May Day Candy Bouquet

I made these Candy Bouquets for my May Day baskets. I bought the Multi Purpose Mini Cups and lids from Walmart in the paper plate section. I used my Cricut to cut a bunch of 3" flowers and the stick is just wood skewers I had on hand. First punch a whole in the bottom of the cup and then through the flower. Push a skewer through the cup and the flower. Hot glue the flower to the cup and then put a little hot glue around the stick and flower. Fill with candy and there you have it, a candy bouquet. Who are they kidding? The mini cups are the ones used for Jello shots,they call them multi purpose but if someone is buying them it is usually for shots. I bought them to make brownie shots. Place a spoon of pudding in, brownie pieces and chocolate ganache on top. I tried it for Easter but I used bigger cups.

Paw's Bench

My Grandfather made this bench in 1972, it is 40 years old in May. Two of the legs broke off and it needed to be repaired so I decided to give it a shot. My neighbor cut down some big pine branches that were close to the electric line, what a coincidence I need that! I pondered the question "how did Paw do this? I figured he used a Wood Planer but I didn't have one so I will have to do it by hand. But wait, my wonderful Husband ordered me one and saved the day (super hero kind of stuff). I had to drill the old wood out of the existing holes and then shaved the wood down to size. I used a grinder to taper the wood at one end to fit in the holes. We used Gorilla glue to put everything back together and then it was time to match the stain. The old legs had black streaks running through them so my husband took a torch and gave the new ones some streaks. Two more coats of stain and a coat of clear poly urethane....BAM! Then we realized the old bench had felt pads to keep from scratching the floors, so off to the store I go for felt pads. The old bench leg had some the size of a quarter but I bought a sheet and cut them to size. One last thing...Paw always signed and dated his projects so I added my mark, VAL 12. I hope Mom likes it and if Paw is looking down from heaven I hope he's saying "you did good girl".   

 

Flip Flops

I love flip flops during the summer. I don't like to spend a lot of money on them because I usually have to throw them away at the end of the summer. I saw a post where a lady took a pair of heeled sandals and glued on pearls and beads and I knew I wanted to try it. I took some E6000 and spread it all over the side of the flop. I took silver sequins and placed them randomly on the flop and pressed them into the glue. I had these cute flower brads that I glued smack dab in the center, I considered this my focal point. Then I took 4 different sized white pearl beads and just glued them on all over. I covered most of the sequins up but they still peek through and give it some bling. The lady's shoe was more of a rigid sandal so I'm not sure how the beads will hold up but I will find out. She used green and yellow beads on her shoes and they were really big beads. I used what I had at the house but some slightly larger would have been cute also. I bought these flops at the store and didn't really wear them much because they were so plain, now I will wear them all the time. This would be a cute craft for kids, what about fishing worm flip flops.....cute!

Stamps

I just love it, Walmart has a dollar section for scrap booking. They have clear stamps, wooden stamps, inks and stickers. They have new stuff each week and for each season. I purchased some of the stamps and inks for my daughters for Christmas, what a great stocking stuffer! The clear stamps come on a clear plastic sleeve. You peel the stamp off of the sleeve slowly and carefully, place it on a clear plexi block and stamp. I take a baby wipe and clean the stamp with it, it will also take the ink off of your fingers. Place the stamp back on the sleeve, you would think they wont be sticky again but they are. I protect my stamps by placing them in a CD case, the ones that are about 1/4" wide. You will have to remove the center section of the case but it just pops right out. I place my ink in ziploc baggies to help keep them from drying out.

May Day Containers

Every Week I buy a container of Hillshire Farms Smoked Ham, so I have lots of these containers. I won't throw them away so I am working on ways to recycle them. For this post I am using it to hold May Day gifts. I will place some homemade cookies inside the containers, add a tag and some flowers. Simple and easy. The saying on the tag can be found under the May Day category. I printed it on white construction paper and cut a flower shape around it, add a bow and the tag is done. I cut a flower and a butterfly shape using my Cricut and then inked the edges brown. I use a makeup wedge to ink the edges of everything I do. I sprayed some bottle caps (courtesy of my sister Jessica) with white primer and sprinkled some pink seed beads onto a layer of Elmer's glue. Hot glue a piece of lace to the flower, the bottle cap, a bow and the butterfly. If you have small children doing this just use colored muffin cups for your flowers, seed beads and Elmer's glue.....bling. Happy May Day!

I'll Take Him

I’ll Take Him
March 24, 2012 — by David H. Roper
Years ago, when I was a student at the University of California at Berkeley, I developed a friendship with a fellow student who had suffered a terrible loss. His child had died and his wife had left him because she couldn't’t deal with the pain.
One day, as my friend and I were walking down the street, we found ourselves behind a disheveled mother with a grubby little boy in hand. She was angry at the child and was walking much too fast, towing him at a pace his little legs couldn't’t maintain.
We reached a busy intersection where the child abruptly stopped and his hand slipped out of his mother’s grasp. She turned around, spat out a curse, and trudged on. The little boy sat down on the curb and burst into tears. Without a moment’s hesitation, my friend sat down next to him and gathered the little guy in his arms.
The woman turned and, looking at the child, began to curse again. My friend sighed and looked up. “Lady,” he said softly, “If you don’t want him, I’ll take him.”
Jesus will take us! He stretched out his arms and died for me.