Save That Pickle Jar!!

A fresh start…

2011-03-18T06:15:00.000-05:00

I have decided to move my blog! My new blog is called Kim’s Craft Diary, and I think it’s finally ready. I’m moving because I really have mucked this blog up enough…I hope you find my new blog cleaner and easier to navigate. Check it out! www.kimscraftdiary.blogspot.com – I wish I could import my followers…but I can’t so please come over and join me…I’ve also figured out how to blog from my phone, which means more “in progress” posting on crafts. It’s so easy now!

Happy Crafting!

Paper Birthday Banner…

2011-03-14T11:10:00.001-05:00

I had a surprise birthday party for my hubbie this weekend…we had a blast! In the end there were about ten of us who stayed up and danced…in our garage (where the birthday party was held) all night long. We did the two-step, the three-step, the swing, the electric slide…and good old fashioned rock-n-roll dancing. Fun, fun, FUN! I forgot to take any pictures of the garage…and the after pictures aren’t anything special…but here is an idea of my decorating…

Black, white, and green balloons blown up and hung in clusters of about five on the ceiling and from corners of shelves…

I covered the shelves with drop cloths…I pounded grommets into the top of the drop cloths and tied them to the tops of the shelves. Then used this bead garland to hang my banner…

This darn banner took me five hours to make…FIVE HOURS! I cut everything out by hand. After the first hour I thought “Boy, this is taking a while.” After the third hour I thought “I have too much time invested in this and I’m not gonna stop now” After the fifth hour I thought “I’m never going to do this again!” . (But I probably will…it really looked neat.)

Now, I’m going to clean, clean, clean…spring is almost here…we are going to have some nice weather this week (not freezing anyways)! Have you started your spring cleaning yet?

Happy Crafting!!

Fits and starts on my bowl…and St. Patrick’s Day crafts…

2011-03-11T08:44:00.001-06:00

I got my camera batteries charged up and can show you more bowl pictures…

Look! This bowl has little feet and sits so cute…notice the awful orange shellac….

I just had to see what was underneath and so I sanded and sanded and sanded…and finally some lovely wood grain has started to show through!!!

Then I decided I wanted to incorporate a dragonfly…which turned into a butterfly…which got sanded off when it just looked wrong…

And this is where the bowl is headed now. Funny how projects start getting away from a person…I start with a vision (usually) and then end up heading in a different direction (usually)…

I got to babysit again this week and we crafted at the kitchen table. While my little girl painted and cut, I drew and cut out all these shamrocks…then decided they needed a little glitter…then decided they needed contrast with the dark brown circles. I printed the saying out, slapped it all in the frame, and boom! Done!

I also printed out this subway art from Eighteen 25 and framed it…

Gathered up a few green bottles from my bottle collection…

Badda bing badda boom…we’re ready for St. Patrick’s Day! (Which also happens to be my hubbie’s birthday…more on that next week!)

In other news I am still struggling with stamping into metal. Grrrrr….. This craft will not defeat me!!! (I hope) Luckily I have plenty of pieces like this to practice on…like around a hundred…I picked up some belts at a local thrift store and this is one of the links on the belt…I’ve gotta be able to get at least one good impression before they are all gone!

Have a great weekend and Happy Crafting!!

Quilled Lamp, Painted Bowl & a dotty story…

2011-03-04T08:52:00.001-06:00

I tried quilling a little lamp the other day. It is difficult!! Mine turned out a little wonky and I will have to try and try again. This project caused a few swear words to run though my head…if you coil too tightly you won’t be able to pull the coils into the shapes…yet if you coil too loosely you run the risk of having everything fall apart…I wouldn’t exactly call this a relaxing craft!

(Picture of bowl taken in a box awaiting spray sealer, I spray then hurry up and close the box, less noxious fumes this way) I was so inspired by the bowls being sold at The Bocket Store on Etsy that I had to give this a try. I loooove the bowls they are offering and knew I had a couple wooden bowls in my ~~hoard~~ stash. I would love to purchase one of their bowls but I’m too thrifty ~~cheap~~…

Which leads us to the dotty story…I’ve been crafting for years and years. About eight years ago I tried decorative painting. What I painted was a little wooden tray and I covered it with dots. I proudly showed it to a friend of mine who was a pretty neat painter and here is what she said “Cute, I started out with dots too.” Now this was said in a condescending voice. To my shame I let her influence me! Shame on me!!! I thought the tray was cute (sadly no pictures were taken, this was waaaay back before digital cameras and blogs were in my life) but forever after when I would look at that tray I would be a bit embarrassed because it was such a “beginner” project. Well friend look at what they are doing with dots now! And since I’m a bit on the defensive I have a little something to say to those of you who might look at this bowl and think “She has way too much time on her hands…” This project has been taking up a little corner of my kitchen table for the past few days. I’ve worked on it here and there. When I’ve worked on it the most is while I’ve been cooking dinner, last night I made a double batch of homemade bagel brats…there are three minute intervals while they are boiling. And I work on crafts like this when my house has been invaded by teenagers. (EIGHT in my living room yesterday afternoon.) Crafting at the kitchen table is the perfect thing to do when you want to keep an eye on things but “look” busy. I’ve also found that when I have a craft such as this going on, at the kitchen table, my kids are more apt to sit with me and chat. I love that. (Just DON’T wiggle the table!) So no, I don’t spend my days on my hiney making crafts. I’ll usually have something like this craft always on the back burner to do in bits here and there and then I join my hubbie in the living room in the evenings and do a handcraft. (Like needle felting, or embroidery, or even quilling…but that does take up more space than just my lap…) Moral of the story, don’t let others influence you in a negative way. If you like it great! If you love it keep going with it and see what can develop! I sure wish that I had done that…

Happy Crafting!!!

Needle felted moose, Girl Scout Garage Sale…

2011-02-28T10:05:00.001-06:00

I think this is the only craft I’ve completed in a while! We had a Girl Scout garage sale this weekend and if you’ve ever had a garage sale you know that the house comes completely undone!! Here are just some of the things I brought…

Mind you, this is in two different areas of my house…and just the tip of the iceberg…the truck was packed!! The good news is that the garage sale forced me to go through a lot of stuff and purge. The bad news is that I had to bring most of it back home again. We just didn’t get very many shoppers. The good news is that I packed everything back up and will have a garage sale this summer. sigh. I want to thank Shanna, Julie, Molly and my mom especially for all their donations!!! I think that what you gave me to sell was what actually sold. We are raising money to go to Houston for the National Convention. It will cost $2,000.00 for Abby and I to go. That is a lot of money!!! We have several fundraisers planned and I hope they will offset the cost A LOT! I’ll keep you updated.

The girls got together and we made a bunch of little notebooks to sell. I used this stamp for the message on the back cover. I just thought I’d give you a quick tip if you’ve never used one of these before. It’s tricky because you have to put the letters in backwards! So I write my message on a piece of paper that is on top of a piece of carbon paper. Carbon side up.(Top picture) Then when you look at the back side of your paper you get the proper lay-out of your letters. (Bottom picture)

My hubbie and I also went to the Turkey Hunter’s banquet on Friday evening and came home with lots of prizes! We won two of the above end tables. The top is glass so whatever you put in the drawer will show. I think I’ll put my agates in one and let Grant have at the other.

We also won this!!! Wowza! I do think we need some more chairs for it though. I would like to find some adjustable bar stools so the kiddies have a place to join us. The checker/chess board lifts off in the middle and there is storage for game pieces. Also if you flip the board over it is felt for dice games. We loooove Yahtzee! There is more to this story that I will have to tell you later. I have some serious rearranging to do in the living room to make room for all this loot.

Happy Crafting!!!

Some flannel hankies…and needle felting…

2011-02-21T10:16:00.001-06:00

I want to keep my embroidery skilz sharp…so I worked on these soft flannel hankies. Do you remember anyone in your life using a hankie? I do, why don’t people do that anymore?! I’m always too ~~cheap~~ thrifty to actually purchase tissues, so I always end up using toilet paper or paper towels. Can you imagine what my nose looks like after a day of that?! Well, these aren’t for me…me, I’ll probably just rip up flannel sheets and stuff them in a box and use them as throw-a-ways. I have some sheets that are so fragile they wouldn’t be good for anything else. These will go into the box I’m compiling for the bazaar. I hope to have several sets done. Which at 40 minutes per hankie for the running stitch…and don’t ask me how long that blanket stitch took…it’s a good thing I’m getting an early start. But, these will be just the thing for little delicate nosies. And I get to practice my hand stitching.

Thank you, Lisa, for the donated flannel!!! How to make hankie: cut two pieces of flannel 10” square. I used a pinking blade on my rotary cutter to help stop future fraying. Put right sides together, sew all four sides with a 1/2” seam allowance, leaving a three inch opening to turn right-side-out. Turn right-side-out. Press with iron. Topstitch however you want. Topstitching will also close the little opening you left. See, now I’m practicing my tutorial skillz!

On the turtle family front we now have four turtles. They represent my hubbie and three kids. I still have to make myself. I’ve told my youngest son he gets to put the spots on the shells. That’s him, the oddball on the right. hee hee!

And I gave this guy a “brow”. It really changes the look!

Well, that was it for the weekend! Today I’m going to help the Girl Scouts make some little notebooks. And when I say “some” I mean A LOT of notebooks. It should be interesting!!

Happy Crafting!

Kid crafts, Needle Felting, My library mug…

2011-02-18T08:58:00.001-06:00

What a week, anybody else thinking TGIF? I got my library mug this week! Our library has a program called “Hot Reads For Cold Nights” every winter and if you sign up and read 20 books you get a mug. This is the sixth year and I’ve gotten a mug every year. It was harder for me this year to read 20 books than it’s ever been before. I don’t know why cause I love a good romance novel! Here is the newest mug and all the previous mugs…

My Valentine came home with this for me on Monday…he knows I love frogs and things that make me smile, and flowers…he knows me so well!

I made this little turtle for my youngest son…the blue roving was dyed with blue Kool Aid and the green was dyed with green Kool Aid. (And I’m finally learning not to dye yards and yards at a time…but I have enough to make him some babies…lots of babies…sigh.) He’s such a cute kid, he came to me on Valentine's morning and wrapped his arms around me and said “Happy Valentine’s Day mom, I love you” and when I gave him a box of candy hearts he said “Oh mom, you’re something else, you’re just so special, and such a nice mom!” Good grief, can a mom ask for any more!

Then I babysat the little girl I sometimes get to watch, who’s two years old, for a couple days. We made play dough the first day and the second day we went to the library with Julie and her daycare kids and back to my house for a play date and lunch. We also did a little “sewing”. As I was heading to my craft stash for plastic canvas and a big blunt needle I saw this piece of plastic. It is the insert that holds up .22 bullets in the little box they come in. It is perfect for little fingers to sew with! No needle needed, only masking tape because the holes are so much bigger! I have a nice little stash thanks to my shooting sessions with hubbie and Julie has brought over several, knowing I’d use them for something, sometimes it pays to hoard a little. (The key is to have an organized hoard!)

Have a great weekend! Happy Crafting!!!

Organizing, Needlefelting, and an App…

2011-02-14T09:05:00.001-06:00

First of all – how creepy is this plant! It’s called “Living Stones” and I can’t stop looking at it and being grossed out. Of course I bought it – it gives me the shivers!

Simple organizing…I took two mushroom cans, cleaned them, covered them with double-stick tape and some scrapbooking paper. They rest nicely in my medicine cabinet…all clean and cheerful in the mornings!

A started snowman. I was going to make something else but when it didn’t turn out a snowman was born. I think it’s funny that the first snowman I made took hours and this much bigger snowman takes me a fraction of the time. Practice, practice, practice!

A started bird…the reddish color on both of these is made from Kool-Aide. I can’t even remember all the colors I used. I went into a dyeing frenzy last week and dyed a good half pound of roving. And I’m not thrilled with the results but am determined to use it up anyways! I have to say the color is starting to grow on me and was one of the better results…

OK now for the app. I spent HOURS on this last week. Having a child with special needs is time consuming. Not in a bad way. The time consuming aspect came into play for me when I wanted an app to use on her iPod Touch that would break down tasks and keep Abby on track while working. For instance if I tell Abby to clean the front entry I never know what to expect. To Abby that is a huge job! There’s shoes, coats and mittens everywhere! Seems simple to me because I know what to do…Abby just sees a big mess and where to start? Then what’s next?

There are many fabulous apps out there for kids with special needs, especially for kids on the autistic spectrum. But they can cost big bucks and there is no guarantee that they will even work for your child. Every child is so different! What works beautifully for one may not for another. So after cruising the autistic websites for a few hours I had a good idea of what I wanted. And I think I found it in this app – Note It Do It

This is a free app kinda like Evernote or OneNote. After installing this app I very quickly cleaned the front entry and took pictures of the entire process so I could record the steps. Please excuse my pictures…geez this is almost embarrassing…but this is what I ended up with- and what it looks like on the iPod touch screen -

Part of the beauty of this app is that I can email the list to Abby. Abby has a tendency to mess around with her iPod. Her fingers get busy! She can delete things almost faster than I can enter them. Well, she can delete this list all she wants, cause I can keep sending it to her! lol! And, I can install this on her touch and I believe I can password protect it. I can’t remember exactly right now, I looked at so many different apps…I still want to try OneNote…it seems pretty awesome but to be able to share the notes you have to be able to get into “the cloud” and I have an earlier version of Windows Live Essentials installed on my computer. Have to uninstall and reinstall. And that kind of stuff scares me. Why in the heck they can’t just offer an “upgrade” I don’t know…or maybe they do and I haven’t found it yet. Sometimes all this stuff makes me feel stupid. But there are some wonderful tools out there that as a parent of a special needs child I need to take the time to figure out!

Happy Crafting!!

Needle felting and a trip to Bemiji Woolen Mills…

2011-02-11T09:34:00.001-06:00

Carmen and I took a road trip to Bemiji Woolen Mills on Saturday! This has been a long awaited trip…weather and funds kept us from going any other time…I really don’t know how long it took us to get there because we were gabbing the whole way…but it was a nice day out of the house! If you want to buy roving for a good price this is the way to go. Their natural roving (a cream color) is only $8.50 a pound and colors (beautiful colors) are $19.00 a pound! Their needles are priced about the same as you’d find anywhere else. If anyone knows where I can order roving even cheaper I’d love to check it out!

Then on Monday I drove a friend to the twin cities. That was another trip that went fast because we were gabbing the whole way. And soon I will have to drive to St. Cloud…another longish trip. I must say-my “cabin fever” has been cured! I have to apologize for the crappy pictures posted today, I’m too lazy to get out my good camera and instead took these with my phone. The lighting today isn’t good at all…light box, light box, light box…gotta make a light box!

Today I am researching some sort of visual scheduler for Abby’s iPod Touch…any info you guys have would be great! I’m looking for an app that allows me to load my own pictures and is inexpensive…

Happy Crafting!!!

Paper cutting, Needle Felting, and Modge Podge

2011-02-04T09:51:00.001-06:00

I love my local library…when we first moved here it was the first place I sought out and visited. Over the years I’ve grown to love and appreciate what a fine library we have! When I saw the book Creative Paper Cutting blogged about I really wanted the book…and sent a link to our awesome librarian, Peggy, and she ordered it!! Woo-hoo!!! So the first things I’ve cut are projects that I will be bringing to the library later today to say thank you…

Aren’t they cute! There are several other projects I have bookmarked and will cut asap!

The other night I sat down and needlefelted another chair…there is just something about chairs…I sketched this chair based on a chair I saw on chairblog …there are blogs about everything out there! One reason I like sketching chairs is because you learn a lot about perspective, and perspective is something I need to practice!

So then I loosely needlefelted this chair…~~holy demon dog batman~~!

Oh, and by the way “Hello-my name is Kim and I am a recovering hoarder”…I came to this conclusion after cleaning my office again, cause I had piles of stuff in my way again, and I ended up throwing away a lot of junk again, I even gave a few things away…again…how and why does this seem to happen over and over again!!

In using what I have I took a plain old box and mod podge’d pattern pieces all over it. The end result is a very sturdy box to hold my (what I’ve gathered together so far…there’s more) notebook collection ~~hoard~~.

Have a great weekend and Happy Crafting!!!

PS: If you want to leave a comment click on the time stamp at the bottom of this post…weird…I know!

Needle Felted Chair is done…and a give-a-way!

2011-01-31T08:46:00.001-06:00

Sooo, I didn’t needle felt anything else on this chair. Funny how things work out. I came across some sequin pins and my brain said “nail trim on my chair!”. I had the pins and the tiny ball fringe in my stash and it all came together! I can’t wait to have a sunny day and something to pose on the chair and take some outdoor photos! It’s gonna be cute!

Here is another chair started…I’m thinking of dying this with purple drink mix.

Below are some snapshots of my sketchbook. I think I like the middle one the best. I also want to color these somehow…pastels? Colored pencils? Markers? Watercolors? I dunno…I guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

And lastly, I framed one of the little owls I painted last week. I think he’s pretty cute! I still have the three owls that were pictured in my last post…leave a comment telling me which one you like best, and I’ll draw…and send you the one you want! (They are about 3x3 or 3x4”) I’ll leave it open until next Monday…

Happy Crafting!!!

TGIF!

2011-01-28T09:24:00.001-06:00

My camera batteries didn’t last long enough to take the above picture so I took it with my phone…this is a shelf in my kitchen that I’ve decided to decorate seasonally. As you can see, I finished both quilled hearts and the “love” blocks. I ended up outlining the letters with cinnamon stickles. LOVE stickles! If I think of it I’ll take better pictures later…but that usually never happens!

I’ve been sick for this entire week…it is just pitiful. Not only that but I babysat for three days this week. The little girl I babysat is about 2 and a half and a delight. She loved to color and paint so I got to too. We had a good time together and I made these owls. Watercolors are tricky to work with…but addictive at the same time…you can’t really plan how something is going to turn out. You can make the same thing over and over again and it will be different each time. At least that’s how it works for me.

Today and this weekend I have to focus on cleaning the house. yay. I have laundry piled as high as my head to take care of and clutter everywhere. When mom is ill the house explodes!!! I’ve been doing some token cleaning here and there but I used most of my energy entertaining my little charge…little ones are so funny…and busy!

Happy Crafting!

I need your help!

2011-01-24T08:45:00.001-06:00

I needle felted this chair over the past couple of weeks (have you figured out I always have several projects going at any given time?)…and now I want to decorate it. What do you think would look best? White polka dots? Blue flowers? I am going to needle felt some bun feet…I dyed it with drink mix using Tropical Punch and a packet of Cherry.

I tried to turn my comments back on but I don’t know if it worked or not, so you can always email me at momgib2000@gmail.com with any ideas…please…

I started quilling another heart. This is a heart that I had my hubbie draw and I’ve been slowly filling it in with coils…I hope to have this done today or tomorrow so I can show you on Friday. I used a paper crimper on one of the quilling strips and outlined the heart with it…love the effect…I’ll take a closer picture on Friday. Maybe we can have a sunny day for picture taking?

Then during the football marathon yesterday I got out my watercolors and played. The little pointy tic marks were supposed to be leaves…didn’t work out…I’ll leave them off next time! Watercolors are really a lot of fun! I tried to get my little guy involved but he just wasn’t having it. For this picture I drew some simple flowers and filled them in. Easy peasy.

For this picture I copied a free coloring page and then painted it in. It really is a lot of fun…easier than using markers I think. . .

What are you working on? Happy Crafting!

The tree is revealed! (And a quilling project)

2011-01-21T10:20:00.001-06:00

Tah-dah!! This is the tree I’ve been working on forever! I really wanted to take it outside and take a picture (because in Minnesota finding good light indoors is a bit of a challenge) but it was –35 degrees when I woke up this morning. Not. Going. Outside!

This picture gives you a little better idea of the colors. The leaves are attached with wire so I can change them out come fall, and remove them next winter if I want. Yes, this tree is a “toy” for me.

I do want to do something with those roots. I’m thinking I need some sort of “ground” and I’ll bury them some how. I’m sure I’ll use felt. I also want to needle felt some more birds in other colors and perhaps an owl.

I needle felted the little hearts out of natural roving (same color as the sheep I needle felted) and then after they were felted I boiled them in a red drink mix. The red is perfect!

The lighter red heart you see in the background was originally pink that I over dyed with the left over drink mix. It was very weak at that point but it still turned a nice red.

Then I decided to start a Valentine’s Day quilling project. This is how I start-I glue down some strips of paper to get my basic shape. Then fill it in with coils. (I use a toothpick to apply the glue) Done. I got this shadow box at a garage sale (two of them) last summer and removed the dorky scene they had inside and painted everything white. The quilling project is backed with a piece of cereal box cardboard that is held onto the frame with tacks. I can remove it at any time and put a different picture inside. I think I’m going to do another one today. It’s an easy craft that doesn’t take up very much room and is usually relaxing!

My “crafting in the evening” routine might have to change a bit now though, because my husband and I are in a Yahtzee war. Guess what? I WON! (this time)

Happy Crafting!!

Bonus Post Wednesday…

2011-01-19T10:43:00.001-06:00

Did you make a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight? I didn’t. Yet, I still want to drop about 15 pounds. Before summer. God help me. I’m going to do that old-fashioned diet called “eat less and move more”. I have been doing a bit of research and have found some helpful tools that make it a lot easier, and if you’re contemplating the same this could help you too. Here we go!

My Fitness Pal- (Free) This is an app you can use on your iPod or smart phone or on your computer. LOVE it! It is making counting calories soooo much easier. I’ve been using it for about a week and have found it very simple and straight forward.

Nike Women’s Training Club- (Free) This app is going to kill me. I love the idea of working out at home…in my jammies…but it is seriously going to kill me. I couldn’t sit down without help for about two days after my first session. I had no idea I was in such poor shape!

Spark Recipes- (Free) If you click on this link you will be taken to a recipe I loaded in just minutes ago. I wanted to know how many calories are in my mom’s muffin recipe and now I know! It was very easy to load the recipe and anyone can join. Just know that 1/3=.33, 2/3=.67 and so on if you intend to load a recipe. You will read the recipe in cups, teaspoons and such…but to get accurate nutritional info you have to convert to a decimal when you are submitting the recipe. I intend to load in many many more recipes and will let you know as they are completed.

My friend Julie- She has been on a quest to get healthier for over a year now…and stuck with it! If you go to her second blog you will find lots of links and motivation. Why didn’t I listen to her last year? Well, I guess I just wasn’t ready…and hadn’t gained that last 10 pounds…sigh.

So while this will continue to be my craft blog I will occasionally post something about getting healthier. It’ll be a bonus. I am turning 40 this summer and want to be a fit and fabulous 40. With these tools it’s looking like I just might make it – you can too! Happy Crafting!

Winter doldrums…

2011-01-17T08:52:00.001-06:00

I really didn’t do much over the weekend…I tried…but projects just weren’t turning out. For instance, after the success of the sheep I needle felted I thought I’d try another critter. Let’s just say this is a lesson learned: don’t just start needle felting without a plan!

What the heck is that? I dunno. I threw it in the reject bag and will come back to it some other time. ~~Or never~~. Remember the tree I thought I’d be able to show you? It’s not done. It’s a little closer to being done though…

And I started an Easter egg needle felting project…again…not done…

I’m not loving the pink, so I’m trying to cover it up with vines, leaves, and flowers…seems like a lot of work to cover up the pink…shoulda just started another? Yup…winter doldrums!

Hope your crafty endeavors are making you happy!

Happy Crafting!!

Wood crafts, tree crafts, and needle felting…Oh my!

2011-01-14T11:00:00.001-06:00

A lot has happened this week…my baby turned 10! That is almost too hard to believe. I haven’t had a house without a “single digit” in it for almost 18 years! We had a birthday party for him on Tuesday. Six wild-eyed kids got off the bus at my house and had a blast. I made homemade pizza…and sliced my pinkie finger of my dominant hand on the can of black olives. Badly! Thankfully my dear neighbor is a nurse and she talked me through it…so after a little glue and a little tape I finally got the bleeding to stop…it was wild around here for a while. The injury has really slowed me down this week, I reopened the wound by just taking a shower yesterday.

I made these wooden blocks for Valentine’s Day…gotta say I don’t like how they turned out…too busy! I need to outline the letters to make them “pop” any suggestions?

Here is a sneak-peak of the tree I’ve been working on here and there since before Christmas…it is gonna be awesome!

I needle felted this little sheep last night. It is my first attempt at a “critter”…I think his legs are a little long…but then I saw a Serta mattress commercial and they have long legs too.

This is the sketch I’m working on for the sketchbook challenge. The theme this month is “most prized”…my family is the most prized to me.

I hope to finish up the tree this weekend and show it to you on Monday…Happy Crafting!!

Stamp Carving…

2011-01-10T09:16:00.001-06:00

I carved this little stamp the other day…I think I need a bit more practice…

(Picture of my street)

(My dog,Edith, on my lap in poor lighting in the living room…wow!)

I have, however, been having a bit more luck taking pictures with my new phone…it’s kind of funny when you think about it…I’ve been fiddling around with one of the most basic forms of art (carving stamps) and the newest (taking a picture and editing it with a phone!).

I’ve also decided to participate in the Sketchbook Challenge 2011. I’m working on a sketch for January and will show you how far I’ve come on Friday. So far it isn’t pretty…

Happy Crafting!!!

New Year’s Resolutions and a cleaning revelation…

2011-01-07T08:43:00.000-06:00

Cleaning first…

I was approached by CSN stores to promote their online store and review a product. Because the link they wanted me to provide tied in nicely with what I wanted to say I agreed. (Remember the B.A.T. post? And FYI I have that dresser set up and ready to be prepped for paint…did that yesterday.) Well I picked out a couple things (I had two gift-certificates).

OK – here is what I have to say…nothing takes the place of getting down on your hands and knees and scrubbing the floor. I think we can all agree on this. BUT the steam mop is awesome! I can clean all my hard floors in record time and they are very clean. They say the steam also sanitizes and with pets and kids I like this. It doesn’t get into all the corners or edges very well but I’ve solved that problem by using my homemade cleaning wipes and wiping those areas by hand…or foot.

Homemade Cleaning Wipes

Cut a roll of paper towels in half
Put one half in a container that has a lid (I use a plastic coffee can).
Pour in about a half a cup (or a few glugs) of your favorite all-purpose cleaner (I used Mr.Clean this time).
Add a cup and a half or so of water and put the lid on the container and let it sit on the counter.
Pull out the cardboard tube, put the lid back on and turn the container upside-down.
In a half hour or so open the container and pull out a paper towel from the middle and wipe down whatever needs to be wiped! Easy peasy! (And makes it easier for the kids to help!)
If the wipes are too wet let it sit with the lid off for a little while, if too dry add more water. You can adjust the amount of cleaner to suite you.

The Scotch Brite floor sweeper has a purpose too. Let’s pretend you just vacuumed the carpet and your somebody ripped out a dozen pages from a notebook, and you don’t want to drag the vacuum back out. All those little pieces of paper are easily picked up with a couple pushes with this sweeper. Or you spilled something in the kitchen like potting soil…again, a couple passes with this and it’s all gone! I let it sit by my garbage can in the kitchen and it is always “right there”. It’s also cute enough that it doesn’t bother me. I was disappointed that it doesn’t pick up dog hair. I have a rug under my kitchen table that the dogs like to lounge on and it mostly just balls the hair up. To be fair I had read about this in the reviews, so it wasn’t a surprise.

On of my favorite cleaning tools is my Orek Electric Broom with detachable “dust buster”. I got it at a garage sale this summer for about $2.00. It was missing a filter and a charger. It was a gamble and I got lucky…Julie had a charger that would work and I taped up a couple layers of a used dryer sheet to make a filter. I looooove the dust buster handheld thingy. I don’t think I will ever live without one of these handy cleaning tools again. I use it to vacuum the steps and corners in the kitchen. I’ve even used it to vacuum my counter tops when I spilled oatmeal.

OK, the revelation part is that having clean floors makes the whole house seem cleaner! Maybe the rest of you already knew this but I didn’t. The floors were my least favorite job and I would procrastinate until I couldn’t anymore. Now I can keep up with them in no time and the whole house seems cleaner…and it’s easy!

New Year’s Resolution

I’ve been pretty successful with my resolutions in the past. Last year I vowed to “touch everything in this house and put it where it belongs”. I did that…it just didn’t stay there! I’ve realized that this will be ongoing…especially while I still have children living with me. This year I am going to fix up my bedroom. Sounds easy but it is quite the project. I need to:

Caulk where the ceiling meets the walls.
Sand down lumps in the ceiling where the previous owners did a bad taping job.
Add baseboard.
Add trim around my closet door.
Come up with a color scheme.
I have unfinished wood floors in there that need something…
Paint the walls.
Paint the ceiling.
I would LOVE a new ceiling fan.
Make a headboard.
Make a dust ruffle

Well, you get the idea. And I want to do it all for next to nothing… cause I’m ~~cheap~~ thrifty! I’ve decided to tackle this room because we’ve lived here for over a decade and I’ve done nothing to it…and it is a room you can see when the door is left open. It’s embarrassing. And I’ve been spending more time in there over the past year or so cause it is a relatively quiet and comfortable place to read or watch TV when chaos (teenagers) is happening in the living room. Wish me luck.

I also want to find a shirt pattern that fits me and make shirts…this resolution scares me more than the bedroom…

Happy Crafting!!! (and cleaning)

Ahhhhh…back to normal!

2011-01-03T09:03:00.001-06:00

Here is one of the gifts I made that I couldn’t show you-

It is a notebook with Gabe’s artwork as the front cover. I just printed out the little robot on cardstock and glued it to the front. Here is a picture of the notebooks as they were being made…

These are all 3x5” with around 50 sheets of paper cut from misc. paper I had on hand (notebook paper, graph paper, copier paper, plotters paper) and backed front and back with chipboard. I clamped the pages together with clothespins and applied padding compound to the top edge (a BIG thanks to Carmen for the padding compound!) and then covered the top edge with book binders tape. FYI: I’ve read that caulking works for the top edge (it holds all the paper together) or several coats of white glue…but the padding compound is just so easy and not messy! Here are some other notebooks we made…

These were fun too…to switch it up a little we busted out our stamps and stamped on random pages in the notebooks with little pictures and sayings…it was a lot of fun…I love girls craft night!

Happy Crafting!

Holiday…

2010-12-28T11:08:00.001-06:00

Did you have a Merry Christmas? We really, really did! Now we are gearing up for New Year’s Eve which is always fun! I’m not going to do a long post today I just wanted to quickly share two links…

#1. If your New Year’s resolution is to tidy and clean your house go visit organizedhome.com/ . I just found this site and can’t wait to dig in and see what they have to offer…I especially like their printables.

#2. If you are going to be having or are attending a New Year’s party check out all these cool Jell-O Shot recipes! Wow – who knew you could get so creative with Jell-O Shots!

Crafting has pretty much stopped over here-I have a house full of kids, a head cold, and a Christmas mess to sort and organize…have a happy and safe New Year!!!

Happy Crafting!

All Things Paper

2010-12-23T09:45:00.001-06:00

Hello! If you’re visiting from Ann’s blog, All Things Paper, you must be wondering…where are all the paper crafts? Well, I actually do craft with paper all the time. But because I’m a crafting addict I craft with other materials as well…however, I find myself coming back to paper again and again. There is just something so simple and yet complex about paper. It’s just so versatile!

Click here to see a lot of things I’ve made with paper.

Isn’t paper amazing! You can paint it, cut it, glue it, curl it, make it, stamp it, bind it…and it is so inexpensive it is accessible to anyone! Thank you for stopping by – I am just so flattered that Ann posted about me today! (It is a “Merry Christmas to me” moment! Thank you Ann!)

Happy Crafting and Merry Christmas to all!

Last minute crafty gift ideas!!

2010-12-22T09:46:00.001-06:00

This is an old barbeque sauce bottle…

There is still time to whip up a couple gifts…with minimal supplies…Here is a bottle I etched with etching cream…for myself. However, I also made one up for Carmen, she already knows because I wanted her input for the words…she picked “Drink Me” (remember? Alice in Wonderland?) Anyways, I then made one up for myself. It’s as easy as sticking on some vinyl stickers (the kind you would use on your mailbox-you can get them at the dollar store) outlining the letters with masking tape, and painting on etching cream. (Thank you Julie for letting me use your etching cream!)

Here are some paper cuttings I cut out…I did a google search for “Free Holiday Clipart” and this is one of the images that popped up…there are two more elves that I want to cut out…I love the attitude! All this required was paper and a scissors!

I needle felted this little guy last night. I think I’m going to keep him. This required some roving and a felting needle. For a small investment you could have a whole herd/flock/gaggle/school of snowmen!

This little deer was made using my scroll saw, free clipart again, scrap wood, clothespin, hot glue, paint and glitter. I couldn’t tell you to go out and buy a scroll saw…but ask around! I personally know of at least four people who own them…and would let me use them! (I’ve completed three of these so far).

I made everything except the etched bottle yesterday.

Good luck and Happy Crafting!!!

Awwww, I couldn’t stay away….

2010-12-21T08:46:00.001-06:00

Just a couple things…first of all does your basement have that “not so fresh” smell. (Remember those commercials!) I thought I’d like to smell something other than dust while doing laundry and organizing yesterday so I put some oatmeal in a circle of fabric, sprinkled some potpourri oil on it, tied it up, and hung it from a return vent. This is the vent that blows warm, heated air. I’m thinking I’ll do the same thing at an intake vent, this will pull the scented air into the furnace and blow it throughout the house. It’s not a strong smell, the potpourri oil was from the dollar store, but it is fresher down there!

Otherwise I’m combating dust bunnies. And the bunnies are winning…they all look remarkably like this little critter…

Ahhh, remember summer?

Because of all the static she darn near sparks as she walks across the carpet and the static is pulling the hair from her to the floor…time to get the humidifier going! And, maybe I’ll put some potpourri oil next to the intake of that as well.

That’s it! Happy Crafting!!

It’s CRUNCH time!!!

2010-12-20T12:46:00.001-06:00

Christmas is at the end of this week! ARE YOU READY? I almost am…I’m not going to share any pictures though and spoil any surprises…BUT if you find yourself with some time on your hands this week you might want to make some of these:

Who knew toilet paper and paper towel tubes could become so pretty?! The possibilities are endless…

Have a very Merry Christmas!!! I’ll be back next week – Happy Crafting!!!!!

I have a B-A-T!

2010-12-14T07:23:00.001-06:00

My B-A-T is actually what I call my “Big Ass TV”. What does one do with these beasts?! I currently have it on a dinky little dresser that is smaller than the TV. sigh. I have a larger, retro dresser in the basement that would be cool – but it is currently BRIGHT BLUE! What was I thinking!! It’s going to be a trial to refinish it…it’s a very nice wood under a few coats of paint…so it would seem a shame to repaint it…but I just can’t imagine scraping all that paint and primer off…sure wish I hadn’t painted it back in the day. That is maybe my ONE paint regret.

I’ve been looking around for solutions and have found I like a tv stand I’ve found here. (click the pink word) And, I just might go this route to save time…and money. But mostly time! Any ideas? (I know what you’re thinking – spoiled ROTTEN – I agree, my hubbie is spoiled rotten - giggle!) Happy Crafting!

Wire tree part II – and other crafts…

2010-12-13T09:25:00.001-06:00

Waaaay to cold to take a picture outside (-17 F!) so we’ll have to make do with cruddy indoor pictures for now. Here is the tree almost finished. I used modge podge to seal the sticky floral tape and it worked great! I didn’t even bother with the spray sealer. I’ve added a swing – but the swing seat is not permanent…just to be used “for now”. The “roots” were never meant to be seen…that’s why they are so dinky. There will be much more to this tree by the time I’m done. And…I’ve started another, larger tree…yes…I really did.

Can you see it there amongst the clutter? Geesh, do you also have 15 different projects going at any given time or is it just me?

We did have girls craft night on Friday evening and we made these mushrooms…

It’s too bad you can’t see the sparkle, cause these babies are glittered! The project can be found at MarthaStewart.com! (LOVE MARTHA!)

And…Lisa sent some fabric my way so I quickly covered a couch cushion in this cute flannel. Thank you Lisa! The cover is removable so I can wash it up and keep it clean. It’s so cuddly!

Last but not least Gabe and I made this snow globe. He has a “thing” for snowglobes and has always loved them. Boy was he tickled to make this! The little snowman is a polymer clay snowman I made a couple years ago on another craft night with Carmen. The funny thing is he’s tall and skinny outside the globe…and fat and jolly inside the globe. I like him much better this way! I used hot glue to glue everything down and to seal the lid on – it works great so far. Otherwise it’s filled with boiled water (then cooled) and a half a teaspoon or so of glycerin and LOTS of glitter. (Maybe too much glitter – is there such a thing?) Thanks Julie for reminding me of this great craft!

Well, that’s it for now – Happy Crafting!!

Wire tree – part 1

2010-12-10T09:50:00.001-06:00

Here is a picture of my workspace – aka: my spot at the kitchen table. There’s a lot of little projects going on! I’m excited to show you my wire tree…I took random pieces of wire (a neighbor brings me random wire clasps from his work that they would otherwise throw away)…taped them together with masking tape…and am now in the process of covering it all up with brown floral tape. Thank you Carmen for picking that up for me!!! I wanted a tree that was sturdy but still bendable. The only thing that I’ll have to deal with is that the floral tape is sticky on both sides…hmmm…I don’t want a tree covered in dog hair…so I’ll maybe modge-podge it or spray it with a sealer. I guess you’ll have to wait until Monday to know what works the best!

Here’s a close-up of the tree/masking tape combo.

See that mushroom in the top picture? It isn’t done yet – but it is a project I saw on Martha the other day and had to try. I’ve invited a couple friends over for “Girls Craft Night” tonight to make those mushrooms and another project…but I have a sick kid…we’ll see who’s brave enough to come. I’ve been up since about 3 AM with him (my youngest) and I’m tired. I’ll probably be so wired by caffeine by the end of the day I could have a party all by myself, but it would be more fun if they come mess up my kitchen with me! Hope I’m making sense…Happy Crafting!

Hey here is a great give a way you might want to enter:

2010-12-07T10:53:00.001-06:00

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme

TodaysMama and GameStop are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family? To continue to be healthy and happy!

2. What is your Christmas morning / Hanukkah Nightly tradition? Presents from Santa!

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be? A digital cutter.

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money? By spending time with the children doing “holiday” projects, like decorating, baking, coloring pictures…

5. What games did you play with your family growing up? Uno

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood? We “danced” around the Christmas tree by holding hands in a big circle, walking around the tree, and singing Christmas carols.

7. Where would you go for a Christmas/Hanukkah-away-from-home trip? I really would just want to stay here!

8. Check out GameStop and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?

Thousands are entering and only a few will win…but if you don’t enter you won’t win for sure!!

Felted bowls and organization tip

2010-12-06T09:27:00.001-06:00

First the organization tip. Remember this white cabinet I found? Well, in the summer I clear out all the winter gear and put summer supplies in it and in the winter I clear out all the summer gear and put winter items in it. Here it is. The box labeled “bags” is full of library bags. The middle basket holds Abby’s hat, mittens, and scarf. The box on the right is stuffed with scarves and gators. The green basket on the bottom is labeled “hats” and the wooden bin is full of misc gloves and mittens. We have that many hats and mittens! The teal tub on the top of the cabinet holds library books. We get so many we’ve outgrown the bags. (Guess I’ll have to move them!) So aside from labeling everything better this is a system that works! Well, it’s worked for about two weeks…but that is a HUGE improvement. If the outdoor gear is wet it gets hung up on this blanket rack which is then stationed over a heating vent.

The bin on top of the dresser that you can just barely see holds dog leashes. The drawers hold my winter gear and my husband’s winter gear. Then in the spring it will hold all the winter gear. I don’t want the drawers to be opened and shut 50 times a day because it is a very old dresser – and the drawers were always hanging open and pushed in wonky. It was just easier to move the stuff than to deal with it all the time.

And here is what I’ve been working on over the weekend!!!

These felted bowls were fun to make! Then I dyed the green one and the blue one using food coloring and the microwave. I’m addicted. Functional art is always a thrill! I want to further embellish them but will have to wait until they are thoroughly dry and I can come up with an idea. I’ll link up to the tutorials I used some other time.

Happy Crafting!!!

What does tidy mean to you?

2010-12-03T13:16:00.001-06:00

I’ve been wrestling with this one for a while. A few weeks ago someone who had never been in my house before called to say she’d be over in about 10 minutes. I calmly said “OK – sounds great!” and then I FREAKED!!! My house was NOT looking presentable. This was for a number of reasons…I have three kids, their friends, two dogs, a husband, a crafting addiction, and at that time a pretty busy schedule. I ran around and threw stuff behind any closed door that wasn’t already bursting at the seams. After my friend left I asked myself how I could keep that from happening again. What does tidy mean to me? Not perfect…tidy. I decided the kitchen floor had to be swept every day. The counters have to be wiped off after breakfast and making school lunches, and the kitchen table wiped down…RIGHT AWAY! We have a peninsula counter in our kitchen that is a magnet for all sorts of weird things…~~especially crafts~~. The various blankets and pillows have to be stashed from the couch, and the garbage can’t be overflowing. The shoes must be lined up neatly in the front entry and the jackets hung up. Wet stuff (we have lots of snow) go onto the drying rack over the heating vent…not the floor. And I suppose I should swab out the bathroom as long as I’m trying to make new habits. And I’m trying to make the kids develop new habits too. That is harder on me than just doing it myself. I have to remind them constantly. I hope they start to hang their jackets automatically before I start to sound like a naggy nag.

In other news I’ve needle felted a bit -

and this little guy isn’t done yet but here’s a preview:

I also took apart my dishwasher and took this part off and cleaned it and put it back on. It’s a flow regulator thingy. (I always take pictures when I’m taking something apart so I can get back together correctly!) My dishwasher works like a brand new machine again! It was clogged with calcium! I just googled “my dishwasher doesn’t get my dishes clean” to get tips and how-to’s on what to do.

And, we decorated for Christmas! All done!!! Have a great weekend and Happy Crafting!!

More crafting…

2010-11-29T09:26:00.001-06:00

My husband was on vacation last week…so I was too (pretty much). We had a really great time!! Nothing was planned, we just spent a lot of time together…it was so nice…

I do enjoy a handcraft to work on in the evenings and this is a redwork embroidery I’m about finished with. I think it looks just a little bare though. You can’t see in the picture, but I added beads to the “garland” at the top…but the stockings need a little something? Any suggestions? (I got the pattern from the Yahoo embroidery group)

And, of course, I’ve been a needle felting FOOL! I’ve started to make a little snowman family – geez it’s fun!!! I love that it is a craft that is easily put down and then easy to start again, and it’s portable because you don’t need many/much supplies. And – I’ve figured out how to needle felt cheaply!!! If you’d like to know my source for supplies contact me via email and I’ll send you a link.

And here is the first snowman of the season – he was made a couple weeks ago – yeah – he’s funny!

Happy Crafting!!!

More needle felting and wood cutting…

2010-11-15T08:17:00.001-06:00

My hubbie is the best hubbie in the whole world!!! He came home with this book for me on Friday!

I had so much fun looking at the pictures and reading about needle felting. The book is written by a Japanese needle felter, and has been translated and published in the US by Chronicle Books. (Geez I LOVE the books Chronicle books publishes…click the picture to get to the site.) There are so many cute little things to make that I had a hard time picking something to start with, but finally chose these little mice.

They were pretty darn easy to make…and they make great pincushions…the natural oils from the wool keeps the pins from rusting. I thought the directions in the book were clear and easy to understand. These mice are also just cute and fun…gotta have cute and fun in our lives.

Then I cut out a couple more moose? reindeer? with my scroll saw. This time they are about 6 1/2 inches tall. I’ve been using all my scrap wood and while it’s great to save money and make my stash smaller, it’s a bummer that a lot of the wood was in the scrap pile because it’s either dirty or warped. So…I have to paint this guy. I’m thinking a nice whitewash? That way we still have the wood grain but it is cleaner looking…

And I went to the bazaar at my church on Saturday. It opened at 8:30 AM. I got there at about 8:36 AM. I couldn’t find a place to park! The place was packed!!!! We had made (and I use “we” loosely here) some wreaths and all but one had a sold sign on it – by 8:36!!!! The leather brooches I made were almost half gone – and stuff was flying off the shelves. I bought a very nice apron and an ornament. My son bought Christmas gifts in the kid’s gift room. I saw some of what he picked out – he’s so excited. I’ll find out this week what of mine didn’t sell and then I can bring it home. It was really thrilling to be a part of the bazaar.

Happy Crafting!!!

Trying something new…

2010-11-12T09:51:00.001-06:00

I’ve wanted to try needle felting for a long time – and finally did! I purchased the supplies back in August and fooled around a little bit – now I’m doing a little each evening. This is my bunny. He/she is not done. Got a lot of “fuzzies” to take care of. (And from the front he/she looks a little bit like a capibara – don’t know what to do about that…)

This is (duh) a mushroom.

Then I’ve been fooling around with my wood-burner. We used it the other night at a bazaar meeting and I couldn’t stop thinking about it! (It’s harder than I remember to get a really nice result – for the pattern I just Googled “snowflake clipart - free!)

Her is a little reindeer/moose that I cut out on my scroll saw. He hasn’t been sanded yet… again…just Google for an image.

And, while I’ve been doing all that my mixer has been doing this! Mixing up bread dough for the bazaar tomorrow! I have had so much fun working with these ladies – they are awesome and I can’t wait for next year!

Have a great weekend and Happy Crafting!

Card for my mom…

2010-11-08T09:27:00.001-06:00

I made this card for my mom’s birthday using a free pattern from mmmcrafts – thank you!

Over the weekend I made another shelf for my crafty stuff – and got a little more organized.

Also…in the words of my little goof-ball during Grace at dinner last night “Thank you God for the delightful deer dad got.” Hee hee – he uses words like “delightful” – geez I hope he doesn’t get beat up over that some day

What I’m working on…

2010-11-05T09:34:00.001-05:00

A bunch of paper mache ornaments stenciled and ready for the bazaar… (I didn’t make the disks, I just cut a stencil and painted…stencil found here.)

Little pin cushions in various stages of completion - brought to my attention by Julie who pointed me to this tutorial.

And a little something I’m working on…and I’m sorry, but I can’t find my “inspiration” link.

This weekend I’ve promised my little guy some craft time. I’ve asked him to draw a picture of a monster that he’d like to hang out with. He said “are we going to sew it into a stuffed animal?” ahhhh, he knows me well!

Happy Crafting and have a fun SAFE (all you deer hunters) weekend!

Leather…

2010-11-03T10:03:00.001-05:00

Here’s a look at my work table (aka kitchen table). I’ve been having fun putting scraps of leather together…another project for the craft bazaar…

Happy Crafting!

Gnomes have invaded…

2010-10-27T09:04:00.001-05:00

I have over twenty of these on my kitchen table waiting to be made into something for the craft bazaar…hmmmmm…email if you’d like a pattern. Happy Crafting!

Busy, busy, busy!!!

2010-10-22T09:56:00.001-05:00

Isn’t this little guy CUTE! It was a perfect craft to do with the kids and the tutorial can be found at Then She Made. Awesome idea! My son and his sidekick made these last night (sidekick’s project went home before a picture could be taken) – It’s always great when a craft encompasses boys and girls and is easy and satisfying!

Then my sidekick and I made more little birdies – again – pictures weren’t taken of hers…gotta get on the ball about that. But here is mine:

I rounded out their bellies and made each bird a 10% bigger than the next one – smallest bird is on the top and I really like it! I think this one has to live at my house rather than go to the bazaar…I’ll make them another one. There are tons of little holes on the top of each bird too cause it took several tries to get them to hang straight! I think I’m going to making a lot more of these birdies cause they make me happy – even bigger next time!

I started a project that didn’t make me happy yesterday. Curtains for the living room…shoulda known it wasn’t going to go well when first thing I did was cut myself on the tape measure…and bled on my fabric…and then my son got spaghetti sauce on the backing fabric…and I couldn’t cut a straight line for anything…it’s now in a keeper to be brought to my mom’s house so she can help me! I have 35 FEET of fabric to wrestle with and I’m scared of making a mistake…argh!!! (Purchased for about $8.00 at the thrift store!)

Have a great weekend and Happy Crafting!

Disclaimer: the term “sidekick” is interchangeable with each person referred to and the other person referred to. All it is meant to mean is the person who we’re spending time with - “sidekick” was used to protect their privacy.

And thank you Carmen for the link to the video about our hospital… and yes…there is some irony there!!! (inside joke!)

More Craft Bazaar Projects

2010-10-19T08:56:00.001-05:00

Here’s what I’ve made – paper mache gift tags – and these little birdies cut from one inch pine and decopaged, and are still in various stages of completion. I still need to paint the edges and seal them. These are my patterns – if you’d like a copy of the sketch just email me. Simple and quick little projects. Happy Crafting!

Chickens…

2010-10-18T09:57:00.001-05:00

I am making some things for the craft bazaar at our church. I thought this chicken was just adorable! I found the pattern at Myrtle and Eunice. I emailed her and asked permission to make these for the bazaar – and she was gracious enough to say yes. So far I have made three. They are a cinch to put together – if you look at her pattern you will see I did change the wings (always gotta make things a bit more difficult )…I have plans to make more softies…it is a great way to use up scraps of fabric. I’m even making up my own pattern that I hope to show you soon. So much to craft….such a messy house. (And I mean messy!!)

Also go check out this video that features the hospital and clinic in our town – it’s just awesome!

I FINALLY sewed again!!

2010-10-12T08:51:00.001-05:00

I seem to have been in a sewing slump lately. There is always something else that needs to be done instead. It was time to break the no-sewing-cycle! Well, I can always use a fabric basket – so I’ve been making up a pattern as I go – I think this is almost right. I do want to add some handles and maybe tweak the shape a little bit. When I’m happy I’ll share the pattern if you’d like. Here is a close-up of the button – I think it’s pretty neat! It’s metal – kinda hard to see in the photo.

Over the weekend we went to Duluth/Proctor to watch our friend drive in an enduro race. That was FUN! Over a hundred cars started out and this is what the track looks like at times…

And this is the winning car – driven by our friend Bob!!!

As you can see in the enduro race you can have passengers – well I have a Ford Escort wagon in my front yard with over 310,000 miles on it and just enough life left in it for this race (hope) – my hubbie will drive it in this race next year and I get to ride with and take video!

Oh – and if you’re in Duluth you should go to Canal Park on the shore of Lake Superior. We went there for a picnic lunch before the race – beautiful!

Coco the neurotic chihuahua!

2010-10-08T10:51:00.001-05:00

For your chuckle of the day, here’s a video featuring our chihuahua Coco -

Have a great weekend!! Happy Crafting!!

“Paper Clay”

2010-10-05T08:23:00.001-05:00

I have been researching paper clay these days. Can you believe these were made with a mixture of glue and cornstarch? They are pretty tiny…and I’ll be experimenting with larger versions as time goes by. All I did was pour out a little pile of cornstarch and then a little puddle of glue on top of that and mixed, and mixed, and got messy! If it was too sticky add a bit more cornstarch, if too dry add more glue. Easy peasy! I also found that Aileen’s Tacky Glue has held up the best. Elmer’s school glue wasn’t so great – I got some major cracking as they dried. If you want more information go here and here. Happy Crafting!!!

In other news my son spent a lot of time making this (and HE really made it – not me – it was HARD not to help!):

It’s a volcano that is ready to be set off today at school! We he used the same paper mache method that was used to make the stumps. Although this took 5 days to dry at least! And that is after spending a lot of time in the oven on low…there is a pop bottle inside to hold the baking soda and he has been sent to school with a funnel and vinegar – fingers crossed! Instructions for Faux Bois tree stumps found here (Martha’s instructions) – and examples of our finished faux bois stumps found here.

Soap!!

2010-10-03T17:30:00.001-05:00

I have wanted to make soap for a long, long, LONG time! Well, I finally talked Carmen into making it with me. So, yesterday we made our first batch and this is my half of the results!!! 20 bars of fabulous soap!!! Some bigger bars and some little bars but 20 bars! Can you tell I’m EXCITED! Now for the hard part…we have to wait around 4 weeks before we can try it out. Arggggg.

Rhino LOVE!

2010-09-27T09:28:00.001-05:00

See that smile on my hubbie’s face?! He is HAPPY!!!! This is our new toy (notice the emphasis on our) – it’s a Yamaha Rhino. We want to do more things together as a family and oh-boy is this going to be family-fun…and…apparently it will make hunting much more enjoyable. hehe. (Like that isn’t already fun…) It is also ok to drive these on the streets in our town. So I’ve brought it to the recycling center (way more fun!), the grocery store, a local craft show, and the hardware store. AND we got a plow that attaches to it! I NEVER have to shovel the ridge of snow the snowplow leaves ever again!!! Oh happy day. That was the biggest selling point for me – well that and the fact that Abby and I can drive all day without trouble. Ahhhh…

Fiddling With Paper

2010-09-21T09:02:00.001-05:00

I’ve just been fiddling with paper lately. I’m making these bugs to be a part of a larger project that has been in the works for quite a while now. I finally feel a bit more caught up with housework…but there is still a lot to do. How do you fellow crafters handle the housework/craft situation? Can you craft with a sink full of dirty dishes? Lately I’ve been feeling that I have to have housework done before I can craft…….only problem is…….housework is never done……there is always more to do! Really – how do you handle this????

Crazy busy…

2010-09-16T09:36:00.001-05:00

It has been crazy busy around here. You’d think that now that school has started I’d have a lot more time to craft. NOT TRUE! My laundry is stacked up to my waist and the kids rooms and hallway upstairs have exploded. There is so much to do…I’m feeling overwhelmed. I went with my husband to Fargo Tuesday and Wednesday. He had a work meeting and took me with him. That was nice. We had a nice long car ride to talk and spend time together both there and back. His work also volunteered the group to do a service project. I got to go with…we ripped/dug out some bushes and hauled about 900 buckets of rock out of a “flower bed” at a homeless shelter. Then we were treated to a great supper at a local restaurant. All good. Of course while I was gone my house exploded. Actually, I think it had exploded before I left but when I got back I got to look at it with “new eyes”. NOT good. So while my mind is brimming with ideas my time is limited. I did make a pair of earrings right before we left – it took five minutes max. After seeing so many at the Little Falls Craft fair I just had to. Oh yeah, Dr. Oz caught my attention yesterday when I was watching TV while hubbie was at the meeting…he was looking at a woman’s hand and saying that if the lines on your hand aren’t dark you need more iron. Well, my lines are almost WHITE! Guess that’s what I get for being a vegetarian. Apparently a lack of iron can really cause fatigue. Yep, that sounds about right. So…I’ve started taking my vitamins again. I hope to be peppy soon! Happy Crafting!

Little Falls Craft Show!!!

2010-09-12T15:39:00.001-05:00

Going to the Little Falls Craft Show has been a tradition of mine for about 20 years now. The only time I missed going was last year…but that was so I could go to Montana instead. I’ve gone with a bunch of different people over the years and even went alone for a few years, this year Carmen went with me and we had a great time!! I think we walked about 800 miles…and I’m still wore out today…but I got some treasures! Apparently what I was drawn to was outside decorations and not inside decorations. Weird…just wasn’t drawn to any of the other stuff this year…

The above picture is of a hanging-rope-swing/chair/hammock. Go here for some better pictures. I’ve been wanting one of these for a long, long time!!! As you can see I got it in the lovely color of camouflage. hehe.

This is a wonderful little yard decoration. Actually it isn’t so very little…

Then we have a little metal flower and a flying pig…very cute!

THIS ONE IS MY VERY FAVORITE!!!!! Isn’t he FUNNY!!! This little dude is going to make me smile every day and come winter he will definitely come inside to cheer us up! hehe! Ahhh, it was fun…can’t wait until next year!

Bike Bag

2010-09-09T08:59:00.001-05:00

We love to ride bike around here and are blessed with a wonderful bike trail just blocks from our house. I really want a bike basket but haven’t gotten around to picking one out so in the mean time I have this little pouch that hangs from my handle bars with velcro loops. It is just big enough to carry a few things like my phone and wallet. I made it very simply out of felt and embroidered the edges of the bunting. I love the colors of the bunting but wish I’d used a different pouch color…

ahh well, Happy Crafting!!

End of summer…

2010-09-06T16:17:00.001-05:00

*Picture taken while camping this weekend. Can you believe how big my boy is? Sometimes I can’t believe he’s really mine…

I cannot believe how fast this summer went! We stayed so busy it just flew past – we went to Oklahoma, Abby went to camp twice, Gabe participated in the summer reading program (and Abby and I volunteered), Gabe went to two different bible schools for two weeks, we went camping twice, and Devon had many friends over and over and over…we had a 4th of July party and a french fry party…and our usual Tuesday night campfire nights…plus we started having friends over to hang with us in the garage most Friday evenings, we celebrated three birthdays this summer, and had to say good-bye to Rusty…it has been action-packed. Phew. Tomorrow the kids go to school – you might hear me singing, and I probably won’t answer the phone between the hours of 8 AM and 3 PM just to enjoy the silence. Happy School Year! to all the other mom’s out there who have been with their kids 24/7 for the summer and loved almost every minute of it…but can’t wait for a little bit of silence!!!

Are you smarter than my husband?

2010-08-31T12:08:00.001-05:00

This is what I’m currently working on:

Can you tell what it is? I’ll give you a hint – it’s backed by plastic canvas. I’ll let you in on the secret when I finish. When I showed this to hubbie he got the most confused look on his face!!! hehe. This is an idea that has been brewing in my head for a long, long time. Now I just can’t wait to finish!

In other crafty news yesterday the kids and I went to Julie’s end of the summer party and had a blast! You can read more about it here. Here is a picture of one thing I made at the party:

And last but not least I’m going to give you a cleaning tip. I am just too cheap to buy those disposable wipes like the Clorox wipes. So, I’ve started making my own. Here’s how:

Cut a roll of good paper towels in half. (An electric bread knife makes it EASY – otherwise use a serrated knife.)
Put one half away for next time and the other half into a close-fitting container with a lid. A Folgers's coffee container is perfect!
Add about 1/4 – 1/3 cup of your favorite all purpose cleaner.
Add about 1 cup of water.
Let it sit until the paper towels have soaked up all the liquid and remove the cardboard core from the paper towels and discard it.
You now pull them out from the center and clean, clean, clean!!!

I’ve been using mine for several weeks and LOVE them. Since it takes hot water so long to reach my kitchen sink these are just the thing to wipe down the counters. It’s a great way to get the kids to clean too. Just say “Take a wipe and wipe down the table”…etc…

Happy Crafting!!

My Hubbie’s Day Off

2010-08-25T23:26:00.001-05:00

Here is what we do when my hubbie has the day off (or I should say this is what we’d like to do –but don’t get to all that often).

Hubbie got a new toy! This is an AR 50 and it is LOUD and HEAVY! He is just getting the feel for it in this picture…cause you definitely need ear protection. My son and I plinked around with a .22 – it is just so much fun!

Just look at the smile on his face. I used to be a little scared of guns but taking the permit to carry course really helped me. I decided I better learn a little bit about guns and give them a try cause they are so important to my hubbie. If you can’t beat them – join them! To my amazement I have a LOT of fun with him at the shooting range. We giggle like little kids.

Here are some videos of my hubbie and a good friend shooting this monster. Um, the first video is a bit shaky cause I just didn’t realize how much I’d JUMP. By the time the other video was shot I had propped my camera up on a garbage can and some sand bags so it is much steadier.

Happy Crafting!

Craft Room Storage Ideas

2010-08-24T15:41:00.001-05:00

I got a shelf thingy at a garage sale this summer for a dollar. I painted it up with some left-over spray paint and hung it in the basement for craft supplies – see:

Well, I loved it soooo much I decided to make another one – see:

I used old scrap lumber I had laying around. Some of the boards were/are even twisted but it still came together nicely! I have since hung it up and started organizing – see:

I made sure the bottom shelf would hold my big bottle of glue and the next shelf would hold those other bottles of glue…and just kind of winged the other shelves. I’m sure I’ll paint it eventually but at the time it was soooo humid here the paint wouldn’t have dried. I hung each shelf a different way and will show you another time. I’ve been playing around with ways to hang stuff in the basement without going through the concrete. Oh – and I’d like to say that the crookedness is an optical illusion…but it isn’t. Stuff is crooked in my house. Since I hang stuff myself and haven’t grown an extra arm it is what it is.

PS: See all those ink pads on the third shelf of the blue unit - up on the left – 12 of them? Well, I scored them at a garage sale on Friday for $6.00 – and many of them were still wrapped in packaging!!!! So then I inked up a hole protector and stuck them on the ends to show what colors they are.

Happy Crafting!!!

Bad news/Good news/Cool Chair!

2010-08-19T09:50:00.001-05:00

The bad news was that while cleaning crud out of my kitchen faucet handle (inside) it fell apart. More bad news…I had a heck of a time finding the stem valve…good news I got it online and installed. Bad news…that very day our hot water heater decided to take a crapper. So while the faucet was now capable of hot water there was no hot water to be found. Good news…went to town and purchased a new hot water heater and my hubbie and a fantastic family friend installed it last night. PHEW! More good news…while shopping for a new hot water heater we stopped at the Re-Store and I found two of these chairs for $5.00 each!

Because I love looking everything up online I found they are selling for $140.00/chair. And my hubbie didn’t want me to get them…hehe. I’m keeping them. One is my new kitchen table chair cause we’re always short a chair and the other one is my new office chair. LOVE them!

Crafty news is that I played with my scroll saw the other day. My friend, Julie, had given me a bunch of woodworking magazines and this pattern was calling my name:

OK, it’s a crappy picture, after I get it sanded and finished I’ll take a better one. (It’s a goofy rooster). Fun stuff! Happy Crafting!

Quilling gone wrong…

2010-08-15T21:11:00.001-05:00

This was supposed to be a representation of fireworks. Sometimes things just don’t work out – ha ha. At least the colors are patriotic.

Otherwise I’m finally getting a little crafting juice flowing again…I have a couple ideas to try out and I can’t wait! It has been too long since I’ve done anything.

I’m also still sad about Rusty. Today is the first day I haven’t cried about that darn dog. It is strange being in the house without him…and sometimes it is strange in a good way. I had a bag of garbage ready to go out and it didn’t get torn into! There is nobody staring at me incessantly at 9:00 at night ready for his biscuit…Rusty had a built-in alarm clock. Then I’ll feel guilty for enjoying the change…argh!!!!!!

Today we took Abby to camp for another session. She was soooo excited! Before we dropped her off we did a little shopping for school clothes. Have you ever been to Savers? They are a giant thrift store. They are a bit more expensive than the usual thrift stores I shop at but they have many more “brand-name” items. Abby actually got a little excited about shopping! She showed enthusiasm when I’d pull something out for her to try on – yippeeeee! We came home with 11 t-shirts, 7 sweatshirts (maybe a couple more I can’t remember), 3 pair of pants, 1 pair of shoes, and some random kitchen accessories and spent $123.00. At the checkout I learned that if I had brought a bag of stuff to donate I would have gotten 20% off my entire purchase!!! That was painful to hear! I will be soooo prepared next time. I really couldn’t care less what the label on a t-shirt says, but my older son cares. So I said “fine – you can have the brand-name stuff but it will be on my terms”…and he was totally OK with this arrangement. Happiness all around.

Happy Crafting!!

Camping ups and Downs…

2010-08-11T21:28:00.001-05:00

We are home again…Camping was good but I am sad because we had to have our Beagle, Rusty, put down. We had him for 13 years. I have spent more time with him than any other man or beast. And… to be honest…these later years he was a real pain in my butt…but I loved him dearly, and the hole that he has left in my everyday life will be slow to heal. While I am at peace with the fact that he couldn’t go on as he was, the finality of death chokes me up. There are no do-over’s people, love your people, love your pets…and give them all an extra hug.

Rusty, if I could I’d tell you that even though I was always tripping over you in these later years…and you constantly got into the garbage…I miss you. You were a good dog.

Robot Pendent

2010-08-05T13:35:00.001-05:00

My little guy made this to enter into our local county fair…and I was a dunderhead who didn’t read the rules close enough to know I had to pre-enter him three days before bringing the exhibit. Really! So it didn’t get entered. I think I was waaaaay more disappointed than he was.

Here is how we/he made it. He drew a picture of a robot and I shrunk it on our copier. Then he glued it to a piece of wood and I cut it out. Then he put in the arms and legs and such. We coated it with a clear glaze. Easy peasy…isn’t it CUTE!

Well, this will be my last post for a while as I’m going camping!!! Yippee!!!!! Hope you all are having a wonderful summer…

Happy Crafting! Kim

Danish Wedding Cake

2010-08-02T16:18:00.001-05:00

This is one of my favorite things in the whole world to eat!!! I was at a lovely wedding this weekend and this was served. It is called Kransekage or Danish Wedding Cake.

My aunt made this one – it is so yummy!!! The wedding took place on a Paddle Boat…

And we had a four hour ride on the Mississippi…wonderful views the whole way… while on the river…

And before we got on…

I felt very special to have been invited as it was a truly special event!

Happy Crafting!!

And to Austin, my prayers are with you!!!

First Annual French Fry Fiesta!

2010-07-26T18:24:00.001-05:00

We had a great weekend! We had our first annual french fry fiesta!! I purchased one of these:

and we cut and fried about 20 pounds of potatoes…and five sweet potatoes (YUM!)…and some jalapeño poppers…and some corn dogs…and some mozzarella bites…and we had all the fixins you could imagine…and we ate ourselves into food comas. I don’t feel so good today…duh! But the star of the party was the deep fried Oreos!! Here is how you make them…

1 package Oreos (regular or double-stuff)
2 eggs
1 2/3 cup milk
2 1/2 cup flour
4 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder

Mix dry in one bowl, mix wet in another, slowly whisk dry into wet until smooth. Dip an Oreo in the batter, knock off the excess and fry! Our oil was at 350 degrees. Fry until golden brown. (Just a couple minutes) Sprinkle with powdered sugar when done and prepare for ecstasy!!

Everything was so good we’re going to do it again next year…might take us that long to recover! But the weather was beautiful and the company was awesome (thanks for coming guys!!!)…it was a good day! Next year there will be even more surprises…and maybe even some fruit and veggies…maybe…

Crafts Revisited…

2010-07-23T12:32:00.001-05:00

I’ve been looking through old craft magazines and craft books lately. This is a quilled owl that I’ve made up a pattern for based on a picture in an old craft book… I’m thinking I need another mobile…

You’ll need:

(2) 4” strips coiled and glued to make the eyes. (Leave a little tail of paper at the end of the coil to make the “cheeks”).

(1) 2” strip formed into a circle and glued to make the body.

(1) 7/8” Strip to make the “forehead”.

(1) 5 1/2” strip to make the hoop.

(1) 4” strip tightly coiled to make the “hanger”.

Assemble to resemble the picture and there you go! Happy Crafting!!!

Hex love…

2010-07-19T08:32:00.001-05:00

Now what do I do with this? I made the little hexes to see if it would be something I’d enjoy. I do…but I used tiny scraps and this is all I have…potholder???

Ooooooooo

2010-07-15T20:28:00.002-05:00

Dragonfly in my yard...thank you Julie for moving it to this pretty flower for me!

Better After…

2010-07-14T20:13:00.001-05:00

This is a sweet little watercolor painting I picked up in Oklahoma. It makes me so happy!!! I got it for $1.99 at a thrift store! On the back is a sticker that says “Marilyn’s Art”. Here is the before picture:

Here is what it looks like after painting the frame white:

Now…doesn’t the watercolor just POP, instead of being overshadowed by the dark frame? Doesn’t it look fresh and new again? Some of my friends ~~Julie~~ have been giving me a lot of grief over painting all these frames white…I still think I’m right! If you would like to see more “before” and “after” of other people’s projects check out the blog Better After. Tons of inspiration. Warning: Lots of painted wood (LOVE IT!).

Now, I have a special request. Carmen, Lisa and I are working on a top-secret project for Thrift Store Horror! We want your thrift store horror stories…did you ever buy a chair at a thrift store and find it full of fleas? Or did you ever buy a table at a thrift store and have the leg fall off??? Any wonky story you have regarding thrift stores would be great! I can’t wait to read your stories!!! Go to Thrift Store Horror and contact us via email or in the comments section!!

Spider beauty…

2010-07-11T09:21:00.001-05:00

When I let the little dogs out in the morning I usually take a turn around the flowers to see what’s happening…and came across this…while spiders aren’t for everyone…I think this is an awesome picture!

Hope you are all having a great weekend!!

Happy Place

2010-07-09T10:36:00.001-05:00

I just have to say that paper goods bring me to my happy place. I was lucky enough to preview some new items from Chronicle Books. I swooned and panted when I saw the package in my mailbox. (Actually my hubbie brought the package in and probably thought I was swooning and panting for him…sorry honey…it was the package.) Inside the package was this:

Hope Valley stationery by Denyse Schmidt. For those of you who don’t sew, Denyse Schmidt designs lovely fabric and has brought the sweet and fresh look to stationery! Yay us!!

Also inside the package was:

As soon as he saw this my youngest son wanted to write a letter!!! I have been writing via snail-mail with a high school friend for years and she has a daughter about Gabe’s age…so Quinn there is a letter in the mail to you! (Hope you write back, Gabe needs the practice…writing a letter when you’re nine isn’t easy…)

And last but not least…Our love is here to stay – 15 postcards of affection.

Isn’t this a clever way to send a love note to your sweetie? The graphics are really cool too – I always love “old-school”.

If I could do it all over again I’d get a letterpress and go into the paper business. Is almost 39 too old??? I don’t know why paper goods trip my trigger so fast – there is just something about the smell and feel of paper and ink. The graphics…it’s my happy place!!! Happy crafting!!!!

This & That

2010-07-06T09:25:00.001-05:00

This is my “garden” and it’s going NUTS! Yippee!! In this little plot I have tomatoes, peas, beans, parsley, basil, and some volunteers – we don’t know what the plants are – either pumpkin or squash. See the yellow headboard in the back? I got that from my mother-in-law and am using it for the pole beans and peas. It’s been working great – thank you Mary! The peas and beans, however, have been starting to climb all over the tomatoes, it’s chaos.

This was a little gift from my hubbie – cause he has a great sense of the ridiculous too!

This light and cloud show was a little gift from God yesterday evening. It was just amazing!!!

Happy Crafting!

Oklahoma!

2010-07-01T08:47:00.001-05:00

Uff-da what a trip! The kids and I, along with my mom, went to Oklahoma to visit my father (he’s working there). I just don’t see him often enough…we had a great time. Round trip was 1,848 miles and we only had ONE emergency potty break! We were on the road from 5:30 AM to 9:30 PM. I don’t want to go anywhere in a vehicle for a long time, if I can’t bicycle to a place it’s too far away! hehe!

Now, I know Enid, Oklahoma isn’t a real hoppin tourist destination…but we found some pretty fun things to do! On Saturday we went to the Great Salt Plains and dug for selenite crystals.

I should have had my camera on a different setting…oh well. The salt plains are white – it looked/looks like a snow/ice-covered lake! Only… it was 105 degrees. (That’s me in the pink hat) I’m proud to say we didn’t get sunburned. This crystal is the biggest one I found. Most of the others were slivers compared to this. I think it is awesome!!! I really wanted to go back for more – the thrill of the hunt was sooo much fun. My boys are natural born diggers and also had a fantastic time.

We also went to Oklahoma City to visit the science museum. Wow. They have a GREAT museum there. There were tons of hands-on things for the kids to do and try. If it was closer we’d be there often!

What else did we do? Well, of course, I visited the thrift stores in Enid. While I was there I wanted to take some pictures for Thrift Store Horror. I couldn’t find any!!! I’ll be posting about that experience on Thrift Store Horror soon. :) But one thing I did find was a sweet silver ring. I dug in the dollar bin and although it was black I figured it was really silver. I cleaned it using the salt and foil method and it worked great!!! I’ll get a picture up later, but it is very delicate and sweet.

While I really didn’t want to leave my dad I really did want to get back to my hubbie and our life. It was wonderful to come home again. I don’t leave very often… and I think it is a great idea to get away once in a while. You have new experiences, make memories, sweat and explore… and appreciate home all over again. Walking through my front door was like, well, like coming home again!!

PS: I can’t wait to get back to crafting – I said to myself that “after the garage sale there will be time” – nope had to get ready for Oklahoma. OK…”after Oklahoma there will be time” – nope it’s the 4th of July this weekend! What will pop up next? Happy crafting!!

Garage Sale…

2010-06-21T08:54:00.001-05:00

This is a portion of our garage sale. We had tons of stuff!!! I loved that we used the canopies to shade everything and everybody. This picture shows about 1/3 of what we had for sale and was taken while we were still setting up. I have to admit that it really was a good experience. The kids got to practice making change and adding some money. They also cleared some of the clutter out of their rooms (which made me happy) and sold it and kept the money (which made them happy). I cleared out a lot of clutter and made my goal of getting a new cast iron skillet (which made me VERY happy)!!! I got to spend some time with my sister…even though it was a little chaotic…it was very nice. I can’t believe I’m saying this but we’re going to do it again next year. I love to donate my things to thrift stores that then take the profits and do “good” with the money. I’ve had to wrestle with this…but I’m offering what would have sold for $3.00 for 50 cents, that makes it accessible to even the poorest people. People who couldn’t drive stopped by on bicycles…they would rarely even get to the thrift store. And…it was such a good experience with the kids!! Three hectic days spent outside learning a surprising number of little lessons. My older son was such a good helper – especially when we packed everything up at the end – he got a lot of “atta-boys”. All. Good.

This is what I got!!! And as a bonus I was able to throw away two pans in my cupboard – yippee!!!! I got the 7 quart dutch oven, and a 12” skillet. The cover on the dutch oven also fits the skillet. We were lucky enough to find a sale and cast iron cookware from The Lodge was 20% off. I use my cast iron almost every day (the 10” skillet I already have) – I am so excited to add to my collection! I think both pieces ended up costing around $70 total. A bargain when you figure I’ll NEVER have to replace them. I am so much more into the natural materials these days. I’d rather wear wool than fleece…but I do love a little spandex in my jeans!!

Now, here is a giggle for you -

My younger son wanted to mow the lawn and we told him he had to wear goggles to protect his eyes – he did – swimming goggles! He was in the front yard running from end to end with those goggles all steamed up – hehe!!

Gotta love that kid, he’s really embraced his inner geek. Takes after his parents that way!!

Happy Crafting!!!

Cord Organizer

2010-06-15T10:20:00.001-05:00

Do you have a million little cords to hook up your gadgets to the computer – or to charge them? I do! They are/were always a tangle on my desk and finding the right one was frustrating! So, I came up with this. It isn’t pretty. Someday when life is less hectic I’ll aim for pretty – right now functional is the goal.

Basically I took a couple cereal boxes and some packing tape and started cutting and taping. It works great! Someday I envision pretty dividers with little tabs telling me what is in each box…well… we can dream. I have it in this wooden basket and it sits on a shelf very near the computer. As I find cords I coil them up and they now have a home!!!

Happy Crafting!!

Still here…

2010-06-14T15:13:00.001-05:00

Hello! I’m still here – it’s just been VERY hectic and to make matters worse this week I’m going to have a garage sale. My sister talked me into it! I had one a few years ago and I thought it was a bust…and I swore never to have one again. I’ve been happily donating my stuff ever since. Well, there is no getting around my sister when she gets an idea in her head so here I am. However, I have found that by doing this I’m getting closer to my goal of touching everything in this house and putting it away! I am also finding I am much more willing to part with certain things if I think I might get some cash. I have a goal in my head to make enough money to purchase a new cast-iron skillet. So, when I’m considering whether or not to sell something I ask myself what do I want more…this vase or a new skillet? It does make it easier to let go.

So, I will leave you with a link to Crafty Pod. You should go check out these podcasts – especially the one I’m linking to called Craft Supplies I Am No Longer Allowed To Buy. It ties in very nicely with this post!

Happy Crafting!!

Wooden Spool Peg Rack

2010-06-09T11:37:00.001-05:00

I saw this project and knew it would be my next one…I love, Love, LOVE how this turned out and plan to make some more!! You can find the tutorial at Design Sponge. I’ll try to take a picture on a nice sunny day so you can see it better…but this was just too good to wait! Thank you Grannie for all your old wooden spools!!

PS: I didn’t want to hang each spool directly on the wall so I mounted them to this piece of plywood first. Less holes in the wall to fill later! Happy Crafting!

2010-06-07T16:40:00.000-05:00

There – I think this is done. I have it in this frame…but there is no glass…I can see some frame building in my future. hehe. I have lots of ideas for more but have been frustrated trying to find the right paper. Regular quilling paper is too flimsy and cardstock is too thick. Grrrr. Well, today will be dedicated to cleaning and sorting. I’m just trying to work up enthusiasm for those projects…wish me luck!!

Blogger seems to be giving me some problems…so I’ve had time to take some more pictures and load them up…

This morning my little guy happened to be the only child at home…he spent some time sitting on the deck with his dog watching the world go by…

Then we found this little guy in the back yard and kept an eye on him. He’s gone now.?.

Last week I took some pictures of my middle son at the skate park. He’s awesome on a bike!

And, I got Abby to pose for a picture. Happy Crafting!!

2010-06-07T16:29:00.000-05:00

This is just a test...

Last day!

2010-06-03T10:34:00.001-05:00

Today is the last day of school! That means it is the last day of peace and quiet for me for the summer. One part of me is sad about that – but a big part of me is glad to be done for the year – and we are so looking forward to a schedule-free summer! I made the last peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the year yesterday. YES! Geez I get tired of that.

I finished quilling my picture and will show you next week – I got a frame yesterday and I still need to paint it white. But I did want to show you the table I got last fall. It was sitting on the side of the road. Free! Does this count as dumpster diving?

It’s in my craft area in the basement. It has a leaf so it could be longer, but it needs just a bit of repair work before I use it. Isn’t it pretty?! It’s oak. This will be the perfect fabric cutting table/scrapbooking table!! The plumbing you see under the table is where I could have a sink…and wanted a sink…but since there is a bathroom 10 feet away I decided this would be a better use for the space.

This is what I’ve been using to hold my works-in-progress. I got together everything needed for the quilling project and keep it on this cart. When I’m not using it I wheel it into my office. This is working really well. When the quilling-fever has died down I’ll empty it and fill it with the next project. I got this cart and several others at the dump. I think I need to spray-paint it to jazz it up – and suggestions on colors? Light blue? I dunno…

This is the “junk drawer” in my office. Since there are no drawers I’ve been repurposing jars that once held candles. I like it!

Also, thank you to everyone who has commented on my posts and/or given me an award lately…I haven’t forgotten…and will post on that. I’ve been such a bad blogger lately…at one time I just couldn’t get enough of the craft blogs and lately I can’t seem to concentrate on the computer…I dunno…

Well, have a great weekend and Happy Crafting!

W.I.P.

2010-06-01T08:09:00.001-05:00

Did you all have a good weekend? Our weather was simply beautiful!!! We had a couple campfires and had we had a hammock I think we would have slept outside. Here is what I’ve been working on, off and on, for a few days (mostly off).

It is still a work-in-progress, and I’m learning a lot. My fingers start to feel like hot dogs when working with the tiny pieces of paper! I picked the word “Calm” because I wasn’t feeling very calm the day I set this up. And with school getting out this week, I think I can use all the reminders I can find to stay calm. hehe. We are all excited about the end of the school year…no more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!!! I don’t have to make them and the kids don’t have to eat them – yippee!!! We are lucky enough to live in a town on a lake and it takes us about 3 minutes to walk to it – so I envision nice days of swimming and sitting on the grass – heaven!

Abby’s Artwork

2010-05-27T11:51:00.001-05:00

Abby is in an art class at school this quarter. I am so happy about that!!! She never wants to craft with me…but maybe this will spark a little more interest in her. Abby chose to take this class – wow! This project came home yesterday:

It’s a latch-hook. I think I’ll bind the edges with some red fabric (?) and it will hang in my office for the rest of my days.

Here is what it looks like hanging on my office wall:

No…I still haven’t painted this room…I am just HORRIBLE at making up my mind on a color. The white splotches you see are because I filled all those nail holes and then primed over them (and now I’m busy adding new holes left and right!). And doesn’t the moulding look nice and seamless now? I don’t know why it looks curved in the picture – cause it is straight on the wall? And now you know what I mean when I said the background paper on the three flowers paper cutting doesn’t exactly “go” with the theme…gotta fix that.

Are you wondering what I’m working on? I said I have felt a quilling fever coming on…

I have been admiring, gasping, and coveting the work by Yulia Brodskaya (click on her name to see an example at All Things Paper). The project you see above is a work-in-progress and a practice piece. I’ve learned lots just by what I’ve done so far – I will finish this one and probably do another using the techniques I’m picking up as I go along. I had a quilling fever a few years back and made oodles of quilled snowflakes…and gave them all away :) Isn’t it funny how a craft can overtake a person…then they drop it…and then it reemerges in fever-form once again? No? Well, that is often the way it works with me. Carmen is going to come over this evening for a quilling marathon…yippee!!!!! Oh – one last thing – the scrolled “K” is from another awesome blog called The Daily Drop Cap. Lots of inspiration over there! Happy Crafting!!

Another Felt Wristlet

2010-05-24T07:52:00.001-05:00

I have the felting bug…

My last wristlet was just a little too small so I made a bigger one over the weekend. :) I also have another one in the works…it is just so nice to have some hand-work to do in the evenings! I am however, starting to feel the felt-fever breaking…and I feel a quilling-fever coming on!

PS: The unfinished size of the wristlet is 9X12 and I used the felt-cutting-tips found here.

Happy Crafting!!

Happy Thursday!

2010-05-20T09:53:00.001-05:00

I finally framed the papercuts I did a while back. You can find the papercutting patterns here, here, and here. I will hang this in my office – I’m going with a neutral color on the walls and lots of pictures. I just love this background paper, but I’m not sure it is the right color for the job…someday soon I’ll take a picture of that wall and you can let me know what you think.

In other news I made up this sachet using an old dryer sheet and some baking soda. (Click the pink word to be taken to the tutorial). I’ll be using these in the big Rubbermaid keepers where I store my out-of-season clothes. Hopefully it will keep the clothes smelling fresh and not of plastic. I have too many clothes…I have sizes bigger and smaller than what I am now. I know, I know, I should just get rid of the bigger ones…I’d just like to know why it is so much harder to lose pounds when you’re over 35 than under 35. Forty is right around the corner and I’m scared to know how things will change then.

Also Carmen wrote nice things about me on our blog Thrift Store Horror – and you get to see the before picture of these paper-mache stumps. Go check it out.

I’ve been spending a lot of time outside, our weather has been gorgeous! I’ve heard that it will soon change from warm and dry to hot and sticky so I better get back out there – Happy Crafting!!!

Felt Wristlet

2010-05-17T08:26:00.001-05:00

I wanted a little something to carry when I’m just running to the store – and something that would fit into any bag I own. Something that would be able to hold my checkbook and other important stuff. This is what I’ve come up with so far. I think I’ll make one a little bigger next time. Notice the double zipper across the top? That wasn’t on purpose. It happened because I was jabbering on the phone and accidently zipped the zipper head right off! It was easy enough to add another and I like the way it looks. I’ve been intending to do a little embroidery on this too but just haven’t…The weather has been so wonderful…I don’t really have anything to show you regarding the outside chores just yet…but I’ve been touching up the window trim with paint…and touching up the doors. I got my planters mostly planted this weekend. They are pretty skimpy – but better than nothing. It’s hard when I’m so ~~cheap~~ thrifty cause it just kills me to pay for plants that only last one season. I did winter some geraniums in my basement…but forgot to get them out in time for this year. However, I planted them in a flower bed just the same so I can see if they green up and grow. Happy Crafting!

More boxy pouches made -

2010-05-13T08:45:00.001-05:00

I have nine pouches made, filled, and shelved. Um…I have a lot of felt! I’m looking for ideas now. I have some floating around in my brain and just have to get busy I guess. I didn’t want to use up my keychain stash on these so I twisted some wire into a loop on the last ones made. That worked just as great!

Now here is a recipe for Julie’s mom – who LOVES baking powder biscuits. (Me too!)

Easy-Peasy Tasty Biscuits

Cut together (as you would a pie crust):

1/3 C Butter Flavored Crisco

1 and 3/4 C Flour

2 and 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

3/4 teaspoon Salt

Then stir in 3/4 C milk until a soft dough forms. Plop down onto a baking sheet (not greased) and bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes. I plop down roughly 6 biscuits. You can add anything to these – I’ve added chives, bacon, cheese…you name it!

I hope you all have a great weekend and Happy Crafting!!

Storage Solution Version 1

2010-05-11T09:58:00.002-05:00

Last week I was lucky enough to hit a fantastic garage sale and I picked up a lot of wool blazers, coats, skirts, etc…Anyways, after felting them and taking them apart so I have nice big chunks (thank you Carmen!) I had a laundry basket of felted wool that had no home. Hmmmm, I’d love to put them in clear keepers with a lid…but that could get expensive…it sometimes seems as if I spend more on ways to store craft supplies than on the supplies themselves…I could sew a fabric box! No….I store everything in the basement now and while there aren’t a ton of spiders – spiders do happen – and dust happens. In the end I decided to make these boxy pouches and because I can’t see what is inside I added a key-chain ring to the zipper and tied a bit of whatever felt was inside. Ahhhh, this works GREAT! And because they are so easy and quick to make I whipped up three of them in 30 minutes.

These are roughly 7” tall, 6” wide, and 10” long. I used a thrifted white sheet to make them. Out of one good sized flat sheet you could make 9 boxy pouches. It would take roughly an hour and a half. To measure and cut the sheet I held a section from my fingertips to my bra strap and ripped from the short end. Then held that ripped piece from my fingertip to my bicep and ripped again the short way. Repeat until you have 9 rectangles and get sewing! (Oh I cut a three inch square to box the corners) - (Do you craft this way too? The part I hate the most about sewing is the cutting and getting everything ready – this, though, was just too easy!) Don’t get too hung up on the measurements – if you want to know how to make a boxy pouch go here – this is a great tutorial. Happy Crafting!!
PS: Full disclosure – I didn’t add any interfacing or a lining to my pouches – but I did serge the inside seams…just cause I could…you wouldn’t have to…they aren’t exactly going to get hard wear and tear…but if they were I would add a lining.
For more storage solutions go here - Organize and Decorate your Life - there's lots of good ideas!

Not a food blog…maybe a bread blog?

2010-05-07T09:28:00.001-05:00

Click on the picture to be taken to the recipe. This has become a favorite around here! It is just so quick and easy to make and doesn’t require milk…I have teenagers…nuff said. I have probably made 10 loaves in the past two weeks! Sorry that this isn’t a “crafty” post – but this is an excellent opportunity to archive our favorite bread recipes. Not that I ever lose my cookbook or anything…OK – I lose it a the time! I’ll bring it with me into the office, or while sitting on the couch, or sometimes I’ll even have it in the KITCHEN…and totally lose track of it! Otherwise I’ve been making little felt wristlets…and swearing a lot…more on that next week! Happy Crafting – and have a wonderful weekend and Mother’s Day!!!

Simplicity 4177

2010-05-05T09:09:00.001-05:00

I’ve come to realize that summer is almost here and I have nothing to wear!!! So I started this pattern yesterday and got this far:

I still have to make a casing and insert elastic in the neckline. I’m kinda stumped. I made this up using an old sheet because I wanted to practice the pattern first – I’m glad I did because I can already tell you it’s too short! I guess I’ll have to practice again…I made that top view on the right without the “belt” or front decoration. I just want a nice, simple, shirt that I can make again and again and again. I am a little worried that because I’m a bit…ah…busty…I’ll end up looking like a big bubble…we’ll see. :) I found a neat website to share with you though! I’ve had this pattern for a while but put off making it because the directions that came with it ended up in the black hole around here. Well, if you go to PrintSew.com you can find the directions in PDF format and print them out!!! PHEW!

Other news…did you participate in Julie’s Garden Swap? I did and I got my package from Natalie in Australia yesterday! Here is what I got:

Look at all those goodies – an assortment of Tea, a couple magnets, some tomato seeds, some candles, a little notebook and pen, some wrapping paper, some garden ties, some cool craftiness from Natalie’s craft room, some dried rose petals from her garden, an Australian gardening magazine, a handy garden tote, and some kitchen towels! Phew! I felt perfectly spoilt. I hope she likes what I sent her…I’m not going to tell you what it was because that would wreck her surprise. But, if you want to know, once she gets it she’ll link up a picture on Julie’s blog. That is what I’m going to do right now!

Happy Crafting!!!

Thinking ahead to the back yard…

2010-05-04T08:23:00.001-05:00

Has the weather been nice where you are? It has been a lovely spring here. We are soon to start up the weekly campfires in our back yard. Once a week we host a campfire and invite anybody who wants to come. Usually at least a few neighbors come and we chat and mix a few cocktails. Kids are welcome too – they run around and play with flashlights. Some truly wonderful memories are created. I love that the kids will grow up remembering campfire nights that happened all summer long. I seriously have to dress up my back yard. It is a sad and pitiful yard – between the dogs and mainly the kids it is a wreck…I’ve been looking at setting up an outside bar…and perhaps some bar furniture. Wouldn’t that be fun? We could mix snow cones and cocktails right outside!

I’d also like to try making some furniture like this: (click on the pictures to be taken to the links)

That can’t be tooooooo hard can it?

I’m also thinking about this:

We have a wooden swing set that the kids have almost outgrown…maybe we could update some of the swings to this?

Now this is perhaps a bit out of my league…but how cool!

And here is a video showing how to make a pallet chair… now to get a hold of some pallets…Happy Crafting!

Updated updates…

2010-05-03T09:55:00.001-05:00

First thing I’d like to direct you to an awesome jewelry site that my friend Ona has! It’s called 2nd Street Glass! I am so jealous…she has a kiln and makes beautiful jewelry! Look:

Isn’t that pretty! I have kept in contact with only TWO friends from high school. My husband…and Ona. She’s that awesome! I only wish we lived closer…Ona is the person who got me started papercutting! I’d have to thank Ona for starting me stamping too. I remember she came over when we lived closer and we stamped and colored like little kids. Since then we’ve both moved and have kept in contact via snail mail! I always look forward to her letters – which have been coming to my mailbox for about TEN YEARS now. I just know we’d be playing with glass if I lived closer…sigh. You really should go check out her pretties…this pendant is only $20.00! Come on and give me some comment love so I can send it to Ona – she deserves it!

Now, remember this?

Well, now it is like this:

Isn’t that just an awful picture?! I had to use the flash…sorry. You can see the chair on the right is a little further along. I tied all the springs and then covered them with carpet. Yup – carpet. Carmen said I needed something stiff on there so the foam didn’t push through the springs…by gosh she was right!!! I happened to have some carpet left over from when we redid the boys rooms about 4 years ago...~~cause I hoard stuff like that~~…The walls have been caulked and patched and I’ve primed over those areas a few times. We also were gifted some wood laminate flooring that will go in here if there is enough left after doing the front entry. There should be plenty. There is still a long way to go in this room, but at least it is functional now. I seem to be having a hard time starting new crafting projects. I think I now know why…I don’t want to start…you know: find the right fabric, find the right thread, find the right pattern or figure out the pattern, find the paint, find the brushes, find the right paper… I think I’m going to start getting the “supplies” ready a day ahead of time. Like the night before I want to do something I go and at least start getting all that together. I’ll let you know how that goes hehe! Until Wednesday…Happy Crafting!!

Major problems....

2010-04-30T08:34:00.000-05:00

I have major computer problems and probably know just enough to be dangerous while I attempt to fix it. Hope to be back next week. Right now we're living on the edge.

Happy Crafting

Teenagers are weird!

2010-04-28T07:32:00.000-05:00

I’ve noticed that many of the bloggers out there are mothers of small children. Usually elementary aged children. Well, as a mother to a couple of teenagers I thought they should have a “heads-up” about teenagers. The stories that I tell aren’t necessarily only about my teenagers…sometimes I’ll be talking about a teenager I just know…because we tend to have a lot of them around here…

One mom was cleaning her back yard this spring and came across a plastic bottle with another bottle cut and taped to the top – basically one was a funnel into the other. Well, this mom had perhaps watched too many episodes of 20/20 and other news programs and instantly started to check her memory for clues as to what this was. Were they “huffing” or mixing dangerous chemicals, or what?! She picked the bottle up to inspect it more closely. The funnel part fell off so she brought it up to her nose to get a sniff. (Why are mom’s always sniffing things? Haven’t we learned that lesson yet?) She got some on her nose and realized it was pee! Yes, her teenage son had peed in a bottle and rather than dispose of it he threw it into a corner of the back yard. Upon questioning the son the mom learned he’d peed in it in his bedroom because he didn’t want to come downstairs. He had no answer as to why it was in a corner of the back yard rather than in the garbage can 20 feet away…teenagers are weird!

Teenagers are also funny! My son was going swimming with his youth group from church. A friend who wasn’t a part of the youth group wanted to go with him. Sure, that was fine. On the way to the pool the friend asked my son “So how do we read the bible in the pool? I’ve never done that before…” Funny!

Teenagers can also be dramatic! You will get a lot of “Why is everything in this house always my fault!” and “You never let me do anything!” (After hanging with the posse for 12 hours straight). And my personal favorite: “There is nothing to eat!” (After having consumed the equivalent of their body mass in food).

Good luck and God Bless all of you…

Did you have a good weekend?

2010-04-26T08:09:00.001-05:00

I did…didn’t do anything in the house that was on my list but did dig up ferns at a friend’s house for 4 hours…and got them planted!! My fingers hurt a bit this morning but that is about it, I had thought I’d be in much worse shape…knock on wood!

Top two pictures shows more craft-fails for me…Notice the upside down “G” on the first spoon and the barely readible lettering on the second. sigh. I learned to press the letters into a piece of foil to check the orientation…and to hit the hammer harder…guess this will be an ongoing ~~version of hell~~ battle for me. lol.

Also have sprouts! The “P” is for Peas, The “B” is for Basil, and there is also beans, and cucumbers planted. I didn’t start these super early because I can’t seem to keep my seedlings alive much beyond this point. I just wanted to give everything a head start. Those beans and peas are getting tall much faster than I had thought they would though…never started those before…but figured if they can do it in grade school all the time I should be able to handle it…Happy Crafting!!!

Since Wednesday…

2010-04-23T09:23:00.001-05:00

I have made almost 4 lbs of butter (It’s good to make friends with the milk man) and used almost five pounds of flour making bread. This bread…This recipe is to die for!! And it’s low-fat! (Click the link or the picture to be taken to the recipe.)

The recipe is at BettyCrocker.com and it’s called a “Country Loaf”. It calls for bread flour but I don’t keep that on hand…instead I have Vital Wheat Gluten and add 4 tsp./loaf. It is soooo good. CRUSTY on the outside and SOFT on the inside. For my supper I spread a couple slices with pesto, topped with cheese and broiled until brown. Then I topped it with my favorite pasta sauce. Heaven in my mouth!! The kids liked it too – although they liked the grilled meat that was also served better. lol. My Betty Crocker is always my first stop when looking for a recipe. I’ve loved that cookbook since I’d look at my mom’s. Do you have a favorite cookbook, and if so what is it? I love Betty because the recipes are always basic…I always make it the way it’s shown the first time and then experiment after that.

I also tried to stamp on metal again…maybe I’ve found the craft that has finally stumped me…I’ll share pictures next week. lol.

Have a great weekend and Happy Crafting!!

Chair Redo…

2010-04-21T08:54:00.001-05:00

Here is the “before” picture…

Here is a “during” picture…

And, I don’t have an “after” picture. I’m not done yet. Some of the springs have sprung on this chair and I’m debating with myself…do I want to try to fix it…or take the springs off and add a piece of plywood and then cover it with 6” foam and memory foam? I Just. Can’t. Decide. HELP!

This is a cool bit of ephemera found on the chair – look!

This is what the chair was stuffed with – I really wish the “Date of Delivery” line had been filled in but what I do know about this chair is that it belonged to my friend Julie’s husband’s grandma. According to the tag the oldest it could be would be 1929. I have a feeling this is going to sit in my kitchen for a LONG time until I make up my mind. I would appreciate ANY input.

Besides that project I’ve started Spring Cleaning. I spent 6 hours cleaning my pantry yesterday. WHAT! It wasn’t “dirty” but I took everything off the shelves and wiped them down and sorted and purged and scrubbed and organized. When I showed my hubbie I think he thought I was going off my rocker…cause it looks pretty much the same as when I started…today I’ll focus on the back entry…how can a small house get so large?! Happy Crafting!!

Thrift Store Horror

2010-04-19T08:58:00.001-05:00

Let me introduce you to another blog that I contribute to. It’s called Thrift Store Horror! This all came about because Carmen and I like to go to thrift stores…one reason is because we giggle so much!! We are constantly cracking each other up with snarky comments about the strange stuff we find. One lady followed us around a thrift store cause we cracked her up too. Well, one thing led to another and Thrift Store Horror was born. All I have to do for that blog is go shopping with Carmen and then she loads the pictures, then I add my snarky comments. I wouldn’t call that blog “politically correct”. Sometimes we’re even quite naughty! But it is a lot of FUN! If you come across some strange item at a thrift store snap a picture with your cell phone even and send it to us – we’d love more reader submissions! So go check it out – I’d love to know what you think…Happy Crafting!!

Craft Fail…

2010-04-16T09:05:00.001-05:00

Not everything goes as planned…this is supposed to be a plant marker. I have learned that you have to hold onto the letter stamps really tight before you hit them with the hammer. That is scary. I can run a drill pretty good…and usually when I nail something I’ll drill a pilot hole first so I can just tap tap tap with the hammer. This craft requires me to HIT with the hammer…scary for my thumbs!!

Otherwise I’ve recaulked the office – and primed the filled holes and caulked areas. Where the paint has beaded up I’ll be recaulking again. What a process!! And……….I have water pressure at my kitchen sink!!! That water jets out the faucet so fast it would take the paint off the walls if aimed that way – it jets out so strong it splashes up and hits the window! Whoop whoop!! Turned out I had a major calcium build-up at a connection point…long story…but it’s fixed. Doing dishes has become fun again – at least for the next week or so before it gets boring again. Well, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

Happy Crafting!!

Cereal Box File Folders

2010-04-14T10:17:00.001-05:00

Here’s how you make them – ready for this? Get pen and paper handy to take notes…you lay your manila file folder over your opened cereal box and trace it, then cut it. hehe. Do you think you can handle all those instructions? hehe. Mine will go undecorated because they will be in a file drawer. There are so many darn uses for cereal boxes we may never eat oatmeal again! Especially since we’ve been getting so many hot cereal deals – a dollar a box! woot woot!

Otherwise I’ve had a frustrating couple of days. My kitchen sink faucet has been running at a trickle. A very slooooooow trickle. So yesterday I took it apart. Nothing is wrong with the faucet…today I hope to start in the kitchen and work my way back checking all the valves. It’s gonna be a long day. When I’m not doing that I’ll be recaulking the trim in my office. I already caulked it once…and when I went to prime it the paint beaded up on the caulked areas…I used unpaintable caulk! I had grabbed the wrong tube the first time…pure frustration! I hope all of your projects are more satisfying!!

Happy Crafting!!

Who has time to craft?

2010-04-12T08:32:00.000-05:00

Really – our weather has been absolutely beautiful!!! I’ve spent the past three days working in the backyard…and I have the pile of laundry to prove it! I’m not kidding – that pile has to be bigger than me by now – gotta get the kids to do more laundry. I’ve been working with Abby to do the laundry but I just can’t trust her yet. One time she dumped the ENTIRE bottle of fabric softener in the machine. We had slimy towels for a month. I don’t think I’ll ask her to go solo just yet. We have a few pine trees and a couple oak trees in our back yard and some trees from the neighbors drop needles/leaves into our back yard too. And we have a fence. Love the fence…but if a needle/leaf drops in the only way it’s going to leave is if I rake it. Can’t just wait for a strong wind to blow it to a neighbor’s yard…not that I’d ever do that…hehe!

We deep-fried a turkey this weekend too. I think it might have been a bit overdone. I don’t think a turkey’s skin is 1” thick – cause that is how deep the crispy part went. It must have tasted good though because there isn’t much left from a 24 lb bird!

I also fired up the wringer washer for the first time this year. It was wonderful to wash all the rugs. There is still so much to do – I want to sift through the compost this year and get to the good stuff on the bottom. I have a bad feeling this is going to be quite the job…the compost bin is “hidden” behind a tree and wedged into the corner of the fence – it seemed like a good idea at the time to “hide” it – now I’m not so sure….

Happy Friday!

2010-04-09T08:18:00.001-05:00

This week has gone by sooooo fast! These tree stumps have taken longer to finish than I would have thought. But thick paper pulp can take a long time to dry. Though I did speed things along a little bit in the oven. I can’t say I’m super happy with the color this ended up being. Martha recommended a grey/brown to highlight the bumps but I thought it would look petrified…Made a much bigger one last night that will fit around a bigger plant. That will take forever to dry! I think I’ll put them outside today to get some sun and wind. I hope to have another craft night with Carmen to make some polymer clay mushrooms and a little owl for the hole in the stump. Maybe a bird or two to sit on the branches…Happy Crafting!!

If you are here from Friday Follow – Welcome!

Faux Bois Tree Stump…

2010-04-07T09:12:00.001-05:00

I had meant to have a finished project to show you today…didn’t work out that way. This still has to dry and be painted. I invited Carmen over last night to have a “crafts night”. Geez that’s fun! For me crafting is often a solitary endeavor (ooooo – big words!) and I really don’t mind. I like quiet and to be alone. But sometimes company is just the ticket! I got the idea for this project from watching Martha Stewart. Actually, I had had something like this on my mind for a long, long time and was thrilled when I saw the show – they had great tips! Check it out! I think I’ll be making a few more of these as I made a humungous batch of pulp…any other ideas???

Also, my friend Julie is hosting a “garden swap” – you sign up to swap some goodies with someone else. You don’t have to have a blog to participate, and you don’t have to make something. Some seeds, gardening gloves, or anything gardening related would be great! I think it’s a $20.00 value. I’m gonna do it and I have to think of something to make. Cause I like making stuff! Go sign up!!

Happy Crafting!

A papercutting and a story…

2010-04-05T09:40:00.001-05:00

Did you all have a great Easter? We DID!! We were able to spend it with family after many years of staying home. It was wonderful – great food, great weather, great times, great memories!!

I recently cut another cutting from Cindy -

And here is the story…

As I’ve said before my daughter Abby has “developmental delays”. As you might imagine, this wasn’t an easy thing to accept. For quite a while my feelings would swing wildly between “this is just the way she is and she’s wonderful” to utter confusion and sadness that I couldn’t “make her better”. It’s leveled off tremendously in these later years to “she’s wonderful just the way she is.” It’s a process…anyways, after Abby was born my sisters started to have children. One boy after another…I too had two more children…both boys. And while rejoicing in all those little bundles of energy some were really hoping for a girl…one of my sisters and I were talking and she wondered aloud why no girls had been born since Abby. I said “I think that is God’s way of maybe protecting me…he knows it would be really hard for me.” She then said “Get OVER it – we want a girl!” And after thinking about it…I realized I WAS over it. And guess what? The next baby born was a GIRL! I can’t even begin to explain my feelings on this one…all I can say is that as I held her I was amazed at the love that was pouring from my body. I was so thankful to God that all I felt was love. This little girl has my heart. Now, I’m not claiming that all those awesome little boys were born just because of me and my feelings (and there were a lot of boys) – cause I don’t have that kind of power – hehe. This is just how everything worked out – everything for God’s reason. And even if you’re not supposed to…if you are me…you’re always looking for a reason…cause why else would Abby be as Abby is if not for some special purpose? Well, last week I was privileged to look after my little niece for a few days. It was a JOY! SHE is a joy! My floors didn’t get swept, my carpets weren’t vacuumed, crafting? HA – not a chance, and I didn’t even get a chance to take a shower… she is THAT busy…but it was so much fun to just love her for a few days…

Here is Abby giving her a kiss…

Happy Crafting!

Another paper cutting…

2010-03-31T12:14:00.001-05:00

This is another paper cutting using an embroidery pattern! I know – this is the last one for now.

But I really couldn’t resist! You can get the free embroidery pattern here! (Click on the picture below!)

Save That Pickle Jar!!

A fresh start…

Paper Birthday Banner…

Fits and starts on my bowl…and St. Patrick’s Day crafts…

More dots and some link love…

Quilled Lamp, Painted Bowl & a dotty story…

Needle felted moose, Girl Scout Garage Sale…

Some flannel hankies…and needle felting…

Kid crafts, Needle Felting, My library mug…

Organizing, Needlefelting, and an App…

Needle felting and a trip to Bemiji Woolen Mills…

Paper cutting, Needle Felting, and Modge Podge

Needle Felted Chair is done…and a give-a-way!

TGIF!

I need your help!

The tree is revealed! (And a quilling project)

Bonus Post Wednesday…

Winter doldrums…

Wood crafts, tree crafts, and needle felting…Oh my!

Stamp Carving…

New Year’s Resolutions and a cleaning revelation…

Ahhhhh…back to normal!

Holiday…

All Things Paper

Last minute crafty gift ideas!!

Awwww, I couldn’t stay away….

It’s CRUNCH time!!!

I have a B-A-T!

Wire tree part II – and other crafts…

Wire tree – part 1

Hey here is a great give a way you might want to enter:

Felted bowls and organization tip

What does tidy mean to you?

More crafting…

More needle felting and wood cutting…

Trying something new…

Card for my mom…

What I’m working on…

Leather…

Gnomes have invaded…

Busy, busy, busy!!!

More Craft Bazaar Projects

Chickens…

I FINALLY sewed again!!

Coco the neurotic chihuahua!

“Paper Clay”

Soap!!

Rhino LOVE!

Fiddling With Paper

Crazy busy…

Little Falls Craft Show!!!

Bike Bag

End of summer…

Are you smarter than my husband?

My Hubbie’s Day Off

Craft Room Storage Ideas

Bad news/Good news/Cool Chair!

Quilling gone wrong…

Camping ups and Downs…

Robot Pendent

Danish Wedding Cake

First Annual French Fry Fiesta!

Crafts Revisited…

Hex love…

Ooooooooo

Better After…

Spider beauty…

Happy Place

This & That

Oklahoma!

Garage Sale…

Cord Organizer

Still here…

Wooden Spool Peg Rack

Last day!

W.I.P.

Abby’s Artwork

Another Felt Wristlet

Happy Thursday!

Felt Wristlet