Crayons ! Canvas ! Colors !

I've seen a few of these crayon art pieces over on pinterest. I loved the concept and the colors and just had to try it.  It was simple.  I bought a canvas and a box of 24 crayons.  The only other supplies I used were a hot glue gun and my hair dryer.

Step one ... chose the colors you want to use and lay them out on the top of the canvas.  I used all of them except grey and brown this time.  Later on I want to do some with particular colors but I need to wait til my sister brings me a little stash of cheap crayola crayons from the States.  In the mean time, I bought some dodgy crayons from the cheap store tomorrow that I will experiment with tomorrow ...

Step two ... hot glue gun the crayons into place.



So pretty !!



Make sure you take plenty of photos before you get the hair dryer out ! :)



Ok ... the fun bit. Put your hair dryer on hot and point it at the crayons. I kept mine on low once they started melting ... the wax didn't spit all over the place as much !



Just keep blowing hot air on them until they are melted to your liking.



and that's it ...

Try it ! You'll like it !

Walking ....

 

I think birds are adorable when they walk rather than fly ...

How to Pinterest ~ for my Dad !

My Dad is pretty cool. He's on facebook ... twitter ... he 'checks in' on his iPhone. And now, he's got pinterest ! He got it because my sister and I love it. But, he's a bit confused by it. I'm not surprised, I was too when I first got it. I decided to write him a little 'how to' and thought, why not stick it on my blog ... there may actually be other people who might like a bit of a how to as well !

When I first signed up, I was a bit confused as to how to get around. Clicking on your name in the top right hand corner will take you to your own pinterest page. This is where you will find your 'boards', your 'pins', and your 'likes".   I have my boards sorted in alphabetical order ... you can arrange them by clicking on the 'rearrange boards' button just under your name.  Once you are in there, you just drop and drag. 

When you originally sign up, there will be a few boards already on your page. You can change them. Just hit the button on the board that says "EDIT". Then you can change the title, add a description if you want. I have all my boards set to only me being able to pin. Not sure why you would want others to pin but whatever. Select a category and then 'save settings". If you wand to delete the board entirely, you can do that here too.

Over on the left hand side of the screen, under your name and above your photo you'll see 'followers" and 'following'. If you click on the 'followers' that will show who is following you. If you click on 'following' that will show who you are following. (I hope you are following me !!)

If there is a button that says 'unfollow', then you are following that person. If you don't want to see their posts then push the 'unfollow' button.

If you see a 'follow' button, then you are not following them. If you want to follow, then push the 'follow' button.

You can invite friends through facebook or through email.  When you click on the Invite Friends like you see above, it will take you to where you can do this.  Finding friends is easy too ... just click on the Find Friends like you see above, and if you've signed in through facebook, you'll be able to find friends that way ...

Clicking on the red Pinterest word at the top of the screen will take you to this page. From here you can click 'pinners you follow' and it will show you the recent things that people you follow have pinned. You can click on 'everything' and either see everything anyone on pinterest has pinned recently or you can select specific interests from the drop down menu. There is also 'videos', 'popular' and 'gifts' ... I haven't really used them.

At first, I thought pinterest was all about re-pinning what other people had pinned. But then I discovered that I could pin stuff from websites and then ... then !!! I really loved it !! You have to install the 'pin it' button onto your toolbar first. Here's the instructions I used to install mine.

When you want to pin to pinterest from a webpage, make sure you are on the specific page you want to come back to (not the home page of the blog or website)as it will link the photo to the address in the address bar. It will bring up some photos for you to chose from. When you hover over the one you want it will give you a 'pin this' button. Click that.

Then select which of your boards you want to pin to and write a little description to remind you why you pinned it ...

One more thing. If you hover over individual 'pins', you will be given these options. Repin. Like. Or Comment. Repin will take you to the section where you chose your board and write your description. Like will put the pin in your 'likes' section. and comment ... well, it will let you leave a comment. You can also tag other pinners by using the @bonnieg73 just like on facebook.

I use the iphone app too but it's not exactly the same as the web version.  You can't do as much but I like scrolling through the things the people I follow have pinned on the phone better than on the computer.  I do different things on the computer and the phone ...

I think that about covers it ...

Let me know if there is anything that is still a little confusing ... and I'll do my best to answer for you.

In The Grass

Pretty pretty birdies !

Sky Coaster !!

Yesterday we took the kids to Wet N Wild. It was fun ! Not only did Alia go on two of the bigger slides with us, Rory and I got to do the Sky Coaster.

Normally we wouldn't do something like this because of the cost ... but yesterday they were having a sale ! For both of us to do it together was only $30 ... that's more than 1/2 off !!

It was so fun. I love stuff like this ! The scariest bit, for me, was when we were being pulled up. I just kept watching the ground below us get farther and farther away. I shut my eyes about half way up and didn't open them til we stopped up at the top ! Rory reckons the scariest bit was the freefall ... but by the time we were falling, I was already laughing my head off and screaming Woo Hoo !!

I would totally do this again ! Over and over again !

Crossing Over

Crossing Over
by Ruth Irene Garrett

I am fascinated by the Amish. Always have been. Well ... ever since I was old enough to watch the movie Witness. I'm pretty sure that was the start of my fascination.

I will not lie. I love modern conveniences. I love my iPhone and my computer and my food processor. But .... there is something about living the simple life that appeals to me. Little House on the Prairie simple. Amish simple. Barn raisings ... I would love to be a part of a barn raising ! I think the appeal is the community. In Little House it's all about family. About being together around the dinner table. About reading out loud, snuggled under quilts to the light of a candle. The Amish ... big community dinners, communal farming, the whole community coming together to raise a barn. You know ?

That fascination is what lead me to pick up this book from the library.

Did I like it ? It was ok. Not a book I couldn't put down or one that I would say I enjoyed overly. But, I read it because I was interested.

This book is from the point of view of one woman. And so I take the whole thing with a grain of salt. The thing that struck me about it though was the controlling nature that she portrayed of the Amish people. She was put in 'the ban' ... excommunicated, because she married a non Amish man and moved out of the Amish community. Therefore, she could no longer be part of the lives of her family or friends. The only communication seemed to be them trying to get her to realize the error of her ways.

It's a very religious book, in the sense that a lot of it is centered on the Amish religion.

Would I recommend it ? Probably not to most people. But if you are interested in the Amish ... and in one woman's story ... then yeah, go for it.

Mice

Mice by Gordon Reece

This was an easy read.  Easy in the sense that it only took me a few hours to get through it.  Not so easy in the subject matter.  It's a murder mystery ... I like those, but for some reason this one got to me a bit.  Maybe it is the conclusion that they came to at the end ... but I won't tell you what that was, just in case you read it !

The author is British but has lived in Australia for some time.  I liked the familiar Australian-isms that I found within the pages of this book.   I liked the way it was written and felt very quickly like I knew the characters !  I like it when I feel attached straight away.

I did find that it dragged on a bit in the middle.  I think it was because the author was trying to show the emotional torment that these poor ladies were going through but I felt I had picked that up loud and clear already.   It didn't drag long enough that I didn't feel like finishing the book though, as can sometimes happen.

Would I recommend this book ?  Yes, but only if you like books that will tug on your heart leaving you to wonder what is right and what you would have done in the same situation.  In the end, I do like books that leave me thinking ...

Books Books Books !!

I got a pile of books from the library today ! I'm so excited ! I reserved a bunch a week or two ago and a few of them had come in, plus I found a few on the shelf that looked good.

One of my goals for 2012 is to make time to read. Well ... I read all the time, but mostly online these days. I miss books. Actual books with pages that turn ! So ... I'm going to make the time to read books ...

Hence the reserving from the library !

I'm starting one tonight. It's called Mice.

I plan to write some book reviews too so keep your eyes open for that.

Ok ... I'm off.

To bed.

To read !!

Nature Walk

last night i went out for a little walk around the park and the moon caught my eye !
the moon ... and these beautiful yellow flowers !



i ran back inside, grabbed my camera and spent the next hour snapping shots around the park


want to see ?



ok ...











   























A jalapeno flower (above)



Society Garlic (above) 


Lemon Thyme Flowers (above) 


Rosemary Flowers (above)

Oh so pretty !!!!