#340 Happy New Year Turtle

Happy New Year!!!!!!

See you in 2012!  :) Pin It

#339 Chocolate Turtles

After playing with chocolate yesterday, I decided to dig out my turtle molds and make turtle chocolates.  I wish I had more chocolate to make a whole turtle army!

I also made more Han Solo chocolates.  All solid this time.  See?  They look better one solid colour.  Who knew?  I think I like the dark chocolate the best.  They look the most realistic.   Now I just need to work on getting all the little bubbles out.  I still think these are totally awesome.    :) 

As for the ice, if you are interested in the ongoing experimentation.  Boiling the water twice in my kettle didn't help.  There was no noticable difference in the cloudiness of my little Han Solos.  The kettle has automatic shut off, so I wonder if I didn't boil it long enough.  I'm going to try distilled water next.  If that doesn't work, I'll try boiling the distilled water.  In a pot.  For a longer amount of time.  If that doesn't work, I have one more method to try.  I'll fill you in if I need to try it and if it works.  Otherwise, I just won't be having clear ice! Pin It

#338 Han Turtle

My awesomely amazing (and final Christmas gift from Hubby) 'Han Solo, frozen in carbonite'  ice cube tray/chocolate mold came yesterday!!!!
Water straight from the tap makes cloudy ice cubes and you can't see Han unless you are looking from just the right angle.  I read that using water that has been boiled twice yields clearer ice cubes.  We shall find out if that is true tomorrow.  It is in the freezer now.
Chocolate, however, always works!!!!!  I thought Han would stand out better if I made him a slightly different colour than the background.  (I know my chocolate painting technique needs work.)  I can't prove it to you because the evidence has been eaten, but actually, a solid colour throughout looks much better.  And is easier to do, so that is fantastic!
Using the remaining chocolates, before they get eaten too, I made today's turtle.  :D
I know it is a stretch, but I am ridiculously excited about this mold!

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#337 Frying Pan Turtle

The title explains it!  I used my cast iron frying pans for today's turtle.  Isn't the turtle's head just the cutest little frying pan ever????  It has quarters for eyes and a broken toothpick for a smile.  And, um, this turtle has it's legs tucked in.  Yup.  That's right.  They are tucked in.  You know, just to be different.   :)

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#336 Keychain Turtle

Today's turtle is the cute little stuffed turtle keychain that my youngest daughter gave me for Christmas.  It'll look familiar because I have quite a few larger stuffed turtles in this style.  I don't think I'll be using it as a keychain though because I think that will wreck it.

I have thoughtful kids.  :)

Sorry for the poor quality photo.  Someone, who shall remain nameless, killed her camera battery yesterday and completely forgot to charge it today.  *looks around innocently*  Hubby offered me the use of his camera, but since this is my project, I wanted to use my own resources so I took the photo using the super-high-quality camera on my phone. (And this is the reason phones have cameras!) Pin It

#335 Turtle Whistle

I usually receive some sort of turtle as a gift at Christmas.  I'm lucky.  :)
Along with the fantastic Dr. Seuss Yertle the Turtle  ornament that I posted yesterday, my parents also gave me this cool turtle whistle.  Along with a note informing me that whistling turtles are rare and endangered.  No wonder I didn't know about them!

See, it really is a whistle.  I can even change the sounds by covering the holes.  I just can't play a song, but that is user error, I am sure!

:) Pin It

#334 Yertle the Turtle

I got a fantastic ornament for Christmas this year!!

Merry Christmas Pin It

#333 Gingerbread decorations

My daughter had great plans for a fabulous, Harry Potter inspired gingerbread house but unfortunatley it just would NOT go together for her.  So, both girls are currently sitting at the table decorating the pieces of the house just as separate cookies.  They let me join them to make a turtle. 

It looked okay until I added a face....

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#332 Two Turtle Stack

This is what my daughter's turtles do when they think nobody is watching.

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#331 Pasta Turtle (pasturtle?)

Playing with dinner.

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#330 Gift Turtle

My youngest daughter joined a "Secret Santa" group at school.  As luck would have it (read that with sarcasm), she drew the name of a good friend that she is already  giving a gift to.  She was having trouble coming up with a Secret Santa gift for this friend when we both remembered that the friend recently had her pet turtle "go to the big turtle pond in the sky".  So we thought it might be nice to give her a little stuffed turtle, in memory of her pet.
My daughter chose the colours.  She was trying to co-ordinate the gift with Slytherin House (from Harry Potter -both girls share a love for Hary Pottter) so she chose green and silver.  It doesn't show up well in the photo, but the head and belly of this turtle are grey with silver sparkles.
I think her friend will like it!

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#329 Egg Nog Turtles

I added three turtles to the scene on the egg nog carton.

Here is a closer view if you couldn't see them in the other photo.

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#328 My daughter's lunch :)

Think she'll notice?

Frozen pizza pockets are very difficult to draw on.  I guess because they are a little wet as they begin thawing, the marker (food colouring marker) won't stick! Pin It

#327 Christmas stuff!

Christmas cards and my still-alive poinsettia make today's turtle.

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#326 Kids' drawing...

Today is my oldest daughter's 18th birthday.  Wow.  Do I ever feel old  all of a sudden!
She really, really wanted to go to a restaurant she had heard about.  So we took her.  You only turn 18 once!  They have kraft paper on the tables and crayons for the young ones and the young at heart so my teenagers got to work.  For reasons I can't remember, my adult  daughter decided to draw me.  If I was fat.  At some point, I mentioned that I hadn't done a turtle yet, so my 13 year old drew one for me.  She was across the table from me and over a seat, so this was quite a stretch (literally) for her.  Not bad under the circumstances!  And it is blue because there was no green crayon.  I'm still unsure as to why she chose to make it look like "fat Mommy" had eaten the turtle though....

Oh, and the quote is from A Christmas Story.  She thought it was appropriate for this spectacular drawing.
My kids are goofy.  I hope they never lose that.  :)

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#325 Nutcracker Turtle

I borrowed five nutcrackers from my small army to make today's turtle.  Along with my Santa hat for the shell.  I know it is pink.  I love my pink Santa hat!

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#324 Banana Chip Turtle

We are on a bit of a banana chip kick here these days.

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#323 Snowflake

I haven't made a paper snowflake in years and years and years.   Not bad for being so rusty.

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322 Christmas Cheer Turtle

"The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!" ~ Buddy the Elf

I hope you're singing!

♪♫♪♫ ♪♫ Fa la la la la!!!!! ♪♫♪♫ ♪♫



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#321 Shampoo turtle

Today I noticed that my shampoo container had turtle shell potential.  I use solid shampoo from Lush and this is the container to comes in.

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#320 Bracelet Turtle

Today's turtle was done so that I can shamelessly brag about my thirteen year old daughter.
When she was six, she saw a TV show about a little girl recovering from cancer.  This little girl was making necklaces to share with other patients in the hospital to cheer them up.  She was also selling them to raise money to find a cure.  My little six year old decided that she wanted to do something like that too.  We decided on bracelets because, honestly, they wouldn't be too difficult for her to make.  The angels were something that I had just coincidentally designed for the girls but hadn't made yet.  We approached the principal of my daughter's school, asking if she could sell her bracelets at school and the principal fully supported her!  So have subsequent principals.  Every school year, my daughter chooses two new colours for the band of the bracelet and takes orders.  She makes each bracelet in the colour requested as it is ordered and delivers them the next day.  This is her last year of elementary school and I think it will also be the last year that she sells her bracelets.  I can't see it working in high school. She has raised just over $2380 so far. 

*Proud Mommy moment* Pin It

#319 Marshmallow Turtle

My little turtle today is made out of mini marshmallows.

It kind of fell apart when I dropped it into my poorly mixed hot chocolate.  Oh well.

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#318 Finger Print Turtle

The title explains this turtle.

Guess what doesn't wash off???????  I didn't think this one through very well.......

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!! Pin It

#317 Soapy Turtle

Hubby asked me to clean a piece of glass he needed for a frame and as I was shmearing soap all over it I thought I would draw a turtle in the bubbles.  It worked much better than the photo lets on, but doesn't last at all.  The bubbles pop really, really  quickly.  By the time I rinsed the soap off my hand, dried it (more or less) and grabbed my camera (which was close by and ready to go) most of the bubbly goodness was gone.  I took about ten or fifteen seconds to rinse, dry and shoot.
I think if you squint, tilt your head, and stand on your left foot you just might  be able to make the turtle out...

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#316 Cotton Turtle

A cotton pad makes the body and a cotton ball makes the shell.

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#315 Tinsel Turtle

Christmas is in the air!  The tree is up, complete with popcorn garland and tinsel.  And we have already watched three Christmas shows as a family. We always start the holiday shows with Muppet Family Christmas.  A couple days later, we watched A Muppet Christmas: Letters to Santa and tonight we watched Elmo Saves Christmas.  Yup.  We are Muppet fans here.  We also have about a dozen (no joke) other movies and television specials on our list to watch.  We'll see if we get through them all before Christmas!
Today I made my turtle out of tinsel.  I had trouble getting the glitteryness of the tinsel in my photo.

And yes, there are a few stray strands of 19 year old red tinsel in there.  I'm not sure how we have managed to lose tinsel over the years, but we have. 19 years ago I bought a pack of red and a pack of silver.  I bought a new pack of silver last year to add to it because what little we had left was not really enough to sparkle up the tree.  Pin It

#314 Popcorn Turtle

Tonight I am stringing popcorn for the tree.  We have discovered that if the popcorn is air-popped, a string can last for years.  The only reason that I am stringing more is because we got a bigger tree two years ago.  Don't try to save oil-popped popcorn.  It doesn't work.  Trust me on that.

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#313 Turtle Ornaments!

We put the tree up today!  I have more turtle ornaments than I realized.  Today's post is my turtle ornaments.

This little guy is my favourite.  On the left, the ornament is closed.  When you open it, you see the cutie on the right.  It clips to the branch rather than hanging.

How cute is that?????? Pin It

#312 Another Hiding Turtle

There is a turtle hiding in the poinsettia.  I wonder if anyone will notice.....

I also wonder if I will be able to keep this little plant alive until Christmas..... Pin It

#311 Quins Turtle

Today's turtle is made with little gingerbread-man-shaped quins.

My thirteen year old caught me taking pictures and wanted to have a shadow shark eat the turtle...

See how tiny they are?

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#310 L'Rock Turtle

What on earth is "L'Rock"?   That is what you are wondering isn't it?  L'Rock is my good friend Laura.  I have known her for about ten years.  We met when Hubby and I went to a bar that had a live band and she was the singer.  We got to talking that night and have been friends ever since.  We were even at her wedding (to the band's guitarist!) a few years ago.  She has been talking about recording her own CD for as long as I have known her and today her dream came true!  Her CD Law of Attraction  was released today!!!!!!
I am crazily excited for her, very happy for her, and very proud of her all at once.
I am the proud owner of a copy of her CD and decided to make it into my turtle for today.

I have not been asked to 'plug' her music, I am just a friend and a big fan.  Having said that, if you would like to listen to a teaser, please go to her website: L'Rock Music and click the 'music' tab. If you like what you hear, you could even click on the store and get a copy of your very own or to give as a gift!

And you can watch her video!  (My friend has her own music video!!!! How cool is that??)

Light My Fuse from L' Rock on Vimeo.

Okay.  I'll stop now.  If you read all the way to the end...   Thank you! Pin It

#309 Family Affair Turtles!

Everyone is getting in on turtle-mania.   :)
I did not make any of these turtles, and I only took the first picture.  I love that my family is supporting my turtle-y ways.

My parents always visit about this time of year and deliver our Christmas gifts and my oldest daughter's birthday gifts and pick up their Christmas gifts and Mom's birthday gifts.  Today was the day of their visit.  I would know, even without the tag, that this one is for me.   :)

Mom made a new tree skirt and decided to put, among other things, a couple turtles on it.  Just in case I end up inheriting it one day.  ;)     One looks remarkably similar to the turtle on my gift.  And this is the other one.  Dad took the picture.

And finally, Hubby was watching the movie Up, and saw this.  So he took a picture for me! 

And now I have to go tuck these gifts away so the cat doesn't open them early on us.... Pin It

#308 Pepperoni turtle

My thirteen year old was making pizza with me and announced that she wanted to make todays turtle.

Ta da!!!!!

Bet you can't guess what her name starts with!   ;)

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#307 Light Turtle

I saw something crafty online a while ago (sorry, I don't remember where).  The person had poked small Christmas lights through some canvas in a pattern and it looked really  nifty.  My version is different in that I decided to have my lights behind  the canvas, shining through it.  My way also allows it to be changed up whenever my little heart desires since my canvas is not full of holes.
With the room lights on:

With the room lights off:

I was a little limited because I had a single string of 20 lights.

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#306 Towel Turtle

I didn't know you could fold towels into turtles!!!!!  I'm not even sure how I stumbled upon it.  Today, when I decided I wanted to try it, I googled "how to fold a towel turtle".  Apparently there are a few different ways to do it.  I watched a few different videos, then tried these guys.
My towels are kind of mismatched.  I have two gray ones the same size, so I used those.  The only hand towel I own is hot pink, so that had to do.

It's just like being in a hotel.
Except for the hot pink.
:) Pin It