Earrings Everyday Use Your Leftovers Challenge

I needed a bit of a kick in the pants to get my creative juices flowing again. The Leftovers Challenge from Earrings Everyday seemed like just the thing.

It's been a crazy and hectic holiday season. Have I mentioned that? Ha! I'm sure everyone has had a bit of an insane schedule lately. Personally, I haven't really had a chance to even touch my craft supplies in several weeks. It's been a sad state of affairs. My craft desk has turned into a dumping space.

No beads in sight! Since the challenge is to use leftovers and there were none to be had on my craft desk, I turned to the top of my bead cabinet to see what was there.

I found several little stashes.

There's the strand of vintage plastic beads, a bowl of interesting elements taken from old pieces I took apart, a jar with bead pairs I dumped in it long ago, and two little containers of small beads.

I pulled out what I thought I could/would use and put it on a craft mat. After matching up the beads, I added a few additional elements from around the craft room.

From there, I went to work and even changed my mind about the bead arrangement laid in front of me.

I knew from the start that not all the earrings made would be awesome, but that I simply needed a creative boost. Once done, there were definitely ones I preferred over others. Below are my least favorite of the bunch.

While pretty, they're just so-so

These are okay.

The ones on the left are a little bland, and while I like the dangles (from old earrings) on the right; I'm just not feeling the beads in them.

My favorites of them all are these next two pairs.

The geometric wood connectors came from an old necklace I bought and took apart ages ago. I only added some antiqued brass findings and those two vintage white beads.

This pair is my absolute favorite. I took the silver tone metal connectors and added iced enamels in chartreuse to bring them up a notch. The clear beads are chandelier crystals sandwiched with brass daisy spacers. The rest of the findings are antiqued brass, including the handmade ear wires. 

I totally feel a little more creative, despite the wonky schedule that I'm finally adjusting to. Two of my nieces are staying over during their break until Christmas Eve. I'm hoping we can stay out of the Christmas crazy and get a little creating done. . .even if it's just some cookies!

I'm linking this up over at the Earrings Everyday blog, and you can find others participants there as well.

Let me know, what do you do to get your creative juices flowing after a long break?

Renovations Underway

As if getting a puppy wasn't enough of a change, we finally found a contractor to take down two of the walls in our house. We've been wanting to open up the living areas (living room, kitchen, and soon-to-be dining room) ever since we moved in our new home over a year ago.

On Thursday, we found out that the renovations would start today. With that news, I frantically started cleaning out all the cabinets on one side of the kitchen.

We've been calling the front room "the box room" because that's where we kept all the boxes that needed to be unpacked.

The wall straight ahead and the one to the left are the ones to be removed

Pat moved all those for me on Saturday into the guest room.

This was actually this morning, but you can see how big that unused room actually is!

And, here's a look at the wall that's to come down in the living room.

Since we want to save and reuse the cabinets from the kitchen, Pat took down several of those this morning.

The workmen helped him move the rest.

Check out all the different wall colors!!

Since I have a nervous nature, I left the house this morning not long after the workmen got there. But, Pat's been updating the progress for me via text.

They started with the drywall in the front room

Here's a view from the kitchen of how it stands now.

Talking to Pat, he says it's pretty awesome to be able to see from the sunroom into the living room. We were told that the walls should be done within a few days and they'll finish up details and painting next week. After all our talk about this project, I'm amazed at how fast it's moving along!

I'll update more later!

Puppy Love

We've got a new member of the family!

We're calling her Zoe after Zoe Washburn from Firefly, the tv show. Like Zoe, she's a Browncoat. Ha! She's a 12 week old brindle Boxer.

And, she's already made herself at home.

One member of the family isn't too sure about her yet.

I do hope that in time they become best friends. For now, we're keeping them mostly separated. But, they're interested in watching each other closely through the baby gates.

And, for a little more cuteness. Here's a video I captured when we got Zoe home.

A video posted by Hope Smitherman (@craftyhope) on Dec 3, 2016 at 10:46am PST

I've still been crazy-busy, but do hope to get in a good routine again. Of course, between the new addition and with it being holiday season. . .we'll see how that goes.

Anybody got any dog-training tips?

Small Business Saturday Coupon Code

Since it's Small Business Saturday, I decided to have a little sale.

Head over to the CraftyHope Etsy shop, use code SBS2016 at checkout, get 15% off! This sale will last through Monday.

Pumpkins: From Fall Decorations to Chicken Treats

With Thanksgiving in the long ago past of yesterday, the holidays are definitely upon us. I had hoped to come home from my mom's full of enough holiday spirit to energize me to pull out the Christmas decorations. But, a full turkey dinner zapped that idea and gave me time to plan instead.

I started this morning by removing the live pumpkins and single gourd from my dining table display.

They went straight onto the cutting board

where I cut the pumpkins open. The gourd was too hard to cut and went immediately into the compost bin.

The seeds and guts were scooped out with a spoon and tossed in the blender.

Larger portions were saved to go straight to the chickens while some of the flesh was cut from the insides for the blender. The tough outer skin was chopped small and tossed into the compost.

I took the portions for the chickens out to them, and they dug right in.

With the flesh, seeds, and guts in the blender; I shook in a few oats.

I think I should have probably used the food processor instead as I had to add water and keep stopping to push the seeds down the sides of the blender. Eventually though, I got the thick consistency I wanted. The paste-like substance was divided into three containers.

Then, they were labeled before one got placed in the fridge to use in the next day or two and the other two went in the freezer for later.

Now, here's hoping they like the paste as much as they liked the pumpkin

Up next? FINALLY getting those Christmas decorations out. How much decorating have you gotten done so far?

I shared this post on:
Waste Less Wednesdays on Skip the Bag
Homestead Blog Hop at The Not-so-Modern Housewife
Think Tank Thursday at Saving 4 Six
The Homesteader Hop
Our Simple Homestead Blog Hop at Nancy on the Homefront

October Goal Review

Since it's already the middle of November, I guess it's about time to summarize how I did on my goals and tasks for the month of October.

As a reminder, each week I wanted to complete a general Goal, a piece of Jewelry, an altered Card, at least one Blog post, and a Journal page. I'm covering weeks 39-43. That may sound like a lot, but I wasn't near as productive as I would have liked.

Week 39 (Sep. 25 - Oct. 1)

Goal

This week, I wanted to develop basic jewelry tutorials but that just hasn't happened yet. 

In fact, none of my goals were met this week as I spent the majority of it at my mom's house with my grandmother and niece while my mom was on vacation. 

Week 40 (Oct. 2-8)

Goal

Making a texture block like the ones in this Gelli Arts Texture Block video was the goal for this week. It just didn't happen.

Jewelry

I was a week behind on my jewelry-making, but was able to exceed my goals with these pieces. 

They were all made as part of my Cut Out + Keep Jewelry Superstar feature. And, I just realized that I shared the earrings with y'all last month. Sorry about that!

Card

Catching up on Week 38, I made this card.

It features washi tape as the background and a paper feather received in a swap as the focal. I also doodled with some black and white pens.

Blog

My September Goal Review and Keeping Busy (WOYWW) were posted on the blog that week. 

Journal 

Like the card, I was able to get an art journal page for Week 38 done. 

The background was made from collaged papers, brayered paint, and paint doodles. I added the girl with paint, watercolor pencils, and pastels.

Week 41 (Oct. 9-15)

Goal

I really wanted to get a few portions of the living room organized. In particular, a stack of boxes next to the tv cabinet was driving me crazy. The contents of those boxes now has a new home, carefully concealed in the living room. I'm considering that goal done.

Jewelry

This week, I made the washi tape earrings featured on Cut Out + Keep and a long necklace with one of my assemblage keys. 

Blog

Not only did I share a great way to use up leftovers with my Chili Cheese Nacho recipe, but I shared some of my finds from the Robertsdale Antique Show.

Week 42 (Oct. 16-22)

Goal

I knew it was past time to start my Christmas List, so I made it my goal for the week. And, I even got it started!!

Jewelry

These earrings and necklace were made, along with another pair of earrings that was given as a gift.

Card

Back on the card-making wagon, I was able to get the card for Week 39 done. 

It's a gelli print with some doodles and a chit chat sticker.

Blog

You got a peek at what I was working on from the junk drawer for WOYWW. (It was the necklace above ;)  )

Journal 

Two pages were made this week, to make up for Weeks 39 & 40.  

I made this page with brayered paint, stencils, stamps, and doodles (in paint and pen). The focal is a magazine cutout and the text was hand lettered.

Gelli prints make up the background for this page. I toned them down with gesso before adding shades of blue paint around the edges. In the center, I painted the sailboat with a combo of acrylic paint and neocolor ii crayons.

Week 43 (Oct. 23-29)

Goal

This week, I had hoped to get my "Shit-to-do" list made. It's basically a list of things I want to get done around the house (home repairs, decorating, and whatnot.) It was a week of ups and mostly downs, so it just didn't happen.

Blog

I did get a chance to share the news about being a Jewelry Superstar as well as my Birthday Desk (WOYWW).

November's already not looking so great in a multitude of ways, but I am trying to stay positive and continue to move forward. I'm already beginning to think about how I want to handle my goal(s) for next year and what I want to accomplish. It's really hard to think about moving ahead when you're so far behind. I guess I better stop whining and get to it!

Have you already started considering your goals for 2017?

Our Raised Bed Vegetable Garden (Take 1)

We finally started our garden!

I can't take much credit for it though. Pat did all the research. He decided raised beds would be best and then built those babies. He figured out what the soil mix should be and ordered all the supplies. For my part, I helped choose what we would plant.

We're not even super sure we've done it all right. Several of the seeds that should have probably been started inside. However, since we started late, we just stuffed them all in the ground.

We'll be happy if anything grows at all. The heat and lack of rain this autumn also has me concerned. I'm going to do my best to keep everything watered while we take this on as a learning process.

As for some of the specifics:
We planted broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, red and yellow onions, garlic, carrots, mesclun (salad mix), kale, and spinach.

The raised beds are 3 ft by 6 ft and contain nine bags of top soil, 3.5 bags of compost, and 1.5 bags of potting soil. We dumped them all in, then lightly mixed and fluffed - making sure not to pack the soil.  Into each box was planted three rows of plants. I sorted them into leafy greens, root vegetables, and other vegetables.

We even started a garden journal to keep track of what was planted, where, the weather and water schedule, and what works, along with any other pertinent information. It's just a composition notebook I had on hand. I hope to gussy it up (the cover at least) a bit later.

I also plan on starting a little herb garden and making plant markers from recycled materials. One thing at a time though.

For now, I'm just trying to be patient and see what becomes of our little garden. Got any tips for a gal with a black thumb?

I linked up this post at The Homesteader Blog Hop.

Linky Inspiration

My grandmother has begun another hospital stay. Since my job is one of the most flexible ones in the family, it's easiest for me to come stay with her. That's probably for the best too because otherwise I'd be worried sick about what was going on with her.

While she naps, I thought I'd poke my head in here. I know I should be posting an October goal review this week, but with my attention and presence diverted to family matters, it'll have to wait.

Instead, here's a few pieces of inspiration I saved just for y'all!

Last week, we tried these Korean Pork Chops from Jo Cooks. I was really pleased with how easily they came together and elated over how tasty they were.

Cathe Holden creates stunningly beautiful assemblage art. I love looking at all the details she includes in each of these works.

Julie Fei Fan Blazer is hosting a show called Make it Artsy that's airing on PBS at some point. Here's some information from Julie about the series. However, there are projects available for viewing on YouTube. I can't seem to get YouTube to load on the hospital's limited guest wifi, so I don't know which of these is which. In any case, here are two videos I found particularly inspiring: Video 1 and Video 2. In one of the videos I watched with Julie, she said something along the lines of, "There are no mistakes, only creative opportunities." This really hit me in the right place.


The Art Elements blog has a great tutorial on how to Cage your Trinkets and Treasures in wire by Cathy Spivey Mendola. I think it's a pretty cool and versatile technique!

Finally, a quick reminder about my feature as a Jewelry Superstar on Cut Out + Keep. All of my tutorials for last week are now live and ready to be viewed. Go check them out and let me know which one is your favorite!

I hope I spread a little inspiration your way. Now, what's been inspiring you lately?


I linked this post up on The Ultimate Rabbit Hole at The Geeky Shopaholic.