Holly-Daze: Salt Dough Ornaments

Salt dough ornaments are project I have been wanting to try for a long time. I have always loved making my own Christmas ornaments and even before I was married had started making an ornament a year with a Victorian or "elegant" theme to it ... I'm sure my husband was really happy with this our first Christmas together!

At time I had really want to make snowflake ones and and paint with glittery paint. But 3 years ago I had a baby and the Christmas theme changed. We have traded the elegant lace ornaments for more child-friendly Mickey Mouse themed ones. Yep, in case you missed it, we have a Mickey and Friends themed Christmas tree. That story later ...

So this year, I was determined to make salt dough ornaments for the Mickey tree, and because we went to Disney this past summer with our close friends (and neighbors) I have even more incentive. My craft-challenge, much loved friend and her family are STILL in Disney heaven, so even as e plan for our next, yet the be determined trip, we are looking for ways to bring Disney to us.

So as her kids look to create Disney ornaments, and this weekend happened to be one rainy and soggy, I decided to start making the ornaments for the kids to decorate next month, when we start preparing for Christmas.

So back to the ornaments. They were very easy ... and theraputically messy.

The ingredients are simple:

• 1 c. plain flour
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/2 cup water

Directions are just as easy.

First I mixed the ingredients together. I held back a little of the water to make sure it wasn't too wet, but if that happens, just add a little more flour.

Kneed the mixture until it is mixed well. (Leaving clumps of dry flour will cause the ornaments to fall apart when baked.

Roll it out to approximately 1/4 inch thick and cut with cookie cutter. I have found that cutting and removing the extra prevents the shape from being pulled and distorted. Once those are placed on a non-stick baking sheet, you can roll out the extras again and make more until you have used all of the dough.

**Tool of Note: I rolled mine out on an Applique Pressing Sheet, a multi-purpose craft sheet by Bear Thread Designs. Its non-stick surface prevents the dough from sticking and the shape distorting when you remove from work surface. I have several of these craft sheet and actually sandwiched then dough between two sheets to provide a smooth and even surface.

However, if you use the craft sheet for projects such as this or paints, do not use for fabric projects afterwards. Oils can transfer to fabric projects and will ruin fabrics. I have several in the kitchen for projects like this and keep them rolled in a paper towel tube in the utensil drawer to prevent them from getting mixed up.

Once rolled and shapes cut, place on a non-stick baking sheet and bake at lowest temperature available on oven for 3-4 hours. (Mine was 170 degrees). Halfway through the baking time, I flipped mine, though I was told that it wasn't necessary. Ornaments can be laid out to dry at room temperature but could take several days. 

When the children get together and decorate them, I will post photos here of their masterpieces! I am so excited to see what a 3 year-old, 7 year-old and 13 year-old create! I love kids creativity!!

Until our next cup of tea,

Halloween Treats that Light Up the Night!

I absolutely loved doing this project! Last year, my Mom showed me these fusible interfacing panels (right) by Quiltsmart for making light shades for wine glasses. Greatest project ever! (With the exception of anything that involves chocolate, of course.)

So basically the concept is easy. You trim your fabric, sew on the lines as directed, flip, and finish! Last year I made some in animal print, Christmas fabric and a Halloween fabric. I wanted to do some for each holiday and them some extras for seasons, but I ran out of the panels. When cleaning out my craft room this past weekend, I found two more.

I was very excited, though I wish the craft fairy had left me more than the two I found in the closet.

This year I decided I wanted to try a black lace fabric. I wasn't sure if it would give off a shadow like a spider web,  but I was willing to try. I found one that had a glitter shine to it and started sewing. To be honest, I wasn't sure it would work, but it turned out even better than I expected!

While it didn't give off a glow that filled the room, it did offer some errie shadows on the nearby walls. I wasn't able to get a good photo of that. As an added bonus, it looked good with the black and silver décor in the kitchen.

Here are the orange ones before I put them in the livingroom.

 

 

Since you have to use electric tea lights (which prevents the wine glass from being ruined and is safer), you can embellish them. I got some spider buttons and am going to get some lace and ribbon and such this weekend to embellish even more. I will have to post photos when they are done!

If you'd like to try some of these wine shades, visit Quiltsmart at www.Quiltsmart.com. Aside from the wine shades, Quiltsmart has a variety of quilts that you can make using their fusible interfacing. I really want to try one now, especially the Primerose pattern.

Until our next cup of tea ...

 

Whatcha Working on Wednesday: Round Robin Kick Off

OMG! I am so in love with everything about my Round Robin quilt. I finally got all the fabrics, and it ended up going in a direction I was not thinking about. Its always great when you get a surprise like that. I think there are 15 fabrics total, but these two are the focal fabrics - the fabrics that all the others were chosen to compliment.

I've had these fabrics for about 7 years or so. I got them some time around my husband's first deployment. I absolutely loved them, but was too scared to do anything because I was concerned that I wouldn't like it and there was less than a yard of each fabric. The designer is Robyn Pandolph and she has so many fabrics in the colors that I love most, that I might beg her to be my new best friend! So I decided it was time to do something! 

I chose some fabrics then my mom's friend, Susan, who is also doing the Round Robin with us offered to let me "shop" in her stash. OMG! She has so many Robyn Pandolph fabrics and other that complemented them, I knew I'd found heaven. (Its apparently in South Texas if you're wondering!)

So now, I just need to get the medallion stitched and the borders put on for the first meeting! Wish me luck! (I'll show you the medallion in color when it's finished.)

 

What are you working on this week? Quilting, embroidery, scrapbooking? I'd love to know how you are welcoming the cooler temperatures with crafts!

Until our next cup of tea ...

May Experience Side Effects Such As ...

UGH! I feel like my head is going to explode! I have been working on the website for  Bear Thread Designs today and most - no all of it- consists of writing and revising HTML code. All I see is numbers, letters and symbols spinning before my eyes. Oh, the headache!

Well, to be honest, I have issues with my eyes and brain working constantly. My brain constantly is trying to decipher patterns and series in everything. So an example, when I see a flower like a rose, my brain is always trying to find a pattern or rhythm in the petals. So there are days when I feel a bit like Charlie on the TV series Numb3rs. My eyes are constantly sending that info to my brain, so there are times I get headaches and dizzy, though the worse is the carsickness on long rides. I have to sleep or I get so sick.

Anyway, that's what I'm doing today. Early on, I realized crafts like cross stitching, embroidery or quilting help because I have to focus on something smaller and my brain has already identified the pattern. Hence, I have to work to relax.

So today will obviously not allow a long or indepth post, but I wanted to use this as a chance to show you some of the flowers that are still in bloom here in the south where the cold weather is slow to appear. I can never get enough of flowers in bloom!

My parent's ranch still has a bit of wildflowers in bloom. These sunflowers actually are the second patch my parents ranch has. The first one has to be cut and trimmed back until they disappeared because it was a patch the large sunflowers that would get 6-8 feet tall and the flowers were the size of a cantaloupe. They used to line driveway to the ranch, making it difficult to see. You couldn't even see the house when you were on the driveway until you were at the front porch!

Luckily, we never hit a ranch dog, but when we'd let the goats on the house area they loved them! I guess they are a sweet treat. Anyway, they are gone now, but my parents keep an eye on this patch as it is in the pasture in front of the house. (They have several pastures that wrap around the house area.)

Until our next cup of tea ... continue to smell the roses- or what ever flowers you find ...

Pinterest Project: All Eyes On Halloween!

I had originally planned to profile a Halloween craft project each week, but I am having so much fun, that there are more than 4 to get us in the spooky-mood. This past weekend I was playing on Pinterest and sat this cute Christmas Button Wreath and did not want to wait to make it. So with  little thinking outside the box, I made this cute Halloween Wreath.

So fun, so easy!

I got a $3 black frame from Wal-Mart, and a bag of "googly" eyes from Dollar Tree. I found some ribbon and Halloween themed paper, though I ended up using a purple because the decorations in the room I hung it in are black, purple and silver.

I used a bowl to lightly trace a circle in the middle of the paper to use as a guide. Then I laid out the googly eyes where I wanted them. This took some time because I am a strictly symmetrical person, so "random" is hard for me. I left about a 3 inch blank spot at the top for the ribbon.

After I was happy with the layout, I started gluing them down. I made a few adjustments at the end, then added my ribbon. I am not good at ribbons, so mine is not actually tied, just folded to give the look. 

It took me less than half an hour to make. It looks like such an easy kids project, that I may see if my little guy wants to make one. 

Until our next cup of tea ...

Exploring Our Halloween Decorations

I love decorating for the holidays. Its not really something my family did when I was growing up. I was one of 12 children so financially it wasn't an option, but more impactful, I was raised in a strict religious household, so certain holidays such as Halloween were not observed, which now as an adult I may not agree with. So of course, as a parent I want to give my child the chance to do things that I was not able to enjoy.

My husband was also determined to provide our son the things he couldn't experience as a child though his reasons were different, being an old child of a single, extremely hardworking father. So each holiday we decorate and participate in the common activities ... egg hunts, tour Christmas lights, etc. But we both love Halloween so each year we get more and more.

Sometimes I make decorations, sometimes we buy them, but we love it all. Because we are a military family and have to move often we have to be careful about home much "stuff" we collect through the years. We usually keep most of the decorations inside the house, opting for small things like jack-o-lanterns and stuff outside as Oct. 31 draws closer.

So today, after taking our little one to the Children's Museum and grabbing lunch, we stopped at Yankee Candle to get another candleholder and headed home to take the decorations out of the attic and get set up.

orange

We ended up finding 3 boxes of decorations, one from last year when my husband was stationed in Korea. He left about a month after we moved back home, so whatever went into the attic was in no order whatsoever and I wasn't attempting to sort it out by myself with a curious 2-year-old "helping". The other two was thing that we have sorted down and decided we couldn't live without from the last military move. I try to go through and purge a little because there are times when a duty assignments were so short, we didn't unpack everything.

So here are some of the treasures we found ... The orange spider plate above was a quick and easy project I made in 2011. I found an orange charger and sticker at Michael's Craft store, then cut the sticker to the size I needed and used extras to decorate the borders.

This candy bowl always cracks me up ...

We just got this Yankee candle and it smells soooo good. Its called Candy Corn. My husband chose one called Witch's Brew which he discovered in 2011, and it smells good also, but I love the ones that have a sweet smell. My little guy keeps blowing this candle out, so it'll probably last forever!

This centerpiece is all of my husband's favorite. He really likes the Boney Bunch Collection so I guess we'll be adding to this now that we are home for a while as he completes law school. The candles are "bleeding candles" that we got at a Halloween store in Florida. They are while by the wax turns red as it burns. Its really cool looking.



My favorite collection of Halloween things are the silver and black ones. They just look really good together. I have an upcoming project that I'll post on Friday that fits well with this group.

So have you started to decorate for the holidays yet? What are some of your favorite decorations? Do you make them or buy them?

Until our next cup of tea ...

Quick Trick for Some Show Some "Pumpkin Spice"!

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has seen the toilet paper rolls covered in the orange tissue paper and decorated to look like a pumpkin, right? It's cute. I love to decorate for holidays ... who am I kidding, I love to make stuff, holiday-season or not. But as much as I loved these little pumpkins, they seemed to me to need a little more "umph" or something. So I dug around in my half-unpacked craft closet looking for inspiration (and pigma pen for another project) when it hit me - Why not use fabric?

Fabric would let me be as whimsical or elegant as I wanted. So off I went to dig in the scrap bin!

The first fabrics I found were a batiks, in an orange and green. I love batiks, they are so unique.

Well I gathered my supplies:

Fat 1/4 (1/4 yard of fabric) in orange
Scrap of green fabric (I had a piece about 4 in square)
Roll of toilet paper

Then comes the quick and easy part ...

1. Wrap toilet paper roll in orange fabric, making sure to tuck the ends into the paper towel tube so that it sits flat.
2. Roll green fabric like a tortilla (Ha!) and tuck into top of toilet paper roll, leaving 1-1.5 inches sticking out.
3. Optional: Stick a twig in the top of it like a pumpkin stem!

When my little guy got home, of course he wanted one for his table in the playroom. So I dug up some Halloween fabric and made one for him too! I guess you could even use scraps to fuse a jack-o-lantern face on the pumpkin, though we are at the precarious age where my toddler understands "scary", but not so much that it is pretend.

Now I want to go find my box of beads and decorate the pumpkin a little more ...

Well, I hope you have fun getting creative with this quick little project. I think the part I like the most is that it is going to be easy store when the holidays are over. That's the one thing that gets me is that after a few projects, I need to go out and buy more storage containers (and hubby is not too happy about lugging all those boxes in and out of the attic!)

Until our next cup of tea ...

 

Freedom in Many Languages

I've been slowly tackling projects on my list of half-finished projects list. One of my favorite projects, which I named Freedom in Many Languages, was actually an unfinished project that I didn't know what to do with at first.

The pattern was in a cross stitch publication that was given to me in my late teens by a cross stitcher who was sorting through and getting rid of some of her older CS magazines. It was not one I did initially, but it was one I did early on in married life, I think.

I started the project and at some point put it aside, maybe because of school, military deployment by my husband or possibly something else temporarily caught my attention. (I readily admit a distraction by shiny things!) In my early days of CS if I found that I had made a mistake, I would often set aside to figure it out later- now I just alter until I fix it. However,hen I went back to finish it later, crisis - I could not find the book! I was devastated! I really loved that pattern, even though at the beginning I had no idea what to make from it as I don't do wall-hangings.

This was the original look and description:

"Freedom's Voices"  

•  7 languages --  Chinese (2 characters), English, Hebrew, German, Russian, Yoruba (an African language), and Spanish

• One design with three color schemes -- Rainbow, Shaded Blue, Blue/Red 

• Stitch count is 151 x 78

• on 14-count fabric, finished design size is approximately 10-7/8" x 5-5/8"

A few years later when reorganizing my Works in Progress and creating a list, I came across it and decided to revisit the project. Though I had already moved on from the more country look of my early projects to a preference for shabby chic and English Garden that has developed my adult years in crafting.

So with a little bit of "fabric shopping" in my mom's fabric stash, I decided to make it into a pillow - just the way it was. Luckily, I didn't stop in the middle of a word, rather just left off two. 

Oh, now that I compare the photos, I noticed I skipped a word- I may have been at a lose at what to do. Now I just roll with it! I rarely do anything according to the pattern exactly anymore. Everything has a twist or change.

Regardless, it has won the approval of my toddler, who has now claimed it for himself.

So what projects have you set aside and come to, only to change directions from your original intent?

Until our next cup of tea ...

You Saw It Here 1st: "Stuffed" with Creativity

So I've decided to start a new series called "You Saw It Here 1st" and on the first day of each month, I'll write about a new craft item, company, program, etc. Now I probably won't be the "first" person to discover or write about it, but it might be the first time you've heard about it.

The first profile is a personal one for me. I recently discovered this little online shop called "Stuffed". The shop itself is new to me, but the creator is not. Kristin and I were neighbors at my first Army duty station. Not only were we neighbors but our husbands were in the same battalion, deploying at the same time. We saw each other when we walked our dogs, attended the same unit events and spouse activities, even found out we were pregnant near the same time, but it wasn't until years later that we discovered we were both crafters. And we lived 5 houses apart!

Now she has taken the creativity and combined it with the daily activities of two toddlers and created Stuffed!

"I created Stuffed, an eco-friendly, play-food for your aspiring little chef and make-believer," she says.

Kristin wholeheartedly believes in teaching her children to be creative and was inspired to create these child-friendly everyday foods to help boost that creativity. You can't help but feel like spending an afternoon in the kitchen with these fun and colorful treats, no matter what age you are!

Breakfast is served!!

There is always time for a sweet treat!!

An all-American favorite ...

Or a classic favorite!

Tea time treats for an afternoon tea party! 

Visit Stuffed online to learn more about the products and to order a little creativity for your chef! If you would like to place an order or want a list of products, send email to stuffed.play@gmail.com. 

(** Note: The coffee cup is made to fit your favorite coffee shop's sleeve. So your little one can be just like you!! Starbucks sleeve can be purchased separately.)

Until our next cup of tea,

Let the Journey Begin ... Yearlong Round Robin

About 2 weeks ago my mom asked me if I wanted to participate in a Round Robin with her. I was hesitant, but had always wanted to do one, but working on a project with my mom is hard enough because we have different tastes and likes, I don't know how it would be to do it with 5 other people (counting mom), 4 of whom I've never met! Yikes! To say I have control issues is an understatement.
So what is a Round Robin? Some of my readers may not know.

 It's a quilt that is made by a group of quilters and it's a variation of doing friendship blocks.  To start, everyone makes a block for the center.  There can be all kinds of rules for size, color , theme, etc.  The blocks are passed to someone else in the group.  They add the first border.  Then the next quilter adds the second.  This usually continues until there are three borders that have been sewn by three different quilters.  The quilter who made the center block then gets the quilt top back to keep and finish.
 
On top of that, my mom loves to get all excited and talk you into doing stuff but never really giving you all the info. She asked if I wanted to do it while she was at the first meeting and of course i only had minutes to decide. When I saw her a few days later I found out that it was a large group of quilters, with each "team" having 6 members, but 3 on her dropped out for health or family issues.

She gave me a "book" which was merely a stack of paper to fill out. The first page was rules! (Oh, no! Rules!) The second was a page called "Floater Border Formula". (Oh, now there is math involved.) Then there was a page that was "Guidelines for My Quilt". (Oh, I like that one. I can give directions, now we'll all be happy!) Next was the log sheet for "My Medallion" where you write a description about your center piece. Then it was followed by 5 pages where each quilter adds their notes as they make a border.

Fun right!?!

A day or two after Mom gave me the book and I went through it and decided what to do, she tells me that you have to make a garment bag, which is where your quilt will be kept as it progresses and a small suitcase for your fabrics and such. Uhhh ... what if I need my suitcase in the next year? Ha! I got to borrow one of Mom's. (Yeah, we can still go to Disney - which is ALWAYS being considered.)

So now I have to make a center block, fill out paperwork, do some math and make a garment bag ... Easy peasy!

I finally corned Mom yesterday to get the dates for the meetings because if not, she'll tell me days before if not the day of! I have to plan better than that, I had a toddler to consider and a husband in law school.

Well, I got the dates and learned that the last meeting is a weekend retreat and there are lots of activities and the reveals and stuff. Wow! This is serious business. I did not know all of that went into the planning. Each team also has a name theme. We are Clueless ... because many of us are new to the Round Robin activity and some new to quilting as well.

We also have to "host" a meeting. So out team has to decorate, have gifts and foods. Mom isn't worried, she's just going to let me think of something fun. UGH! Good thing I love Sherlock Holmes! Looks like we might have a mystery themed meeting, because other than that, I'm ... clueless!

So, I'm going to go get fabrics and find what I need this weekend. Come back to see the progress.

Until our next cup of tea ...