November already?

It's November already? Seems like summer was just yesterday.  I have been crafting and searching for new ideas for Christmas gifts. I found this idea on Pinterest.  All you need is a 4" clay pot with a clay saucer. A little glass craft bowl, ribbon, pain, E 6000 and a little wooden ball. I got the clay pot and saucer at Michael's for under 2.00. I bought the bowl and ribbon at The Dollar Tree for 2.00, added a bag of candy 1.00. I glued the wooden ball to the center of the bottom side of saucer.
So I painted the pot and saucer, let them dry and added some brown dots of paint. Let that dry and glued the bowl to the upside down clay pot. I let it dry for 2 days just to make sure it was really dry. Tied a ribbon around it, added the candy.
I think it turned out really cute and made a cute gift for under 5.00
Although Michael's was limited on clay pots and the matching saucers. I also added some brown dots to the lid after I took this photo.
Right now I am making a felt basket as a gift.
I'll post it when I'm finished with it.
So what are you working on? Do you make homemade gifts? I always make some gifts for Christmas. Last year I made a ton of handcrafted scarves, coasters and other things. I was disappointed afterwards. I worked really hard and long. I put a lot of thought and energy into those items I made. Only to see no one wearing the things or displaying what I had given them. I guess some people don't appreciate the effort. So this year I will not be killing myself to get it all done. I will make a few things to give to those who appreciates handcrafted gifts other than that I won't give the others anything. Does that sound mean or selfish?  The people I gave these things to wanted the more expensive gift items and because they don't do any crafting,, they do not realize the amount of effort that goes into it.. Now if I had bought the same gift and it came with a large price tag or brand name they would have been tickled pink. But I know from past experiences that people think because I craft , it was inexpensive. My daughter always comes to mind in these cases. Since I have crafted her whole life she showed little appreciation for these things. It has only been in the last couple of years that she is starting to show some love for the handcrafted item.
So is life I guess..... well until next time
Happy Crafting!

Summer Gone By

I know it's been awhile but time seems to be going so fast. I spent my summer sewing a few pieces of clothes for the youngest granddaughter and learning how to work with polymer clay. I saw a altered bottle on Flickr and fell in love. Isn't is just gorgeous! I figured that if you just wrap snakes of clay and add a few indents then bake. You would do a quick paint job and wipe that off. This is what you get. Right? Well not quite. Because mine keep flattening out and just doesn't look the same. But I'll keep working on it. Heaven knows I'm no quitter. Although I have a ton of UFOs, I eventually get back to them and finish.
Right now I am working a boutique style hair bows too. My youngest granddaughter started school a couple of weeks ago and will not go without a bow in her hair. I never realized just how young they become little divas. But at 4 she is definitely a diva with very strong opinions, likes and dislikes.

Tags

I have recently became enthralled with tags. Tags being gift tags that you use on presents. But to be honest with you I think are way to pretty to go on something that with be thrown away along with the gift wrapping. So after looking at many for a couple of weeks decided this morning to try my hand at making one. I use scrapbooking card stock, a few card making stick ons, a wee bit of pearl stems, snipped off a little bit of artifial flowers, added 2 different ribbons and a butterfly button.

I guess you are only limited by your imagination and you resources.

I really didn't have alot to work with but I think it turned out rather cute.

If I were going to get into it big I could probably spend a fortune. But I am a cheapskate at heart and so mine will never rival those tags that I am in love with. Oh well just as well. Just wanted to share.

Until next time peeps, Happy Crafting

I love Pinterest

Have you discovered Pinterest yet? Evidently they have been around for awhile but I have not seen it until 2 weeks ago. This site allows you to collect pictures and urls of things, places and styles that inspire you. You can collect pictures of what you like by surfing the web, going to sites you love or by joining and looking at what others have posted on their pin boards. You pin or repin pictures onto your pinterest board.

I have become addicted to Pinterest. In the last 2 weeks I have visited dozens of blogs where the blogger has tutorial and how tos of just about anything. Did you know you can make your own cleaning supplies for a fraction of retail cost? Well, I didn't know until Pinterest.

Did you know that you could make beautiful furntishings from old shipping pallets? Me either but there are dozens of people out there who make beds, couches, tables, shelves ect... from shipping pallets. You remember right before Christmas I was doing all the gifts handmade? I will be very prepared next Christmas. As a matter of fact I have become so inspired by the DIYs that I am so motivated to make some changes at my house.

Although I am not quite sure which room I will begin with. My kitchen does need a new coat of paint so I will probably begin there along with the hall way that is sort of attached to the kitchen.

Was thinking of maybe a light orange walls with accents in Dark orange with a touch of teal.

What do you think about repainting all the picture frames down the hall a dark orange and adding dark orange knobs to my white cabinets? I thought then maybe a few tall bottles spray painted teal to set on top of the frig?

I don't know the last time I had a vision for my kitchen it went horribly wrong and it took me 5 years to change it. HeHe

Buying the paint next week so we will see.

Well gotta run, if you want to follow me on Pinterest go to the right hand side and look at the "Places I visit" catagory. It's the first one.

until next time my lovelies, Happy Crafting

Welding Caps Instructions again

I told you last time I would get together instructions for you and I had an awful time trying to get the pattern where you can just print it out. The best I can do is direct you to 2010 posts where I gave you the directions as well as the pictures of the pattern.
I am sorry about it but I am not tech savvy enough to to it any other way.
If some time in the future I figure it out, I'll post it.

Until then here are the pattern pieces and I"ll try to walk you through this.

You will need 4 fat quarters or about 18" of two co ordinating fabrics. Cotton works best.

You will need to cut 2 fronts, 2 backs, 2 side panels, 2 bills and 1 bill piece from felt or fleece and 2 strips for the cap band measuring about 34 -36 inches.

Hopefully you have sewing experience. Sew the bill together using 3 pieces 1 for the outside,the felt or fleece for the padding and 1 for the inside of cap.

* I make mine so they are reversible, Using 1 design on the outside and another design for the inside. After you sew the bill together you then treat the rest of the sewing like you are working on just 1 cap (You will see why in a mionute)

I sew a front and a back to the side panel and do it again then sew the 2 sections together matching up edges. I pin the finished bill piece to the edge of the front pieces then I sew the band to the lower edge around the whole cap. You will need to do some adaptations when you get near the end so the band will need to be sized up and trimmed as you finish it.

Npw do this again for your inside cap.

You will then do the exact same steps for the inside of cap.

Second to the Last step: Place the inside and outside caps together right sides touching And sew around the whole thing leaving a couple inches open for turning.

Turn the cap outside right through the opening and do a stay stitch around the whole cap.

Done.

In the mean time if you can print it and work with it let me know how you did, I would love to see pictures.

Here's a tip, if you have an old baseball hat laying around try looking at it to see how it's put together. You could even tear it up and work with it as a pattern.

I hope this tut helps, I'm sorry it's the best I could give you for now.
Until next time happy crafting peoples.