Late Mother's Day swap items

Group #1

1. sunshine: knitted and crocheted washcloths and an angel coin
2. Mikki: handmade bookmarks; she ran out of time or she would have embroidered everyone one
3. celebrate 2727: soap and either bath salt or body spray (hasn't come yet)
   
4. Candismom: travel kleenex holder
5. Buttercup: flower candles, magnetic dominoes, chop sticks (she lives in Japan)
6. ktknits: knitted headband
7. cinnamongirl: rag doll
8. kathie: decorative little screen door and handkerchief
9. mommom: wood box full of chocolate
10. suzyhomemaker: quilted picture frames

Group #2

1. sunshine: crochet and knitted wash cloths and an angel coin
2. levisgrammy: hanging pillows
3. willowtreecreek: java cozy
4. herbquilter:soap and salve
5. tina michelle: handmade rose pin
6. naomi michelle: handmade tomato
7. knewslady: Scented candles
8. firemama: variety of items -- wall plaques, sachets, apron, pin cushions, hand-decorated ink pens with flowers, receipe box...
9. smoothiejuice:handmade Japanese-style stab binding books
10. beckels: 2 pails and tea

A Touch of Flowers

My peony is in bloom; I just love the bright color.

This is the first year my wisteria has actually bloomed well. Last fall I got one bloom and was happy to have it. The year before that, nothing, and the year before that I planted them. So this is the first time I get to be real excited about them. I have another wisteria plant on my porch but it blooms later in the season. I am hoping I get to enjoy it this year, too, because I have never seen a bloom on that plant.

It was so nice to see all these flowers on Mother's Day, especially since I was home with a sick kid and not able to visit my mother-in-law or my husband's grandmother. My children and husband got me a lovely little rose bush.

Hand Cut Silhouettes

I just wanted to show a silhouette that I cut recently. The silhouettes fit in a 5 x 7 frame for size reference. I am very pleased with the results, as the photo was not good. I hope the person getting it likes it, too.

These make great Mother's Day or Father's day gifts.

Trying to get caught up on a few things

Penny over at Penny Sanford Porcelains sent me the loveliest brooch/charm I have seen made out of Porcelain. She makes these herself. She gave this to me as an award titled "The Happy Penny Award". I think it is very sweet. I love that she is doing hand work because I do tons of that. Penny does sell these; if you are interested, follow links to her site.When we went to my in-laws for a late Easter egg hunt, my mother-in-law gave me a birthday present. I think it is so cool; I just wish I had a little bit of time to sit down and play with it. Life is so busy at the current time. I really love this item; I discovered the other day that in Japan they sell a larger and smaller version of this and also heart and flower ones, too. I just can't figure out how to order them yet.I was in a fat-quarter swap at MJF forum with nine other women. The fat quarter I sent in is the third from left; it is a vintage fabric my Vavo purchased. It's always fun to see the variety you get in a swap -- thanks, ladies!Suzy homemaker who is also at MJF sent me this lovely Easter card with a fat quarter of fabric. I am going to have so much fun with fabric in the near future. I love this fabric; it is so soft and delicate looking. Would be lovely as a Mother's Day item. Hmm... I might think on that one a little.I have a few more items to show and say thank you for; I just didn't have time to photograph them all, so you will probably see them later. A box and envelope of fabric from levisgrammy at MJF. Also a box from This Vintage Chica with real cute items in it.

Updated 12:33 p.m.

This is the box and envelope of fabric from levisgrammy at MJF.This stuff below are the items from "This Vintage Chica" and an apron from her, too. I still need to send her fabric and yarn for the exchange; sorry I'm so long in doing this. I just love roosters; aren't those just the cutest plates. The white sheer item is a curtain that I may make into an apron later after I get a chance to try and remove the stain. I knew about the stain before she sent it. I think it will still work out lovely.This is one of those times when I wish I had a mannequin or dress form or something to drape clothes on; this is real cute and the lighting didn't do it justice nor did laying it on the floor. It is a vintage apron, but the colors are still popular today. I would love to make a quilt someday in this color scheme. This is about three shades of pink and three shades of chocolate; it's hard to see in this photo -- bad lighting. But super super cute!!

Crazy with flowers

My flowers decided to bloom after all, just a few days late, but that is all fine with me. I went out to take pictures, and there was a little bee in one on the flowers. So I have little bee bum in half my pictures. Oh, well!! At least the flowers are happy about it. I guess that is all that really matters on that one.I got inspired by the flowers to make some flowers of my own. Look at the mosaic picture; the stuff in the top left photo is called Hi-Straw and Swistraw. My supply is from the 40's through mid 1960's. They are made out of Viscose Rayon so they can be washed just like clothes. I just love thrift stores!I got this idea around 4 am this morning. "Why" you ask, "was I up at that time.?" Well, my kids woke me because of their fevers. After I took care of them, I couldn't go back to sleep. Yep!! I started making flowers on my looms. The looms are on the top row, middle picture. They are from the same time period as the straw and were actually meant to be used with it. In addition, you can use ribbon and yarn with the looms, too. I think they would work well with wire work like beadders use; pretty much any thing you can wrap around them without breaking the pegs.

The next picture shows the smallest loom with a flower almost completed on it after having been woven on the loom and embroidered with pearl cotton to form the center. This is considered a type of weaving, just not very complicated weaving.

That same blue flower is show again in the first picture on the second row. Then I decided this was too boring; I needed more variety and not just in color, so I started making a variety of sizes.

In the last picture of the mosaic I have a nice little stack of flowers ready to be added to the apron. OK, so I go over board; I am used to that. The apron I used I have had for about 10 years; I purchased it at a craft store called Mac's. I loved that store; too bad they went out of business about 5 years ago. I think the apron came out rather cute -- sort of spring, St.Patrick's Day, Easter and Mother's day all in one.

Looking at these photos gave me another idea. "Oh, NO!!!" you say. Take it easy; it's a good idea I promise, and you can do it if you can find the supplies at a thrift store. Actually, I think they are selling looms like this again. But if you can't find them there is always eBay; that is where I bought the brass one about 7 years ago. Do your search under flower loom, bloom loom, crazy daisy, knit wit, studio twelve looms -- any of these will work to find something that can make these flowers. Either way, the supplies are not hard to find.

Now for the idea: Wouldn't these just be sweet on a sheer little girl's bedroom window? Hey, I have three little girls; too. To bad their windows already have blinds and curtains. But maybe I can still change that. We will see; maybe I'll get some sleep instead.

Also the flowers made on the brass loom are the same size as yo-yos made from a standard size CD; oh yes, the wheels are spinning with ideas there, too.

Update

I noticed that Craftzine linked to this today ( Friday Mar. 16, 2007). They referred to it as a "How to" so I decided real quick I would make a true " How to" if you have this tool and don't know how to use it or if you have seen one and wondered how it worked follow the link below.
Tutorial here.
You can also see these same daisies made with double sided satin here.

Please join flickr group if you have made any of these types of flowers

WIP poppy corsage

I am in a few swaps, and I needed to come up with a lot of items. So this is what I decided I am making for them today. There is a tutorial on how to make these at JuJu loves Polka Dots . They are made out of a stuffed yo-yos. I think they are very, very cute. I under stuffed the first one I made (see the little tiny blue one on the right in the bottom photo). I did much better on the rest.

While you are thinking of things to make, check out this and this.
Ga-ga for Yo-yos is a group about people who like to make yo-yos and and make things with yo-yos. The fabric type, not the toy type

Family Fun Old Fashioned Candy Crystals / Rock Candy

For family fun about 1 week ago we made candy crystals. You can make them, too. You will need adult supervision because this requires cooking water and sugar on the stove.

Supplies needed:

• 1c. water
• 3c. white granulated sugar
• 3 drinking glasses
• 1 wooden spoon
• food coloring in desired colors (optional)
• 3 pieces of cotton cords, measuring 8 to 10 inches each
• 3 Popsicle sticks, or pencils will work, too
• 1 small plate
• 1 sauce pan
  

Directions

1. Mix together the 1 cup water with 2 cups of sugar in the sauce pan place on stove . Heat the mixture over medium-high heat until it boils, or bubbles rapidly. (Keep children away from this part.)
2. Keep stirring 'till the sugar dissolves. The water will look clear again. Then add the remaining sugar a little at a time. Do this 'till no more sugar will dissolve.
3. Turn the heat off on the stove. Let the mixture stand to cool for 15 minutes. Have the adult pour the mixture into the glasses. At this point add in the food coloring.
4. Now tie 1 end of the cotton cord around the sticks. Next lay the sticks across the top of the glasses (we used mugs; I don't recommend them because it was hard to get the crystals out). Let the cords hang into the mixture.
   
5. The crystals will start to form in about one day (ours was a little faster than 24 hours). Now pull the cords out of the glasses and lay them on a plate to harden and dry out.

Eat and enjoy.

Just so you know, ours had a hard time coming out of the cup. I do not recommend mugs; real tall glasses work best. So I scooped everything out and laid it on a cookie sheet that had been covered with plastic wrap and put a child's toy block under one end so the crystal could form and the excess liquid could run to the other end. The end results are in the pictures; it still worked, just a different way of doing it. This way took about 2 1/2 days to dry out . Then I just picked up the plastic wrap and all the crystals peeled off so nicely and I placed them in a crystal bowl.

This would be nice as an Easter, Birthday, Mother's Day, St. Patrick's Day or Valentine treat.

Update: Handmade Valentine swap

Wednesday January 31

From Willowtreecreek I got this lovely card. She punched with a needle the word LOVE in the top flap of the card. I love the ribbon embellishment that she machine sewed in place. A cute idea. Her card came in a glassine envelope, too, with a valentine-themed stamp.This is the lovely card I was sent from summerbreeze. She took a lot of time coloring in the rubber stamp. There is a rubber stamp image inside that reads "Sending you a great big hug." It is hard to tell in the scan, but the little rubber stamp image on the left of the screen is actually raised up off the face of the card. I love the deep dark red of this Valentine. She also embellished with ribbon; we have a theme other than hearts.Here is the card made by sewgirlie. She used a red paper doily and stickers. Very cute! The red divider part of this picture was put in by me so I could show the sticker that was on the back of the envelope too.This is the card from Mary Beth. It had confetti in it, and it had a cute little paper clip that she embellished to make into a book marker. Once again my husband's office had confetti all over it. I need to be more careful when I open these things; some of them just attack. I took two scans of it because the inside was as cute as the outside. The stamp was even in the Valentine theme, just like Willowtreecreek's. Ahhh another theme. Paper doily again; we just have themes everywhere.

Tuesday January 30

My baby bug felt left out of the Valentine fun. So she went digging around in the cards she got from the barter party we went to during the summer. She found one that was the right colors and decided that was a good card to give me. She drew inside of it first, then gave it to me. She is only five so she can't read very well yet. As you can tell, it reads "Happy Mother's Day". It was a happy mother's day too. I am her mother and I was grinning from ear to ear when she gave it to me.

Part 2 : Vacation in California: some of my work

While in California we decided to get a few pictures of things I had made for my Vo-va in the past.

About five Christmases back, when I lived with my in-laws, I made everyone in the family (and a lot of our friends) glass ornaments covered in crochet. Some of the ornaments where frosted glass and some hand blown. Some had intricate shapes like stars, drops, hearts, trees, snowmen, the list went on and on.

They where all crocheted in just one color. My husband's siblings all received white ornaments because before Christmas I decorated my-in-laws tree with them and wanted them to sorta match. They where lots of different shapes, though, to make them different. My siblings and cousins and family received all kinds of different colors, but theirs had to go through the mail that year, so I made theirs all the same shape. This made for ease in shipping and none of them broke. This is the one my Vo-va choose. For the ones in California, my older sister and Vo-va got to pick the ones they wanted, the rest all had labels. Meaning if they didn't like the one that I had picked for them, they got to change the label to the one they liked. My Vo-va chose one that had Irish Crochet on it and was blue like the dishes she likes so much.

The ones on the left are how she keeps them in one of her china cupboards. The pictures on the right are the photos I took when I removed them from the cupboard and placed them on the tree so I could have a more natural light photo.

In this same cupboard was a Koma I had made for my Vo-va
one Easter. A Koma, if you don't happen to know, is a Japanese spinning top. This one is for decorative purposes only and doesn't function as a top. It is a type of thread work similar to a Temari. While there that Easter, I also made a few others, but I don't know what happened to them as they where just study tops to show one of my cousin's kids how to make one; while showing my cousin I was also showing my Vo-va.

There is a small Christmas tree in this cupboard made out of Romania Lace. When making it, I used antique variegated green and white, size 30, crochet thread. My Vo-va keeps it pinned to the Temari ball that is also in this cupboard.

Lastly, the sister to the Koma is the Temari Ball, which you already know is in this cupboard as well. I made this one for her for a Mother's Day gift one year. There are other things I made in this cupboard, like some hand made wax ornaments in the shape of an Angel and a Nutcracker, but I forgot to take pictures of those items. Ceramic cookie molds where used to make those. Maybe next time I go that way I will get them in a photo for you to see. My Vo-va was a master florist, and I worked my way through collage being a florist. So I figured it was only fitting to put flowers on hers. The base of her ball is a traditional pattern in Temari. The rest of the ball the silk ribbon embroidery, known as free-form Temari. This is one on my most favorite balls I have ever made. I worked on this for over a month. I have never been able to get a real good picture of it that I like. For some reason, it is like an elusive photo that I just can't seem to take. So in real life this is much prettier than it looks.

How to make cream cheese mints

Here is our family's recipe for cream cheese mints

Supplies

• 1 8-oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 tsp flavoring or to taste
• glycerine
• food color to suit ( I use cake frosting food coloring paste)
• 2 lbs powdered sugar
• colored granulated sugar

Directions

1. Mix together softened cream cheese, flavoring, and color 'till well blended, all one color not marbled. Note: If you don't soften the cheese first, it will not mix well.
2. Add powdered sugar and mix to a dough-like consistency. This will be real think and dense in texture. Mix till it clings together in a large mass.
3. Press into glycerine-coated, rubber molds that have been dipped into granulated sugar. You only use glycerine the first time to make the sugar stick after that the moister in the mints keeps it so the sugar will stick.
4. Pop out: flip upside down, flex edges of rubber mold, and mint will drop out on plate.
   
5. Set aside to dry, do not stack on top of each other or you will have a hugh mint block.
   

I don't know for certain where this recipe came from as it was hand typed in the family recipe book I was given from my mother-in-law one Christmas. I think she did them or learned how to do them at a Relief Society meeting, a womens' group. I use this version of the recipe because it is the one my husband made as a kid, so that is the one he likes.

For rubber molds, go to:
Shepherds Cake and Candy, Provo/Orem, Utah.
(The rubber molds are not on their web site, but you can call; they have them in the store.)
801-373-5542
http://www.saralynnes.com/
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