When I See an Elephant Fly

April 1, 2016March 31, 20162 Comments

Have you seen an elephant fly? No…me neither. But wouldn’t that be cool, to see this giant creature flying through the air with ease? Yeah, that would be awesome.

Or, you can watch Dumbo and get almost the same thing.

So, why am I telling you this? Well, of course it has to do with a project I was working on. Specifically for my coworker Linda.

Linda is the resident cat lady at work. She takes care of the cat room 5 days a week while the rest of us take care of the dogs. She is an amazing person and someone who is very easy to talk to and she will help you with whatever is needed.

Well her birthday just passed and I wanted to give her something that was meaningful. Which is why I decided to make something from her favorite Disney movie, Dumbo.

I started with a blank canvas (literally and figuratively), grey paint, paintbrushes, and a black paint pen and started on my masterpiece. The canvas was purchased in a pack of 2 from Michaels for $10.99. Hey, I’m happy with it. Now I can make 2 pictures!

I printed out a silhouette of Dumbo from Google images that I wanted to put on one of the corners. I decided to use a pictures of Dumbo and Timothy Mouse flying because the picture of Dumbo sitting didn’t look as good. I printed the picture on carbon paper so that way it was easy to copy onto the canvas. And I think that it turned out great!

I also started writing the lyrics of the song ‘When I See an Elephant Fly’ on the canvas. I didn’t have to write super tiny because there aren’t that many lyrics to the song. But, I still didn’t cover the entire canvas. So I added the title of the song and the Disney logo at the bottom.

After writing the lyrics in pencil, I wrote over them in black paint pen. The only issue I had with the paint pen was that it started to run out near the end of the lyrics. It might have been better to use a sharpie to write the lyrics instead of the paint pen.

Finally, after writing all the lyrics, I finally painted in Dumbo. Originally, I wasn’t going to outline Dumbo in black, I was just going to leave it grey. But, he didn’t have a whole lot of definition without the outline.

I think it turned out super cute! I love how Dumbo turned out and how the lyrics worked out. I also like the title at the bottom, even though it wasn’t intended. Overall, I am extremely happy with this canvas. And I hope Linda is as well when she sees it!

The Great State of Hawaii-Part One

March 28, 2016March 27, 20166 Comments

Did everyone have a wonderful spring break, if you had one in your area? Mine was good, but I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked. But I did have time to relax and spend time with my girls (see zoo post here).

I know a lot of folks went to the beach or somewhere else nice for vacation. We stayed home, but we did go to Hawaii last month! This was our first time going. A lot of people couldn’t believe we had never gone before since we live in Ca. But now we can say we have! I realized I hadn’t shared any pictures with you, so I thought this would be a good time. I will have to do several posts, since I took llloootttss of pictures! We stacked a lot of activities into 6 days! I thought I would just share pictures of the beach where we spent our time and some of the wonderful things we saw there.

I have had traveling to Hawaii on my ‘bucket list’ for a very long time. What finally prompted us to go was Haley. She is part of the theater group at her junior college. She found out in the fall that they would be traveling to a theater festival that takes place each year. This year would be Hawaii. How could I not go?! I told here there was no way she would get to go to Hawaii and I hadn’t gone yet! So as soon as we found out where the festival would be held, we made our reservations.We made them through Travelosity and it included our flight and hotel. Such an easy way to travel. We also purchased a GoOahu Card through SmartDestinations.com. Best purchase ever! They have this card for many different cities, so be sure to check it out if you are traveling. By the way, I am not affiliated with these agencies, I just thought they were really good deals.

Okay. So on to the pictures! This is the beach were we spent most of our time. It was across the street from our hotel. The little piece of water you see to the left if a man-made lagoon. It belonged to one of the hotels and was a great place for kids. Straight ahead is a cove, so the water was great to go swimming in.

We had to get our feet in as soon as possible! Our beaches in Ca. are not this clear or warm.

We could see Diamond Head from were the beach was. We did hike up this later in the week.

Look who came for a visit! We were thrilled to see this turtle so close! He was enjoying riding the waves close to shore.

Yes, even the dogs go surfing in Hawaii!

The infamous Hawaii rainbow…

And the beautiful sunsets. Breathtaking.

Do you need to take a break? Go get something to drink or a snack? Or maybe make your own reservations? I will wait for you.

Okay, here is a few more pictures from around Waikiki. Tiki torches all around the city are lit each night.

These lanterns looks so cool!

Surfboards anyone! They actually have lockers for surfboards so you don’t have to carry them all over.

We ate dinner from this taco truck one night. One of the best meals we had!!

We ordered the garlic shrimp and the taco plate. Mmmm!

A little bit of flora and fauna.

The famous Hawaiian surfer, Duke Kahanamoku.

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of Oahu. Watch for Part 2 in the next weeks!

Happy Easter!

March 27, 2016March 24, 2016Leave a comment

He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!!

We Went To The Zoo!

March 24, 2016March 23, 20168 Comments

Sorry I missed posting yesterday, but we went to the zoo! Our local zoo just opened up a new area, the African Adventure, and I wanted to check it out before I take my preschool class in May. The girls were up for it, so off we went!

It was very busy when we got there, but we had no trouble seeing the animals. The walkways were wide and there were lots of places to view each area. This is the view of the savanna when you first enter the African Adventure.

It was empty when we first got there, but pretty soon, we saw these cute little gazelles running and jumping and hopping around. They were so cute! Then the wildebeest came out and chased off the birds. It was like they were all so excited to be out in this beautiful place!

We headed over to the giraffe pavilion where they have a giraffe feeding station. The zoo had this before too, but you had to reach up to give the giraffe some leaves. Now you are up on a platform and the giraffes’ head is right next to you. Very up close and personal!

Here are more with a few of their friends.

Next we headed over to the lionesses, where they were busy sunbathing. They are so beautiful!

Here is one of the zebras enjoying a peaceful day of eating all he wants.

Look at this tree! It’s so cool and huge! It is right by the elephants and zebras and you can walk all through it. The kids were having a great time!

That’s just a little part of our zoo. I’m so glad they have made a better habitat for these animals. I know there are plans to keep improving and I can’t wait to see what else they have planned! I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Easter!

Boho Seashell Mobile or What To Do With All Your Seashells

March 21, 2016March 20, 201613 Comments

I’m back today with another seashell project! You can see a couple of my other projects here and here. I still have so many more to use! As I was putting this together, it kind of looked bohemian to me. I guess with the sticks and string. I don’t know, but I like it! I just have to find the perfect spot for it!

I picked up some sticks from my yard. I would have loved to use driftwood, but we just don’t seem to have much at the beaches we frequent, so sticks will have to do. I picked out the shells I wanted to use and brought out a couple different strings and twine. I also had my drill with a 3/32 drill bit. I probably could have used a little bit bigger drill bit because I ended up using the larger string, but it worked out.

I drilled a hole in each of the shells I wanted to use. I put each shell on an old board so the drill would just go into it and not make a hole in my desk!

I cut out my sting in various lengths.

Then tied a string to each shell. I threaded it through the hole and then knotted it in the back.

Before I started hanging the shells on the sticks, I tied the sticks together at different lengths, starting at the top and then adding on. This is the top stick.

After all the shells were hung, I took it outside to find a good spot for it. Unfortunately, this is it for now. I hope to get some cleaning up done outside during spring break and then will find a better spot for it.

And that’s it! This little project didn’t take me very long at all and will add a lot to my summertime patio! Now I just have to figure out what else to make…

Oh! Look what I got on Saturday!!! The ones on top are the ones I am going to use in my laundry room. I love the numbers and the handles. So cool!