Knitted "Sage" Scarf

This was a recent gift from a friend about to move. I love the mostly green olor with other bits of color in it - reminds e of a herb garden, espeially sage.

Really makes me want to pick back up on teaching myself to knit with the scarf I was working on.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Looking for some ideas for Cinco de Mayo?

You could get a pinata' (or make one, of course), or find a number of festive things at many stores. Here are a few things to try out of things you might have on hand (tissue paper, yarn, string, embroidery floss, string, stick, twisty ties, or bits of fabric:

  

God's Eye 

(A camp favorite! Hang on wall or spice up your serving table. You can make them in all shapes in sizes.)

Festive Tissue Paper Carnation 

(Mix and match colors to add color to any table setting or as festive gifts for friends. Layer tissue paper to create more festive blooms.)

Worry Doll/Quetzel Dolls

(Make a few or a whole bunch for yourself or share with friends. You can make them to look like yourself, your friends, or or family.)

Rain Stick

(Bring the soothing sounds of rain to your control.)

Enjoy the day!

Maze Scrapbook - FL

Start with one square for the pages.

 I've been doing all sorts of scraps books and memory books for years at home, at camps, with scouts, 4-H, and through theater things and am always looking for new ideas and non-traditional memory keeping ideas. I stumbled across this site, that had a number of things I had already seen, done, and even taught, but this Maze Book was one that inspired me. I used the ideas as a base, changing the size to make it larger and adding my own touches.

Armed with a map (that I cut down and used for the pages), pictures, and a few bits from a recent trip to my cousin's wedding I decided to try one. (I always bring back a collection of things from a trip... pictures, maps, and other little objects, bits, & pieces. In this case confetti from the wedding, shells, and sand that I used part of in a Memory Jar project from a previous post.)

Fold into 16 even squares.

 Supplies:
     1 sq. sheet for pages (map in this case)
     pictures (I printed them smaller to fit my size needs)
     cardboard (for the cover)
     assortment paper
     stickers & other decorations
     embellishments (stick on gems, shells, etc.)
     yarn, ribbon, etc.
     glue, tape, or other preferred to secure and attach

I cut the map in a square shape, folding it diagonal and cutting off the excess, making sure to include our hotel and the beach where the wedding & reception where held. Then folded it in half twice, both horizontal and vertically to create 16 even squares.

Then cut rows, leaving one square on end attached to fold out as in a one long piece.

Then folded to form a book.

Fold

Cut board (I used cardboard from a box of veggie burgers). I used one piece that was wide enough for the cover and long enough for both covers and the spine. Then cover the board with decorative paper.  (I chose something that would go with their wedding colors.)

Attach folded pages to front and back cover. Secure to covers.

Attach pictures, decorative paper, stickers, labels, to pages. (I used some butterfly and flower stickers that I had on hand that went with them theme.)


Decorate cover. (I included stick on gem flowers, a few tiny seashells, glitter paint, and a picture from the beach. On the back cover is a picture from the trip home.)

Add any attachments for pockets. I attached a piece of yarn to the spine that was linked to a picture attached to board and a small plastic bit of confetti from the reception.

Embellish, decorate, ENJOY! (And using things I brought back with items I recyled or hand on hand, I spent on nothing.)

God's Eye

I learned to make God's Eyes with sticks and yarn many many years ago as a Girl Scout. It's one of the ultimate camp crafts and also a great Cinco de Mayo project and decoration. Over the years I have made them with yarn, craft sticks, Popsicle sticks, sticks from outside, and even toothpicks with embroidery floss for little ones. You can use any mix of colors you like and add tassels or a string to make it easier to hand.

All you need is some yarn or string and a couple of sticks.

And, because I can't resist: Don't forget to take a moment to look at the other side. We don't remember that often enough.

Tissue Paper Carnation

April Showers Bring May Flowers - and I'm going to get those flowers even if i have to make them out of tissue paper.

(My mom taught me how to make these years ago in Girl Scouts.)

Simple supplies: Tissue paper (any color) and something to secure (string, yarn, wire, twisty ties, floral wire, pipe cleaners, even a stapler will work). I used twisty ties in this simple tutorial

Rain Stick

"Rain, rain, go away. Come again another day." At least that was the rhyme from when we were kids were stuck inside because of rain. The Rain Stick was made at summer camp, something that was done with older kids and smaller groups.

A rain stick makes the sound of rain using a tube with nails hammered into it and filled with assorted beads, seeds, & pebbles that run down across the nails to make the sound. Then decorated with any assortment of paint, sand, yarn, feathers, and beads. It can be a very soothing sound.

Demin Purses (from Re-purposed Jeans)

 Don't throw away those old worn, torn, beat up, unfixable jeans! Oh, the possibilities...

These little purses were made from scraps of denim from old jeans (I use as many of the pieces as possible for bags, rugs, or other projects), scraps of other fabrics, and yarn (depending on what I had on hand at the time). There was no pattern, just the piecing of the things as I went along.

I paired some smaller pieces of discarded jeans with scrap fabric I had on hand to make these little purses. Of the four purses pictured, one is made from a front side pocket (the lining and back from leftover fabric); for one I took the zipper from the tapered pair of jeans to make a side pocket, the unzips; and one has a smaller piece as a pocket along the bottom. Two of the straps are made from braided yarn and two of the straps are made from the side seams from the legs of of jeans. They are are all lined with fabric.

You can find find ways to reuse and re-purpose all sorts of things into something usable and cute.

Pieced Denim Skirt

What do you do when you have a pair of jeans that fit around the waist, but the legs are falling apart? Make them into a skirt... of course. (Waste not, want not, and all that stuff.)

This pair of jeans was literally falling apart at multiple places on the leg, but they still fit pretty good. Piecing the salvageable parts of the old jeans with a light weight red fabric and side panels from the legs of another pair of scrap jeans I patched this denim skirt together into a wearable piece of art. Patches, yarn, and embroidery floss were used to decorate,  stabilize weak places, and cover holes or tears.

Some of the pockets were in really weak condition and patch work had to be done by hand with patches or stitching. It was very much a labor of love using both the machine and a lot of hand work to secure and reinforce. (I guess lucky for me I learned hand work first and for many years preferred it almost entirely over the use of the machine.) The bottom edge has a straight stitch sewn all the way around around about 1/2 inch from edge, the the outer edge left raw.

Backside

I wanted a longer skirt (this one coming to about mid calf) that was comfortable, easy to wear, and unique. I love the contrast of fabrics for spring or summer days. Instead of going out to buy a new skirt, I got want I wanted by my own hand and I got to bring new life to something that might have otherwise been thrown out. Be who you are and who you want to be - express you.

Poetry is My Bag

Poetry is my bag... or all over my bag, as the case might be. Check out my bag just in time for National Poetry Month (April), complete with the poem "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou embroidered on the side.

It took me a few evenings of embroidering the black lettering and the red female figures. while watching 'Bones' and 'Criminal Minds'. The inside is lined with a velvet-like red fabric (both fabrics leftover from other projects) with a braided red and black yarn strap sewn into the layers. Sewing the pieces together took less time than the actual needlepoint, but sometimes that's the way it goes.

Phenomenal Woman

                             Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s seize
But when I start to tell them. They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms,
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me, A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet,
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.

Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed,
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s In the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
The palm of my hand,
The need for care,
‘Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal Woman,
That’s me.

The Ladies Who Craft - Part 2

 

These are just a few more of the things we've done with the nursing home ladies. We often try to do seasonal projects and take into account not just the things I plan, but also things they have an interest in doing or sharing, just as the Indian corn pins made from triangle beads, pipe cleaners, a little raffia for decoration, a pin back, and a few drops of hot glue. Very festive fall pieces that can be worn or altered for other Thanksgiving/Fall decoration. (My grandma loved them and I still need to make her one for next fall/Thanksgiving.)
 
We painted little birdhouses, the added a touch of craft moss and faux birds and they are ready to hang in a window or sit on a table or dresser.

The jeweled fall leaves were a great fall decoration for windows or bulletin boards and super easy to make.

Jeweled Leaves

The Plastic Canvas Needlepoint Calenders were something the one of the ladies had done before, getting the pattern from someone she had been in another home with. We used the one she had as our original pattern. Each one was a different combination of colored plastic canvas and yarn (I preferred the fire colors pictured). It was something we could start together and then be worked on in the down time in between. I worked on mine at the hospital when my grandpa was in. (There are slots on the back not pictures to store the extra months and other pieces when no needed.)

Needlepoint calender