No Tricks Just Treats

Helping Cordell with measuring his Science project. We get to measure, weigh & document a melting block of ice every ten minutes. Hey, yesterday on the other ice block (with gravel frozen inside) it was every FIVE minutes! Obviously, there's not a lot you can do between buzzers, so I've been playing on the computer. These are what I managed last night and this morning. Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

What do you ponder?

Me? Loads of things. I take a lot of my crafting inspiration from...well...everywhere. Today, I can't seem to get my mind away from benches made out of old beds and porch beds. I just LOVE them!! And I REALLY want a house with big front and back porches, and enough yard to accommodate a gazebo, so I can put some of these beauties everywhere...

I even love the little suspended window!

pic courtesy Roombargo

Isn't this dreamy? Love the iron gate/fencing they used for the headboard.

Got a man in your life with welding skills? Or, even better, do YOU have welding skills? Don't overlook those old metal beds for a neat look.

pic courtesy Roombargo

This one has to be one of my faves - the company that made it is out of business, but who could resist that eyelet bed skirt & picket fence headboard?!? So country....so romantic....so COOL!

This one was made from baby bed parts. Can't you see that in an entry way or a mudroom?

This would work on a front porch, in your entry way, or even on the long side of a dining table (indoors OR outdoors)!

pic courtesy Roombargo

Look at garage sales, Craigslist, or your local FreeCycle group on Yahoo for partial baby cribs...you might end up with something that looks like this...

pic courtesy CribCreations2

I adore this one! It just invites you to curl up with a Jane Austen novel, a pitcher of lemonade, a plate full of cookies, and swing your day away.

pic courtesy Extraodinary Coastal Living

You can have people make them for you, if you want one and aren't the crafty type. People like Extraordinary Coastal Living or Porch Beds Biz. If you have the tools and feel ambitious, you could probably make one in a weekend, like Rechelle did. Can't figure out the proportions for your dream bed? Ana White has plans you can follow here and here.

Of course, looking at these dreamy ideas makes me spin off into pondering other things...but I'll save those for another visit. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Computer Creativity

Had some ideas to get out of my noggin today. Something for everyone. Hope y'all like 'em!

I'll try to get some autumn/Halloween ones up later this week. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Ta-daaa!

I just made new headers for both of my blogs! Feeling pretty doggone good about myself right now. *LOL* Now, that I've got those ideas out of my noggin, I can go back to crafting!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great rest of your day!!

Best birthday present...EVER!

Just got a call from my gramma in Oklahoma (dad's mom). She's been fighting a rare blood cancer for the last 14months and when she called to wish me a happy birthday an hour ago, she oh-so-casually mentions that today her doctor announced IT IS IN REMISSION! I couldn't have asked for a better birthday gift. God is GOOD!

Gonna go say a prayer of thanksgiving & call it a night. Thanks for stopping by!!

Still playin' with fabric

I've got a confession...this stash busting feels good. Not "chocolate pudding" good, but pretty doggone close! *LOL*

For this project, I used two cuts off of my 40 yard roll of "waxing" muslin. Yes, you read right. I had made a trip to the local beauty supply & they had a 40 yard roll of 3 inch wide muslin ($17) normally used for waxing. I decided to craft with this instead of doing anything painful!

The first cut was 36 inches. I split it right up the middle length-wise, tied a knot in one end of each strip, grabbed my Liquid Stitch, then started twisting the muslin and wrapping it around the knots, letting it fray, and gluing in tiny spots as I went to hold it all together. There was a 1 1/2 inch tail at the end that I flattened & used UNDER the twisting to make a base. The second piece was 45 inches and I left it the full 3 inches wide. Just repeated the same steps as the two narrow pieces. I ended up with 3 of these lovelies...

I knew EXACTLY where I wanted them to go. Not sure how long it's been now, maybe 4-5 years, one of Salt Lake City's oldest craft stores (Zim's) went out of business. During one of their last weeks, I happened across a table full of natural muslin vests. Did I buy one or two for the fab price of $2 each? NOPE! I bought up every stinkin one that was lying there because I knew if I didn't, I'd kick myself down the road for wanting more and not being able to find 'em. Think I ended up with 20 or so when I walked out (I'm not going to divulge how much papier mache I picked up during that trip!).

Over the years, I've put Christmas appliques on them & given as gifts, painted with fabric paint or acrylics & fabric medium like this one here, used a fabric gel pen to draw...you name it. Well, I still have quite a few vests sitting in the cupboard, so I unwrapped one, grabbed a needle and thread, then sat and did the guilty pleasure thing last night ~~ watched a couple episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and stitched. It was a great night!

Now to run it through a quick wash to get the wrinkles out & fray the roses a bit more. I LIKEY! Hope you do, too. We're up to 50 cool projects and counting, so go peek and be inspired...there's so many fantastic ideas flowing over at The T-Shirt Diaries!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Stamptastic!!

Catalogs are still available & I'll have more info on our new Fall Supplement soon. If you have any questions, or would like to place an order, scroll down to click on the pic of the girl with the mailbox & I'll be happy to help. Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Curtains...done!

What do you do with three funky windows? Folks, when I say funky, I mean FUNKY...they're better suited to a basement, but they're on the south & west side of my home...nearly 6 feet above the ground. They measure 48 inches across and are just shy of being 23 inches high. So, what do you do? Buy pre-made curtains and alter them to fit? Yeah, you could...but that could be expensive, even with cheapo panels from Wally World, and my budget is beyond thin. Non-existent, really. So, the answer is you get REALLY CREATIVE!

You take a 6' x 9' canvas drop cloth purchased at Lowe's in August. Wash it & soften it up just a bit. Take it straight out of the dryer and fold it in half length-wise in your living room floor so that it doesn't wrinkle too much...Using a measuring tape, you divide it into thirds and mark down both long sides with pins. Then using the measuring tape again, lay it cross-ways between the marking pins, and either lightly pencil a line between the pins and cut...or do it 'the Nora way' and just be bold...get out your pinking shears and CUT that puppy! *LOL*
Then on a Saturday night, while hubby is away with his motorcycle club and the munchkins are either at sleepovers or crashed out in their beds, you find one of your favorite David Tennant episodes of Doctor Who on PBS, set up your sewing machine in front of the telly, and STITCH.

I'm sorry? You don't watch Doctor Who? What do you mean, you don't know who David Tennant is?!? Oh, for shame! You need to snoop through my blog more & find this stuff out! *ROFL* Oh, okay...go pick out your own favorite show to watch, then.

Anyway....the cool thing about this project - two of the panels are finished on three sides before you even get really started. All you have to make is the rod pocket on the top (cut edge). The third panel (from the center), you just have to make a 1/4 inch hem on one side for the bottom and the rod pocket across the top. It's all straight sewing so it goes really fast.

In the time it takes to watch a one-hour show (even if you're making stops in between to squeal in delight when David does something utterly adorable....oh, sorry, wandering off topic...MIBAD!), you're done!

You just wait for the munchkins to wake up the next morning (so you're not standing on their beds while they're sleeping) and hang them up.
They look really nice. One quick note: I didn't make them into traditional double panel curtains, just left them one solid piece. You can...a simple fold in half, cut, then two quick 1/4 inch seams...it's just that for these windows, it's not necessary. Since they're horizontal sliders, I usually push them off to one side to open them for the breezes anyway.

See? They let in just enough light, they have a nice rustic finish (perfect for 3 smelly boys that don't like frou-frou anyway!), the texture is amazing, and I made all three for less than $11! You've GOTTA love that!!

Now...my next project is to take this sheet that was in one of the windows and turn it into three valances for the finishing touch...a nice, masculine feel without being too much. {Mama runs on testosterone overload most days, we don't want to over-do with the decor!}
After THAT, I get to tackle this window in MY bedroom. Doncha just love the flour sack towels hanging over a tension rod for privacy? Lovely...NOT! *LOL*
I have this little funky window (south wall) and a more "normal" sized window (east wall) that need my attention, too. Thought I'd take some white muslin and this fabric that I got through FreeCycle....
For the big window - I'm not sure if there's enough to make full panels out of this (haven't measured), but if not, I can always use it for a band at the bottom of the curtains, maybe the rod pocket portion & still have some left over for toss pillows or to add a bit to that little window on the south wall. I dunno yet, but I'll figure it out. It'll probably come to me like most of my best projects do...at 3am just as I'm getting really good and asleep. *LOL*

And for THIS little thrift store find...
Well, I thought I'd alternate it with some white muslin strips and make a REALLY RUFFLY curtain for that smaller window...too much? Maybe? Guess we'll see! *LOL*

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

Tote-ally!

It's time for another entry for Stashbusting September. So I took a dip into my stash boxes, jars, drawers, totes...*sigh*...you get the picture. Grabbed some brown felt, needle and thread, scissors, and some of my yummy lace stash and whipped up a few of these darling little flowers. Okay, 'little' might be an exaggeration...they're not small at all. The "smallest" is this brown one that fits the palm of my hand.

The largest (yes I know it looks blue - blame the sunlight coming in my back door) is this black lace flower. I used two sizes of lace to make this beauty. What did I do with them, you ask?
I put some ruffles onto some tote bags that I've been storing (for almost a year now) and stitched the flowers on for an accent. Was going to sell them in a boutique, but I think I'm gonna keep these (I have others I can whip up). I'm getting really tired of trying to remember my UGLY tote bags for grocery shopping, I figured these would be great for showing off as I pick up fruits & veg.

What do you think? Will these be easy to remember to take along? I think so too! Be sure to hop on over and see the other fab things being made for Stashbusting September...you won't be disappointed!

Thanks for stopping by & have a great rest of your day!!

It's Time!

Happy September 1st! The official first day of Stash~busting September over at The T-Shirt Diaries. I've already done a couple of early projects to kick off the month HERE, but I will NOT be purchasing any new items. The whole idea is 'if you've got it...use it!' so that's what I'm doing. There are 40 other blogs that are committing to this idea, as well, so there's plenty of inspiration & eye candy to keep you hopping around the entire month!!

I have boxes of fabric out in the shed that needs to be turned into pillows & window coverings; a couple boxes of wood and papier mache; a tote of blank vests that I need to embellish; two antique windows that I need to finish stripping and converting into something pretty/useful...the list goes on and on.

Are you ready?