#219 Kissing Turtles?

Guess who fixed her webcam!!!!!!!!!!
I am very proud of me.  The Sony tech was very unhelpful.  Well, he gave me information I wouldn't have figured out on my own, but not the proper directions or program names.  sigh.  Once I had the programs figured out, it was as simple as uninstalling the corrupted ones (he didn't tell me that part) and reinstalling them (he told me how to reinstall stuff that had been bundled with my computer).  Anyhow, I have my webcam back now!!!!
I used the mirror effect for this.

:) Pin It

#218 Bubbles

More webcam tom-foolery.  Sadly, not using my own still.  I am starting to think that I am NOT the one who messed it up after all.  At least not the way I had thought I did.

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#217 Sunburst Turtle

Tricia from Habitual Hands posted a nifty one the other day and gave me the idea to do something similar with a turtle and my webcam. (Thanks for the idea/inspiration Tricia!)  Unfortunately for me, I am an idiot and I thought that my webcam software was something that came with a program I no longer have a need for so I uninstalled it.  This turtle would have been posted hours ago if it wasn't for that!  I still haven't gotten it reinstalled.  I had to use a different computer.  I'm not sure why the picture is so grainy.  I don't know if it is because I emailed it or what.  But here it is.  Once I get my camera installed again I think I will be having fun with the effects it has.

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#216 It's been HOW long???

I'll bet you will never guess what anniversary Hubby and I celebrated today.....
I have a lot to learn.  I wish this was half as good as Misha's trees.  :)

(Sorry for the lame turtle.  I almost forgot today! Something is better than nothing.) Pin It

#215 Bread Tie Turtle

I save bread ties.  My kids insist that the kindergarten students love  to use bread ties in crafts.  So I have been saving bread ties since 1997 and passing them along to the kindergarten teacher.  (It is nice when you can do something as simple as saving bread ties and make some 4 and 5 year olds happy!)  As this is summer, and I haven't been able to unload them on the teacher, I have quite a pile of them at the moment.  So today's turtle is made from some of them.  I'll just let the kids wonder why there are eyes on one and a smile on another!

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#214 Pool Deck Turtle

I went to the pool today with the girls.  My daughter announced that my turtle should be done at the pool and then "drew" a turtle on the deck using pool water.

Here it is in progress:

Here is the finished turtle.

So, I didn't actually make  the turtle myself,  but I did have something to do with making the kid and I like that she is interested in my project.  Plus, I took the picture!

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#213 Thrift Store Finds

My seventeen year old and I were in a thrift store today when she discovered the amazing  turtle in the centre of this photo.  After searching around the shelves, we found more of his harem.

We left them posed like this to (hopefully) amuse other shoppers.
We found sooooooo many different turtles in that store today.  Even about four different toys.  This is the only turtle I photographed though. And NONE were worth buying.

My parents are still seeing turtles at their cottage.  Hopefully by the time I am able to get up there I will see some!
My dad sent me this picture.

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#212 The 'Maybe-I-Shouldn't-Let-My-Daughter-Help-Me' Turtle

Tonight my youngest daughter helped me make chicken burgers and fries for dinner.  We thought that we could make a turtle using the chicken mixture before making the burgers.

Ahem
My daughter thought it should have huge, bulbous chameleon-like eyes and an "S" (for Super-Turtle ) on it's back.  Not wanting to stifle her creativity, or make her not enjoy helping me, I allowed it all.

This is what we ended up with.

Oh, and the burgers were pretty bland.  I have yet to find a good, tasty recipe that doesn't have something gross like mustard or peppers in it. Pin It

#211 Cucumber Peel, Day 2

For some reason, I didn't dispose of yesterday's cucumber peel turtle and this morning it was curling up and looking more like a turtle.  I won't be saving it for tomorrow.

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#210 Cucumber Peel Turtle

The title explains it all.



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#209 DSi Doodle Turtle

I've had my DSi since Christmas and I am only just discovering some of the things I can do with it besides play games.  :)

Today I doodled.  I love the rainbow effect!

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#208 Kaleidoscope Turtle

Getting photos of a silly turtle with a DSi is not as easy as I thought it would be!  I was hoping for a turtle face, but bellies and backs look cool!  Too bad the quality of a DSi photo leaves a lot to be desired.

Turtle bellies

Turtle backs

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#207 Party Animal

Today is my husband's birthday.  The turtle and I were having fun with the aftermath.   :)

Happy birthday Hon!!!!!

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#206 Comfort

One turtle comforting another while talking with the turtle-police.

Yes.  All turtle-police wear paper and tape hats!!!!  Didn't you know that?

I have absolutely no idea where I am going with this. Pin It

#205 Crime Scene

Just having some silly fun with the turtles I picked up yesterday.  :) Pin It

#204 Helpful Turtle

A long time ago, these adorable photo holders showed up in my email.  I found them a touch expensive and I also thought that I could probably make them myself.  Since then I have half-heartedly looked for the perfect animal figure for this project.  I was hoping to find a turtle, but it didn't have to be.  I haven't been able to find a suitable figurine.... Until now!  I was in a dollar store today and they had a bag full of turtles.   Well, five turtles, but still..  And for one dollar!!!!  SOLD.
Once home, I got out a utility knife and started sawing at the turtle.  I stopped after a few minutes because I realized that it would easily take me a week to get through this and I knew that Hubby would have a tool that would make short work of it.  When he got home I asked about it and he set me up quickly with a band saw.  Luckily for me, he is a smart guy and he had the turtle secured to a piece of wood so that it would remain stable during the cutting.  I never thought of that and would have wrecked it for sure.  A few minutes later, I had two turtle halves!  Did you know that these little rubber animals are hollow?  I didn't.  I filled the hollow part with some light weight air dry clay and added magnets and now I have a cute little turtle photo holder!

My oldest had a cute photo of her and her sister handy and loaned it to me so I could get a good picture for you.

She also thought this particular turtle reminded her of Littlefoot from The Land Before Time, so she put it in the fridge to munch on some 'green food' (that is what the dinosaurs in the movie call vegetation).  Foolish, funny kid! 

Side note:  I find this particularly funny because we got her to try broccoli as a toddler by telling her it was 'green food' and that Littlefoot eats it!

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#203 Crouton Turtle

My youngest made croutons to go in our caesar salad.  I took a few of the leftovers and played with them.  Careful arranging plus two peppercorns and you get this lovely (?) turtle.

I find the crafty turtles much more fun, but I have been busy crafting for the kids lately and haven't been able to create a good one.  Hopefully soon.  Unfortunately for me, I just can't twist stenciled t-shirts or a lunchbag into turtles! Pin It

#202 Bowl Turtle

This would be the little-known (because I just made it up)  Blue-footed Bowl Turtle.  Sometimes found in kitchens around the world.

:)

There really are turtles at my parents' cottage.  My mom snapped this photo and sent it to me.  Hopefully I'll see some myself next time I get up there! 

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#201 New Day

A good portion of my day was spent fiddling with my hair.  It isn't so bad now.  It is still too short, but it will grow back.

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#200 Turtles are lucky.

They never get a too-short haircut.

It isn't that my fresh haircut looks bad.  It is just wayyyyyy shorter than I had wanted.  I don't blame the hairdresser though, she checked with me before snipping.  I can't really tell when you are holding a chunk of hair saying 'how is this?'.  I thought it looked okay and said 'go for it, if it is too short, it will grow back.'  It is starting to look not-so-bad already.  Hubby says it looks fine.  He is either telling the truth or a convincing liar -I'm not going to find out which!

I'm sure it will grow on me.  (pun totally intended)

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#199 Leafy-Lacey Turtle

My daughter and I went for a bike ride to a nearby pond today.  I was hoping to get a picture of a real, live turtle for today but I didn't see any.  I have come to the (unproven) conclusion that turtles don't care for basking on breezy days.  It was windy when I didn't see any at the cottage and it was breezy today. 

I saw this great leaf and thought it looked like a good turtle body.  Because it doesn't look so good in the photo, I have labeled them as I saw them.  I thought that a perfect compliment to this leafy body would be a pretty Queen Anne's Lace shell.  So we looked for the biggest Queen Anne's Lace that we could find, which was still too small for the leaf, and I posed my leaf and took a picture.  Well, several really, but the wind kept blowing my leaf and wrecking the shot!

Anyhow, here is my turtle, that doesn't really look like much of a turtle, with it's too-small shell.

sigh

...A smart person might have gone looking for another, smaller leaf.... Pin It

#198 Carrot Turtle

What to do with the top of a carrot after you grated the rest of it....
Make a turtle, of course!
Yup, another food one Mandy!  ;)

And a top view.

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#197 Fruit Turtle

Today's turtle is delicious.  A dried apple ring and some craisins.  Yum!

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#196 String Turtle

I've seen a lot of bowls and baskets made with string that I think look great.  One day I'll make one of those.  In the meantime, I made this little turtle.

Here it is in my hand so you can get an idea of it's size.

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#195 Lip Balm Lid Turtle

Actually, the shell of my turtle is the entire pot of lip medication, not just the lid.  Everything else is a lid from some type of lip balm though.

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#194 Turtle Pen

I was finally able to make my pen.  I learned a couple of things while trying to do this particular project.  Use a plain stick pen.  Pens with buttons and springs will not work.  This might look even better if I had found pens that were perfectly cylindrical rather than hexagon shaped, although, I think that the angles add an interesting element to the plain paper pen.  Use paper that has a little body to it.  The plain pen is made with very thin paper and it was tricky.  The stripey pen was made using a scrap of fabric from my stuffed turtle and it needs help to stay rolled.

So, here is my turtley pen.  I drew a bunch of tiny turtles on a piece of pale pink paper.

Here is a bit of a close up of one of my fabulously drawn  turtles.  :)

Here are all three of my pens.

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#193 Stuffed Turtle with Secret Pocket

                       

Tada!!!!!!!

It's finished and I love it!

Here is it's belly.  I know I sewed the buttons uneven.

And the secret pocket.  Shhh... Don't tell anyone else!

If you want to make one for yourself, the tutorial is here.

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#192 ...Still Being Continued Turtle

Wow!  This one is really  taking longer than I expected! 
All the machine sewing is finished.  So far I am doing a pretty good job following the directions and not taking it my own way.  Except that I don't like the designer's technique for turning pieces right-side-out.  She sews all the way around a piece, then cuts  a hole in it, turns the piece and repairs her hole.  I sew most of the way around, turn and close up the hole.  That is what I have been doing with this turtle.  Toward the end I won't be following instructions completely because she made hers into a sewing kit and I am not.  I will be putting a not-so-secret pocket in it though.
My machine quilting leaves a lot to be desired.  The belly piece went all wonky.  I just have to sew the back feet on, sew the shell on and attach the belly piece.  Oh, and give it eyes and a mouth!  Provided my errands don't take all day, I will be done tomorrow.

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#191 ...To Be Continued Turtle

This one is taking me longer than anticipated to make so I am dividing it in two days.
As you may be able to see in my photo, all of the zig-zag-patterned pieces around the big one in the middle are not sewn yet.  The big piece in the middle is going to be the shell and it is all sewn up.  All ten of those tedious little hexagons have been painstakingly lovingly  sewn together to make a large patchwork-y piece and that has been sewn down to the 'shell' (which is also completely sewn up).  All that is needed to complete the shell is some machine quilting. which I have never done. Wish me luck!  The piece with the spool of thread sitting on it is to be the turtle belly.  That is all sewn up too and is just waiting for some quilting.  I also need to create the turtle body with the  zig-zag pieces plus two more that aren't shown.  I believe that  will be the easy part.  I know, I know.... famous last words....
I am optimistic that tomorrow I will be presenting the completed turtle.  With proper colour too.  The shell and belly are really hot pink.  Hopefully a photo taken during the day with natural lighting will show the proper colour.  If you want to take a look at the tutorial I am following and get an idea of what the turtle will look like (except mine won't be a sewing kit) you can take a peek here.

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#190 Ham of a Turtle

Maybe that should be "Turtle of Ham". 
Inspiration struck as I was making Hubby's lunch for tomorrow. (Lucky him!  I totally forgot to make him a sandwich for today's lunch.  Oops. )

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#189 Tortilla Turtle (Turtilla?)

Today's turtle was brought to you by the letter "T".

Today's
Turtle is made from a

Tortilla.

There. I'm all caught up now!  

:) 

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#188 Lily Pad Turtle

Would you believe that we never saw any turtles today either!!???  I am still disappointed.  We even went down the little river in a canoe.  We always see turtles basking in the sun on pieces of driftwood on a sunny day.  Except Sunday.  Bummer.  So, at my Mom's suggestion (thanks Mom!) I picked some lily pads and made a turtle with them.  No easy feat outside on a breezy day!

We did see some ducks on a piece of driftwood!  These guys must have bullied the turtles off the log.

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#187 Flipper turtle

We went to my parents' cottage for the weekend.  There is no internet up there (or cell phone reception!) so I couldn't post my turtles on the correct day.  I did do them though! 
I really, really, really  wanted to post an actual turtle since we see them all the time, but naturally I didn't see any this visit other than one sticking it's face out of the water. 
I made Saturday's turtle using our swim fins, my mask and the bag that my gear gets stored in.

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