Yesterday's Snow

 ~ A lonesome bench covered in snow ~

~ Julius on the porch ~

~ Wishing for warmer weather ~

Love Heart Design Wins Award

I'm honored that my Love Heart card has been "hand-picked as an example of creativity at its finest." There's something about my heart designs that Zazzle really loves (no pun intended). In July 2010, my Valentine Flower design was also chosen for a Zazzle award.

As a reward, my card will appear at the top of this page in the "Featured Designs" section for approximately two weeks.

Thanks, Zazzle, for this wonderful award!

Down at Palisades Park

Now this is a piece of artwork. It's sculpture at its best in the form of cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and all those other scrumptious ingredients. There's nothing like authentic New York cheesecake.

If you're lucky to be in north Jersey, be sure to stop by the Golden Eagle Diner in Palisades Park at 239 Broad Avenue at Brinkerhoff Avenue. Their menu is loaded with tasty-good treats, and they have the BEST Greek dishes. Take the Broad Avenue exit off of Route 46.

Check out the escarole soup with homemade meatballs. Are you getting hungry yet? Wait. It gets better.

The homemade mousaka is to die for at the Golden Eagle Diner. Pardon the picture. I didn't have my good camera with the macro lens.

Strawberry shortcake is calling my name. Now I'm kicking myself in the butt because I didn't get a piece of cake to go.

Yum!

~ Pure heaven ~

There's something about New Jersey diners. They know what they're doing when it comes to diners. Look at the audacious, silver bling on the outside of this building. It's classic Jersey. It makes me want to move back.

One last observation: The gas in New Jersey is 22 cents less than it is in northeast Pennsylvania.

Spring Peep in Create & Decorate

~image used with permission of Create & Decorate, April 2011 

and Sean O'Brien Photography~

Although there's plenty of snow and ice on the ground, spring is just around the corner. In fact, I understand we're supposed to have some warmer weather this week. I'll take 50 degrees over single-digit temperatures any day.

Speaking of spring, be sure to check out the April 2011 issue of Create & Decorate. My paper mache spring peep is featured on page 58. I had visions of marshmallow peep candies when I was sculpting this little guy.

I use a lot of different clays in my sculpting projects. For the spring peep project, I used Dixon Prang DAS Pronto Modeling Clay. I also used Americana acrylic paints by DecoArt because they're smooth and easy to work with. For the base of the peep I used some STYROFOAM™ and a little bit of old newspaper. I chose American Painter brushes by Loew-Cornell for this project. If you're into sculpting and painting, give this project a try.

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~image used with permission of Create & Decorate, April 2011~

A big thanks to editor Beverly Hotz for choosing this project for their April 2011 issue, which is loaded with fabulous craft projects and recipes. I especially enjoyed the article about Jim Healy, the junk architect. I also love Nancy Malay's Blue Bird of Happiness project on the cover as well as the Spring Chicks project by Cheryl Wall on page 86. It's a great issue. Be sure to pick up a copy today.

Happy crafting!

Thank You!

A big thanks to everyone who stopped by Barnes & Noble yesterday for my jewelry demo and book promo to promote Tammy Powley's newest release titled The Complete Photo Guide to Jewelry Making as well as the other two books that I'm featured in by Barb Switzer.

It was so good to see former jewelry students, art students, friends, and family. I appreciate your support!

More Valentine's Day Crafts

The kids in my mixed-media workshop created the neatest works of art yesterday. Going with a Valentine's Day theme, the kids came up with all kinds of cool stuff.

My glue of choice for this project is Aleene's® Original Tacky Glue®. This glue does a fantastic job in gluing hard-to-glue items, such as buttons.

Crafty Hearts

Valentine's Day is fast approaching, and I just finished making some heart-shaped, paper ornaments that can also be used as gift tags or door hangers. Following is a quick tutorial on how to make these crafty, little hearts.

Materials

* Construction paper in the colors of your choice
* Aleene's® Original Tacky Glue®
* Glitter (gold and silver)
* Twine
* Ribbon
* Buttons

Tools

* Fiskars paper edgers (pinking and scallop)
* Fiskars scissors
* Nail

Instructions

1) Using the scallop paper edgers, cut a heart out of construction paper that measures approximately 4" in height by 3 1/2" wide.
2) Using the pinking paper edgers, cut two small hearts out of construction paper.
3) Using Aleene's® Original Tacky Glue®, glue these two hearts to the large heart cut out in step one.
4) Cut a small piece of plaid ribbon, and glue it to the bottom of the heart-shaped ornament.
5) Glue a small button on top of the plaid ribbon. Let dry completely.

6) Place small dots of Aleene's® Original Tacky Glue® around the ornament, and then sprinkle some glitter on top of the glue. Shake off any excess glitter. Let dry completely.
7) Use the nail to make a hole in the top of the ornament, and then add a piece of ribbon or twine to the ornament.

Love is in the Air

How I love (no pun intended) to make artist trading cards (ATCs), and with Valentine's Day right around the corner, you never know what one will be inspired to create. I designed these ATCs several years ago using watercolor paper, watercolors, and waterproof ink. I was in a prim mood at the time, so these designs have a decorative/country look to them.

I don't know about you, but I'm starting to think about a good dose of chocolate right now. Preferably, I'd like some dark chocolate. If it's not from Belgium, I'll take some chocolate from Victoria's Chocolates in Hazleton, Tallarico's Chocolates in Bethlehem, Jon L. Stopay Candies in Plains, or Michael Mootz Candies in Wilkes-Barre.

Be sure to check out Cathy Cano-Murillo's blog here to see all the heart-inspired craft tutorials and guest posts she has on her blog just in time for Valentine's Day.