Sunny Sunday

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday today....

Perfect for working out in the yard....

so, I did just that....

I sent my husband outside to work in the yard...

While I played indoors.
big hugs,

Scrabble Necklaces

I have a huge container of scrabble tiles that combined with the two hundred bezels I just purchased means lots and lots of scrabble tile necklaces in my future.

 I had a lot of small lenticular stickers of kittens and puppies and thought they would look cute as necklaces....
When you move them they change between big....

and little....

big....

 little....

Packaged up and ready to go...

big hugs,

Weekend Treasure hunt

It was a fun treasure filled weekend for me... I bought a $3 bag of jewelry with this well loved old pocket watch in the bag. I love the watch fob... a.k.a. dirty old twine. It is missing the hinged lid and a watch hand, but I imagine behind that watch face it is loaded with gear that I can repurpose into some fun jewelry....

In the bag were a few more watches and odds and ends of fun pieces I can play with.

These are the dregs that I don't want from the $3 bag.

I have four gals that regularly look for jewelry for me. One gal in particular always puts aside a lot of old watches for me....

and beautiful rhinestone pieces...

and some fun junky pieces too. Her prices range from outrageously expensive, to practically free depending on her mood. I caught her in a good mood recently! Breaking it down, everything-- including the watches came to .50¢ each. *score!*

Another gal knows my love of Holy Crosses and religious medals and when she comes across them she saves them for me....

 One gal I know and buy things from always lets me have first dibs on everything she finds. How nice is that? She knows anything with a smidge of bling I'd be interested in.... she always gives me good deals. *she knows I'm cheap*

 I make a lot of "friends" when I go treasure hunting. I think that is how I get things so cheap. Like this pile of old photos for $1.....

 The very best deal of this weekend was this beaut. What would you have paid for this old folding laundry basket?.... These range in price from $100 to $200.... would you believe I only paid $10.00 for it?

I also spent a few hours this weekend enjoying some warm weather while working in my backyard.... Here is "Puss-Puss" hanging out with a buddy....

Pee-Wee loves to play around the pirate ship...

 

Chumley likes to pretend he is the cowardly lion from the Wizard of Oz... he looks so tough and he will hiss and growl at you if you look at him. But if you pick him up and give him hugs--- then he is a drooling, breading, purring, sap of a cat.

big hugs,

Spoon Necklaces

I have been going through boxes and boxes of jewelry trying to get rid of the "junk" and use up the good stuff. I created a few necklaces along the way....

I think I'm being drawn to bright colors because I am just so tired of the dismal look/feel of winter....

Warmer weather.... mile long block sales... *sigh* It just can't come soon enough for me.

Because I am a....

*wink*

Home Made Key Chains

Valentines day is fast approaching, and I was wanting to make something fun for my two grand kids to pass out along with the bags of Valentines candy and cards they have for their friends. I figured I could make some key chains using some of my large stash of laminate samples...

My grandaughters preschool class is called "Delightful Ducks".... I found this sweet vintage image of a cute little duck to use for the key chains for her classmates. 

For my grand sons kindergarten class, I used his schools name along with the schools mascot...

Once they were glued, cut out, glittered I added a small piece of ball chain so that these could be attached to the children's backpacks. 

In total, I made 50 key chains. Well, 51 if you count this Hello Kitty one shown below. I used a Hello Kitty lenticular image off of a notepad from Targets dollar section to make an extra special key chain for my grand daughter. She loves hello kitty!

Now, if you don't have any of these laminate samples like I do...
You can readily get them for free at any hardware store that sells laminate counter tops. They have a huge area with loads of beautiful samples.... take a few... have your husband take a few... you get the idea *wink*
big hugs,

American Girl Party

My two grandkids are going to an "American Girl doll" party tomorrow hosted by my girlfriend Diannia. yes, she spells her name with two n's~ My grandaughter has one American girl doll, three my generation dolls and one Madame Alexander doll..... the American girl doll has her pajamas on and refuses to go--- so we are taking the Madame Alexander doll and one of the my generation dolls that has had a mini make-over from girl doll to boy doll...

 I made this red velvet with lace dress for the Valentines party..... 

Also, a long cape covered in red hearts to keep her warm on the drive over to the party.....

 I gave her a mani-pedi and I also pierced her ears for the occasion....
 
 Here is the transformed doll that I created for my grandson.... I don't think he is going to play with it... but it is his ticket into the party... so he will play along for awhile. This doll will be wearing glasses--- if we can find them. *wink*
 
 It was a little intimidating cutting off all of this dolls hair, but I think it turned out cute.

The afternoon is going to be spent doing fun crafts with the kids, eating sweets and enjoying the theme of Valentine's day... I wanted to make something to pass out to the girls for their dolls, so I made everyone a ruby ring. I thought they turned out so darling, I just had to share how I made them.

 They come together really easily, and they could be made by a child.... All you need is two different gauges of wire and a bead. I cut pieces of 20 gauge gold wire into one inch sections for the base of each ring. For the coiled wire around the ring I used 24 gauge gold wire. Before starting to wrap the 20 gauge thicker wire, you'll need to slip on a bead your wanting as the center stone of your American Girl doll ring onto the thinner 24 gauge wire. For the rings I made, I used a real glass red bead for the rings gemstone.

 Once the bead has been strung onto the thinner wire, push it down the wire as you won't need to use it until you've coiled around the thicker wire half way. Once you've wrapped the thinner wire midpoint, slip the bead that you previously threaded on the wire in place and begin wrapping the wire down the other side of the ring.

 Once you get to the end, cut off the excess wire and crimp it tightly with some pliers to get rid of any sharp points. Once that is done, simply curve the wire around until you've created a ring shape. That is it.
Presentation is everything... with that said, I cut some foam core heart shapes and dry fitted them along with the ring in some plastic heart containers.

 Once I knew it was going to fit, I covered the foam core with red felt, hot glued those in place in the plastic heart containers...

When everything was finished I had a bunch of little teeny tiny Valentine Rings to pass out to all of the American Girl dolls in attendance at the party.

 They fit really well....

big hugs,