Tag : crafts

27 posts

I always like to have a little something to give to friends… usually it’s handmade…what else would you expect from me.

Mini-me brought home a large spool of kitchen twine that she had used in an art installation last year. I wasn’t sure how we were ever going to get through all the yardage until I started making these cute gnome ornaments.

I was inspired by a Pinterest video. https://pin.it/4wRPmea

I wrapped the kitchen string around my hand until it felt thick enough. I tied the middle then slipped off my hand and cut the opposite side from the tie. I then tied a loop of bakers twine to serve as the hanger before beginning work on the hat.

 I made a circle template with a bowl then cut it in half. I used scraps of flannel from my stash for the hats. After rolling my half circle of flannel into a cone shape.  I used a hot glue gun to adhere first the hat together then stick the hat to the gnome body being careful to thread the hanger loop through the top of the hat. I then added a coordinating button or two to the hat and a wooden bead tucked up under the rim of the hat for the perfect gnome nose.

Thankfully I also have a stash of wooden beads to make the noses.

They turned out so cute and I used up the whole spool! Renew, reuse, recycle. ♻️

This week is brought to you by my sewing machine…

Most of what I’ve been doing for the last few weeks is sewing in my spare time.

I can’t stop. I pushed off my junk journal November project a bit because of all my sewing.  I still plan to finish the prompts…just a bit behind schedule.

I completed another quilt top with my scraps and some that were gifted to me. So many fun fabrics!!

I haven’t decided on the backing and binding yet to it sits for now.

Our school is having the annual craft boutique this week. After last year’s dismal turnout, I wasn’t sure I’d even participate but I just couldn’t help myself. Since I was in full sewing mode I decided to try a couple of crafty items that I wanted for myself but would be great and less costly made in bulk.

My first item is key chain wristlets. They are so cute! Since I have such a huge selection of scrap fabrics, I knew these would be perfect for another stash-busting project.

My next item has school staff written all over it.

 

They are lip balm holders on a clip. Perfect to attach to your lanyard, bag, backpack, purse….you get the picture.

Lots of fun varieties to fit anyone’s fancy.

Today when I set up I saw the cutest Gnome and snowmen decorations. I hope I make more than I spend. :)

Last week had my college student home not only for Thanksgiving but for two additional days due to bad weather on either end of the holiday break. You know its bad when they cancel college classes. But a blizzard with over 20 inches of snow will do that.

Today had me at school and then at a meeting until dinner time. Long day…but I knew I still wanted to stop in for T Tuesday before you all forgot all about me.  LOL My own fault…I haven’t been very active in the blogosphere lately.

What are you doing today?

I’m not going to lie…this post might just give you motion sickness from how all over the place it will be.

I guess we’ll go with chronological. Mr. G was tasked with creating some trophies that he’d 3D print at work for the company go-kart racing day. He said I could paint them up so we got to go shopping at the craft store!

These were printed on a resin printer so they are quite smooth and would take spray paint really well.

They turned out pretty darn cool if you ask me.

I got this in the mail from my friend, Sandy.  When we were at the cabin in Idaho, we had a few drinks and she said…gosh I better quit cause I’m slurring. To which I said…You’re not slurring, you’re speaking in cursive! 

On Friday we loaded up the van to bring J to college for his second year. Mr. G picked up the horrible virus mini-me and I brought back from our trip…likely from the airplane. He was completely out of commission for nearly 4 days so Mini-me came with to help out and be my home travel companion.

Since we were in Duluth with no boys after setting J up at his apartment…we did what we love…look for seaglass.

We found a very small amount of very tiny glass. It was still fun but bigger pieces are definitely more fun.

I sat down to do a bit of art journaling yesterday. I was really feeling the need to play with paper, paint, and glue. I’m not in love with this page but it certainly felt good to play.

Today was yet another step back to the reality that summer is nearly done. I had a work meeting. It was nice to see all those faces again. After my meeting I ran to the grocery store…

Had my name tag on the whole time…duh. No wonder people kept looking at me somewhat oddly.

 

What are you doing today?

Here we are at the end of 2018. Time to take a look back at the year and discover the highlights.

Such as my word of the year…Discover

Looking back I’d have to say that I made some discoveries along the way.

I discovered a new type of journal keeping that gives me the freedom to do what I want. Not a rigid everyday, writing only journal.

I discovered that I like like making videos of my creations. Not sure where this will go but it’s fun nonetheless.

I discovered how much I love my job now in year 2 back to work. Developing relationships with those crazy kiddos whether they are “mine” or not has been amazing.

Another big discovery was learning to let go of the things I can’t control. This is a work in progress…

I discovered… I am strong, I’m funny, I am clever & creative and I am uniquely me.

I am also a Norwegian from the Mid-west and those statements are as close to boasting about oneself as I dare tread.

I thought I’d share a couple of collages of the important things of my year….from both my personal and artsy/crafsy sides.

Events, travels, triumphs and good clean fun.

So many crafts…so little time.

Now I look forward to what 2019 has in store for me.  Stay tuned tomorrow for the reveal of my 2019 Word of the Year.

The countdown is on. Christmas will be here before we know it! AHHH! Who had all their shopping done? Nope, not me. And we have a couple birthdays on either side of Christmas too. WHEW…the pressure.

In reality, I’m not super stressed at all. It all seems to work itself out. I do enjoy gift giving…just more the spontaneous gift giving than the obligatory. Such as I got a sweet gift from a coworker completely unexpectedly. I had complemented her a  her bag and she told me she’d picked it up in the dollar spot at Target( not affiliation). A couple days later she brought me my very own matching bag!

I like to try to make some gifts…or make gifts for others to give. I was working on a new item I saw a while ago and have wanted to give a whirl. I got all my pieces cut and ready then ….

this happened.

Totally not getting anything done. That’s ok because I was still recovering from the weirdest illness I’ve had in recent years. Sore throat, stuff nose, icky tummy and wicked dizziness…like hardly able to walk dizzy. Mini-me got it first then me then Mr. G. Thankfully it only lasted a day.

Back to the craftiness…

I made microwave bowl cozies. No more burned fingers. They are microwavable, reversible, washable and downright handy.

Our school is having another craft sale week long this year.  Its really fun to see what co-workers like to create in their leisure time.I brought some of my old etsy and craft sale stock as well as the new product that I’m trying out. Frankly I don’t care if the bowl cozies sell because I can give them as gifts.

On other news…my December Daily is ready to go. I will share it in another post. I’m really excited about this project. I keep tucking bits of this and that away each day to slip into my journal. It will be super fun to look back on in the coming years. I still pull out the book I made from my calendar project of 2014.

The cold weather has me sipping on tea everyday…both to keep the chill off and to sooth my sore throat.

What are you doing today?

I swear I’m still full from Thanksgiving dinner! Ok…that’s a bit of a stretch but geesh. Too much leftovers and too many days off. Making me soft(er).

I’ll start with a little catch-up on my Photo a day challenge. I got several days behind but have gotten caught up now.

13. Letters….just one important one. UMD acceptance letter for J.

14. For me….just a little treat of apples in caramel dip. YUM!!

15. Hot + Cold…sometimes I’m a two-fisted drinker. :)

16. After…after a long day at work it’s nice to put my feet up a bit.

17. Cooking…I unexpectedly cooked Thanksgiving dinner this year.

18. I love this…Grandma’s dishes.

19. Whole….it was a whole pie….a whole lotta yummy. :)

20. Bright….the setting sun through my window.

21. Shoes….I have a love/hate relationship with these. I love them (so cute) but my feet hate me when I wear them all day at work.

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I discovered mt latest obsession craft on Pinterest yesterday. 

Fabric star ornaments. I found the link to the original tutorial but it was in Dutch I believe. It had great photos but I was missing something in my understanding. Then I found the tutorial by Betz White that finally cleared things up for me.

I’m considering putting a button on both sides with either hot glue or tied through with embroidery thread.  Not sure but I do know I’ll be making more.

The school I work at is having a holiday boutique for staff so I’ll be bringing my crafts in. I’m so excited both to make a little Christmas cash and to see what crafts my coworkers like to do.

My baby girl starts drivers ed Tuesday…I can hardly fathom it. She’ll get her classroom instruction done just before her 15th birthday but she’ll have to wait until the New Year to take her permit test. That girl is ready to get behind the wheel….me, not so much.

Tuesday holds work of course and a choir concert…at my school. Mini-me’s choir is singing at the middle school. I think they send the high school choirs to perform periodically to keep the younger ones interested in continuing through their school career.

What are you doing today?

I made this barn wood and fabric cross piece entirely from scraps. Yep, leftovers from other projects…not a dime spent.

Holy scrap barnwood and fabric cross

The printed fabric was from the curtains I recently shortened and lined, the barn wood came from the same gal as they had leftovers from remodel project and the brown suede was from a jacket I cut up long ago.

My inspiration was from Pinterest. There were no directions but the idea seemed simple enough. I used a staple gun to attach the fabric and a hot glue gun to adhere the suede center piece. Five minute project…seriously. I gave it to the family that just remodeled as sort of a “new space” warming gift since it perfectly matched the room. :)

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