What Did You Make For The Holiday?

I am looking at my hands as I type the words for this blog and my dorsum looks a twin to a plucked chickens skin. My knuckles are creased and each appendage has differing nail lengths. I'd say they have seen a swab bucket or two in their lifetime. Part of me thinks I should tend to them a little more often than I do but to be honest that's low on my priority list.

We think it's important to work with your hands here at the Brown house. Whether it is getting them dirty working in the yard, preparing food in the kitchen, repairing parts on a vehicle, fixing used and abused household apparatuses; rough and tumbled hands are esteemed.

We used our hands this Holiday to create some fun decorations to help fill time but also satiate a need to make something beautiful. It was a healthy collaboration between heart and hands.

Festive Pine Cone Holiday Craft

Photo By: Alexandra Brown

Please enjoy this simple craft in your own home, made by your own hands. Put your own twist on it and see what transpires.

We made two types: A frosted snow and a sparkle, glisten style pine cone. A materials list for both types is listed below.

Materials List

• Small, Medium and Large Pine Cones
• White Acrylic Paint
• Paint Brush
• Glue
• Glitter
• Epsom Salts
• Bowl with Lid
• Ribbon
• Scissors
• Hot Glue Gun and Glue
• Newspaper

Directions: Frosted Snow Pine Cone

Protect your work surface with newspaper. Fill large bowl with about 1/2 Cup to 1 Cup of Epsom Salts. Paint tips of pine cone with white acrylic paint. Let dry. Apply glue over painted tips of pine cone, place the pine cone in the Epsom Salts bowl, place lid on top and shake. Remove lid, before removing pine cone, shake inside the bowl to remove loose salts. Set on newspaper to dry.

Directions: Sparkle and Glisten Pine Cone

Protect work surface with newspaper. Fill large bowl with glitter. (Have fun, choose any color you wish, we loved how silver looked.) Paint tips of pine cone and place inside bowl of glitter, apply lid to bowl and shake. Before removing pine cone, shake it gently inside the bowl to remove excess glitter. Lay on newspaper to dry.

Optional: Once your pine cones have dried. You can help secure the application by spray painting a satin lacquer on them OR you can just let them be. 

You can also spruce them up with bows and holly or just let them show off on their own. 

See the below pictures of where our pine cone craft took us. 

Photo By: Alexandra Brown

Photo By: Alexandra Brown

Photo By: Alexandra Brown

We hope your heart and hands create a beautiful array! 

Happy Crafting!

Remember all those bottle caps I've been saving for a crafting day escapade (archived blog post)... the craft epiphany finally made its' debut in the form of a Christmas Wreath.

YES, I'm proud!

Wreath Made and Photo By:
Chandra Brown

Natures' Instrument

Mom: " What did you think of our adventure on the 360 trail this year Alex?"

Alex: "It was pretty good, I saw some cool stuff, things got real when we got to the water."

Mom: "Yes, I heard the rushing water and the sound made me want to find where it was coming from so I could see what was making that loud noise. I knew in the back of my head large rocks had to be ahead in order to make that sound. Amazing how the terrain is like an instrument and the water plays off of it making a distinct sound. What name would you give Natures' Instrument or what instrument you know of would be the closest to a river bed and water?"

Alex: "Hmmm… (thinking)…. it sounds like the Spacedrum.

Mom: "Most people haven't heard of the Spacedrum, but you are right. I do think the space drum sounds like small water droplets running over rocks but also sounds like those small water droplets collect into a bigger cohesive sound like water rushing down a river filled with many rocks. How would you describe the space drums sound?"

Alex: "Well it sounds natural, it reminds me of caves, crystals and waterfalls."

Mom: " Yes, when you hear one played the high timbre gives a glass clinking sounds that would remind you of crystal and the water reflecting light also gives definition to the look of water. Can a look  be defined by sound?"

Alex: "Yes, this happens to me all the time. When I draw, sometimes the sound in the music inspires me to draw a certain picture."

Mom: "Interesting! Art, nature and music all have a certain relational aspect. I would love to see more of your drawing inspired by music. Sometimes nature inspires me to write and the sound of certain music calms or excites me. I think creativity has inner and outer levels, wavelengths and stimuli that can be individually interpreted, yet have meaning others can imprint their creativity on as well. Any thoughts on this?"

Alex: "Yes, We both see the river with scientific eyes that make us think of natural laws but we also see the river with artistic eyes that makes us think of beauty. One thing I noticed was the deception water conveys with depth. When we walk the river bed when it's dry, we are on solid, flat ground, once it fills with rain it shows that certain parts of the bed are deep and can cover your head even though you can see the bottom clearly. Adding the element of water changed the entire river bed canvas."

Mom: "I love being in nature, one thing I like about hiking a flowing river path is I tend to lose track of time and don't feel the need to be anywhere else but where I am at. Noticing all the different aspects of the terrain and how it interplays with you in the mix tends to make me think of God, who created it all for our good and pleasure.  I love that we noticed the sound nature makes this time on our adventure."

Enjoy this 'Spacedrum' Solo (technically called a Hang, pronounced Hung) by Yuki Koshimoto

Can you hear the 'water droplets' converge into a river in this song?
I can!

Reflections Between Heaven and Earth

'Reflections Between Heaven and Earth'
 Photo by: Chandra Brown

Description:

'Reflections between Heaven and Earth' displays realism and impressionistic subtly through mixed images. Blending of natural elements are balanced with varied color and textured layers.

Deuteronomy 10:14 - "Heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all that is in it."

Re-Purposed Shovel Head

The end of Summer is the time for yard projects here in Austin, Texas. Recently, my Dad visited and helped me accomplish some goals in the yard. When you are completing projects you are bound to run into problems.

Our dilemma occurred early on, literally the first dig of dirt delayed any further progress because the handle on the flat head shovel busted under the pressure. We laughed over the ironic nature of the problem. How could we proceed to dig out gnarly roots and accomplish our plan without the correct tool?

We had a razorback shovel hiding in the garage to keep the project moving forward and mid way through the day the neck bent due to those darn, gnarly Nandina roots. We took that as our cue to take a break and succumb to buying brand new shovels.

Instead of chucking the old broken shovels in the trash bin, my creative Dad hatched a brilliant idea. See the fun yard art he came up with involving the flat head shovel below. This new piece of Texas art now hangs on my back fence gate. I can see it from my kitchen window and it looks fabulous!

I have some quirky ideas for the razorback shovel, it definitely has an Austin feel to it. The bent neck gives way to the famous city slogan, "Keep Austin Weird". I have a bunch of bottle caps saved up for a craft project, maybe I'll meld the two together and see if I can make it weird enough to pass the Austin standards.

"Use it up

Wear it out

Make it Do

Or Do without"