Christmas snowflakes

 Hi friends.  One of my favorite crafts is crocheting.  Little stuff mostly - no yarn - only crochet threads.  Back in January of 2017, I posted about crochet motifs I was making into a shawl (actually two shawls - one white, and one multi-colored).  

Neither shawl is finished, but I found out that a single motif makes a great snowflake ornament for the Christmas tree.  So I've also been making a lot of those.  

Last year I gave some to family and friends for their trees.  This year I decided to make a bunch and give them away.  

After crocheting the motifs, they need to be stiffened with a glue/water solution and stretched, so they look nice on the tree.  I made a couple of cardboard mats for that.  Several layers of corrugated cardboard taped together.  Then I traced circles the size I needed, divided by eight, and poked a hole at each point so I could pin the snowflakes on it to dry.  Then I wrapped the cardboard with plastic wrap, so the snowflakes won't stick to it.  I'm using brass quilting pins, because they don't rust, but I wish I could find brass T-pins instead.  They would be much easier to work with.  I suppose I could cut off part of the pin.  I may have to try that, and see how it works. 

Most of the snowflakes are white or off white, but I have made some light blue ones and some yellow ones.  I guess the yellow ones would be stars instead of snowflakes.  I made a couple with some odd colors of crochet thread - a pink one and a dark green one.  I ended up painting them with some metallic acrylic paint, but didn't take pictures of those.  

I made little pockets for the ornaments, and included a little thank you note.  I needed something to put them in, so I covered a cardboard box with wrapping paper, added a handle and some decorations.  Today I coerced my husband to go with me to the hospital to take them to some of the deserving folks out on the front lines working with Covid-19 patients. During this year, I've barely been out of the house, so this was a new experience for me.  When I went inside the hospital, they took my temperature, and then they had to figure out what to do with the ornaments or how to distribute them.  I think I made 145, which is really just a drop in a bucket, compared to how many medical personnel work in even one hospital, but I hope they are an encouragement to those who receive them. 

Thank you so much for stopping by for a visit today.  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas this year in spite of things being abnormal.  God bless. 

recycled ornaments

Hi friends.  Today I want to show you some ornaments I've been working on.  I started with cereal boxes and cracker boxes.  I love being able to create something pretty from an item that would normally be put in the trash or recycling bin.  

I found instructions on line showing how to create a nice 5-pointed star by folding a square.  So that is how I made my pattern, which I cut from cardboard, so it was easy to trace.  And I traced it many times.  And cut them out.  You need two sides for every ornament.  Of course, it would have been much easier with a star die.  I forgot to check if I had one. 

I then had to score from each star point to the opposite valley and fold the stars to make them 3-D. 

I made small loops with crochet cotton for hanging the ornaments.  I prefer to use ornament hooks rather than a large string loop, so I kept my loops small.  I taped a loop inside one star point.  (I forgot to take a picture of that.)  Then a piece of newspaper was scrunched into a ball and sandwiched between the two sides.

I used a lot of masking tape for this, taping each side of every star point, trimming tape so that it was neat.  

The next step was to coat one side with mod podge and attach a square of newspaper, trimming and gluing the edges over the masking tape to the other side.  I repeated this on the 2nd side of the star.  Then I gave the star a good coating of mod podge and let it dry.  This helps to strengthen the star and make it a firm,  

The next layer is the decorative layer.  This can be designer paper, wrapping paper, old book pages, music, fabric, paint, or even napkin decoupage.  For this star I chose fabric.  It was applied in the same manner as the newspaper, except the 2nd side was first cut into the star shape, so there was no overlap. 

Then I gave it 2-3 coats of glossy mod podge.  Once it was completely dry, it was finished.  I really like how it turned out.  I've also done a couple using a bright shiny filler paper from the dollar store.  Because they are already shiny, they don't need a final glaze finish.  The one on the right is silver paper, but reflects the light differently from different angles, giving an iridescent coloring.  For the top one, I used tiny torn pieces of pages from a book that was falling apart.  This one still needs glaze on it.  I think I may try one that uses just a single piece of book page on each side instead of the tiny pieces.  That would be much easier. 

There are just so many possibilities for finishing these.  Of course, you could purchase ready made paper mache stars, so you didn't have to make them from scratch, but I love creating things from trash.  

Thanks so much for taking time to stop by.  If you made some of these, I'd love to see them. 

 

experiment

Hi friends.  If you've read my last couple of posts, you know that I've been making sonobe ornaments.  All of them have been made using recycled paper - some that has been printed on one side and discarded for some reason or other,

and some that was (glossy) magazine or catalog pages. 

I have discovered that the glossy paper isn't very receptive to some of my paint, so I either must use the colors that will cover the print, or first coat the paper with gesso.  Both are great solutions, but the gesso is just an extra step, and drying time prolongs the process.  The computer printer paper works much better for the lighter colors of paint. 

The problem -- I made a lot (and I mean a LOT - well over 100) of the ornaments in glossy before I discovered that little problem. This is a grocery bag about half full.  These are just the unfinished ones.  I have many on my tree and have given away quite a few as well. 

As long as I had a good supply to work with, I decided to try a technique called faux metal figures.  It requires that you completely cover your piece with foil adhesive tape.  Needless to say, this took a long time because of all the pyramids and valleys.  Then you use the point of a pen, stylus, mechanical pencil, etc. to make 'rivets'.  Sadly, these barely show in the finished piece. 

When I came to this point, my ornament was very shiny and bright.  I wanted to tone it down a bit, so I tried white acrylic paint.  Because the tape doesn't absorb any liquid, I had to wait a long time for the paint to dry.  By that time, I knew I didn't like the paint on it.  I attempted to remove the paint, but it was impossible to get it out of the crevices.  Frustrated, I decided to cover it as much as possible, so I used polished stone technique with alcohol inks.  I left much of the tape uncolored. 

Although not entirely happy with the end result, at least I was able to salvage it after all the work of applying the tape.

Thanks so much for stopping by.  

neglected

Hi friends.  I see that I have been very neglectful of my blog lately.  So I guess I should show you some of the things I have been working on. 

I've done a little bit of crocheting.  Here are some small doilies that I made.  I didn't have a pattern.  I was working from a completed piece, so I made changes as I went along.  I tend to crochet very loosely, so I sometimes need more or fewer stitches as I go, so I simply adjust.  That's why I don't crochet things that have to fit someone.  This first one went in the mail today to a friend that has been going through some rough times. 

I should have placed this last one on a darker background, so it would show up better. 

I've also been making some sonobe ornaments --- a lot of paper folding!  But the end result is pretty cool and actually quite sturdy.  Each one is made from 30 squares of paper.  I've made a few with 3" squares, one with 6" squares from brown grocery bags, and a couple of other sizes.  Mostly I've been using 2-1/2" squares.  The finished size is nice for a Christmas ornament, and the pieces aren't too awkward to work with.  I made one with 2" squares, but that was more difficult to put together.  The bigger ones are the easiest.  This is just one of many that I've made so far. 

 

I've been making with from glossy pages from some old SU mini catalogs and magazines.  I painted this one gold, but since the paint is translucent, you can still see words and images underneath.  

And, finally, I made my first mug rug.  I started it last night and finished it this morning.  

This one is pretty simple.  I used pieces left over from other projects.  My hand quilting stitches are rather crooked, so don't look too closely.  

Thanks so much for stopping by.

it seems I've been missing...

Hi friends.  I didn't realize that it's been so long since I've posted.  I guess I haven't been doing a lot of creating.  Or maybe I have and just haven't posted anything.

After doing all the card for the Hope you can cling to challenges, I've been a bit of a slacker.  Sometimes I just need to sit back and take a break.

I have made some things, though.  I made some t-shirt yarn (there are a number of tutorials on YouTube) from some old t-shirts and crocheted a small rug for the bathroom.

And I made cards and an ornament (several, in fact) for my class last week.

These ornaments are made from four layers of cereal box chipboard, plus two stamped layers of cardstock.  I also made a couple using patterned paper instead of stamping.

And then last weekend was VSN (virtual stamp night) on SCS, with timed challenges, so I did a few of those.

This snow globe was a lot of fun and is going to be part of this week's class.  The front circle is clear, so you can see the scene inside the card.  Pretty cool. 

Thanks so much for stopping by. Have a great week.

Friday feature on OWSE blog

Hello my friends.  I'm so excited to share with you that I've been invited to post regularly on the OWSE blog.  I will be doing a Friday Feature each week (hopefully).  My first post should be live today.  Go check out the Christmas ornaments I made.  I hope you find them as easy to make as I did.   Make some for your tree or to attach to a gift.

Thanks for stopping by.