@rocklady Thanks! I think "several coats" might be the trick, and I'll bet the craft paint gives a pretty tough surface finish.

Sweet, Sally! Nice little shelter from the weather, too... and probably heavy enough that it won't blow around like my feeder did when I put the dome on it (a squirrel baffle that might not puzzle the squirrels but I figured it would keep out the rain... which it did until it got windy).

Sally--
Your feeders look great! You are so creative!
Since I now have 2 broken 3-tube feeders, would you like to have the baffles from them?
They are intact. As these feeders fell--they landed straight down--so the bottoms of the tubes
are in smithereens--but the baffles are OK.
LMK--and I will bring them to you next week. Gita

Bafffles would be good. It was hard to find a cover to keep rain out of the dish.

Sally--will do!

meanwhile--consider using a large cake cover as a temporary baffle.
Cut a 3" tp 4" slit in the cake cover--long enough to insert the chain or hanger through.
I did that on the very expensive (50%0ff) all metal finch feeder I got at Big Lots about 3 years ago.
I know I posted pictures of it...
Phooey! Now I have to find the pictures...or do you "get it"???

Lost cause!!!--my Documents--My Pictures are a a bit messed up as I was messing around with uploading
some of my latest pictures through my new camera and now it is a mess....Like--I cannot find
July -2014. I bet the pics are in that folder.... See Ya! Gita

I had collected sand dollars, they were so beautiful, but unfortunately I just put them in a box with some cotton balls, but they all broke. Never thought to paint them with Elmer's glue. Amazing creative. And the bead chain is just beautiful@ Rocklady. Very talented. All what I have done is knotting beads--never made those chains with tiny beads, although I have bought the beads and the instructions, but never done anything to them.

What I have done this month is paint one white-yellow plumeria flower, but unfortunately I do not know how to upload or is it download the picture to show you. I am learning watercolor painting and will also learn pastel---just bought a box of pastel, looks easier than watercolor. Took classes of watercolor at VisArts in Rockville in 2015. Could not keep plumeria plant alive, so now just try to paint it.

@tantefrancine I am sorry your sand dollars got damaged. The ones I collected were the first ones I had ever been able to find. I got into beading almost by accident. My daughter in law belongs to a beading society and we happened to be visiting at the time of her monthly meeting. I was petrified that I wouldn't even be able to thread my needle! I did and found it was fun, despite having to untangle thread, and keeping up with instructions I didn't understand. That was 4 years ago and I have found it very enjoyable. I'm 83 years old, so never say you are too old to learn something new!

Regarding your picture, if your photo is saved on the same computer (or device) you use for this website, go to the green square that says "Upload an image" and the find your photo wherever it is stored, click on the photo, and then "open" at the bottom of the page, and soon it will appear. Hope I haven't confused you, but try this and see if it works I would love to see your painting of the plumeria.

@ Rocklady. The photo is in my iPhone. Maybe I can open this on the iPhone. I am going to try. Thanks.

@rocklady here is the photo

The bottom one is the finished one, in a frame. top one almost finished, but photo is clearer.

for sharing the photos with us. The painting is lovely.

@tantefrancine Beautiful! I am so glad you were able to post them for our enjoyment! Hope you continue to post your beautiful paintings.

Beautiful painting -- love the bloom of course, but I also really like the shaded colors on the leaves!

Francine, I need to learn "pearl knotting!" I just can't bring myself to pay a good jeweler to re-strand my pearls, because it "seems" like something I should be able to do. A friend of mine at the Y just got a "machine" that helps with knotting... I might borrow it to see if I can test it out with a some cloisonne beads that also need reknotting before I try it with my pearls...

There's also a "japanese knotting method" that I might try... looks like it would be easier to work, although you need to have big enough holes in the pearls/beads for a double thickness of beading thread. http://www.firemountaingems.co...

btw, the above website became one of my very favorites after they offered some fabulous deals on necklaces and stretch bracelets before the holidays... 40 cents each on average, so they were on our dance party sale table for 50 cents. Do I even need to say how the girls loved looking through them??

Jill, bring some beads, threads, and tweezers, long and with sharp points, and I can show you. It is a lot of careful work, that is why it is expensive. Maybe we have more time at the Spring or Fall meeting.

or we can have an arts & crafts day! Thanks, Francine, but I agree... we probably won't have a chance to get at it on Saturday.

I was starting to have a lot of trouble with little beads -- not just handling them, but seeing them! Glasses (dollar store magnifying ones) helped a little, and so did a desk light... and then I found just the right solution for me, a folding magnifier with LED lights from Lee Valley. http://www.leevalley.com/us/ga... I like to work in my lap rather than on a table, and I usually use a tray or a deep plate to hold my beads, or a beading board if I'm getting fancy with a design. This little magnifier will balance right in the middle of things with no problem, and I just work with my fingertips where I can see them. No more blindly stabbing for the little holes!

@critterologist That light looks like it would be helpful to a lot of us. Thanks for posting it. I am sure all of us would like to see some of your beading projects.

I need to be better about photos as I go along... I finish something, give it away, then remember I didn't snap it. I just strung necklaces for my daughter & her best friend... they picked out the beads (I have a treasure trove with lots of FW pearls that I got on sale before Christmas), and they say one necklace is "ice" and the other is "water." I still need to add clasps, and my daughter wants a wire-wrapped nugget on hers... maybe a beaded snowflake on her friend's for a surprise.

Here are a few wire-wrapped ones from when I first started that technique. at the beach a couple years ago. I've got some fun copper-wrapped ones from the lake in Canada last summer, too -- even some earrings with small pieces of quartz. My wire-wrapped loops at least are improving.. I did a pair of little Sv. crystal hearts for my niece at Christmas (using gold-filled wire and gold-filled leverbacks, since anything other than gold gives her horrible reactions), and they looked downright professional.

#2 is the back of #3, and #4 is actually 2 sea-worn shell pieces wrapped together. Wire wrapping is fun, especially (to my mind) when you can let the shape of the piece guide you. I've been loving worn pieces of shell that have been riddled with boring sponge, because they are so much lighter than they look for their size, chunky without feeling too heavy.

@critterologist Those are really beautiful. I haven't gotten into wire wrapping but it looks like you are really adept at it. I, too, forget to snap a picture before something goes out the door.

Give it a try... I was intimidated at first, but the concept is really easy. Try a freeform wrap with a few turns of wire, starting and ending with extra wire where you want to make your loop, and give those ends a twist to hold the wire around the piece.. It doesn't have to start out tight, because you'll grab the wire here and there with your needlenose pliers and add twists and bends to tighten the wire. There are lots of good you-tube videos that will show what I mean...

Here's a good photo series showing how to tighten the wire (you can do it just at the back of the piece, but sometimes it's a fun way to add waves and swirls to the wire at the front). http://www.instructables.com/i...

I have a pinterest board in development with various wire-wrapping instructions and ideas I've come across. https://www.pinterest.com/crit...
The wire-wrapped coin tutorial is a good one for what I'd call a "formal" wrap, and the "easy way" instructable above is good for "freeform." I haven't tried most of the others yet!

(I'm not posting to gain "followers" just to share some fun links. I've only dipped my toe into Pinterest!)

It took me a VERY long time to find this DIY projects. I remember that you@rocklady taught me how to post a picture, and I then remember it had something with necklaces, and beads, I also remember critter that made something. I remember I posted my painting. Tried to find it with Arts, Crafts, Arts & Crafts, jewelry, painting, flower painting, ----nothing--and then finally I found it. Took me almost the whole day, instead of organizing my stuff, I am cruising on the Internet again-took a class on stained glass, mosaic, and fused glass. I have to find the other 2, but I am going to upload my stained glass.

very pretty!!