DIY Giant Hanging Pom Pom

I'm giving Austin and his future bride a couples shower.

I have been searching Pinterest

for decorating ideas.

I love the look of hanging pom poms.

You can buy them at stores in the party supplies

but why pay so much for something you can make yourself for only pennies?

Supplies:

Gift Tissue Paper in the colors of your choice

Scissors

Twine, string or yarn

To make a medium sized Pom Pom (mine is 10" diameter)

Stack five sheets of tissue paper.

Fold in half

and cut along the crease.

Stack the halves together (now 10 sheets)

and start folding accordion style, as evenly as possible.

Stop half way and cut a "V" or "U" on both ends.

Continue to fold.

Then cut the remaining ends to match your previous cuts.

Fold the tissue in half,

and tie it in the center with your twine.

Now start separating the individual sheets,

being careful not to tear them.

Half way done....

A little off center, but you can fluff and trim if needed....

then cut the string to the desired length.

Now to make about 8 more!

Think I'll make some purple and green ones next!

 

Keep Calm and Kerri On!

Petunias and Sweet Potato Vine Then and Now

 

 

APRIL

Remember my blog post in April

when I decided to plant petunias and sweet potato vines?

Well, here's a picture after that planting.

MAY

I didn't have to water the plants much,

because May was a very "wet" month for Oklahoma.

JUNE

Wow!  I guess the petunias and sweet potato liked the

Miracle Grow soil and the sunny spot on the SE side.

The Sweet Potato Vines are so long....

so I weave them in and out

 of the Petunias.

Almost everyday I pinch off the dead blossoms.

Every couple of weeks I "cut" off about a third of the top growth

of the Petunias too.

It sounds harsh, and I cringe doing it,

but I save the blooms and put them in my Milk Glass vases.

I love all of the fresh cut flowers that I grow myself.

Here's my Petunias and some Indian Blankets in my Milk Glass

 sitting on my kitchen island.

Even when I cut the petunias back,

more blooms come up the very next day...Awesome!

I know I will be planting more petunias next year,

maybe in some pots?

Have a great summer everyone!

Keep Calm (and cool!) and Kerri On!

 

Reannon's Dogs Portraits

Just finished up two new dog portraits:

A couple of cuties!

TRUMAN

FINLEY

The process:

I started with two 8" square stretched and primed canvas

and two close-up pictures of the cute pups.

I used acrylic paints in bottles.

I like to use these paints because of their color consistency,

vibrancy and texture.

To choose a background color:

I decide what the strongest colors of each subject are:

Finley - yellow

Truman - white w/pink/orange accents

...and then painted each canvas with the opposite color...

opposite of yellow is purple;

opposite of pink/orange is turquoise.

These colors will contrast and bring out the best color situation for each painting.

After the first layer of color was dry -

I drew a simple sketch onto the canvas with white chalk.

Then started blocking in color.

Being sure to let each layer dry completely.

Always checking back to the original pictures for clarity.

Blocking in more similar colors on both paintings.

Lots of turquoise, purple, pink, orange and yellow

at this stage.

I stepped back and re-considered the picture.

Looking at it from a fresh point of view...

deciding to lighten up the main background colors a little...

a shade lighter of the turquoise and purple.

After all color was blocked in on the animals, I chose the secondary background colors,

in this case I added a bright red behind Truman

and a bright orange/red underneath Finley.

I added in the darkest of darks (eyes and deepest folds)

and the lightest of lights.

"Truman"

"Finley"

I am very happy with the way these portraits turned out.

My client is happy too!

(always be sure to sign every piece of artwork you complete!)

Keep Calm and Kerri On!

Our Four Legged Family Members

Claw-dia Monet

3 years old

Claw-dia was adopted when she was 1 1/2 years old.

She was one of 18 black cats at the Washington County SPCA.

We had recently lost our 15 year old kitty "Wednesday" to cancer,

and I decided we needed to save a pound kitty...Wednesday would've liked that.

I told the SPCA helper what kind of cat we were looking for:

one that could be outdoors, friendly with other cats and dogs,

and one that would like to chase squirrels....and preferably a black cat

(as I know these are the least adopted pets).

They brought out "Ace" as her name was then.

She curled up in my husbands arms.

And that's all it took!  She has now been with us for over a year!

She still loves my husband's arms - but only comes to us when I call her.

We love our CLAW-DIA!

Odin Von Fleming

2 years

Odin is our full blood Doxie.

We got him the same day we had to put our other doxie, J.D. to sleep.

I would now recommend waiting before adopting another pet so soon.

It was quite an emotional ride...but I wouldn't trade him for anything.

We adopted him when he was just 6 weeks old.

My then 11 year old son, Sam, thought he needed to be named "Odin" which is Thor's father.

He also thought he needed to be German....where supposedly Dachsund's come from.

He is our "lover" dog.  He loves the attention and will "talk" with us.

He is so cute and smart, well, ok - not so smart, but he is cute!

 Always happy, happy, happy!

He just thinks he has to whiz on everything!

I would definitely compare his personality to Odie in the Garfield cartoons!

Maizy Daisy

18 years old

I've had Maizy longer than I've known my husband.

When Gary and I first met, Maizy was a kitty cat and Gary had a puppy named Tank

(the biggest in the litter of Huskies)

Maizy thought she was the boss and terrorized Tank, until he had enough

and he SAT on her!

She then decided to leave him alone.

Maizy started out as an inside kitty so I de-clawed her

 (I won't ever de-claw a cat again, by the way)

but she got out one day and refused to come back in...so now she is strictly an outdoors cat.

But she did climb trees for years!  It didn't matter to her that she had no claws,

she figured it out!

Now I think it's mean to de-claw a cat....I've learned my lesson. 

Sorry Maizy.

She is now 18 years old...and much sweeter than she used to be.

She's always been so beautiful...temperamental....but what cat isn't?

Barlow Girl N.D. Fleming

5 months old

Barlow is our newest edition.

We lost our 14 year old chow, Tillie, three months before we could get another dog.

But I know Tillie would want her empty place to be used by a pound puppy.

First, we looked at adult dogs to give a good home to, at the SPCA...

But none of the personalities would work with our "multiple pet home"....

so we looked at a litter of 10 pups...

all of the puppies ran, falling over each other to get to us....

except one...Alice, as she was called then.

She stayed back, sat, wagged her tail and looked up, straight into my eyes.

That was it!  She's my dog!

I tried to name her after a flower, like Poppy, or Posy...but my boys vehemently refused.

So, I named her after my favorite Christian Band...."Barlow Girl".

And I must say, now, she is my dog.....my husband has chosen her middle name to be N.D.

which is short for "No Dammit" ....she digs up everything,

and when nervous, she'll pee, right then and there, and then wag her tail in it....

splattering her "daddy" one time...hence the name N.D.

Yet, even though she digs up my beautiful garden and bowls over the other dogs and cats....

I still love her. She's my Barlow Girl.

Pablo Picasso Fleming

10 years old

This is my baby...and he knows it.

It doesn't matter that he's the smallest animal at our house... he rules the roost.

We adopted Pablo Picasso at the "Chicken House Flea Market" in Stephenville Texas

in August of 2003.

He was born the day before my Grandmother Hicks passed away.

I used some money that I inherited from her to purchase him.

He was supposed to be a "tea-cup" Chihuahua.

But he grew...and grew...and grew!

We found out he's part rat terrier,

but that doesn't matter...he's my Pablo Picasso!

My buddy.

 

Our four-legged family members bring so much to our lives!

Keep Calm and Kerri On!

Beginning a new BzzAgent Campaign

Dr. Scholl's For Her Campaign

Hey! It's me!

If you know me well, you know that I am diabetic.

Which means I have to take really great care of my feet to avoid problems.

AND...I have a brand new job which keeps me on my feet for up to 6 hours at a time.

I'm not that young any more,

and I can tell you my feet were killing me.

That's why I'm SO glad BzzAgent (which I am one)

came out with Dr. Scholl's for Her Foot Care campaign.

Here's what I received in the mail:

Dr. Scholl's for Her High Heel Inserts (2)

These are gel like inserts specifically designed for heels 2" and up.

They also have inserts for other shoes, if you don't wear heels.

The inserts are supposed to take the pressure off of the ball of your foot.

They fit securely and invisibly in your shoes.

The slim design won't make your shoes too tight either.

My next day of work is in two days.

I will put these babies to the test and let you all know!

Truthfully, I'm so thrilled to try them...I love my job, but hate the way my feet hurt after a full day.

We'll see!

Keep Calm and Kerri On!



Ipsy June 2013 "On the Wild Side"

"On the Wild Side"

Upon opening....I discovered not only my Ipsy bag,

but a gift from Ipsy for signing on two friends....

A pretty bracelet from Bubble Bar!

Mine is white and gold.  Love it!

A cheetah print makeup bag with a neon chartreuse zipper and tag.

Every ipster received a blush, rouge or bronzer this month by NYX.

I was very happy to see I received the Mosaic Powder in Dare.

Not all received eyelashes - I'm not sure what they got instead, but I did!

Hmmm....Eyelashes...Ok, I might give these away.

I have to wear glasses because of an eye disease, and these are so lush

I'm afraid they'll hit the lenses!

But I'll find somebody to give them too, I'm not complaining!

Ipsters also received this glitter "sparkling cream palette" by J-Cats.

It was first believed to be eye shadows,

but are now known to be "body glitter".

Maybe I'll save these for Halloween?

Or maybe give them to somebody?

I'm just not a "glitter gal"!

So happy to see that I received the lip pencil by Starlooks

in the color "Tickle Me Pink".

I believe there were three colors that you could get.

This is a pretty, bright, peachy-pink.

Some ipsters received a highlighter pencil,

but I received the Cailyn Eye Gel in the color Iron.

Yay!

A brush is hidden in the top, like an ink bottle...

and you unscrew the bottle to reveal the gel pot.

This color is a soft medium grey...and after drying a few seconds,

is waterproof, until you take it off!

Overall, I'm fairly happy with the bag.

The cheetah makeup bag is my second favorite

(last month is first on the list!)

And I know I'll use the eyeliner, lip liner and mosaic powder,

but not sure about the others.

But really, ALL of this was only $10!

I am in no way complaining!

You rock Ipsy!

If you would like to join the monthly gift subscription Ipsy,

please click on my link below and sign up.  I'm so glad I did!

http://www.ipsy.com/?refer=u-h8hqaawjtrmj2y7

Beets from the Garden

We grew some beets in our garden plot at the Community Garden (The Garden of Eatin')

They were a little "over crowded" when they came up....

because my son wasn't interested in helping,

so he just dumped his seeds in one spot!

I tried to spread them out and thought we could thin them later,

but this Spring has rained A LOT and we never made it back down

until it was time to harvest.

Yet, still, the beets were gorgeous!

I forgot to take a picture of ours, so I borrowed the pic above from the Internet,

but ours looked just like them.

So how do you prepare beets?

I have no idea!  I usually get them in a can.

So I searched Pinterest, and found a pin that suggests roasting them in balsamic vinegar.

So that's what I did!

I washed and sliced them....

Ooooh! Pretty bright fuscia color!

Laid them out in my 9"x13" baking stone,

drizzled with about 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar,

2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil,

salt and pepper.

I baked these for about 40 minutes at 400 degrees,

until tender.

I thought I took a picture when they were done,

but guess I skipped that step because they looked so delicious,

I just dug in!

They were crisp around the edges and tender in the middle.

The balsamic vinegar gave them an extra kick,

they became sort of caramelized.  Mmmmmmm.

Nom...nom...nom!

How do YOU fix your garden beets?

Keep Calm and Kerri On!



Why You Keep Hearing Me Talk About "Ipsy"

Hey everyone!

Kerri here.  Every month on my blog and facebook,

I "carry on" about IPSY.

Why?

Do I work for Ipsy? No.

Do I get paid to review their products? No.

Then why do I go "on and on" about them?

Because I LOVE everything about them!

And I want to share it all with YOU, my friends and family.

For $10 each month

I receive a makeup bag filled with 4-5 deluxe samples

and/or full sized products.

This allows me,

to try products for a low cost that I might otherwise

not know about.

Here are my bags beginning in January 2013

thru May 2013.

I'll list my favorites under each bag.

JANUARY - I love the Jose Maran Argon Oil.

The Pacifica Body Lotion is heavenly in Blood Orange.

I've lost my liner brush - but I keep looking.

These are my favorites in the month of January. 

FEBRUARY - Love the shiny faux patton leather bag.

 The other products I use, but will probably not repurchase.

MARCH - I keep the Hydrating Mist by Juice Beauty

in the refrigerator,

and when I'm having a "hot flash"

I spray it behind my neck

and in my cleavage (well, I do!)  Aaaahhhh....

I also LOVE the GlamRX magnetized palette!

APRIL - Awesome canvas makeup bag!

I am an artist, so I "zentangled" it!

I really like the blush and eye shadows too.

I am currently carrying them in my makeup bag in my purse

for quick touch-ups. 

MAY - This is my "favorite" month!

I loved everything in the bag and especially the bag itself!

It is what I currently carry in my purse

(which is actually an upcycled lunch box shown above).

The Urban Decay eyeshadow was a "special gift"

thanking me for being active on their website.

So I guess "technically" I did get something extra

for promoting them.

But it was a total surprise, and who doesn't love a THANK YOU?

So, to wrap it up....if you haven't tried Ipsy and would like to,

it's very EASY.

You can click on the link below, to be referred by me,

or look up the Ipsy website and sign up!

http://www.ipsy.com/?refer=u-h8hqaawjtrmj2y7

 

Thank you!  Keep Calm and Kerri On