Fit Friday ~ the odd couple

When we first moved into these apartments, we knew it was only going to be for about a year and half. With such little time I could keep to myself and not worry about making friends with my neighbors. Instead I decided that I was going to force myself to say 'Hi' and get to know as many neighbors as possible. The biggest hurdle for this resolution is that probably only half of all those living here speak English.

A couple doors down is a grandpa who is always out with his grandson. I don't know how much English he understands but I have only ever heard him say 'hi' and 'bye' and he LOVES it when Lady A waves at him. There are also quite a number of fun toys out in front of their place and Lady A has to stop by at least once or twice a day to make sure they are all working.

Now when we step outside the first thing she does is look over to see if the little neighbor boy is out, but if the Grandpa is out she'll gasp with excitement, wave and shout 'eye' {that's 'Hi' in toddler}. Before you know it, Lady A has gotten the little boy {he's only a month younger than she is} into his stroller and either me or the grandpa will be holding her so she can push the stroller. I have to laugh to myself a little bit as I think of what it must look like to see us walking around the complex with the little kids, knowing that we can't talk with each other.

This has been my exercise this week, rain or shine {and it has been mostly raining}, helping Lady A push the neighbors toddler in his stroller. So I have gotten out of my bubble and made friends with some neighbors and it has been a really great experience. My little girl has even gotten comfortable enough with the Grandpa that she will walk right up to him and hold her arms out so he'll pick her up, or help her at the top of the playground to go down the tube slide. She's busting out of her shell and I love it.

With all the rain this week we have also gotten a lot of puddle jumping in.

What have you done this week to get your exercise in?

Fit Friday ~ Rainy Days

This past week we have had a LOT of rain.

It comes and goes but it is usually raining when Lady A is up so we can't go on our walks. She does however, love the rain. We have spent a lot of time outside this week puddle jumping and changing into dry cloths.

This week we have been doing more inside for our workouts. {I say 'we' because Paul is done with classes for the summer so he is working out with me right now.} Paul was looking on-line and has put together some exercises for us to work on in the evening.

Some of them are......
Squats, push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, lunges plus a couple other core strengthening exercises. Get out there and make up your own exercise routine.

Image Transfer Onto Fabric Using a Gel Medium

 How great did these images turn out?!?

I love them!

These were super easy but will take time because they need to set overnight.

Image transfer tutorial: Using a gel medium to transfer an image onto fabric.

Materials Needed:

Image printed on a laser printer {or a magazine clipping}

Fabric {Plexiglas, stretched canvas boards, pieces of wood}

Gel Medium {I used non-water based acrylic paint and modeling paste}

Sponge brush 

Scissors

Wax Paper

Tape

Water Spray Bottle

Towel

Acrylic Coating Spray {oops, not in the photo}

Cut out the images. Cut fabric pieces to size. Mine are approx 6" x 9".

*To prepare the image I added some text "I love you because..." then flipped it to print. I use Photo Shop but this can also be done in Picasa and most photo editing programs available. If your image doesn't have a right/wrong way, skip this step and just print your image.

To prep the area, tape a piece of wax paper down then tape the fabric on top of the wax paper. The Acrylic Paint spreads easily but the Modeling Paste stays pretty thick. To help know exactly where to apply the gel so to be able to work fast enough before it started to dry, place tick marks to help know exactly how big of an area to apply to the fabric.

*The wax paper is used to keep any of the gel medium from getting onto the table as it might soak through the fabric.

Apply the gel medium to the fabric then immediately place the image face down and press with fingers to make sure that the entire image presses into the gel medium. 

Be sure to press the edges down, excess gel medium will press out from underneath the image.

Before moving onto the next step, be sure that the gel medium has time to dry completely. I recommend letting it set over night.

Now grab your water bottle {or bowl with water and sponge to apply water to image}, towel and photo.

1 ~ Get the paper wet. {I let it sit for about 30 seconds or so, this will help the paper soften up}
2-3 ~ Start rubbing the paper with your finger tips. It will ball up and rub off. {You will have to keep the paper wet as you go}
4 ~ Every once in a while I would dab the image with the towel to get the paper residue off and see how well the image is coming along. {Using an image with so much white takes a little bit more care since it will blend with the white background of the gel medium, so...be careful not to rub too much}

Repeat until all the paper has been rubbed off the image.

*The image looks great while it is still a bit damp but as it dries, any paper residue left behind will become very noticeable.

Use a coating over the image. This will put a nice finish on the image and get rid of the paper residue look. I used an Acrylic Coating gloss finish in a spray can but something like Mod Podge would work as well.

I love how these images turned out! Eeek!

For the B/W image I used the Acrylic Paint. This gave the image a soft aged look. Photo by Michelle Andersen Photography. Photo courtesy of Adiel.


For the coloured image I used the Modeling Paste. It dries a bit faster and in those spots the image lifts up when taking the paper off. The over all image, however, stays more crisp so it is ideal for images with a lot of detail. Photo courtesy of Manda Jane Photography

Go Create!
~Mindy

Fit Friday ~ the Sun is Out

I missed last week...sorry about that. It has been super busy around here, getting ready for the summer, planning trips, Paul finishing up another year of Grad School.

The past two weeks we have enjoyed going out for walks. Lady A and I would walk {she was in the stroller, we would not have made it to the bottom of the street if she was walking} to the University and meet up with Paul. It felt great to get out and stretch our legs after the long winter and cold spring. 

Lady A really enjoyed it too. She would point and 'oh' and 'ah' over everything as we walked by.

My recommendation this week is a good pair of walking shoes to go use. My Dr. told me that New Balance are a great walking shoe but also good for your feet. They aren't too thin and will squish your foot and the cushion in them has been just right for me.

Get out and Get walking

Happy Trails

Love Notes Picture Frame

I am so excited to finally share my project with you!!

This frame was designed for Paul's cousin as a wedding gift. She had some decor windows at her reception, one with a phrase and another with a scripture quote. This was designed to match them and I have to say, I am pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

What you need:

Frame

Photo

Ribbon

Hot Glue

E6000

Dry Erase Marker

With the glass and back of the frame in place, set the image on top of the glass where you would like it then make simple marks at the corners so you know where to place the image once you have glue on it.

Put E6000 glue on the back of the image, I used a toothpick to help spread it around. You won't need a thick layer, just make sure the whole surface is covered. Place and spread a thin amount of E6000 on the glass within the marks.

With the glass out of the frame and on a flat surface place and hold the image down

*When the E6000 is placed on both surfaces the bond will be a lot stronger.

I used 3/8" ribbon and cut a 20" piece. At the top of the frame, use the glue gun to adhere the ends of the ribbon to the underside of the glass opening.

*I used the hot glue gun here because it would dry a lot faster.

To add a little personality to the ribbon I added a bow.

1. Place two folds in the ribbon approx. 5 1/2" apart.

2. Cut a second piece of ribbon that will be long enough to wrap around the bow. Glue the two folded corners to the end of the small piece of ribbon.

3. Place a small drop of glue down where the two fold meet and press the center of the loop down to make the bow.

4. Wrap and glue the smaller piece of ribbon around the bow.

*I used the hot glue gun here because it would dry a lot faster.

DONE!!

Using the same technique, spread E6000 around the inside of the frame where the glass will rest. Carefully place the glass in the frame {make sure it is facing the right way and not upside down} and press the glass into the glue.

*As you are placing the glass, watch where it is going so the image will be centered as you place the glass. If the glass is set in the glue then wiggled around, the edges will get all gunky and be seen from the front.

I love it!!!
Hopefully they will too.

If you want to create your own frame with the crackle technique, check it out here.

I used an image transfer technique that you can find here.

Fit Friday ~ Getting Enough Sleep

Like I talked about last week, I was going to focus on getting more sleep this week.

I can't believe how hard this has been. For the past while we have been staying up late, this seems to be the only time that we can spend time together. First we get Lady A to bed then Paul gets to work on his homework, then we finally get to spend a bit of time together. On average we get to bed around 2 a.m. and Lady A wakes us up between 7-8. This week I have been getting to bed around midnight but my internal clock wakes me up at 5...AAHHHHHH!!!!

The first couple of mornings I spent the morning just laying in bed until Lady A woke up. Maybe I could have gotten up and been productive but that would keep me from getting more sleep....since this is my goal. This week I was baby sitting for a friend and realized just how sleep deprived I am. When Lady A goes down for a nap I can too but since I was babysitting that was not an option. Those two days were pretty long.

Finally by the end of the week, I have been able to get at least 7 hours of sleep at night. I have forgotten how wonderful that can be and my days have been more productive.

Mothers Day Donation Digital Downloads

  Here are the latest Digital Downloads for Donations

 

Digital Download Fundraiser!

My husbands cousin, Hunter, is a young man {14 years old} who loves his family and being a brother to an older and younger sister and one younger brother. He is very spirited and enjoys to play games and play jokes on people. At eighteen months old his Dr.'s diagnosed him with Cystic Fibrosis Pancreatitis, that causes him daily pain. He had to have a Total Pancreatectomy with Auto Islet Transplant, in short, that means a full day of surgeries. Check out his page on FaceBook to read more about his story.

Hunter and his mom were in Minnesota for a few months while Hunter had surgery and has been recovering. It has been a long road to recover, meanwhile, he has had multiple other surgeries do to complications and the bills are adding up. The surgery takes a year to recover and the family needs to raise money for medical expenses.

Hunter and his mom made the long drive home to Utah a couple weeks ago. As I have followed them, thinking about what Jen has done as a mother, well, very inspirational. Hunters family is doing what they can to help lift some of the financial burden for Hunters parents. Because we are in Connecticut we haven't been able to participate in the fundraiser dinners, benefit concerts or other activities I have come up with another way for us to help. For Mothers Day I have designed cupcake toppers and other printable pages that you can purchase, the money from this will go toward Hunters medical bills. I love these little tags because they can be used for so many different things: cupcakes, party favors, cards, scrapbook/memory albums, the list goes on.

Just go to my Donations tab, choose which set of tags you want, enter your donation amount then checkout. You will be emailed a link for an instant download. Come back again to check out my next Digital Downloads for Donations that will be available for Hunters fight.