Stretched Out Over this Craft

  Pinterest.  Need I say anything else?  This is where this idea came from and once again it looked so easy I had to try it.  I bought a two dollar vase in case I completely screwed this up, rubber bands from the grocery store, and grabbed the etching cream that stays in the craft closet for occasions such as this.
This is a three step craft.  The first step is to place rubber bands on the vase in a random pattern.  The more they cross each other, the more unequal they are, the better.  If you have varying widths of rubber bands the more unique the design as well.
Next I covered the entire vase in etching cream and let it stand for about 10 minutes.  I was very careful about gently applying the cream so as not to disrupt the rubber bands and mess up the possible design.
Lastly I rinsed the vase in water and let it dry.  The effect is not as bold as if I had used a frosted spray paint on the vase but I admit I like that it has a modern, one of a kind look, that does not bash you across the head. 

A Hot Project!

I have to admit something. I have, thanks to a co-worker discovered a site that makes my craftiness go off the charts. The site is called Pinterest, it is a virtual bulletin board that allows you to pin anything you like to it and repin what others pin. It is the mecca of crafts, humor, food and anything that you can think of. My new found site has me a little excited, in just a week's time it appears that I have pinned about 900 items. Of course with the intent to make or experience all of the items I pin. So craft item number one (number 2 on the overall pinning list-number one is on my cake blog) was something that pulled in several people from my office for craft therapy and research. The project, crayon art.
No we are not coloring with crayons, well not in the traditional way.  All you have to do is hot glue crayons (with or without paper) to a canvas. Then you take a hair dryer and turn up the heat pointing the air stream at the crayons and let the fun melting begin.  Those are the instructions I had so needless to say I have come up with a few tips.
My first piece was one of those trial and mostly error pieces. Being a 4-H Agent I thought I would be extra creative and tape off a section of the canvas to say 4-H and only melt green crayons. Unfortunately the heat of the melting wax and the strength of the blow dryer blew the tape off the canvass drastically effecting this experiment.  I also staggered the crayons on this top.  Now I know, The more crayons pasted at the top the better. Most importantly, you need to tilt your canvas while you are blow drying the crayons so that they melt in a downward pattern and don't splatter across the canvas.

As my co-workers worked the project we found out a couple of other interesting tips. Crayola Crayons work better than off brand crayons (more color less wax). Also taking the paper off and gluing the crayons straight to the canvas allows for a neater design. Use less crayon if you want a small drip pattern and you can also allow for a hand painted design in the white space when you get done. Also if you move the dryer across the entire canvas melting all the crayons at once versus one section and then another you get a smoother design. It does take some patience to melt the crayons and make the drip pattern fairly even. Overall you end up with a really neat design. My co-workers are now working on a circle and heart patterns as well.

If you would like to see more of my future crafting projects on Pinterest feel free to e-mail me with your e-mail address and I will be happy to send you an invite to the website.

Volunteering to Burn Up a Table

As many of you know crafting and cakes are my hobby and I have a day job. Fortunately my day job allows me a creative outlet on many days. Every February we have a state conference for 4-H volunteer leaders. It is a great chance for the volunteers to receive training, network, and they raise funds for the Volunteer Leaders Association. As part of the fundraising there are basket raffles, a country store and on the last night an auction. This year the district we are in is holding the auction, and I have a tradition of making sure there is something in the auction that will hopefully fetch $100 or more. This year I am unable to bring a really big item so I am making a table with the new 4-H logo on it.

I am starting with a round that I purchased at Lowes that is one inch thick and has a 15 inch diameter. Then I printed the logo from the computer and traced it with a good old fashioned piece of carbon paper under it. With the logo traced and in place it was time to start wood burning. That took a bit of patience with all the words in the new logo. A few hours later I had the entire logo burned in. I have to admit I took a couple of breaks because the wood burning iron got a bit hot, too hot to handle almost. After debating for a bit I took a paint pen to outline the words but the paint started to run. After giving it time to dry, a little sanding block allowed me to almost erase some of the run off paint. I chose to fill in the rest of the lettering with the paint pen but not outline it so it would not run causing the letters to run together.

With the green line and clover finished, it was time to let it dry. Then a few coats of polyurethane that allowed the wood to darken and have a nice sheen. After it was all dry it was time to attach three

Dish Cloth Mania

In earlier blogs I mentioned how my dishcloth stockpile has been completely depleted. Now it is time to knit like a crazy woman and start the stockpile again for another craft show. I made sure to buy extra cotton yarn so I could get started. These are very popular because they are green (people use them and throw them in the washing machine, then they can reuse them), and the ridges in the dishcloth are great picker uppers. The cotton yarn means they are gentle enough not to scratch anything but they are also strong and will last a long long time. The ones shown here are done in white and swimming pool blue.
It only takes a couple of hours to make one. The pattern is quite simple, and it's fun because you are knitting from one corner to another. Use the size needles as suggested on the yarn. Cast on four stitches and knit the first row. The second row knit two, yarn over one, then knit to the end of the row. Repeat row two until you have the width you want (anywhere from 30-40 stitches, I like mine big so I use 40 stitches). When you get to the desired halfway point it is time to decrease the stitches. Knit one, knit two together, yarn over one, knit two together, then knit to the end of the row. Repeat this until you have four stitches left. Cast off and tuck in your ends. Voila-dishcloth. Simple and easy. I charge a dollar per dishcloth when I am selling them. Happy knitting.

4 Yards of Scarves

My first project of the new year and it is an order from last year. I know I have told you about the elusive and wonderfully charismatic Mrs. Nell. She is a wonderful lady who knows exactly what she wants and what she wanted in December were two more of my fun fur scarves. Actually all in told she wanted three and left with one that day.

As I have mentioned before I have set up at the Robeson County Historical Museums home tour each year for the last two years. This is where I met Mrs. Nell. She took a fancy to my fun fur scarves and ordered several last year. This year she walked in and picked up a white one and went on the tour marketing my hand knitted scarves to everyone she saw. She asked me if I could also knit her a cobalt blue as well as a champagne colored scarf. Apparently she gave her champagne colored scarf to a friend last year but really wanted another one. I of course agreed and set out on finding the yarn. The champagne yarn I knew existed, it was just a case of finding it and I finally (after going to three stores) did. The cobalt blue however was a little more difficult. I found many blues but not cobalt. The two closest ones were a sapphire blue and a sapphire blue with variegated black which would create a dark blue scarf, a little closer to cobalt. However I know for a fact Mrs. Nell likes solid colors not variegated yarns or even the polka dotted fun furs so I went with the sapphire blue. The scarves are both between five and six feet long and furry as all get out. They are great doubled up and much warmer than you might think because they are actually very thin. I hope Mrs. Nell likes them and will continue to increase my fun fur scarf offerings for the show this year.

It"s a Puzzle, It's a Painting, No It's a Christmas Present!

I admit it is not often when I take to painting. When I do it generally requires less thought and more action which is sometimes difficult for me when I am working on many projects (more work and less creative) than I probably should be. I talked my mother into hanging all the paintings that I did a couple of years ago on one wall in the guest bedroom of her house which left another wall more than blank. She was not happy about it and I promised her to make a new creation for that wall.

So a day or so before Christmas it was time to get started. The plan was to take several canvases, of different sizes (okay I had two sizes in each thing I opened so that is where the different sizes came from), and create a piece that would work if all the canvases were next to each other or apart from each other. In other words each canvas could stand on its own as a painting. I knew my mother preferred more contemporary designs and really seemed to like my splatter pieces. I used the colors in the room and in a glass frame that I get her in Italy as the color palette for the design. I actually sat down and sketched out the geometric design and went from there.

My acrylic paints were not being nice to me. The colors were clumping and I ended up smoothing them out with a thinner to make it work better. I worked in one color at a time and did as many shapes as I could with some of the shapes being on more than one canvas, then went back in to fill in the spaces. After getting everything together and letting it dry it was time for the fun part. I went outside and laid the entire piece on the ground and began the splatter process with my acrylic inks. I was hoping for a more metallic look out of some of the inks but they seemed to match my paint colors fairly well and I was pleased with the overall design.

After everything dried I wrapped each piece individually so there were several gifts to open on Christmas Day. My mother seemed to like the first one and second but then got a little overwhelmed that there were so many. When I laid them all out as one painting for her, she really seemed to like the design and how it all flows together. However framing and hanging is what she is concerned about now. I might end up coming up with a new design on the wall when I get done with the framing and hanging...it might be most interesting. I will let you know.

Sparkling Holiday Theme

I write these blog posts as I complete projects. However, sometimes, like with this post, I will post it long after I write it because I do not want the recipient of this gift to see the post and ruin the surprise. I found this wooden cutout of a candy cane at a national arts and crafts store. When I saw it I immediately knew I could do something with it, I just wasn't sure what. When I got home I knew this would be a decorative gift for my mother because she loves to decorate for all holidays but especially Christmas. However I wanted this to be an extra sparkly piece of decor so I came up with a shimmery plan. The entire piece got a base coat of white paint. After drying I painted the White strips and added white glitter to the wet paint. After waiting for it all to dry I discarded the excess glitter and repeated with the red stripes. After getting everything glittered and striped it was time to outline. Thanks to a fairly thin paint pen I was able to define the candy cane strips. Then after all was dry I spray painted thin coats of acrylic across the entire piece (probably sprayed it four or five times letting it dry between coats). It made the entire piece glossy and helped ensure the glitter will stay on the piece rather than fly around and get on everything else in sight.
Although rather well protected I would not display this outside in the elements, maybe under a roof or a protected area outside but not directly in the elements. It would probably be best served being stuck in an indoor plant to spread the holiday spirit and let it last even longer. As far as the Christmas present...my mother seemed to like it. However she seemed more surprised that I made it rather than having bought it that way. So Merry Christmas and I hope your holidays are sweet.