I present to you, Perry the Nail Polish-apus. I painted them myself, using L’Oreal’s “not a cloud in sight” for the background color. For the thumb nail, I did the ever iconic Perry face you’ve seen everywhere.

For the middle fingers, I did Perry as he appears when he’s a regular ol’ house pet.

And, since everyone asked to see my right hand… you should know that I didn’t even attempt to do this while painting with my left. (Well, after the test run where I determined it wasn’t going to be a good idea.)

Below are the pix of the test run, done with my dominant hand.

Lessons learned:

1. Even teeny, tiny paintbrushes sometimes leave thicker lines than anticipated.
2. It seems a lot easier to paint a simple design than it is, because you cant quite detach your hand from your wrist to put it at the angle you’d like.
3. When you take close up pictures of your hands, everyone will see your cuticles.
4. It’s really hard to take close up pictures of your own hand.

It’s peaceful, beautiful, and relaxing. I love being outdoors and wandering the various trails and paths. And when you think, “Maybe I’m not supposed to walk here?” chances are you’ll look up to find a bench a bit further down the way. It’s wonderful. I’ve taken in the views from some of the benches, parked myself on a rock to watch the koi and turtles in the pond, and have grand plans of bringing a book next time I’m there and possibly claiming a patch of grass in one of the many open fields.

This past weekend in particular, I was excited to return to see the cherry blossoms blooming. As magical as promised. I took lots of pictures in the short time I was there (bonus of a membership – I can come whenever I please so I don’t feel the need to make my time spent there worth the admission fee, which is a reasonable $8) – and want to share a few of my favorites with you below.

They’re all pictures of flowers, and you’ll see one of my (dare I say?) signature “bee butts” in there as well. Enjoy, and if you’re in the area be sure to check out the gardens yourself!

After finishing a fun joint crafts venture over the holidays, my sister had lamented to me that they just didn’t have good craft-supply stores in Berlin. Shortly after she left SoCal to head back to Europe, I started stockpiling some goodies for her.

While I am tooting my own horn a bit here, I’m also mentioning this as a suggestion for anyone who needs a gift for the crafter in his or her life. It is, after all, National Craft Month.

There was a crazy sticker sale at Michael’s, as well as cheap cute ones from Target, not to mention great deals on pads of paper. Since there are usually 2/3 sheets of each pattern, I delicately ripped out a page or two of each to send her, and kept the remainder for myself. And there was a handy container on sale to keep it all, well, contained… since my sis is short on space in her apartment. (Photos courtesy of my well-traveled sister.)

Final tally included tons of scrap-booking paper in varying shades, patterns, and weights, stickers and embellishments – like different glittery alphabet sets, flowers, animals, self-adhering rhinestones and pearls – and a set of glitter glue pens (can’t live without them!). Now she can make all the cards and picture frames and collages she wants!

Point is, if anyone is looking for something to get me this National Craft Month, or looking for some project starters of their own, see above!

Here’s my sister’s, in its natural surroundings:

The great thing about crocheting is it’s perfect for multitasking while you’re watching TV or listening to music. Recently, I’ve joined a group of knitters and crocheters at work, so it also makes for great socializing! These ladies (and a couple of gentlemen) knit and crochet for a cause, so all the blankets, scarves, and hats we make are donated to people with cancer, soldiers overseas, veterans, and others who are in need. It’s nice to feel like I’m putting my skills to good use. And I’m getting pretty good at making hats! (My first one ever, below.)

If you’re a knitter/crocheter, and are interested in donating some of your goods, contact me and I’ll refer you to some people in need.

Also, if you have any cool patterns you can recommend to me, I’d love to check them out. The great thing about meeting these ladies at work was they taught me how to read a pattern, whereas I’d only learned by sight before. A whole new world was opened up!

If you need a last-minute card idea, there’s nothing wrong with simple. It’s amazing how quickly and easily you can transform card stock, scrapbook paper, and tissue paper with a little glitter, glue and scissors. Take it to the next level with some markers, crayons, or colored pencils. Whatever you have around the house!

I used all differing shades of pinks and reds, without fear of clashing colors. I think they turned out pretty cute! Let’s hope my parents think so, as they should be receiving them today

(Pardon the lighting, it was pretty dark when I took the pix.)

The second is Perry the Practicepus, a gift for another coworker who is endlessly entertained by Dr. Doofenshmirtz having a practice dummy of Perry made from a painted log, tennis racket and tennis balls, rubber gloves, twigs, and an orange cone tied around its head with a piece of string. This, too, is hanging up in the office. Makes me proud

Both are acrylics on 8×10″ canvas. (And I’ve included the evolution photos of Donald. And please pardon the glare on Mickey.)

Below are my latest pieces. I know I promised crafting diversity on this blog, and more of it will come, but when I’m in a phase, there’s no telling how long it’ll last. Don’t even get me started on all the Pinterest projects I’ve logged away and have been waiting to make. Acrylics are just ruling these days!

Below is “Something that doesn’t exist” and Bobblehead Perry from Phineas and Ferb. They’re both 8×10″ canvases.

I have been taking more progress pictures though. You can see how many tries it takes for me to settle on a shade of green for Swampy Me, a perfectionist? Nonsense.

Swampy, if you don’t recognize him, is the star of the highly addictive game “Where’s My Water?” Don’t say I didn’t warn you. He was commissioned by someone who saw my other paintings and wanted one of his own. I was thrilled to make it! (He, too, is on an 8×10″ canvas.)

I’ll post some more later on!

I was excited for the challenge, and had a bunch of ideas. Of course, I had to can a few of them for logistical reasons (too hot, too noisy, too restrictive), but I came up with the idea to make an outfit out of shopping bags. I have a ton of paper bags from various stores, and though the details were sketchy when I started, I had an image of a nice long skirt (and I don’t care what anyone said, I was wearing real clothes underneath…), and the top was TBD.

To fashion the skirt, I took a long piece of duct tape, and started sticking strips from the shopping bags on them starting from the same top line. I made three layers, and taped them all together for maximum coverage. For the top, I was inspired by the multitudes of Gap shopping bags I had lying around (I didn’t realize I was seemingly collecting them), and the idea for a halter top using the drawstring from one of the bags. I didn’t measure anything, I just tried to make it long enough that it would cover me and fit over the skirt.

So, yeah! I think it came out pretty cute! (It was also incredibly hot and sticky under the duct taped parts and the plastic top, but I saw that coming. That’s why you get the picture early on in the evening!)

Have you designed any super creative costumes from stuff rather than fabric? I’d love to hear about it!