fresh picked whimsy

We've got the fever!

Olympics fever, that is.  Seriously, we LOVE it and can't get enough of it!  The Opening Ceremonies were awesome...some strange parts, some unbelievable parts...all eye candy.  i LOVED the Queen and James Bond!!!!  And, my kids adored Mr. Bean.  So funny! 

We ate dinner in front of the telly...

I made a simple centerpiece, reminiscent of Katie's grad centerpieces...

In honor of our British hosts, i made "bangers & mash" for dinner last night.  Even if it was really Italian sausage and potatoes and peppers...we still raised our forks to the Brits. 

We had all-American chocolate cupcakes for dessert...

and then the five of us...i mean, six of us {sorry Sunny...didn't mean to leave you out} watched the entire ceremony together. 

i remember doing that with my family growing up.  i hope my kids remember this night, too. 

♥♥♥

 

Driftwood heART

Last summer on our family vacay to Gulf Shores, Alabama, i collected tons of driftwood from the beach.  The kids helped me on my quest.

There was an unusual amount of it and i had an idea.  As we packed the already overloaded van to go home, all mark could do was laugh as i handed him a rather large bag of this space-stealing stuff.  He is so good to me...always supporting me in my hair-brained, creative endeavors.  i love that guy.

a small sampling of my collection...

It took me a year to get around to it, but just this week i put it to good use.  My goal was to make a wall sculpture out of it and hang it up on our fence in the backyard by the pool as a reminder of our favorite place in the world...Gulf Shores.  Check it off my list...i got it done!

Here's how we did it... We had some scrap siding plywood in the garage and i had Mark cut it for me down to 28x48.  I decided to paint the rough side of it and I used several different shades of blue paint (acrylic and latex) that i had on hand from previous projects.  I just randomly painted it on and blended it all together.  Finally, i washed some white over it all.  I only painted it on one side and i did not seal it.  I think it will only get better as it weathers.  I guess we'll see about that.

Mark helped me piece it all together into the shape of a heart.  We had fun doing it together.  It was kind of like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.  I made the outside shape of the heart first with driftwood pieces and then we filled in the center. 

Once we had it exactly how we wanted it, we used this glue...

It was really a two person job.  I carefully lifted each piece of wood, one by one as Mark used the caulk gun to put the glue on.  Then i placed them back on the board.  The glue set quickly, but i waited overnight before i stood the board upright to make sure we got all the pieces glued on sufficiently. 

Mark still has to hang it on the fence, but i had to bring it out and lean it so i could see how it would look.  I think it really pops against the dark brown fence.  {please ignore the dust bowl weed patch it is standing in}. 

I still have a ton more driftwood, so i'm already dreaming up some other driftwood art i can make to complement this one.  a whale? a fish?  a boat?  maybe a mermaid?  There's a lot of open space on that fence!  :)

 

Rainbow colored summer

I am really loving having my iphone and Instagram this summer.  I was already in the habit of dragging my big camera with me everywhere because i never wanted to miss a shot.  The iphone gives me so much more freedom!  And Instagram...well Instagram {follow me @lorimcdonough} makes it so much more fun.  Just a few of my most colorful shots of summer... so far.

summer, i really l♥ve you. 

Let the games begin!

The Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Summer Olympics is one week from today!  I LOVE watching the Olympics...my whole family loves watching.  In the US, it will be broadcast on several different channels at different times around the clock.  We can't wait!  We have Olympic fever.  Raise your hand if you do, too!  Of course we are Team USA, but we love following the personal, inspiring stories of the Olympians from around the world and cheering them on, as well.  I was inspired to make a few FREE Olympic printables.  You will always find them under the free stuff just for you button on the sidebar and you are welcome to print them and share them.  As always, they are for PERSONAL use only. 

The first one is for you to display your support for Team USA...Simply print it here and hang it for all to see...  {Did you know that there are 205 nations participating in the games?  I wish i could have made printables for all the countries.  Maybe i should start drawing now to be ready for the 2016 Olympics!?}

The second one is an illustrated American flag.  Print them here...

cut...

and tape the extra flap to a straw. 

Wave it proudly!

Lastly...award your champions with these fun Olympic medals.  Print them here and cut them out...

To make them a little more sturdy, i used a recycled thin cardboard box.

Glue them to the cardboard and cut out the medal again. 

Cut a small slit at the top of the medal the width of whatever ribbon you plan to use. 

Then, add the ribbon...

and you are ready for your own personal awards ceremony!

and DREAM BIG!!!!!!

 Download, print, share, pin and enjoy, friends! ♥

DIY: How to make it rain

You may have heard that we are having a drought here in the Midwest.  Yes, it's true.  It's July 18th and our grass is winter brown, our flowers are spent and our trees are dropping all of their leaves.  We actually need to rake our yard.  It's sad and there are a lot of people and farms suffering from the heat and lack of rain. 

 
Last night, it looked really threatening...dark, dark clouds, lightning and thunder rumbling so i hurried outside and pulled in all the beach towels that were draped over the chairs and closed the table umbrella.  And then...nothing.  Absolutely not a drop.  i think i jinxed it.

So, this morning Griffin and I decided we would make some homemade sidewalk chalk.  It was something we had put on our summer bucket list.  It was so simple to make.  I mixed 3 tablespoons corn starch with 3 tablespoons water and then added food coloring. 

We waited until we were outside before adding the water to avoid any spills.

The colors were beautiful! 

We worked quickly because the temperature was 95 and sunny!  It was uncomfortably hot, but these paints were so cool!  We used foam brushes and we were a little worried when it went on super watery and washed out.

But it was so vibrant went it dried.

okay, i guess you could say we asked for it...

...because about 20 minutes after we had finished, the heavens opened up.  We couldn't believe it!  Before...

and after...

and so, my friends...if you need rain, just mix up some homemade sidewalk paint and get to work!  :)

We are heading to the store tomorrow to get more corn starch!  We need more rain!

a happy beginning!

I had the pleasure of making some custom art for a friend's wedding recently.  Lots of fushia peonies.  I ♥ peonies!  I made this "logo" of sorts and we used it throughout different elements of their wedding...on the menu cards, the table numbers and guest book picture.  Thought i would share...

I made custom recipe cards for the bridal shower, too.  Each guest was asked to fill one out with some advice.  Such a sweet sentiment...

Sending lots of love and best wishes for a beautiful life to Rachele & Jay!

♥

Hot, hot, hot

Made our annual trip to Crooked Lake in Angola, Indiana to our cousin's lake house for the fourth of July. 

We couldn't have picked a hotter time to go.  The temps toppled over 100 degrees each day.  Ugh.  Thankfully, the house is air conditioned and the lake was refreshing.  So, we made the best of it!    Highlights...

we lost power briefly for a few hours.  So, my cousin Jeannine baked dessert on the grill!  I was so impressed.  Blueberry cobbler on the grill.  Who knew?

cocktails...

terrible picture...but night swimming in the lake was a hit.  We spent a huge amount of time swimming in the lake...i just didn't bring my camera or phone with me to snap pictures of it, with this one exception. 

i instagrammed this picture of breakfast one morning and all the teenagers {who were still in bed} came down almost immediately because they saw it in their feed.  Gotta love that social media.

Thanks again to our gracious cousins for hosting our crew for yet another wonderful time at the lake.  Love you guys! 

Rockstars

My little sister Susan invited me to go with her to see Zac Brown Band on Saturday night...and we partied like rockstars.  Or, at least we felt like rockstars.  Even if we were just two sisters/moms who had a girl's night out and got some unexpected V.I.P. treatment!

We actually got free tickets from her very generous and very well connected friend and that was enough to make us just thrilled to be going...even if it was 105 degrees outside. 

Then, when we got there and called her friend to meet up and get the tix, she invited us into the V.I.P. Jack Daniels tour bus for cocktails. 

There were people swarming the bus all around it...just hoping the door would open and they could catch a glimpse inside.  As soon as we walked up, the door popped open, her friend greeted us and a very large burly man pleaded with her to let him in, too.  Sorry buddy...maybe next time.  It was surreal...and i immediately felt embarassed that i hadn't put more thought into what i was wearing.  Silly me...i was so concerned about the sweltering heat melting my make up down my face that i didn't even put it on!!!!  Reality was...nobody cared. 

Looking out the window of the bus at the gates...

We met and hung out for a little while with the ZBB bus driver and some of the crew.  'Cuz we're cool like that.  Inside we were freaking out, but we played it cool and secretly squeezed each other's hands when they made us incredibly strong cocktails and non-chalantly gave us v.i.p. lounge wristbands.  Susan's friend handed us our tickets and hugged us as we got ready to leave for the show.  She got us amazing seats, too.  Cherry on top!

On our way out of the bus, we snapped this pic of ourselves inside the door of the bus...all the while scratching our heads as to how we got so lucky.

Made a trip to the lounge where i snapped this pic of the toilet because i thought it was cool...

Katie and her friends were at the show, too.  They had lawn seats so we let them swap seats with us a couple times so they could check out the show up close, too.

The real shocker came when we first got into our seats before the show started.  That's when we realized the man sitting next to us was our priest!  This is me trying to snap a picture of him without being too obvious.  I was trying to send it to our other sister Kim in Georgia. 

Then, he recognized us and we all had a good laugh and enjoyed the show with the good father.  He always wears cowboy boots under his robes.  I said to him "i should have known by your cowboy boots that you were a country music fan, father!"  Susan and I were afraid it was going to make the night awkward, but really it was awesome.  So much fun!

Seriously...it was an incredible show.  If you get the chance to see ZBB...GO!

Thank you, Susan, for a super fun sisters night out {Kim, we missed you!} and thank you, V...for making us feel like rockstars!  xo

 

oh so crafty!

We've got all kinds of crafty goodness happening in the studio these days!  Craft Casserole classes for adults and kids are hoppin'!  I've set up a button on my right sidebar that you can click on to see the latest class schedules, class descriptions and links to our Craft Casserole facebook page.  I thought i'd share some of the highlights from recent classes and pictures of some of our upcoming classes, too! 

If you are in the Carmel area and would like to join us, simply click on the CC button and follow the link to register for a class!  You know all those awesome crafts you've been pinning on your Pinterest "crafts i'd like to make" board?  Well, we're making them and so much more!  Bring a friend or come make some new ones while you learn to make some homemade goodies!  I'd love to meet you! 

 now, for the recent highlights...

Now, here are a few classes that we have coming up this month...{there's still time to register!}

For more information, registration links, and complete class descriptions, please click on our Craft Casserole button on the right sidebar.

Bottom line is...i love to craft and i think that crafting is so much more fun with friends!  That's the idea behind Craft Casserole classes here in whimsy studios.  ♥