What Can You Make From an Old Fence?

Hello fans!

Today I have something very different for you.

Not something I made, but what my brother, Kevin,

has been up to.

A couple summers ago, my brother and sister in law,

replaced their fence in the back yard.

Kevin decided to keep some of the old wood instead of trashing it.

My sis in law wasn't thrilled with that, thinking

it would sit for years and have nothing done with it.

Then Kevin retired and he needed a hobby,

so he went down and started working with some wood

in his basement.

Turns out he's pretty talented with it

This is a little bit of the wood he kept from the fence.

Not so pretty, eh?

But he worked with it and it's amazing what he did.

One day last summer I was visiting and he showed me a 

table he had made.  It was absolutely beautiful.

Just before Christmas he called and wanted to stop by,

saying he had something that belonged to me.
We had all been quarantining, so I was surprised that he was

stopping by.  I was working on some Christmas gifts when my

hubby called me and said to come up to see Kevin.

And there sat what you see below.  A beautiful table that

he made for me.  I was sworn to secrecy as he was making one

for our older brother also, but didn't have it finished yet.

Is this just beautiful or what?
And this picture doesn't do it justice either.

It now resides in our spare sitting room/bedroom where

I can see it every time I'm in the upstairs hall.

He also made boxes for his 3 grandchildren for Christmas,

although I don't have pictures of them.

But he did send me these other pictures.

His daughter in law, Vicki, said she'd like a jewelry box

so this is what he made for her.

He even did a tray for inside and flocked it.

Didn't he do a beautiful job.

Talent that I never knew my brother had.

Now I can't wait to see the table he has made

for my older brother, I have no doubt that it

will be just beautiful.
Kim and Sue are going to be so surprised and

happy when he gives it to them.

Well, but the time I post this, they will have it

as I said, I'm sworn to secrecy, so this post will

have to wait till I hear that he's given it to them.

Thanks for stopping by today,

so happy that you decided to spend some time with me.

Isn't it amazing what can be done with some old 

wood that could have just been tossed in the garbage?

I hope you'll come again soon.

Until then,

take a look at some of the old

"stuff" you have around and see what you can

create with it.

 

Head Warmer for Marie

Hello!

How are you doing with the weather near you?
Pretty darn cold lately here in Western NY,

but I'm not going out much these days,

so I don't have to deal with it too much.

But our Marie comes to visit and when she does

she needs to be warm.

I decided to use some of my left over yarn

to make a head warmer for her.

It was simple enough, just crocheted 

a band and sewed it together.

For the flower, I did a chain  stitches, then 

did single crochet, double crochet, single crochet

into each stitch.  This causes the strand

to curl a bit.  I just curled it around on itself

to form a flower and sewed it to the band.

I don't know if that makes any sense at all

to y'all.  I just flew by the seat of my pants

and made it up as I went.

I think it turned out pretty cute.

Or maybe it's just that she makes it 

look cute.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and

she seems to like it too.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you've been inspired in some way

and will come again soon.

Until then,

fly by the seat of your pants and

see what you can create.

 

Planner Journal

Hello craft fans!

Today I have a couple 

"Planner Journals" 

to show you.

I have a couple very special friends that I

craft and manage a scrapbooking and crafting 

space with.  I wanted to make them a little something

and this is what I came up with.

I designed them myself, but there are lots of

videos out there showing different ways to make

any number of styles of journals and books.

If you're interested you might want to look up

Scrapbooking With ME Crafts

Mike Deakin Art

Nik The Booksmith

Nina Ribena

or just search for book or journal making on YouTube.

These are just a few of the people I follow on 

YouTube and have learned a lot from.

For the cover of this book I used an embossed paper,

it's a metallic looking paper and I just love it.

I wish I knew where I got it, but I don't have a clue.

I've had it in my stash for quite a while and finally found

the perfect project to use it.

For the closure, I uses buttons and embroidery floss.

 I used paper from my stash to line the inside of

the cover.

I printed off a calendar then created a cover

for it and adhered it to the left side.

The calendar is being held in with a "belly band"

so a new calendar can be put in next year.

The cover for the calendar was made with some

eco-print paper that I made last summer.

I used a button from my button collection for a closure.

In the center is a pocket, again made with eco-print paper

that I made.

On the right side, I made a small book for notes.

I lined the inside of the book with some beautiful

scrapbooking paper.  The signature is held in with an elastic

band, so the pages can be removed and more put in.

The second planner journal was made in the same style, but

with different papers.  The cover is again a paper that I've

had in my stash waiting for the perfect project.

The same style as the other one was used through out the book.

Similar, but different.

Different eco-print papers were used.

And different papers to line the cover.

I tried to coordinate the papers for the covers and pocket.

I love them all.

And finally, the cover for the note book.

I'm so pleased with how these turned out and 

hope my friends will love them too.

Thanks for stopping in today,

I appreciate your time and hope you enjoyed this post.

Have you made any journals/books/planners?
I hope you will give it a try, there are so many possibilities.

It's only limited to your creativity.

Come again soon,

until then,

give book making a try.

Velentine's Gifts for Marie

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today I have for you the gifts I made for Marie.

Sara saw this head warmer and thought she should have

it for Marie, so of course I made it for her.

I gave this to her a bit early so she could wear it 

around Valentine's Day.

I guess it could be worn on any cold day though,

couldn't it?

She looks adorable in it, but as I'm writing this, I 

don't have a picture of her in it.

I also made her this sweater.

I had seen the pattern and loved it, so I adapted it

to the yarn I had.  The pattern called for a bulky

yarn, but what I wanted to use was a much lighter

weight yarn.  So I just went for it and flew by the seat

of my pants and it turned out great.

This yarn is so soft, I'd like to have a sweater of my own

made from it.  Who knows, maybe I'll make one for me.

This is a pretty simple sweater to make as it's knitted

all in one piece and there is very little sewing together to do.

You can find this

Toddler Kimono Sweater Pattern here

It's a kimono style and ties inside on the one side and 

the outside on the other.

I think it's a little big for her right now, 

but should fit her very soon.

Hopefully she will be able to wear it in the spring.

Thanks for stopping in to see what I've been up to.

I hope you found some inspiration here and 

will give something new a try.

Until next time,

craft on!

 

Tee shirts

Hello!

Today I have some tee shirts that I made 

as gifts for Christmas.

I created these with my 

Silhouette Studio Designer Edition software

and cut them with my Silhouette Cameo.

I created this for my husband.

He is a photographer and sells his work

at art shows.

I created this one myself using 

a picture that I traced for the photographer

and a background that is in my library.

I overlapped the background in a couple layers

to create something new.

The HTV (heat transfer vinyl) that I used is

Cameleon HTV

that Sara bought for me to play with.

It's hard to see in the pictures, but 

this HTV changes color with light

and movement.  You can see the two pictures

look like different colors, but are actually the same,

just from a different angle.

This HTV is a lot of fun to work with.

I used the same kind on the
"Yoda-Potter" shirts that I made for

Jaryd, Sara and Marie,

just with a different color.

This is the one I made for my daughter,
Kelsie.  She has an instagram  called

clumsy_girl_makeup

and thought this would be perfect for her.

She is very talented, if you are interested in

make up at all, check her out on Instagram.

These images were from files that I purchased through

The Design Store from Silhouette

Lots of layering on this one, but it turned out great.

Kelsie's boyfriend, Brad, loves his

Marvel and superheroes.

His favorite it The Hulk, so I 

made this for him.
The green HTV is also the Cameleon HTV

I even made one for myself,

couldn't not have one in my stocking!

The words are done with the 
Cameleon HTV.

All other HTV on this and the other shirts are just 

plain old HTV that I have in many colors in my stash.

I love how my shirt turned out,

I seldom make something for myself and I'm so glad I made this.

Thanks for coming by today,

I hope you have found something that inspires you.

Come again soon and see what else I've been up to.

Until then,

create something for yourself!

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

 

BIG Fail!

Good day crafters!

Today I have a BIG FAIL to show you.

I had seen a picture of the cutest cupcake hat that

I wanted to make for Marie, so I went and found a couple

patterns.  One was knitting and one was crocheting.

I decided to make the knitted one since I had this fluffy 

yarn and I find it much easier to knit with it.

The pattern was awful, the instructions were kind of vague,

but I tried it anyway.  All was going okay, since I could figure out

what to do, until the end.

I followed what she told me to do, then had to sew it together,

which was a part that she never said to do along with a 

couple other things she left out.

I don't know what the heck happened, but this is how it

turned out.  Guess there was something that was either,

left out, written wrong or I misunderstood.

This gave me a real laugh.

I showed it to Jaryd and told him, I wouldn't

ask him to have Marie wear it or it would cause

her to need counseling when she got older.

Then I made the crochet one with some other yarn

and that one turned out about the size for a newborn.

What is it with the cupcake hats?

Maybe she's not meant to have one,

but I'm determined to figure it out and make one for

her.  So one day (hopefully) I'll be posting a picture of

her in an adorable hat.

Thanks for stopping by today,

I hope you got a little giggle from this post.

If you have a good pattern for a cupcake hat that

you know is a good one, let me know in the comments.

Until next time,

find something to laugh about.

 

Hat and Mittens

Hi everyone!

Today I have a hat and mitten set that I made

for Marie.  I had some left over yarn from the slippers that

I made for Christmas gifts and decided to 

see what I could do with it for Marie.

So I flew by the seat of my pants and guesstimated

on how to make them and the size and they turned our

really cute.

 I love how they turned out and they are nice

and soft and warm for her.

I used Bernat Blanket yarn and an N crochet hook

Does she look too cute or what?

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have been

inspired in some way.

Come again soon,

until then,

try something new and different.

Note the links are only to give a reference so you can

see what the products are.
I didn't necessarily purchase from these sites,

except where specified,

and you may find better prices elsewhere,

I am in no way promoting any particular site.

 

No Knead Artisan Bread

Hello creative people!

Today I have something very tasty to 

show you.

Home baked bread!

I saw this simple No Knead Artisan Bread on

Facebook and thought I'd give it a try.

This is how it turned out and it was sooooo

simple to make.
I mixed it up in the evening and let it sit

over night.  It needs to sit for 12-18 hrs.

When I got up, I baked it.

The recipe calls for it to bake in a cast iron pot, but

I don't have one, so I used my stainless chef's bowl

and it worked great.

And it tastes great too.

This is something I'm going to be making again.

I may just give it a try with some cheese and onion

or jalapeno next time.

Thanks for stopping by today.

I hope you'll give this recipe a try, 

let me know what you think if you do.

Until next time,

make something tasty!

 

Auntie and Cat Mom

Hello crafty people!

Are you the family craft person?
Well, I am.  If there is something that 

the family wants or needs to make, they come

to me.  Especially when it comes to HTV

(heat transfer vinyl)

At Christmas time I had a few requests and

these are a couple of them.

Our granddaughter's name is Marie, so

Marie from Aristocats is a favorite.

Jaryd asked me if I could make this shirt for

Sara, so of course, I said yes.

I already had the files for Marie, so it was

easy peasy.

They also have 2 cats which made this perfect

for Sara.

This one was a request from Sara for Marie

to give our daughter, her Auntie Kelsie.

Marie and Kelsie have a wonderful relationship

that I'm sure will keep growing over time.

Both of the girls loved their shirts.

Thanks for stopping by today, I'll be posting some 

more of the shirts that I made for Christmas soon.

We each got one in our Christmas stocking this year.

Even me!

Come again soon and see what else I created in the last

few months.

Until then,

have fun creating!