Fall in love with Fall....

I grew up amongst canvasses and paint brushes, music notes and instruments.

There was always someone creating art or music around me and that is perhaps why I often refer back to my library of childhood memories when doing crafts.

While doing this craft, I reminisced about a time sitting by my father's feet and creating with him.  As I turned each page of the book, I heard his wild stories and funny jokes which will always be archived in my heart. 

During a recent visit to a local Urban store, my eye caught something that reminded me of my dad and his 'crazy' creations.  They were simple frames covered in newsprint along with tote bags and baskets weaved from old magazines.  

Even though we were not very recycle savvy back then, my dad would make little stools out of old telephone books for my brother and I.  We would sit by his side and help him fold each page of the phone book until it would become a piece of furniture.  Brilliant! 

The materials:

Old paperback book

thick cardboard

scissors

ribbon(optional)

garden stick

exacto knife

hot glue gun

tea bag (optional)

Draw the shape of your pumpkin on your cardboard and cut it out

Remove cover from book

Place cardboard over book and cut along with exacto knife

You will have to continue cutting  until you reach the end of the book

  

Trim all the little bits of paper (although I personally like the way this looks)

Make some tea!

With the tea bag, stain the pages of the book

Glue the stick to the back of the book

Glue some pages around the stick; the clip holds it while it dries

(note: my pumpkin will sit on a shelf, so for this purpose it's better if the back is flat. If your pumpkin will sit on a desk or table, you will need to glue the back).

...and that's all she wrote (get it? it's a book...nevermind)

'FALL'  IN LOVE .........

How about a little white pumpkin with the kiddies?  Simply take some white paper and fold in half.  Staple the centre to form a little booklet and have your child cut the 'pages'.  Glue a little stick and there you go.  These would also make lovely place cards or you can make a streamer, so many craftberries....

An apple?  Tres jolie!

Hope you enjoyed today's Craftberry.......................

Fall frenzy..

Just like the leaves outside are changing so is the inside of my house. I am constanlty inspired with new ideas and I hope you will be inspired too.

This was my set up a week ago.

Nature lends you the most beautiful ornaments....

My little owl made it to the coffee table. He had been perched on the window

It is a beautiful autumn day and it's Friday. Enjoy life today ............

The Rainbow in our hands.....

We caught a rainbow today

Swiftly flowing through our window

Magically spreading smiles to our faces

Colourfully painting happiness into our hearts

Gently gliding over our hands

And quietly leaving a sweet memory behind

we let the rainbow return to the sky....

Place an empty jar filled with water or a crystal class by the window. Let the sun shine through it and catch rainbows with your children.......

Just 'write' out spooky....

Some of my best and sometimes over the top ideas come to me in the middle of the night.  It's almost like a light goes off in my head and there it is...the craftberry, ready to be picked. 

Last night, not only did a light go off in my head but the entire sky lit up followed by a loud rumble and then rain coming down with force.  It wasn't so much my idea that put on the light show, but a crazy thuderstorm that woke everyone in our family.

Needless to say, while we had tucked the 3 kiddies into their beds at the beginning of the night, the storm summoned each of them and there was five of us in one bed by the middle of the night (thank God my husband had convinced me to buy a king sized bed).  Little toes sticking under my back, little arms over my face.  At one point, I think someone was laying right on me.  It was a big ol' family sandwich.

But it was during my night time game of twister that it came to me.....another craftberry.

If you had a chance to read an earlier post, you may recall me saying I was helping my friend with her son's party.  Well, we finished wrapping the party favours (about 25 of them, and that's just for the boys) and had tons of empty wrapping paper rolls.

Of course most would simply put them in the recycle box where they belong, but my brain isn't wired that way.  Instead, my first thought was 'what can I make out of this?'.  And well, here it is.....

 

Craftberry ready to be picked....

 

It can hold loose candy...

 

or  lollipops...

or ..yummy chocolate (I made this pencil big enough to hold a regular chocolate bar)

I know halloween is still about a month away, but I figured starting now would give me enough time to make one for each child in each of my kiddies 3 classes.

Too ambitious? Yeah, that's what my husband often says, but that's what happens when you have a Craftberry Bush!  

ps. I already have a plan for what I'll do with all of the leftover halloween candy wrappers, but I guess you'll have to come back in November to see.............;o)

Oooey gooey glue be gone....(removing glue off jars)

One of the prettiest displays for flowers are old jars.  Just peel away the label and you're good to go.  Good to go?  Yeah right!

I'm in the process of helping my friend plan her young son's birthday party (it's a Toy Story theme) and one of the games we are planning is lasso toss over glass jars filled with candy.

My friend and I have been collecting jars and decided we had enough jars and had to get started on the removal of the labels. 

'Piece of cake', I thought.  'I will just soak these bad boys for a bit under hot water and the labels should come off with ease' ....Not quite!

Sure, the labels came off with a little scraping here and there but the glue residue remained on the jars.

I remember my sister telling me about this super glue removal liquid called Goo Gone.  My sister is an organic kinda gal and I wondered if she still used this 'toxic' liquid (there is after all a picture of a skull right on the front of the bottle).

I read the instructions and got as far as one jar when I remembered the use for these jars are to hold candy.  Well, so much for that. 

Then I remembered that when I was young, my mami would always use baby oil to remove sticky glue off of things.

It turns out that mami was right (again) and that mineral oils or cooking oils are excellent natural glue removers. (Don't worry I didn't use baby oil either).

And do you remember when you got gum stuck on your hair your mom would use peanut butter?  Well that also works well in removing the glue off the jars.

But if that doesn't work, take out your hair dryer, set it on its warmest setting and blow the hot air close to the glue.  The glue will soften enabling you to remove it easier.  I found this method worked best.

Unfortunately with all of the methods, you will still need to put in a little elbow grease. 

But the results are sparkly, beautiful clear, oooey, gooey gluey free jars!  

Before my little experiment....

AFTER.

Such beauty in simplicity...

Apple print wreath....

I am always amazed at the manner in which nature displays its beauty for us.

As we drove by an apple orchard this weekend, I saw how every apple had been placed upon the trees.  Each placed there one by one ever so delicately, like beautiful shiny ornaments on a Christmas tree.

God is a great decorator !

It was a coincidence that my sister had gone apple picking this weekend and asked the question: "What do I do with 20lbs of apples?".  Well, a baker I'm not, but here is a craft to help you along.........much love ! xo

                            

The materials:

apple

red and green paint (apples come in so many colours so just pick your fave)

glue

paintbrush

brown construction paper

white construction paper

Place some paint on a paper plate and dip the apple into the paint.  Or, apply the paint using a brush right onto the apple (this another way to alter the difficulty of the craft).

Stamp the apple on the white paper.

Make several prints and have your child or yourself paint the stem and leaves on the apples.(optional). Cut out the apples.

Cut out a large doughnut from brown construction paper (hopefully yours will be a little better than this one; I didn't bother to trace a circle) OR you could use a paper plate, paint it brown and cut out a circle from the middle.

Glue your apple prints around the doughnut

Let's take it a step further and find some little twigs in your garden and trim them. These will be the stems.

And here is a bountiful apple print wreath.......me loves !!!

I leave you with a few neat facts about apples..........

• Apples float because 25 percent of their volume is air.

• It takes nearly 40 apples to make 1 gallon of cider.

• You could eat a different apple every day for more than 19 years, and never eat the same kind twice.

• The largest apple, according to the Guiness Book of World Records, weighed 3 pounds and 2 ounces.

• An apple tree has to grow for four or five years before it will produce an apple.

• Bobbing for apples started as a Celtic New Year's tradition to determine whom you would marry.

• In ancient times, apples were thrown at weddings (instead of rice or birdseed, like today... ouch!).

• It's said that Isaac Newton thought of the "law of gravity" while sitting under an apple tree and having an apple fall on his head.

• The apple belongs to the rose family.

I love useless facts..........have a delicious day !!

The sound of silence....

Silence spoke to me this morning as everything was so very still.

It spoke to me through the sound of my heart as it beat the name of my loved ones.

It spoke to me through the wind as it skillfully played a beautiful melody with the leaves.

It spoke to me through the birds who busily whistled a morning song.

It spoke to me through the bees as they collected their sweet nectar. 

It spoke to me through my thoughts as I felt the peace in my soul.

It spoke to me through my paint brush as it created life with every stroke upon the

canvas.....

It was a particular quiet Saturday morning.  The kiddies were at the cottage with their Nana, my husband was still sleeping, the hamster was not running on its wheel, the cats were not purring and the fish were very still.

It was very quiet so I decided to get my paints out and have a little conversation with my paint brush. This is what we talked about........

                           

                         

It's still a work in progress as I think I want to antique it a bit.  I will show you the finished product once its done.

This beautiful plate was my inspiration.

 

Here's a fall canvas I painted a while ago.  Five trees representing our little family.

When will you have a conversation with your paint brush?