Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Go Forth and Renew!

     This is my forte! Before the word "Maker" came into play in the crafting and arting world, the best way to name what I love to do most is "transmuting," because "altering" just wasn't enough to describe it.
     During the last few days of March and the first few of April I started making some gift tags.  Too often, the holdup on someone's gift is the creation of the perfect tag.  I knew I needed to make several to have on hand.  I found this great Dutch regional doll calendar at a thrift shop for a dollar, and its pages were the most wonderful heavy (about 120lb) cardstock.  My husband teases me about suffering from PTSD whenever he hears the sound of my tag punch from the nights I spent sitting on the bed punching scads of  tag bases while he slept next to me.

 Soon after I finished this project I checked the Swapper Spot and saw that I had inadvertently met this month's challenge! Of course though, in my mind it really didn't count, so I knew I had to create something else to officially be my April submission.


     I knew this was going to be especially difficult, as I have been spending the month preparing and coordinating long-distance with my sisters for the celebration of our parents' 50th wedding anniversary.  Throw in all the logistics involved with being a mother of 5, spring gardening, and baby chick raising, and I was not sure I would be able to accomplish this.  Probably not the most necessary, but a good excuse, was creating a dress for my daughter -- the only child accompanying me on my trip, to wear to the reception.  Dressing a 5'5" 11-yr old in age appropriate, modest clothing is a special challenge.  I could sew from scratch, but why do that when there is a wealth of resources waiting for me at the thrift shop?  She has a unique sense of style among the kids at school and wears my finds and creations proudly.  The green dress on the left fits her perfectly, but is a little too mature and a tad dated.  The dress on the right, modern, girly (not to mention the original $100 tag still on it), but definitely not Dad Approved (even with a little t-shirt under it, still way too short and bust enhancing). The finished product is not quite finished yet, but I still have 29 hours until I leave.

      The real accomplishment this month, and the most important...I have in my stash the remnants of the fabric from which my mother's prom dress was made.  It was there that she first saw my father. She had never seen him at school before and at first assumed that he was from the local prep school and was attending as someone's guest. At their wedding she carried a bouquet of yellow roses -- rather unconventional at the time as they symbolized jealousy (now they also mean friendship) but those were her favorite, so there!  It just made sense to create a rose from the fabric for her to wear this weekend.  The center is a stray ArtMode earring from the collection of costume jewelry I acquired from my mother-in-law.  I know that this touch is extra special, because my mom loved my MIL very much, and the letters and cards that she sent to her in the last years of her life brought my MIL much comfort and joy at a time when she suffered silently and kept her terminal condition to herself.


I wish you all a Happy Spring. Go forth and make something new again.

Saturday, April 18, 2015

April's challenge: hothouse!


"Cherub Pod Hot Houses!"

Our family loves tomatoes and we eat all types all year long.  Lately we've been eating Cherubs brand in these cute little pods.



When empty, they look like little mini terrariums.   



I hated throwing them away so decided to use them to start some sunflowers for Kaela...they are her FAVORITE flower and I just can't seem to grow them.  


So here's how I did it....






I took some coffee filters and cut them to size.



and stuffed them down into each pod so soil wouldn't fall out the holes.





Then I filled each with a little soil and mixed in some seeds and watered them ALOT...had to let the water drain!


Then, I covered each pod with plastic wrap to create a little hot house



And set them on the warmest window ledge in the house.



In less than 8 days, I had to uncover them!  I loosened the wrap so you can see but left it on lightly because the window gets chilly at night.  



Once they got too tall for the pod, I replanted them into
a pot on the patio.  




These worked so well, I did the same thing with 2 more varieties of sunflower.   I didn't even bother putting these on the ledge in the house.



They've also been transplanted and are thriving!

Monday, April 6, 2015

Zombie Coasters .....

For anyone who wants to give the zombie coaster a try ......
THIS IMAGE is the one I based my coaster off of. It just took a little counting, after I'd decided on what size coaster I wanted.
Play around with it, and have some fun ...... it's easy to get lost for a couple of hours while playing with those beads :-)

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Thank you Kerry!

Last month sweeeeeeet Kerry sent me the BEST THING EVER!    Wanna see?  

First an adorable primitive zombie (sounds like a theme, y'all!)  AND a zombie coaster!!!!!  YAY!

Seriously, isn't this da bomb!?  A little zombie love for springtime........I am blessed to have friends that know me so well!  

Thank you again Kerry, this made my MONTH!

April's challenge: Renewal

Greetings to our little group!   I haven't been blogging much of late due to being super busy but things should start getting back to normal this month!  YAY NORMAL!!!  I'm also having problems with my camera talking to blogger.....hope to get that fixed now that I am not quite so busy.

In to April's Challenge!!!

Spring is all about renewal and with that in mind, this month's challenge is to repurpose something. ANYTHING!  You can alter it or simply repurpose it for another use.  Whatever you choose to do, POST about it for this month's drawing!

I already know what I'm going to do with a few empty cherry tomato containers like the one below:

Image result for cherry tomatoes brands

One more thing, the winner of last month's drawing is Iara!   I have a box full of stash stuff to mail you so please email me your address.

Thank you for playing along in March!!!!