Sunday, July 31, 2011

Red Riding Hood







After watching the new "Red riding Hood" DVD....I thought I might make my own red riding hood costume. It started off as a grey tunic dress that I dyed blue with food coloring. I added a patch near the hem and constructed a small red cape hood and arm warmers out of a old red wool felted sweater.

I have not had the time to have my sewing machine fixed....so I did all of the sewing by hand. I really love the contrast of the light blue dress and the red cape.

Have a great day!

Laraine

Friday, July 29, 2011

painting with Clorox







I clean my kitchen and bathrooms with Clorox. The end result is, no matter how I try....I manage to get Clorox spots on my clothes.

I noticed some bleach spots on two dark olive tee's I really likes....so I thought of a way to save them.

I laid an old plastic shower curtain on the table. Put newspaper inside the shirt so I would not bleach through to the back of the shirt.

I poured some Clorox in a small jar and began to paint a free hand branch with leaves on the shirt front.

I really like the way it turned out. Now the shirts look like the spots are part of the design.

Have a great day!!

Laraine

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Orbea-Variegata...Starfish Flower....Toad Cactus




My sweet neighbor "Sandy" gave me these cactus plants. I planted them in new planters and was surprised today to find a funny looking Japanese lantern looking thing growing off a cactus stem. Of course I "googled" it and found this very interesting information and pictures. I am shameless.....I have copied both the photos and text from the hapless website. I'm so lazy today.

Anyway.....here is the info on these interesting plants.

Very easy to grow, it is the ideal plant for beginners, needs light shade to full sun (but tolerate shadow), very resistance to heat will also tolerate quite cold temperatures and light frost too (in good condition), best in a ventilated environment.

Water regularly during the growing season, keep dry in winter. Use a gritty, well-drained soil pH 7.5 to 8,5 (mildly alkaline). It is easily propagated by removing a cutting, sometimes with roots attached, in spring and summer, but seeds germinate readily if they are sown when fresh.

The typical flower is 5-7 cm across with 5 blunt lobes, starfish-like, attractively patterned or dusted with chocolate/purple, brown/bronze blotches on a greenish-yellow background, mostly in 6-7 rows or irregularly scattered, Corolla rugose, with a yellow central disc speckled with dark spots. Flowers coming in late summer or fall, have a light carrion smell.

It is quite free flowering if in direct sunlight. The plant can readily set seed, after the fecundation the carpels develop long cylindrical fruits up to 12 cm long, these need to be contained when they ripen, because as soon as the fruit opens it liberate a cloud of flying seed provided whit a white feathery cotton fluff.

Pray we here on the Texas coast only get some much needed rain this weekend. I don't feel the need to put up the storm shutters for this tropical storm, but I will keep an eye on the Weather channel.

Have a great day!

Laraine

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Little Red Riding Hood







I completely enjoyed watching "Red Riding Hood " rented from Netflix last night. The locations, background and costumes were breathtaking, but all that beauty would be lost if the story was inferior. Since I have a soft spot in my heart for werewolves I was so pleasantly surprised.

The movie had several familiar faces from the syfy channel as well as some new ones. Gary Oldman, who has a tendency to gobble up the scenery was held in check and not allowed to over act.

All in all the movie held my attention up to the very end.

A word about the costumes. The red riding hood costume is already for sale on etsy.com.

Have a perfectly lovely day !
Laraine

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Sweet Kelly Kitty.....He Really is a Big Boy !






I knew Kelly was a big kitty but not until my dear daughter gave me her baby scale to sell on eBay was I able to see how much he weighs. He is an amazing 16 pounds of purring fluffy kitty love.

Have a wonderful day !!

Laraine

Saturday, July 9, 2011

The Heady Fragrance of the Passion Flower






The heady fragrance of the passion flower is almost overpowering. It grows wild in my back yard coming back every year in a new place.

This summer two large plants have taken root under one of my living room windows. It has crawled up the house, across the window screen and up to the roof overhang.

I have clustered other plants under the window and have placed a simple lawn chair in the center to create a shady, quiet, perfumed spot to read a book or enjoy a cool glass of iced tea.

Hayley would not sit on the chair because the plants were too close. She doesn't like bugs.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Laraine

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Karla"s Birdsong Swap









I am almost finished with my tags for Karla's (karlascottage.com) birdsong tag swap.

I was inspired by a purchase of mother of pearl beads from Japan that came wrapped in a lovely light purple flocked with white roses material. I'll call it material but I think it was really paper. I have used snippets as a ruffle on the bottom of several tags. I wonder if it is perhaps a fancy rice paper.

I thought of how purple was my favorite color as a child. I loved all things purple. My taste's have changed over the years, however purple still has a special place in my heart.

Go make something beautiful today!

Laraine