New Crafting Venture, Old Birthday

I missed posting this on the exact day, but I still want to acknowledge a birthday we had at our house. My best little friend, Belle, turned 16 years old last Wednesday. And I will admit, she was long over-due for a bath, so I gave her one, thinking I would get her looking spiffy for a few Birthday candid shots. Turned out, I only managed to make her look like a stray!!

Her hair is still wet and she is not too happy about it.

She doesn't jump on the sofa anymore, she can't hear at all nor see too well. When we have to get her attention, we wave our arms real big. Lord knows what the neighbors think of us!! But she is still a sweet gal. Hard to believe I've had her since she was 6 weeks old.


And I have finally started doing a crafting project that has been on my To Do List for a long time!! I finally picked up some beautiful colors of yarn, got my Mama's old crochet hook, and sat down for a weekend, playing.

Round and round we go

New use for an old basket

Really loving these colors together.


Have you started a new project? If not, it's Springtime, a great time to jump in!!

New Projects

Wanted to share a few new projects I've been busy working on. I have another one, but you will have to wait until September 1st (or a few days later) to see it, as I'm using it for Gitter Done #4.

I have been collecting vintage books for a really long time and have started seeing so many things made from them. Had to try my hand at one of the wreaths.

I had so much fun making the first one, I made a second one for our bedroom.

Back during July when I was cross stitching a little piece for the holiday, Dane had picked out a piece that he really liked. I stored the information away and wanted to surprise him at Christmas with a handmade gift from me. So I purchased the fabric and some new thread colors for this piece. Since the original charted was written before any of the new colors came out, I decided to plan out my own color combo. I made an error with the greys. I purchased "Dolphin" and "Dove" but after holding them up with the others, I want to try again. They have too much blue in them for my taste. I'll need to place another order and try again. But I love the fabric ~ 28 count Relic Lugana!!

And finally, a little bounty from my one little tomato plant that is in a pot two sizes too small!



And I even have a few more blooms on it, hopefully I might get a few more fruit!

Hope your week is starting off good. Hard to believe tomorrow is a new month! Goodness, this year has certainly been flying along.

~♥~

Artful Thursday ~ Week 21

Hello! And welcome to another week of Artful Thursday. Just a reminder to check out Julie's blog and all the other wonderful chicks who participate in this weekly event. I'm sure you'll find something to spark your imagination and get you creating!

This week, I wanted to make tissue pom poms. But I ended up with tissue flowers. But I'm still happy!

Because I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do, I purchased the large package of tissue paper - 100 sheets, assorted colors. After opening it up, I realized that some of the colors were graduated, so instead of using just one color of yellow...I got to use three shades. And I loved how it turned out!

Most of the instructions I found said to use 8 sheets...I used 6. Three of each shade.

I marked off 1.5 inches twice. This was just enough to get me folding. Start folding accordion style.

Another thing all the other instructions said to use was a bone folder. I don't have one, so I used a trusty old ruler. After every other fold, run the ruler down the fold to make it crisp.

Your tissue paper will end up looking like this.

Then find the middle ( my sheets were 20"X24", so my middle was 10")

For those of you that have kidd-os, you will know all about these silver twist ties that come with the toys. I always save them. Now they come in handy to tie off the center of the tissue paper. I also left enough to create a loop, for hanging.

Once you are done folding and tying off the middle, trim the ends into either a curved, petal shape or a pointed shape.

Then came the hardest part for me. Unfolding the sheets. I never did get mine to look like a circle, but then once I made the first one, I keep doing the same thing. I think if you fold half in one direction and the other half in the opposite, you will have a fuller pom pom.

Mine ended up looking more like giant flowers, and I loved it that way!!


I got a little happy making these!!

And because I taught my son well, he sees opportunities in everything.

He saw the leftovers from the ends...

and made this!!
Isn't he a clever Leaver!!

Hope you have enjoyed this week's project. I know I did ~ LOL!!

~♥~

Artful Thursday ~ Week 19

This is the last week of school and things have been quite busy. I'm hoping that after this week, I can dedicate more time to a more detailed project. But for time, Easy Things are the catch-phrase of the day!!!

I don't know about you, but this Pack Rat can always use more storage space!! So with that in mind, I started looking around the house for some items to hold things for my studio. And I came up with these. Wine crates that I got while I was still working at Sam's Club.

Tools: wine crate, paint, sponge brush and bowl of water.
I did a quick wash on these with the blue paint. Just dab the tip of your brush into the water and start spreading the paint. I wanted some of the wood to show through.

So easy, even a 7 year old can do it!!

Attached two hangers to the back

And then I changed my mind about where to hang one of these!!

But I'm very happy with the change in plans. This is our guest bathroom, and there was a big blank wall that I have been wondering what to do with. Now I know :0)

I put the other wine crate into the studio

And added a few of my favorite things. I think I might have to make a few more of these. Unfortunately, they are housing our DVD collection for now. But I want something else to fill that spot, and once I do, then I'll have some more crates!


Happy Artful Thursday
~♥~

Artful Thursday ~ Week 19

Sorry I'm running a little late :0)

This week's Artful Thursday Project was so much fun! I have found a new hobby to add to my repertoire!

I have cross stitched for most of my life and for some reason, never attempted embroidery. Until now. I have been seeing some beautiful things being made, so I thought I would start as a beginner and see what happens. Well, I now have a new love ♥!

After searching for something simple to start with, a found a wonderful place that offers free embroidery patterns. So, I picked one & printed it out. Then came the fabric part. Since all I have is cross stitch, I found an old white dress shirt from Charlie (see, I told you Hubby's were good for something! JK) and cut out a piece of fabric big enough to cover the design. Now, let me state right here that I never NEVER learned how to cross stitch using a hoop. So, I did this piece without one too. And unless I did something wrong, it worked fine for me. I still might pick some up, as I go along.

I basted the fabric to the paper.

And started stitching. There are lots of different kinds of stitches, and I referred here quite often!

I think there are a total of 6 lessons, so make sure you look at all of them. It's very helpful.

Then came the part I was worried about. Removing the paper pattern from the fabric. I would highly recommend having a good pair of tweezers handy! Overall it came out fine, but I did have a few French Knots pull out. I just waited until I was finished and went back with my thread and reworked them.

I did play around with a few different techniques.

I love the two lovebirds!!

I've hooked now! I will be getting some better fabric to work with and can't wait to get started on my next embroidery piece!!!


~♥~
Kristal

Artful Thursday ~ Week 18

Another week here, and I have a small little something to show for this week's Artful Thursday. I never did finish any of the other things I was working on last week, they are still awaiting their finishing touches.

This week, I was bitten by the needlework bug. I just had to sit down and play with my thread and needles. I actually started two projects this week, but only one made it all the way to the end. Hopefully, I will get to the other one soon.

I am still in the yellow and green mood. And I recalled a cross stitch pattern in my stash that was in these colors.

After a bit of thought, I decided to make a "few" changes to the original design...

When I showed Charlie, he laughed and said "Yeah, that sounds like you!"

I chose to add my initials in place of the two birds in the original. And I played around with the colors, using a little of this and a little of that. It is stitched on a piece of hand-dyed Aida cloth.

I have a few fun ideas running through my head of how to frame this. I think that might be a whole other post!! But this was really fun to do and it was nice to have something finished.

XoXo,
Kristal

Artful Thursday ~ Week 15

Okay, this week was a little crazy. At least I did get something done. It was more of a One-Thing-Leads-To-Another sort of project.

Recently, I discovered the Queen of Tarte. Love Her!!! And I fell in love with this color scheme:

I was thinking about using these colors on our mantel and had been searching around the house for anything that would fit it. Then with the up-coming Artful Thursday I tried to think of something I could make that would suffice for both purposes.

Awhile back I tried my hand at making some of these:
(following pictures were taken from the internet)

I had done the single stem flowers and was wanting to try the multiple-flower stems. I happened upon this great site:

Button Flower Tutorial

This is a better tutorial than I could ever give you. And considering I'm still a little unorganized right now, trust me on this!

I really didn't mean to do "flowers" again, but hey, it works!!


I stuffed the bottle with some pages from an old book. I have seen this used a lot lately, but don't own a paper shredder. So I used my trusty little paper cutter. A little time-consuming, but it works!

Full view of the mantel

Vintage Yellow Button flowers

I love my green Mercury Glass candleholders! Just need some yellow candles and I'll be all set!

My coffeefilter flowers from previous Artful Thursday. And my funny little gargoyle. Yeap, he's sticking his tongue out at'cha!

Decorating Lesson 501: When you don't have enough items to complete a color theme, use ANYTHING that will work (old champagne bottles!)

I wanted to take more pictures, but now that I have found my camera, the battery died. And I don't know where the charger is!! **sigh** Always something~LOL!!

Hope you enjoyed this weeks Artful Thursday. And Happy Earth Day!