#186 Rose Petals

The title pretty much speaks for itself.  Roses are so pretty.

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#185 Turtle Pen #2 *fail*

I learned a lesson about these pens today.  Use a plain, clear stick pen.  Which I don't have, of course.  I picked up one of those pens that has a blue pen, red pen and a mechanical pencil all in one handy pen.  Silly me, I thought I could fancy it up like I attempted to do with this one.  (I found the blog again too!  I had it bookmarked all along.  I got the idea here.)  Again 'pen parts' I didn't notice inside messed me up. I like having a pen like this in my purse though, so it isn't a loss at all, just not as cool as I was hoping.
Here is my failed attempt.  See how the paper is all bunched up in there?

A couple years ago I was given a whole, huge roll of these stickers for my birthday.

I have used them to label just about everything of mine.  All of my chargers have a turtle on them, the girls and I all have matching water bottles so mine has a turtle on it. My flash drive has one.... you get the picture.  Why should this pen be any different? 

A pretty lame turtle for today, I know.  But I did put quite a bit of time into my attempt so it still counts!

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#184 Sprite Bottle Turtle

When I made my Coke bottle turtle the other day, what I ended up with was not even close to what I had envisioned in the first place.  Both of my kids started their bottles of pop at the same time but my youngest can turn having a pop into a week-long event.  She finally  finished hers so I was able to try to make the turtle I had originally thought of.  The green bottle worked pretty well.

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#183 Kettle Turtle

Today, much to my horror and sadness, my kettle died.  Hubby says that I probably put about twenty years of use on it in the year and a half that I had it.  I drink a lot of tea, and the kids like to have hot chocolate a few times a week.  Today I went to use it for my second mug and nothing happened.  I was not happy to have to use a regular pot to boil my water on the stove for the rest of the morning.
In rememberance for my beloved kettle, I made today's turtle using the base, the dome-shaped lid and some tea bags.  I snuck in two coffee beans for eyes too.

Now I have a shiny new kettle in the kitchen waiting for me to use it! 

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#182 Coke Bottle Turtle

I am seeing turtles in some of the oddest places. 

Today I thought the bottom of a Coke bottle looked like the feet and head of a turtle.  But what to use for a shell.....  The cap, of course!

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#181 Button Inspired Turtle.

Back in April, I was chosen as the lucky recipient of a Skull Appreciation Day button from the creator of the blog that started this 'project a day' madness.  Sadly it didn't arrive by June 4.  In fact, it took so long to get here that I had written it off as lost in the mail.  Guess what showed up in my mailbox last week?  Yup.  My button.
Today I was looking at it, trying to think of how I could build a turtle around it and nothing was coming to me.  I wondered if I could play with the logo and make a kind of 'turtle appreciation' logo of my own.  I tried drawing a turtle in a heart but didn't like it.  Then I thought I could make a turtle using hearts.  
I overestimated my artistic talent.
You totally have my permission to laugh with me.  I just request that you don't laugh too hard at me.
I traced my button as my base for this fabulous turtle. 
Here you see my button, my rough copy of my turtle and the finished turtle.

I don't know what I did to make my paper look blue here...

Pretty spectacular, I think! 

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#180 Earbud Buddy Turtle

I stumbled across this tutorial for really cute Earphone Buddies and wanted to try it myself.  Hers call for snaps that double as noses and I would guess that they stay together really well.  Well, since turtles don't have really big noses and since I don't have any of these snaps I used velcro dots.  My turtle needs modification because the velcro doesn't hold for very long.  I think I need to make my turtle a little larger so that there is more room for the cord and less stress on the velcro.  But I love this idea! It will definitely keep my earbuds neater when they are not in use.  I'll tweak this in the next few days. 
Here is my first attempt.

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#179 Repurposed Solar Light Turtle

Or would it be "Upcycled"? 
I went out to the backyard one day and found this:

The remains of one of my four funky solar lights.  It didn't matter to me that only one of the four still works (luckily this wasn't it!)  I just think these are really nifty looking.  I am blaming my 86 pound moose of a dog for this even though I didn't see it happen.  Oh well, life goes on.  After recycling the battery and disposing of all the innards, I decided that I was going to make a turtle using the glass.

It took me a while to decide what I was actually going to do.  First I thought I would make a body out of clay and use a tealight to illuminate the shell, but then I realized that wouldn't work, there is no ventilation and the candle would go out.  If that didn't happen, it would probably get too hot and break the glass.  Then I thought I'd use a battery operated tealight!  Great in theory but the hole in the bottom of the globe is too small.  I did end up using a battery operated tealight but I built it into the body of my turtle.  I used that cool clay I found that feels like funfoam when it has dried.

My seventeen year old was playing with my clay while I made this and made herself (what she calls) a seal balancing a white ball on it's nose.  I couldn't resist adding it to the photo.  She clearly gets her artistic ability from me.  Her dad is good at this stuff...

I tried to get a picture of it lit up.

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#178 Window Cleaner Turtle

The title pretty much sums this turtle up.  I have nifty foaming window cleaner.  Credit goes to my thirteen year old for the idea.

And this is what happened to it after about twenty seconds.  Hahaha!  I'm glad I got the first photo when I did!



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#177 Little Stuffed Turtle

I found a tutorial (turtorial?  haha) to make a little turtle pincushion and knew that I wanted to make one.  Just as a little stuffed animal though since I don't use pincushions.   If you check the link, she also has instructions for how to make a larger turtle to use as a sewing kit.  Eventually I am going to make one of those too, but I'll use it for something other than a sewing kit.  Don't ask what though because I haven't thought that far ahead.
I didn't follow the directions properly on purpose.  They call for making ten little hexagons and making a teeny little quilt for the shell.  I didn't have any interest in doing that so I just hand 'drew' hexagons on the shell with metallic thread. I also decided against stuffing the limbs.  I felt that would make them too round for my liking.  All in all, I think it turned out pretty cute.  When I get around to making the larger version, I may try the quilting thing.  I haven't decided yet.
It is pretty small.  It fits in the palm of my hand.  The eyes are teeny-weeny little beads.
I haven't been naming my turtles, but I feel that this one needs a name.  Any ideas?

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#176 Totally Awesome Turtle Tile

My daughter and I went on an adventure today.  We went to her University for her enrollment.  She wanted me to go with her so she wouldn't get lost. 
Now she knows the way.
On the way home, I noticed these amazing tiles on the wall at one of the subway stations.  There were many different animals, but this one was my favourite!  I don't think my daughter was even embarassed when I stopped to take a photo.

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#175 Salad Turtle

Today I notice that the lid to the salad container looked a bit like a turtle shell. So, I used some of the container contents to make a turtle.

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#174 Loopy Turtle

Froot Loop-y, that is!
This was actually more work that I had expected.  Who knew that 'Froot Loops' plus 'slippery plate' equals 'difficult to pile neatly'??

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#173 Banana Turtle

The majestic banana turtle swimming in a sea of peanut butter.

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#172 It All Ends

My version of one of the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 posters.

You're going to have to go to the movie or read the book yourself to find out just how it all ends!

Here is the poster I was paying tribute to:



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#171 Harry Potter Turtle

I tried to make a play on words but nothing works for me.  "Harry Turtle"  was too obvious and "Harry Potter-tle" only worked in my head.
Tomorrow (or even tonight for some lucky people) the final Harry Potter movie comes out.  I am excited to see it.  Somehow I decided that it would be a good idea to crash my kids' party (so to speak) and go with them to see the movie in Imax 3D on opening day. (I love that they still like having me around.  Even their friend doesn't mind me going.  And It's not because they want me to buy them stuff because they know I won't!) What I didn't really take into consideration was how early I would have to get up and get out of the house!  We are going to the 10am showing and it is a good hour long bus/subway ride away.  Plus we want to get there plenty early so we get good seats.  The last thing we want is front row!  So we are leaving at *gasp* 7am.  I'm not normally conscious at 7am!  It is going to be an interesting day.

Here is my Harry Potter Turtle.   :)

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#170 Smoke Detector Decorating

The other day I reaized that the smoke detector looks like a turtle shell.

Before anyone jumps on me.  I didn't actually do anything to the detector itself.  I'm not about to risk our safety for the sake of a turtle.  All I did was add to the ceiling behind it. (Above it?)  I traced around the detector on green paper, then cut out a turtle shape and placed my turtle between the ceiling and the bracket that holds the detector up.

Genius!

I'm just waiting to see how long it takes the kids to notice it.  Hubby reads my blog, so if he doesn't notice it on his own, he'll know as soon as he reads about it.  The kids don't read it, however so I wonder how long it will take them to discover it.  So far it has been up for about four hours and nobody has said anything.


I had trouble getting good pictures because the hall was kind of dark and I was trying to be stealthy.

Boring ol' white detector on a white ceiling.

I have no idea why the ceiling looks pink here.  Here is my turtle body sandwiched between the bracket and the ceiling.

And here it is all together!

:) Pin It

#169 Packing Turtle or Proud Mommy Turtle

Either title works for this one.  I used a book and the packing material  that was around it when the book (and a few more just like it!!) came in the mail today.  That explains the packing part.  The Proud Mommy  part comes in because my oldest daughter received these books because she has a story published in it!!!!
I just had to show her (my daughter) off by making a turtle out of the book.  I thought using the packing materials was appropriate.  It actually turned out pretty good, considering what I was working with.  In retrospect, I wish I had hidden the masking tape but it is what it is. 

And just in case you were trying to see what the book is:

I think I am more excited about this than my daughter is right now.  Everything is all about Harry Potter this week.  The girls are on Day 1 of a three day marathon of all seven movies plus allllllllll the special features included with those movies.  They have to have this finished Thursday because we are getting up early to go stand in line for the 10am showing of the new movie on Friday. Pin It

#168 New Pillowcase Turtle

Back in February I hid a turtle inside my pillowcase , recently I bought new, larger pillows so I had to retire my old pillowcases and make new ones.  Our accent colour in our room is navy blue and we each have two pillows.  One pillowcase is white with a navy blue strip on the end and the other is solid blue.  The white is to look nice on the made up bed, and the blue is to drool sleep on.  I decided that I wanted to hide turtles in my pillowcases again.  This time I used pink satin.

Ta-da!  I'm just showing the part of the case that has the turtle on it.  Once you've seen one pillowcase, you've seen them all.  Hubby just has boring, plain ones.

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#167 Turtle Pen

I'm sorry that I cannot give proper credit for this idea.  I read it a while ago and have absolutely no idea where.  So I will just say that this is not my brilliant idea, but one I really liked.  I do remember that the original person used pretty scrapbook paper in hers.  I drew turtles on my paper.  Next time I will put more turtles on my paper.

I made a mistake in selecting the pen I would use.  I should have chosen a pen that is clear has nothing that pokes through the plastic.  You can't really see it in this photo, but in order to retract the pen you don't click the top again, you press the pocket clip.  That is why my paper only goes about two thirds of the way up my pen.  Now that I have a better idea of how this looks and works, I will be keeping my eyes open for the perfect pen to use.  Meanwhile, this one will go in my purse.  I lost my pen months ago and keep forgetting to replace it.

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#166 Toddlers and Turtle Books

We went to visit my cousin today.  I found a cuuuuuuttteee little board book a little while ago and picked it up to use as a prop and a gift.

That fuzzy face is actually a finger puppet that goes through the whole four page book so you can play with a turtle on every exciting page!  Very cute.

So, with our adorable toddler sitting with my oldest daughter, we showed him how the book works. 

He wasn't interested in reading it just now, but he does seem to like it!  He was having fun squishing the turtle.

Later, both of my daughters were reading it with him and he was giving the turtle kisses!  I wish I got a picture of THAT.  I'd say he definitely likes the book.

Start 'em young!  We can make a turtle lover out of him!  (Or at least a reader!) Pin It

#165.5 Cookies

Well, I was feeling guilty about calling that bonnet my turtle so I tried to make my chocolate chip cookies turtle-y.
Not my finest work.
I tried two different ways.  First I tried to make the cookie itself turtle shaped.

It didn't look too bad uncooked. 

But baked, it spread out into a shapeless blob.

I also tried to shape the chips into a turtle shape on another cookie.

But that spread out too.

I spread the chocolate around with a spoon and that helped a little.

At least now, I really did attempt make turtles after all.  And I just finished the cookies at about 10:15 pm! 
Busy day. Pin It

#165 Bonnet for a ....turtle?

Okay, so I know this is kind of cheating.  But this little bonnet took me about three times longer than it should have.  I really need to practice my sewing more.  I had no problems with this tutorial, I am just a lot slower than I think I am.  I looked at this and thought "I could make that.  It'll take about an hour.  I'll start as soon as I am done weeding the front."  (Weeding took loger than expected too, go figure)

An hour.  Yeah, right.

So here I am, just after dinner (which my daughter made.  Thank you!) and I still have to help wash the truck and bake cookies because we are going to my cousin's tomorrow.  Can't show up in a dirty truck!

My cousin has two little children.  One is about a year and a half, and the other is pretty much brand new.  Two months old.  I already have a little something made for the older one, but I wanted to bring something for the baby so when I saw this tutorial for a simple, but adorable baby bonnet that kind of 'grows' with the little girl, I thought it looked perfect.  And making this bonnet is why I never  washed the truck or baked cookies this afternoon.

I used a stuffed turtle to model the bonnet.  The turtle is not really shaped like a baby's head, but you can tell how absolutely adorable the bonnet turned out.  I am rather proud of myself.  I hope my cousin likes it!

And the back.  Remember that the turtle is not really shaped like a baby head.  The tag is on the turtle.  I didn't think to put one in the hat.

I'm off to wash the truck now!
:D Pin It

#164 Paper Towel Turtle ...or, Lightning Turtle

Lightning McQueen, that is.
I got the idea in my head that it would be fun to make a simple turtle using a piece of paper towel.  As usual, things are never simple.  I realized that my paper towel has eyes, so I wanted to incorporate them into the turtle's eyes. 
Why does my paper towel have eyes?  Because I am a sucker.  I took the girls shopping one day and my seventeen year old got extremely excited because the store had 'Cars 2' paper towel that has Mater on it.   She may be seventeen and heading to university, but she still loves cartoons like a five year old and thinks Mater is totally awesome.  Anyhow, she was sooooo excited about these silly paper towels, and we needed some anyway, and they were priced well....  I ended up bringing the package home.  So we are now on roll #2 of the six pack and to my daughter's supreme disappointment 3/6 rolls do not have Mater on them.  We are now using a Mater-free roll and will use the next two, saving the remaining Maters for last.  This roll has a big Lightning McQueen on it, those are his eyes I used for the turtle.
See?  This is the picture on our current roll.

Here is my towel turtle.

:) Pin It

#163 Chicken Turtle

Okay, this one is a bit of a stretch, I know.  But in my defense when the chicken was all squashed up in the package it was more turtle-shell-shaped!  Honest.
Anyhow, as I was getting dinner ready, I made a quick turtle.

:) Pin It

#162 Autobot Turtle

My teenage girls LOVE  Transformers.
As I type this, the girls are sitting in a movie theatre, in the best seats in the house thanks to getting there over an hour before the movie started, and are just starting to watch Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon in 3D.  Our oldest surprised her sister by planning and treating her to the movie.  Hubby found and couldn't resist buying a Bumblebee T-shirt for our youngest (her favourite character) today.  So it has been a "Transformers" kind of day.  Why should my turtle be any different?
I googled the Autobot symbol and added to it using Powerpoint and came up with this Autobot Turtle.

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#161 Wood Burning Turtle

Hubby has been trying to get me in his shop again.  He claims to enjoy my company.  I'm not complaining.  I enjoy his company too, but I like beads and I like fabric.  He likes wood.  He'll tell you that he makes sawdust.  He does some amazing things with wood and wants me to enjoy his hobby.  It isn't for me.  It is too noisy, there is too much potential for injury and I just don't really enjoy it no matter how proud I may be of my wooden turtle.  However, having said all that, he managed to get me out there again today with his wood burning tool and a scrap of walnut.  My original intention had been to carefully plan out and practice (in pencil) my drawing.  I will be the first to admit that I am a lousy artist and I gave up on the idea of practising and just flew by the seat of my pants.

This was my first attempt.  I think I went a little too far by adding scales to it's arms and legs (okay, I don't think turtles actually have arms.... but you know what I mean)   but what is done is done.   I have my penny there for scale, but it kind of got lost in the grass.

You know, it was kind of fun.  So I made another one.  I like this one better.

Then I had a little bit of wood left so I made a sign.  I have no idea what I am going to do with it, but I had fun making it.  And the smell.  I like the smell.  Like a campfire, but not so smokey and overpowering.

The dog was interested in what I was doing as I took the photos, so I let her help.  As you can see, she has lost interest in me by now and is intently watching my husband as he barbecues our dinner.  Unfortunately for her, Hubby never dropped anything.

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