It has been a very creative month for us!! First, I finally had the time to finish a paint by number painting that I’ve been working on for months!!

As I’m painting, I never really know how it will turn out, but I am always pleasantly surprised when I’m finished…so this being my fourth painting, it was no exception, that I was pleasantly surprised!!

And so, I envisioned the new painting to go over the kitchen table in The Train House, to add a tranquil vibe!! The old painting, in the photo on the left, is 3o years old and it has faded so much it’s hard to see the picture!! The photo on the right is my new painting after Victor added moldings to fit it in the old frame…

and now it has a home in the kitchen of the Train House, to add peace and tranquility!!

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Another creative project I enjoy is my continued love for Mod Podge!! This time eggs!!

The materials needed are above…I bought two different types of plastic eggs, the white ones on the left looked better and were easier to work with, they are from Walmart. You will also, need napkins, Gina gave me ones she had from the boys birthday parties and I had the flowered ones. The Mod Podge can be bought at any craft store along with paint brush and scissors. The directions to make these are from my October Post, just click on this link.

After separating the backing from the napkins and cutting out the areas you’d like to see on the eggs, just paint the mod Podge onto the egg and press design on the painted surface , then paint over the design. Keep doing this until the egg is covered!! A little tip, you will want to do half an egg at a time, because the wet paper will stick to your fingers, but it doesn’t take long for the design to dry, so you can do a few at time and go back to finish them.

And this is the finished result!!

I think my grandsons will like their SpongeBob, Lego theme, Miami Dolphins and Minecraft eggs!!

These would make nice decorations on an Easter table, or hostess gifts, you could also glue them on to a spring wreath!! Happy Spring🐣

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We had to get creative at the Train House, for a blank wall in one of our guest rooms!! The photo below was my inspiration!!

I loved this shelf and knew that Victor could make it!!

And so he did!! But instead of dowels for hanging things, I thought brass knobs would be a little more sturdy.

This is the blank wall…Victor made the bench…I thought it would be nice to put a suitcase on it, a place to sit while putting on shoes or it’s light enough to pull up to the daybed for a coffee table!!

This is the finished wall!! You can see a bookcase that my father made, on the right side…Victor stained the shelf and bench the same color.

All the accessories used in this area I pulled from around the house…as you can see, I put the faded picture from the kitchen on the shelf, it will do until I can paint another picture!!!

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And yet another way I got creative was a recipe!! At my last doctor’s visit I found out my thyroid levels have gone up, heading towards hypothyroidism. I was on medication for it, for many years, but the last four years I have been able to be off meds. The doctor wants to test me again in three months. So I looked on the internet to see what foods to avoid and what might help my thyroid. All articles say no gluten, no white refined sugar and no processed food. The hardest thing for me to give up is sugar, but they say honey is okay. So I researched recipes for a healthy snack and tried different ones and came up with this…

Simple Honey, Oats and Nuts Granola Bites

Ingredients

2 cups of Rolled Oats (I used Trader Joe’s Organic Rolled Oats with Grains and Seeds)

1 cup of coarsely chopped mixed nuts (use a blender to lightly chop nuts. You could also add chocolate chips or dried fruit to this mixture, as long as it adds up to 1 cup)

1/4 cup of honey (I used a little more, because I like it sweet)

1/4 cup of melted coconut oil (not shown in picture above)

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

Mix dry ingredients. Heat coconut oil just to liquid, mix in honey and vanilla, add to dry ingredients and mix well. Put in refrigerator for at least a half hour. Then, press mixture into bite size serving balls. I used olive oil spray on my hands, because it tends to get sticky. If that happens, just put mixture back in the refrigerator for ten minutes, then continue pressing mixture into balls. Keep them in airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. ENJOY

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Since I had a more than usual creative month, here are some thoughts on creativity…

Maya Angelou said, “Too often creativity is smothered rather than nurtured. There has to be a climate in which new ways of thinking, perceiving, questioning are encouraged.”

“The creative adult is the child who survived.” – ​​Ursula Le Guin

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” – Vincent Van Gogh

🌷Happy Spring🌷