Making a Memorial Collage:

On this snowy morning, I decided to do an art project.

Cary's father, Troy, died nearly three years ago.  At that time, I scanned a bunch of pictures and put them on two bulletin boards for the funeral.  These were hanging in our office/craft room until I re-arranged everything the other day.

  

 

I had found an old movie poster board that had plexiglass but no frame, during my cleaning spree. I  decided to make a nice collage out of Troy's pictures.

 

First, I trimmed the pictures with pinking shears, to class them up a little.  Then I arranged them on the board, and after I got the design I wanted, I took a picture so I would remember where everything went.  Then, I used a spray-on adhesive to glue the pictures down.  That was a good idea, because I could still move them around and not have a big mess.

 

After the pictures were glued down, I took a black paint pen and outlined each photo with black dots.  This was especially effective on the black and white photos that were touching each other because they stood out more.

 

I used black electrical tape to anchor the plexiglass to the picture board.  It worked good and actually looks nice.  I  put two small nails underneath the bottom of the frame to help support the weight on the tape.  If I had any clear tape for mailing packages left, I would have used that first and then put the electrical tape over the top for looks, but I think this will work fine.

 

 

I hung the collage by the front door, where that cupboard used to be.  Notice the top right hand corner?  I put Troy's obituary and the program from the funeral up there.  The TROY lettering is actually a decal that Cary had made for the trucks at work.  I just peeled of the backing and then used the black paint pen. 

 

  

Ti-da!  All done.  And, Cary likes it.

 

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.
 

The Moon ... December 30, 2009 at 5:45 p.m. in La Pine, Oregon:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, these took my breath away. 

Homemade Kahlua Recipe:

For Christmas this year, I made all of our big kids homemade kahlua, except for Nigel.   The picture above isn't from me, but I like how that lady did her wrapping and maybe will do that next year.  I ended up using quart canning jars and wine bottles.  The wine bottles would have been even better if I had been able to find corks or stoppers for them.  Oh, well, it was my first year.  The Kahlua turned out great; I can figure out the packaging next time.  

Some people have been requesting the recipe, so here is one I used.  I found it on a neat website called "wikiHow.com"   http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page

Ingredients: 

* 2 cups dry (unprepared) instant coffee (but not 

   freeze dried)

* 7 cups of white granulated sugar

* 1 quart of water

* 1 quart of 80 proof vodka (no particular brand)

* 1 whole vanilla bean

To Make It: 

1. Bring the water to a full boil.  Remove from heat and add the instant coffee and the sugar.

2. Stir constantly until the sugar and coffee are completely dissolved.

3. Allow the mixture to cool, then add the vodka and stir.

4. Pour into two separate 1-quart canning jars.  

5. Drop 1/2 of the vanilla bean into each container.  Seal tightly. 

6. Label the container with the date, and store the kahlua in a cool, dark place for at least 30 days, undisturbed.  The longer you let it sit, the better it will be.

Enjoy!

At Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy, if you miss a day, you miss a lot!  All material on this post is copyrighted and not for use without my permission ...Please click here to go to my home page and see what is happening in Mayberry today.
 

A Look at the Morning Snow:

These were taken in La Pine on 
Wednesday morning at 8:15:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These were taken at 8:35:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Late December 2009 Snowstorm:

 This was taken about 3:30, when 

we had about 2" of new snow.

These were taken at around 4:30 when we had between 4" and 5":

 

 

 

 

 

That little blob to the right 

of the tree trunk is a bird!

 

 

The tree behind the bench is the one that 

the car crashed into a couple of weeks ago.