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

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!!

More dots and some link love…

Well, my camera batteries are dead so I can’t show you the “before” pictures…and since this project isn’t done I can’t show you the “after” pictures…but I can show you the “in progress” pictures…

I’m working on another bowl. I just can’t decide if I love this or not. I’m going to keep playing with it but if the “after” pictures look like a completely different bowl don’t be surprised! And, yes, that is a crack in the bowl…I have grand plans for that crack! :)

Since I don’t have much in the way of crafts, I thought I’d share some of my favorite sites for inspiration with you. Enjoy!

If It’s Hip It’s Here! Often strange but always interesting!

Craftgawker Always tons of inspiration, and I loooooove how this site is layed out. Very simple…if you want more info just click the picture. Not many words to wade through…just lovely pictures.

All Things Paper Ann always culls the greatest paper art. I am constantly amazed and inspired by what I see here.

Really, that is enough for now. If you just go to these three sites I promise you’ll be inspired to try something new!

Happy Crafting!!!!

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

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!!

Last minute crafty gift ideas!!

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!!!

More needle felting and wood cutting…

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…

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!

Gnomes have invaded…

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!!!

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

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!

Craft Room Storage Ideas

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!

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!

Robot Pendent

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

More wooden stuff and…

You’ve got to read to the end of this post because there’s a lot of info here but it is soooo worth it – I promise! First I want to show you what came to me from Chronicle Books!

This is just too cute – I absolutely LOVE the dark, bright (really, it makes sense “dark/bright”– you just have to see it) colors used in this stationery set. These colors are VIBRANT and RICH! And the envelopes are just as great as the stationery itself. I just adore a kitschy envelope!

This is an awesome set of note cards. Each picture is soooo unique and really a work of art by itself. I also really love that they are printed on 100% recycled paper and with soy-based inks. The artist is Clare Rojas and I also received this journal…

This is a to-die-for journal! It is fabric covered and interspersed are folk-art drawings also by Clare Rojas. It is really something special. sigh.

Why am I showing these to you? Is it to make you jealous? No…it is because I am including them in my give-a-way to be announced tomorrow!!! So far we are up to almost $40.00 in awesomeness! I’m doing this because I am a firm believer in paying it forward. I recently won a wonderful give-a-way at Tally’s Place and I’ve had so many blessings lately that I want to spread the joy around and make someone else happy. I tell ya I am VERY happy right now – my wonderful hubbie brought home an Elna serger for me today!!! It is my birthday present from last August…I wanted to wait until I found a good used machine. This machine thrills me and terrifies me equally…

Now for the wooden stuff – I made these birds –

I need to make them into a mobile but have run out of time – I have a real love/hate relationship with fishing line…it’s gonna take a while to tie them together evenly…so for now I just used wire. They each have a fishing line swivel so they all spin independently. I’ve been reading over and over again that turquoise is the “hot” color for 2010 so I thought I’d give it a try. Here is the pattern…

 

Info – I printed one bird pattern out actual size, one bird was enlarged 120%, and the third was enlarged 140%. They were cut out of 1/4” plywood. These would be equally cute cut out of paper…I just happen to be on a scroll saw kick lately.

Till tomorrow! Happy Crafting!!!

Wooden Chicken

Strap on your eye protection ladies, I found this great scroll saw pattern for a wooden chicken! hehe! I’m not calling this an Easter craft, to me it’s more of a Spring craft. Easter is about Jesus, really not about chicks and bunnies, but I love the “freshness” of chicks and bunnies.

The instructions say you can also make this out of paper, which would also be very nice – framed in a small frame? Cute!

I lengthened the chicken so this one is going to look less round than the pattern, and instead of relying on paint for the whole thing I decided to use Modge Podge and scrapbooking paper for the feet and comb. I think it brings it more up-to-date. What do you think? Too 1990’s?

OK – I’m off to watch my daughter at a Special Olympics basketball tournament – GO TEAM!!

More letters!

My sister came to my house a while back. After decorating the letters that I cut out at her house she wanted more, more, MORE! (I’ve created a monster!) This time she cut all the letters out on my scroll saw. Didn’t she do a fantastic job!!

As you can see they’re hung over a doorway – she has lovely vaulted ceilings so plenty of room. What a great punch of color and use of space!!! Way to go sister!

Hey! Are you a football fan? If you are go over to Tally’s Place and leave a comment – she has a great give-a-way going on!

Happy Crafting!!

Letters and Words!

I went to my sister’s house over the weekend - and brought my scroll saw and supplies – this is what we did!

If you’re counting that’s 37 letters! Here are some close-ups:

I’ve been asked a few times what I cut out the wood with – here it is – my Black and Decker scroll saw – love it!! It’s given me no problems at all and is as easy to use as a sewing machine. Maybe even easier.

Happy Crafting!