Devona | March 11, 2010 | 4:24 pm
If your green thumb is itching, it might be time to put some seeds in the ground. The first day the sun came out this year gave me the garden itch, and I didn’t want to start my seeds indoors. We’ve gotten a spell of unseasonably warm weather this week so I got out there and started planting. But our last frost day is way out in May so I have to plant carefully.
If you want to make a green house/ cold frame for just your potted plants this trick will work for you. After the tutorial I’ll show you some other cold frames I’m using this year.
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Colleen | February 24, 2010 | 10:58 pm
For Valentine’s Day, Devona made heart-shaped crayons with a candy mold, double broiler, and broken crayons. It inspired me to make the crayons with different colored chunks in them. (Those were always my favorite as a kid.) I made lots of mistakes & even ended up with ugly brown when everything melts together, but now I have lots of tips to share with you!
Supplies: double broiler (I used a pan & glass jar, but a tin can would be great as well), water for the double broiler, a mold for the crayons (I used a brownie pan with dividers, but you can use candy molds, soap molds, candle molds, or other make-shift molds), broken crayons, knife, cutting board, & a stove top. Other useful optional items: towel (for drying the glass jar), spoon or popsicle stick (for mixing wax), and oven mitt. Read more »
Devona | February 17, 2010 | 4:14 pm
I’m still playing around with Peacock feathers. I really enjoy the froofy aspect of a feather. They even dress up jeans when you wear a feather. But unless you are going for the Thanksgiving Pegent look it is important to shape the feather to the curve of your head.
You need a feather and a pair of sharp scissors that you don’t use for fabric.
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Colleen | February 3, 2010 | 11:21 pm
There are a few different ways to wire-wrap sea glass so it can be used in jewelry, and here’s one of the simplest ways to do it. Plus, you can use this technique to wrap other items without holes such as wood, shells, tiles, and other found objects.
Supplies: round nosed pliers, wire cutters, flat nosed pliers, earring wires, sea glass, extra beads (optional), craft wire (I used 24 gauge, but play with different gauges for your project. If my glass was larger, I’d probably use 22 or 24 gauge wire.) Read more »
Devona | January 27, 2010 | 11:59 pm
This necklace is inspired by a piece my friend Jenn was wearing to Stitch N Bitch a few weeks ago. I loved it. Luckily, I had just bought a chunky black bead necklace at the thrift store to repurpose the beads and hadn’t designated a project for them yet. I also had some teal lace I got in the remnant section at the fabric store. It was a match made in heaven, and I’m passing this simple project on to you!
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Devona | January 13, 2010 | 11:33 pm
This tutorial might be a little simple for many people, but three times in the past month I talked to people who had lost coat buttons. This reminded me of my mom who always says, “You girls (my sister and I) are just so good at sewing… I can’t even sew on a button!” And for a while neither could I, at least not properly. If you sew on a button properly your fabric will hang well, and your button is less likely to pop off again.
This projects requires a needle, sturdy thread (I am using nylon) and the button to be replaced. Thread the needle so that there are two untied thread ends on one side of the eye, and a u-shape to the thread on the other side of the needle. You’ll also need a spacer, such as a toothpick, another needle, or in my case I used a match stick.
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Colleen | January 6, 2010 | 11:59 am
I have lots of cardboard record cases left over from the record bowls I made for Christmas gifts. Some of the pictures on the cases are really fun, so I needed a way to reuse them. I decided to make them into file folders. Read more »
Devona | December 30, 2009 | 4:48 pm
My good friend Ellie gave me some Peacock feathers for a Christmas present, a week before Christmas. So I used them to make a bunch of gifts for my Sisters-in-Law. They are such magnificent works of nature, and each one was unique, so working with them really just required letting each feather do its own thing and not hiding its beauty. After playing around with them a little bit I developed a way to connect the feather to a sterling silver hoop with silk thread so that it will stay on the hoop without taking away from the feather’s natural shape.
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Colleen | December 16, 2009 | 7:15 pm
For a few Christmas gifts this year I’m making record bowls. Everyone can use decorative bowls for something like office supplies, wrapped candies, candles, or spare change & keys. Plus, I think this is a good manly gift for my brothers, who are very hard to shop for!
Supplies: a vinyl record (one that’s not valuable!), oven, oven mitts, oven-safe bowl, an additional bowl for shaping the record after it comes out of the oven, and a cookie tray. Read more »
Devona | December 9, 2009 | 3:43 pm
Hopefully my mom won’t read this post, because this is going to be her Christmas present. She collects ugly trees, and I usually buy her one, but this year I wanted to make it for her. After a few mistakes I found a method that I really like and I decided to share it here.
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