Crescent Santa

This is probably my best seller each year.  I always sell as many as I make....and always wished that I had made more.  They are pretty easy to make but the beard takes a really long time.  I sell these for  $34.99 each.  If you want one, please order early! 

This guy is pretty large.  Approximately 16" wide and nearly 20" high. It uses four pieces of fabric, sew together and stuff. 

His face is heavily blushed, and his button eyes are covered by cool glasses!

 He has a small furniture button for a nose.

 

The beard is made of one entire skein of yarn.  For this particular Santa, I used rug yarn.  To get the loopy effect, loop the yarn back and forth, over and over, and run through your sewing machine.  Then glue into place.  Embellish and you have a great Santa door or wall hanging!

Well, I am dog-sitting this week for my son's two dogs.  I have two of my own as well.  It is especially trying since we are having thunderstorms and two of them are frightened of the thunder. 

More tomorrow, bloggie friends.  Until then....

Grape Jelly

I don't know what possessed me on a very hot day to do this, but yesterday I decided to try my hand at making grape jelly.  It was so much easier than I thought it would be.  The recipe I used is as follows:  3 cups of grape juice, 1 pkg of pectin, and 4 cups of sugar.  You mix the juice and pectin together in a pan and heat until it begins to boil and then slowly add your sugar.  I tripled the recipe and here is the results:

 Cost-wise, I spent 3.28 for the juice minus $1 off with a coupon.  The pectin was 3.99 each and I had a $1.50 off coupon and a four pound bag of sugar was 2.30.  Grand total is $15.05. I got 9 pints so the cost per pint is $1.67.  An 18oz jar of Smuckers sells for $2.99 so there are some savings.  And aside from making a horrible mess on the stove, it was great fun.  There is some great satisfaction in making something from your own two hands. 

Speaking of handmade, it was so hot yesterday afternoon, that the puppies and I spent the afternoon in the basement.  I decided to finish up some ornaments that I had in my stash.  Though they are really nothing too special, I wanted to give you all a hint when applying sealer to these:  Hang them on a clothes line!

That way, you can spray both sides and you don't have to turn or worry about them sticking to something when you wait for them to dry. 

Happy day, bloggie friends.  More to come....

Rusty Ole Bed Springs

So, last year, when I decided to make some of my bobble heads, I ordered a couple of bed springs off of Ebay.  Though they were only $.99, I had to pay for the postage.  So when my son and his family were moving, he told me they were getting rid of a mattress.  Did I want it?  Sure, I said, without hesitation....or thought.  I did not realize how many springs there are in a queen size mattress or how hard it would be to disassemble.  I got more than two of these buckets full:

There are probably over 100 springs.  And there were a bunch of wood laths.  I think I can use them for a project or at the very least they will be good kindling.

The springs are really heavy duty(much heavier than the ones I bought off of Ebay) and they were all shiny.  Shiny???  You know me, I like rust and patina but who has the time for it all?  So I got out the trusty laptop and looked for how to rust.  IT IS SO EASY!  Here is all you have to do:

Mix together 8 oz of peroxide and 2 oz of vinegar.  Add two teaspoons of salt.  Put it in a spray container and go to town on your project.  Its that easy!  I'm not kidding, it will rust right before your eyes.

I put one that was not treated in front of the treated ones so you can see the difference.

 Depending on your project, you will probably need to go over them more than once,  I sprayed these a couple of times and I will probably turn them upside down and spray them again.  Now....let me give you a few pointers:

1. Its a good idea to use some safety glasses and gloves.  Even though these items will not burn your skin, they are harsh.  And you don't want it in your eyes!
2. This should be a no-brainer, but then again....Anyway, spray it outside!  And spray it on a calm day.  A warm day seems to be better than a cold one, but I guess you have to use what you have.
3. I put mine on an old pallet, but it doesn't matter where you place them as long as it is on something that won't rust if you don't want it to.  I have a metal patio table and that would have been a really bad idea.
4. When you are finished, even if you are just done for the day, clean out your sprayer.  Most sprayers have a little metal spring that works the sprayer mechanism and you don't want it to rust.  Run some clear water through it a few times for good measure. 
5. After you are satisfied with the amount of rust on your project, let the item set a while.  The rust will come off, especially before it is dry and thoroughly cured.  Then spray it with a little clear sealer.  One website said to coat it in petroleum jelly or some kind of oil.  But I make messes too easily anyway and this was just like a mess waiting to happen.

There are other ways to rust items and you can find them online.  Some use bleach and you can buy chemicals to do this.  But honestly, this is cheap and not as toxic as bleach, I had all the items in the house, and it was absolutely effective.  So rust away, my bloggie friends.  More to come.....

What a Busy Summer!

This has turned out to be a really busy summer this year!  I thought not having a job would give me the life of leisure but....once again, I was wrong!  Since I last posted, I have had all four of my grandkids over, and I enjoyed every minute of it.  Quest has been a huge help to me and has worked on a flagstone walk and moving boxes into storage.  Little Addyson, 7 mo old, is such a happy baby!

Brooklynne spent a week with me.  The dogs just love her.

One night, Cousin Skylar came over too. They are really good together in spite of a six year age difference.

 I have been working on finishing up even more projects.  More bobbleheads:

A gingerbread garland:

Some beverage markers:

And a Mitten Wall Hanging:

So even when the temp outside is sizzling, I try to work in the cool basement and think about cool weather.  Have a great week, everyone.  I will try hard not to slack the rest of the summer!