Kraft Gone Wild, pt. 2

As a continuation to the macaroni jewelry making, I dyed some with cherry, orange and grape kool-aid. We experimented with different patterns and lengths and made some really pretty creations. Quetta made me a matching bracelet but it didn't fit so I let her wear it. Our neighbors from America came over and helped out by entertaining the dogs (who kept trying to snatch our fruit-smelling strings of beads!) I tried to recycle the kool-aid dye by making finger paints and using it as food coloring to make stationary but both experiments failed miserably. Back to the drawing board...

Later my sister came over and we made some new outfits for my paper doll.

Kraft Gone Wild

Here is yet another one of our little "Kraft" projects, those beads are straight out of a macaroni and cheese box! We strung them on a thread, embellished with shells and beads, colored with markers and mod-podged (shellacked) the whole thing. I thought it was really fun but I am not much for macaroni jewelry so I donated my necklace to my sister. She wore them to school today and said some of her friends really liked it and others didn't as much. Oh well, you win some you lose some. Stay tuned for another macaroni project as I have painstakingly dyed some with kool-aid for future endeavors!

Future Tartmakers of...Nevis/America

My host mom taught my sis and me the way to make coconut tarts. My sister showed a lot of promise as a future tart-maker. Now Isilma has passed on the tradition and we can both teach our future generations the art. She even colored some of the coconut so we have red, yellow and green tarts!

New Years Tradition

Every new years day the village has a tradition of having a "senior" luncheon to honor members of the community. It is put together by the Fountain/Mt Lily Community Improvement Club of which I am a member. This year we had about 20-25 people and music, dancing and lots of good food.

Paper dolls

Remember paper dolls? Living here has forced me to resort back to a time when everything wasn't available to me. I have been creating little activities and things to do with the kids. This one was pretty labor intensive and I know it won't last long but it was fun to make! Let it be known that I tried to make her complexion dark but my colored pencils didn't agree with me. I glued her to the cardboard backing first (recycled from my rice-cooker box which has served many purposes over the duration of my service; from Halloween costume to craft treasure chest, painting shield to coffee table). I made the mistake of trying to color it post-glue which was not ideal, especially for creating future outfits. It's amazing what a little creativity and a few supplies yields to a fertile imagination!