Vintage Birds

I picked up a bunch of these small woven wreaths for only .75cents for the lot. I knew exactly what I was going to do with them when I spotted them. I cut off the woven pieces that held them together... and pulled them to form little nests. I used cardboard circles as the base/bottom for each little nest, added some shredded paper and a vintage bird.I had previously decorated these vintage birds with party hats to place on the fairy tree I made early in the month. They came together really fast and will be for sale at my craft boutique next month~

Spooky spiders

With halloween right around the corner I thought I would whip up some more fun things for my grandson to take with him to his preschool. I made these super cute spider lollipops. The black spider slides off the suckers stick easily~ Simple, easy and caute!Of course, I had to make a bazillion of them~They were a big hit with the little kids :-)

Mixed Media Monday...

This mixed media challenge theme was: Shrine.
I used a small vintage plastic statue of the Virgin Mary which a very nice lady gave to me at an antique show she was selling at. She said she was waiting on a very special person to give it too... lucky me :-) I painted and covered the little statue with glitter and placed pink roses at her feet. Please note that there is NO sacrilegious offense implied here... Here is a close up of my little shrine ~I used a small scrolled wooden base that I distressed to have it fit in with all my other distressed stuff in my house. I added a glass dome to keep the dust off of it-- cause I am just to busy doing fun stuff to dust! I love how this turned out. My caute little shabby-chic shrine to the Virgin Mary~

Pink top hat....

I picked up this super cute dance outfit at a yard sale for $1.I can never leave well enough alone, I always have to tweek things! Sooooo, I added puffy baby blue glittered sleeves to the outfit and also a smidge of blue to the neckline..... My grandaughter is going to be a clown this halloween... every respectable clown has to have a hat right? Right.... so I whipped up a hot pink top hat out of a cardboard box. Here it is perched on top of my cupid dress form that I made. I added white ruffles as a decorative hat band.... This top hat was made especially to fit my grandaughter who is 18 months old, the next one will be in MY SIZE! *woot-woot*

Pumpkin finger puppet/lollipop covers

I crocheted some halloween pumpkins that fit over small lollipops. Once the lollipop is revealed, the pumpkin can then be used as a finger puppet. I made one... thought it was so darn caute..... that I made 20 more for my grandson's preschool class. Here is the pattern if anyone wants to make some.
Pumpkin crocheted pattern:
Back
Round 1: With orange yarn, ch 4, 11 dc in 4th ch from hook, sl st to join in top of beg ch. (12)
Round 2: Ch 1, work 2 sc in each dc around, sl st to join in beg sc, fasten off (24)
Front
Round 1: Rep round 1 of back. (12)
Round 2: Ch 1, work 2 sc in each dc around, sl st to join in beg sc. (24)
Round 3: Place wrong side of front and back together, working through both thicknesses, sl st in each next 18 sc, leaving rem 6 sc unworked for bottom opening for lollipop.
Green stem
Row 1: Attach green yarn in 6th sl st of Rnd 3, sl st 2 sts, sc in each next 2 sts, ch 4, sl st in 2nd ch from hook, sl st in next 2 chs, sc in same st as last sc, sc in next st, sl st in next 2 sts, fasten off. hide all yarn tails~
Finish up the pumpkin by cutting black felt facial features, adding wiggly eyes or felt eyes. Insert a small lollipop into the pumpkins opening. Taaaaaaa daaaaaaaaaaa pumpkin lollipop covers/ finger puppets.

The fair~

Here are some photos taken at this years local fair. They had a really nice area set up for kids to play in... here is my grandson playing in the "corn box"...Here he is raking up some hay... he was so funny, he was even raking under the standing cows....
This photo reminds me a lot of myself. Doing one thing, and looking over at something else I want to be doing...
Here are some of the things I entered in the fair. I got a second place ribbon on this crocheted baby jacket and matching hat. I used a vintage pattern on this.
My very first rag quilt won a first prize ribbon! My grandson is pointing it out. He was disappointed he couldn't touch everything. He screams at car shows to "touch the cars."
My hollowed out oranges that I made into Christmas tree ornaments won a second place ribbon.
This crocheted little lamb won a first prize ribbon and a "Best in Show ribbon"
Which is totally funny because I didn't like how it turned out and here I got a best in show ribbon! My tree? No ribbon at all! *gasp*..... *mumble-mumble* sooooooooooo not doing a tree next year. *pout*

Been busy~

This past weekend it seems I've been sitting behind my sewing machine a lot... I made these ice skate ornaments.. Wouldn't these be so cute tied to a gift bag?I also stitched up some hearts using fabric from some of the fabric swatch books that I have. I stuffed each heart with some lavender making little heart sachets. I bought 3 bags full of lavender at a yard sale for .25cents.. crazy huh?I also whipped up some flower hair clips, and some tiny Christmas stockings. Now its time to start working on my grandaughter's halloween costume. Originally she was going to be "baby Ga-Ga" with my daughter being Lady Ga-Ga.... but since they are going to a church harvest party-- we have had to tone down everyone's outfit... so, she is going to be a clown.... wearing a top hat of course!

Snowy mittens~

I've been trying to use some of the things I have stashed in my studio. I always buy things knowing exactly what I want to do with them.... trouble is there is so many things I want to do, yet never have enough time to do them. Ugh. Last year, I was lucky to find a lot of yardage of some white fleecy fabric for mere pennies on the dollar... I finally got around to making some snowy mittens out of the fabric, I have about 4 more yards left!..... I saw a picture of similar mittens and thought "I could make those"... so I did~ I also had a bunch of stacking gift boxes sitting unused soooooooo I added "sweet-Pete" sitting on top of some distressed wooden blocks, added some Christmas paper and glitter.... that was fun.I painted and added some flower sitting fairies to some candle stands.... that was fun....Now I'm bored.... and that is NO fun~

Day tripping...

We took a little day trip to Morro Bay today. We rented a boat and motored ourselves around the harbor. The life jackets on the baby-grands were a "pain in the neck" -literally. Which made it hard to eat donuts.....

Sweet little Chloe Rose took matters in her own hands and teathered herself to the boat.Which was probably a very good idea considering her brother was driving the boat~ Here are the baby-grands sitting with their parents with "Morro Rock" behind them.... We had a beautiful day together!

Fabric Swatch Books....

Recently I've come across a bunch of fabric swatch books at yard sales ranging from .25cents to 50cents. The fabrics are dreamy! Shown below are just 3 from my huge stash.What to do with them has always haunted me..... never has that stopped me from buying them though! With this craft boutique that I signed up for (coming up in November) ever looming over my head, I thought I could use the fabric and make some fun things to sell. I made these flower pins. Easy-peasy... picture askew thanks to my computer gremlin~I like how they turned out, but I think I personally would like them better if they were solid burlap, muslin or just plain white fabric. I'm sure I'll play around with making these flowers at a later date~ With this most recent cold I had, I was always reaching for a tissue... that gave me another idea for using this lovely swatch fabric. Tissue covers of course!I made the pattern myself and just mass produced them rather quickly. I tied each one with a piece of lace (I've got an unlimited supply of lace) and added "God Bless You" on a cardstock tag.I added my contact information on the backside. I love these! I want to make a class set for my grandson's preschool class! I've also made a bunch of zipper pins.....

What else to make?.....

You probably already know...

But just in case you didn't....

Kite weather~

I decorated a plastic kite today. I used spray adhesive to adhere newspaper to the plastic kite. I painted & painted and then painted some more. I added the quote "If you are what you eat, then I'm fast, cheap and easy" Truer words never spoken....

My Fairy Tree~

I finally uploaded the photos of the Christmas tree I decorated for our local fair. The dreaded pre-school cold got ahold of me once again. Forget about the H1N1 flu.... the pre-school cold will kill most adults way faster. I'm just saying~ Anywho, here is my tree... taaaaaa daaaaaaaaa. I've got sweet-Pete sitting on top of the tree.... and of course the "fairy Christmas" sign... and loads and loads of fairy ornaments.Here is the trees "skirt" it is literally a ruffly vintage skirt~

There was going to be live trees to decorate, but at the last minute the donation was cancelled.... so they had faux trees in different sizes. I took the biggest! I had four boxes of ornaments to hang... looking at these pictures I could have added so-much-more! But at the time of decorating the tree, I was in the beginning stages of "the dreaded pre-school cold" *insert sinister music here* I'm hoping with the multi-colored lights turned on and it pushed into its finally resting spot it will win a ribbon!