Funky Furniture and Walls

Do you have an old piece of furniture that's become an eyesore? Don't throw it away--revitalize it! Architect Mark Green showed us how to make furniture beautiful again with decorative painting techniques. All you need is some paint, painter's tape, and a piece of furniture.

Check out more of Mark's funky and cool designs below!

Mark Green's Funky Furniture and Walls 
from LSC-CyFair Library, LIFE Workshops

You'll Meet a Horse, Of Course

Darolyn Butler, award-winning endurance rider, joined us for a very special LIFE program today and brought along four-legged friends Apache and Cielo. Having ridden 35,000 miles in competition and traveled all over the world to compete, Darolyn, along with her assistants Kordula and Aaron, had so many experiences to share with us about how exciting and demanding endurance riding can be. Endurance riding is a cross-country competition that usually takes place over a 50 to 100 mile course. Not only do you have to complete the course quickly, you have to make sure that your horse stays in top condition and meets high standards during vet checks throughout the competition. Darolyn described the details of a typical endurance competition and demonstrated a break in riding where they would take their horse through a vet check, as well as feed and water it before continuing on. Many thanks to our presenters and their beautiful horses, as well as to LIFE attendee Hector, who started off the program by sharing some of his experiences as a polo player!

To learn more about Darolyn and Cypress Trails Ranch, check out the website: http://horseridingfun.com/index.html

Darolyn rides Apache (left) and Kordula rides Cielo (right).

Texas Scottish Heritage

The Official Texas Blue Bonnet Tartan
Photo courtesy of http://www.tartanregister.gov.uk

National Tartan Day was April 6th--how did you celebrate? We were joined by Sia Beaton, who filled us in on tartans, Scottish history, and the many Scots who were influential in Texas' early history. Did you know that Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Jim Bowie, and David Crockett were all Scotch Irish? How about that over 100 of the men who defended the Alamo were also Scotch Irish? Scottish heritage has strong roots in Texas, and we celebrate proudly.

Check out the web site for the Houston Celtic Festival and Highland Games: http://houstonhighlandgames.com/


Thanks to Sia for singing for us in several different Scottish languages--what a lovely treat this morning!

Quilling

This week, Melissa Savage and Merchant Batool Saifuddin demonstrated the art of quilling--creating designs with curled strips of paper. All you need to create beautiful designs are strips of paper, a quilling needle or thin dowel, and some glue. Melissa and Merchant showed us all kinds of techniques to create our own masterpieces.

Want to learn more? Check out the library's books on quilling and other paper crafts.

Masterpieces created by our audience