Slinky Pumpkin

I added a new pumpkin to my collection! It's made from a mini orange plastic Slinky-like toy.

First, I gathered the materials. The spring toy, orange markers, twisties, a twig ...

some twine ...

and orange gingham ribbon.

I used a marker to color both sides of the twistie. Most of the orange on the plastic-covered side smeared off the twistie and onto my fingers. Welcome to crafting.

I cut the twistie in half.

Then I connected the two ends of the spring together in two spots. I trimmed the twisties down further to make them less conspicuous. 

I wrapped the twine around the twig. Then I folded the ribbon in half lengthwise to make it narrower while tying it around the stem. I made a bow, fluffed it out, then trimmed the ends of the ribbon.

The stem and bow are held in place with gravity, not with adhesive.

Here's what the pumpkin looks like in place!

Do you want to make your own? I got my inspiration from this blog post at Crafty Morning and this video from Chalk It Up Fancy:

Hooray for me! Yet another 24 Goals in 2024 project completed with stash on  hand.

Drinking Straw Stars

I have a habit of tripping across a craft tutorials on YouTube, then holding them on a playlist for, in this case, years. The video makes it look so fast and easy. I thought I might make a bunch of these stars for the family Christmas ornaments.

Uh ... not so much. A bit more tedious than it looks and the result is somewhat clunky.

But here's what I did so you don't have to!

I found the supplies in my stash.

Following the directions, I cut them down

Then strung them into a loop. I had to try three methods before I managed to pull the string through the straws.

The folding begins (this step easy).

The folding continues (this step confusing at first).

Twisting and poking and adjusting and magic happens here.

Straws that short were hard to manage due to their inflexibility. So I tried again.

I used the loop turner from my sewing tools to thread the string through the longer straws. Worked like a charm. (Work smarter, not harder).

First fold

I missed taking photos of the confusing fold. Then magic happens.

Ta Da!

The end result is cute, but I'm not sure what I'll do with these. I'm fairly convinced I won't bother making more.

It's pretty satisfying to learn a new skill, though. Here's one of the videos tutorials I used:

Unique Birthday "Card"

Dale celebrated his 65th birthday this week. Our main gift was to see a live performance of The Moth, which we thoroughly enjoyed. (If you get the chance, go see it. Highly recommended!) But I also got him a little gift to unwrap and was planning to make a card to go with it. Instead ... this is what came out of my creative noggin.

It's a greeting banner/swag. I got this last-minute idea on Pinterest.

I started by pulling these wood heart shapes from my stash. They range in size from about 3/4 of an inch to about 3-1/2 inches.

I wrote down a list of traits I love in my husband, then printed one trait on each heart. At first, I was simply going to use ink or paint to write the words. Then I got the idea to try wood burning instead.  (What was I thinking?)

I pulled my Creative Versa-Tool out of a bottom drawer in the closet where it's been languishing for years and started playing. (There's a different / newer version of this tool available on Amazon).

The center large heart has "Happy Birthday" on one side and this on the other side:

I used the wood burning tool to create the holes, then strung some nylon cord -- like thick fishing line) -- through the holes to hang the hearts.

Here are nine wonderful traits I chose for the hearts. (I somehow missed getting a photo of "HUGS"). 

Of course, Dale has many wonderful traits I missed -- chief among them are intelligence and creativity. But, you know, I wouldn't want his head to get too big by heaping on how extraordinary he is -- and I was running out of the right size of wood hearts. 

:: tongue firmly planted in cheek ::

I hung the banner from the mantle in the living room so he'd have the surprise when he got home.

And yes. He gave me the go-ahead to show this. I wouldn't have posted if it would have embarrased him.

I love this man so, so much. I couldn't have a better life partner. We're better together!

Gold Star Day

It's the little stuff that counts.

Like tidying up the kitchen office supplies drawer.

Like learning how to fix the bottom of said drawer so it stops dipping.

Like deep-cleaning the four fans that help circulate the air throughout the house.

Like taking care of my gnarly broken fingernails.

Like picking fabric to line the crocheted purses Jodie and I made.

Like helping out my niece who found herself in a sticky situation.

It's good to get things done that I've been putting off, so I'm patting myself on the back and giving myself some gold stars.

Paper Easter Baskets

Here's one of those crafty things I've been meaning to try for over a decade. Seriously. This very easy, finish-eight-of-them-in-under-an-hour papercraft was first introduced to me by my friend Mary in 2011. As part of my 24 Goals in 2024, I was determined to do it this year.

(I was determined to do it LAST year, too. Yet all the bits and bobs sat in a plastic container in my Studio for an entire year. Best laid plans. Oh, well. They're done now!)

Mary does a great job with her tutorial, so I'm not going to reiterate how it's done. Here are the supplies I used:

• 12" x 12" pieces of watercolor-print scrapbook paper
• a cutting tool
• a score board
• a rounded corner paper punch
• a 1/8" hole punch
• colorful tiny brads

I cut my 12" paper into four 6" squares, so made four baskets from each piece. I made a total of eight baskets.

The finished size is about 3" across. 

Dale printed our names on the sides. I filled them with Easter tinsel grass, three sugar cookies, and some pastel-colored M & Ms. We used them as party favors on the Easter dinner table to mark where each person was to sit.

Flash Craft: Heart Ornaments

Our house is decorated for Valentine's Day now. Each year I like to add another little som'thin'-som'thin' to the decor. For the base of today's Flash Craft,* I used this decoration left over from our 30th wedding anniversary last year. 

I cut apart some of the hearts, punched a hole, added a pink-and-white baker's twine hanger

and decorated the tabletop tree in our entryway.

It's a simply idea that took less than two hours, and used only supplies from my stash.

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*Flash Craft: a project that catches my attention one day, which I will go out of my way to execute within five days. The idea is to do rather than simply dream and plan.

Greeting Card Display Wreath

Last Christmas, I came up with a new way to display our Christmas cards. I used to pin them on long ribbons, or stack them in a fancy basket. This time I wanted to find a way to display and enjoy them that took very little effort.

In my Studio, I pulled out this huge wire wreath form. It's 24 inches in diameter. (I found it at a thrift store for a song!)

I simply used mini 1.5 inch long clothespins to clip the cards to the wire. That's it! (I happened to purchase these at a thrift store, too).

My clothespins were already "dressed" with green ribbons for Christmas, which was a nice added touch. I'd previously used them on a St. Patrick's Day wreath!

So why post about a Christmas Card display wreath at the beginning of February? Because this same idea can be used with Valentine cards that you receive (or collect). For Valentine's Day, choose a heart-shaped wreath form!

Now ... time for me to buy a heart-shaped wreath form. My other two are in use. One is covered in pompoms:

The other is covered in roses:

Valentines for My Little Bugs

With Valentine's Day around the corner, I've got hearts on my mind (again ... still!) I saw this sweet idea on nontoygifts' Instagram account this week. The Valentines totally captured my attention. Know what that means?

Flash Craft!

I made the bee for Melody, and the ladybug for Annie. Each bug has a personal message under their wings, along with a hidden heart on their chest.

And googly eyes, of course!

The construction paper valentines are oversized, so I made custom envelopes for them. Each envelope measures 8.5" x 6.75" and was made from two pieces of printer paper cut to size and adhered together with double-sided tape.

I even found these 1/2" square heart stickers in my stash that look like tiny postage stamps.

These cards will be added to our grandkids' Valentine gift box and mailed to Idaho at the beginning of February.

With Flash Crafts, I need to remind myself that "done is better than good." I can take some shortcuts to get to the end so that my brain can get a blast of serotonin. Perfection is not the name of the game.

I got to have a happy dance, and the entire project -- from idea to clean-up -- took about two hours. I had all the supplies on hand, so there was no out-of-pocket costs.