Friday:) Artist Friends at Towne Creek

“The artist has one function–to affirm and glorify life.”
— W. Edward Brown

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A very busy, amazing, and rewarding day. A couple of days of preparing arts, crafts, and food preparations for our Young at Heart senior art group at Towne Creek.

I had some fun art projects planned and Helene and I prepared our usual feast. Then we made up big gift bags with Christmas snacks, drinks, goodies and gifts.

We spent over three hours making fun Santas from chip paint brushes and ginger bread men from brown grocery bags. Holiday magic.

Cute! Right? Quite a few holiday gifts were made,

Everyone had a good time and loved their projects. Everyone received a big gift bag filled with drinks and snacks. A fun holiday paint party.

I made another cute turkey shaped cracker/cheese/veggie platter. Helene made delicious homemade chicken salad sandwich, we had Ramen mushroom soup, and peanut butter cheesecake brownies. Quite the feast and celebration.

Happy Friday my friends,

Friday:) From Here to There, From This to That

“Creativity and insight almost always involve an experience of acute pattern recognition: the eureka moment in which we perceive the interconnection between disparate concepts or ideas to reveal something new.”

Jason Silva

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I was walking this morning in the relatively cool air, enjoying the sights and sounds all around me. It was barely in the 80’s. Woo hoo! A dragon fly kept fluttering about, so close that I could almost touch it. When I was walking home and got close to my house, I sat on the bench in the park. I heard a jingle jangle and a soft meow getting closer. Juno wanted to chat.

Just a few feet away, I noticed that the the magnolia trees were starting to lose their leaves and turn brown. Oh no! I wanted to pick and press a few more leaves this season so I could press and dry more for next fall and some more art project.

I picked about 20 or so of the larger flatter leaves and brought them home to press.

We don’t get phone books or the big ol’ Sears catalogues any more, so I used my 2022 Medicare Handbook for pressing. 🤦‍♀️ I knew it would come in handy for something someday.

After about a year, I take all the pressed leaves and put them in plastic containers. The magnolia leaves had turned almost a shimmery silver free color, so I wanted a few more to press for next year.

Last Friday, when we had our Towne Creek Senior art day, we used a bunch of the colorful dried maple and oak leaves To collage with, and I painted roses on a bunch of shimmery magnolia leaves, making enough for each person to get one or two leaves to decorate with gold dip dots all around. I may experiment with some other designs one day. Its just that I can paint my roses in my sleep with my eyes closed. Easy peasy and cute. It’s fun to use repurposed or nature inspired sources for art.

You may recall from last Friday, some of our dried leaf projects.

Now some day, I’ll have to come up with some cool project ideas for all my empty Brownie boxes, egg shells, toilet paper rolls, and the ever popular dryer lint. 🤦‍♀️

Happy Friday my friends. I hope you’re having a fun fine creative day. If not, have a glass of wine. That works too. 🍷

Friday:) Fun Friends and Artists at Towne Creek

“Friends make the days brighter, but art friends make the days funner. And we get to make up our own words and play with fun art stuff.”

~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis

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Wow! Another fun day with out lovely senior art friends over at Towne Creek today. We had a little bit of a setback at first, because when I opened the store room closet door where we keep most of our art supplies, the floor was flooded. Fortunately, nothing was damaged, but poor Kelly, the manager, was mopping and using the shop vac to try and get the water up. I guess the HVAC unit was leaking water somewhere. I think it was a good thing we had art today, because I’m the only one who goes in there once a month. Can you imagine???

The mess didn’t hold us back. I had brought in a big bin of art supplies and projects for the day. So we worked with the super loud shop vac whizzing along. Kelly got it pretty dry, but it was still leaking a little bit. It all worked out. She called for emergency AC help, but they still hadn’t arrived when we left.

We have such a good time. My favorite part is our little feast. We eat lots of food, tell funny stories, and laugh. Always laugh. (Oh, I did bring my karaoke microphone and belted out a few songs. Miss Dorothy sang a few too.)

Helene and I bring tons of food, drinks and goodies to share.

We work on different projects. Today we worked on hologram scratch boards, painted ponies, and 3-D paper crafts.

Helene’s cards turned out so cute, and Miss Kathy’s 3-D painted pony was awesome. She used foam tape behind the head and tail to make the pony really pop off the page.

Miss Bonnie and Miss Sandy did a great job too.

Miss Dorothy is an over achiever and worked on a 3-D paper flower project too. So cute!

Mr. David enjoyed the projects. I love it when everyone does something different and adorable.

I had just a couple of demo projects to share. Helene and I were busy helping and running around. She did all the outdoor spraying with fixative on the scratch boards. And everything dried in 3.5 seconds. Needless to say, it was hot outside. When we left around 6:30, my car said 111°. Yikes.

Another great day with great friends and fun projects. Happy Friday, my friends.

Yep!

Tuesday:) Toni’s Time-Lapse Video~Paper Snowflakes

 “Snowflakes are one of nature’s most fragile things, but just look what they can do when they stick together.”

– Vesta M. Kelly.

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When I was visiting with the grandkids a couple of weeks ago, I made a few paper snowflakes. The girls are too small to work with sharp scissors, so I did the folding and cutting, and they did the “unveiling,” and opening up the intricate folded and cut paper to reveal a beautiful snowflake. We hung them in the front window.

Snowflakes inside and outside.

https://youtube.com/shorts/2zNxkQgWrsU?feature=share

Some other cool shapes for making snowflakes above. I haven’t tried any, but you might want to.

I cut these today. A lot of little hearts are pretty fun and easy.

Just like real snowflakes, no two are ever alike. It’s always interesting to see the results after you open it up. It’s always a surprise. I never use a pattern, just snip and cut and snip. That’s kind of how I bake and cook. No recipe, just wing it. Always different, always amazing.

I hope you’re having a terrific Tuesday… or whatever day you’re reading this. ❄️

Wednesday:) What’s Up? Another Time-lapse Video~Pop-up Paper Christmas Tree

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.”

Sophia Loren

I’ve had a little time to check out some cool Pinterest ideas. I saw a cool paper cutting tutorial, so I thought I’d give it a try and see if it works. I won’t be quitting my day job. (Oops, I don’t have a day job.) Here ya go…

Here’s the inspiration. I guess I need a little more practice and patience.

My motto is, “Keep learning, keep trying, keep on keepin’ on.“

Hope you had a wonderful Wednesday.

Thankful Thursday:) So Much to be Thankful for

“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”

Meister Eckhart

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Every day is a blessing when you see the blessing in every day. I think that’s a quote, but I don’t remember who said it… besides me.

My day started off slowly by waiting for a service call from Bill Joplin’s Air conditioning and Heating. It was just my bi-yearly check up before winter. You know what’s cool. They send you a reminder, and then a call when the technician is on the way. But wait… they send you a photo with the man’s name. Great security idea.

This is Jeff, a very nice and thorough technician. I even asked him if while he was crawling around up in my attic, if he could keep a look out for any mouse droppings, wasp nests or unusual activity, as I don’t go up in that creepy cold attic. He said my furnace looked great and no sign of unwanted creatures great or small. Great news! When he was done, I signed my papers and sent him off with some brownies and a bottle of water.

After that, I met Helene at Tom Thumb to buy some last minute supplies for Towne Creek tomorrow and get that great sale on butter, only 99cents a pound, limit two. Cool! We walked over to McDonald’s to get a quick hot chocolate and a chat. Good friends, time to laugh and plan our art class menu and crafts.

Then, we stopped to visit our buddy JERRY, still recuperating from back surgery. I brought one of my tamale casseroles for his dinner. We did a lot of laughing, and I always manage to burst out in spontaneous song. I also honored them with the latest rendition of my newly composed Country Western Song, entitled, “I’ll Just Have Another Beer.” Both agreed that I shouldn’t quit my day job… actually, they thought it was a pretty fun song.

Afterwards, I stopped at Walmart and bought way too much stuff, like more paint, snacks and ingredients for tomorrow’s art group.

My friendly furry feline neighbors helped me bring in my groceries.

Now, I’m putting together little Christmas Craft goody bags for my seniors to work on. Then do some baking, and in the morning, make my sandwiches and snack mix. Busy, busy!

Later, I have to gather up supplies for glass painting. Miss Kathy asked if we could paint some wine glasses. Great idea for Christmas gifts. A few examples…

Now, you see why it is a Thankful Thursday. Much to be thankful for.

Thursday:) Birds of a Feather

“Hope is a thing with feathers.”

– Emily Dickinson

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Yesterday, I had the pleasure of participating in a glass mosaic workshop with Wendolin Mercado over at The Art House. I wasn’t sure what kind of project we were going to work on, but I knew if Wendolin was leading the class, it would be wonderful. It always is.

We were cutting glass, nipping pieces, grinding and putting glass beads pieces strategically on a wooden feather base. Fun!

Here is what the other gals were working on. I was lucky. I got all my pieces glued down before I left. Three hours flew by. I decided that I would grout mine myself instead of waiting a week or so to go back and grout. (Patience is not my best attribute.)

Here’s my feather before the grout. All those tiny pieces were not easy to maneuver.

I had some pale grey grout, so I added a little black acrylic paint to darken it up a little.

Here’s my finished feather. It still needs to finish drying and buffing, I think it turned out pretty darn good. What do you think?

THANK YOU, Wendolin.

Toni’s Tuesday Time-Lapse Video:) Permanent Marker Coffee Cup

“Every cup of coffee deserves a special touch.”

~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis

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We had fun decorating some Dollar Tree white coffee cups. Did you know you could use permanent markers? I saw a Pinterest tag that said you can bake them in the oven after decorating to help preserve the color. I wouldn’t go scrubbing the cup, but it would be fun to let the kiddos play around with some cups or bowls.

Toni….. (fill in the blank….)

(Just sayin’)

Did you learn something new? Give it a try.

Tuesday:) Toni’s Teeny Tiny Art Class

“It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.”
― Vincent Van Gogh

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You know what I love better than creating art? I love sharing ideas, techniques, and my love of art, writing, baking, cooking, singing, dancing, well, I can go on. I love a lot of things.

Yesterday, I met my good friend Helene and her granddaughter for lunch. Then, they came over to My studio (otherwise know as the crap room) to work on some painting and craft projects. The little 9 year old is very artistic, and was eager to learn some new techniques.

We made some butterflies by pouring blobs of paint on one side, then folding over and smooshing together to get a beautiful symmetrical pattern. Me Me (Helene) joined in on the fun. (I forgot to take a picture of the finished large butterflies. They took a long time to dry.)

One small 3-D butterfly was placed on a painted Jello Pudding box.

Kiera painted a small canvas with sky and clouds to put her other butterflies.

Then we painted some silk scarves with fabric markers. It was all playing and experimenting and fun.

We will play again on Friday when Helene and Kiera join me at Towne Creek for our monthly art group with the seniors.

“And what is done in love is well done.”

Tuesday:) Toni’s Time-lapse Video-Trash to Treasure Vase

“When I think outside the box, I think, oooh, a box! This can become a castle or a dollhouse or a puppet theatre. Where’s my paint?”

~Toni Armenta Andrukaitis

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My friend and neighbor Kathy lost her furry friend last week. Stan was a beautiful tabby that loved Miss Toni, and he would often walk across the street and visit, keeping bunnies and mice away from my door. He will be missed.

I decided that I wanted to do something special for Miss Kathy. I found some colorful flowers at Kroger and decided to paint a colorful vase. Miss Kathy loves orange, so I had an idea. I took one of my many thrift store vases to turn into a colorful trash to treasure vase.

( Repurposed vases, Folk Art Enamel paint, and some makeup sponges.)

After I painted this one, I still had plenty of glass paint on my palette. I don’t believe in waste, so I painted a couple more vases for another time.

Fun trash to treasure project.