Finishing up some Projects

I've been slowly getting back into doing some crocheting. With the morning temperatures getting colder it seemed fitting. Before you know it, it will be full on winter. I finished up a unicorn hat for my grand daughter. I used Repeat crafter me's hat pattern. I have two other hats in different stages of completion....  I like to have several projects going at once, I get bored easily.

I also have been finishing up some things in... you guessed it, my back yard. While watering in the backyard, I was taken by how fabulous this view was... so after I finished watering the plants I snapped a picture. Sometimes I get so focused on doing things that I forget to stop and actually see what I've done.
Pretty cool huh? I also finished up this counter to the right of the shooting gallery. I am also creating a counter to the left of the shooting gallery too-- but that still needs some finishing up.
 
Here is the bottom of the counter. It is a little bit more work and materials to create an opening in each counter, but in the long run it is worth it because it creates another area for displaying things.

I am trying to create new games for the kids to play when they come over. I painted a skull on a magnet dart board.... My grand daughter is a pro at having her dart hit and stick to everything but the magnetic dart board. It is pretty darn funny.... I also created this game called "Put Polly on her Perch" I had bought a bunch of small stuffed-animal birds that will be perfect for this game. I am still wanting to add some greenery around the perch-- but for now the basic game is finished. I have it wired to a vintage bird cage stand. I think this is my favorite game so far...
A few years ago I bought a spinning wheel game for the whopping sum of .50¢ Who is the best shopper, that'd be me... When I bought the spinning wheel-- the entire thing was painted gray... that is as far as they got with it. For .50¢ I was happy to get it! All I had to do was paint it up to my liking. I started by painting the entire thing brown and black to give it more of an old grungy look. I then added some red and white to the wheel and then simply stenciled a skull and a treasure chest to finish it off. I am planning on using this for the kids to spin the wheel to either get jewelry from a treasure chest or a bag of candy with a skull and crossbones on it. That is the general idea anyway...

Besides all of these projects I am steadily working on completing my first project in my Silver smithing class. It is slow going since I have to be patient and wait for one on one teaching time.... I often stop what I'm working on and watch and listen to the teacher teaching someone else... so I get the same "lesson" over and over again. I want to be confident to handle that darn torch- which right now is my nemesis.... Here is a picture of my project, I'm pretty darn proud of the progress on my ring so far. Hard to believe this ring was a straight piece of silver once upon a time. Don't even get me bragging on the silver bezel I've made... The next step is to sand the bottom of the bezel so that the joint isn't visible. After that is finished, I will solder the bezel to the ring and then set the stone in the bezel and polish the heck out of it to finish it up. There is another six weeks of lessons in this session-- I am confident I'll get it finished by then-- plus start on another project to boot. I really-really wanted to take the lost wax class but not enough people signed up to start that up just yet.
big hugs,