Oil Pastels

Fun with oil pastels....

It's not a great job, but it was a nice first try. I learned a few things and got excited to give oil pastels another try.

This was done following a 'draw along', that you can find on Youtube.



The cat thought that I should be petting her instead of taking pictures of drawings.πŸ˜…


Thank you for stopping by.

Best wishes & happy drawing!

Animal Doodles

 This past weeks doodles......

Every year around my oldest sons birthday, I seem to get an urge to draw. Maybe it is this special time of year when Autumn begins, or that since Harley was born, he has inspired me to draw. Whatever it is, this year, after being inspired by other peoples art, I find myself wanting to share my doodles, if for no other reason then to inspire my own family to pick up those pencils, and whom ever else might feel it as well.

 This past week, I was feeling in the mood to use pencil and colored pencils, and attempt some animal portraits. Usually after the eyes it seems to go down hill. But practice makes perfect. So I am practicing, and these were my results.

September 2021

Cali Cat~


Blackie Cat~


"It'll be alright..." Happy Turtle, Angry Rabbit, doodles.


Rabbit inspired by this adorable paint by numbers Pin.
Thank you for stopping by.

May you find joy & inspiration!

Happy drawing!!


Drawings by Cathleen Wake Gorbatenko, September 2021

Water drop doodles...

 Water drop doodles....


There is something so beautiful and calming about water drops, I find them absolutely mesmerizing.

While doodling, I was inspired to try and capture a water drop on paper myself, so I turned to Pinterest for ideas.  Finding these inspiring drawings, I tried a few.

This first drawing was inspired by this water drops Pin. This drawing was super fun and great practice!


Another great Pin that I tried was this single water drop. I didn't quite get it, but again, fun and great practice.


Thank you for stopping by.
May you find joy & inspiration!
Happy drawing!!

 

Recent drawings

A break from crochet for a minute....πŸπŸ‚πŸ‚

🍁It seems Autumn is an especially inspiring time to draw~πŸ‚πŸ‚πŸ‚πŸ‚πŸ‚

With the change of season, the drawing bug hit me, so I got out a ball point pen and some ink pens to give these mediums a try. Normally ink is not something that I'd feel comfortable using, not being able to erase is intimidating. But to my surprise, it was super fun, relaxing and satisfying. Honestly, kind of hard to put down. 

The first picture was found on Youtube, where you can watch XonArt "Draw a simple landscape in pen and ink".

Two inspired ink drawings....



Inspired pen drawings....



Inspired pencil drawings....



Camel inspired by a cute camel picture on Pinterest.



~~~~Doodles~~~~



Inspired and original colored pencil drawings. 


 Sloth is inspired by this adorable sloth painting, Pin.


My ugly pumpkin, I just couldn't stoppp....



black & white~


With age, as with other things in life besides drawing... my straight lines get straighter, circles rounder and things are seen in a whole new way.

Grab yourself a pen or pencil and kick back and draw something! It is so meditative and relaxing! Or go Zentangle! Go do your thing and enjoy your thing, whatever you do.

Thank you for stopping by.
Happy drawing!


Drawings are from the second week in September, during Fall inspired drawing faze, September 2021.


Bird Point

⮙ Native American Bird Point Arrowhead ➣



This tiny beauty is just under an inch, and is made of shiny white stone. Large scraper/axe head is also made of white stone, but is milkier with hues of orange, and is not shiny.
Both were found in Central Texas, Dripping Springs area, while exploring my Mom's land.
More pictures of the scraper here.

My Mum chipped the little bird point on the edge a long time ago by accident. She was looking at it when I told her that I'd found it on her property, she must have gotten so excited that she accidentally dropped it. Oh well, you can barely tell. But before that, it was found in pristine condition.  A truly amazing find.

Chip on right side edge after finding.

To have napped this shiny white stone without breaking it, is very impressive to me. And for it to have survived its journey to find its way here, is incredible as well. 

I'd love to hear other peoples thoughts on this beautiful tiny bird point if anyone would like to share.

Below, several scrapers, bird point, pieces and 2 full arrowheads. 
My finds (1989-2000)


Sometime's I think that there could not be more arrowheads out there to find, surely everyone has found them all, or they have been buried by time. But these that I found are proof to me that they are out there, you first have to look. 

It does help to have knowledge of where to look and what to look for. I had help with the lower row after showing interest and finding the two mentioned above.  Arrowhead hunting is a truly meditative process and the reward, priceless.

I still find myself looking down, hoping to find that smooth stone laying on the ground. That glimpse into the past, carried gently into the future, cherished and shared, not laying quietly somewhere forgotten in nature. 

Thank you for stopping by.
Happy rock hunting!

Step Stool Cover

  Step Stool Cover

Fun seat cover made up for this old antique step stool that desperately needed something. This old stool had a hard, cracked plastic cushion, the steps discolored, old beat up wood, held together by rusted metal. At the same time, the stool is just so useful and still very sturdy, so I could not bare to part with it. Like usual, my first thought was~ CROCHET IT!


Starting with the yarn colors, I chose colors from our kitchen, and that I had on hand. Drawing from mosaic looking, mandala type crochet, I started searching for the perfect rectangle, but mostly only found squares. It would need to be rectangle to fit the stool, so I put together some ideas, and ended up with this. 
It didn't turn out too bad, and no one complains about my ugly stool any more. 


     A fresh coat of paint and it is good as new!


This project is all about the Reduce/Reuse/Recycle. I am big on "trash to treasure".  I find that turning something that could end up in a land fill into something useful, to be a wonderful thing. 

Thank you for stopping by.
May you find joy and inspiration in life.
Best wishes and Happy crocheting!

Stool cover completed August 4, 2018

DIY Yoshi Gift Bags, Mushroom Wrapping Paper & Mushroom Cupcakes

 DIY Yoshi Gift Bags, Mushroom Wrapping Paper, & Mushroom Cupcakes πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„


What Mario party would be complete without his little pal Yoshi! These great, and really simple gift bags are an adorable addition to a Mario Birthday Party Celebration.

To make the large gift bag, I took a brown grocery bag, painted it green, and fashioned it the same as the smaller bag. You can kind of see large Yoshi bag in the back, peeking out.

Sorry that I do not have better pictures, or a print out for you. 

This is what I did; I started by sketching out the face on a 
green gift bag, 
white paper and 
green paper.

You simply round the top of a green gift bag in the shape of Yoshi's eyes, cut eye shapes on white paper and draw in black in proper position, cut green squared oval shape for his snout, then with black, draw in lines on his snout for nostrils and mouth. Glue face together.



πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„

Another gift wrap idea is Mushroom paper. Take plain, red and/or green wrapping paper and dot white polka dots with acrylic paint to look like red/green Mushroom tops or Yoshi eggs.

πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„

This dotting idea works for Mushroom Cupcakes as well.


 The kids helped to make these by first helping mix and then helping to put on the icing.

All you need is;
Cupcakes
Red icing
white icing
pastry bag/piping tube

Kids love making a mess with the red icing! You may want to have an adult help with the dots.

πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„

The cake was a store bought Turbo cake, so we just added Mario characters to fit in with our theme, including Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, and a Mushroom Cupcake. πŸ„  
Nothing too fancy, but tons of fun!


Hope that you find joy and inspiration!
Thank you for stopping by.

Just pinned a bunch of Mario Party pins, check out my Elijah board to see more great ideas from other Mario fans.

 πŸ’šYoshi! πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„πŸ„







DIY Fire Flower & Warp Pipes

 DIY Mario Party Decorations πŸ”₯πŸŒΌπŸ’£πŸŽˆ


πŸ”₯🌼 Fire Flower Power vase πŸ”₯🌼 and Warp Pipes


Mario birthday had lots of hand made decorations, some doubled as decorations and were placed on the table, like the Mario birthday cards, while others were placed around the house, like the birthday boy's sign, Pin the Mustache on Mario game,  Boo & Chain Chomp PiΓ±atas, plus much more!

In pictures above and below, you can see the Warp Pipe, these were made using toilet paper tubes, electrical tape, and paint. 


Wrap tape, like green duct tape, around the outside of tube, going around extra times at the top, making a small lip to look like the PVC pipes. 
These would probably look best painted inside.
Really easy, but other than decoration we did not use them for much. Maybe you have some ideas for them. 
You could make the fire flower and put it in the pipes, a pipe vase :)...

The Fire Power Flower is made on cardboard and painted with acrylic paints.
I used a tiny clay pot, painted with green acrylic paint. 
Flower is placed in the green pot with marble stones to hold it upright.
A touch of Easter grass for fun.


The gift bags are super fun and super cute, along with the Yoshi Egg wrapping paper! These will be in the next post, so check back soon!



Thank you for stopping by.
May you find joy & inspiration!

DIY Mario Party Games


DIY Super Mario 

Birthday Party Games 🎲 πŸ™Œ

🧱 Bean Bag Block Toss  πŸ§± ~  Pin the Mustache on Mario  ~  
πŸ‘» Boo & Chain Chomp PiΓ±atas ~ Giant Dice 🎲 ~ 
& Chocolate Coin πŸ’° Prize Money $


Mario Birthday Party has several Mario fashioned games that we made and played. In the picture you can see boxes in the back turned into Mario Blocks, these served as decorations and for the Bean Bag Block Toss game.

To make the Bean Bag Block Toss game, you will first need bean bags. 
You can purchase some Hackie Sacks at the Dollar Tree, or make your own bean bags. 
Using fabric I had on hand, I made 4 galaxy bean bags for the bean bag toss, and 4 frog bean bags, a set for 2 players, plus taking turns.  
I would suggest 1-2 of each color for players, from one to as many as you like. Maybe in green, red, blue and yellow.
 
I stuffed the bags with several different kinds of beans, and that was a game in itself (game is guess what kind of bean in the bag; from pinto, legume, pea, chick pea, etc)
It was fun to feel the different textures that resulted from different beans. This is an especially good sensory game!

For the brick blocks, take a box, like a tissue box, and cut off the top. Paint with brown acrylic paint. 
When the paint is dry, use a fine tip sharpie to make lines that make it look like bricks.

For the question mark blocks, I covered boxes in yellow construction paper and cut out white question marks on white paper, and glued them on. 
Some question mark blocks where open at the top, and some were open at the bottom, so that you can hide stuff under the block.

Large Dice 🎲  
I also made 2 sets of large dice in this same fashion (painting them), it was just too much fun making blocks!
I painted one of them blue, with black dots, and another white. 
They were about 4 x 4 inches, and made using some recyclable heavy duty boxes that we had on hand. 
As well as a clear coat on one and stick on laminate on another.

Game 1; (our game was for 5 yo's, so it was fairly simple)
Scatter the blocks either random, or in a pattern. We did ours in rows. 
(The closed question mark is a 'miss' block and just looks cool, you could turn it over.)
Have players stand back behind a line and toss bean bags into blocks. 

Use a point system. Something like,
Brick Blocks: 1 point (for younger kids) or 5 points (for older kids) 
Question Mark Blocks: 2 points (younger) or 10 points (older)
Add up points. 
Take turns. 
See who can score the highest.

Game 2; 
You can turn the bricks over, line up the blocks, and hide a prize under one.
Have the players roll die, move over the blocks the number of times rolled,  and check that block for a prize. 
Play is over after rolling one die, and it is the next players turn. 
If you reach the end of the blocks before a player finds a prize, you start over and repeat the row.


Pin the Mustache on the Mario 

You will need a big print out of Mario. Print a Mario picture in color, black and white and color it, or draw yourself. (Drawing it yourself, you can make Mario without a stash ;)
Once you have this, determine how big you need your mustaches to be to fit your Mario picture.
Sketch out a Mario mustache, or you could trace your pictures mustache as a template.
Trace these onto black paper and cut each out. 
Hang your Mario picture.
Give each player a mustache with tape on the back. 
Cover the first players eyes with a bandana or other soft wrap and spin them around a few times, then point them in the right direction. 
See where their mustache lands!
Player with the closest Mario stash wins!
(sorry, no pics at this time)






These fun to make piΓ±atas were our last, and funnest game. Please see Boo & Chain Chomp PiΓ±ata post for more on these.


Mario Coins, aka, Chocolate coin prize money$


Chocolate coins

For a $1 a 12 pk bag at the grocery store in the candy section, bought tons of these! We used them as small prizes for games, as well as scattering them about, just because Gold Coins/ Mushroom Coins are just cool! πŸ„ We also put some on the cake πŸŽ‚ for decoration.

Thank you for stopping by.
May you find joy & inspiration!

Photos by Cathleen~ Doily Designs 2013




DIY Mario & Luigi Mustache and Water Bottle



DIY Mario & Luigi  ⭐πŸ„

 ⭐πŸ„ Mustache Straws   &

Water Bottle Labels  ⭐πŸ„



This was a fun and easy addition to a Mario themed birthday party. The straws and bottles were a big hit, and a favorite out of all our hand made decorations.

With no printer on hand, back in 2013, I drew these out and colored them by hand, then laminated them for durability. Though, if at all possible, I would recommend that you do this on the computer and print it in color, unless you just really like drawing and coloring.

For the mustache,  draw a Mario or Luigi mustache shape on black construction paper, laminate the shape (or use heavy card stock), cut out. We punched 2 holes in the middle and fed the straw thru these holes, but if you look at the bottom picture for reference, theirs is probably better, but ours slid around less.

Mario and Luigi suspenders for the water bottle labels are fairly simple and basic. You can sketch out one label and then use it to trace the others, (or print the whole thing).  Highlight lines with black sharpie and color the shirts with bright colors of red or green for corresponding characters.

Laminate water bottle labels. It is easiest to attached the labels while laminating, and the lamination also affixes the label to the bottle.

They were worth the effort for these cool additions to a Mario themed party. 
If you notice, we used small bottles. The small bottles looked so cute as Mario and we wanted them all the same size.  Googling, you will see labels on big, taller bottles. Which makes me think it is the Luigi bottle :)

This post is part of the Mario themed birthday party inspiration, and is more for ideas, using demonstrations of our creations from 2013, and our ⭐πŸ„  Mario Birthday Party

Most of these were not my ideas, just some great ideas that we found and decided we would make ourselves to celebrate our 4 year olds birthday. Like the mustache, we saw these at the store and I snapped this quick picture. We were shopping for costumes and as I recall it, we saw these, thought, "we can make that!", and that started the whole hand made, Mario party venture :D


Thank you for stopping by.
May you find joy and inspiration!




 

Easy Boo & Chain Chomp PiΓ±atas

πŸŽˆπŸŽ‚  Boo & Chain Chomp PiΓ±atas

MARIO BIRTHDAY PARTY πŸŽˆπŸŽ‚

⛓πŸ’£πŸ‘»πŸ’£⛓
 πŸ’£πŸ‘»πŸ’£

As mentioned in the previous post, we did all hand made decorations for this cool Super Birthday Boy's MARIO PARTY.  

Here we are going to take a closer look at the fun Boo and Chain Chomp piΓ±ata. (Quick, easy Balloon BooπŸ‘» at the bottom of this page.)

Boo and Chomps were made with the children. These piΓ±atas are pretty easy using a simple balloon piΓ±ata for the base.
(Here is just a quick run down. These posts are more for ideas. Please use your own best judgement.)

You will need;
large balloons
newspaper
white glue, like Elmer's glue
acrylic paint
paint brushes
rope or string
tapestry needle (optional)
exacto knife (optional)
pencil
bowl, to mix in
water

Cover work surface. (This can be messy.)

Blow up balloons. (Fun to let the kids do this while you prepare things.)

Tear or cut newspaper into 1.5"-2" wide strips. (Fun for kids.)

Mix glue and water in a bowl, 2 parts glue to 1 part water. (Have kids stir and note thickness and color of mixture.)

Once you have everything ready.

You can use a mug or other low, heavy cup to sit your balloon in (tape balloon to cup if necessary).

Dip strips of newspaper through the glue mixture and lay flat (as possible) on your balloon. You can try different lengths to see what lays best. Lay strips in different directions to get better coverage.

Let dry and add second layer. Make sure no surface of the balloon is visible.

Once completely dry, pop the balloon and pull out thru the hole, this will be your fill hole.

You can now start painting your piΓ±ata.

Depending on your design, use black for Chain Chomp or white for Boo, as the base color.

Let this dry thoroughly. You will need 2 coats for best results.

Take your pencil, and using reference photos, sketch a face on your piΓ±ata.

Paint your face.

Once this has dried, use your exacto knife to poke small holes on the top on either side of the piΓ±ata. Take a tapestry needle and string/yarn and fish it thru, starting on the outside, thru the inside, and out the other hole. Tie as long as you need it. You could also put the string thru each hole and tie/tape it down securely on the each side, if that works for you.

Fill your piΓ±ata!

You can cover the hole by gluing on a small square piece of colored construction paper. If making Chomp, you can add the chain mentioned below to help cover this.

We added a chain to our Chain Chomp, fashioning a paper chain.

To get the right look, we painted over black construction paper with thinned white paint. Cut in strips and had the kids glue these together in a chain. I also cut a bigger strip to put at the top of Chain Chomp, to help cover the hole and look more like Chomps, you can kind of see this in the picture below.

When the glue on the paper chain didn't hold, I stapled them all securely.




You can see that ours is lumpy, but the kids had a blast making them, and were very pleased with their piΓ±atas. 


They had fun destroying them as wellπŸ’£
 

πŸ‘»πŸ‘»πŸ‘»πŸ‘»πŸ‘»πŸ‘»πŸ‘»πŸ‘»πŸ‘»πŸ‘»

Another quick and easy way to make a Boo is to draw a face with sharpie on a white balloon. 


Be sure to add lots of these floating around your party  πŸ‘»
Halloween Parties as well!


Thank you for stopping by.
May you find joy & inspiration!

Pictures from 2013 ©Cathleen ~ Doily Designs

Came up with this quick gift for the birthday boy to carry his tiny treasures;
Crochet Bomb bagπŸ’£  Check back for the pattern.








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