Let’s Go Monday!!!!!

Yes, it has been a while and why…I really have no idea! I can say that I got caught up in the Holidays of 2011 or I can plainly admit that I quite forgot about my blog. Horrible, I know. What I didn’t realize is how much I missed trying to keep a blog going. There is a sense of satisfaction in writing a post even if it goes unread. I am especially proudest when I do a tutorial that makes sense and seems like people would actually attempt. This year, I am trying to gain a new respect for being positive and being positive 24/7 is actually quite more difficult than I had anticipated, but I continue on this journey to become “Pollyana”. Here is some motivation for you to take a look at that may help you along with the rest of your week.

Motivation for the Holidays!

I know that this week is probably a wee bit stressful with the holiday just around the corner. I hope that these images make you smile a bit.

New work by Bansky.

I'm bummed I didn't get this one in the mail.

Santa got a little more than he expected for Christmas.

wow.

Great advice.

More great advice.

 

My Secret Identity!

My Secret Identity Revealed!

For this Tuesday Tutorial I have decided to come out in the open about my secret identity…I am one of Santa’s helpers. So, I will be showing you how to put together a “Sneak Preview” type gift for the little one’s in your life. I have been doing this for about three years now for my nephew and just started doing this last year for my niece. I think it’s just a fun little gift for them to get even more excited about Christmas coming and it helps out a little with the mom and dad’s because they know Santa’s watching!!! And yes, I did work on these gifts garbed up in elf fashion.

Elf Workshop Supplies

Supplies:

• Some sort of container that is large enough to hold trinkets
• Tinsel
• Craft paint
• Tiny toys

Paint lower half of boxes

Step One:

Paint the bottom half of your box if you purchased one that looks like mine. You can really use any kind of container you want. Last year I had saved up so many pasta sauce jars that I used them for the gift container. They looked especially cute with the snow looking tinsel because it looked all frosty.

Glitter is GOOD!

Step Two:

Once the bottom half has dried, I paint the top half. Of course I went with glitter paint because, well, glitter is awesome. It makes is magical!

These gifts need names!

Step Three:

I got out the old chalk pastels I hadn’t used since college and wrote their names simply on the top. This was easy to do because these boxes I got at Michaels have a chalkboard topper. When I used the pasta sauce jars, I created tags with their names on them.

Lovely little trinkets.

Step Four:

Fill your containers up with the little trinkets you came up with. I always like to put in a Pez dispenser just because kids always think it’s so cool to take your candy everywhere (and I do too . Fill it up with tinsel to create extra pizazz.

Note from Santa.

Step Five:

I write a short little note from Santa to show how proud he is. I try and pick out the things that seem the most important to them so that they feel encouraged to keep doing what they love!

Ta-Dah!

Final Step:

Send those puppies out!

Here’s Monday’s Motivation!

First let us start off with this. My old teammate from Fresno State Track, Joshua Foster, tagged all of us oldies to this oh so memorable song. It’s our alma mater in a way…and I am proud of it!

Ohhh Monday, how you popped back into our lives so quickly. It’s Monday and it is the holiday season, what can I say? I hope these quotes, images and a nice little link help you along your way to Tuesday!!

I'm not trying to be a Grinch at all!

I found this post on GalaDarling.com, linking up to ZenHabits.com…it’s about maybe changing the idea of a Holiday tradition many of us stress about… Take a look and see if this is something maybe you and you’re family would be interested in!

love it!

so very true.

agree!

Marty has fallen in love with Maggie, the stray we found. C'est la vie!

 

Elegant Art for Your Thanksgiving Feast

This Tuesday Tutorial I am going with the theme of Fall/Thanksgiving. My Mom called me the other day describing something she saw on The Today Show and this tutorial is what I envisioned she was describing.  It’s a centerpiece for your table, or you can put it on an end table or a shelf. If you aren’t the one doing the cooking, it would make a wonderful gift to the host.  This project took a little more than half an episode of Chopped to make and I believe that with a simple change in one supply, it could take exactly half an episode of Chopped (30 min).

Supplies:

• A branch…yes a real one
• Paint (I chose metallic copper and gold for accents)
    Note: If you use spray paint, this project will take much less time. Simply hang your branch somewhere outside and spray away)
• Paint Brush
• Construction Paper
Note: Another pretty option would be to splash watercolors onto paper for a real turning colors look)
• Scissors
• Ribbon
• Pen

Supplies

Step One:

First of all, cover the area you are working on with newspapers or canvas. This way you will not get paint on your surface…like a dining room table . Paint your branch and make sure that you cover as much as you can. I noticed that once I removed my butt from my seat, that there were TONS of areas that I had not covered. The paint dries quickly because the wood is so porous and this makes it quite easy to pick up the branch and paint around it. If you wanted your piece to look at little more modern or fun, paint the branch any color you want! I don’t think there is any wrong way to execute this project.

A smaller brush may be needed for those nooks and crannies.

Step Two:

I thought that the branch looked a little flat for me, even though it has a slight shimmer to it. So, I dusted the top of it with gold paint that I had left over from my t-shirt tutorial. I think it made the piece look a little more finished since I painted the branch brown.

Golden!

Step Three:

While waiting for your paint to dry, cut out leaves from your construction paper.

Fall leaves

Step Four:

Cut or punch a tiny hole at the end of your leaf and insert your ribbon.

A tiny hole puncher would be ideal

Step Five:

I hand crinkled my leaves to give them a “drying out” look. At first I was a little over-zealous in crinkling them and ended up ripping them.

Proceed with caution

Step Six:

Write what you are thankful for on one leaf so that everyone else in attendance will get the hint.

So many things to be thankful for!

Final Outcome!

Here is the centerpiece! I added a little ambiance to show off the metallic in the paint and to give the leaves a more autumnal look. My husband would probably not like the idea of me putting candles next to dry wood and paper but it truly makes the photo look much more dramatic. I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and you try it out!

Yay!

 

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

 

Motivational Monday! 3 Day Work Week :)

Monday is here and the work week is short thanks to a wonderful holiday we call, Thanksgiving. Take a look at the Thanksgiving Proclamation that President Lincoln wrote up, to see what it’s all about.

There are so many things that I am thankful for such as: a fantastic family and friends, having a roof over my head, being able to express my creativity, and the list goes on. I am also thankful to Gala Darling for posting a link to this blog….it totally made my year ! I am so excited to be able to spend a couple days with my family, that I think this work week is going to feel like the last couple of days of high school. I truly wish everyone has a safe and happy holiday this year and thank you for checking out this blog!

Puff-tastic!

Ahhh....calming dew drops.

Mi familia

Freebie Friday: Thanksgiving Placeholders!

Marty's ready for some grub!

Thanksgiving is this week and I can not wait to eat cranberry sauce and dinner rolls! For this Freebie I made some placeholders for your table.  The leaves on these placeholders were drawn by my Mom. She sent me a package through the mail and these lovely leaves were drawn in marker all over it. They were so beautiful that I had to use them for something and I wanted to share them with you.

You can print them out on your printer at home and I have trim marks on the sheet so that cutting them out evenly will be a breeze! I would even suggest printing them on some sort of natural paper to give them a real autumnal feel. I hope you enjoy them and have a fantastic holiday.

Fall_PlaceHolders

Rad Can Only Describe It.

This Tuesday Tutorial was inspired by my drab, broken, stained iPhone case. I took it off weeks ago because it made my iPhone look plain said and since then it has been collecting dust next to the stereo. I have the iPhone 3GS which means cases for this phone are diminishing as you are reading this. My solution…attempt to create my very own RAD iPhone case. In the three minute brainstorm that took place, I was wondering what exactly would be RAD enough to dress my case. What would I want people to see as I am gabbing away on my phone? What will I not grow tired of and put a smile on my face whenever I see it? Barbie.

I know so many people have their issues with Barbie, but I grew up with her and my love for her is still there in my heart. Yes, I am a dork and yes, you can make fun of me because I am a Barbie lover. On to the tutorial!

Please note that this tutorial was simply done in a “fly by the seat of my pants” fashion. There are kinks that need to be worked out and if you have any suggestions on how to perfect the iPhone case, please feel free to comment!

Supplies:

Supplies

• Mod Podge
• Foam Brush
• Scissors
• Magazine, Book, Photos (Whatever you wish to have on your phone in paper form)
• And of course…a phone case

Step One:

Cut Out Your Images

Grab your scissors and cut out the images you would like to use. I could not find my crafting scissors so I had to use my kitchen shears. They kind of worked. One more not, I photocopied the images from my book because I did not want to damage the book in any way. I would suggest you do that with photos as well so you don’t lose the photo and copy paper is much more flexible than photo paper.

Step Two:

Mod Podge Hodge Dodge

Now, bush Mod Podge onto the phone case, and don’t be shy! Place your images onto the case while the Mod Podge is still wet, then wait a tiny bit. I like to wait a bit before I coat the top of the images only because I have had problems with shifting the image in previous projects. Ok…tiny bit has passed and now coat on that Mod Podge on top of your place images!

Step Three:

Fluff

I cut out little hologram hearts to go onto my case before the Mod Podge had dried. I coated them with Mod Podge so that they would stick. If I had rhinestones this case would have had some serious bling…Next Time! As for now, let it dry completely.

Step Four:

Whoops! There's a camera on my phone.

Now that your phone case is dry, you can start clipping off the excess paper. Of course, kitchen shears are not the ideal tool to use for such small details. Also, I forgot to keep in mind that my phone has a camera and a little button to put it on vibrate. To cut these out, I used very, very, very small scissors. The result is not flawless, but for me it works.

Final Result:

Ta Dah!

Here it is! There are definitely some kinks to work out (please comment if you know how to fix them), but I am overall very happy with the result. Who knows how long it will last on there and the good thing is that it only took about 20 minutes of hands on time to create! If you decide to do this to your phone case, let me know, I’d love to see it! You can find me on Facebook under Jenny M. Diaz; Twitter @JennyMooreDiaz; or email me at jenny@jennymdiaz.com. I look forward to seeing them!

 

Helloooo Monday!

Why is it I am more exhausted after a weekend than my actual “work” week? It makes me feel rather accomplished knowing that I stuck to my to-do’s and that I have less to worry about during the week! Anyhow, on to Motivational Monday!

Holy monkey! I found this article about how different lenses can really alter the way you look, on Nubby Twiglet’s blog. Let’s just say that I am now investing in some new camera lenses.

Whoah! This doesn't even look like the same girl!

Just knowing that a group of people were able to accomplish such a beautiful and massive painting and allow the world to see it makes me smile.

 

Have a great Monday!!

 

 

This is so beautiful.

So many times I forget what my body can do. Lately it has been used for sitting and I forget how good it feels to move. I found this video on abduzeedo.com on their Daily Inspiration and it left me amazed. I thought it was so beautiful the way this person moves so freely. I hope you enjoy it, especially on a beautiful day like today…at least where I am.