The Leaky Igloo and Other Snow-Globe Making Adventures

You can go to Anthropologie and buy a snow globe for forty dollars.

OR you can make one for under $5.  Last year I made snow globes for the first time after finding a tutorial on Pinterest.  This year I stepped it up a notch and experimented with a couple of new materials.

First, here is the cast of characters:

I went to Michael’s and bought some white polymer clay.  I made little stands for each snow globe so that the animals would be raised up more in the globe.  I baked the clay and let it cool.

While the clay was baking, I cut some branches off of a faux green wreath that I had.  I trimmed the branches into little trees and painted the tips with white acrylic paint so it would look like snow.

When the clay stands had cooled, I sealed each stand with a layer of acrylic matte medium.  I’m sure there are other sealers that would have worked even better, but I was just using what I had lying around.  I was hoping that sealing the clay would protect it from the water.  Time will tell!  I used hot glue to attach the animals and trees to the stands.  After making sure that the stands fit inside each jar, I glued the stands to the jar lids…or in this case, the bottom of the jar.   For the seal, I painted the white base with black and blue acrylic paint, and glued river rocks to half of the base.  I wanted the other half to look like water, so I make a water-like texture using the hot glue gun.

At this point, I took a break until the next day to let the hot glue dry thoroughly.

Now for the liquid!  I used distilled water, glycerin (to make the snow fall a little more slowly), glitter, and some white plastic that I ground up with my cheese grater.  Have I mentioned that I like to use whatever I have lying around?  

Each jar was filled (almost to the top) with distilled water. Then I added about half a teaspoon of glycerin to each jar.  Then came the glitter and the ground white plastic.  Don’t add too much glitter or it’ll just cover everything at the bottom of the jar when it settles.  Also, using too much glycerin will make the “snow” clumpy and it’ll usually stick to the sides and top of the jar.

When you have a ratio that you like of water, glycerin, and snow, seal the lid onto the jar.  Set the jar lid-up so that the glue can dry.  I used hot glue to seal the jar, but I think in the future I’ll go back to using epoxy.

After that, I used some twine that I had and wrapped it around the base of the jar and set it in place with hot glue.

Finally!  Here are the finished products:

The igloo snow globe was the biggest disappointment because it leaks.  In the future, maybe I’ll just stick to jars with lids that screw on.

I haven’t decided what to do with these guys yet, but if I don’t sell them or give them away, I might put a couple in the baby’s winter-themed nursery.

Animal Lover

I would consider myself quite an animal lover.  Not in the traditional sense though.  You won’t find a single pet in my house unless it’s the occasional wild animal being “rescued.”  Here are a couple of animals that Eric, Harmony, and I have cared for over the years.  The smaller ones were found as babies and we kept them for a couple of weeks feeding them kitten formula until they were ready to be re-released back into the wild (aka our yard).

This is Tomato, a baby rabbit that Harmony found in our dad’s garden.  Harmony’s holding him here not long before we released him.  At this point he was twice as big as when we found him.

This is one of two baby chipmunks that we found over the years.  We fed him until he was healthy and strong enough to take care of himself.  This was Eric’s favorite and watching him hold this little guy made me sure he would be a good dad.  I know…it’s a whole different animal.  In this picture, Eric and I brought it to visit my parent’s house and Harmony fed him kitten formula.

And last but not least, the fawn that we found and kept for twenty minutes before returning him to his mom.  Again, another moment I knew Eric would make a great dad.  You can see the pieces that I painted to document this event here.

I love observing animals in their natural environments.  Especially deer.  Eric and I haven’t adopted any baby animals recently, but I am growing one.  I have also been making some animal terrariums.  Did you see the “Wild Horses” terrarium that I made for my mom?

I also made a terrarium for Eric’s Aunt Amy.  Aunt Amy provided a beautiful seeded glass jar and said to surprise her.  I thought moss was the best option for the closed space, because I know it can thrive in a sealed environment.  I also had a deer figurine that was the perfect scale for the jar.

The materials I used on this project were:  Jar, moss, deer figurine, peat moss, citrus soil, and activated carbon.   To learn how to make a terrarium, you can check out this post.

Because this terrarium is sealed, it will only need to be misted with water every couple of weeks (maybe less) because the water will recycle itself.  Another thing is that this terrarium should not be stored in direct sunlight or the moss will die.

Now tell me about yourself.  Are you an animal lover or an animal tolerator?  Do you have any pets?

To The Max

Friends of mine and Eric’s recently had a baby and I made some letters for his nursery.

I love word scrambles.  I gave you a hint in the title, but can you guess his name by looking at this?

Max’s mom requested that I use shades of green.  Since Max was born in the city, I made a few references to that in the letters.

And I just had to add a reference to his dad’s roots in the country where hunting is a pretty big deal.

Did you figure out Max’s full name?

Maximus means “greatest,” and the love that his parents have for him is so evident that it truly is awesome to witness.  I think the name is really appropriate for the little guy.  Welcome to the world, Max!

Wild Horses

When you were young did you ever pretend to be a horse at recess?  Maybe galloping around the playground with your friends?  I tried it once, but it wasn’t my thing.   I was more of a swinger.  My mom, however, was “king” of the horses on her playground as a child.  She has always loved horses.  So for her birthday this year I made her a horse terrarium.  I decided to make one with a mom and a baby horse.  As I prepare to be a mother myself, I am increasingly grateful for everything that she has done for me and the welcome advice that she still offers.  She is a great example of what a mom should be.

For details on how to make a terrarium, see this post.  To hold the horses in place, I wrapped wire around their hooves and made a little spike that could be pressed into the soil.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t think of horses and not think of this song.  Have a listen if you feel like it!

The Pumpkin

Have you ever read the poem The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe?  I couldn’t stop thinking about it when trying to come up with ideas for my pumpkin carving.  But I didn’t just want to carve a raven.  I wanted to carve a portrait.  When looking at the poem, I came across the part when the raven enters the house and perches on a bust of Pallas Athena.   I decided to focus on this image for my pumpkin this year.

I hollowed out the pumpkin, chose a couple of images of Pallas Athena and the Raven for references, and sketched the image on the pumpkin.

Using pottery tools and wood carving tools, I got to work and started carving.  Every once in a while I took a break and checked my progress by lighting a candle in the pumpkin.

The walls of the pumpkin were so thick that I had to really carve to thin them out enough for light to show through.  Here is the finished product.

 

If you are planning on carving a pumpkin this year, and you want more information on where to start, you can check out this post.  Also, I would love to hear about your carving adventures.  If you have any pictures, please email them to me at melodyjmartin@gmail.com so I can post them on my blog!

Mushrums

My nephew Asher loves playing Mario.  He calls the mushrooms “mushrums.”  It is so cute I just want to pick him up and squeeze him.  Whenever I see mushrooms I think of him.  Here are some of my recent finds at Nixon Park.  I would love to paint some of these.

The pink ones?  I’m not really sure if they’re mushrooms, but they were squishy to touch and filled with a pink paint-like substance.  Please comment if you know what these are!

I’m sorry that posts have been almost non-existent lately.  I have a few good ones coming up.  I started painting the nursery, and it is October–the season of pumpkin carving is upon us!

Nixonian

Not the president, but the park.  Harmony and I went there again and were not disappointed.  There are new things to be discovered every time!  Here are a few glimpses of our hike today.

First we saw a family of mushrooms living in a tree.

And of course my favorite: moss.

We went off the beaten path a little to put our feet in some freezing water.

Harmony caught a fish.

She said, “Look he’s my friend.  I caught him.”  Then she released him, and a herd–or rather, a school–of them nibbled her toes.  I will let you interpret what it could have meant.

I just had to take this picture of Harmony’s characteristic hair.  It is so her!

And lastly as our hike was coming to a close, I captured the underside of a brightly colored mushroom.  That glowing coral-ish color is the same color you’ll see when someone’s ears are back-lit by the sun.  I love it!

Just to clarify, I wasn’t the one that took a nibble out of that mushroom.  Enjoy the rest of the weekend everyone!

Letters for Audrey

Letters for babies seem to be all that I’m doing these days.  There are SO many people having babies that I can barely keep track!

Little Audrey is an especially cute baby born to a cousin, and I recently had the pleasure of meeting her.  She is so sweet!  Here are the letters I made for her:

I haven’t been doing much painting these last few months, but plan on getting back in the saddle again with a wall mural for the nursery.   I’m going to save that for another post.  Until then, I hope you are enjoying the first stirrings of fall!  I sure am!

Letters for Evan

I was recently commissioned to paint letters for a nice lady named Nancy.  Her son Evan was born around the fourth of July and she wanted something that would reflect his patriotic birthday.  However, she didn’t want the colors to be super bright and preferred more of a rustic look.  Here is what I came up with:

It’s hard to tell from photos, but each letter has a bit of gold paint.  The sides were painted dark brown which gives it the appearance of stained wood.

I enjoy working on these letters because they are an easy project to pick up and put down again.  People seem to really love having personalized handmade items for their kids’ rooms.  I’ve done a lot of letters for babies recently too.  If you have kids or know someone having a baby it’s a great gift to get them.  Contact me at melodyjmartin@gmail.com  if you’re interested!  I’m on a roll here.

Letters for Shannon

Eric’s Uncle Hugh and Aunt Nora are having a baby in a couple of months, and I recently made them a gift to put in the baby’s room.

I went with really subtle tones because I didn’t know what the nursery was going to look like.  Here are a few close ups.

I’m really excited to meet my newest cousin Shannon!  She is blessed already to have such fun and loving parents.  :)