Wreath from Molly's design

Look from bottom to top since I am never going to get used to adding my first picture last! The hard foam wreath was crocheted to cover with brown and a varigated green yarn. Next a LOT of tiny shamrocks were cut using the Sizzix Big Shot in a dark and light green felt then in four different patterns of fabric. It was fun work and even more fun with help from Carrie. After trying all sorts of patterns I decided on a light to dark transition from the outside to the inside of my wreath. Each shamrock was then pinned with a headed pin into the wreath form. Some tiny bows in green were added for accent. Love the design Molly. Thank you so much for such a pleasant craft project.

Valentine plastic canvas completed

Here you see the final product for the plastic canvas lesson shown a few weeks ago. Just adding the silly eyes and nose make them come alive. They are ready for boxing and sending to my grandchildren and their friends for Valentine's day with a chocolate kiss in each one and of course, more kisses from Nana!

Valentine's Day Heart

There are a couple of things I don't love about Valentine's Day and that pink-on-red color scheme is one of them.   Luckily shopping with two little helpers precluded me from getting a chance to pick out a color scheme and limited me to what could be grabbed and thrown into the cart before they knocked each other down again.  

I used:

Some inexpensive blue yarn I got for a different project and a crochet hook that was on hand.

A Heart shaped wreath

Origami Paper

Straight pins normally used for sewing.

I had spotted a crochet wreath on Pinterest earlier in the week but the directions were beyond me.  I nearly (very nearly) just wrapped the darn thing but took the time to figure something out.  This worked really really really well and was fun and exciting for me because it was tight and even.

Use a slip knot to get going.  

 Then, wrap the yarn around.  I went down and then around the back once and then again before I pulled through.  This kept the wrapping process going and made everything nice and tight.

 The points were tricky and this would be much prettier on a round wreath.  But, since I planned to add more things it didn't really matter.  Although, to be honest, it was hard to leave the bald spot.

I really liked the seam.  It was strange, but I kept thinking about how nice this stitch would work to cover a cast.  The things that go through your mind during crafting....

All week I had been folding origami pinwheels.  I really wanted to use the flowers I made last week but they had too much depth.  And they took forever to make.  Pinwheels were fun and I could do them in the car during pick-up.

 Then I pinned them onto the wreath with straight pins.

And, done!

I did it!

Thank you for showing me how to make this. It is so much nicer to assemble than a pattern I have. Lovely to look at. These pages are from Dad's physics book from the 70's. It was in very bad shape and will yield enough flowers to make a bouquet. Fun and easy! Great job Molly.

Simple Paper Flower

I found this sweet and simple Origami flower on Nifty Thrifty Things.  Unfortunately I didn't have any Origami paper so I used light card stock and my handy dandy paper tool.  How cute is this flower?  To my list of things to do this week I am going to purchase some Origami paper and make a nice flower arrangement of these.  Or maybe a wreath?

Catching Up

Well, I suppose it is harder than I thought to just make one little thing every single week.  Not that I haven't been working on learning how to do things correctly - step by step.  So far in the last two weeks I have learned so many basic sewing things that I did not know.  I did a stitch sampler, practiced different stitch methods and worked on tracing a pattern.  But all of these foundations exercises and my Spanish lessons have really eaten into my finished product time schedule.  Next week is Catholic Schools week and my oldest son's 6th birthday.  My only goal this weekend is to make ONE finished item and a list of things I can work on in the coming weeks.  Maybe I am the only one but without a list made during madness I cannot think of things to do in my free time.

quickie recycling project for old cards

Before you get rid of all those beautiful cards you receive check and see if you like any of them enough to recycle them. The front of this card was quite a bit larger than I wanted so I cut it down and applied a sticker from the craft store with a foam pop dot to give it a bit of dimension. Now the card front is the right size to place on a new card and send out for another greeting. I make my cards by taking 8 1/2 x 11 card stock and cutting it in half on the long side. Each piece then folds in half to make a card. If the cardstock you choose is a dark color cut a piece of white or cream paper to fit inside for your greeting. Lightly tack the greeting in the inside of the card so it could potentially be used yet again if you send it to a crafty person or you could make a challenge of using old cards and see how many lives you and your friends could give them. I advise taking your old cards apart and throwing out the unusable portion (or shredding them to make more paper!) and taking your fronts to the craft store to shop for matching paper and stickers. If you buy blank cards at the store they come with matching envelopes. I am not sure how my friend, who is not a crafter, will feel about getting her card back but we will see.