It's That Time of Year!

I can't believe that it's almost time for the kids to head back to school. Brittany is once again rushing around buying books for the new semester and gathering her things to take back to college. Fortunately for us she put a lot of things in storage in Storrs so that she can fly back to the University of Connecticut rather than have us drive her there.

For parents of incoming students at UConn, who are planning to load up the car and drive to the campus, I must warn you that Storrs is a very small rural town that doesn't have a lot of hotels. We had tried to book a month in advance and found that all of the hotels were already booked up. However, if you don't mind driving for 45 minutes there are hotels in West Hartford, Connecticut. I was able to book a room at the West Hartford Inn, a small family run hotel at a moderate price. The West Hartford Inn does offer AAA discounts and the staff is very helpful. The hotel decor is a little dated, especially the carpeting in the hallways and the lobby is small but we were pleasantly surprised when we entered our room. The room was spacious, the linens on the bed were very clean (the bedspread had just been washed), the bathroom was clean and there was a small refrigerator in the room. The mattress was slightly firm which was perfect for me since I had just had back surgery. The hotel staff said that they were in the process of replacing the mattresses with pillow top mattresses. The West Hartford Inn offers a nice continental breakfast every morning in their dining area on the second floor. I went to the breakfast in search of a cup of coffee and found not only two pots of fresh coffee brewing (real coffee not K-cups), bagels, danish pastries, muffins, cereal, bananas, doughnuts, milk, and orange juice. Food must be eaten in the dining area but coffee can be taken back to the room. If you are unable to book a hotel in Storrs you may want to consider the West Hartford Inn.

On mornings when time permits I grab a cup of coffee, put on Mozart's Divertimenti and watch the butterflies as they enjoy the beautiful, fragrant flowers of my Butterfly Bushes. This morning I decided to go out and see if I could get some pictures of these beautiful creatures. The butterflies were used to me working around the bushes pruning and weeding so they were not frightened by me when I tried to take pictures. In fact they allowed me to walk right up to the bush so I could take a close-up. This butterfly seemed to enjoy being photographed so I snapped this picture as he landed directly on the flower in front of me and spread his wings.

Biston Shrug Update

The Biston shrug is almost finished! I am knitting the textured border around the shrug. I am happy with the result so far. The Madeline Tosh Lace yarn gives the sweater a light weight texture that is perfect for this time of year. The shrug fits nicely in my Rio bag so I'm sure that the finished sweater can easily be carried in my tote.

Recycled Photo Album

A couple of weeks ago I was purchasing some new clothes and the store was offering a free gift with a qualifying purchase. After ringing up the sale, the store manager told me that I qualified for the free gift (photo albums). I didn't want or need the photo album, but the manager was so happy that I qualified for the gift that I didn't want to make her feel bad by refusing it. I accepted the album and headed home.

The album was fairly nice quality although the cover was ugly-dark olive green with large embossed flowers. I felt bad throwing a perfectly good album in the trash and offered it to several friends. No one wanted the album in it's current state. I had been looking for a make over project for my blog and this seemed like the perfect candidate. There was only one problem, the deeply embossed flowers covered a large portion of the front cover.  I covered the entire album cover with gesso. The gesso soaked into the embossed areas, but didn't cover them up. Next I tried modeling paste. I built up two thick layers of modeling paste but the flowers could still be seen. I painted the front cover with acrylic paint and let it dry. I mixed the blue paint, modeling paste and white paint together to produce a slightly lighter shade of blue. I dabbed the mixture onto the front cover with a foam brush to produce a textured surface. I set this aside to dry.

Here's the work in progress.

Original free photo albums.

Album covered with gesso and modeling paste.

Layer of textured paint added.

Close-up of textured surface.

Finished Album

I am so happy with the finished result and the fact that I turned an ugly photo album destined for the trash into an album that I would be proud to give as a gift. The textured finish on the album can be made in any color simply by mixing modeling paste with acrylic craft paint.



Directions for Butterfly Album:

Photo album or memory book
Golden Modeling Paste
Liquitex Basics Acrylic color-light blue, white
Recollections Adhesive Faux Pearls
Recollections Pearl trim
Recollections Butterflies- Aqua, Purple
Sheer white wire edge ribbon
Parchment color paper
Gesso
Hot glue gun
Clear craft glue
Foam brush
Duraclear Satin Varnish


1.   Coat the album cover (front and back) with gesso. Let it dry.

2.  Apply a light layer of modeling paste to the cover and let it dry, then repeat.

3.  Using a foam brush paint the album front cover light blue. When it is dry, paint the back cover and album spine.  Apply paint to the edges of the album and let it dry.

4.  Mix light blue paint with modeling paste. Add white to the mixture until desired color. I added white until the paint mixture was one shade lighter than the paint in the tube. Be sure to mix enough paint and modeling paste to cover the entire album.

5.  Dip the end of the foam brush into the paint mixture. Dab the paint mixture onto the front cover. Place the end of the foam brush on the cover, press down and then pull up to create the textured surface. Once the front cover is completely dry, dab the paint mixture onto the spine and back cover. Let it dry.

6.  Apply a thin coat of craft varnish over the album (front cover first, then spine and back cover).  Let the varnish dry before applying to the spine and back cover.

7.  Apply a thin layer of clear craft glue to the adhesive faux pearls and press in place along the front edge of the album cover. Position the pearl trim on the lower part of the front cover and press in place. Leave a space wide enough to glue the butterfly in between the trim.

8.  Glue the aqua butterfly (with hot glue) between the pearl trim. Hot glue the purple butterfly to the right edge of the clear window on the album.

9.  Tie the sheer white ribbon around the front cover of the album and tie a bow. Trim ribbon edges at an angle (to desired length).

10. Print Memories or some other sentiment using Microsoft Word and the font of your choice onto parchment paper. Cut out and insert in window on the front cover of the album.