Artsy~Fartsy

Canvas bags~

2009-12-27T19:34:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to start using my own shopping bags instead of using the plastic and paper ones given out at the stores. I wanted fabric canvas bags instead of those plastic covered fabric ones that advertise the stores name on them... Sooooooooo with that in mind, I purchased some canvas bags that I bought at a thrift store for .50cents each. I washed the bags first, then I used a linen dress that I picked up at the same thrift store for $1 as the "fabric" to cover the bags. I didn't bother to iron the fabric as these are going to be folded/rolled/crammed in my purse from now on.Here is a smaller bag that I recovered for my grandson, this one is going to stay in their van to hold the plastic folding toilet seat cover that he uses whenever they go out and about. Just keeping it real~It was soooooooo easy-peasy. I just turned each bag inside out and drew the outline of the bag shape onto the fabric I was using to cover the bags. I used the hemmed edge of the dress across the top of the bag. Essentially, I just made a pillowcase for the bag. I turned it right side out and dropped the bag into the "pillowcase" and then just stitched around the top of the bag. Thats it~
Now hows that for reusing, recycling and repurposing? I feel so green~ Of course, that could also be blamed on all the left overs I've eaten...

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T05:41:00.000-08:00

May you be happy with all your presents....But most of all... be happiest in his presence~Merry Christmas~

Last minute gift~

2009-12-24T19:46:00.000-08:00

Well here it is Christmas eve... all is quiet... I figured I'd get some things finished up seeing how tomorrow is Christmas~ I have been wanting to make a holder for my grandaughters hair bows that I've been making her. I've made her a bag full of hair bows, which she will receive tomorrow, I figured this would tie in nicely with the bows.I've had this thrifted gold frame for about a year now-- it was tucked under my bed. I pulled out the flowered embroidery piece that was in it, I'll donate that back to the thrift store. I just hot glued the black grograin ribbon onto the back of the frame. Thats it. I think it turned out super caute! If my daughter likes it, I'm going to suggest I find one of those super big vintage type frames that are 4'x2' and do this in a larger scale. I have a funny feeling Miss Chloe Rose is going to have a large collection of hair bows!
Now, I'm off to find something else to work on... I'm soooooooooo bored~ I've started and ripped out 3 different crocheted blankets (so far) I can't find a pattern I like!

Christmas Eve~

2009-12-24T09:26:00.000-08:00

Well the big guy had a chance to meet the grandkids recently.... here is my grandson Jonathan who informed Santa he needs "Cars, Nascar and two Monster trucks" What a vocabulary huh?My grandaughter Chloe~She informed Santa she wanted some diamonds and a new tiara. Santa said he could swing some diamonds but the tiara would have to wait. Obviously Santa felt the wrath of that statement~If Chloe isn't happy, no one is happy~

Bored....

2009-12-22T21:22:00.001-08:00

I've been feeling very bored lately.... don't ya just hate when you feel bored? I think it has something to do with it being winter and it being all gloomy outside. Mind you, I live in California, but none the less it gets pretty cold. Ok well cold for me. When it hits 59 degrees or below...I suffer! My bed looks something like the bed from "Princess and the Pea" with me being the "pea." I have layer upon layer of quilts and blankets on my bed... Anywho, enough complaining :-)

I was thinking I need a crochet project to work on during this long-long horrid winter... First things first though, I am needing a basket to hold my yarn, hook and the pattern for whatever I chose to make. I've had this basket forever, which in itself is rare. Yes, its been in the pile to be donated to the thrift stores a few times only to be pulled out at the last minute. I recently painted it white, and now I'm liking it! So, I committed myself to keeping it... and made a fabric insert for the oval basket. Now, I'm just needing to find a crochet pattern to mindlessly work on to take me into summer~

Headbands~

2009-12-22T09:55:00.000-08:00

I finally got my act together and made some headbands for my grandaughter. I had planned to make her some when she was born (10 months ago) but never did.... where does the time go? I used flamingo hair clips which I covered with grograin ribbon using hot glue. Then I glued the ribbon covered hair clips onto huge flowers of different colors. I used pre-made elastic headbands in different widths for each flower. This one pictured below is a very wide headband to help hold the huge flower on her head easily. The clip allows for easy removal of each flower so I can later make some bows to add to the headbands. Here is Miss Chloe Rose modeling one of her headbands~ Look at the attitude... work it girl~

Mixed Media Monday~

2009-12-20T07:07:00.000-08:00

This weeks theme is: "Frosty"I made this hanging piece starting with the glass circle that I had in my stash of stuff. I "frosted" the edges of the glass with sponged white paint. I created the circular shadow box using an old scrabble game-board which I cut and glued together making sure it fit the glass piece I was wanting to use. The game boards are so thick I have to cut them using sheet metal clippers. Cuts like butta' using those :-) I glued and aged some old papers to cover the scrabble text.... then I used one of my bazillion cutie-pa-tootie fairies as the center piece for this "frosty" scene. I also used some white glittered plastic fern leaves and other bits of frosted do-dads to make it look all wintery. I added some rhinestones and some clear round beads to give it a little more sparkle~ Once the inside was finished, I hot glued the round glass piece on top and soldered it all together. I am super bad at soldering, but thats okie-dokie 'cause I've seen worse! I'm just saying~

You can view more art pieces by checking out the weekly challenge site for mixed media art here---> Mixed Media Blog. If you have linked to my blog and wish to view more you can click on this link right ---> here.

Little stockings~

2009-12-19T09:03:00.000-08:00

These little Christmas stockings were made using the left over fabric that I used to make my larger Christmas stockings. (blogged about here) I also made the little pink and blue ruffles that are glued along the top edges. I really like making those little ruffles.... I've got a whole tub of them that I've made and have yet to find a use for-- I am sooooooooo like that! I haven't made a hanger for these little stockings, for now I've just got them in a bowlie~
Caute~

Show & Tell~

2009-12-17T18:49:00.001-08:00

This week I'm showing off my candy-cane crafts that I like to make every year. I don't like the taste of candy-canes, so its a gooooooooood candy to have laying around! Here is my candy-cane cats....you can find the pattern here. This is the first time I've made the candy-cane cats... I think they turned out super caute! Here is my candy-cane mice that I've been making now for over 20 years...you can find that pattern here. Both of these are super easy and great for girl/boy scout leaders to make with their troops, class gifts, or just a little somethin'-somethin' to pass out to coworkers.
You can also see more Show & Tells over at Cindy's blog "My Romantic Home" If you have linked to my blog and wish to view more, just click right here!

Candy Cane Mice~

2009-12-17T06:54:00.000-08:00

Here are the candy cane mice that I mentioned in the previous post. I've made these for years & years & again this year~ Here is a close up of one of the mice~Here is the pattern that I created recently--- since I couldn't find the one I used last year. I'll find it later when I'm not looking for it!You can get five mice per each square sheet of felt. I used one sheet of the green felt to cut out the 12 ears. Another easy-peasy fun project!

Candy Cane Cats~

2009-12-15T07:44:00.000-08:00

For the past 20 years or so I've been making candy cane mice to pass out at Christmas time... this year I came across a pattern for candy cane cats. Of course I had to give them a try.... very cute indeed! I glued on the wiggley eyes, a felt triangle nose, the red ribbon/bow and the bell. The mouth and wiskers I used two strands of embroidery floss and just winged it as I went along.Here is the pattern I used if your wanting to give it a try. The two slits are for feeding the ears through which will hold the end of the candy cane. Don't cut them to big-- smaller/tighter is better (in my opinion)I used a sticky backed mailing label which I printed "Merry Christmas" on to help hold the candy cane in place so the cats tail wouldn't move. Super easy-peasy project~

Showin' and a tellin'~

2009-12-03T19:35:00.000-08:00

Well, I didn't get toooooooo far on my Christmas decorating this year. I always have these huge plans..... and well.... I get busy. I did manage to put up the tree and hang the stockings I recently made, so I'm thinking this will have to do. Next year, seriously, I'm starting earlier. Soooooooooo here is my tree, it is white although it looks pink in the photos. Glittered balls, butterflys, stars, hearts, birds-- you name it, its on there. My husband asked me if I had enough tree to hold all of what I wanted to put on it. The answer? "No" I need more tree!The Christmas stockings I made~The fireplace mantel with white netting & lights and various flowers placed randomly here and there~Our magic elf that moves around the house when no one is paying attention. This elf has been in our family since our daughters first Christmas 24 years ago.I think the elf is feeding our cat Charlie on the sly as the two have a special bond. The hutch beside our kitchen table, nothing fancy-- greenery, lights and pinecone ornaments.The little mirror & shelf behind our table with pine boughs and glittered balls & red pinecones~No more room on the tree for any more glittered balls, so I've had to resort to placing them in containers.....more containers of balls, I made the tiny stockings using the scraps of fabric from the large Christmas stockings I made. I've got them stuffed with candy....Ohhhhhhhhhhhh and Santa's hat. He always leaves a spare at our house incase his gets lost while he is flying around droping off presents 'cause we're tight like that.The nativity set that was my parents when I was a child.Look at the beauty of this... amazing huh?A seashell wreath I made recently~My front door-- I made this last year~I had to resort to stacking some of the bazillion presents on the back of our sectional couch in our grandkids playroom as there is no room anywhere in our house for this huge mess of presents,presents, presents,and more presents... and even more that are needing to be wrapped. I'm getting tired of wrapping presents... I'm thinking of putting all the rest into gift bags!

You can see more Show & Tells over at Cindy's blog "My Romantic Home" Denise over at "Bella Dreams" is hosting her first blog party with the theme of everyone showing off their Christmas decorations and or craft ideas. The Nester is having a Christmas open house linky party as well. Lastly, "Hooked on Houses" is hosting a Christmas party as well. Go check out the linky fun~ If you have linked to my blog and wish to view more, just click right here!

Mixed Media Monday~

2009-12-13T07:47:00.000-08:00

This weeks theme is: Hanging out... Here is Pete hanging out on the Christmas tree~I've used an old-old box that I picked up for .45cents as the base for my piece. The "snowballs" that were packaged inside the box were just small styrofoam balls-- funny huh? I carefully opened up the flimsy box at the seam and reinforced the whole box with some thin chipboard then I reglued it back together. In keeping with the snowball theme of the box I used a little larger styrofoam balls then what came in the box originally and covered them with textured paint and glitter. I used my favorite little cutie-pie whom I named "Pete" to "hang-out"--- literally! What a face that little cherub has huh?
You can view more art pieces by checking out the weekly challenge site for mixed media art here---> Mixed Media Blog. If you have linked to my blog and wish to view more you can click on this link right ---> here.

Thrifted treasures~

2009-12-12T07:04:00.000-08:00

Slim pickings these days... I picked up this stack of vintage fabric for $2 Included in the bag were large pieces of leather in different colors. Who knows what I'll do with those, but I'm sure something will pop into my head one day. (there was a lot more fabric, but this is all I'm keeping) The three pumpkins were $1 each. The tall thingie thats painted white (its brass) was $1. The small silver thingie was $1.50. I've already got that in my bathroom holding some perfume. This fabulous little jewelry box for only $1.20 cents. Who prices these things? Caute huh? The outside is dirty but the inside is clean/brand new. It has green felt with a removeable tray for larger items on the bottom. The mirror still has the tape across it from when it was shipped. I am soooooooo going to paint this white and distress it~Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh and I got boxes & boxes of craft books, recipe books, paper craft books & magazines, scrapbook & card-making magazines & books, crochet books & magazines, knitting books etc-etc-etc... all for $20. Here is a photo of just some of them~She started off at $50 bucks-- gasp. Then I played the pitty card. Whoa is me-- to much for my budget--- so close to Christmas. I tell ya' I was in rare form! I'm thinking had I continued she would have given them to me for free. I've been neglecting my blog to read through them allllllllllllllllllllll~ I don't have much more to go through, I've got a several small stacks I'm going to keep, the rest is going up for sale on craigslist!

Christmas Cards~

2009-12-07T09:39:00.000-08:00

Busy, busy, busy... Here are this years Christmas card photos that I whipped up to be shipped out along with my Christmas cards. Next year I'm going to be doing something easier as this takes forever to finish.

Here is the outside....Lets untie the bow and peek inside shall we?

Here is the inside....a close-up of Chloe with Santa...Flip the photo of Chloe and Santa up to reveal another shot of Chloe and Santa crying~ The caption reads, "What?" "Your out of CANDY CANES?"Here is the backside of the card with even more photos.Here it is all tied up again and ready to be mailed.I've got a few more that I'm needing to make and then I've just got to wrap them up and ship them out. I'm shooting for tomorrow... wish me luck!

Cookie exchange!!!

2009-12-03T07:57:00.000-08:00

There is a cookie exchange party being hosted by Scrappy Jessi... if your wanting/needing some new cookie recipes go check out everyones recipes that they are sharing. I am reposting a FABULOUS recipe that I am over the moon for. Here is a wonderful sugar cookie recipe. It is absolutely fabulous, no lie. When you make these cookies you also need to make a bowl of air popped pop corn-- (for YOU to eat) and invite your super-skinny friends over because these suckers are loaded with calories! The cookies plus the frosting take a total of 5 sticks of butter!

Sugar cookies~

3 cups powdered sugar

2 cups butter or margarine, softened (thats 4 sticks!)

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 eggs

5 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1. In a large bowl, beat together the 3 cups powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, 1 teaspoon almond extract and eggs with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours.
2. Heat oven to 375°F. Divide dough into fourths. On lightly floured surface, roll each half 1/8 inch thick. I always add more flour to the dough as it is super sticky. I would say I add about 1/2 a cup to each dough (fourth....) so it doesn't stick to the rolling pin/cookie cutter and plastic cutting mat. Then cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. I put 8 on each cookie sheet~
3. Bake 7 to 10 minutes or until edges are light brown. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Did you know that a dark cookie sheet cooks things faster and darker? Anywho, once cooked, cool completely, about 30 minutes. Then frost away! Here is a wonderful frosting recipe that sets up nicely so you can stack the cookies...and it stays semi-soft.
Frosting:
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
5 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
food coloring of your choice & sprinkles if you desire~

Puttering~

2009-12-01T13:18:00.000-08:00

I've been puttering.... I changed this to look like this~

This...now looks like this~ These bird cages..... look so much better all matchy-matchy~ This little gold/plastic frame...looks soooooooooo much cuter painted white~I'm off to go play with some fabric scraps... I'm still in putter mode. Wait one second... December the 1rst already? What the heck??.... when did that happen??? nuts~

Happy Thanksgiving~

2009-11-26T08:34:00.000-08:00

Wooden blocks~

2009-11-23T20:24:00.000-08:00

I picked up this bag of 80 wooden blocks about 6 months ago from a thift store for .50cents. I had no plan what I was going to use them for, but for .50cents I couldn't pass them up. Anywho, the blocks have been in and out of the "donation" bag for these past few months off and on-- so I thought I'd better think of something to use them for or out they go-- for real this time! I also picked up this wooden box with a hinged lid..... hmmmm then it hit me. duh~

Stringing beads!! Soooooo I drilled a hole in each one of them. Some are perfect :-) some not so perfect :-P but whoop-dee-doo right? After drilling holes in each one, I painted them with a flat black spray paint. Next comes the fun part~ I purchased these Disney Car stickers from Walmart for a dollar-- scanned them onto my computer, (I am so going to jail right?) printed them out itsy-bitsy size, cut each one out --- 160 in total (thank goodness I love to cut!) ... and then glued one onto each side of each block. Then I gave each block a coat of clear gloss. I painted the box black and added some car stickers and coated that with clear gloss as well. Now my grandson can lace them up to his hearts content.... so fun! Whew, a lot of work, but look how darn caute they are!

The other 40 are for my grandaughter, Chloe. For her set, I'm using Tinkerbell. I've got awhile before I'm needing to finish those up, she is only 10 months old~

Kimm is hosting a trash to treasure party on her blog: Reinvented... go check it out~ Kimba over at A soft Place to Land is also hosting a linky party~

Show & Tell~

2009-11-19T18:15:00.000-08:00

Well, I never thought I would get this garage finished... what a lot of time went into this! Anywho, enough moaning & groaning, its finished and I'm happy with it!

Here is the before and after photos.

I created the brick using illustration board. I've blogged about how I made the brick here. I used real grout to set the brick into place. I made a drawer under the garage floor by cutting off a piece of the wood base and adding foam core to create the drawer. Perfect for holding all the odds & ends that the garage is going to be needing. I've managed to pick up all of whats shown in the drawer from garage sales. I used a wheel for the drawer pull~

I used illustration board for the roof as well. I cut 1 inch by 1-1/2 inch pieces using my paper cutter and hot glued that in place all over the existing roof and then just painted it with nutmeg brown paint. For the inside I painted the walls white and used black & white checkered fabric for trim on the walls. Here is the down stairs.....The photo below is the upstairs~ I created the false wall using foam core. Those little cubbies will hold 5 cars.
I printed the car signs off of the web by googling "car signs" The neon sign that says "Hot Rod Garage" was found on a site that makes & sells neon signs, I just printed it out and cut it close to the image and glued it in place. I've still got a little bit more I'm wanting to do to this little garage. The door openings are the perfect size for a hot wheel track to fit inside of... I think it would be so neat to be able to have a car zoom out of the second story window, so I'm needing to make some supports for the tracks. Geeze, I can always think of more to do can't I.... anything to get out of housework!

You can also see more Show & Tells over at Cindy's blog "My Romantic Home" If you have linked to my blog and wish to view more, just click right here!

Bazillion...

2009-11-16T18:26:00.000-08:00

thats how many projects I've got going on right now. A bazillion. Here is one that is almost near compleation... my grandson's garage. I've painted it inside and out (slight touch ups needed) added a roof, and laid the brick and grouted that. I added the name "Hot Rod Garage" in neon lights, nothing but the best for my grandson! I've even added a drawer to the underside of the garage to hold those all important car things~ (drawer not pictured)Now, comes the fun part, decorating the inside! I am trying to get this finished for this Fridays "Show & Tell" Its always nice to have a goal in mind... ignites that little flame under my butt~ I'll go into more detail of what I used, how I did it on Fridays post if anyone is interested.
Here is a photo of my grandson hiding in the base of my hall tree that I converted the bottom into a cat bed-- that they refuse to use~ Here is a link to that post...Ohhhhhhhh well... at least its getting used now!

Car shop~

2009-11-11T09:41:00.000-08:00

I picked up this miniature doll house at a second hand store for $6.I thought I could turn it into a garage for my 2 1/2 year old grandson to play with with his zillion and one match box cars. I'm wanting an old looking building with brick on the outside and maybe a brick floor as well. So of course, I'm needing some brick! I bought some illustration board which I cut into 1 x 1/2 inch pieces (This is not to scale, so for you purest miniature doll house builders-- sowwy) and painted them to look like brick. Obviously you wouldn't want to paint each one-- one by one... so I ran some glue down some sheets of paper and glued the "bricks" to that and just base coated everything with some terra cotta paint....Then a layer of sponged on black paint....then a layer of sponged on white paint...Taaaaaaaaaa daaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Brick! Now I've got to put the brick on the building. I'll just use regular elmers glue for that. Once that is finished and dried, I'll use real grout to morter the brick onto the building. (I've done this before, and it works beautifully!) Stay tuned for that part of the construction!

Christmas stockings~

2009-11-10T20:19:00.000-08:00

Well, I finally finished this years Christmas stockings. I used a white embossed coverlet for the main fabric and I went with a pink insert for the inside of the stockings. I really love how they turned out! Simple, clean & shabby-ish~ I picked up these pearl letters at Michaels for $1 each. They have them every year in the dollar section. Of course, I can never just leave anything alone for long-- I may add a cuff to them~ maybe next year instead of making new stockings, I'll add the cuff! But for now, I've hot glued roses onto hair clippies covered with ribbon for a little soft touch above each letter. I think I'll make a bunch of little stockings to pass out to friends as well!

Mmm Mmm Monday~

2009-11-09T14:19:00.001-08:00

Here is another tasty easy-peasy recipe. It is a take off of Monkey bread. Well.... I made it into Monkey muffins! I used an apple slicer to cut up the biscuits into little cute bits which I then placed into muffin cups. Here is the recipe:

Monkey Muffins~
4 tubes refrigerated biscuit dough (get the cheapest)
2/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix 2/3 cup white sugar with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in a bowl. Open 1 can of biscuits and using one of those apple cutters that cuts and cores an apple into 8ths... cut each biscuit. I placed two cut up biscuits at a time into the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Once those were tossed and totally covered with the sugar and cinnamon I placed the biscuit bits into one muffin cup. So, two biscuits equal one muffin...(my muffins are biggins!) If your wanting a normal sized muffin, I would suggest only putting about 1 & 1/2 of one biscuit into each muffin cup. One biscuit per muffin cup would work as well... but then you'd just have to eat twice as many now wouldn't you~ Do this for all the remaining biscuits. Once the muffins cups are filled, bring to a boil the butter and the brown sugar and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Spoon the butter/sugar over the biscuit pieces-- it was about 1 tablespoon per muffin cup. I also added walnuts on top of each muffin... might as well right?
Heat up your oven at 350 degrees and bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden brown. Sure the paper sticks to the muffin here and there... but just consider that exercise while your eating it. Good thinking huh~

Fa-reeeeeeeeeeeee~

2009-11-07T20:03:00.000-08:00

Look at all these boxes of fa-reeeeee stuff I got today. Box upon box of neat craft stuff that I'm needing to sort through.....I went to a yard sale that had just wrapped up and the gal said, "Take what you want, its freeeeeeee" -- so, of course I did! Just take a peek inside some of these boxes... holy-moly! I didn't dig deep into each box, I just peeked and placed them in my truck! Whatever I don't want I'm going to donate to one of our local thrift stores :-)I'm never going to get my Christmas stockings finished as I've got all of this fun stuff to sort through!Unused patterns, paint, flowers, straw hats, bells, new stuffed animals, crocheted trim, ribbons, fabric, velvet, wooden things, floss, glue sticks, stickers, markers, transfers thats just what I've come across so far! Free, freeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, faaaaaaaa-reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee~