For the first time since Dale's cancer diagnosis in January, I've had the urge to do some seasonal decorating. Past Valentine's Day (one of my favorites!), past St. Patrick's Day, past Easter, past Dale's birthday.
This week I followed an urge. It was just a niggle, but I went with it to see where it led.
The summer decorations are up.
I placed all the old favorites
then was inspired to create a whimsical new bouquet using supplies from my stash.
It feels awfully good to have some of my creative spark return. I've missed expressing this side of my personality.
I loved having pen pals when I was a kid. Receiving a letter in the mail was a highlight, so I started the tradition with the next generation.
It's been a while since my older two grandkids and I exchanged letters. Yesterday I remedied that lapse. I made each of them a card with their favorite animals.
Melody's
Annalee's
Inside I wrote them each a personalized limerick.
Melody's
Annalee's
It's a sweet nothing from Mimi to her favorite Idaho girls.
My problem? I have a pegboard over my Studio worktable which holds some of my frequently-used sewing and craft tools. I'd hung it on the wall with some Command Wire Toggle Hooks, which worked well for a number of years. But last year, the adhesive failed and I wasn't sure how I wanted to re-hang the pegboard.
Then I learned about these double-headed picture hangers. Best described as fancy push pins, they're great for hanging light framed pieces on the wall. They leave a very small hole behind. (Rather renter friendly, I'd say). The bottom "head" is flat and lies flush against the wall. The top head is spaced about 1/4 inch above. This way your frame can rest on the post between the two heads.
I highly doubt this is a new invention, but I only learned about it a month ago.
I was able to put a line of five or six of these pins in the wall. It's as easy as pushing in a thumb tack. No tools needed. With Dale's help, I lifted the pegboard onto the hangers. The frame surrounding the pegboard rests easily on the little posts. The weight of the pegboard is evenly distributed across the line of pins, so it feels secure.
Getting this pegboard back on the wall was the exact incentive I needed to clear my work table. That, in turn, helps clear some of the clutter in my head and is a first step toward helping my creative spirit to return. My creativity has taken a nose dive ever since we received Dale's difficult health diagnosis at the end of January.
I still haven't been able to latch onto a craft or sewing project to work on. But I did put my cleared work table to use by constructing a small jigsaw puzzle for the first time in months.
My first art experiments this year were inspired by a few videos I saw on YouTube. (Thank you, Algorithm, for tempting me).
Using Sharpie permanent markers, draw a design on a background of choice, then distort the design with rubbing alcohol. The result is a tie-dye effect.
I gathered my tools, all of which were in my stash, er, retirement supply stores:
Clean white 4" tile
Sharpie markers in a variety of colors
Cotton swabs
Rubbing alcohol
Using scribbled lines, I created my design. Up to this point, I was happy with my process.
Next, using a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol, I placed droplets in the white spaces between the scribbles to allow the Sharpie to bleed. I was rather pleased with the results.
So I grabbed the can of spray adhesive I had on hand and gave it a light coating.
and immediately moaned (or cussed. I'm not sure which). Apparently this spray has an alcohol base. My design immediately bled more than I'd intended.
I tried using more Sharpie and alcohol dabs to fix it. No go.
So I next tried coating the "revised" painting with Gloss Mod Podge applied with a disposable foam brush.
This time I'm positive I cussed.
The foam brush scratched the image, leaving this:
Ugh! I thought I was done with this experiment. I threw the tile away and went downstairs to calm down with a jigsaw puzzle (Hint, hint: more puzzles to come).
But the next day I thought I'd try something else. I have some canvas-covered boards on hand. So while waiting for a video call to start, I scribbled a similar design on the canvas with Sharpies. I used the same colors I'd used on the tile.
Then, instead of dabbing the painting with cotton swabs, I used an eye dropper to let the alcohol drip onto the canvas without the dropper tip touching the canvas. That worked well.
After the painting dried, I touched up the heart a bit and added a few more drops of alcohol. This way the heart shape is very distinct with the bleeding happening behind the shape.
I tucked my completed Sharpie painting into a frame I had on hand.
I don't know that I'll keep this version, either. But it was fun to try both surfaces to see how the Sharpie and alcohol reacted. I like the look of the tile better, but the colors are fragile on that slick surface. The canvas version, even without a sealant, feels like it will last longer.
Later I did a bit of research and learned that Dupli-Color Acrylic Enamel Sealant might be a better coating to use on the tile because it won't distort the finished painting. One could also experiment with the original formulation of Mod Podge. It's supposed to work well, too. But I don't recommend applying it with a foam brush. I'd use a soft paintbrush that I won't mind throwing away afterwards. Mod Podge is a glue. It's really hard to clean out of brushes.
I'm not going to try again right now. I don't feel like spending $15 on a sealant I won't use often.
Here's one of the videos I watched to learn the process:
I made this for my granddaughter Annalee, the owl lover and new reader of chapter books.
Its made from craft felt. The stem has a pipe cleaner sewed inside to give the bookmark a little stability.
I sewed the bits in place by hand using buttonhole, running, and whip stitches. The pupils of the eyes are French knots.
The bookmark slides into the pages of the book, then hooks over the top!
This was inspired by a crochet pattern I saw online. I decided to make it from felt because it was faster to make that way ... and the Christmas box needed to be mailed!
So! This is it! The result of my attempts at a yarn-covered pumpkin wreath.
I tried four different ways to wrap the wire wreath form with the chenille yarn. Every attempt was unimpressive. Eventually, I gave up and cut the yarn off the wire.
I was ... unhappy.
But determined.
I looked through Pinterest boards. I got some more ideas. I looked through my stash for different supplies. I slept on it. The next day I visited three Dollar Tree locations looking for new supplies. None of what I wanted was available. Then I found this:
It's a four foot plastic garland of creepy twigs/branches covered -- and I mean COVERED -- in glitter. The problem was, there was only one orange garland left. So I bought it, and one that was a deep red-orange, and this purple one.
That glitter shed everywhere. Oh, the sacrifices I make for my art!
I tried attaching the garland to the wire wreath form three different ways. What I eventually did was
snip the garland into pieces
twist a dark orange piece around a light orange piece
twist the joined pieces onto the wreath spine and hold them in place with a twist of black chenille stem.
I cut a piece of foamboard into the shape of the pumpkin. Then I covered the board with some black fuzzy fabric I had on hand.
I used straight pins to attach a string of orange fairy lights to the black fabric, taping the battery pack to the back side of the board.
Finally I used black zips ties to hold the black background to the wire wreath form.
Then I took the thing outside and sprayed it liberally with some hairspray to slow down the glitter fallout.
This is what the finished pumpkin wreath looks like in the light.
And here's what it looked like hanging up next to the spiders on the front porch ... basically a glowing orange blob.
I like this version of a pumpkin wreath better than last year's ... but I doubt I'll hold onto it. It's time to release this idea from my head and go make something more satisfying.
On a positive note, though ... We had an excellent Halloween! We had at least 250 trick-or-treaters. It was like a block party out there with all the kids and the parents dressed up and having a great time. One of my favorite moments was this exchange:
Kid: "Trick or treat!"
Dale: "Well, now look at you! Happy Halloween!" as he dropped candy into the kid's bucket.
Kid: "Wow! Thanks, Grandpa!"
It's the dream of our retirement to become the neighborhood grandparents!
and decorated it with fall leaves, sunflowers, berries and other doodads. I was majorly unsatisfied because the color of the green leaves is off-putting. The entire wreath was fussier than I intended it to be.
When I pulled it out of storage, I just couldn't get myself to display it again.
So I'm going to try something different.
I was inspired by these two photos I found on Pinterest. This pumpkin wreath form is wrapped in looped yarn. That's an easy and super-fast option.
This one is macrame. The simplicity and tidiness of this wreath attracts me.
So a few months ago I went looking for the loop yarn but couldn't find the quantity I needed in orange. So off to my trusty Dollar Tree I went and found these small skeins of Premier Just Chenille yarn in the color Salmon.
I think it's orange enough for my purposes. I hope it's thick enough. I hope 5 skeins is enough.
I was considering winding the yard around each spine of the wreath form. When I talked it over with Jodie, she suggested I crochet a slip stitch around each spine. I like that idea.
Chenille yarn isn't the easiest to work with because once you get a knot in it, the knot doesn't release very easily. Yarn from the Dollar Tree isn't a very high quality, so it's likely to break fairly easily. I like the fuzzy softness of it, though.
It's all a giant experiment. If it works, it works. If it doesn't ... well ... maybe I'll have to use last year's pumpkin after all.
It's Penpal Day at my house. I took some time to write letters to our granddaughters in Idaho. I included a paper bird for each of them.
The last time I saw Melody, she handed me a paper Ziploc bag that was decorated with nature images. She asked me to make something for her from the bag. I made this:
I learned the technique from this video:
For Annalee, I wrote about our Friday Fieldtrip to the Cascades Raptor Center. So I sent her an origami owl.
I had such a pleasant time making the pumpkin coasters last week, that I thought I'd go ahead and make a set of sunflower coasters, too. This pattern has been on my radar for months. I intended to make them for late summer/early fall when I decorate the house with sunflowers. Well, the season is over and the sunflower decorations are put away, but I made the coasters anyway. They'll be ready for next year.
This pattern is created by the same designer as the pumpkin coasters, Repeat Crafter Me.
The ideal size ...
I used these two yarns that I had on hand:
* Premier Just Yarn Tweed in the color Rust Tweed (from Dollar Tree) * Caron Simply Soft in the color Lemonade (thrift store)
Once again, the directions are super simple. I knocked these out while watching TV one evening and listening to an audiobook the next morning.
You can follow this video or get a print version of the pattern on their website.
