I'm Such A Klutz

As my grandson and I sat down to make old time-y paper chains and lanterns from construction paper, I found out the stapler (don't kids love a stapler!) was out of staples. I filled it up, and closed the top...right on my index finger. Oh,yeah, it HURT. I was doing that little thing you do with your feet when you're sitting in a chair and staple your finger; that little stapled-your-finger-shuffle. My grandson says" oh, MeMe!!....are you okay?????". and I said "ack".....then I said "get it out,get it out!" :D Oh,my poor baby-man. I don't know how this happened, but the second he pulled it out, my finger started bleeding like crazy. It was pumping out, and what sort of thoughts did I have right then? dumb thoughts! like.....the conversation HossFly and I had just a few days ago while watching one of the CSI's about arterial spray! Then I thought "wait, there's no artery in my finger, what's this?" And then what do you think happens?? I suddenly feel faint and dizzy and my grandson is running around,bringing me Puffs Plus tissues,blood is pouring down my left hand and arm(lol, I don't know if the lotion helped or not,lol) saying he had to get help, and he runs to the window and looks to see if my truck is here. Nope, his Mom has my truck, and his PawPaw has my sister's truck, and we're here all alone. Then that angel baby says "MeMe, they're gone, we're gonna have to take the tractor!" and he grabs my hand and starts to pull me out of my chair toward the door :D Well, I felt dizzy and I didn't like that, so I walked to the sofa and sat on the floor ( same rule you use when you have babies applied here...you can't fall off the floor!) and had him bring me the phone to call Hoss. Gah!!......I get voicemail! What to do? Leave a message! He called back in about 10 minutes but by then I was feeling better and the bleeding had stopped once I sat on the floor and held my hand above my heart. ( I learned THAT on Hill Street Blues years ago when they chopped Dennis Franz pinkie off :D ) So Hoss finally walks in and helps me up, and when he does he sees the entire front of my shirt covered in blood, along with my left hand because I held my right hand in it, small sprays of blood across my face and neck I was unaware of, and he goes a shade paler, and gets me to the dining chair so he can look at me. He's saying " you said it was a tiny staple!" " I said, but it WAS a tiny staple", and show it to him! Yeah, we'd saved it for a souvenir, maybe altered art? lol, so anyway, he goes and finds me a clean t-shirt..one of his OWN prized shirts, his navy blue Corona t-shirt!..and takes over most of the baby-sitting duties. Looks like my lavender t-shirt is now a cleaning rag! I need more lavender and purple tops to go with my purple Crocs now :D
I don't know what happened. But I plan on looking up all my prescriptions and see if maybe one is a blood thinner??? I just don't know, it's weird. I just had a doctor's appointment on the 3rd and he changed a lot of my medications. I'd been having side effects from a sleeping pill I've been taking for the past 6 months. This being amnesia...I'd been getting up and walking,talking, cooking, eating...even getting on the computer a few times. No one realized I was sleep walking for a while til someone mentioned me talking about something or other when we had a visitor one night, and I didn't remember a thing about it. Hoss started putting the keys up off the table in case I woke up and decided to go for a drive somewhere in the middle of the night. I haven't driven for years, unless I only go a few miles to the local dollar store :D I'm afraid to go back and check my old posts !
*sigh* I think I just got a few years older today.....

Crafting Away With Vintage Maps

My Daddy had this Atlas forever. It's almost as big as I am! Well, it was as big as I was when I was 4 years old :D I've moved it from room to room over the years, but it still got water damage, silverfish, you name it. I decided to make some pretty things with it before it entirely disintegrated. The tattered map I used on these hat boxes said 1939. My youngest sister always brings me the best stuff from yard sales. Last time she was here, she brought two unfinished hat boxes. I decided to gift them back to her :D Here they are with a couple coats of clear spray finish applied. I still want to put some metal eyelets and use some cord to make it look more like a hat box. And either find a luggage tag, or print one out for each one. Then to top it off, I plan on making some yellow roses I saw on Martha Stewart made by a lady named Cassie.They're just stunning! I hope mine come out as realistic as hers. Twin gave me some rose scented spray and I cut out enough for six roses and placed them in a baggie with the scent. Let's hope it doesn't interfere with the painting, I'll let you know before you try it :D
So here are the boxes before and after decoupage. I used what I had, which was white school glue. I mixed it with water just to make it the consistency of paint and it worked just fine. A couple coats was all it needed.






See that rose? That was my practice rose...don't laugh at it! LOL I made this yesterday, but after I'd cut all the pieces out and started to make it, I realized I didn't have any florist's tape. And I still went ahead and made it. Of course, it fell apart after I painted it, and it dried...BUT, I can say this..it was a lot easier to paint than you'd think! HossFly had run to the dollar store and bought me 2 packages of 40 cone shaped coffee filters, $1 each, and an inexpensive set of childrens watercolors, $1.50. What a bargain! I got out a bowl of water and brushed water on each petal first, then used yellow which bled into the paper and looked very natural. As soon as I finished all the yellow, I used watered down red and just painted the tips of each petal. They bled nicely to fade into the yellow, just like a real rose! As soon as I finished that, I used less watered down red, just on the very tips of each petal. I was amazed that I could paint it so easily and it was so pretty! I wrapped wire around the bottom of the flower and hung it on a box fan to dry. It didn't take long, less than half an hour. You curl each side of the petals on a bamboo skewer. I already had those and didn't have to spend any extra money. Even with my practice rose looking all shaggy, Twin thought it was real, so did a couple other people :D

I'm looking for a few other craft/decorating ideas I can use some more maps on. I made this 3-D star for another sister. I think it might look good on her living room wall, but of course, no one is obligated to use a gift the way you intended it, right?!? LOL...it's a pretty large star. It involved math, so I had to get Hoss' advice on that part. Here it is, not quite finished, I used a glue water mixture on the top for one coat, nothing on the back yet. I decided to do the front in maybe 4 coats, let dry, then do the back. I want it pretty stiff for displaying on the wall, or on a cabinet or shelf.




I see it needs a little trimming before I put any more coats on it.

Passing Along Some Blog Awards to Doodles Place, Perpetual Plum, and Speckled Egg

I recently received three awards from Sunday Girl at The Crafty Corner, and I'd now like to pass them along to

Doodles Place! I love the crafts she makes with her children and have been inspired by her :D

And to PerpetualPlum , I appreciate your generosity to your fellow man. And I am fascinated with your soldering art, and all the pretties you create :D


And to Speckled Egg , who's things appeal to the Pink side of me!

Please copy and paste these awards and add to your blog. Thanks for being you!
Kudzu