Addicted...

I've gotten myself another addiction..... I'm sure you've all seen these? If not, they are called a Knifty Knitter. It is basically a loom that you use to weave yarn with one hook that gives you results that look like you've knitted. These basic round looms are perfect for making hats...... you can make a flat panel/blanket with the round looms too.I picked mine up at a yard sale for $3.00 for the set (brand new, never used) In the craft stores they run anywhere from $15.00 to $20.00 depending on where you buy them. With the help of several video's from the internet, I quickly saw how easy it was to create a simple knitted hat... and thats all she wrote.... I was addicted. This is the perfect thing to work on when your on the phone. No thinking, just a simple yarn over technique. Easy peasy.
I made a matching adult hat and childs hat using a strand of variegated yarn with a strand of white yarn. I finished the top of each hat by crocheting the ends together to keep it open and flat. I then added a tassel to each side. This hat I made using the same variegated yarn with a strand of black. I finished this hat off by gathering the ends and adding a large pom pom to the top.I also made two matching valentine hats.......With five hats under my belt and feeling quite cocky.... I decided to try making a vertical striped hat. This hat pattern isn't hard, but you do have to pay attention to the placement of the yarn on the loom a little closer so it ends up being perfectly aligned when your finished.
Of course, I had to make a matching scarf.... this one is made with a single ply of yarn using the smallest of the looms. These are the school colors for my grandson's school where he will be attending kindergarten next year..... I'm planning on making him a vintage inspired school pennant on a stick too... cute-cute-cute.
Hmmm looks like I spend a lot of time on the phone doesn't it ;-P

Newly listed to Etsy

I've been trying my hardest to get decent photos of the necklaces and earrings that I've been making. I find it much easier making things than photographing the end results. Especially when I want to get fabulous close ups.... Ugh... no easy task. I think I'm going to have to actually google "how to take photos of necklaces & earrings" and actually read what they suggest. Nuts... I'm not a big fan of following directions reading~ Hmmm maybe I'll be lucky enough to hit upon a slide show of photos on "how to" do it.....I would like to have a light box, maybe even a tripod with it all set up ready to go.....

Hearts laying around...

I've been working on making a few Valentine things recently. It is only 21 days away, its sneaking up on me just as fast as Christmas did. Here I've taken one of those plastic gold angels that were really popular once upon a time and turned it into a cupid. I spray painted the little cherub and distressed it then I added real fabric to cover the plastic molded fabric. Of course whats a cupid without fluffy white wings? I also made a quiver full of arrows that he has on his hip. I didn't make a bow for this cupid as he is very cunning and uses the strings on his mandolin to shoot off his arrows. Thats why you never see it coming... then *bam* an arrow right to the butt....er um~ heart.... and your in love~I also whipped up some valentine hearts.... you can never have to many hearts laying around. I've got a lot more hearts I've made over the years, stuffed in a drawer-- somewhere. I'll probably find them around halloween~For fifty cents I purchased a piece of red sequined/stitched fabric that I've been cutting into heart shapes and stitching them together.

Moving at sloth speed....

Since my car accident that I got rear ended in 28 days ago and having suffered (and am STILL) a cervical spinal sprain... I've been moving at sloth speed. In the morning I'll start off slow, by the afternoon I've gotten slower and by evening... of course even slower... I go to physical therapy twice a week, and those two days along with the day after pretty much have me doing very little... so its like four days out of seven ruined..... total bummer.

I have managed to eek out a few productive hours and created some earrings. Oh.My.Goodness. Another thing to get easily addicted to making. I used new ear wires and new bead pins, but the rest is purely vintage.
I made these with Valentines day in mind. Red enameled beads with tubular red beads at the top.....A pink set, totally loving these ones......This red set is sweet, another set I'm loving....Here is all three pairs of earrings together. These will be listed for $5.00 each~ A winter storm is set to blow in any time now. I really enjoy cooking when it gets cold & rainy outside...Comfort food--- pun intended~

Shabby Chic Bedroom

I've gotten one room in the barbie doll house close to being finished. Here it is in all its glory~The bed I made out of illustration board. I love how it has an old antique feel to it....The little white three tiered table next to the bed I made using illustration board as well. I distressed both the bed and table to give them both an old shabby feel....Whats a home without a cat?Here is the armoire that I added some shelves too, the standing bird cage I made to hang the metal bird cage I found....As the decorator of this house, I was just informed that Barbie wants the wall torn down between the two rooms to create a larger, more spacious bedroom.... I totally agree--- so down it came~Back to square one on "finishing up ONE room" in the barbie house.
I've linked to "Sew Many Way's" linky party & Beverly's "Pink Saturday" and Faded Charm's "White Wednesday"

Spoon Pendants

I've gotten a lot of pendants finished but I haven't gotten around to posting any to my etsy site... work-work-work..... I've made some religious pendants *my favorites* There is one with a little fairy pictured at the bottom right...Some pendants I've made with vintage jewelry flowers....I really like this one...I've also created some thimble-pincushion necklaces, I'm keeping one of these for myself. *wink*I am hoping to get around to posting these to etsy today.... they sell pretty fast... that should be my motivation, but I get distracted by shiny things and have to go and play... *sigh* uh whats that catching my eye... glitter? gasp....focus, stay on task.....

The Neverland Pirates...

I was unaware that Disney has a new cartoon/characters called "Jake and the Neverland Pirates".... I'm always the last to know. I thought they would make super cute pirate props.... I had just enough plywood left over from another project to create Izzy and Cubby. Here they stand in there first stage of creation, drawn, cut and ready for some paint. Once I've gotten these two painted, I have to make "Jake" the main pirate and a little parrot named "Skully"... arrrgh... and then there is a crocodile... etc~

Illustration Board

If there is one thing I really love in my studio... it is a sheet of illustration board. I always buy a sheet when I have a 40% or 50% off coupon to the local craft store when there is nothing else to buy. When I was newly engaged to my husband we took a class together at our local college... "Theater set design" A must have class when you live in Fresno... *snort* We had to construct a small scale representation of what we would like to build life size on the stage.... We were shown how to construct such a miniature set using illustration board. I've been hooked ever since-- and that was over 30 years ago.
Here is the latest creation I've made using illustration board. A three tiered miniature table. I didn't make a precise pattern, I just kind of winged it~ You can see how I used the spindle legs I made with skewers and paper that I shared in the previous post. I made the detailed cut work using a paper punch. On the very last punch--- the paper punch broke. I guess that is a good thing since I tend to like things to match a little bit to much. I cut and glued together 4 pieces of card stock to create each side of the detailed work on this little table. Since this is going in a Barbie house for a three year old--- I stabilized the card stock piece with a small piece of illustration board. I saved the little flowers that were left over from the paper punch and created little daisies...I used pins for the stems of each daisy. I painted the tops of the pins yellow, once dried, I pushed them through the paper flowers. I used wire cutters to cut the sharp end off each pin and then wrapped the flowers stem with floral tape. My grandaughter loves to fuss with little things, so this bucket of flowers is going to be fun for her to dump out and rearrange over and over again.

Illustration board, if you've never tried using it, is very similar to chip board. The difference is that illustration board has a usable paper finish to both sides, ready to directly paint on. I use a sharp blade and a ruler to do most of the cuts... although I have used a paper cutter too. I've been using wood glue to glue the illustration board into these little mini's... I've been sanding the pieces smooth and wood glue is made to be sanded. For added strength you can even run a straight pin through the boards and glue them together as well.

I've got a few more sheets of illustration board waiting patiently to be used... and a few more ideas swirling around in my head~

Works in progress...

I've been working towards a goal of finishing one bedroom in the Barbie house I've been puttering around on.... big reveal is going to be next Tuesday! Its time to stop "puttering" and actually start seeing results! Here you can see I've finished the "all important every home must have one"--- bird cage... with a newly made wicker stand. I used a dowel which I wrapped with two different gauges of wire to create the look of wicker. Here you can see the stand with its first coat of spray paint.... Here it is with a coat of acrylic paint applied to it. I'm happy with the results I think it turned out super cute.I also made a long narrow bed for the small bedroom. I used illustration board to create it.... here you can see the rough beginnings of it. I wanted an old antique- shabby chic bed... my first attempts were laughable.... so I thought I'd step it up a bit. I'll go over all the seams with some glue and add paper clay to the joints to give it a smoother appearance before it gets painted. I also want to add some decorative embellishments to the top of the head board and foot board.... maybe even add a finial to each post of the headboard. I am going to paint it white and antique it to finish it off... and of course make a mattress and bedding for it.
I found the fabulous white armoire for .50¢ at a thrift store. It didn't have a back to it or the shelves/cubbies in it when I bought it.... I again used illustration board to fix it up as shown in the previous photo.Here is a sneak peek at what I'm working on next.... I made some spindle legs using some wooden skewers and paper..... I'm hoping to turn this into a nice three tiered shabby chic table. I should be working on my own house.... that darn Barbie has everything--- even my time. *wink*