Crazier Than Usual Week

This has been a wild and crazy week...more than the usual craziness - but fun, I have to say... BIG FUN. My granddaughter was here and we planned lots of holiday activities starting with an Easter bunny cake. I used to do these "cut-up-cakes" with my students many, many years ago.

The coloring of Easter eggs and wearing

 

 the princess dress from Frozen. At Christmas it was the Angel wings.

 Our Easter egg hunt was the next day - plastic eggs filled with little treasures. Audrey loved looking for the eggs; the treats were secondary; this might be a good idea for future treasure hunts.

 And the beloved Easter basket; one does tend to forget after 30 years of not doing one HOW MUCH GRASS IS IN THEM and HOW IT GETS ALL OVER THE PLACE ...whew...I'm still finding bits of it...kinda like Christmas tree needles!

 We visited the Nature center and brushed the goats, also danced at Mellow Mushroom while eating pizza, went downtown to our favorite shoe store - Topps and I had a 2 day teaching trip to South Carolina in between everything! My daughter asked me what I was going to do this weekend after they left - my answer without hesitation....SLEEP!

 We did manage to get in a crafty project for a friend of my daughter's who's having a baby. My daughter and I made a mobile for Audrey's room when she was first born - little fabric birds, sitting on twigs that floated around. Her friend Emily wanted the same thing so we were off and running. First the fabric which Emily picked out to go with the room colors of yellow, coral and gray.

 One of the main fabrics was from the fairytale - "The Princess and the Pea" which became part of the birds and also a pillow for the room. Jill bought extra to make pillowcases for Audrey's bed, but that's another post.

 Here are the birds which are still being attached with fishing line. They are mighty cute when suspended from the ceiling and gently float around.

 The front of the pillow....

and the back which I like better and would probably use as the front. Anyway, everyone is gone, the house is reasonably quiet, my hubby helped me get it all straightened out after they left and life is back to normal, so maybe I'll start another quilt...hmmmm...sounds like a plan (a very good plan) to me.

Trading my fabric for....

a glue gun....for just a little while. I love looking through catalogs around the holidays to get ideas for new decorations. I do get a bit obsessive over holiday decorating, don't know why as it's up for such a short time but I love it just the same.

 I saw this in Pottery Barn - (a store I could live in) and thought I could make this pine cone tree myself, how hard could it be and ohhhh.....the money I would save.

So I bought the biggest styrofoam form I could find.

which I had to spray paint with brown so the white wouldn't show through.

I found these huge pine cones at a craft store. I thought I'll take them apart in a few minutes and then I'll be off and running. I'll have this done in no time at all.

First came the scissors - not strong enough, then the wire cutters - okay but not great,. I found this saw in hubbys workshop but that didn't work at all - last came the garden snips which seemed to do best of all but still not great.

It took lots of twisting to get the little pine pieces off.

and left with with a little flower like top.  I had to mark each row all around so they wouldn't wind up on a slant and use a glue gun to put each in place.

So...many, many hours later, I happily finished it. I kinda got into a rhythm once I separated the cones and I am happy with the way it turned out but I'm laughing out loud thinking of that silly Master Card commercial....                            
                                                    stryofoam - $8 with a coupon
                                                    pinecones - $ 9 for 3 of them
                                                    paint         - $5
                                                    large package of glue sticks  - 7
                                                    One pair of very sore hands

                                                    Having the "fun" of making it yourself....."priceless"....hmmmmmmmm I wonder...

Taking a short hiatus while my company is here....Have a wonderful Thanksgiving

Beware of Throw Pillows

I'm sure you've heard stories like this -  you're in a store and pass by some beautiful throw pillows, love them, can't live without them so you buy them and bring them home but now the couch conflicts with them so you need a new couch.  The new couch doesn't go with the rug and now the new rug doesn't go with the drapes and so on and so on.

On a much smaller scale this is my version and of course it involves fabric.  I bought this wonderful fabric which I thought would be perfect for Christmas napkins.  Can you see the sparkly background? I love sparkly things at Christmas.  

 So now I have these wonderful new Christmas napkins that actually go with my plates.

 But now I need some silver chargers to sparkle it up (and go with the sparkly napkins).

 But my centerpiece and table runner doesn't go, too much gold sooooo

 I get a new table runner (notice the sparkly beads)

 And make a new centerpiece using blue and silver and sparklies.

 And now I have a lot of flowers etc. left over, no need to let them go to waste so I make a small arrangement.

 Which then doesn't go with the gold candle so a white one will work

 Yes, now that's good.

So my advice for the day - next time you're shopping and see some gorgeous throw pillows or anything else you can't live without, Just CLOSE your eyes, TAKE a deep breath and WALK ON BY!

Recycling the Trees

If you had a real tree for Christmas and it's now down and still around, think about this fun craft project - a pine needle pillow. Years ago, I remember buying a pine needle pillow as a vacation souvenir; the scent of pine lingered for such a long time. One of the nicest parts of Christmas is the scent of a real tree. How nice to be able to "bottle" that scent for a long time.

To make your own pillow, first let the tree dry out (outside) - this will take months. Place it on plastic to catch the needles. Once it's dry, run your fingers over the branches and watch the needles fall. You can store them in a ziplock indefinitely.

 For the pillow, choose a fabric that is thin or has a fairly loose weave, allowing the pine smell to come through easily. I had an old, never-used piece of wool that was Christmas colors. I cut 2 rectangles and placed them wrong sides together so right sides were facing out. I sewed around the 4 sides 1" in from the edge leaving a small opening for stuffing. After stuffing very tightly (using a funnel makes it easy), I hand stitched the opening closed. This little pillow below has been around for close to 15 years and still makes has a nice pine smell. 

This next pillow was made from hand marbled silk which I created many years ago, in my marbling days. It's very thin and allows the nice pine smell to come through. Although not Christmas colors, still serves a good purpose.
You can also write the date of that Christmas on the pillow, or if you have little ones, have them print their handprint or doodle on the fabric. It's a nice memory pillow to pass along.

Happy New Year and Placemat Chargers

Happy New Year! I hope 2011 is a good one filled with fun, good health and many hours in your studio, garden or wherever your favorite place for hanging out is.
I tried to get Molly to wear a New Years hat and diaper but that was pushing it too far. As it is, I'm on her "bad people" list after the Santa Claus suit last week, so this will have to do.

For my Christmas dinner table, I picked up these pretty gold and white placemats - standard size which is @ 13 X 18 give or take, but with the scallops, the size was cut even more.

I decided to make something very SIMPLE to go underneath to give them more size. As the fabric was being measured at a local chain store, the salesperson decided they should be called "placemat chargers" . I thought that was a clever name since they go under a placemat like a regular charger goes under a plate. They are gold tissue lame - NO batting, NO quilting, NO stiffening inside - just the 2 pieces of fabric sewn right sides together with a small opening along one of the edges to right side it. I didn't sew the opened edge - just fused it close. They are 14" x 19 1/2" but you can vary the size depending on the mat they go under.

They worked perfectly with the smaller placemat.
Wishing you a great New Years Day - football, studio time - whatever your fancy!

A bargain is a bargain

I can't resist a bargain, whether I like it or need it, if it's a deal, it's mine! Such was the case at the end of last years fall season. One of craft stores had 90% off - yes you read that correctly, 90% off all the fall flowers, pumpkins etc. I was like a kid in a candy shop, I was un-stopable and well you know, the rest is history.
A couple of hours and many, many bags later, I arrived home. My husband eyed the merchandise and asked what I was going to do with 14 bags of silk flowers, pumpkins and cat-tails. Duh, silly man, NOT THAT MANY! He was close, but he'll never know.  Well they were put away and somewhat
forgotten. This year while going through that storage area, I rediscovered my bargain treasures. Spread over the kitchen table, I decided to just dive in doing something I've always enjoyed.
Probably the hardest part about this whole thing is finding a place to store them when the season is over. So here are the results of my great bargains.
This is arrangement # 1 made for my DR table.
and this one was very tall - so perfect for the floor.

and arrangement # 3

and this one

I know a bit of overkill but I did promise darling hubby to stay far away from craft stores post season this year. Happy Fall everyone!