Today's Color is RED!

I sit here at home on yet another cold, dreary, rainy morning eating a chocolate pop-tart and drinking hot green tea. I didn't plan my post for today to be all about the projects that I've made to be about the color red, it just sorta ended up that way & I can't believe I even thought to run with it for a blog post! LOL! What perfect color though to get myself out of the gray mood the weather has put me in?!

First, a little history on why I made the first project(s). I remember seeing a small picture in one of my Country Sampler magazines that had a cute Christmas vignette in all white with lots of pops of bright RED in it. VERY striking! But, in all there was to look at in this small glimpse was this pair of red and white painted Dutch shoes that was hanging between the fireplace and the mantel. I don't know what it was about them, but they just intrigued me and piqued my interest out of everything in the photo. I think I have always found them interesting, especially as a child when my aunt and uncle brought back a tiny souvenir of them from Holland, MI. In the past few years my family have stopped in at Holland, Michigan a few times, and I was even tempted to buy a decorated shoe then, but couldn't justify the cost of a shoe I couldn't even get a complete pair of, nor wear! LOL!

Then, at some point earlier this year when my hubby was between jobs, we went to our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore and there was one shoe in there for $1. I had it in my hands, but put it back. I thought about it overnight & went back the next day to get it, and it was gone! stupid. me. :^(  But I waited and was rewarded late this past summer when I stopped at a garage sale that had a pair for $5. They were MIIIIIINE! Now I had to go back and find that picture, which luckily, I started a craft inspiration journal and put the picture in there. For once I was a little organized and knew exactly where to look! PSSSHHH! I gotta tell ya, THAT don't happen too often! So, I guess it was meant to be done!

This is how they turned out. They were originally just the natural wood with yellowed polyurethane coating before. I had to prime them in white to get the bright red look, even though the paint I used had the built in primer from Krylon. Boy, does that stuff smell and for a really long time too! They have finally de-scented at this point, but it's been about a month in doing so. (TIP: if you're interested in the Krylon Dual spray paint, you've been forewarned about the stank!) I cut out the designs in white vinyl with my Cricut. I wanted them to look Christmasy without having a Christmas theme. It makes it easier to sell things if they have a longer display life in someone's home.

My next RED project is simpler and falls into the more rustic look. Over the years, I have bought jar candles with aspirations of making them prettier than just the color of wax filling them. I've done a few, but not enough to reduce the amount of inventory I have. LOL! I seen an idea in the current Christmas Idea magazine I recently purchased and even though I found a few ideas in there, I didn't get the quantity or quality or ideas I was hoping for. I did, however, find the idea for this!

The picture in the magazine had a starfish on it instead, but I have been wanting to find something to do with this cool chair strapping...I just didn't know exactly what. I don't even know why I didn't think of this myself, but I did come up with the idea to stencil the stars on it & I even had the right color of Plaid Folkart Burgundy acrylic paint on hand that matched pretty darn close! I thought it would look cute to have the backside laced up if someone wanted that look or they can turn it around. I'm debating about putting a red 3D chipboard star on the lid for interest. I'm concerned with durability....we'll see.

Since I had red ticking fabric left over from my "believe" box that you can check out here, I decided to make the red ticking fabric version of the stuffed primitive star ornaments that I have made out of plain tea stained muslin.These also have a rusty jingle bell on one side and a button on the other like the others. Sorry I don't have pics of those. These have been tea stained lightly to give it a warm vintage look. I don't know why, but this fabric reminds me of Christmas and it really reminds me of my grandma's house with her red tick feather bed, pillows and her heavy handmade quilts that could have suffocated a cow! I still have the one that she sent home with my mom when I was a child. It's not very pretty at all, but I treasure it & it actually would probably be really trendy looking by today's rustic standards. I had to stay with my grandma on a number of occasions growing up, and my memories of her are quite fond - even though she was a fairly quiet person, she was sweet and kind with a strength that you just knew she had.

And so with that, I believe that is all of my RED posts for today with a couple of past memories tossed in for my own sake.  I guess it's time I need to get busy on more stuff so I can try to keep this blog going and have plenty of stuff for my shows. If you're new to my blog, I'd love for you to leave me a comment so I can say Hello back!

God Bless and have a great day! :^D

So busy and so behind

 If I'm a regular to your blog and haven't left a comment lately, I'm sorry. this is my crunch time of the year with getting ready for 2-3 craft shows in about 5-7 weeks. I try to stop in and have a look, but may not be leaving much love. I just don't want to get too far behind in seeing what everyone else is doing.

I have been in the crafting mood lately, as I very well should be this time of year. I'm mostly pleased with my progress and yet I know I should be and could be doing much better. With that being said, I think the quality of my projects have surpassed previous years. And I can't forget that I'm still working on those Witch Hats for the ladies at the bank. Those are mostly done now. I just need to add the embellishments at this point. They should be seeing them just in time for the beginning of Oct. when most people actually start decorating for Halloween.

This is one of the projects that I worked on. I bought this last year at a garage sale. Although you don't see it in these photos, there's a piece that inserts behind where the square openings are. I had already started to work on it when I remembered I hadn't taken any BEFORE shots so that's why it's not there. I thought it was actually quite pretty, ya know, it had good bones, but still in need of a personal make over. Something chic and trendy.

I had to sand this down to the bare wood because the designs were painted on thickly and you could see the design in the paint, plus there was paint missing in some places that were smooth surfaces and you can't just paint over that.

This is what it looks like now. I kept it the same Ivory color for the background, but decided to go with a star theme instead. I made the 3 dimensional stars out of chipboard on my Cricut and painted them black, then adhered them to that piece that was missing in the previous photos. Next, I made the SIMPLIFY design at the top from black vinyl. I can never remember what cartridge that star frame is from, maybe Joys of the Season? Then I cut the word using the Stamped cartridge. This is a good cartridge for a rustic looking font. After all that, I decided it needed something on the front of the compartments, so I made a bunch of tiny little stars to go across that also with my Cricut and all the stars were cut using the George cartridge.

This is a wooden hanging sled that I picked up half price at the Salvation Army last year. I thought it could use a make over also! I was inspired by the musical design and the tree image that was already on it, but I thought I could improve on that, at least a little anyway.

And this is what I came up with. I have this BIG paper pack from DCWV (don't most of us scrappers have some of those in our stash?) and that's what I used for the background to cover the seat of the sled. I tried inking the edges, but not totally thrilled with how that turned out. Oh, I did that AFTER I repainted it with tan paint and distressed it. I sealed it with some spray sealer then attached the gold resin design that I picked up at Hobby Lobby on clearance last year. It just fit! I added some greenery at the top and a rusty metal bow with rusty jingle bells. This piece is almost 2 feet tall, so it's a decent size. This picture makes it look all crooked, but I was standing at angle off to the side so I wouldn't cast a shadow on it.

I still gotta say, I'm trying to get used to this new blogger version and haven't decided if I totally like it or not. Some parts are much better and others are turned kinda screwy to work with....at least for me.

God Bless and have a great day!

I'm linking up to While He Was Napping Blog   

Are you ready for some halloween?

First, I want to say that if my blog is acting or looking a little wonky, it's because I finally brought it into the 2nd decade of the 21st century by converting it over to the new Blogger format. It's taking a little getting use to, so we'll see what transpires.

Today I have something to share that I think turned out pretty cute, IF I do say so myself! ;^)  Online somewhere, I've seen a cute witches hat that sits on a table, so it's a bit more lifelike in size. I thought it was adorable! So, I sat down and made myself a pattern (not having a clue if I was doing it right) and cut out my fabric pieces, then I painted them, sewed them, and with my beginner's luck ingenuity & talent, it turned out EXACTLY the way I had hoped! But now I have to decorate it. I already had the cute little dimensional rusty star for the tip of the hat. It needs a band of some sort though. I wanted it to be colored, but not brightly, because I'm more into the muted tones for some reason. So, since money is tight this week (& THAT'S and understatement) I thought I could make my own bands with some leftover material from the hats, and that's what I did! I honestly can't get over how happy I am at the way the colors turned out exactly the way I had them pictured in my tiny little mind. You know how that goes sometimes? You can picture something in your head to make, and in that perfect little world there inside, it looks stunning, but in all reality, it turns out looking NOTHING like the beautiful vision we just knew it would be & it's gets trashed or saved in hopes you can salvage it at a later date for some other perfection project.

So far, I have one with an orange band and a purple band made. I have a yellow band dyed & ready, but I need more paint to finish others. I want to make a green banded one and debating on a natural tea stained one, as well.I also tied a few rounds of twine around the band too for a little added somethin' somethin'. My hope is to make 10 of these, but may only get the six that I currently have pieces cut for. I added some orange pip berries and called them good, but I might add a vintage looking tag, but other than that, 2 are done!

I know these don't fit into my craft shows because the shows aren't until AFTER Halloween, but I'm hoping to sell these to the ladies at my bank, so that I can have some spending money for the two weekend trips we want to take in Oct., which is why I would like to try to sell 10. I take my stuff into the bank and never have any extras and I feel bad that they have to debate over who is going to get to buy it. Sometimes I can only make one, but this is a little different. I just need the motivation, and spending money should be enough motivation, eh?

So, whatdoya think?

Now about a less interesting subject....I think I just might be making some progress with my mother's situation and it does make me feel a little bit better, but I'm thinking there's going to be a legal battle after it's all said and done. I don't look forward to that, but it will have to happen if I want someone to pay for what they've done. And I do.

And what is with this weather? We go from the air conditioning to the furnace in the same week! It was so hot last week and now we're supposed to get frost tonight! I need a break in my electric bill! At least for one month.... :^(

OK, I guess I chatted long enough. Maybe I should post more frequently, but it's so hard to find the time. I don't know how some of these people do it.

God Bless and have a great day!

I have linked to the Chic On A Shoestring Friday Link party!



Beth (I don't know what happened to my custom siggy)

A few things to share today

First, I wanted to show you that we have our first tree starting to turn color in our woods where we live. I didn't notice it yesterday, so it must have just happened overnight with all the cool temps and drizzle we've been getting from the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee. I'm glad it's just remnants and not what those poor people in Pennsylvania and the Virginias got. WOW! Our dogwoods are starting to turn too, but they're just a brownish green at this point, but they can turn a beautiful shade of burgundy with their pretty red berries in the fall season.


I have been working like a person with ADHD lately on projects for my upcoming fall craft shows. No lie! I've been crazy multi-tasking, but cleaning my house hasn't been part of the tasks. ~*SNORT!*~


Remember I was working on a girly Graduation mini album? Yep, still am. I only have the Senior year to go, so why don't I just finish it already? Ummm.... I'll get back to ya on that....


In the meantime, I've decided to work on what ever has inspired me. One of those projects is a star shaped paper mache box that I found at a garage sale at least 3 years ago. I don't even remember what I had in mind when I purchased the thing, but it was different since it was a star shape.


This is the bottom part of the box. I almost forgot to take BEFORE pictures, so that's why it's in two pieces.

 
This is the lid. It has an unusual stamp image on there because I was testing out a technique that didn't turn out the way I was expecting.

 This is how it turned out after I covered it with some red ticking fabric.

 And yes, I even did the primitive hand stitching on the little tea stained label that spells "believe." It's not as cute as the "inspiration" example I saw, but I'm still happy with it.

I can't decide if I like it with the lid on or standing up inside the box. But I do think it's kinda cute sitting on top of that rustic wreath!

I made a couple more smaller chalkboards, but I only remembered to take a photo of one. The other one is cute, but simple and meant for a boy. If I remember, I'll get a picture posted of that one soon.

This is the crackle detail on the little paper mache star.

I am plugging away at all those projects in my own ADD way - some day!


I also want to put a shout there to a new blog I just found called Robyn Story Designs and Boutique. She's going to be announcing a cool and fun new contest for crafters. It's going to be a wealth of inspiration for those who make stuff, or even if you're just looking for inspiration for new ideas. This sounds like it's going to be the place to be! The rules and details haven't been officially announced yet, but you have the opportunity to win a $250 Visa Gift card!! I do know you have to make a Christmas item of your choice using anything you want as long as you use something that is being repurposed. Ummm, I think this contest has MY name all over it, dontcha think? ;^)




I'm linking up to House of Hepworths Christmas link party and {Easy} Digital Scrapbooking and crafts! 

God Bless and have a great day!

Blogger Award

I was going to post some photos of my hubby's tractor that was in the Labor Day Parade on Monday, but Blogger isn't allowing me to post photos at the moment.

So I'll move on the next best thing....

I don't normally accept blog awards because I don't think my blog is any more special or inspiring than the next and I don't have that great of a following, even after 3 years of having a blog. But, my blogging friend, Tracy, over at Tracy's Treasures blog bestowed this award on me and I was feeling in the accepting mood today. LOL! If you haven't wandered over to Tracy's blog from here, you really should! This chick can come up with some amazing stuff! She's getting into the whole Copic marker thing and this girl is workin' it now! I think she has almost every color there is at this point, and she finds the cutest stamps to color!

THANKS Tracy, for the award and you're inspiration!!

It appears that Blogger isn't allowing me to add any images at the moment, so you don't get to see the pretty Butterfly image that goes along with the award. bummer.

Q1) Name your favorite colour?
Teal, at the moment

Q2) Name your favorite song?
I'm Movin On by Rascall Flatts (Country)

Q3) Name your favorite dessert?
Yes, dessert is my favorite! ;^)
Plain cheesecake, home made sugar cookies with choc. chips, pumpkin choc. chip cookies and the list could go on...

Q4) What wizzes you off at the moment?
U.S. Government and the price of gas!

Q5) Your favorite pet?
My dog I had growing up named Lady, another dog I had when my son was little named Sheena and my crazy dog now, name Princess (even though she's obsessed with my son)

Q6) Black or White?
Both.
White is clean & bright
Black is rich & elegant
- at least in design!

Q7) Your biggest fear?
That I won't live long enough to help my kids through life and see them grow.

Q8) Best Feature?
Physical - Eyes

Q9) Everyday attitude?
just do it!

Q10) What is perfection?
God

Q11) Guilty Pleasure?
Eating dessert whenever no one is around and shopping for things I don't need.

Q12) When you're upset you...?
Get pissed at those that upset me

Now to pass this award onto other crafty friends... I'm supposed to pass it on to TEN, but I don't comment on many blogs at all (I'm a stalker mostly). So my list is only going to be a couple.

Charity - Woodgrain Butterflies
Andrea - I'm Living on Scraps!
Vicki - He"Artful" Validation of Vicki

At least go check these ladies out, you'll be in creative overload, but it will be worth it!

Maybe I'll be able to get some photos on here tomorrow.

God Bless and have a great day!