Jewelry Bowls

We are surrounded by things that can be given new life and made into something else. I made these jewelry themed bowls, the perfect size and theme to hold rings, other jewelry or change on your dressing table or dresser (I love little things like this).

One of the best parts - everything was from stuff I already had around the house. (And it's even recycled! How can you not love?)

This is a rather easy project that uses paper mache' techniques to create, with drying time taking up the most of the time. Just a little patience is all it takes.

Supplies
* a glass bowl or other container, any size (to use as a mold) - (for this project I used small glass bowls from our cupboard that are were about four inches across and often used for dips or fruit in out house)
* plastic wrap (to cover the mold)
* white glue or Mod Podge (something that will dry clear and secure everything together smoothly)
* old paint brush (for use with glue) - paint brushes are awesome to use with paint or decoupage
* desired paper such as magazine pictures or newsprint (I used magazine pictures of jewelry and gem stones from magazine ads)
* scissors or craft knife (as needed) 
 * OPTIONAL: desired embellishments (such as glitter, pearl wire, beads, ribbon, or whatever inspires you) and something to attach (such as the white glue from before or a hot glue gun)

(1) Start with laying plastic wrap across the bowl that you are using as a mold. This will keep the finished project and glue from sticking to the bowl. (You can use other types of plastic, but I preferred the clear plastic wrap so that I could see through as I worked.)

(2) Start layering the paper with glue inside the mold, using the paint brush to spread the white glue or Mod Podge evenly across the pages. Using the glass and clear to position the images on the outside of the creation. Build this up to desired thickness placing multiple layers of paper and glue. I positioned the inside with images like the outside to create a design. Using the paint brush with glue make sure there is a nice smooth layer of glue or Mod Podge to secure the outside edges and give a smooth outer layer. (You don't have to worry about the edges being uneven that an be taken care of later after everything is dry.)

(3) Let dry.

(4) Once the bowls are more set up you can remove from the mold and gently peel off the plastic wrap. Let dry completely.

(5) Apply more layers of white glue or Mod Podge as needed to seal securely. Spread glue on the outside to secure and seal outside edge.

DO NOT BE AFRAID TO LIBERALLY USE YOUR WHITE GLUE OR MOD PODGE TO REALLY SECURE AND SEAL EVERYTHING INTO ON PIECE.

(6) Trim edges with craft knife or scissors for a lean edge.
 Let dry completely.

(7) One everything is COMPLETELY DRY embellish edge as desired. In this case I used a white glue around the edge then dipped in colored glitter for a couple then pearl wire attached with a hot glue gun. (You could leave plain or embellish with whatever you have on hand such as ribbon beads old jewelry pieces or whatever else.)

Great for gifts or to catch your bits and pieces around the house. The options are endless - you an use any size bowl, attach a few together, add legs or another base. Experiment. Decorate. Share. Enjoy. And never forget to let your imagination run wild!

Camp Tales - Staff Quarters

Living at camp whether in a cabin or in staff quarters can be an intersting eperience. I never lived in a cabin as a counselor, instead I lived staff quarters or in a cabin with my dog. The upside of living in staff quarters is a certain freedom that can not exist in the rest of camp. Of course, putting five girls in one room is an experiment in social constructs. Even when living at camp where most live in jeans, shorts, t-shirts, or bathing suits there is a question of closet and drawer space.

Between the girls and the guys room next door we learned to share. We did get sick of each other at times, but we learned to deal with each other. We shared our bedrooms, a living room with a kitchenette on one end, bathrooms, and a washer and driver. Inside the staff quarters we cooked together, watched movies (we only had one or two channels on a good day), played games, and terrorized each other.

Mostly the quarters were pretty decent. Bugs and insects found a way in and there were a couple larger critters that found their way in, including a raccoon and a snake.

Gifts Recieved - Gifts Treasured

 Over the years I find some of the greatest treasures to be those that were created or embellished by hand, not machine. Creation and art is life and means more than you can find at any superstore. We need to celebrate the hand made arts more, the people that create them, and the people who give them. They are truly beautiful.

The first is a hand made cross, I think it was crocheted. To be honest, crochet, knitting, and the like are things I know little about. (I'm just learning to knit on my own.) Someone made these cross bookmarks for me and my siblings but I can't remember who. An older family friend perhaps. (I feel bad for this, but I can't help it.) Some of them were of only one color, but I favored the one with the rainbow of colors. For years it hung on the bulletin board in my bedroom.

The little girl figurine was a gift from a my grandmother years ago for Christmas, crafted  by a friend of hers from church. The tiny book in the doll's in hand is "Christy." It is a movie and mini series that we shared. It doesn't sit more than 2 inches high.

The small chest was a gift fro a friend in high school. She found a small chest and stained it in a cedar to match the cedar chest I had made years before. I use it now to hold coins I've collected from different around the world as well as my small collection of pressed pennies. It sits on a shelf in my room amongst old family photos.

Embrace the gifts that mean the most because they were chosen just for you, made with someone's own hand.

4-H Woodworking

Bulletin Board

Book Shelf

I grew up doing woodworking, I took a cedar chest to state fair, I helped with 4-H State Fair judging, and I taught woodworking basics at camp. It seems the carpenter bloodline showed through. 4-H gave me great opportunities to build things and to learn new woodworking skills. It also let me build things for my room at the time, many of which I still use.

The blue bordered bulletin board was a 4-H woodworking project that I made for my room in elementary school and now use in my Craft/Sewing Room. At any time it can be holding any selection of instructions, patterns, sketches, projected (completed or in process). It was made with my woodcutting advisor in his wood shop, using the same pattern his daughter had used to make one before me.

 The year I made my bookshelf, most of the kids in that project had made a full size bookshelf, but I had a small bedroom and limited space. Instead, my advisor helped me come up with a smaller shelf that could hang from the wall or sit on my head board. (My bed at the time at build in bookshelf as the headboard and the width was perfect to sit this shelf on top of it.) I got to learn about making drawers. The shelf now holds many of cookbooks and herb books, a treasured piece that I use everyday.

The basket was a Club 4-H project on trees. We did all sorts of tree projects and activities; that included tree planting, trips to see the process of apple cider and maple syrup, and creating something from wood - in this case it was making baskets from wood strips.

My Cedar Chest

I learned how to work with wood at a fairly young age. Some of my fondest memories from my childhood were spent with my grandpa in shed he used as a woodshed and later working with him in his garage workshop. He was a perfectionist, better to measure twice and cut once.

As I stood by his side, learning to measure, cut, sand, and build he kept alive a long family tradition of woodworkers and carpenters in his grandchildren. Over the years he helped me with 4-H projects, including the building of my cedar chest in middle school. The rounded top cedar chest that had been carefully laid out and pieced together on his screened in front porch, got an outstanding at my county 4-H judging and was sent to State Fair. The day I went to state fair with it, we invited my grandpa to go with me and my dad, after all the time he had spent helping me build it. It sits in my bedroom and is in constant use.

My grandpa is gone, but I hold the memories of our time together close.

Wooden Dove

The wooden dove is from a pattern of my grandpa's. He made them and he helped us make them.The wooden dove is made from one piece of wood with a small wooden heart attached with clear fishing line. I have two that he helped me make that hang in my windows. They serve as a reminder that we need Peace on Earth everyday.

Embroidered Sleep Mask

The sleep masks were pretty easy to construct, the most time being the hand embroidery work on the front of each. (I'm headed on an eighteen hour car trip with my family for a family wedding. I wanted to make sure I would be able to sleep comfortably, or as close as one can when in a car for that long. It's important to be prepared.)

Once again I used what I hand on hand, which happened to be some scrap from a t-shirt sleeve one of my brothers cut off (the black) and the velvet-like red (left from a big project, the scraps showing up again & again). (I love be thrifty and handy with a needle. What a great combination!)

I made my own pattern using just a piece of paper. I figured the size I wanted the sleep mask(s) to be, then added space to make sure to leave space to sew. I was making two, so I cut two black pieces and two red pieces of each. I used one red front with a black back, and one black front with a red back. It was important that I chose fabrics that were soft and would be comfortable against my face. (A front and back for each sleep mask.)

Keeping with the black and red theme I used a combination of black, white, & red embroidery floss to embroider the front of each mask. One has a Gothic-inspired butterfly design approximately over each eye and the other reads "Let Me Dream" in script bubble letters with a butterfly. (This isn't your grandmother's needlepoint.)

Pin right sides together. (Look, the backside!) Using my machine, I sewing the right sides together leaving a gap on each side where the elastic would go as well as to turn the right sides out. (This was about an inch or less on each side as marked with the pins to keep things even on both sides.)

Trim strings. Turn right sides out and iron.

I cut the elastic the right length and pinned inside the openings on either side. Using a zigzag stitch all the way around, securing the elastic as I did. Then I ironed it again. I'm ready to go.

Seashells by the Seashore

Beached Curtain with Shells

With thoughts of summer, my thoughts have turned to sun, sand, and beaches... with the thoughts of the beach and sand I think of seashells. (Between my trips to beaches and trips of friends, I have a fairly large collection tucked away.) Bring on the sun!

The beaded curtains were made years ago from a sturdy hemp chord (which I seem to usually have on hand), medium-sized wooden beads, and various seashells with naturally occurring  holes and places to string the chord. They were first made for a bedroom I had in the attic and followed me a new house and even to a cabin doorway I had. I love the natural look of the wooden beads with shells and a few scattered gold beads. A bit of a hippy-inspired 60s flashback, but that is one of the reasons I love having them and decorating with them.

The little seashell covered boxes were made from tiny plain boxes and decorated with a sturdy glue and tiny colored shells to create a design. (I have a bunch of these little shells, some dyed different colors.) They are great to sit with my some of my mermaid stuff (which I seem to have at least a  few things).

I am so ready for summer.

"Sweet Dreams" Pillow Cases

This is a set of embroidered pillow cases I made for me. Growing up, I saw embroidered pillowcases a lot more, but over the years I have seen less and less. (Probably the result of fewer people knowing how to needlepoint.)

I used pre-printed pillow cases I found at a local craft store and embroidered the flowery "Sweet Dreams" across the ends of both pillow cases. I entered one in our local county fair & took first place.

(We're never old for ribbons.) I even had a friend who called to tell me she saw them and to comment on how pretty they were.

There are certain "old fashioned" things that never seem to really go out of style & some of those things that are nice additions to personalize your world.

Dollhouse Book for Paper Dolls - A Doll's Dream House

Cover

I grew up playing with paper dolls. Often overnight trips to Grandma's (or other family) meant a new book of paper dolls and a shoe box to store them. I had a variety over the years from Princess Di to various Barbie and all sorts of others involving family vacations, weddings, and career. I would play for hours separating the dolls from the books, settings them up, trying on their various outfits, and then using plain paper with crayons or colored pencils to make my own clothes for them. I was never great at drawing, but I tried and I got a certain sort of satisfaction out of it. As I got older and nostalgic started to set in, I realized that paper dolls are really hard to find, not like the shelves of them I remember from when I was a kid. I thought about drawing my own, but I know my artistic limits. Still my nostalgia for all things doll has continued. In this quest I came up with this Dollhouse Book for Paper Dolls made from ads & magazine pictures collage-pieced together to create rooms the right size for dolls I made from magazine cut outs glued to card stock.

Supplies: Paper, Card Stock, Mod Podge, Clear Tape, Scissors, Old Magazines and Ads.

The Dolls

I started with finding pictures of people to use that were about the same size and included a view of head to feet (this was important).  Using Mod Podge I attached the pictures to card stock and trimmed the edges, then sealed them in with more Mod Podge. Going through my stack of magazine and using the first doll as a guide I tore out pictures for the rooms that were the appropriate size. I used paper folded in half with a cardstock cover to make a book.

The Front Garden

Using the pictures torn from the magazines and ads I pieced together pictures to create rooms for the dolls to inhabit starting with a front garden full of flowers and plants, a living room, a dining room with a table and outside patio view, a kitchen with cabinets and a refridgerator that had doors that opened to reveal groceries and kitchen items, and a bedroom with wallpaper and bedroom furniture.

I cut slits throughout each scene to fit the paper dolls to stand behind items such as flowers, a table, or chair. Then for the kitchen I cut doors that opened and cut items for placement inside these openings. I took these openings in mind carefully as I glued the pages and collages to the book I made to house this paperdoll world. Everything was secured with Mod Podge. I used clear tape around edges including the outside where the pages connected as well as slits and openings.

For those who might want to try a paperdoll house book for yourself or just enjoy paper dolls in your own way I found some great (and free) paper dolls that you can print at home from your home computer. (Or do your own search, you never know what you might find.)

http://marilee.us/paperdolls3.html#Printadults

http://proudmommy.tripod.com/paperdolls.html

http://www.deadmilkmen.com/punkrockgirlprint.html

http://www.ss42.com/paperdolls.html

If you are more talented than me (which means you can draw pretty much anything that comes out looking more like a person or animal than a stick figure), you might even try drawing your own.

This may be my first attempt, but I doubt it will be my last. I already have a list of ideas to play out next.

Check out here to: http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/dollhouse-book-for-paperdolls .