Wednesday, November 26, 2014

My first craft show this year!

Every year I say I need to stop doing shows.  They are just too much work for my body.  If you've ever done shows, you know what I'm talking about.

This year, I decided to only do two shows.  One is this weekend and one next weekend.

This weekend, the show is at the Lime Valley Mill.  It starts on Black Friday and goes through Sunday afternoon.  If you're in the Lancaster County area, be sure and stop by for some handmade goods!

Here's some photos of things I made for the show.
 Reindeer penny rug made with upcycled wool clothing. 
 Burlap gift bag appliqued with upcycled wool clothing. 
 Wool applique table runner made with upcycled clothing. 
Wool star snowman ornament made with upcycled wool clothing. 

Rag stuffed primitive Christmas tree stitchery made from an upcycled curtain panel. 

Log cabin punch needle mounted on a painted horn book. 

Wool applique Christmas sheep and Santa pillows made with upcycled wool clothing.  


Small burlap bag for gift card, appliqued with upcycled wool.  

 Another snowman burlap gift bag appliqued with upcycled wool.  
 Primitive doll, "Charlie".  Pattern by Serendipity Primitives.  
Primitive prairie Christmas doll made with pattern by "You Are Special".  

Primitive Santa & Crow doll made with pattern by Chestnut Junction. 

Like I said in my last post, I've been busy!  

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

I've been busy!

Long, long time since I've been here.  Missing in action, but definitely 'in action'!

I work at a campground, so in the summer I don't get lots of time to craft.  Because it's in my blood, and it's who I am, I still MUST find 'some' time to craft!

One thing I did was make fire starter cups for the campground store.
I bought an old crockpot at Goodwill and asked around for sawdust.  A friend gave me a HUGE bag of sawdust and I went to a thrift store and got a banana box full of old candles for dirt cheap!  I was in business.  I went to Dollar Tree and bought some Dixie cups (3oz) and some stick matches.  I also got an old cooking pot from Goodwill.
I melted the wax in the crockpot, then scooped some sawdust into my cooking pot and added some melted wax with a ladle.  Mixed it up with a spoon and made it kind of a sawdust granola texture.  Spooned it into the cups, stick the matches in, then add a tiny bit more wax to seal the holes from the matches, then sprinkle some wood shavings on top and add a bit more melted wax.  They sold like crazy at $1.00 each!

Another thing I recently worked on was primitive stitcheries.  
This one hasn't been ironed yet, but it gives you idea what they look like.  Get black frames from Dollar Tree and you're in business!  I stitched them on fabric that was a heavy cotton curtain panel I bought at Goodwill. 
One mistake I made, was when I went to buy a water soluble marker to do the writing, I mistakenly bought a disappearing marker!  It works, but I have to stitch it right away before it disappears.  :)

Love Dollar Tree!  I bought plastic candy canes and tore homespun fabric strips and hot glued them on at an angle.  Then I soaked them in a coffee mixture to prim them up and hung them on a wire fence in the sun.  
They look great on a Christmas tree or you can tie some together with jute twine and use them as bowl fillers. 

A future project that I started and haven't finished yet, is thin wood boxes.  
I spray painted them and will cover them with fabric, sand the edges to distress, and stain them with coffee.  I'm not sure yet what I will do on the tops.  I'm thinking wool applique or punch needle.  

Have you ever made salt dough ornaments?  I tried my hand at it and wanted to dip them in wax.  Didn't turn out so good.  :(
I made the mistake of not cleaning out the crock pot first.  It still had the wax for the fire starters.  
It had red wax in it, so everything came out with a pink tint.  I think it works great on the candy canes, but not so good on the snowmen.  Also, there was sawdust in the bottom of the pot and some got on the ornaments.  You can see it at the bottom of one of the candy canes.  Lots more on the back of the snowmen.  I threw them in the trash.  :(  
I think they're also too thin cause they break really easy.  At least it kept me busy and out of trouble for a little while.  :)

Yesterday, I stitched some wool applique snowmen on burlap bags.  
They are 12" high and make great gift bags!
I bought 4 of the bags and each one will be different.  
Two done, two to go!

Today, I'll be working on a rug hooking project~~~
Stay warm!