How to Make Simple Stamps

I was given a giant pack of sticky back foam sheets by a friend and thought I'd figure out a way to put them to good use.

http://www.joann.com/fibre-craft-4-1-2-x6-adhesive-back-foam-sheets-65pk-multi/zprd_02358083a/

 

To make simple stamps you will need a felt tip pen, a small block of wood or a bottle cap for a base, scissors, a pencil and a piece of sticky back foam. I used 4" Gingher embroidery scissors.

 Cut a small square of foam the size of your block of wood or plastic bottle cap.

 

On the backing of the square draw a simple shape, a star, leaf or letter of the alphabet.

Cut out your shape.

 

Peal off the backing and stick your shape on the base.

 

Color in your shape with a felt tip pen or use a stamp pad.

 

Use your stamp to make patterns. When the ink is dry you can add details with colored pencils. 

I still have 64 and a half pages of foam left. Any suggestions?

Marilyn

Imagination creates reality.
~ Richard Wagner

A Sunny Day

True friendship isn't being inseparable, 

it's being separated
and nothing changes. ~ Unknown

My bestie, Julie, was in town visiting her mother, so we grabbed breakfast and some coffee.

After breakfast we decided to go to the beach for a walk. I took a wrong turn and we ended up wandering around a small old cemetery on Signal Hill. Most of the graves were from the twenties and thirties. I was struck by how most of the people didn't live very long lives. It wasn't unusual for people to have died in their forties or fifties.

 

 It wasn't a particularly pretty place. It hasn't rained in months upon months.

You can see the oil pumps in the background... but it was quiet and peaceful.

 

 Someone had left food and presents on this little girl's grave for the Day of the Dead.... El Dia de los Muertos.

Some of the names were little children, with sayings like "Our Little Cowboy" and "Our Darling"

This one read simply, "Sister"

 

This stone was for a"woodman of the world". 

I'm thinking mine might have a pair of scissors.

  

Thank you, Munhollands, for the nice bench where we sat and talked for an hour, solving all the world's problems. I am so happy to be alive. 

Marilyn.

 

--

“Look at everything as though you were seeing it 

either for the first or last time. 

Then your time on earth 

will be filled with glory.” 

~ Betty Smith

Operation Salad Jar....

We're all about the manias here at Casa Del Aguas. Whether it's guitar building, costume making, painting, paper toys or cooking, we have a tendency to throw ourselves into new things with the wild abandon of Mister Toad.  Somehow, we all ended up with little inner voices that say, "I bet I could..."

So I when I saw this post on Pinterest on how to make Mason Jar Salads, I was transfixed.

 http://karenknichols.blogspot.ca/2012/02/mason-jar-salads.html

It's a great tutorial. After reading it I wanted to try this with all the single minded demanding of Veruca Salt. I wanted salads in jars and I wanted it now.

So I bought five mason jars, washed them, bought a bunch of veg and started filling...

 The first couple jars I filled with balsamic vinaigrette, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella balls, fresh basil, cucumber and lettuce.The dressing sits on the bottom of the jar until you are ready to eat, keeping the salad crisp. Then you can either shake the jar up and dig in or tip it into a bowl.

I filled two more jars with poppyseed dressing, grated carrot, red bell pepper, green peas, and lettuce.

So thank you for the tutorial, Karen at My Not So Simple Life.  Here they are, lined up like little happy greenhouses in the fridge. Next I want to try a cilantro dressing with chickpeas and roasted bell peppers. I was going to do a couple of bacon and spinach salads but someone ate all the bacon that I baked this morning. (Gives the Boy the stinkeye.)

Oh well, next time...

What salad combinations would you suggest?

Nomnomnom,

Marilyn.

PS If you want to follow me on Pinterest, here are my boards... http://pinterest.com/thetoymakers/


---

--> "If we all did the things we are capable of doing  we would literally astound ourselves." – Thomas Alva Edison

Sewing Party!

Getting ready for the Long Beach Comic Con.... The boy and his friend spent the evening sewing costumes. I'm so proud of them!

 They made three robes. They are going as Organization XIII from Kingdom Hearts.

 The Boy was assigned to ironing duty and needle threading.

 Sewing Shoulder pads.

I finished my brown jacket. Not half bad, if I do say so. Total cost = less than twenty bucks. I still need to learn so much about sewing. Next project is a tee-shirt.

Tomorrow I'll post picts of the gang dressed up.

Good times, people, good times. :-)

Marilyn.

Friendship is born at the moment when one person says to another, 

'

                        What?! You too! Thought I was the only one.’  ~ C. S. Lewis