Category Archives: Crafts & Hobbies

Classic Impressions Needlepoint Update – Secret of the Butterflies

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I’m making a bit more progress on my Classic Impressions Needlepoint that I started in 2020. I don’t know why I’m so slow on this project. I think it’s a pretty piece. I enjoy working on it, I just can’t stay motivated for too long of a stretch of time. 😊

Now for the Secret of the Butterflies. The butterflies in the bouquet behind the needlepoint are really pretty in real life. As I was watering the bouquet the other day, I discovered that the butterflies are made of painted feathers. The body seems to be made with some kind of clay.  They’re so cool!
I can imagine trying to make butterflies like this for many different crafts. Keyword is trying. lol
I thought it was such a clever idea that I’d share it here with you, in case you might want to gussy-up a craft with butterflies sometime.

The welcomed budding and blooming of the world waking up from its long winter’s nap has started big-time. As nice as that is, all the pollens and nonsense tend play havoc with our allergies. Might not be as bad if the wind would stop auditioning for the lead role of trying to prove it’s stronger than the Sun. lol
(Remember the fable: The North Wind and The Sun – Aesop Fables)

The warmth of Spring temperatures sporadically makes appearances. Except for nights, more than a few nights, we have to cover my flowers to keep them from freezing. I’m thankful that it won’t be too much longer until the night temperatures should even out and become pleasant.

Wishing you all the warmth of pleasant
Spring breezes with very few sneezes.

🌞

 

Decorating my Special Lanterns For Christmas

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My husband really likes the way I’ve decorated the lanterns he gave me. I’m quite happy with the way they turned out.
These lanterns are special to me. It took me awhile to figure out how to decorate them without permantly changing the lantern body. I’m happy with the way I figured it out.
For the lower part, I took some plastic canvas and cut it large enough to fit like a collar on the lamps. I sat it on a piece of parchment paper to protect my table. I cut up a few inexpensive flower bouquets and hot glued them around the plastic canvas.
For the top, I crocheted a collar and hot glued some greenerery and bows on them.
Both of these decoration accessories are removable from the lanterns.
I had a fun day of designing and creating these decorations for my lanterns.
I’m probably going to make other decoration accessories for the lantern for other special times of the year. I think it’d be fun.

Wishing you all happy holiday crafting!

 

 

Another finish – Bright Tote Bag Lining

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2013-brighttote
I’ve finished another project from my sewing project bag. I made a new liner for a tote bag that I made back in 2013. This Bright Tote Bag was the first big loom knit project I made. I used a Martha Stewart knitting loom. I single-crochet-chained every inch of yarn I used. It took a long while, but it was really enjoyable and worth the effort. Making this tote bag project helped me better my loom knitting skills.
The stitch pattern is what I call a ‘basket-weave’. I’ve heard it called a tile stitch and a cobblestone stitch. Doesn’t matter what it’s called, it was a fun stitch to do. I think it looks pretty good for my no-pattern first attempt at a loom knit project.
I’ve always liked the look and colors of this tote. I’m happy with the beads and oblong toggle button, both of which I sculpted out of polymer clay.
However, I never liked my open-pocket lining (lower left side of the collage-photo). Since I’ve figured out the method for setting zippers in the pockets in linings, I decided it was time to replace the lining in my old Bright Tote Bag.
It has a zipper-pocket on each side inside.
One side zipper-pocket is big enough for my 8-inch kindle fire and the other side pocket is big enough for a mobile phone and some other small stuff.
I’m ever so much happier with my old Bright Tote Bag now.

Wishing everyone a happy week of sunshine and smiles.

Crochet – diamond painting – garden – pc issues

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I wasn’t happy with my crochet shawl project. I unraveled it and started again with a c2c v-stitch pattern. It’s taken me some time to work it out, but so far, it’s going well.

I finished my diamond painting. I’ve decided not to frame/hang it up. I’ve added it to our portfolio folder-notebook. I used to just roll up the finished diamond paintings (dps) and keep them on a shelf. Whenever we’d want to look at them, I’d have to unroll them all, then roll them back up. It was okay, but not really enjoyable.
Fortunately, my blogging buddy Claire mentioned on her blog how she keeps her dps in a portfolio. It’s such a great idea. I leapt on that idea and ordered us one. The portfolio can hold 60 or more depending on size. That works our great for us.
“Thank you so much, Claire. You’ve helped make our diamond painting more enjoyable. ❤ ”

My husband is really in the gardening mood this year. He tilled up a small garden spot. I might add that since he tilled the garden spot, we’ve had several rainstorms and the temperatures have been running as low as in the mid 20°F. So, for now, we wait… Come on warm weather and some dry days to plant!

I wish all of you oodles of nice Spring weather.
Have a super rest of the week!

P.S. I’ve ran into some pc issues the past few weeks. I’ve pretty much got them worked out. A new battery and a factory reset did the trick. Hopefully, it’ll be smoother sailing for a while. Now it’s time to play catch-up on my visiting and blogging. 🙂

Diamond painting – Daffodils – old thoughts

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I’ve gotten a smidge past the middle point of my diamond painting. In real-life it looks pretty. It’s a real adventure trying to get a fairly clear photo of diamond paintings. The diamonds reflect light and can make it a mess of spotty bright spots. I’ll be happy to get it finished, framed and displayed on the wall. However, to me, it’s a bit monetish in that I need to step back from it to see its real beauty, which works out well for where I plan to hang it.
*(Monetish (moe-nay-ish) is not a real word. I made it up using the last name of Oscar-Claude Monet a French impressionist painter. I use to describe ‘something’ that one needs to step back to see ‘the something’ more clearly. A metaphor of sorts, I suppose.)
The weather has been absolutely lovely. It’s been mostly sunny and near 70°F. The daffodils in our area are blooming lovely. When we’re out for a drive, they’re like splashes of sunshine fallen to Earth, lined or splattered about the landscape.
I particularly love the fact that when the daffodils are in blooms you can look through the trees or across a field and see where the old homeplaces were. It’s quite a bittersweet view sometimes; to think once-upon-a-time a home stood amongst the trees or in the midst of a field. Perhaps it was a small place or a big place with a few children or oodles of children. Perhaps they danced around, picking daffodils and laughing as they discovered the yellow glow or pollen on their noses. I wonder how their lives progressed. I suspect it was much as it is today. I figure some of them grew out of their daffodil collecting days and scattered about the country making more dancing children and more homesteads. I wonder if any of them told their generations of offspring about the daffodils left behind. I wonder if their following generations ever appreciated that the daffodils are like a beautiful reminder of what once was.

Here’s wishing you all a wonderful rest of the week.
May your dancing with flowers days never end in your heart.