My “Beach Balls”

Well, we’re off of “Tybee Time” and back to “real time”, complete with mountains of laundry and eight months (literally) worth of paper work to do in one day! But I couldn’t go another minute without showing my beach balls! I had intended to do some beachy crafts while we were down there, and share as I went along, but I had so much fun just going to the beach and riding bikes with my family that I didn’t have time to really “do” them! I thought about them, planned and started them, but finished them up at home! I really wanted to do these beach balls completely with beach items that I bought or found on the island….but real life set in there too and I had to resort to using a few things I had on hand already.

I bought some catfish twine because it was dark and I already had jute. Well it’s dark because it’s tarred..so when I opened it guess what it smelled like?!?!?! TAR! The longer it was open, the less it smelled, so I made a very small catfish twine ball.Then I used some old, faithful jute twine and wrapped another bobber:

I also used different sizes and types of shells to do several other bobbers. First I coated them with Aleene’s Quick dry tacky glue and rolled them in beach sand to cover the red and white.

 Then I applied the shells with hot glue.

TThe last ones I  rolled in “tabby”. When we studied Georgia history with my co-op class, we learned that Fort Frederica on St. Simons Island is built of tabby. Some descriptions say that tabby is crushed shells mixed with mortar, and others specify oyster. I’ve also heard that the British called the coquina shells (which are plentiful at Tybee) tabby. Okay, I wasn’t going to get into that, but when I was making these, my 9 year old walked up and said “Cool, you’re making that out of tabby!” I love it when they retain and retell something that we have learned! :-) So there is your history lesson and here are my tabby balls!

I am still not sure what I will display them in…a jar, bowl, plate…any suggestions?…but they will be going into my bathroom, which is in the process of being redone. I’m sure I have plenty of time to find something…. :-)

Off to do my paperwork!

Sharing my beach balls here:

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We finally were able to get internet…

….so I went ahead and posted yesterday’s post anyway! We are in Tybee Island and headed to the beach!

I had hoped to do some fun posts along the way as though I had you all with me but it doesn’t look like that will work…not sure of the internet connection here. :( I’ll keep updated as I can. I have been looking forward to sharing this trip! We arrived late last night and had to get some things today. I found one of my favorite places right off!

And picked up a few things with a couple of “beachy crafts” in mind.

Okay, off to the beach!!

Weekend Wrap Up and We’re Headed to Tybee Island!

Today we are headed to Tybee Island. We haven’t had a family, or any other kind of vacation in three years, so we are all very excited!!

This past weekend was very, very, full. I spent Saturday  helping with my daughter’s best    friend’s wedding. It was outside and we decorated with ivy and daisies.

 

It turned out so pretty! We also had a beautiful bride and matron of honor!

Yesterday was the final performance of our children’s Patch the Pirate Club at church. My younger boys are “sailors” and my girls and I work with the puppets.

They all did a great job! My 11 year old received the “Super Sailor Award” for the year. Way to go!

 

Now all that’s left is to finish packing  food and clothes and then load the van! Oh, and to google nearby Good Will stores…no trip is complete without a visit to the local GW!

Hubby says we are going to “get away from everything for a while, and that includes the computer”….GASP! I’m NOT ready to stop blogging for a week!!! I’m still to new at this and I would MISS everyone, so I have a better idea, but sshhhh…don’t tell anyone, ok? I’ll just take you  with me. I’m going to go make some room in the van, we have an extra seat…it gets a little loud sometimes, but not too bad and I’ll tell the kids to use their “company behavior”. So, get comfy, you might want to bring your mp3 player, and don’t forget to strap in! Let’s go to Tybee Island and see some of Savannah!!

Well after a whole day of delays, we are finally on our way!

The seat in between my daughters is for you…I’d never make you sit in between my boys! LOL

Yes, that’s written in dust! We live a half a mile back on a dirt road! :-)

Friday Fail @Nikki’s…Here’s Mine:

It’s amazing to me how much Nikki and I have in common…right down to digging through our craft supplies and ending up with something that looks like this

 

and this

I don’t have a craft room…or even a “craft cave” like Nikki, but I sure can make a mess of my craft corner and craft closet!

Last week Nikki posted what she considered a craft fail and mentioned the possibility of doing a “Friday Fail Linky”. Well, this week she did and posted her craft room, which resembles mine….so I’m linking mine up too! Go over and check out some other “Friday Fails”. I think it’s more like “Friday Fun”! It’s nice to now that we don’t always have the nice, well organized craft room that we share in our posts or that every single craft we try works out perfectly every time!

Last week I tried to make a rope sphere/ball and it just didn’t turn out the way I envisioned it at all! I took some dollar store plasticy rope and dipped it in watery Elmer’s glue. Then I wrapped it over a blown up balloon and let it dry. I hoped to have a stiffened ball in the morning that I could spray paint with a textured brown and have a yard ornament. But instead, I ended up with semi-stiff tangle of rope that won’t hold paint!

 

So there you have it, my Friday Fails. If you want to see some more “real” Friday fun, go visit Nikki’s Nifty Knacks!

Garden Progress and Pointers

I spent 8 hours in my garden today! YaY! That’s as close to heaven on earth that I can get!! I don’t usually have the privilege of that much uninterrupted time to garden, but today I had a goal to meet. I had to get my tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and some pumpkins planted. Why all today? Well, because for the first time in several years, my family is taking a vacation!!!! We are headed to Tybee Island, Georgia. We are all very excited! More about that later. I want to brag on all my work today! :-)

Before I could plant, I had to get the beds prepared. My goal is to build beds completely by the lasagna gardening (layering, no till) method. I hope that this is the last year I will have to till. I tilled three 4’x16’ raised beds twice over…once to break up the ground and once to till in the horse manure, hay and shredded leaves. I didn’t take many pictures, ‘cuz I was busy and and kinda forgot that I wanted to share and ‘cuz it can be hard to see the differences in layers. Here are a few:

 

A bean seedling…nice and healthy with the both halves of the bean seed still attached you don’t see them come up that way very often. I thought it was noteworthy. ;-)

A bunch of bean seedlings and a gardening tip…I have two dogs, one is a young beagle that won’t stay out of my garden beds! My brother-in-law said to lay some blackberry stalks in the bed to help her decide that is NOT where she wants to be. The stalks are laying in amongst the beans.

The squash and zuchinni that  I planted in the newspaper cups and paper towel tubes needed to go into the ground. I knew they wouldn’t last in the little pots til we got back.

The point of starting the seeds in the tubes and newspaper, is so that you can put them into the ground right in the pot, without disturbing their roots. The squash and pumpkin family really don’t like to be disturbed once they get going.

 

I loosened the pot up and it tore a little and then I just buried the whole thing!

I did pull the dirt up closer around the plant. After they were all in, I watered them.

Here’s another garden tip, after watering, I surrounded them with several layers of newspaper to keep the weeds down and the moisture in. Newspaper is readily available and FREE!

Next I spread mulched hay (courtesy of Rumplestiltskin)on top of the newspaper for more mulch and it looks better than the newspaper. Both the hay and newspaper breakdown quickly. In the beds where I did this last year, there is almost no sign of the newspaper and hay. Great soil builder!

 

Here’s a close up of one very comfy, cozy squash plant!

Everything got planted just in time. Tomorrow it is supposed to rain and I’ll be inside packing! I’m going to take my very tired (and sore) self to bed! Good Night!

But first, I’ll link up to a few places: