Category Archives: Crafty

Aug 13 2011

Milk Cozy Fun

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Andy’s been bugging me for about two years now to make some more milk cozies. I’d only made two before moving on to something else, and we get four jars of milk each week. Those other two jars were always lonely and feeling neglected and sad. Sometimes, they got so depressed, the jars would jump and smash like Humpty Dumpty. Sploosh.

I ran out of circles to make yo-yos a few nights ago, so I was able to finally finish up Milk Cozy III. It sports a bottom to prevent smashing on concrete, and it has a sexy collar to add a bit of lactosey playfulness.

I received a care package today of more yo circles from Mom, so it may be a while before I do Milk Cozy IV. After that, who knows. Anyone want to buy some milk cozies?

Aug 13 2011

Summer Update

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I’ve been avoiding blogging in part because I haven’t in so long and feel behind. The other part is that we’ve been pretty occupied, what with all the naps summer requires. Here is another picture list of what we’ve been up to lately.

We went to Georgia and put Anya to work folding laundry,

overseeing the peach plant packing line,

washing dishes,

wrangling tiny, new kittens and tomatoes,

vacuuming, and

driving a tractor.

Back home, we played live-action Candy Land at the library,

bounced at T’s house, and

painted a bunch of benches for school.

We also yo-yo’ed. A lot. 300 down, 100 to go!

Who knows what exciting adventures the last few weeks of summer holds!

Jun 20 2011

Neigh!

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I was waiting for Aunt Linda to get the package, and now that she has, I get to post my most recent quilled piece. (Just the horse.)

I found the design in an etsy store, and although I have absolutely no plans to try and make any money off the design myself, I wanted to make sure to give the creator credit so that the internet karma wouldn’t come after me with a big bat. See, I read a web post a few days ago on the blog of a quiller I like. She was mad, and rightfully so, because someone was recreating cards the blogger had created. Not just a bit or piece, but entire cards. And lots of them. And I thought, ya know, I really should point out where I find my designs because I don’t want anyone to be mad. I promise, blogging quillers, that I will never steal your designs for profit and that from now on I will make sure to say where I found the design. Of course, there was also a flower in the picture I posted, and I don’t remember where I found that, alas. Baby steps.

Now, back to the piece. Aunt Linda donated money to my Relay for Life team. In return, I said I would quill something for her, and she picked a horse. ‘Cause she likes horses. Most of the animals I’ve done so far have been fairly simple, but horses? I couldn’t find any examples of quilled horses that weren’t either dorky looking or pretty complex. So, I found the simplest of the complex ones and got to work on it. It took me a long time not because it was hard but because it was scary. All those pieces. All that squooshing of all those pieces into a big shape. AIEIEIE. But, like most things, I just took it one bit at a time, and I finally finished it about a week ago. Phew!

Apr 4 2011

March Craftiness

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Quilling
(Note: Very few of the quilling designs are original to me. I find pictures of things I like online and recreate them. Since I’m not making any money off of it, I don’t feel so bad about it, but if you want to know where a pattern is from originally, I can probably tell you.)

Cards

Mar 1 2011

Bees vs. Fish

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Who will reign supreme?

The bees have the numbers on their side, but the fish have the mass. Bees have stingers, but fish can eat bees. Maybe. If they wanted to. These could very well be bee-eating fish. Bees have hives, but fish have schools. Does that make them smarter? Is that where they learn to eat the bees? Bees make honey, but fish go nicely with chips. What a conundrum.

Feb 17 2011

Quilling to fight cancer

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A few weeks ago, I decided to start a Relay For Life team at Anya’s school. If you aren’t familiar with it, Relay is a fundraising activity for the American Cancer Society. It is a pretty big event, and a really great cause, and something for me to do to feel like I am contributing now that I am retired.

Our team is still very small, but the Relay is in June and we have some time. I am not the best at fundraising, but I figured out a way to make my crazy new crafting passion help me out. I made a bunch of little quilled pieces, set them out with a donation can at my scrapbook group, and crossed my fingers.

The quill sale was a success, and I have started making more items for next month’s gathering. Here are some of the pieces I have ready to go so far.

If you would like to help me reach my fundraising goal and kick cancer’s butt, please consider making a donation. My Relay Web Page

If you do, I will send you a quilled piece of your choice. Just leave me a note and let me know you donated and what you would like (something you see here or in my previous quilling post or something else and I will try to make it).

Feb 15 2011

February Craftiness

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Finally I can post Anya’s Valentine cards! She wanted to start making them when we got back from Christmas holiday. Somehow I managed to spread out the making of the cards over that following month, and we delivered the cards to her kids and teachers yesterday at her school party. (Ah, there’s another story there, which I will tell after I get back from the doctor this afternoon.)

To make Anya’s Valentine’s cards, we started with finger painting. When did finger paint start to look like Colgate gel? Anya and I were painting away and then we started sticking paper on top of our pictures, and the resulting prints were very cool. I cut up a bunch of little squares, and Anya bounced around making probably a hundred little prints.

A week or so later, she glue-stuck the squares to cards, and I made little frames for the squares and stamped “Be Mine” on the front of the cards. We sent a few out to friends and family, and then Sunday night before her party we wrote messages in the cards, Anya drew all over them with markers, and we put them in envelopes. All her kids and teachers thought the cards were super great, and one little girl even carried hers around the rest of the afternoon.

February is also my mother’s birthday month, and she got her present, so I can post about that, too! I made her a quilled picture, and framed it, and sent it, and it did not break in the mail!

I love quilling. I have been spending hours while Anya is at school working on quilling. I made about 25 pieces and took them to my scrapbook group this last weekend and offered them up for donations to Relay for Life (more on that…soon!), and my donation can had $26 in it at the end of the crop! Yay! I also made two custom pieces on site, a ladybug and an elephant. Too bad I didn’t take pictures.

And here is the last crafty fun for now…

It’s a Valentine’s jack-o-lantern! We made it from a pumpkin she got on a school field trip last fall. Better late than never! We cooked up the seeds, and I thought they were yummy…until a piece of one got stuck in my gums and plagued me for the next week.

Jan 25 2011

New Craft

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One of my Christmas gifts from my parents was a quilling kit. I first read about the craft in a holiday book form the library, so when I saw the kit, I jumped. I didn’t have the opportunity to play with it until Saturday, when I made a few hearts and a flower. Today while I waited to pick Anya up from school, I made a few more pieces.

I think I need a magnifying glass on a stand ’cause my eyes get all squinty, but it’s really fun. The way the paper changes and holds a new shape is fascinating.