Sleepy Little Drawing

Just a little something I drew to get out my intense feelings I had for my bed this morning...

How to Frame Odd Things

      Have some cool things you'd like to get up and on display? 

But not everything is flat and angular amiright?

      Here are 2 things I've had lying around that I really love, but didn't have a way to showcase other than sitting them awkwardly on a shelf, or something to that extent. So here's what I came up with, and hopefully you can apply it with something you'd like to show the world! (erhmm or your hallway).

      Here's Tink. She's some sort of paper cutout. I'm really unsure what her exact purpose is supposed to be. A friend gave her to me because of my love of Disney (and my similarities to Tinkerbells hair style) and I loved it, but had no idea what to do with it. Since it's flat, it'll easily be framed. But sometimes just throwing something into a frame doesn't actually do the framed piece any good. It has real glitter on it, so that's what I wanted to accentuate. 

      So with that in mind, when I was frame shopping, I was looking for something that would bring out the coolest feature. You can do this with anything, just find the color or detail of what you're framing and look for a frame that will compliment it. It creates a more interesting piece as a whole. I was lucky to find an actual silver glitter frame. I could have also gone with plain silver, or diy'ed my own glitter frame with mod podge. 

      I also wanted to bring out the green of her dress, so rather than sticking with a white background, I cut some paper to the size of my frame opening, and did a light paint wash with some green paint mixed in with a cup of water. 

      And that's all! I'm a little torn on the background as I think it came out a little too bold, and distracts a little from Tink herself. But overall the silver glitter showing up on the main focus and the frame itself really makes it complete. 

      As for Batman he was a little more of a challenge. It's an old mask from one of my brother's Halloween costumes when he was a kid. So this thing might be over 20 years old! So it's 3-dimensional, and old and delicate. As you can see, it's got some cracking happening in multiple places. Obviously, I can't just sandwich this between some glass. 

      When selecting my frame, I chose a shadow box frame, which allows for much more depth. Even still, when put together, that glass pushed down on the nose in a way that smushed the whole mask. I ended up forgoing the glass, leaving the front open. It won't be as protected this way, but it's better than slowing ruining its shape over time with the pressure of the glass. 

      I wanted the background to use colors themed after the old batman color schemes. I choose yellow as the main color, and used the paper the frame came with to cut out some yellow paper the same size. Then I wanted to make a pattern. Originally I was searching for a batman logo stamp to use, but it was surprisingly hard to find. So I went with a simple polka dot pattern in purple. 

      To keep the mask attached to the paper, I used small amounts of elmer's glue on places the mask made contact with the paper. Some shadowboxes come with pins and a soft backboard you can stick the object to. 

      Now I have some great wall art, from things I already had. All I needed was some creative thinking, and the solution was pretty easy. Take a look around your place and see what you might be able to frame today!

Marimo 101: Easiest Pet Ever

I always daydream about having a little aquarium, and having lots of cute little fishes swimming around, happy and healthy, all thanks to me. But that's why it's a daydream, I would be a horrible fish owner who constantly forgets to feed/clean/ do the basics of taking care of them. And that's why a Marimo is so great! It's really one step up from a pet rock. No offense Marimo... at least you're alive! So if you're looking for a first pet for a kid, or just a little friend to have nearby, a Marimo is a great thing to get.

As for the basics, there's tons you can read online, but here are the main facts:

-They originate from Lake Akan in Japan, but are also found in Iceland and Scotland.

 -Rolling around on the bottom of the lake forms the round shape.

-They are commonly referred to as 'moss balls' but are actually algae.

-Marimo roughly translate to 'bouncy plant'

-They are considered good luck!

Etsy is a great resource for purchasing a Marimo, and cute containers for them. I personally got mine at a Petco where they are sold as natural filters for aquariums. 

Here is how I take care of my guy. But please don't judge me on how he looked when I set out to write about him...

      Ahhh! Sorry guy! You really should change the water every 1-2 weeks, but I had neglected him. But they are very resilient and he's fine. Really, the only way to kill them is if the water is completely evaporated, or if he was getting no light at all. Even lamplight is fine to use. And as long as the water never hits freezing, the temperature doesn't effect them in a bad way either.

      So I gave him a good, gentle rinse (tap water is fine) and cleaned out his bowl, but he's been in this bowl for almost 2 years now so I thought he was due for a change up. 

      I have a large collection of shells from various beach trips, so I picked out all the little ones, gave them a rinse, and found a wider, more square jar to use. I often see Marimo sold in jars with the lid shut, so it's no problem to do so. 

      That's so much better. I'm hoping the lid helps the water stay a little fresher longer, but I really just need to keep better track of him. But like I mentioned, unless you're trying to, it's going to be pretty hard to let these guys die. So if you're looking for a new type of plant, give this aquatic one a try. And maybe they'll bring a little luck your way. :)

DIY Foot Stool

      I wouldn't consider myself short, and I can certainly reach my top kitchen cabinets, but sometimes I just need that extra height to really see what the heck I'm grabbing up there. Sure, I could have gone out and bought a stool, but I wanted to use up some scrap material I've had laying around forever. I know not everyone is going to had some already cut, square foam to use. What I would have done in that case, is use a square cardboard box that is completely filled to max capacity with old plastic shopping bags. An easy way to use those all up, and keep them out of a landfill. 

You will need:

Some sort of base material. I used foam blocks.

Duct tape, 1 roll of any color, and 1-2 rolls of a color you want the stool to be.

Shelf liner. (I used up 1 whole roll)

Scissors

      I started off using my normal duct tape to tape the blocks together so they wouldn't more around while I worked on it. If you're using a box, you'll probably just need to tape everything shut. 

      Cut your shelf liner to size. Make sure there's some overlap on the stool. Mine fit pretty nicely, so I cut 4 equal pieces, and then staggered them as seen above. 

      Lay your shelf liner down on what will be the bottom of the stool. This is so the stool won't slip around while you're standing on it. Tape a little over the edge, and then down onto the sides on the stool, working all the way around to secure the shelf liner to the stool. 

      I also did a strip of tape across all 4 corners, just to fully keep the shelf liner contained under the tape. 

Now you can start adding the colored duct tape to the stool. I found this bandana patterned duct tape at Michaels, and they have a great selection of colors and patterns to choose from.  Starting with all the edges, I began to lay the outer duct tape down. 

      From there you can start filling in all the blank areas. I followed a strategy of beginning at the bottom side, going all the way over the top, and down the other side. I realized after a few strips that I needed to alternate the direction of the tape to make the pattern line up and look better. 

      That's more or less it! I will admit, I ran out of the bandana duct tape. I should have gotten 2 rolls to be safe. Just a good excuse to go to Michaels again!

      Now I can reach those spices with ease. And it's very lightweight, so it's not a pain to drag out. It's defiantly not as attractive as a store bought stool, but it does the job fine, and I got some use out of things I would have otherwise thrown out. See what you can come up with, and what cool duct tape you can use to make it.

Going, Going: Crummland Farms, MD

      It's not autumn until you get to do some sort of festive fall activity, am I right? I was so worried I'd spend another year not getting to do something this year, but we managed to squeeze in some time at a farm. I love farms, they're such a cute mini community. Everyone there was so friendly, and talked to us as though we were old friends. 

      The main reason we visited was to try out their excellent corn maze. This thing was hard! Couples beware! You will argue about where you are, and where to go. Haha, we did bicker, but we did end up finishing the maze. It took 2 hours! Yikes, they don't kid around. We had to cheat to find two of the checkpoints. One reason being, there was only one way to get to one, and you had to go right into the center of the maze. We would have never figured it out. The second reason being, we simply were running out of time.

      The sky was fairly overcast most of the time, but when the sun came out it was a beautiful experience. Especially when we made our way to the lookout bridge, and could see the entire maze, as well as the farm.  

      There was a lot of opportunity for some photo shoots. If you want to have some great autumn photos, try doing a corn maze, they make for a great background for portraits.

After we finally made our way out of that, there were still a lot of fun things to check out. They of course, had some animals to pet and see. The llama there had a baby she was nursing. Adorable. And I personally love goats, they have the best personalities. 

      We got to go down a huge slide, play in the hay, compete in the duck races, and generally enjoy the farm. A great day trip, I'm so glad we found the time to go. We didn't get to ride the tractor to the pumpkin patch, but we did go home with 2 pumpkins to carve. 

      If you're in the Maryland area, check out Crummland farms for sure. They also have scary attractions there once the sun goes down. Maybe next year :)