50's Themed Birthday Party

My daughter and her family are going to a fifties themed birthday party this weekend. I made my daughter a poodle for her skirt, but for my grand daughter I wanted to do something a little different... so I made her a "hip kitty cat." A few weeks ago I bought a HUGE bag of adhesive backed felt for only $2.00 for the entire heaping bag... after purchasing the huge lot, I thought, "When am I ever going to need sticky backed felt?" Everything I needed to make these little 50's appliques I had on hand. The sticky backed felt, faux fur, rhinestones and pom poms. I wanted to use faceted rhinestones for the eyes and the nose of the kitty, so I had to create small holes in the felt. I used my eyelet punch which created the perfect size hole to hold the faceted stones in place. (with glue of course)

Here is the poodle on my daughters skirt....
and the hip little kitty on my grand daughters skirt...

Next on my to do list is creating a "Jesse" costume for my grand daughter Chloe to wear for Halloween~ Fun times, fun times!
big hugs,

School Spirit

My two little grand kids (aged 4 & 6) are really active in a lot of activities. They love to participate in everything, one of which is school spirit day at their school. So, being the ab-fab Nana that I am, I whipped up two small scarves for my two little love bugs to wear on Friday's for spirit day.

The scarves are identical up to a point...I used the same stitches and colors, but one is shorter in length (for the four year old) and I added some yarn flowers to make it more girlie for my grand daughter.
The stitch I used is called a woven stitch and is normally done horizontally like this....

I thought it would be fun to use the woven stitch vertically to make long stripes. I really like how they turned out. They were super easy to crochet consisting of simple single crochet stitches and chain stitchs... thats it.

 Now, I am needing to find a couple of cute hat patterns!
big hugs,

Happy-Happy

birthday to meeeeeeeeeeeeeee~
What a super fun start to my birthday! Yesterday I found 9 tiki at a yard sale for only $25.00. Say what? Say "mine!" I am so delighted to be adding these beauties to my pirate back~yaarrd! Of course, now I am going to be making a "Tiki Store" to add to my back yard! ....big plans, big plans...

 I also picked up a large pedestal and a lot of wooden boxes as well as two wall sconces with tropical greenery stuck to them. I have big plans for those wall scones! Stay tuned!

 I also found a bunch of doo--dads to add as filler to my yard. My hubby surprised me by buying the large wooden black face mask--- it cracks me up..... its like its sayin'... "what?"... hmmm come to think of it it looks like my husband when I haul something home and he just doesn't see what I see in something~

 I couldn't resist this little fellow below. I am also adding a few oriental things to my yard along with pirate and tiki items. I think this is going to get a coat of gold paint to make it really pop in the yard...

A pirate has got to have his/her rope right? This huge spool of thick white rope I picked up awhile back for only $10.00....*score* I have no clue what I'm going to do with it! yet....  I do have a lot of pulleys, so I may just add the rope to the pulleys and run the rope every which way...

Lastly, another treasure that I found for only $5.00... a Butterscotch Pony. Here is a photo of it on display at a store. The one I bought is in rough shape and is camera shy at the moment. (ok, I didn't want to haul it out of the garage to take its picture!) My Pony is missing both of its ears and the tail fell off on the ride home--- none the less. Its adorable! I can make new ears and I certainly can put the tail back on! I would be over the moon if it worked, but I doubt it does.... Once I add its missing appendages, I was thinking of making it look like a pack mule with some small barrels and maybe a small treasure chest strapped to its back! Caute! I was looking up the pony online to get some information about it, they have a few right now on Amazon if anyone is interested in purchasing one..... They are priced currently at $999.99.... *gasp*

 At that price, it better come with a pink slip! What a fabulous start to my birthday month!
big hugs,

September Art Hop

I participated in our local Art Hop again this month... oh my gosh, I have such a fabulous time-- every time--- *twice now* that I am addicted! It is a perfect venue for me because I love-love to chit chat with people, and all of the people walking the gallery tours are extremely nice.... it is just a really pleasant experience!  I didn't make anything new to sell, I have a LOT of merchandise already made. I did however change up one thing... I added metal bezels to some existing fairy crystals.

 I had originally made these with wire hangers as Christmas tree ornaments...

 I pulled those off and added the bezels creating "fairy necklaces..."

 I was selling these for $3.00 each...
 
I also had made some ruffled scarves. If you have never had a chance to play with the sashay yarn that is being sold currently, I suggest you pick some up and watch some tutorial videos on how to create a ruffled scarf. The one pictured below is doubled up because I like them "fluffy"& "ruffly"~ You can wear them long and ruffly as well...

I am super excited about being a vendor next month too. Even more so since I've decided to have a Halloween theme to my table. Oh yeah baby.... give me a theme and I turn into a crazy person! Its on!
big hugs,

Treasures...

This past weekend was pretty dismal for finding treasures.... I guess everyone was out enjoying the lake or traveling out of town for the Labor day 3-day weekend? I did find a few fun things... for what else? My pirate back yard! I got two two-toned pots for $5 for the pair...
 
I also found some fruit sweat boxes, these ones are super big. I bought three for $17, weird price--- but I talked him down and that was his counter *sold* and home they came! I had to buy some rope to tie them to the van to bring them home...

 When I saw the size of the boxes, I immediately thought they would make a fabulous pirate bar. Now all I'm needing is a really nice counter top for the top of the new bar!

I have been super busy working in my backyard. Here are some pictures to prove it! Looking down into the lagoon...

 I finished laying all the retaining stones and did a lot of planting and arranging of stuff...

I got the faux cobblestone (black painted brick) all laid and the compass rose finished and painted. I am just needing to go back and paint in the North, South, East and West on the compass...

The foundation of everything is done, now I just need to do a LOT of finishing touches. Like.... making faux bricks to fill in spaces where bricks should be, tweaking the pirate displays so that everything is visible but looks like a pirate just carelessly tossed things about.

Here is the one of the new pots I just bought. I added a burlap lid to it...

 I've moved some things from other parts of my yard into the lagoon...

 Some sticks from my neighbors yard stuck in the ground...

 One of my favorite parts of the lagoon is the steps. I've got another set on the other side of the lagoon as well.

 aaarrrrgggghhhh.... rope! The rope I had to buy to tie down the sweat boxes looks just like pirate rope! Who knew?

 I found this old wooden porch post years ago...I love it! I was thinking about adding signs to it saying "lagoon" etc... we'll see... for now I'm enjoying the chippiness of it as it stands.

 One of my girlfriends gave me the little wooden table pictured below. Her husband made it for her years and years ago, and I've had it for years and years, its held up great. The top is metal and came from some engine, I added the metal scroll to it.. another fun treasure!

Well, I think I've made some good progress out in the yard and I am hoping to continue with all the finishing touches that are needing to be done. Today I'm getting two new electrical outlets put in -in my yard. Hooray, no more extension cords for my fountains pump!
big hugs,
 

Ring Display Tutorial

I am going to be participating again at the Artist's Market during next month's Art Hop in about two weeks. I had a great time last month I participated and I am expecting to have another stellar evening this time as well! With that said, if you've ever tried to sell your wares at an event, you know its hard sometimes to get people to reach into their wallets and shell out some dough--- even if they like it. I always like to have some things priced for a dollar, everyone will buy something for dollar! A few weeks ago, I bought 420 gold metal rings with rhinestones glued in them for only $10.00. I originally bought them as pirate loot... but then I got to thinking.... at a dollar each thats $420 minus the $10 initial investment. Whoa, that is a whole lot of "dollars." So, with that thought in mind, I was needing some kind of ring display! Here is what I've come up with... I just love it! It was super easy to make although it was time consuming-- which is hard for those of us who need love immediate results.
 
Here is a Tutorial on how I made it if anyone is interested in creating one yourself. It was very easy to make.

Here is a list of things you'll need to create your own ring display.

1. A frame
2. foam core board
3. foam pieces approximately 1" in diameter and a long enough length to fit snuggle from side to side in the frame you've chosen. (you can glue the foam together to create longer pieces, that is what I did)
4. glue gun and glue sticks
5. fabric of your choice. I used a velveteen fabric.
6. felt or decorative paper to give the backside of the ring display a nice finished look.

 First, measure and cut a piece of foam core board to fit inside the frame your wanting to use. You will be using this as the foundation for your ring display to glue the foam and fabric to.

Next, cut your foam into long strips. I cut mine into 1" x 1" the entire length of the foam I was using, which was about 12" long.  I had to glue some foam together to create long enough pieces to fit my frame from side to side. 

Once the foam was cut into usable pieces, I simply started laying the pieces into the frame from edge to edge of the frame... the entire width and length of the frame. I had to taper some of the ends of the foam to follow the curving oval shape of the frame before laying them into place. The foam cuts easily with scissors.

 Once that was finished, I numbered each piece in the order that they were laying. Once numbered, I then took them out of the frame all but a small section in the middle..... As you can see below, I drew a line where the edges of number 7 thru 12 were. This gave me a guide for gluing the foam back into place, keeping everything lined up nicely.

Next step.... the glue and fabric. Do not put any glue on the top of the foam, all of the glue will be added to the bottom of the foam and the foam core board only. I began by gluing down foam strip #7 to the foam core board, I then ran a line of glue along side of the foam onto the foam core board to hold the fabric in place. I laid the blue velveteen fabric down and pushed it into the glue. Once the glue had a chance to set up, I laid the fabric back on to itself so it was out of the way, and then I glued down foam piece number #8.
 
I used a piece of scrap foam core board to keep the hot glue from burning my fingers as I pushed the velveteen fabric snuggle against the foam to create a nice even taut finish. At this point it is just a matter of repeating those steps to compete the ring display.... again, you just move the fabric out of the way, glue down the foam, run a bead of glue down the edge of the foam... pull over the fabric and using your scrap of foam core board press into the glue while pulling the fabric taut. Easy peasy.....

Here you can see the beginning stages of the ring display taking shape. Keep about an inch of excess fabric hanging over each edge. This will be used later to finish off the display piece.

 I did the same procedure all the way across the frame to the opposite side. Almost finished!
 
Once all of the foam has been secured to the foam core board and covered with fabric, you have to clean up the sides so that the entire foam/fabric display piece fits neatly into the frame you've chosen. Pull the foam covered fabric piece you've just created out of the frame through the back. This next step is crucial as if you don't get it laying nicely around the edges--- you run the risk of the display piece you've just made not fitting in the frame you've chosen. Take your time, and start pleating the fabric and pulling it snugly down to the edge of the foam core and using hot glue attaching it to the foam core board. Just keep it smooth, not to bulky.... and you'll have no problems. Once the edge is looking nice, simply cut off the extra fabric and your all done. The edge will be covered by the frame, but it has to lay flat and cannot be bulky or it will not fit inside your frame.

 Once that was finished, I placed the frame over the velveteen ring display. Looking good FABULOUS!

 Lastly, I turned the display piece over and I ran some hot glue between the edge of the frame and the foam core board to keep it securely in place. At this point, you could either add some paper or felt to finish off the backside of this ring display....

There you have it, an easy--- super cute ring display!

 big hugs,
 

Weekend W.I.P.

Well..... I was doing really well on my backyard lagoon compass until.... I fillet my  index finger with a razor as I was cutting some cardboard. I cut from the finger tip all the way down to the knuckle. The. Entire. Length. Of. My. Finger. *gasp* I know right? I probably need stitches, but the thought of that makes me faint...

Anywho, I created a large compass mold that is going to be set in the brick floor of the lagoon.....

  

Once I'm feeling up to it, I'll get it poured and continue on until it is finished!

big hugs,