Super Shiny Cranes!

Alright, so really this was completely Paige's idea.  After seeing her friend with an awesome garden only to have lame cd's hanging by a string everywhere to scare away birds, Paige suggested I make shiny cranes that might have the same effect.  (Paige also gave me my first big crane order!)  These are the cranes and her idea is actually pretty genius!  This is Sue Jin's backyard where we did a photo shoot.

 Super shiny!  No way the birds are gonna get these tomatoes.

 Look carefully at these tomato plants.  These are cherry tomatoes that Sue Jin is growing.  Yea, cherry tomatoes on steroids!  Sue Jin has a serious green thumb and if you ask her how she is getting so many crazy tomatoes, she replies "I grow them with love".  Really Sue Jin?

Junior turns 2!

What else can one do when one's Saint Bernard turns two?  Throw the biggest doggie party on the block!  And nobody throws a doggie party better then Sue Jin!  Check it.

Doggie treat bags for the guests, birthday biscuits courtesy of Dee, and of course party hats.

The birthday boy getting dressed for his party.

Oh yeah, looking good, and ready to partay!

Or not... getting that hat on was exhausting.

Guest and bff Buzz, looking a little sad that his treat bag got jacked by his dad Mike.

Mike and Junior swear they didn't take Buzz's treats.

Willie seemed a little tipsy as he started several scuffles over the birthday biscuits.

Could it have been because Sue Jin was secretly eating all the biscuits?

Wow, a dog must have gotten into the cake!  There's no way that's the leftovers from 4th of July and some human mauled it.  Junebug doesn't mind though!

Great party Junior!  Happy Birthday!!!!

Louis - Best Cat Painter Ever!

So my new favorite craft is actually one I used to do a whole bunch, cross-stitch!  This was a logical choice for summer crafting because I had a lot of leftover supplies from before and didn't have to spend a lot of money getting new ones.  I love following cute patterns, but I realize if I am ever going to take them to a craft fair, or sell something on etsy, it is going to have to be my own design!  I started by just seeing if I could convert a picture into a pattern.  The first experiment involved a painting that is one of three cat paintings that I picked up at the Geary Street Goodwill back in like 2000 for $.99 each.  Each one is signed by artist named Louis with the date 1995.  Louis is an enigma that has fascinated me and my friends ever since.  We love Louis!  What I did was trace the painting first with tracing paper, then I traced it onto graph paper and then used that to make a cross-stitch.  Not bad huh? I know I'm going to have to make two because I got two girls in mind that this will make a great Christmas gift for!

 This is my bathroom where the Louis paintings live.

 Tracing the original tracing onto graph paper to make a cross-stitch pattern.

 Comparison of cross-stitch to original.

Finished product!  Now I'm working on the other two.

I am a teacher who just finished her 9th (yikes!) year of teaching.  For the first 7 years, I always taught summer school.  Last year I took the first summer off.  Nine weeks of freedom and all I have ever thought since then is PLEASE DONT EVER MAKE ME TEACH SUMMER SCHOOL AGAIN!!!  So now this is my second summer and I am loving it more then ever!  Money is tight of course, so it is time to follow the tradition of my family (mom and sister in particular) and my good friends (nicole in particular) and start crafting away!  Thanks to my Netflix account, and my crafting supplies, I have few needs and I never find myself bored.  Thanks for reading my blog and I hope you become a member!