Thrifted Yarn Washcloths

Does anyone else buy yarn from the thrift store?  I know you take your chances doing that... you don't know what kind of yarn you have or where it's been, but you can always wash it!  Sometimes you even get lucky and get a bunch of yarn for an awesome deal... like this green yarn.  I got it in a bag with 4 or 5 other skeins of yarn for 75 cents!

I've now turned said green yarn ( I think it's cotton) into washcloths.  They aren't perfect, but the sure are handy!

Jackson Pollock Eggs Tutorial

Have you ever tried blowing eggs?  I love the idea!  You can save your eggs for a long time that way.  It does take some work though.  About half of mine cracked, but luckily I was able to cover that up with a little acrylic paint :)

Here's a quick tutorial on how I decorated my first ever blown eggs!

Materials: 
Blown eggs: washed and dried ( You can find a good tutorial on blowing eggs HERE )
Acrylic craft paints
paint brush and/or foam brush
paint pallet or paper plate
paper towels

Step 1:  On a paper plate or paint pallet, pour small amounts of acrylic craft paint and mix colors to get desired base color.  I used a medium blue, white, and bright green for my base colors.

Step 2:   Using a foam brush, paint the base color(s) over one half of the eggs.  Let dry and then paint the other half and let dry completely.  You can paint one smooth color or blend in other colors to get a more varied look.

Step 3:  Lay eggs out on paper towels.  Cover your work area well... this gets messy! Load up a paint brush with the paint color of your choice.  Hold the paint brush in one hand next to the eggs and with a finger, flick the tip of the brush to splatter the paint onto the egg- Jackson Pollock style!

Step 4:  Let each side of the eggs dry before turning them over to flick paint on the other sides.  Then let dry completely.  Your'e done!

Photo of the Week

I really love the color of pink grapefruit and it's fun to photograph!  I'll admit that this photo is edited a bit.  I experimented with all kinds of patterned paper as the background and then played around with PicMonkey for a while.  This greenish-yellowish paper turned out to be my favorite.. so bright and perfect for spring!

I may have to print this one out and frame it :)

Patterson's Pond, #2

I love water.  I love hearing, seeing it, and being in it!  

This is my second watercolor of Patterson's Pond, the small body of water near my hometown of St. Johns, AZ where I like to go canoeing with my family when I visit.  It's one of the few recreational spots around. 

 I took some photos of it last spring when I visited and painted this from one of the photos.  Now it's hanging in my living room to remind of home :)

Guest Post: Everyday Art

Hey guys! Today is my first time having a guest post here... fun stuff!  I hope you'll take some time to read about my friends Emily and Jaime here.  They have a wonderful blog :) P.S. We're swapping today so my guest post is up at their blog.  Have fun!


Hi Everyone! We're happy to be here today on Grow Creative. Doesn't Elise have fantastic taste? :)
We LOVE her watercolors!
Today we just wanted to introduce ourselves a bit. We're Emily and Jaime from Everyday Art.

We're two sister-in-laws (Jaime married Emily's handsome older brother) who, like Elise, believe that everyday can be filled with creative outlets, and we love to explore them. Here we are with some of our kids.

It's so fun to have a sister-in-law that you want to find excuses to talk to each other--it's great! We started a blog because we used to live next to each other (literally a few doors down) and now that we are states away from one another we needed a way to bounce ideas off one another, show each other our projects, share recipes, etc.

 We have 5 basic areas where we create our "art" (playing chef, artistic home decor, throwing memorable parties, hand crafts, and fun with the kids) so we wanted to share our favorite in each category.

Creating Beautiful, Tasty food:

The Lemon Puff Pastry Dessert.

Light and fluffy and unique and dazzling and fun. There aren't enough adjectives to describe this one. We LOVE to cook and bake and try several new recipes a week, so new foods are always up-and-coming on our blog. Desserts are, of course, the most fun, but we have lots of main dishes and breakfasts too.

Creating Artistic Home Decor:

Apple Blossom Canvas Tutorial.

We both made a pair of apple blossom canvases, which turned out beautiful and unique to each of our styles. (Here's Jaime's). And we've shared the tutorial with you! Other of our favorites include the rag rug,  tree mural and turtle/frog canvases we did for our kids' rooms.

Creating Hand Crafts:

The Felt Flowers.

These flowers turned out great and were fun to make. Emily made an adorable yarn wreath with them, but they've been picked up by several hair-bow blogs--how cute would that be? We also knit and crochet and have made all sorts of beanies, Christmas stockings, animals, even dresses.

Creating Fantastic Parties:

Honeybee Birthday Party.

Such a cute party theme for such a cute girl! We love parties--we've thrown all sorts of fun ones--a pink puppy party, a garden lady bug party, a vintage Strawberry Shortcake party, monster party, a superhero party....

Creating Memories with our Kids:

Make your own SLIME!

Sooo fun--even for grown up! No one can resist giving it a squish with their fingers. We did it on a cold afternoon, but wouldn't it be fun for a scientist bday party? or an art party even....

We had lots of fun this year--making forts, painting, having fun with Food Dye, and just plain having fun, but this idea was a particular favorite.

We love creating lives that we want to live in and invite you to come along and see if you don't find some new recipes or projects you'd like to try. :)

Thanks Elise!

Lots of love from your crew at Everyday Art,

Crochet Sunglasses Case

I'm one of those people that need new sunglasses pretty much every year.  They inevitably get scratched or smashed somehow.  I never bothered to buy or make a case for them till now.....

I scoured the web for a good crochet sunglasses case pattern and I found a winner HERE at Dly's Hooks and Yarns.  Check it out!

I had to do a little adjusting from her pattern.  My first try was way too big so I adjusted the pattern to only chaining 8 at the beginning instead of 12.  This made it smaller and  really quick to make, but the stitches are still too loose for my liking.  In the future I plan to use a smaller hook to make a tighter weave to protect my glasses even better.

I also switched up the colors to make it more fun and added one of my mini-crochet flowers to the front.

Colorful crochet things just make me smile :)

Photo of the Week

Another bird photo........ taken at the Hogle Zoo with my son last week on free zoo day!  It was a good day because honestly, I haven't felt well enough to go out and do something like that in a while.  It's amazing how much the small things mean to me now.   I plan on taking advantage of all the free days at parks, zoos, and museums I can this year.  I have a feeling once I finally get all the way off my meds and the withdrawals subside, the migraines will be better.. at least that is my hope :)

p.s. Happy March! Spring is on it's way. I couldn't be happier about that :)