AMANDA'S BASKETS: Another Rainy Day - in Maine

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Another Rainy Day - in Maine - In February!!!!

PICTURE OF THE DAY:

This is a collection of some of my paper tapes. What I am really doing with the picture is working with the effects. The subject may not be the best, but I do like the effect. I have decided to change the picture that I use in the heading. I am still using baskets, but probably filled with a variety of objects. Then I want to play around with some different effects to see which I like the best.

FRUGAL TIP:

I wear almost exclusively LLBean shoes - the $29.99 mocs. I usually wear dark brown in the fall and winter, beige in the spring and summer and black for dress-up. After a couple seasons, the mocs are usually pretty dirty and stretched out but otherwise in good shape.

This time, instead of purchasing new ones, I decided to try to spruce up last years. I remembered that I used to wash the kids sneakers in the washing machine to clean them, so I decided to try with my mocs. I first sprayed them generously with a spot remover and then stuck them in to wash with some jeans and sweatshirts. When they came out, they looked much cleaner and smaller.

I dried them on top of the dryer after sticking empty soda bottles inside to give them shape. When they were completely dry, they looked pretty good, but dark beige instead of light beige. So I decided to give them a good brushing with a stiff brush. And low and behold, they lighten up so much that they look brand new. Quite frankly, I was completely surprised, but I saved myself some money!

STILL WATCHING THE OLYMPICS AND PLAYING - THIS TIME WITH PAPER:

I'm still not quite into working in my studio, but I have been playing with paper this time instead of fabric. I really love these origami papers...

The above papers are generously sprinkled with gold accents. I have used them in my ATC's. Especially the ones with the tiny paperdolls.

These papers are not origami but cardstock paper which make a great base for projects.

Well, back to the Olympics...I'm going to go into withdrawal when they are done...have to find something else. Maybe all those craft dvd's I have...need to get some inspiration somewhere!

Thanks for visiting...

CRAFTING IDEAS

I am always looking for a small piece of paper to write down something which will later be disposed of. I decided to use some of the scrap paper of which I have a ton. I mostly use the paper for glueing projects. I decided to cut the paper into a small size. (Six pieces from a piece of copy paper.). But just having them sitting on my desk would get messy without a container. So, using a cardboard box, I cut it down to size and using a hot glue gun I glued the ends together. Using a picture from a magazine cut into pieces and stick craft glue, I glued the pieces to the box inside and out. I also used some decorative tape for the outside edges. And to finish the top corners which were not covered, I used straight pins with colorful tops. Looks nice and works well.

MAGAZINE IDEAS

(New) One article in the Farmer's Almanac 2024 is a list of trends. One I knew about is the trend to downsize in just about every area. Another trend that I was surprised about was called ''The Human Library' which offers people on loan to talk about specific subjects. Finally, more folks are adding pets to their family and as a result, stores are adding more pet food, toys and medication to their offerings. There's also a nice garden article which suggests mixing vegetables and flowers together for success.

RECIPE IDEAS

Have you every made Cherry Dump Cake. It calls for 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling (21 ounces), a white cake mix, 1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted & 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans. In a 9 by 13 pan, spread both cans of cherry pie filling. Add the melted butter to the cake mix and break apart the resulting mixture and crumble it evenly over the pie filling. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 - 45 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Fast, easy and very delicious.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What if you want to establish better habits, then decide what habit you want to work on. Again, try an easier one first for that good feeling of success. Let's consider more exercise. Start small. Don't try to run a marathon right away. Set the amount of time, the type of exercise and when to do it to begin making sure that it is within your reach. If it works for you each week add a bit more. Walking is one of the best ways to get good overall movement but there are many exercise videos on YouTube of varying lengths and difficulty to check out. Change your exercise routines to eliminate getting bored. For hardcore exercise with weights, give yourself a day in-between to recover. Even on days you would rather not exercise, do it and see if you feel better. It takes an average of 66 days to establish a habit. Just think 66 days to establish a good habit for a lifetime. Sounds like a good thing to me...how about you?