Saving money on centerpieces

Remember that almost anything can be used as a container for artificial flowers. Don't just shop in the usual places. Check in the office supplies or kitchen sections of the stores as well. The containers I'm using here were organizers in a bundle of four for a dollar. They were an assortment with yellow, green, red and blue. I'll be using the red and the blue ones this summer and the other colors this fall.

I used some odd bits of leftover ribbon. with this type of bow it doesn't matter whether all of the ribbons are the same width or not so it's a great opportunity to use up your scraps.

 The total cost of these were under five dollars each and they'll be good for years of use.

Project Updates

Work in the bag continues. The ultrasuede fabrics didn't respond well to most of the marking methods I tried so I ended up drawing on them with a regular pen. The ink lines will be covered by the embroidery so that won't be a problem.

With most of the drawing done on this piece I went ahead and sewed both the side and bottom seams so that I can keep all of the materials to finish it inside so that I'll have it all together no matter where I choose to work on it.

When I'm embroidering I dump everything into the lining so that I can work on the outside of the bag.
There's a LOT of embroidery to do so this project needs to be mobile so that it can get out of the way for all of the other things I'm working on.

Here's a short list:
tote bag
dala horses-carving
                 sanding
                 painting
Photo display board (for a local senior center)
crochet hat (to be given to a program for kids who need them)
teaching myself to paint bulldogs
painting a mailbox (for my sister in law)
designing items for my Zazzle stores
re-arranging merchandise in the stores to make them easier to shop

Saving money on ferns

I had just been over to Home Depot and noticed that ferns were 8.99. Just the inspiration to send me back home and for a like in the back yard where I had a few  in the far corner.

 We dug up a few and brought them up to the front yard where everyone can enjoy them.

 Yes, this is the planter we built last year with scrap lumber and siding. How's it look now?

Results of the mac and cheese challenge

The 3 brands tried were: Our Specialty at 37 cents, Great Value at 50 cents and Kraft at 88 cents. The prices on Kraft vary widely from around 80 cents to well over a dollar depending on where and when you buy it. The wild range of prices is what made me want to look into this. The weights and cooking instructions on all three were the same so you don't run into the differences until you get to the facts and ingredients panels. It would probably take a chemist to break those down and explain them so all I can say is that the old saying "you get what you pay for" seems to apply here because the taste and texture of each of the products was better at each of the different price points.
It is interesting that the best tasting one also has the highest cholesterol and had more protein as well as more calories. I find myself wondering why but wasn't interested enough to follow it further.
How does this tie in with a blog about painting? The answer is simple, there isn't a lot of money in art and sometimes those extra few pennies you save can help you stretch a dollar and stay fed a bit longer in between things.

Step by Step

 One of my watercolors that came back to me in the mail

 I decided to add some permanent ink and a bit of colored pencil

After I'd finished with it, my husband cleaned it up in the computer and I'm off to my Zazzle store to see what I can make out of it.

Reindeer Rehab

 Paper mache reindeer with a broken antler glued back in place.

 The repair was painted over and then I began adding ribbon and bows to make them a bit more festive.

 They look happier already.

Every Last Scrap

 If this looks familiar, that's because it is. It's part of a piece from the last salt technique watercolor paintings that I did. There's also a lot of merchandise based on it in my zazzle store  http://www.zazzle.com/julia_art*  

 This card is made of scraps from several watercolor paintings and card stock mounted on a blank card.

 I thought about developing this piece into bunches of grapes and vines but decided to keep "playing" with it instead.

 Here are the results: That card is the one on the left of this photo.

Scrap Happy Christmas Ornaments

Here's a fun way to use up bits of jewelry, buttons or beads. Cut a few basic holiday shapes out of felt in as many layers as it takes to make them as firm as you like and then blanket stitch the edges together. I slide ribbon in between the layers to make the hanging loop and then pin or sew all of your treasures on to them. I made these years ago and think I traced some old fashioned cookie cutters to get the shapes for them.

Low Budget, No Budget Birthday

Sometimes it's just about finding different ways to arrange or use the things you've already got. This time 2 old, heavy lead crystal candle holder/vases held silverware as I set up as much of the serving area on the buffet as I could (that old commercial coffeepot takes up a lot of room) There wasn't enough space left for the glasses and napkins so I arranged them on a cake platter. There aren't enough matching napkins so I just alternated the different patterns in a stack.
Tables were set up both inside the house and out so people could settle in wherever they were comfortable and since I didn't have any birthday decorations I brought up some holiday garlands to help set a festive mood.
I suppose I should have taken pictures when I had put all the food out or written up the menu for you but things had gotten too busy by then.  

One thing I like to do when people come up for events like this is to let them pick a drawing or painting along with the other gifts I'm giving them. Here's the one that left yesterday. I'd almost forgotten this one so I'm waving good bye by putting the design on a lot of items in my store http://www.zazzle.com/julia_art*