More Painted Rocks.

Every day is wide open while I'm off on my summer break, but I don't feel like I've accomplished anything unless I've completed a painted rock or some other project on my to-do list. It's way too hot to wash windows and I want to paint a piece of furniture, but I haven't bought the paint yet. My car needs a new drive belt and it's in the shop for repair, so I can't go anywhere. I'm certainly not going to cook. There's not much left to do except paint rocks or watch TV.

I have a friend with a birthday coming up. She loves hummingbirds, so I tried to paint one. It was a challenge. I found a photo of a cute one that I liked and attempted to copy it. It's an Allens hummingbird. I had to put it aside for a week because I had so much trouble with it.Finally I finished it. I'm not entirely happy with how it came out, but I'm pretty sure she will love it.

I have another friend I made on Facebook after the 2016 election. She lives in the next town over, but I've never met in her person. She's very smart and funny and very passionate about politics. She's also the person that adopted the puppy, Lucy, that I wrote about recently. Well, I asked her a while back what I could paint on a rock for her as a gift. She said she'd think about it. Well, the other day she messaged me and said she decided she'd like something to commemorate the Women's March that was held in January of 2017. She took part in the march and it really meant a lot to her. I looked up the graphic images from that march and decided to try and do this one.

I did the background first, then traced the image onto the rock with

transfer paper. After that, it was kind of a paint by numbers process.

I really love how it turned out!

Another rock on my list to do was a dog portrait. Now I know I said I wouldn't be doing any more dog portraits, and working on this one made me remember why I made that proclamation.

Here's the dog.

His name is Jack and he died recently. He belonged to a friend of a friend and she is devastated by his passing. I found it hard to say no. He's such a cutie pie, but also another fluffy white dog. Very difficult. 

This was the final portrait before the clear coat was applied.
 My friend was really happy with it. Hopefully her friend will be too.

Here it is with a clear coat. I left the speckled rock natural and once the clear coat was applied, it showed up more.

And remember Mr Cow? Well, I gave him to my friend Lydia and she posted a photo of my rock with the actual Mr. Cow on Facebook. How cute are they together?

And finally, I wanted to get out and hide some of the rocks I made for the library event. I only hid one so far and then my car trouble put an end to that. Hubby went with me this past weekend and we found a good spot for my alligator eye. Only someone brave enough to battle the Alabama mosquitoes will find it, making them worthy to possess this masterpiece. lol

I really hope the finder posts it on Facebook.

That's it for this post.

Have a rockin' Tuesday!

In My Happy Place!

I just love being home. And being home with buckets of free time to fill however I wish is the ultimate luxury for me. No schedule to keep and no clock to watch, except to realize that time flies by way too fast when you're having fun.

I started rock painting right away. I have a list special requests to get done, but first I needed to make some "example rocks" to show the kiddos that will be attending my rock painting class at the library in a couple of weeks. It's part of their summer reading program and I was invited by the children's librarian to share my hobby. I made the gator eye rock using the photo below as inspiration. I think it could also pass for a dinosaur eye too.

I had a funny shaped rock that look like a shark, so that's what it became.

And I painted a few more with ideas that I found on the internet, including a cat, a ladybug and a pair of eyes peeking out of a cracked rock. I think those are fairly easy examples for kids in the tween ages to follow, which is the age group I will have in my class.

Once, the class is over, these will be hidden around town for people to find.  

Oh boy! So much fun!

2017. A Year That Rocked.

Here is a slideshow I made that takes a look back at most of the rocks I painted in 2017.

 I hope you enjoy it. It plays better with the sound up. Just "X" out any ads that may pop up.
Happy New Year!

First Week of School Down And Some Rocks.

Although I've been back at work since August 7th, this past week was the first one with students. They started on Monday, the day of the eclipse. Turkey sandwiches were on the menu, so we didn't have to cook, which was great. We originally planned for the kids to have sack lunches to take outside for the big event, but they ended up eating inside and going out afterwards. 

We spent a lot of time the two weeks prior cleaning and decorating the cafeteria. My manager had some tension style curtain rods and we made up paper banners to hang in the windows. I created the one above. Our new assistant manager made this school bus banner below. She is crafty too.

Our theme this year was emojis, so we each made one with our likenesses. lol. 

And we put more around the cafeteria for fun.

So being back at work means less time for painting rocks. I have 7 weekends until the fall pop up market to get more inventory made. I have about 35 rocks so far, but I'd like to have 50. Yesterday I put on Pandora and got busy. I made one rock for inventory and also got some done for hiding. It's been a long time since I hid any rocks. My hubby even got into the action. Here are some we made and placed around town yesterday.

Some simple love rocks made using Frog tape and assorted glitter nail polish.

These are strawberries I had started a long time ago, but never got around to
putting the seeds on. I used paint pens instead of a brush which worked out better.

These are hubby's rocks. He really got into making and also hiding them.
I even added him as a member of our rock group.

And this is the rock I made for my fall market inventory. I love how it came out.

Punkins!

I made this gator last weekend. He's pretty cool.

And this is a book of spells I made two weekends ago. Yes, it's a rock. I found it in a pile of
dirt that was being dug up for a drainage project in our local park. It's really bumpy on the back, but
the shape just screamed out "I'm a book!"

So that's what's been going on in my world lately. I have some Furry Friday catching up to do, so maybe I'll do a pet post soon. Have a great Sunday!

Furry Friday: The strange and weird edition.

Later gator!

Zoey likes to eat seaweed. Or is it bayweed?

Hubby likes to take Zoey to the bayfront park where there's a nice beach that allows dogs. He lets her off leash there so she can run. She's conquered her fear of the water and now likes to walk right into it and eat the water plants. 

While there on Wednesday, hubby spotted an alligator in the water close to the shore! It didn't seem to care about hubby, but when Zoey went over for a closer look, the gator turned his head to check her out. Hubby got Zoey out of there fast. Nothing like a life threatening dog walk!

I spy with my alligator eye.

Holy Carp!

Kiss my bass!

I have officially reached a new low in selling. I bought this singing Billy Bass at a church sale. Hubby thought I was insane, but I assured him that my fellow ebay bloggers said it was a good selling item. He didn't believe me, but whaddyaknow, it sold this past week. The buyer paid more for shipping than for the item itself. Go figure. There are lots of these listed on ebay, but mine sold. Why? Maybe because I put a video in my listing which you can see HERE if you dare. I figured that listing it just before Father's Day was a good idea, so if you've got one, you might want to get it online now.

Where in the world?

This is in the United States???

Okay, raise your had if you've ever heard of Saipan. How about the Northern Mariana Islands? No?

Well guess, what? This exotic looking tropical paradise is a US commonwealth. I never knew that, did you? I just sold a pair of steel toe work shoes to a buyer in Saipan, zip code 96950. It's in the Western Pacific just north of Guam! Good thing it had calculated shipping and not free shipping. Yikes!

Give the gift of Herpes.

This post by Eddie led me to a website called Giant Microbes where you can buy plush versions of germs, bacteria, viruses and other nasty things, even the plague. Seriously! If you're looking for a gag gift, it doesn't get any gaggier than this! I have to admit though, that some of them are actually pretty cute.

Irony in 3D

Remember when I wrote about how Megan was not graduating with a degree? Well, the crappy school college she attended just posted an opening for an instructor to teach the very same course she just completed. How ironic that you need a degree to teach a course that doesn't earn a degree.

She has still not received her so-called completion certificate, but she finally got her grades. All A's and another letter telling her she made the President's List again. Two years of school and no real credentials to show for it. Right now she's working on setting up a store so she can sell her prints online. She made a tidy sum selling them at Mobicon and she also sold some at hubby's booth during Momocon. Which reminds me...we've been looking into the best way to mail an 8 x 10 print internationally as most of her buyers would be outside the US. If we put it in a flat envelope with cardboard, the USPS.com calculator is saying it will cost $15.75 to mail it first class. That sounds crazy expensive to me. Her prints only cost $10.00. Anybody have advice on that? Let me know in the comments or shoot me an email through the form in the sidebar.

Feeling 100% positive again.

My negative feedback from the Michael Jackson doll that I sold a year ago just dropped off and I'm back to 100% positive again. I hope I'm not jinxing myself by mentioning it, but I'm happy it's gone. The defect still shows up in my dashboard, but it will probably drop off on the next evaluation.

Minimalism works outside too.

Before

Finally, this isn't exactly weird or strange, (unless you like overgrown shrubbery). It's just an update. After readers chimed in about the last lone shrub, in the front of the house, we finally removed it. We love the new look but in winter it may appear a little stark if the ferns die back. But still, just think about all that trimming and pruning we won't have to do. When the leaves start falling from the big oak, they won't gather and get caught up around all those bushes. 

This flower bed is easy to maintain and I can change the look of it every year if I want. Zoey likes to spend more time in the front yard now that there's nice grass for her to roll around in. 

And no alligators! 

Have a weird and wonderful Friday and a great weekend!