Everyone is born with creativity. But those people who appear to be super creative have a secret. They know that creativity has to be developed and exercised to come easily. I am on a quest to immerse myself in creativity of all kinds. I hope you will join me!

 these perfect glasses.

 I chose a couple motifs from the pitcher to paint on my glasses.

 You can paint on glass with any specialty glass paint. I used an acrylic enamel that you can buy at most craft stores.  To get the color I wanted, I mixed yellow and while and brushed it on. Maybe it was old-ish, but it was a little clumpy.  Close to the end when I was frustrated, I mixed a tiny bit of water with it and that helped a lot.  Wish I had done that in the beginning for all of the painting I did.

Be sure you clean the glass well before painting.  Fingerprints will keep the paint from sticking to the glass.  If you have it, rubbing alcohol will be a great cleaning agent for a glass painting project.

It is not as easy to transfer a pattern onto glass.  But, the beauty of these glasses is they are see-thru. So, I made my patterns on paper and put them inside the glass.  And then painted it on the outside.

Because my color is light, I needed a couple coats.  Read the label on the product you use, in case the paint needs treatment to become permanent. Some need baking and some need a really long curing time.

A pitcher and glasses or a teapot and teacups would be a nice wedding present. It's that season.

Take your Vitamin C!

 My fabulous girls from Praise in Motion came over this afternoon.



 We had lunch and made bracelets. We used a finger weaving technique that I have seen a lot online lately. I found excellent and very clear instructions at V and Co.  Thanks V!

 All you really need is stretchy fabric and scissors. I bought a handful of men's t-shirts at the Salvation Army Thrift store for 50 cents a piece. Then, I tie dyed two of the white ones. The girls began by cutting strips of fabric.

 The finger weaving technique is so easy, they got it after one demonstration by me. They each made a couple bracelets.



 And then the smartypants girlies added beads.

They branched out to anklets and headbands.  We made probably 15 pieces. It entertained us for at least an hour and gave them an interest in leaning to tie dye.

Our vitamin C came today in the form of orange/lemon finger jello.  Try it. It worked for these middle schoolers!

Untitled from Kim Ballor on Vimeo.

On Memorial Day, I took my 25% off coupon to Michaels and found this wood girl cutout. The universal sign for female. I thought she was cute and with the coupon, how could I not bring her home?

Fixing her up did not take much in time or materials. I love a project like that. I started by painting her chartreuse green.
Then with a small flat brush, I gave her a groovy dress by making a turquoise checkerboard. This is a pretty simple process.  To paint a square, make a horizontal stroke on the chisel end of the brush. Then make a vertical stroke over it to square it up.  Load just a little paint on your brush. Too much will make it smoosh over the squared edges.  Just eyeball where the lines of squares will form.

 Tonight was Girls' Night In at the rescue mission.  GNI is a women's ministry for the women of my church. Tonight, we had kind of a beach party with a game of beach bingo, popsicles, and decorating flip flops for the craft.

When we go, we hang out with women of all ages, who are there for all reasons. In the last four months, the number of women residents has doubled. Things are tough here in Michigan and not getting better yet. It is not always easy to design a craft that everyone can do with success, but I knew they would like flip flops.

This is the pair I designed.  I layered colors of felt circles and flower shapes, stitched the layers together, and glued the flower to the shoe. I made circle templates for tracing, and we got down to business.

 The only time they get to do projects like this is when we come. Some of the women do not have experience with crafts at all. I found some who had never made a single stitch with a needle and thread. After a couple craft projects with us, they find their stride and creativity starts to blossom. I love this part.

 Oh, the piles of craft materials we have gone through.

 These were made by a young girl. I love that she made the dark outlines.

 Here she is with her Mother. Mom thanked me and we had a chance to chat. Daughter loves to do crafty things, but she never gets the chance. Mom does not craft and does not want to craft. But, Mom hovered watching through the whole project. It is an awesome feeling to see the pride on both faces. Living in a rescue mission with 60 other women, being told what to do and when, there is not much opportunity for pride or creativity. I love that some felt squares and 2 hours of our time can bring real smiles.


This gal went completely to her own design. It may be only felt on a flip flop but there is no substitute for a good job well done.

That goes double for women following God's call to use their skills to encourage those who really can use it.

Take your Vitamin C!

 The thought occurred to me today that I have fun, and stretch myself a bit, when I pose an official challenge for myself.

In light of that, I challenge me to 5 Summer Jewelry Projects:

• Use these 5 chosen items from the bead stash.
• Buy nothing else to use with them. Use what is in the stash or what I make from the stash.
• Be finished by the end of summer.
• Share the creative process for each piece.

2. This is a ceramic focal piece that I bought at Bead Fest in Santa Fe, some years ago. I have lost the card that tells me who made it. I love it.  If you recognize the work, and know who the artist is, please shout out! It is 2 1/2" long.

3. I made this PMC (Precious Metal Clay) piece in a class at Bead & Button.  Maybe 4 years ago.  It is tarnished, it has been that long. Seeing a pattern here?? It is 2 1/2" wide and if you do PMC, you know that much clay is not inexpensive, so it is nuts not to do something with it. It has a definite summer theme, so let's get to it!

4. This is a silver napkin ring given to me by my new friend Sheila when I led a mission trip to her house last summer in Landscheid, Germany. One of our projects in the house was turning an icky basement room in to a kid's hang out room.  There were exposed pipes that we turned into a giant caterpillar...named Stella.  We talked about Stella a lot during the week and it make Sheila remember that she had this napkin ring. Which she gave to me. It needs a super creative treatment, don't you think?