Weekend already????

Well, here it is the weekend already....again!   Last weekend we had a terrible storm and lightning hit our house.  Our satellite dish had been installed improperly and the current went through the cable and blew up our four receivers, four televisions, and our sound bar to our tv.  What a mess.  I was nearly hit as well, since I was in the front yard covering my flowers from the hail.  I felt the jolt, I can tell you that!  Anyway we are both fine, but it has been a quiet week since the storm.  Our tv installer is scheduled to be here tomorrow.

Monday morning, I left the house early for the nearly three hour drive to Cheyenne.  I spent the day with my granddaughters ages 8 and 2.  What fun!  Today is my daughter's birthday so we decorated their house, bought gifts and put signs in their yard.  In this family, we celebrate birthday week, the week leading up to the big day. Heidi enjoyed the celebration and so did we. 

Tuesday the girls were off to school and we went shopping.  Wednesday and Thursday I worked very hard at finishing my gardening.  Finally I have the potatoes, peas, cabbage, carrots, onions, shallots, and beets out.  I still have some more things to plant, hopefully tomorrow.

 

Friday is my day for errands.  I found some time to go garage saling, but only found a couple of things. 

 This santa is in perfect condition and was only $1.  Should I resell or keep for myself????

 These faux skis are really sweet.  I am going to redo the greenery and put in my shows.  Also only $1.

 I love this little basket.  Another buck well spent.

 

And this was my best buy of all:  free!

Actually, this is upside down.  It had peg hooks but I removed them and put some little drawer pulls in their place.   I will use it at my craft shows for a display.  How cute is that?

 

And I did have time to do a bit of crafting....These are some sleds that I stained about a year ago and added some greenery and a bow to but never quite liked it. So I ripped off the bow and greenery, sanded the top, and painted some snowmen.  I added the tags and even the tiniest bit of glitter for sparkle.....

Time to get back at it, my friends.....Have a great week ahead!

What 'cha Workin' on Wednesday?

Wednesday morning, my laundry is caught up, the house is clean (except for the studio, of course) and I have been working on several projects.  I finished up another snowman.  He is made from the Seymore pattern, but I changed up the hat a bit and omitted the pie pan,

I know, the pic could've been better....

I also made this little star:

Isn't this cute?  You will never guess how I did it!  The star is made out of paint sticks!  I cut off the top curvy part and then roughly cut the stick in half,  Then, using wood glue, I glued it together in the shape of a star. I used clothes pins to clamp it together while the glue dried.  After it was dry, I painted it black and once dry, I wrapped twine around the tips.  This covers up the excess glue and rough edges.  Added a bow, some greenery, and a piece of twine for hanging.  So simple!  Hint:  Dollar tree sells twine like this, really light weight, three rolls in a package for only $1!  I use it for hair, and things where heavy jute is just too thick.

I also used up more scraps and made up some more bookmarks.  These are great gifts to add to a book, a teacher's gift or a journal.

These are really simple!  I sold a ton of these last year at several of my shows!

Well I am off to go to my granddaughter's continuation today.  I cannot believe she will be a freshman in high school next year.

Monday Morning Spoons

I've been trying to add some new ornies to my line so with the help of Pinterest, I am making these snowmen spoons. 

These were really easy, the hardest part was bending the spoons.  First I used painters tape to mask off anything that I didn't want painted.  Then I spray painted primer  on back of the spoon bowl.  My primer experience was torn from the pages of an "I Love Lucy" script, since the new can of primer did not want to spray.  I got a straight pin and stuck it down into the can to clear the clog and then the can would not quit spraying.  I had primer in my hair, on my clothes, skin, and shoes.  What a mess.  So hopefully your experience with primer will be better than mine.

 I let the primer dry overnight, then simply painted on faces with acrylic paints.  I added bows and glued on a couple of charms where I actually broke the end of the spoons.    I think these will really do well at my shows and look forward to doing more.  These spoons are cheapies that I purchased at Wally World, but if you have some laying around the house, they would work fine.  Or what about a  baby spoon that your baby has outgrown?  These are tablespoons, but teaspoons would work too.  Have fun with this little craft!  I am thinking about measuring spoons with gingerbread faces!

What 'cha Workin' on Wednesday?????

These are some oldies but goodies that I have been working on:

These little "Frosty" hat ornies are actually from a pattern by Country Whims.  They actually make theirs much more prim than I do, but the shape is the same.  I add the little tag and some snow tex paint as well.  These were a great seller for me last year, so I am making more. 

These little prim snowmen is another great seller for me:

They are a great way to use up scraps as well.  The noses are made out of "lumpy" chenille stems that I cut apart and paint with Canyon Orange paint.  I sell hundreds of ornies every year, so I am going to have to work hard to get more done.

 

And finally, I threw this wreath together out of things that I had on hand.

 

I will add some lights before I display it at a show, but it is easier to store without the lights.  What do you think???

Ornies, snow, flowers

Here it is the day after Mother's Day and its back to work, old girl.  Here in Colorado, springtime is a season of unpredictable weather.  We live in the foothills at about 9000 ft elevation southwest of Denver.  This is what our Mother's Day looked like:

So it was a good thing I received Springtime flowers so I could keep my mind focused on warmer, sunnier weather.

Tulips and irises......how pretty!

Now, back to bragging a bit more about my garage sale finds.  I bought two bags of ornaments at $.50 each.  One bag had six faceted ornies, plain, still in the package.  I embellished a little and got this:

 I also had some little drums that I embellished as well.  See what a bit of ribbon and some greenery will do?

Time to get busy, my friends.  Here is hope for warmth and sunshine tomorrow!

Pattern preservation, Garage Sales

Yesterday, I was cutting out a new pattern, so I thought I would share a few ideas on preserving patterns that you want to use in the future.  Most craft patterns are e-patterns these days, but some are still paper patterns.  All of the major pattern makers (Simplicity, McCalls, Buttterick, etc) also carry craft patterns.  If you liked the pattern well enough to buy it, chances are, you may want to reuse it.  First of all. make copies of all of the pattern pieces.  You can reprint pages from an epattern, use a copier, or even trace.  Just copy onto regular paper.   You might want to mark on the individual pieces either the name or number of the pattern.  Cut them out. 

I hope you have a laminator.  If not, its a great investment.  They sell them at most craft stores, places like Harbor Freight, office supply stores or some department stores.  Shop on line and use coupons to reduce the price.  Place as many of the pieces in a laminating sheet.  These are sold in the same places where you buy the laminator.  The sheets are double and are connected on one end.  They will look cloudy like this:

Once you run them through the laminator, they come out clear and stiff.  Notice that this sheet has info such as eye placement, measured cuts, etc.

 Then cut out.

I keep the original patterns in a plastic bag.  Use whatever size you need to hold all of the pieces plus the original pattern.  The bag will keep all of the pieces together.

Its Garage Sale time and I love it!  I only stopped at one today but hit a Christmas bonanza!

This guy is over 20 inches tall, made of wood, and in perfect condition.  Only $1!

 Two pots and a cup, enamelware,  hand painted winter scenes,  $3.50 for all three.

Glass hand painted plate for $1.

 Sweet stuffed Santa for $.50!

 Assorted ornaments, some to fill, some to hang.

All, in all, I spent $9.  What a deal!

Got flowers delivered today from my son and his family!  Gotta love mom's day!  Hope all of you have a great one as well!

What a week!

Been really busy this week.  My dryer went out and we had to replace that.  I planted pansies(still too cool for most other plants), I unloaded the shed, inventoried product, put into storage unit, took the dogs to the groomer, cleaned the house, weeded the flower beds, caught up on laundry....so who has the time to work in the studio?  This girl, that's who!

I finished up my four Santas and will be adding them to my Etsy shop either today or tomorrow.  Still not sure if I like the plaid or plain jammies the best.....what do you think?

These Santas are from a pattern by Sparkles and Spirit.  I put my own spin on it, giving them their own personalities.

I love the little hole in the toe with the sock poking through!

I use an assortment of buttons, including some ceramic ones that I have been holding on to for a while.  I actually glue them on, stringing raffia through the thread holes.  I found the little plastic glasses at Dollar Tree and I simply water down a bit of white paint for the milk.

 The pattern shows Santa holding a robe, but I like the little bears.  The bears are ready made, purchased at a craft shop.  I sew them to the hands and add some hot glue for good measure.

I use my own beards as well.  I sew loops into chenille or other yarn and glue the yarn to the faces.  I also like to mix of the stocking hats, making them out of different unique fabrics. 

If you love my Santas, visit my Etsy shop and order your own.  I sold every one that I made last year.....so don't wait too long,