The Feral Turtle

Simple Art Project

2012-02-26T13:53:00.000-08:00

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! I actually saw this done somewhere on the Internet but for the life of me I can't find it. They used spray paint, but I am using a roller and antique finishing method instead. Too cold outside to spray paint.

I started with two 70 x 90 cm canvases

Covered them in fabric

I cut fabric larger than my canvases

Sprayed some adhesive on the canvas

Put the canvas down on the wrong side of fabric

Pulled each side of fabric in and stapled

Then I pulled the corners in and stapled.

Voila!

I cut out my letters of a song (What A Wonderful World), onto a clearance roll of mac-tack that I found at the department store with my cutter.

I used a sewing pencil and evenly spaced my boards so that I would have a line to follow while placing my letters. I played with them a bit to find the best look.

I used Kilz primer and coated both boards. I then used some cream colored craft paint and put two more coats on

This is primed. Add two more coats of paint for good coverage. I forgot to take a picture when I had completed my paint coats.

I mixed up some linseed oil, naphtha, and acrylic paint.in raw umber.

Rub the mixture all over the canvases.

I felt that this added an aged look to the canvas.

Now the fun part. Start peeling off all the letters.

This is it. Now to put them in their final home.

Cheers!

Linking up With

Building A Storage Room

2012-02-22T06:34:00.000-08:00

This is my next shameful area in the house. You can see my first one here! My goal is to clean up this old basement, build a storage room, and close it all off from the rest of the basement while Hubby is out of town. The other *old* part would be where we could store our wine and beer making equipment and ferment our raspberries. Before I ever started this blog, Hubby and I broke into the old basement and poured concrete stairs. This joined the two basements and also made access from the new stairwell to the old basement.

We embed leaves into any concrete pour we do. I still have to remove the tape from the lower step. I used two sided tape to adhere the leaves to the form before we poured. We also did this to the underside of our concrete counter tops in the kitchen.

This is a look at the newish staircase. It's in the newish basement.

Now we can kiss these old eyesore stairs GOODBYE! A crowbar, hammer, safety goggles and earplugs did the job. Only hit myself once and scraped my leg on a nail once. That's a pretty good record for me!

I went to the lumber store and bought 2x4s and plywood. I had them precut my plywood into strips so that they were easier to handle. My Ipod loaded with music, the build began.
You can see that post HERE!

This is what you wouldn't like to see but unfortunately I felt the need to share....Please forgive me for subjecting you to this nastiness! The old basement is covered in this horrible Spanish style texture that sometimes falls off the walls and other times clings on for dear life. I decided to leave it as the work involved to remove it just doesn't seem to be worth the rewards. I wish I could be like those really ambitious bloggers with O.C.D.....or better yet I wish one would come for a visit.

The new wall divides this into 2 parts. It starts where the stairs are on the left and goes to the right, where the yellow little thing is on the right. (peas sheller). That is where the support beam is too.

Stairs were removed!

This shot is looking in the opposite direction of the stairs. Not shown in the pictures above. Wall going up to divide the two areas.

The books were moved from the corner into the wine storage area. You will see pictures of the camping gear in that corner later on. To the left of the books is one of the new shelving units.

Dividing wall built. I put a switch and two pot lights in the storage area. This allows plenty of light. One pot light for each isle.

I used a curtain for the door. When I decide on what flooring to use, I will install a hinged door......someday!

This mess will become the wine and beer making storage area.

These are the center units. They have units on the backside and form the center row making a total of four units. There are 2 more units to the right of these. I have two walking isles...one kind of pictured here with clutter, which will eventually be all cleared out. Two more units will go on the far wall to the left (not built yet) which is where the other walkway isle is. This will complete the storage area.

This is the other side of the ones pictured above. The second walkway isle. To the left will be the two units that are not built yet.

The camping gear is in this box with casters. Can easily be rolled to the stairs. I originally built this for my potatoes. It was kept in the cold room and had gaps between the board for air circulation. It worked great.

Wine storage area. I will probably never finish the ceiling but stranger things have happened. I used the old pegboard to the left of the bookshelves to hang some of the wine making equipment. Works great.

Well I sure hope your eyes are OK. It is an old hand dug basement. We use it mainly for storage. To us it is *mostly* organized and a big, enormous, huge improvement. No more tripping....yay. Eventually I would like to put in a better floor as the concrete is rough. But for now, it is DONE!

Cheers!

Shelving For My New Storage Room

2012-02-16T18:37:00.000-08:00

With hubby out of town, I am in building mode again. I wanted to take the oldest part of the basement and turn it into a storage room instead of a "trip over" area. This is step one of my long journey. I had gone to the lumber store and purchased eight sheets of 3/4 inch plywood sheathing. I had most of the cuts done there as I was told on the phone the cuts were free. I told the guy I had probably forty cuts and he assured me it was free. Wow....great deal. I decided to build my shelving at various shelf heights for different storage needs. My shelving was all cut at 16" depths. My sides are 60" and the shelf widths are 48". The units will measure h-60" by w-49 1/2" d-16" I also cut 48 pieces of 13" x 1" strips for shelf supports, leftovers from wine storage .... CLICK HERE to see that project. I built 6 units total, and plan to build more as soon as the kids have all there stuff. This should ensure enough storage for Christmas, camping and any other things that need to be ~~hoarded~~ stored.

*Never assume cutting is exact unless you do it yourself.*

After I re-cut most of the pieces, assembly of the units was very simple. I measured 1 1/2 inches from the bottom to create the legs. The shelves were put at different heights. Each shelf is braced with the 13 inch strips. I put supports from the bottom to the top in the center of the units to prevent bowing. On the very bottom, I took some leftover cutoffs from the 13" pieces and doubled them up as the center foot.

Here are pictures of the assembly.....


This unit was off center to allow room for larger storage totes.

I built six units total. Still two more to come for a total of eight. I could paint them, and may do so in the future (probably not), but I am more excited to get working on my new bedroom area on the main floor. I was going to show you pictures of the units in place, but decided against it as I truly need to organize the new storage area already. This storage room is definitely not pretty so I will save you the eyesore. I put two units along one wall and made a center row with four shelving units back to back. When I get around to building the final two units, they will be put on the last free wall. I placed some totes and pre-made shelving there for now with stuff that needs a new home or two. Be forewarned Kids!!! Mommas coming with some goodies for you!

HAHA....I think I can hear their terror from here.

Cheers!

Whooping it up with

Thursday Blog Hop

2012-02-09T07:39:00.000-08:00

Hope you are all having a great week. I have been M.I.A. for awhile now but I have a good excuse! I have been busy cleaning out our old basement. I wanted to turn 1/3 of it into a storage room. It's going and I will post pictures but it's not pretty as it is an old dugout basement. Meanwhile I thought I would join the blog hop party for Thursday and hope you will join in too! I am linking my paper flowers and am excited to see what everyone else is up to! Happy Thursday!

A Pretty easy Flower

2012-01-28T18:40:00.001-08:00

This is a fun little project that costs next to nothing and is pretty cool!

I found it on this WEBSITE and just had to run to my ~~craft room~~ ahem I meant STUDIO and give it a try. I couldn't believe how easy they were to make. You can check out the video tutorial at Gauche Alchemy or just follow along with my pictures. I must say, the video tutorial is pretty awesome just in case you have any difficulties following my pictures.

I started with seven - 3 1/2 inch squares.

Now make six more. You need seven total.

Hot glue each section to the next.

After you have all seven glued together, join the two ends to make your flower complete.

Now you can add a pretty jewel or a button.

I had pipe cleaners on hand, so I folded it in half and twisted it together to make it a wee bit stronger.

Shove it in the end with a dab of hot glue.

Cheers!

I Party At

I've Been Featured & Thursday Blog Hop

2012-01-26T06:21:00.000-08:00

So yay...I was featured over at Passionately Perfect. It was probably one of my more embarrassing moments. But how exciting to be featured. It's a great blog and I love cruising her parties and looking for inspiration from fellow bloggers. You can see my most embarrassing post here.

I was able to post one project this week. Here are a few pictures of what I was busy doing on the weekend.

No, I wasn't wine tasting. Although I will open a bottle when Hubby gets home, to celebrate our new wine cellar!
It's part of my getting organized promise I made to myself. (Not a New Years resolution)! You can check out the post HERE.

It's another blog hop.

Hope you have a look around and find some interesting ideas and maybe even make some new friends! Join in on the hop if you would like and link up some of your awesome ideas!

Happy Thursday. Cheers!

Building Wine Storage

2012-01-23T04:00:00.000-08:00

Good morning! Hope you all had a great weekend! I had an awesome weekend. On Friday night, I went to a local ceramics place with my daughter and had a great time. Then we went for supper and met up with her best friend and bought a dress or two. Will share pics when I pick up our projects. Saturday I dove right in to my wine storage solution. The sonotube wine rack just wasn't cutting it.

You can see that project here! More storage is needed as our winery is growing. One can only make so much jam when you have an abundance of raspberries. So we took up the art of wine making. I shared our raspberry wine recipe here! We made a few kit wines too.

Anyways, I bought 5 sheets of sheathing plywood as I didn't want to sell my first born for the good both sides plywood. I kinda like to keep her around. As hubby was out of town, I didn't have the get-up-and-go to handle five 4x8 sheets so I had the lumber store cut the wood into 13"x48" strips. Then I was able to cut the smaller pieces by myself. For each unit I cut 2 - 13"x42" pieces,

4 - 13"x40 1/2" pieces, 6 - 13x13" pieces. And then I assembled all four units........

I used my trusty label maker and labeled all the different wines.

I guess I could paint the shelving but it kind of matches the pine shelving in our cold room already. So meh......I will just leave it for now. Looks like we need to make a lot more wine.

Wine for all!

Cheers!

Partying With Bloglands Finest at

Another Blog Hop

2012-01-19T06:02:00.001-08:00

Wow, I can't believe this week has passed so quickly. No new posts, except for my new office/craft room. Click HERE to see the transformation.

Hope you will join in for another blog hop party!

Happy Thursday!

Embarassing Office/Craftroom

2012-01-16T06:01:00.000-08:00

Okay...I must share my room before I started the big organize-cleanup. It became a room for dumping. It was my sons room, then my daughter and I put up the wainscoting and built this awesome closet and she occupied it for a few years..... and then I took it over and it became (fade in music from jaws)

This was one way I had it set up. It wasn't functioning very well.

My awesome desk was just not working for me anymore either. Time to donate....purge, purge, purge!

I needed room to do things in, and not have to go on a big search if the creative bug hit me. Every year I make a New Years resolution to become organized. Every year I fail FAIL FAIL. With a capital F. So I just didn't make that resolution. I figure once the house is done with renovations, I will concentrate on organizing. So look at me now. I didn't make that resolution and I already got a good start on organizing. Armed with my trusty label maker (thanks to my awesome sister for that)....here it is........no not the label maker, although it is awesome, The Office/Craft Room or in

"Where do you summer?" land.....My Studio!

Okay, I stole that from Friends, you remember the episode where Phoebe was dating the rich guy and tried to impress his family and said to his parents, "Where do you summer?" I am such a nerd!!!

Anyways, I hope I impress you, or at least I hope I don't disgust you, and make you run away from your computer with your eyes burning from the hideous sight, screaming, "Get that horrible eyesore off my computer!" Just hit the back button and it will be gone.

These came from the thrift store. My Mum picked them up years ago and I got two. I think they were old hospital curtains. I do know they were two different sizes, and I had to hand hem the second one after I had installed them. I really don't like sewing by hand. The first curtain touched the ground and I assumed the other was the same. Never assume anything...lesson learned!

It looked really nice to the floor but if it hides the clutter, I am good with it the way it is. I guess I could add a stripe to the bottom......someday. The ceiling isn't finished in our basement, so I just screwed the 1x6 to the bottom of the joists.
Also I had changed the room around and created a hallway. This wasn't working either.

Hallway gone. Now it is open, thus creating a more efficient work space!

With a trip to Ikea, a little more figuring, organizing, label making, box searching, lamp hanging, cord routing, purging, floor sweeping-mopping,
more organizing, purging, ~~crying~~, and more purging, ...... May I present
My ~~Office/Craft Room~~ Studio!

I really need to shorten that curtain!

OK....So I still have a bit of purging to do. But at least I can find things.
One day I will paint all the shelves that I built too.

My sister had an awesome idea.
She said to move my printer in the closet
and it would free up desk space.
It did.
Brilliant!

I now have room on the desk to work from both sides. I can push my sewing
machine out of the way, and I can have my daughter on one side,
and I can sit on the other. LOVE IT!!

My clearance glitzy girly light from Ikea. $4.99

My awesome label maker, doing a great job.

I still have a few things I would like to do. I would like to lengthen the curtains on the curtain wall, shorten the curtain above my re-styled Ikea computer desk, clean the closet, and put a ceiling in. I am so much happier working in my new ~~craft room~~ STUDIO!!
Cheers!

Linking Up With

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Thursday Blog Hop

2012-01-12T07:14:00.000-08:00

Happy Thursday! Guess I was mistaken on the Friday Blog hop.....It's a Thursday Blog Hop. Hope you will join in. Still working on my project! Cleaning and organizing is a time consuming and tedious task. I will share on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Grouting With No Pouting... 101

2012-01-09T04:00:00.000-08:00

Click here to see

Part One of A New Bathroom

Yes we grouted on Saturday. No pouting was involved. They say couples should hire a marriage councillor when renovating, but I must say we work and fight very well together. The dormer build Click Here To See It , was probably our second hardest test. We passed with flying colors, with a ~~lot~~ few colorful words coming out of my mouth. Our first project, excluding our chicken shed, was an extension onto our 108 year old house. That was a long and trying task. We came out of that project dealing with much knowledge but tired bones. We took a long break. I think we had a case of The Renovation Burnout. When the roof on the old house needed to be dealt with, we were back in reno mode. This was when my decision to start blogging came to light. I had been blog hopping and admiring from afar, and thought, I could do that. So here I am, with my feet on the heat vent getting toasty warm, (we have an ancient furnace that blows hot air) armed with my laptop, yammering on and on while you're thinking, get on with this gibberish.....where's the darn pictures?

Without further adieu, I give you
GROUT.

Please stay tuned for the start to the new master bedroom. We have to vacate our old bedroom for more plumbing and behind the scenes kinda things. I will be posting in one week or so, as this week will be a write off with appointments and life! Except a blog hop party that I hope you will all join. Oh yah.....I've been working on another big project also. So as soon as I head to Ikea, and finish the top secret task, I will post about it!

Cheers!
Linking up with

Friday's Blog Hop Party

2012-01-06T04:24:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday! Join us for a funtastic party. Post whatever and however many things as you would like. The more, the merrier. Cheers!

I Hope We All Make A Lot Of Mistakes!

2012-01-03T05:25:00.000-08:00

Happy New Years!

My hope for this year is to make mistakes....cuz if I am not making mistakes, then I am not trying new things! If I am not trying new things, then I am not learning and experiencing life.
I hope this for all of you too!

Got the tree down....ahhhhhh.....so nice when all the Christmas clutter is gone. It's like you cleaned your whole house without having to pull the vacuum or the dust rag out. Well that's not true either, cuz from the garland greenery all over the floor to the concrete board dust, well it was a full blown cleaning war in this house. I must admit, as much as I love the Christmas smells in the house, I do love the uncluttered look much more. We have been feverishly working on tiling in our new bathroom. Our first step was to level the floor in our 100 year plus old home. Previous tenants had punished the old girl by removing support walls on the main floor, which was probably one of the biggest crimes. When we went to ensure their was enough support in the basement area underneath the main floor wall we were to build, we realized that the basement supports consisted of three 6x6 Douglas Fir posts, two of which were rotted. We dug, mixed concrete, and teleposted. That was our first step in correcting some of the sins committed. Now that our house is a better supported, I can sleep at night. We built the support wall on the main floor, laid out where the other wall will be, and started to level the floor. We decided to go with hot water heating, as tile, IMHO, should be heated (plus the hydronic system is already in place from our kitchen build). We cut cement board in 5 1/2 inch strips. This is not for the weak hearted. It's like cutting drywall on steroids. The tubing was laid in between each strip. The Dremel with a diamond blade.....and then carbide discs (cause we wore out the diamond blade) was used to curve the cement board for the corners. This worked great. We had to install the bathtub and build the walls around the tub area before we could lay the tile. Tub walls were built and the rest of the floor was levelled. Tub got installed smoothly. Hey.....this is starting to look like a bathroom! Tile pattern was important to us. We had to have the transition from the old house to the new house, seamless. Unfortunately the tiles we used in the kitchen were in low supply. We found some tiles at one of the big box building stores to coordinate. We worked out a pattern that was acceptable to both of us. This actually took a few days to do as tile is so permanent, unlike paint. The actual tiling took two days in the "Will Be A Hallway" and three days in the "Will Be The Bathroom" area. So that's where my week or so has gone. Now that other things have creeped up, the bathroom is on the back burner for a month or two. Hope your New Years festivities went well with no Jail House Best Ofs or The Toilet Rhythm Blues. We had a great time tiling and were in bed by 10 PM. We did have some scallops wrapped in bacon and some yummy samosas which hubby made from scratch. Yes, even the wrappers! One final note! Mistakes were made! So we are definitely experiencing life, but luckily on a blog, life and mistakes can be edited!

Grouting will be done in a few days. I will post some pictures as soon as that's done!
Updated grouting pics. CLICK HERE
CHEERS!

Party With The Best

It's A Blog Hop Party!

2011-12-29T07:34:00.000-08:00

Happy Thursday! I was gonna take the rest of the week off and work on our tiling in the new bathroom renovation. I am excited to share what has been done so far, but I want to wait until we are closer to completion which could be a while yet. Thought I would post this blog hop party. I love these things. Feel free to join in, and would love if you would link up your newest post or five.

Cheers!

Happy New Years! & Recap of 2011.

2011-12-28T13:34:00.000-08:00

Happy New Years To All My Blogger Friends!

We had a wonderful Christmas and I hope you all did too!

I am so blessed with such a wonderful man and 2 awesome kids and now a new addition to our family.....My son-in-law to be. We already considered him our son-in-law, but now it's official! Yay! Could make for some awesome wedding projects on the horizon!

Well, I have been seeing a lot of recaps of 2011 and decided to jump on the band wagon. There have been a few changes around the old house, and this is probably my favorite part of that, and one of the reasons I started my blog. I wanted to keep a picture diary of the changes that the old house goes through. With that said, I found new friends and new ideas which is like the icing on the cake....and I get to eat it too. I love blogging!

You can read all 10 parts starting with # 1

The start of our home renovations!

We enjoyed making our Raspberry Wine

I loved recycling our scraps to make Gifts for friends

Making more gifts, like the Red Neck Wine Glasses

Soap Making

A joint project with my better half

Wine Storage

Learning to share my very guarded recipe for Chai

Making my Solar Powered Bears

Making some awesome Linen Spray that my family loved

And finally my 11th favorite project for 2011

Making Three Trees for Christmas

These aren't the top viewed projects, but they were some of my favorites!

I hope that you will stay with me and my crazy blog in 2012. And for all the new visitors, I would love if you would join me for the New Year. I am excited to start new projects and more remodels in the old house! Stay tuned for our new bathroom....coming soon!

And Again.....Happy New Years to All.

Cheers!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T06:19:00.000-08:00

Courtesy The Graphics Fairy

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. Hope you all enjoy this time

with family and have a safe and Happy Holiday.

Cheers!

Blog Hop Time

2011-12-22T06:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Thursday Blogland. With the big day fast approaching, perhaps you will find some great last minute ideas here! Feel free to link up a project, and feel free to jump on the hop. Merry Christmas to all.

Cheers!

Triple Dose Root Beer Sugar Cookies

2011-12-21T07:19:00.000-08:00

Tired of the usual plain white sugar cookies with the yucky icing that looks pretty, until you bite into them and want to toss your cookies? Then you gotta try these yummy treats.

I purchased some root beer extract from one of the wine supply stores I frequent. Make the usual sugar cookie recipe, but instead of the vanilla extract, add root beer extract. I dumped in double what the recipe called for.

Roll the cookies in wax paper and put in the freezer to chill.

Take the cookie dough from the freezer and cut into 1/2 inch slices and bake according to recipe.

Now the fun part. Melt some white chocolate, add root beer essence and ice the little devils. I put about 1/4 cup granulated sugar and added 1/2 tsp of root beer essence in a plastic container with lid and shook until the sugar was thoroughly mixed with the root beer. Sprinkle the cookies with the sugar for a triple dose of root beer.

Most kids will love this one cause this big kid sure does!

Cheers!

Having a great time at this party.....

Centsational Girl

Music Sheet Candles

2011-12-20T01:00:00.000-08:00

Well not much that you probably haven't seen already.....This is a post about candles. I believe Pottery Barn pedals these beauties.

I have been making them for quite a few years. As I am a new blogger, I guess I will share them now. I was able to print off some sheet music onto a piece of tissue paper...courtesy of, none other than
The Graphics Fairy . Thanks again!.

I cut the printed tissue paper to fit the candle and held it in place with pins.

With my new heat gun that I bought on sale at Canadian Tire, I melted the wax so that it stuck on its own to the candle. You can see when the paper is melted on, as the color of the tissue paper changes to the color of the candle. It's pretty easy to do.

They make wonderful gifts, especially if you put them in a basket of spa items.

I usually put with a bar of homemade soap. CLICK HERE for the recipe, and some scented Epsom salts, all tucked nicely in a box or basket. This is a well received gift. Especially the soap!

Cheers!
Linking Up With

Homemade Christmas Crackers

2011-12-16T02:00:00.000-08:00

Something a Christmas table can't do without is the traditional Christmas Cracker.

Where everyone has to look dorky with their cool hats, tell a stupid joke, and be told, "That is so dumb!" Of course the awesome prize that you brag about cuz you are so sure that yours is the best (and then leave it on the table to be taken out with the trash. Yes the infamous Christmas Cracker....ahhhh.

This year is the year for the cool cracker.....well maybe not so cool, but big. And you know what they say, Bigger Is Better!

Dollar stores are a haven for Christmas Cracker supplies. That's where most of this came from. *Note to family*.....This came from the DIAMOND dollar store, cause I only buy the best for you! NOW LOOK AWAY!

I found the cheapest, cutest hats they had, but forgot to try them on. Maybe I just have a big head???

So I had to do a little alteration on them.

I cut the back open and sewed a piece of elastic in.

This worked pretty good, and fit somewhat bigger.

Red elastic would have been nice but I used what I had in my stash! We call it Big Heads Stash.

I cut up some cardboard that my awesome sister gave me. (NEED SOME MORE CARDBOARD AWESOME SISTER hint hint). This is the same cardboard I used for my scented trees. Click Here if you would like to see the tutorial for these. I made seven of these crackers so I cut seven pieces 6"x12".

I rolled them into a tube, overlapping maybe 1/2 inch. I needed the bodies to be big for all the Diamond awesomeness I was stuffing in there. I hot glued the seam and reinforced with duct tape, but I must confess, I only did two that way. The rest were just hot glued.

It had to be big cuz I wanted to pack them full!

Bigger is Better!

I took the tube and hot glued it to the edge of some wrapping paper.

The snapper part was put inside of it but not glued in.

I cut fourteen more pieces of cardboard. These were for the ends that held the snaps. I put a bit of hot glue on the edge and attached a tube to each end of the snapper. Through trial and error, (that's why you only ever see six in the photos), I realized that they needed to be smaller than the center tubes. I cut these at 3"x7". Rolled them into tubes and hot glued them.

Now you get to roll up your stuff to fit in the tube. Good Luck! Nah, it was pretty easy. I rolled the goodies up inside the hat, and stuffed away.

Roll your paper tightly around the center tube and hot glue it together. The end tubes must be free from the paper so no glue is applied to these. I did glue the ends where you see my fingers, just to hold paper to paper.

Now this is a bit tricky. Kinda scrunch up the paper between the end tube and center tube on each side. I did one at a time so that I wasn't putting tension on the snapper. Once one end is done, you can push it towards the center tube so that the other end has a little more play for you to scrunch it up. I sure hope this isn't the blond leading the blond cause I just can't word this any other way.

We are almost done! You get to put your pretty ribbon on the end and tie. My ribbon had wire in it so it was pretty stable without a knot or a bow.

I must admit, I could have made them a little more glitzy, but this project turned into a four hour ordeal. I quickly put initials on the round stickers. You could put names on but nobody has the same initial in our family. Any sticker will do, maybe an address label, as everybody has them.

I poked a hole through the sticker with my scissors and hot glued on a pretty button.

I used my trusty glitter glue and went around the perimeter of the sticker.

Next year these babies will be all decked out with this and that. They are pretty simple but I think the family will enjoy them.

Cheers!

Party With Me At

It's A Linky Party....Join Us

2011-12-14T06:15:00.000-08:00

Welcome Fellow Christmas Bloggers. Hoping you will link up with this great blog party. Some of you who are new to blogland like I am might ask what is a blog hop? Well, a blog hop is a linky list that is shared on multiple blogs. When several blogs put the same linky list code on their blogs, the same exact list appears on each blog. Blog visitors can submit their entries on any blog that contains the list. The entries will appear on each blog where the list resides. Blog readers see the same list on each blog and can "HOP" from blog to blog seeing the same list of links to follow: BLOG HOP!

Have a look around and maybe leave some nice comments on others posts.

Please feel free to join and Merry Christmas.

Cheers!

Pine Cone Trees

2011-12-13T07:40:00.000-08:00

Here's another take on the use of non Styrofoam forms.

Click HERE for my first.

I gathered pine cones, almost a garbage bag full for these trees. Actually I made four but I gave two away. I had some inserts from a box that I purchased at a thrift store. They were thin plywood pieces, about 3/8 " thick, and they had slots cut in them. They fit together kinda like those shoe storage systems that my daughter needs. Actually she would need a huge walk in closet for her shoe dilemma. As we used the box for a base for a worktable in the shop, the inserts were garbage. I decided to make 3-D trees. I cut two tree shapes and measured the slots so they would slide into one another and meet in the middle. The total height of the forms is 30 inches. You can make them any size.

This would be easily done with some thin MDF and a table saw, jig saw or whatever you have on hand to cut with. I just have issues with throwing out usable pieces of wood.....(kinda, a little, sort of a hoarder)... I slid them together to form a 3-D tree.

Next step is gluing pine cones on. Start with big ones all over and fill in any bare spots with smaller ones until no wood is visible. It takes awhile to do this but they are so pretty when all done.

It also takes a lot of glue and a whole whack of pine cones. (Ouch to my fingers too). After the pine cones were placed and glued, I sprayed some cinnamon fragrance oil directly on the cones, and I must say they are wonderful. You can add holly and other embellishments to them. I did that with the ones I gave away. They were very pretty but unfortunately I didn't take pictures.

I bet you are thinking, that's a lot of pine cones....it is. We will be outside in the summer, crawling around like little bugs all over the ground, collecting our winter crafting supplies......just like ants.
They scent up the whole entrance with Christmas smells.
Sorry I didn't stage these beauties. I am off to the big city today on a Christmas shopping frenzy. This said, I probably won't have a post for a few days. Although I might put up a few pics of our bathroom renos. Don't get too excited. It's just tubing strung through the floor for our hot water heat. It took us three days to do this. Anyways that's for another post.

Cheers!

Dried Orange Garland

2011-12-12T02:00:00.000-08:00

Life as an orange is good...well at least for these oranges. They were dehydrated. That will make them last for a long time. I just gathered a few supplies that I actually had in my stash. Some dried oranges, buttons, a roll of jute, raffia, and hot glue. I strung my oranges together, few buttons, tied some raffia on and then put a bit of hot glue to hold the oranges in place. Hope you like them. For other orange crafting ideas,
CLICK HERE!

And now......with the annual railing garland. I usually wrap my garland around the railing, but I was a little lazy this year.

P.S. Please don`t mind the dust. We are renovating the old house.
In the process of building a new bathroom so my posts (both blog and railing),
could be a little dusty from here on out.
Cheers!

Patry With The Best At

Lavender Heat Bag

2011-12-11T06:33:00.000-08:00

Good morning or afternoon or evening. Not sure when and where you are so I covered all my bases. I would like to share with you how I make my Dad, his annual heatbag.

I started this time with a towel.

I usually use corduroy but I am out. You have to use 100 percent cotton fabric and thread, as polyester thread and fabric wont hold up to the heat over time.

I figure out what size I am going to make him and fold the fabric in half and cut. This finished bag is 16" x 12" so I cut my fabric 17" x 26". You can make whatever size you want! Sew up the sides and press the top over for a finished hem.

Turn right side out and sew tubes from the bottom to top. Fill these with rice and lavender. I add about 1/2 cup of lavender to 3 cups rice. I am not sure how much rice I used as I didn't measure. More than 3 cups though. Probably closer to 9 cups.

Fill each tube about 2/3 full. Sew the top closed. I double sew this so no rice can escape from its little cell.

I like to make covers for the bags as they can be taken off and thrown in the wash. I make them the same way, except I don't sew the tubes.

I add a piece of Velcro to the top and that's his annual heatbag.

Microwave for about 2 to 3 minutes at the most. The rice will burn the bag if left for too long in the microwave. You can use these as cold packs too. Just pop into the freezer and leave them in there all the time, until you need it. It will stay cold for quite awhile. *Note* The lavender scent will eventually fade.

Cheers!

Party With Me At

Clark The Elf at The Blackberry Vine

2011-12-10T06:50:00.001-08:00

Good morning....and YIKES. Only fifteen days left for most of you.

Fourteen left for my family. Just wanted to share a blog I have been following.

It's The Blackberry Vine

and her adorable elf named Clark. Very cute!

You can find Clark on another adventure by CLICKING HERE.

Hope you are having a great weekend.