BraySam Lane

              This year, my Christmas decor is inspired by my sons, Gingerbread Friends , book.   I have been busy making felt gingerbread men ornaments (like pictured above), and this weekend my son and I made some, mint candy decorations, using some recycled Styrofoam, that had come as packing material in some recent orders. All you need is a little bit of paint, glitter and imagination!! I took the Styrofoam insert and used a dessert plate to to trace my candies.  We used the knife from a pumpkin carving kit to cut out our candy circles. I must warn that cutting Styrofoam, makes quite a mess and took a bit of vacuuming up. LOL! Next we free-form painted our candy swirls. Using glitter glue, we painted the parts that were meant to stay white, and then added more glitter on top of that. After the paint dried, I inserted some pop sticks (not shown), so that they will easily stay on my tree. And here is my Ginger bread themed Christmas Tree

  I had a bunch of apples to use up from a, family apple picking outing, and so I decided on a nice, baked oatmeal with a apple topping.        This is a great dish to whip up the night before!     BEFORE BAKED    1  orange squeezed   2 tsp       apple pie spice or pumpkin pie spice   2 2/3 cups old-fashioned oats   1/2 cup raisins or dried cherries 4

                         

I started making diaper cakes back in 2006, just a couple months after my son was born. I used it as a way to do something fun and generate some income, since I have always been one to like making my own money.  Since that time, I have created sold 100's of diaper cakes. I still make them by special request and from time to time will create a one of a kind designs, every now and then. I really enjoyed all the time spent creating these. I hope you enjoyed the pictures:)

I'm almost in Halloween decorating mode and starting to think about some crafts I might like to do. Then I remembered, one of my favorite pumpkin creations, that I made with my son, back in 2010. I don't have a tutorial but I still have the picture, so I thought I would share:) Pretty easy to make..... You will need: 1 medium to large pumpkin that is flatter instead of round. 1 small round pumpkin to make the head foam craft sheets in black and orange acrylic paints in black, white and I used a glow in the dark yellow for the eyes and inside of ears. rhinestones in a medium size...you don't want them too tiny any other embellishments you might want to add small wooden dowl hot glue gun and glue sticks Paint pumpkins black and let dry. Paint on kitties face and let dry. Insert small dowel into bottom of the head and then push into larger pumpkin body. Secure around the neck with hot glue. Make a foam collar to hide hot glue.....decorate collar as you like.

My sister gets the credit for bringing to my attention, this fun craft, for kids.....well let's face it, adults too! :) It's called, FLUBBER! It's very easy to make and fun for hours! What you need is: food coloring 1 c Elmer's glue 3/4 c cold water 1/2 c hot water 1 tsp Borax In a bowl mix together glue, food coloring (in your color choice) and cold water. Set aside. In another bowl dissolve Borax in the hot water. Slowly pour the Borax water into the glue mixture and slowly mix together. The mixture will start to gel together. Once it starts to form drain off excess liquid, let the flubber sit for a few minutes, drain again, if necessary. Turn it out of the bowl and your ready to play. You can stretch it, pull it, use cookie cutters to make shapes. Keep in an airtight container so it won't dry out.                Flubber will not hold shape. No matter how you mold it, it will flatten back out.

One of my Spring/Summer projects, was to paint and give new life to, two bistro sets that I have. We purchased them a few years ago and they are looking quite worn. Well, here it is August and I still had not started that project....until, today! I chose, Rust-Oleum Painter's Touch 2X Ultra Cover Paint + Primer in Satin Lagoon , as my vibrant color. This paint was very easy to apply and went on very smooth and uniform. It also works upside down! These sets will go out by my pool when completed. Before After Side by side comparison I still have to finish the other chair and table for this set. I'll post the total transformation when it is completed. What vibrant color would you try?

I have waited so long to make this post, and even though we are not done yet, I just have to share our progress. Finishing our basement wasn't something I thought we would ever do. With the exception of all of out fitness equipment, it remained a big empty space. As our son has grown older, we have started to feel that creating a fun area, might be a good thing for us and so, we started thinking about adding on a theater area, gym area and rec area.....what better place than the unused basement! The one thing we agreed on, we didn't want to lose ceiling height by putting in a drop ceiling or sheet rock, so I started researching alternatives. What I found were basement designs where the home owners were painting the rough ceiling and beams black.  It gives a loft/industrial feel and I, FELL IN LOVE!!! And now that our project is nearly complete....we still need to choose carpeting, furniture and decor....I am ready to share some photos. Hope you like! :) Before...