Making My Own Mirrors-Etching

If you have a small home you'll need to learn that a mirror can be your best friend, it can make a room appear larger then it actually is! You'll also learn that they can be costly, so I've come up with a few ideas to keep the costs small, but still make my rooms look bigger! I find that with a homemade version there's always a little personality thrown in there as well. I like to have one-of-a-kind items without the designer costs so I always look and wonder  if I can make my own version of that item.
Pottery Barn had one that I noticed a lot of people were drawn to that consisted of many small squares that made up one large mirror that was nice to place above a mantel.  http://www.pinterest.com/pin/282952789061149860/  Hmmm, how can I make that?? Easy, the dollar store has packages of square mirrors that I could add to a wooden base, a little glue and black paint and I'd be done! Well kinda, I had an old painting the type where it's like a wallpaper print over a manufactured board with black painted edges.(Sorry I don't have a pic of the picture) I soaked and removed the papered print and then I laid out the mirrors and 12 fit exactly, with no room to spare. They were glued on the board with an adhesive caulking product similar to liquid nails and left to overnight to set. I had pressure applied by laying another flat board over the top and a weight added.

So now I had a large mirror but there was no room for the black borders in between the tiles as the Pottery Barn one had, I had to come up with a plan B as you often do with crafting.What do I have here??? I had stencils and etching cream so this is what I came up with.

First, I cleaned the mirror tiles with alcohol,  then I sprayed the back of the stencil with the tacky spray so the etching cream wouldn't leak out underneath. Next, I placed it in the center of the mirror and applied the etching cream where the wording and pattern was. You'll need to be careful not to spill outside the project area since the cream works fast to etch. Note: You are advised to wear protection when using this product as it is very corrosive, glasses and gloves at least.

Now you let the product sit for about 15-20 minutes then you rinse the cream off with cold water and examine it. If the etching hasn't reached every little detail of your stencil you may reapply and repeat. But I don't usually have a problem if you've applied a thick enough layer of the etching cream. In the photo below I had most of the cream rinsed off but now it had to be cleaned thoroughly and shined.

I was pleased with how it turned out and for only a few dollars I had a one-of-a-kind mirror, wallah! 

The cost was 4 packages of mirrors at $2.00 each and the other supplies I already had. The etching cream is an expensive product to buy but it lasts and lasts, the bottle I have is 4 years old and it cost about $35.00 at the time.

I hope I inspired you to try a mirror project of your own, with or without the etching cream you can easily create something that you saw somewhere else  for less money! Try it and let me know how it went, I'd love to see it because then I might want one like yours! 

DIY Drifttwood Starfish

When I prepare to decorate a room I always begin with a search through magazines, Google  and now the all inclusive source for ideas, Pinterest. When my new craft room was finished I wanted it to have a coastal, crafty feel so that's what I sought out to find. Oh, I almost forgot it had to be easy and economical too! Luckily for me I'm a little bit crafty and if I see it I can usually take it from there and copy it. My  first source of inspiration was a cute, little driftwood heart seen here http://www.simplicityinthesouth.com/2013/01/how-to-make-driftwood-heart-art.html.  However I didn't think the heart was what I was aiming for so I thought of a starfish shape and that's what I settled on. I used a piece of  MDF board to draw out the shape and asked my hubby to cut it out for me as that's not my department, he's the tool guy!

Next came the fun part of fitting all the little pieces of wood together, puzzle style. It was relaxing for me but for some I would say they'd view it the opposite and think that I was so full of patience, but it's all about what you enjoy doing!

What I found after trial and error was to double glue the piece with tiny amount of hot glue and a small amount of carpenters glue as well since I was going to glue wood to a wood product. Whereas if I just used the carpenters glue I could only do a  fit together a few pieces at a time until the glue set, therefore adding the hot glue sped up the process up a whole lot.

The star above hung so proudly in my room until my daughter came to visit for a holiday and loved it as well! It now hangs in her new house which that brought a bit of her home back to her new surroundings. Oh well, back to where I started....collect the driftwood, wash it, dry it, sort it and so on! Starfish number 2 would be faster since my wall was now bare again. This time I chose corrugated cardboard as the base and just used hot glue alone for the adhesive. To my surprise it worked out fine since the wood pieces are lightweight and it won't ever be put outside to possibly get wet. I think I even like it better then the first one since the shape is more curvy like a starfish occurs naturally.

Beauty in the Sky

Who can deny that there is so much beauty in a sunrise or a sunset? I love color and therefore I'm drawn to those times in the day when you can expect to see a spectacle in the sky. Luckily for me, I'm an early morning riser thanks to my dad's genes and I share his love of nature. It's the quiet, peaceful times in the early morning that you can ponder and reflect and fully absorb your surroundings. 


When you are at home and barely awake it seems like forever for the sun to rise, do you agree? That's one thing that I've noticed, it's actually only a few minutes between the light first appearing and the sun being fully exposed above the horizon! It's faster, way faster then I would have guessed, as is the swiftness of a sunset especially when you are trying to capture a photo.

The photo above and across were taken in early March when our mornings were very cold and crisp. A few days prior to this we had experienced -34 degree wind chills! Needless to say these were taken very quickly in order to maintain the heat in the car, grab a snap and go!

Happily, my reward came later when I got to upload and review the images, I loved them all but some stood out more than others due to the deeper colors that were captured. Have you ever wondered why the sky is full of reds, pinks and oranges at dusk and dawn?

It all has to do with the different wavelengths of the spectrum colors and how they are refracted depending on the distance the sun is from the earth. Red, orange then yellow have the longest wavelengths and blue has the shortest. So when the sun is on the horizon light has to pass through more atmosphere so only the colors with long wavelengths get through!

These two photos were taken the same morning as the previous two,but from a different location. It was a little later and much closer to the actual sunrise time. The above one you'll notice that the sun is still below the horizon and the dominant colors you see are reds and pinks. The second photograph the sun has emerged and the dominant sky color is orange.

Wouldn't you love to get up and go to work in the beautiful setting  in the photograph below? How could it be anything but ' Morning Glory'? Seems to me that it's the perfect name for a fishing boat!

The same is true for the beauty in an evening sunset, the beauty is there in the sky for all to see and enjoy.The first was taken in Winter and the second one in the Spring and last was a Summer setting.

Give a Little- Take a Little

Give a little -take a little, that's how I view the experience I have to share from last year in my yard! You see I love all the little birds that come by and even better if they stop long enough to get their photograph taken! If you feel the same way I have a little tip to share with you that I think may have given me an edge last year. We always throw out things that we deem are useless or are just simply waste, but this will make you rethink how you view such things. These things include small paper scraps, dryer lint, pet hair, wool scraps, curly ribbon  that's all garbage right? NO, not anymore! What are they any good for? Check it out at this pinterest link: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/28295278906146515

 It's so easy and effortless to lend a hand, which is what I did last Spring and to my surprise the reward was tenfold! I put some small strands of brightly colored wool outside in a few of our spruce trees and waited and watched...it drew in this guy!

Not a bad catch if I do say so myself, this is a Cedar Waxwing! I was so excited that he took the wool that you can see in the bottom of the above picture. But imagine how much more excited I got when I discovered where they were setting up the nest.

This Maple is directly in front of my kitchen window, the nest was about midway up on the right. What views I was privileged to see and photograph

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Then came the added excitement with the arrival of the babies, she had three!

We watched them everyday being fed and guarded by their doting parents, it was wonderful to see. 

 That, as we knew, would come to an end when they decided to spread their little wings. They took short flights within the Maple tree at first as you see below, out of the nest but not the tree!

Then the next day they built up their nerve and flew across the garden and that's how we got to see them well, as they were quite well hidden in among the large Maple leaves. They didn't have the full color plumage that their parents had at this point, but they were still cute.

I am so thankful that I had the Waxwings choose our yard to set up a nursery and successfully raise three of their young. It's all because I 'gave' a little wool that I was able to 'take' all these pictures!

Green wool dangling from the nest.

February Feathered Friends

Each Winter I look forward to the annual visit of Bohemian waxwings that feed on the berries produced on  Mountain Ash trees, commonly known as Dog berry trees. I did take note, as did everyone else, that the trees here this past summer were bursting with blossoms that in turn became loaded with berries in the Fall. There is a saying that if the trees are full of berries we are in for a hard, snowy Winter and less berries would predict an easier Winter. Guess what? The berries were dead on this year, we had tonnes of snow!!! Whatever the case the more berries the merrier for the birds, they flew and fed in swarms. It started here in late January lasting to mid February.

Whenever I saw them I was amazed at how they all flew in a synchronized pattern and in such large numbers. I was lucky enough to photograph them a couple of times, I even caught them in flight as seen below.There had to be hundreds of them and luckily for them there was a bumper crop of berries waiting to be feasted upon. As they decimated one area of Dog berry trees they would move farther along until they found the next batch.  

Here's another view of them after a freezing rain system iced all of the trees but that didn't stop

this gang. They still carried on flying around and feeding and if I do say so it made for some beautiful pictures.

 Then I was privileged enough to have the gang come into my yard, I had a hint they might   because of my Dog berry trees that would serve them a good breakfast some morning!

 It was also a rare treat to see them feeding along side of a group of robins, although the robins were far outnumbered. These robins are Northern robins who choose to stay instead of migrate south during the Winter. Most of the time it's the male who stays behind to get an early claim in on a territory for  the upcoming breeding season. Since they aren't in mating season they are a little more sociable with other birds as captured below.

      

 I even managed to catch them in the act of stuffing their little beaks full of the plump, red  berries.

After the feeding frenzy was over the bird gang moved on to another part of town to continue on devouring the berries. they certainly licked the platter clean.

                         

Pinned It and Did It!!!

                         

Swaddle Baby

I am sure by now most have heard of the website Pinterest! It's the site where whatever you have an interest in you can pin that item to a virtual bulletin board that you create! It's been a wonderful source of inspiration and great, creative resource for me! If you want to check it out for yourself visit:  http://www.pinterest.com/ 

I'll share with you a couple of projects that I pinned first and then re-created myself. One of the first things I attempted was a spray paint art project from http://shealynnbenner.com/2012/05/tutorial-7-spray-painted-doily-canvas/.  I changed the idea a little and spray painted over various sized paper doilies temporarily tacked to the canvases I was painting over. The base remained white and I sprayed here and there with various spray paint I had in orange, red and bronze. Here's the  final result:

Another passion I have is making door wreaths and accents and when I saw this pin I knew I had to recreate it for my door.  See the project at  http://frugalflourish.blogspot.ca/2010/09/fall-wreath-with-bling.html

 I love how it turned out so much that I made two of them! If you look closely you'll see I added nuts and purple potpourri pieces to use as filler accents, use whatever you have around! Here's my version of the Fall monogrammed wreath :

 Lastly, I'll share the easy, peasy sewing project that would make a nice gift for a little girl. I first saw it at  http://beccamariedesigns.blogspot.ca/2012/04/swaddle-baby-tutorial.html
 I had the top half of a doll that came from a wall accent I had disassembled so I was already half way there which made the project that much faster! Here's my little baby doll that I'll give to someone special when I see her again!!

Unwrapped view

I also recycled an old picture frame that had gotten tossed in the trash by a friend. I stripped out the picture and the glass, spray painted it and some clothespins. Next I pinned three rows of  jute string on it for her three kiddies to pin their art work up for display. Each one had their line labelled and a pack of stickers to decorate their sheet  of paper with for their first project!

Exploring at the Seashore

Do you want to go for a walk? Well at our house as any dog owner knows, that creates a lot of excitement! Meet our bundle of energy, Jasper who loves to take walks on the beach. How about we take you along on a virtual  walk and show you what sort of things we see? Our favorite time to explore is early in the mornings and later in the evenings when there's hardly anyone around, sometimes we'll have the beach all to ourselves!
One early morning we stumbled upon an old glove that had no doubt fell out of one of the fishing boats, it intrigued someone to go take a sniff! His nose sure gets a workout while we walk, it's so funny how their nose will often lead them and with us it's our eyesight that captures our attention.

Many times as we've walked along the beach Jasper sniffs all the way while I scan the shore for beach glass and things. One sunny morning, sad to say there was a close call, if not for us, then for the next barefooted person.  We stumbled upon a barely submerged razor blade! I picked it up and was shocked at the discovery since we have super clean beaches. That just proves we always needs to watch where we step, obviously!

But on a happy note we do find some pretty awesome things like sand dollars, if you are lucky! Sometimes there are piles of driftwood to collect for display purposes or as with me to create with! I'll share that with you in another post. What I love most of all is the beach glass that gets washed ashore, sometimes there's lots and other times you see a bare beach. I was lucky this particular morning, which was extra special because my Aunt was home visiting from another province and she wanted some beach keepsakes to take home with her.

Sometimes you'll find the oddball item which makes you pause and wonder, what's that? Or what 'was' that? Oddly enough I found a bone that belonged to a seal, maybe? It looked like a T shape and I was curious to learn where it may have came from, thus I took this photograph, do you know what it belongs to?

Then I found a "Mermaid's Purse" as we call it, which is the egg capsule that carries the embryo of small sharks, skates or rays that breed in our ocean.

Last, but not least are cod ears which are tiny findings that often go overlooked because of their size. The correct name is otolith. It is a shell-like structure in the inner ear that reflects growth patterns of the cod fish the same way as the rings on a tree stump! Here's a close-up view of one we found.

I hoped you enjoyed seeing the things we found at the beach, I'm sure we'll be able to do it again someday as you know how much somebody loves to go for a w-a-l-k!!