramble them up) rinse the egg out well with water. Put into a microwave to dry for about 35 seconds. Set aside for a day to allow to dry.
The first step is to apply a coat of mod podge to the shell. This will strengthen the shell and make it non porous. Allow mod podge to throughly dry and then ink a design on the egg. I used a 3d Gel pens as these leave a slightly raised design on the egg. Don't worry if you are not an artist and cannot draw. Do something free hand. Create swirls, dots whatever, just make sure that all the lines are somehow connected as you are going to want to apply flocking powder to each small little area. Allow the gel ink to dry and then you can begin applying the flocking powder. You can only work on a small area at a time and allow to dry in between.
With your glue pen apply small amounts of the glue in between the lines you drew, while glue is still wet apply the flocking powder, shake off excess and with a clean dry paintbrush, brush off the excess outside the lines, continue on,working in small areas and completely flock the egg with different coordinating colors, Use the dark colors first then apply the lighter colors. After each small area is done, using a small dry paintbrush to carefully remove excess flocking powder. You want all the colors to remain seperate and this is why you will only do a few areas at a time and let dry in between.

Once completed you can apply a coat of shellac if you like, just make sure to make it a thin layer.


Here are the directions to my stained glass egg.
You will need alcohol inks, a dry clean tiny paintbrush, clean and dried egg ( see above)
gel pens, modpodge.
Clean and dry you egg, apply coat of modpodge allow to dry, design a random pattern on your egg with the 3d gel pens. Allow to dry,

HERE COMES THE FUN!!!!!
Open your alcohol inks ( following ventilation instructions)apply 1 color at a time with tiny small dots, take your dry paintbrush and begin brushing though the ink, spreading it over the egg, alternate colors applying small dots randomly then brushing them to spread the ink. For this egg I used, purple, blue and yellow alcohol inks. You cannot make a mistake on this trust me here.
Now here is the gorgeous finished product

Christmas Cookie book lost and found

Why does my brain work overtime RIGHT at bedtime?? Last night after I crawled into bed after being sick as a dog all afternoon my brain started kicking into overdrive.
I started thinking about Christmas and all the memories. My mind went back to many moons ago when
My twin sister and I were kids. I remembered about a cookie book my mom used to have. It was spiral bound. I couldn't remember the publisher or what had become of this cookie book. I wondered where it was and if it was a better homes and gardens cook book. I suddenly thought it wasn't the gifts I remembered most it was my mother. My mother baking her christmas cookies. My twin and I would get out this special book my mom had and we would pick out cookies we wanted mommy to make for us. She made the Candy cane ones and the sugar cookies and a bunch of others.
First thing this morning I called my twin sister. " Hey sissy do you remember whatever happened to that Christmas cookie book mommy had. She said oh yeah, I have it. Mommy gave it to me 20 years ago. Well glad to know the book is safe and sound with Sissy.
Got me to thinking I don't recall ever making Christmas cookies for or with my own kids. How sad. I decided to go to Kroger and get the ingredients to make some cookies for Christmas, butter, sugar, flour, vanilla, cookie cutters and cookie icing too, oh and nonpareils.

I sure hope they come out good, I hope I can begin making up for lost time. Its not the presents we remember most its the little extra touch's that matter most

I'm dreaming of a white CHRISTmas

Lately I HAVE been dreaming of a White Christmas, just not the kind with snow.


Here is my idea of a white Christmas, a little cute cuddly ball of holiday cheer!!


Merry CHRISTmas to me, From my hubby. Did I NEED this kind of a WHITE CHRISTMAS????

Ya don't ask those kinds of questions, NOBODY NEEDS this kind of WHITE CHRISTmas.

She's just wonderful to have.

P.S. I am a responsible pet owner and I DO NOT advocate getting your kiddo's something cute and cuddly for Christmas.

Have a Holly Jolly?

Have a holly Jolly Christmas its the best time of the year?

Perhaps for many, to be honest it has never been the best time of the year for me. I love the meaning of CHRISTmas but find myself easily getting overwhelmed by it all. The shopping, the cooking, the cleaning, the planning, the wrapping, all on a working woman's schedule.
Add to that the lack of sun light and what do you have? A recipe for Dis ASTER!!!!
ALthough I am no longer a child I find most of my holiday memories going back to the family dysfunction junction. I always said my family WAS FUNCTIONALLY dysfunctional.
I remember my mother and father had the NASTIEST arguments and fights over Christmas and it was EVERY single year. You could count on my father being miserable on Christmas.

This is not about what CHRISTmas is, it's about the birth of a Savior. Personally I need a Savior, I really truly do and am thankful that he came to give life abundant.
I have learned to pair my expectations way down. This is not the best time of the year. Sure its alot of fun and getting together with friends and family is awesome!!!! Celebrating the
birth of My savior is wonderful, the music is absolutely FABU, the meaning of the songs heartwarming too.

I am keeping Christmas simple. I will do this by limiting the revelry. I am NOT going to exhaust myself going to every party willy nilly. I may or may not send Christmas Cards. I give myself the option of saying no. I love all of you, but SANITY is the first and foremost issue around this time of year. I might even do my shopping online for everybody. Everybody deserves a little Holly Jolly but you have to find it for yourself and if come January you are Cooked, done, fried, whats the point?

Black Friday Snag, Rude people and payback

Can we say Snag it???? Yup I snagged it. What did I snag?

Welllllllllllllllllllll Anyone whose anyone KNOWS I am crafty. I just love to make stuff.
I sew, paint, make cards, you name I do it. One of the tools I use is a cricut. I was able to get a cricut last year on sale at a great deal. About the time I picked up my first cricut, provo craft came out with the cricut imagine. Its got all the bells and whistles on it, yup it can even cook your dinner. Okay so lets talk about the price here. It was OUT OF LINE, crazy sky high, over the top, out of my budget. It was selling for between 499.00-599.00. I put it out of my mind.
Fast forward. Black Friday. I had heard through the grapevine that the cricut imagine was going to be on sale on black Friday at wally world for an amazing 187.00. Hmmmmmmm that got me thinking. I could ask my three kids to chip in for me ( would that be crass? uncooth?) I decided to just go for it. Last year was a myriad of sweaters that did not fit and what nots left unused and unloved. I spoke up and told my kids what I wanted. BUT here was the catch someone had to go get it. No theres the rub. My kids said they would chip in but NONE of them would wait on line. Hubby SWEETLY volunteered to take me on Thanksgiving night to brave the cold cruel world. This was my first ever venture. I wasn't too sure what to expect, but I knew if ya want a deal the early bird catches the worm. So after Thanksgiving we headed out to Walmart about 8 pm. I kind of thought they might be gone. Everybody knew they were on sale and this was the big one. I meandered into walmart and trotted my butt back to the crafting/ sewing aisle. I saw HOARDS of people standing in line. The first voice I heard once I got back there was " Hey if you want a t.v you need to go to that line over there" in a rather rude tone. I politely told the walmart employee that I was there for the cricut imagine. I was fortunate, they had more than enough for me, ahahah! She loaded it in my cart for me and then the fun began. We paced around the store until about 8:45 and at that point the store was jam packed. I was getting a little panicky as the aisles were crowded and it was wall to wall people. Hubby and I decided to walk to the front of the store "just in case" you know the just in case. Just in case a stampede breaks out, or shotgun fires, or an explosion. Who knows what might happen in a crowd that large, hahahah. So I found a seat and started the 1 hour wait till the check outs opened at 10 pm. Since I enjoy watching the human race I figured this would be the perfect opportunity. Trust me it was NOT a pretty sight. The men behaved themselves. They waited their turns, played by the rules and were generally nice. The women on the other hand were just plain UGLY. Manners went out the door and decorum was no where to be had. When it came time to line up I got on the express line- under 20 items. As I get very close to the checkout a woman with a huge overstuffed wagon with at least 45 items steps right in front of me. I mean she tromps right ahead of me, practically pushing me out of the way. I turned around and said to hubby "what does she not understand about under 20 items?" Hubby being the level headed one out of us quickly shusshed me up and said lower your voice you don't want to incite a riot. I was red hot angry. Did she not know right from wrong, it was obvious she had no manners or integrity. About 5 minutes after this lady cuts me off, ANOTHER lady walks right up to the lady who originally cut me off with a GAZILLION items and starts trying to get through the crowd, yelling at the top of her lungs can I get through? can I get through?, my brother is waiting for me at the front. Everybody in line gives her a dirty look but she continues. Finally someone says No you cannot cut in line. She then drags her wagon around the other way and Slips right in, Right in FRONT of the original lady who cut me off!!!!!! Then my hubby started laughing and said "see she got hers!!!" Sometimes it just more fun to back off and wait to see how it all works out!!