Either this was planned or the 70's were very good to me!

Imagine you are walking along a shopping district. Then all of a sudden this 6'2" Austrian woman starts yelling Ketch-up! Ketch Chup Chup Chup! and 50 Giant dancing Brats show up... Either the 70's have been good to you or It is a Flash Mob of dancing brats promoting the upcoming Brat Trot Charity 5K in Burien! Manuela Horn provided the singing, and I have no Idea who provided the dancing brats. Just a normal day in Burien, my fair city!

Video courtesy of the B-Town Blog

Happy Earth Day!

Well Happy Earth Day everyone. There is so much to do and to learn on Earth Day. A little history about the 41 years of Earth Day (from Earth Day.org):

"On April 22, 1970, Gaylord Nelson, a United States Senator, founded the first Earth Day in an attempt to bring about a better understanding of the affect we have on our planet, and calling us to take action to make positive environmental changes in our community. The first Earth Day was attended by 20 million Americans nationwide, from college campuses to town halls, and giant teach-ins were organized in New York City and Philadelphia, the latter event turning into a seven-day event known as Earth Week.

This small attempt to start something of this scale on the national level brought millions of people to band together in their neighborhoods, starting grassroots campaigns to help revolutionize the way we handled waste, recycling, power consumption, and conservation in general. That event set a powerful precedent for the rest of the world, eventually inspiring more than 140 nations all around the globe to have their own Earth Days.

By the year 1990, over 200 million people on Earth were participating in the event, making it one of the most-attended organizational activities ever created, even being called “the largest secular holiday in the world” by the Earth Day Network, the nonprofit organization that is in charge of the event on an annual basis since its inception in 1990."

Here is a link to free Earth Day Poster from the Earth Day .org site!

How I Celebrate Earth Day:

Simple. I take romeo for a walk to the community garden tp do some planting, then onto a starbucks for a coffee and a couple of dog treats.

So, how do you and yours celebrate Earth Day?

Reefer Madness

I wasn't going to do a party post today. But then I got bored. And this is what happens when I get bored... REEFER MADNESS!!!

I would probably make a magnet out of anything... Old credit cards, bottle caps

Even my badge that proves I am an official Washington State Junior Trooper!

All you need is some Super Glue, a magnet and something to use as a magnet (in this case a bottle cap- I can't throw nothing away) Just put a circle of the glue in the bottle cap...

Insert the magnet let dry and you are done! Makes a great gift for mothers, grandmas and aunts

I only party down with the best at:

Recycled Christmas Packaging

Bows and packaging: out of common materials.
First up, over at Lisa's Blog, Condo Blues, my crafty friend, via What about Orange, shows how to make fantastic bows out of Magazines, or chip bags. I chose last years calendars-
Then we come to how I packaged the Vanilla and Vanilla Sugar I am giving as gifts this year-

I just put them in a plain brown Paper Bag, and then tie it off with a scarf bought from the Dollar store.


Finally we come to Gift Boxes- I saved the boxes from my favorite Trader Joe's Christmas Cookies, just added a little ribbon to the lid edge to hide the printing- Instant Gift Boxes that are perfect for cookies and treats to give!



I also make my own gift tags- This year I had a plethora of Christmas cards leftover with Romeo on them- Just took my 1 1/2" Paper punch cut out a picture of Romeo and his fat hairy friend punched a smaller hole, added some string.

I only party down with the best at:

Kindle Cover/Tote

I was dismayed at the price of the kindle covers on amazon. I mean, a person just spent like $139 for a kindle, and they want another $35 to $85 for a cover for it? Well you know Sometimes old Rob is as cheap as a Republican cutting school funds, so I thought about making one- With little or no sewing skills, I ventured out and found some smaller canvas (9" X 11" X 3") shopping bags at Michael's, figuring it was done. But they were too big. Then I came up with an Idea… I folded them in half and they were the right size! Just a simple "Cross stitch down the side with some embroidery thread to keep it closed And All for under $5. I was so happy with mine, I made a second one for a Christmas gift!

This blog post is linked to:2nd Time around on "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words blog", Transformation Thursdays @ The Shabby Chic Cottage; Show us what your working with @ Me and my Bucket,
Strut your stuff party @

Music as Art

Well what am I working on now??? Lets see--- I have these two Ukeleles, one I have had for most of my life (the big Baritone) and a Soprano (the little one) that I have had for a little over a year.I wanted to hang them as pieces of art (Not that my playing is art enough) Anyway the guitars holders were so big and wouldn't hole the Ukes well and not to mention pricey... well more than I would pay for them. So I had an idea... why not make my own?

I took two corner moulding squares leftover from the addition I put on the house
and then I painted them red and put some utility hooks on them to hold the ukes and them mounted them to the wall with four screws.

Done. My music maybe ain't art, but my instruments sure are!

This blog post is linked to:2nd Time around on "A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words blog", Transformation Thursdays @ The Shabby Chic Cottage; Show us what your working with @ Me and my Bucket, Getting Crafty on Hump Day @ Nikki's Nifty Knacks

Arts Aglow lights up community

Who says Burien ain't a good times town? Where else would you find a whole lot of people who don't have the sense to come in from the rain who make an annual event out of making paper lanterns and such and parading all over town on main streets? It was the annual Burien Arts Commission Art's Aglow festival. There were bands, stilt walkers, puppets and a lot of enthusiastic folks making lanterns and then parading around with their creations around Burien Town Square Park.
The salmon again swim up the rain garden.
This salmon got lit up along with some houses.

One of many popular "lantern puppets" this wily coyote took over from last years Chinese dragon.

Even Romeo gets all duded up for the arts aglow!

Even the recyclers get out- besides my lantern made from a crystal light container, other recyclers/ re-users get in the picture - the park was lined with these lanterns made from pop bottles

'Nuff said...