Fall Painted Tea Pots

It's been several years since I painted these, and I did sell both of them, but I always loved these designs. The colors are purely autumn and they were really simple to paint. The design is pretty plain and the strokes weren't complicated, yet the effect comes out wonderful.

I'm signing off, I'm tired, but thought I would share these before I go. :)

My first blog award!

Isn't Brenda from A Journey of Grace & Whimsy the bestest?!?! She has bestowed upon me my very first blogger award and I am honored to have received it. Thank you B!

The rules are:
1. Put the logo on your blog;
2. Add a link to the person who awarded it to you;
3. Nominate 7 (minimum 5) other blogs;
4. Add links to them on your blog;
5. Leave a message for your nominee on their blogs.



My choices are:

Tami's Kitchen Table Talk - Tami just started blogging but she's doing a fabulous job! I knew she would love it and am so glad, cuz she shares some awesome recipes :)

The Krazy Kraft Lady's Blog is run by Denise and she has some of the most awesome primitive designs, I just love them! My favorite has to be her sunflowers.

My Colonial Home is run by Karen, who I met via the blogging world. Turns out we live only a few miles from each other. Hopefully we can meet some day!

Mom's Fridge is Barb's blog, I've known Barb forever! We met through FC (FamilyCorner.com) and she is my head moderator over there. Barb is an incredible cook and I love checking out her menu plan each week!

Jeune Girl's Crafts has some awesome scrapbook layouts and she makes some of the most gorgeous letter books! Check them out!

Sassy Soaps n Such is run by the talented doll maker, Sandi Ramirez. Check out her blog and see what cute little creations she makes!

Football crafts!

So it's Monday night and I am watching "Jet Favre" play against the San Diego Chargers and it's been a pretty exciting game... and I'm not a fan of either one! LOL I'm a Bears fan through and through, but I do love watching the game either way.

That got me thinking about some of the fun football crafts I've made over the last few years. The one you see pictured here was actually a birthday present for TJ's friend Bruce (TJ is my son modeling the shirt). I've included the instructions below. Look at the end for a few other fun football crafts too!

Football Star Shirt
by Amanda Formaro

What You Need:

t-shirt
cardboard, enough to fill inside of shirt
football foam stamp
star shaped foam stamps, at least 1, we used 3
alphabet foam stamps
paint brush
Tulip glitter gold paint
Tulip Extreme paint, Lunar Eclipse and Confetti Blue

fabric paint: brown, black, blue, light blue

OR

acrylic paint in same colors and
textile medium


What you do

Lay shirt flat on work surface. Insert cardboard inside the shirt.

If you are using fabric paint, continue to the next step. If you don't have fabric paint, textile medium can be added to acrylic paint to create the same effect. Mix together 1 part textile medium to 2 parts acrylic paint.

NOTE: You can change the colors used for this shirt to match your favorite team colors. We used black and blue as they were the child's favorite colors.

There is no pattern for this shirt, use the photo as a guide.

Using football stamp first, paint the stamp brown. Use a generous amount of paint, without it dripping off the stamp.

Carefully press the stamp onto the shirt, starting at the lower left and curving upward toward the right armpit. You will need to reapply the paint for each football impression. Don't press too hard, just enough pressure to be sure that all the paint goes onto the shirt. Carefully remove the stamp by lifting straight up into the air.

Next, use the alphabet stamps to write the child's name at the top. Place unpainted stamps in place. Once you have them positioned where you want them, begin painting and stamping with blue paint.

Use blue paint and stamp the words "Football Star" underneath the footballs.

Position the star stamps on the shirt. When you are happy with their position, paint and stamp. We did two black and two light blue.

Use Tulip gold glitter paint (comes in a tube) to carefully outline the letters of the child's name. Use glitter gold paint to outline one of the black stars as well.

Use Tulip Confetti Blue to outline the other black star and Lunar Eclipse to outline the two blue stars.

Allow to dry completely, overnight is best.

Caring for your shirt: For the longest life of your design, we recommend washing inside out in cold water. Drying takes its toll on paint, so for the longest life, hang to dry.

Have fun!

Here's a few more football crafts:

Salt Dough Football
Good Sport Foam Football - Very simple and good for little kids

I made these for Kaboose:
Game Day Door Hanger
Keep Score Chalkboard
Team Spirit Pins

Have any football crafts to share?

Paper Bag Apple Craft

Since I shared our adventure to the apple orchard on my cooking blog today, I thought it would be appropriate to share a fun apple craft as well :) I made these stuffed paper bag apples 7 years ago. They are really cute. I originally made them to celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, however altering them just a little would make a fun fall project. Just eliminate the "Class Act Apple" words from the apple to use these as autumn harvest decorations.

What you need

brown grocery bag
acrylic paint in brown, barnyard red, and buttermilk
toothbrush
paintbrush
fine tip black marker
pinking shears (or other decorative scissors)
gingham material scrap
decorative buttons with classroom motif (ruler, pencil sharpener, pencil, etc.)
barnyard red medium button
cotton batting (Fiberfil)
white craft glue
craft wire
pencil
raffia
pattern

What you do

Lay brown paper bag on flat work surface. Cut out two large sections from the front and back of the bag. Stack those sections, one on top of the other, then cut out and trace around the pattern onto the bags. Cut it out with the pinking shears.

Beginning at the bottom of the apple, use tacky glue to connect the two layers at the seams, stuffing the apple as you go with cotton batting (Fiberfil). Work your way around the edges, carefully stuffing (but not too much!) until apple is completely closed.

When the glue is dry, paint the decorative edges and the stem with brown and the apple with barnyard red (see photo). When dry, dip the bristle tips of a toothbrush into the buttermilk paint. Test your splattering ability on a piece of scrap paper before doing this on your apple. Hold toothbrush horizontally and drag your thumb across the bristles, causing the paint to splatter spots wherever you aim it. When you are comfortable with this method, go ahead and splatter some buttermilk paint on your apple.

When the buttermilk paint is dry, use the fine tip craft pen or marker to write the words "CLASS ACT!" in the center of the apple. Using white craft glue, adhere a square of gingham fabric to the upper right hand corner of the apple. Glue a couple of decorative school themed buttons to the lower left and lower center of the apple.

Cut a piece of craft wire long enough to wrap completely around your apple. This should be enough for your hanger. Find the middle of craft wire, wrap the middle section of the wire around a pencil about 6 or 7 times. Pull the pencil out to create the curl at the top of your hanger. Curve the wire into a hanger shape and poke each end carefully through the sides of the apple as shown in the photo. Use the skinny end of a small paintbrush to curl the ends of the wire that you poked through.

Tie a piece of raffia into a bow out onto the craft wire just before where the top curls begin. Hot glue the barnyard red button to the center of the raffia bow.

Note: It is not necessary to paint the back of the apple, though you may if you like.

Primary colors: If you prefer to use primary colors for your apple, use red for the apple, leave the decorative edges plain, use yellow decorative fabric, and primary colored decorative buttons. Use a white craft pen to write "CLASS ACT!" on your apple.

This craft was originally posted on FamilyCorner.com

Lighthouse & Sailboat painting

I almost forgot about this last remnant from the store. This was a pattern I found in one of Judy's books. Judy is a friend of mine who also paints. We paint similar items but we paint in different styles. She's a "by the pattern" type painter while I am a "willy nilly" painter. I follow patterns, but I tend to blend and change things to my liking. Judy prefers to follow a pattern and paint things exactly as they say. Nothing wrong with either way! :) In fact I'm going to share some of the Judy's work with you below.

When I had my store, Judy would work there a couple times a week and in return I didn't charge her any rent space for her displays. She is the ideal pattern book painter. Everything looks perfect and she can make 20 of the same pattern and they will all look the same. Mine never come out the same LOL! I always admired that about Judy, how she could paint things so perfectly. She used to always tell me how she wished she could come up with patterns like I could, so we decided to combine two talents. I created patterns and she painted them. Here are a few examples of my creations painted my my friend Judy.







Now THIS one I did not design. The pattern came from a book and Judy painted these on tin ceiling tiles. Isn't it fabulous?? She sold it for $20. I should have bought it!

Tree Frogs & Lighthouses

Ah the tree frogs. Years ago when I had my store, I found a photo of two tree frogs with a black background. I don't know why, but I just loved that photo. I traced the outline of the frogs and built my pattern from that. I painted the frogs onto this jar, adding flowers and grass blades. I'm not sure why, but out of all the patterns that I created on my jars, this one received the most orders. The first one took me forever, the second one wasn't nearly as bad, and eventually I got to where I could paint them in a snap. I don't even know if I have the patterns anymore! Anyway, that's the story behind the frogs :)

Two more jars that I always liked were these lighthouses. Again, I found a photo and created a pattern from those. The lighthouses were really out of my element so they were quite a challenge. The black and white one is Cape Hatteras, NJ, they actually MOVED that lighthouse from one location to another, just like how they move a house. The other one is Start Point in Dartmouth, England. I did sell both of those jars, now I wish I hadn't. They would fit nicely in my bathroom now LOL

Shabby Chic Cottage Garden Bench

When I owned my store it was in this quaint little town full of antique shops. The shops were all buildings from the mid 1800s and were all houses at one time. The "house" next to me had this single white picnic table bench sitting in the backyard. So I asked the neighbor if I could have it. It was cool because it was already aged from being out in the elements for several years, so I had a head start. :)

I found a pretty pattern of a cottage in a garden setting and went to town painting it. When it was done, I displayed it right near the front door where anyone coming in could see it. I received many compliments, but no buyers, so I kept it. I remember being really annoyed when this one woman came in, said "Oh what a pretty bench" and that proceeded to plop her fat butt down on it to tie her shoe! The audacity! LOL I thought it was really rude to sit down on my painting. :-P As you can see from the photo, I still have it and keep it in my front yard. I have had it as a decoration in my house too. It'll have to come in for winter soon.

Here's a close up...



Here's a close up of the cottage...



Also, I've started a new blog today, but haven't made it pretty yet. I'm going to post all my menu plans and recipes over there instead of here, so I can keep this one all crafts and such. :) It's called Amanda's Cookin' and I hope to post in that daily as well. Today I will post this week's menu plan as well as the recipe for Chocolate Orange Cake and the Italian Pot Roast (slow cooker) we had last night.

:)

My rustic country paintings - lots of pics

Wow, I stumbled across these photos yesterday. These are painting I did when I still owned my store, Amanda's Attic, in Richmond, IL. I was surprised to see that I still had the photos of the store too. Man I really miss that store. I'm so sad that it didn't work out. That town was just Deadsville, no customers, and when there were they were just looky-loos. So sad.



I used to love to sit behind the counter, paint on whatever I could get my hands on, and enjoy the smells of handmade soaps, hand poured candles and freshly dried herbs. The store was so cozy and comfy and we spent so much time remodeling it. Alas, it is now an Italian restaurant, probably the only business that is doing well in Richmond. That's a sad thing too, it's a quaint little Victorian town full of antique shops that used to bustle with people every weekend. Not anymore, so much like a ghost town now.

Ah well, I digress. Here's some of my painting from days gone by:


This particular painting is a pattern I had borrowed from a friend. I painted it on this little metal tray and on a washboard, both items found in a thrift store. I remember scouring the thrift stores for items to paint on. I miss those days! I'm too darn busy now to even think about doing this again, at least not now. *sigh*





This cat painting was also from a pattern. I loved this and did end up selling it, but for how much, probably $15? It's terrible what I had to let things go for. :( I don't know if things have changed now, I've thought about checking out Etsy, but I know that's a crapshoot too.



This bottle lamp is a pattern I drew myself. It's crackled and would have looked fabulous either in a Tuscany setting or even shabby chic. I kept this bottle lamp for a really long time and finally sold it on craigslist a year ago. I gave one away to one of my friends as a gift as well.



Oh these plates! These were two plate left over from my mother's china. Most of the collection was broken during a careless move, but these two survived. I painted them both and gave the swing plate to my brother, I kept the cottage for myself. Then the cottage plate was accidentally broken a couple of years ago :( I actually don't know if my brother still has his.




These prim blocks were fun. They were just blocks left over from building our deck, so I painted on them.









This little box I bought at the dollar store. I had some horrible tasting candy in it that I threw out, peeled off the label and went to town. I really liked this box.





Oh now this I absolutely loved! it was such a fun pattern. Wish I could say I came up with this myself but I can't. It was from a book, it was so fun to paint and the results were awesome. I should have just kept it instead of selling it. Ah well.



I would say if I had a favorite pattern that I have created myself, it was this rooster. Again, wish I would have just kept this. I found a picture of a rooster in a magazine and created the pattern based off of that. Man I loved this! I painted it on a pie plate and sold it for $20. What's wrong with me??



I drew this one myself too, and again, it's on a pie plate. I really liked this one too.



I'll be honest I can't remember if this one was from a pattern book or not, but I think it was. I believe a friend of mine bought this one :)



Now this stool I still have. I had it for sale for $60. Everyone that came into the store raved on and on about it, but no one would buy it. I'm glad though. it's in my garage right now, but it took my 5.5 hours to paint that, there's no way I would have let it go for less. The scene is from a pattern book, it's called Marblehead, MA.





Wow that was a lot of pictures, did you make it this far? LOL I only have 2 other remnants from that store in the past. I still have a cottage garden bench I painted and my store sign. Gotta keep those memories!

Roast Chicken & mini muffins

I made roast chicken last night for dinner. It was very good, but why can't I carve a chicken? I swear it looks like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre when I get done with it! Poor thing all sprawled out on the cutting board, hacked into pieces. LOL Anyway, it was delicious. I placed it on a rack in a roasting pan, rubbed it with olive oil, sprinkled with salt, pepper and garlic powder. I also made homemade stuffing, so made sure I filled the bird well. I poured half a can of chicken broth into the pan and covered with foil. Baked at 325 F for an hour, removed the foil and continued cooking till 175 internal temp (another hour and a half). Served with mashed potatoes, stuffing, chicken gravy and corn. Yum!

I don't know about your kids, but mine love those little mini muffins you buy in the store. You know the ones, they come in packages of 4 or 5 muffins, about 4 packages per box and they are almost $4 a box. :-O Needless to say I don't buy them all that often. However, WalMart has these handy dandy little muffin mixes, all you add is half a cup of milk, and they cost about 85 cents each. I could have gotten more muffins per batch, but chose to fill the muffin tins almost all the way full instead of 2/3. I know, I know, making them from scratch would have been even cheaper, but these were quick and it's the first time I'm going to attempt sending them with lunches or as a quickie breakfast. I figured that they cost me about half of what the packaged ones cost. I made lemon poppy seed, apple cinnamon, chocolate chocolate chip, and regular chocolate chip. After they cooled I put them in zipper sandwich bags with 3-4 muffins in each.

Tomorrow I will post the Chocolate Orange Cake I made this week. It's very good but should probably be kept in the refrigerator, mine ended up falling apart after sitting in the cake container on the counter. The last few pieces are in the fridge now.

Till tomorrow!

Fall Crafts and Pumpkin & Eyeball Cake Balls!

This week I've been working on adding new fall crafts and recipes for kids. I asked Tami to make some fun cake balls for the season, pumpkins (below) and spooky eyeballs! They are fabulous as usual. I hope to have an FC newsletter out on Tuesday, but I have a lot more crafts to make for Kaboose too. Next I'm working on Christmas, Hannukah and winter crafts for them. I have quite a few projects to do!

Tomorrow I will be posting the recipe for Chocolate Orange Cake that I made today. It was absolutely delicious! I promise to shoot and pic and post it tomorrow.

Meanwhile, here's a sneak peek at what's been recently added to FC for fall, as well as some time tested favorites.

Pumpkin Cake Balls (pictured at right) - Dressed in bright orange and green, these little pumpkins will look charming decorating a party table. Add an icing face to them and they'll turn into jack o' lanterns, making them a irresistible favors for your Halloween party guests.

Plastic Cup Crow - So many scarecrow crafts, but what about the crows? As autumn rolls in and farmers work on their harvest, the crows will be looking for free goodies. Make this cute little crow to celebrate fall!

Coffee Filter Sunflowers - Some of my favorite crafts are ones created with items that are often found around the house. This big, beautiful sunflower is a great example. All you need are coffee filters, crayons, scissors and a glue stick!

Bottle Pumpkin - Kids will love putting these super easy pumpkins together. Make a whole bunch of them to decorate for a Halloween party or to set out on the porch! This makes a fun classroom or party project.

Bug Village - Here's a great craft for almost NO money! All you need are a few sticks, some acorn tops, rocks, and imagination! These darling little critters have a home of their own in this cute craft.

Craft Stick Fall Tree - This simple craft is a great way to celebrate the coming of fall, even for the younger set. No patterns are required, just sticks, foam or felt and a little imagination.

Football Star Shirt - Is your child a budding football star? Maybe you have big football fans in your family? This shirt is an ideal gift and a really fun project for game day. Whether a fan or a player, your kids will love it!

Paper Bag Tree - Grab a brown paper lunch bag and some Autumn colored tissue paper to make this easy and fun tree that appears to be blowing in the wind. A fun craft to make with your children this Fall season.

Salt Dough Football - It's football season! Here's a fun craft to keep your kids busy during the game. Make this fun mini football into a magnet for the fridge or even a good luck charm for watching the game!

Salt Dough Pumpkin Patch - Salt dough is a great medium for fun and creative crafting. Take this sparkly pumpkin patch for instance! Salt dough recipes aren't just for kids. Make these fun and festive pumpkins this Fall for your holiday decorating.

Enjoy!

Fall Recipes for Kids

All the kids are back to school. Moms everywhere are looking for fun and different things to add to the kiddo's lunch boxes. FamilyCorner has added quite a few fun goodies from their resident kid's recipe expert, Tami Rose. Here's links to a bunch of yummy goodies your kids are sure to love!

Sandwich Kabobs (pictured at right) - Kids will love finding these kabobs in their lunchboxes. They are the perfect size for little hands, making a lot less mess to clean up afterwards. Made from all of their favorite sandwich ingredients, moms can rest assured that their kids are eating healthy and not trading with their friends for something else!

Breakfast Pizza - Get the kids to the table in no time in the morning... tell them you're making pizza for breakfast. Within 30 minutes you'll be serving a warm, delicious breakfast that the whole family will enjoy.

Bite Size Zucchini Muffins - Serve these muffins as a quick, on-the-go breakfast, a lunchbox treat or an after school snack. There's so much flavor packed into these little snacks that your kids won't even know that they are eating something with a vegetable in them!

4 Favorite Kid Friendly Trail Mixes - I haven't met a kid that wouldn't gladly eat some dried fruit and nuts when it was mixed in among some of his/her other favorite snack foods. These trail mixes are easy to bag into single servings for lunches, after school snacks, or even for traveling.

30 Healthier Snack Ideas for Kids - It's time for the kids to head back to school. When they come home each afternoon have healthier snacks waiting so that they don't grab for potato chips or cookies. Our members shared their ideas for fun and tasty snacks that are much better than the prepackaged ones that are so easy to grab. A little forethought will get them eating better and they'll thank you for it.

Cheesy Corn Dog Muffins - Packed into a lunchbox or eaten as an after school snack, these muffins taste just like your kids' favorite corn dogs - without the awkward stick. They're quick and easy to make and can be eaten hot or cold. Yummy!

Chewy Cranberry Oatmeal Raisin Cookies - The scent of oatmeal raisin cookies wafting through the house is a sure sign that fall is on its way! Greet your kids after school with a plate of warm cookies and a big glass of milk. This will surely put smiles on their faces.

There are quite a few more available here.