April YOE

 Hello swappers!

Two announcements because April starts a NEW QUARTER!

The second quarter challenge is "Altered Art with Edgar Allan Poe."  

The original King of Creepy.  Such an amazing and sadly, unstable mind.   I altered a cigar box years ago for a swap and it was soooo much fun!   Think bleeding hearts, poems, ticking things and ravens....amongst others.

If you aren't sure what altered art is, it is defined as " A way of recycling and giving new purpose to all sorts of items for ornamental purposes."

Common items to alter are books, journals, pages in general, old cards, cigar boxes, spice jars, altoid tins, blocks, spools...and soooo many other things!

Now on to APRIL'S THEME!!!!

March has FLOWN outta here (hahahaha, that's a joke)  and April is going to be a FUN!

WHO NEEDS A BODY....PART?

That's right, this month, it's alllll about parts of the body.  Any body.  Animal, human, alien, monster....whatever you feel like.   Veggie?  That's a thought!

Ship by date is APRIL 21st!   

Time to get creating!  Don't forget to show us your PUMPKIN HEADED DOLLS!!!!!

December's craft along theme!

This is the last month for my craft along I hosted this year.  I can't say it was a huge success so I won't be hosting again.   I did manage to do everything though so I am happy about that.

Here is the last theme for the year.....

It's A Wrap!



Simply put, make a "wrap" for yourself or a friend.....it can be something to keep you warm, like a scarf.  It can be anything that WRAPS.....if you make cute holiday gift wrap, etc....that counts!

Enjoy and have a great month!

November's challenge, little tree.....

I had a busy Fall and just got around to doing some catch up blog posts!

Here is my challenge for November.   I made this little tree for my kitchen...isn't it cute?  I found the tree, broken at at store and bought it for 2 bucks.  I fixed the broken light and then painted this urn I had in the garage....jammed the little tree in and wala!

So, that is obviously NOT my kitchen, right?  Kaela wanted my 4 foot tree so I let her have it and I took this one to work.....it is actually the perfect size.

So far, I've managed to do ALL the challenges this year......

October's craft along theme

A few years ago, I did a little thing on my regular blog called Spookify Saturday and I would make something and post a tutorial on it.

Remember this?


or these?



or what about these...


Cute, right?


I think that would be fun for this month's theme!

So, here we go.....

Spookify Something for October!

Then come here and show it off.   I am hoping more of you will play along since Halloween is such a fun crafting month.  I've been feeling a bit lonely.....being the only one of late to do the craft along theme!

Gold...and purple!

September's theme was gold.  I had this AMAZING thing planned to do but time and weather wouldn't behave so I went another route.

I had some fun gold and purple things that needed to be whipped up for this year's college football season....so I give you

LSU on a baker's rack!   Hahaha!



I made an apron (for a friend) and a ruffley scarf and a cute little crocheted cozy that I use everyday!

I hope someone else made something too....or this will be the second month in a row that I've played alone.....poo. 

September's craft along theme!

Each time school goes back into session, this rhyme pops into my head:

"Back to school and the Golden Rule...."

So, with that in mind, I think it would be fun to have a GOLDEN theme, afterall, FALL is just around the corner down here in Louisiana!  It is probably in full swing up north.

How easy is it to make something GOLDEN and post it here before the end of the month?   COME ONE!  I know you can do it!  I was the one and only last month (sniff, sniff)

 Whoever does a post will be put into a drawing for a prize!

My head is swimming with lots of golden things already....wreaths, painted pine cones, swags, PUMPKINS, garlands, vases......the ideas are endless!  

Just in time for fall and the holidays!




Good luck and have fun!!!!

August's challenge met, altered cigar boxes!

I had fun with this month's theme and altered a couple cigar boxes.  First, I made a zombie purse and a cute tassel to jazz it up:

I even lined the interior, like a proper purse:

Then I got into decoupage...haven't done that in YEARS!
I made a couple things for school, we have a superhero theme this year:


I found a giant paperboard "P" at Wally World and covered it with comics.   
It hangs outside my door.  Most of my students cannot pronounce my last name so they all call me Mrs. "P."  

I also covered a cigar box to hold junk that is on my desk...I forgot how much FUN it is to decoupage something.  Easy to go crazy and start covering everything!

August's theme: Altered Art

Before I get started, the winner of JULY'S  drawing is CHRIS!  I'll be send you a little goodie in the mail, thanks for playing along this month!!!

This is the perfect month to STAY INSIDE and create ALTERED ART!

Look at this idea....an old watercolor tin!

here are some other things I found on google...

It is so hot right now that all I want to do is stay inside and create.  I have to admit that little Osa is keeping my crafting ideas on hold though...she is quite the busy body!

This month I thought it would be fun to make something out of ANYTHING you can get your hands on!  

I love altered art....you can find tons of ideas online or just use your imagination!

Books, bottles, notepads, gift tags, gift bags, spools, boxes......the list is endless.  Don't forget to post your finished work of art here by the end of the month!  I'll do a drawing and send the winner a goodie!

See you on the other side!

July's challenge: check and check and check!

For July, we could do whatever we wanted!  I had a different idea in mind but when I saw how much fabric I had in my stash, I decided to use some up!

With that in mind, I set out to make some aprons.....

Two martini aprons, one to keep and one to share:

Two canning aprons, sent to a dear friend and her mom:

and one flirty apron....maybe I'll keep this one too...not sure yet!

Happy crafting everyone!   

July's Theme!

So, WHAT in the world could THIS month's theme be?

How about INDEPENDENCE!  

After all, I'm sure there is a project YOU have been wanting to work on.  Maybe a WIP?



That works for me!  Just pick something you've been wanting to do and DO IT!

Then post it here.  I'm collecting goodies for the giveaway.....

Have a great July 4th everyone!!!

channeling June....

For this month's challenge, I decided to go with a different fabric than I originally picked.  Afterall, martinis are Mad Men, not JUNE!  (more on THAT apron later.....)

Instead I used some cute fabric someone sent me in an apron swap EONS ago.  Very cute, very Betty Crockerish....and perfect for June Cleaver.

The apron pattern I used is Mango Tango out of A is for Apron.  It is precious on...except it doesn't fit.  story of my life.  Anyway, instead of altering this one as planned, I am going to stash it away.   I've made notes on the pattern though...so hopefully, the next one will fit me!

May's Theme!!!!!

Soooooooo.  I had so many ideas for May that I was seriously losing my mind.   That in itself isn't too uncommon.  So I gathered my brains and stuffed them back into my wee little skull and went BACK to my first idea:

 "MUSHROOMS!"



Okay, so you know I HAD to go there!  I love them too much to let an entire year go by without making something with mushrooms or toadstools!

So, make some of these cute little capped fellows and post them here by the first of June!!!!

I'll draw a name for a giveaway!!!!

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!

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:



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!!!!

March's challenge!

Seussify something, that's what I said
What was I thinking? I'm outta my head!
I had to make something, simple and quick
So I Seussified Osa with a clip and a snip:

But it wasn't enough, it didn't quite "do!"
I needed to Seussify another thing or two!
So I pulled out my hook and some yarn in bright colors
Crocheted up some stitches, some old and some yothers...
I made a new cozy so fun and so neat

But my Seussify need still wasn't complete!
So back to my stash, I dug through and through.
I pulled out some fabric, some felt and some glue.
Thread and a needle, down I then sat
And made a BETTER cozy with CAT IN THE HAT!

This poem was the last thing I thought should be done
Seussification complete, now wasn't that fun!

Seussification!!!!

The fabulous Dr. Seuss was born on March 2, 1904.    I adored his books....still do!

I can't pick a favorite because I read them all.  But being partial to turtles, I did name a few Yertle.  I also remember loving Gertrude McFuzz....and the pants with no one in them...and the animal that wanted to be put in the zoo...and the blue and red fish...and the dogs!  And the Grinch.....oh man.  This has me thinking of all the choices we could choose if we made z0mBiEs!!!!

(Okay, I stopped hyperventilating.....zombies are for OCTOBER...but maybe a Dr. Seuss theme is in order....)

That being said, how about a little Seussification for the month of March in honor of wise Dr. Seuss!

It doesn't matter WHAT you make, just seussify something and post it here before April and I'll put together a little something for a giveaway!

How about a little flashback from dear old me?

I made this little Ellie bird way back in 2008 for a swap I was in.

The possibilities are endless so I must get started!!!!

The Walking Dead....

I started on my cozy, planning to do something out of the feltie book.  But then we got on a The Walking Dead marathon and changed gears!

I had planned on making it a bit more elaborate but having a new puppy in the household sort of eats up all my time!

So here is my project for this month's challenge!!!

On another note, if y'all haven't discovered the series, you need to check it out!

sneak a peek.....

me thinks I'll try.....

Bloody Mary!

I did a Nursery themed zombie doll for the challenge:

and her poem....

Apparently, the true meaning behind this particular nursery rhyme included beheading and torture....so I didn't have to stretch too far!