Covered Bridge Festival FUN!

I took a much needed break and spent the day shopping one of the many covered bridge festivals in Indiana. We hit up this one every year, it's in Mansfield, Indiana near Brazil.

It's like... an hour+ drive....

Hellacious TRAFFIC in STAND STILL BUMPER TO BUMPER lines through the whole town...

But...

I go once....

or

twice...

or

three times...

Don't judge... it's addicting and super fun... see pic below!

I came home today with a blown glass hello kitty pendant ($2.99), a pandora bracelet with six charms ($10) (bee, elephant, turtle, apple, angel, and "born to shop" bag), and four nail polishes ($5)

I also devoured:

1 apple dumpling from Heaven with ice cream ($5)

1 grilled ham and cheese sandwich that everyone is in search of ($7)

2 cans of soda ($1.75)

1 bottle of water ($1)

AND

THE

WORLD'S

MOST

AMAZING

MINI-DONUTS!!!

for $4

There were like 2 dozen of those melt in your mouth, cinnamon sugar, elephant ear like heavenly morsels in my bag... and they are all gone... with no picture...

Guess that's another reason for visit number 2!!!

And the fact that I must own the $25 white hat in the above pic that I passed up today... as well as a pair of rhinestone Hello Kitty earrings and a clip in pink hair extension...

Any of you ever been to a covered bridge festival? Thoughts? Recommendations? Tagalongs?

:)

Creative Practicing: A Grad School Project

This is what you get with 12+ hours of creative practicing:

It involved four hours with a friend to make the rolled roses, wreath, bows and ruffled flowers.

An hour baking a cake.

Three hours making a clutch purse.

Two hours painting and mod podging.

Another hour finishing the painting.

An hour of recipe scrapbooking.

AND another hour + to make the corkboard and mind jar!!!!

WHEW!

Fall wreath with new rolled felt roses (cut in a scalloped pattern instead of just a spiral):

Recipe Scrapbook:

Painting:

(I painted one color band at a time and then dumped the glitter on while the paint was wet. Then added words cut from magazines that are meaningful to me, hope to add more words!)

Finally successful with making felt bows for hair clips!

AND

Ruffled jersey flowers for brooches:

Wine Corkboard

(I used wine corks from a friend that are REAL cork. First though I traced the back of the frame on a piece of foam board, then glued burlap over the foam board, glued all that onto the back of the frame and then glued down the corks- going to add a big bow to the top since it's not centered!)

AND

Mind Jar- for relaxing and calming down in time out

(You fill a container with 2/3 warm water, 1/3 gel school glue, and then a tablespoon of glitter. I also added some food coloring to get a yellow color water. For my kiddos I'll be remaking this in a plastic water bottle!)

Ruffled Zipper Wristlet Clutch!!!

(So excited about this!!! First time I've ever sewn in a zipper with my sewing machine! And used fusible fleece for the first time EVER! Also added the removable wrist strap! I LOVE it!)

Mod Podge Cigar Box

(I used a piece of wood from the inside of the box to cover the writing on the original lid, then I used my pedicure tool to carve the heart and the word joy into the top like a tree carving :) ).

Rolled Roses:

(Tried to make the little roses by making a knot and then gluing it down to felt and gluing down as I rolled... not sure how I feel about the finished product. It's thinner than my normal rolled roses, but would be nice for headbands. The process was much quicker than my normal roll, fold, and glue method.)

Chocolate Pudding Cake:

(Pinned on Pinterest and made for my mom's birthday. It was a big hit and involved NO eggs!!! That part surprised me!)

Source: bakingbites.com via Amy on Pinterest

Creative Practicing: Hour One- Devise a Plan

I've spent an hour on pinterest (probably more than an hour, but let's not go into my addiction) and have the following picked out as projects to do for my 12 hours of creative practicing:

Source: ladylullabuy.wordpress.com via Amy on Pinterest

Source: iheartnaptime.net via Amy on Pinterest

(obsessed with wanting to make a pennant banner)

Source: allorahandmade.bigcartel.com via Amy on Pinterest

Source: soulhunting.tumblr.com via Amy on Pinterest

Paint something

Source: blogs.babble.com via Amy on Pinterest

Source: theidearoom.net via Amy on Pinterest

Paint some beads- idea via The Idea Room blog- linked through pinterest

Source: according-to-kelly.com via Amy on Pinterest

Source: everynothingwonderful.com via Amy on Pinterest

Source: joann.com via Amy on Pinterest

Make a clutch

Source: allthingsheartandhome.com via Amy on Pinterest

Now to get to crafting!

Grad School: Development of Creative Thinking

So I'm going to school to get my Master's in Educational Psychology with a focus on Gifted Education.

I'm taking two courses right now, one of which is an eight weeker that ends on the 17th. I am preparing to start one of my final assignments: Creative Practicing.

Assignment: Spend at least 12 hours over a period of time doing something in a new way or something differently.

My take: spend at least an hour a day for the next two weeks creating one new thing each day and then documenting that journey on this little blog. Goal? Do some of those things I've starred on Google Reader and pinned on Pinterest and maybe whip up some new items for the Etsy Shop.

Follow along with me :)

Source: joyshope.com via Melissa on Pinterest