Craft Kits of the Month

I'd let a couple kit of the month club projects fall behind so I decided to knock them out one week when the heat and humidity kept me indoors.

This is the Christmas in July project, a painted tin tree bell, or chime.  It came with enamel paint and when they say it dries quickly, they aren't kidding.  This was fairly easy, just paint & tie the bits together with jute. Hard to see but there's a dark red jingle bell at the bottom.  I think it's meant to be hung outside, no matter the weather.

This was June's project, an embossed velum lantern.  I had to glue the wood frame together, and then decorate 4 sheets of vellum paper with the flower rub ons and embossing.  I was stoked that the kit came with the embossing tool and very pretty and intricate stencil.

This, unfortunately, went from a project I was looking forward to, to one that I couldn't wait to finish.  Just a lot of measuring and detail work that I didn't have a lot of patience for.

I messed up one of the vellum sheets really bad, so the back panel is plain but for the embossing I did.  I was supposed to cut the scallops at the top and bottom, but the directions on how to hold the scissors and cut them made absolutely no sense, so I left the edges straight with the design punched in.  I also majorly screwed up the ribbon holes on the first piece of vellum.  The directions should have advised that those be cut in first, then work the embossing around them.  

The kit also came with a flameless, battery operated tea light but it isn't very strong, light-wise, so I used a candle for the purpose of these pictures.  I would not, however, use a real candle in the center unless it was protected by a glass votive cup.

Oddly enough, the panel that I had to fudge is the one that looks coolest with the candlelight!

This is August's Kit of the Month, a rain forest jasper necklace.  I am always less enthused about the beading projects because I already do so much of it.  When this kit came in, I did it right away.  It's not really 'me' so I'll put it in the pile to sell.

This one surfaced in a drawer.  I forgot all about it, but I got it years ago when I was still out west.  I wasn't real thrilled with it, but also didn't get around to returning it either, so I stuffed it in a drawer and forgot about it.  It came with brown beads and sequins and I thought it was so dull and ugly.  Who uses brown napkins? This isn't the 1970s.

I ended up using the stencils only and then using my own stash for the bead embroidery.  I screwed up with the heart, because it's going the wrong way when slid onto a napkin.  Also, I did a sucky job of sewing them together too. I may put a beaded edge around them to hide the crap ass sewing, but on the other hand, I don't feel like expending the effort. I am sure these will end up in the pile to go to Goodwill or something. My OCD made me do the kit, but really it served as just a practice exercise in bead embroidery using sequins.

Gorey House Gashlycrumb Tinies

I recently went to the Edward Gorey House in Yarmouth.  I went in 2008 but at that time, I didn't know to look for the various Gashlycrumb Tinies scattered throughout the house.

After you pay your admission to the museum/house (and you can poke through it on your own or join the tour or both), a steal at $8.00, you can pick up a little pencil and sheet of paper with the Tinies that has boxes to check after you've located each one.  I was shooting a lot of pics for friends who will probably be unable to ever see the Gorey House in person unless they come visit, so it was hard to search the sheet for each name/clue and shoot the photos.

I managed to find 20 out of 26....technically I found 21, but I forgot to take a photo of the gin bottle for 'Z is for Zillah.'  I saw it, but I got distracted and forgot to go back and shoot it.  So without further adieu:

A is for Amy, who fell down the stairs,

B is for Basil, assaulted by bears.

C is for Clara, who wasted away,

D is for Desmond, thrown out of a sleigh.

Missing E is for Ernest who choked on a peach & F is for Fanny sucked dry by a leech.

G is for George, smothered under a rug,

H is for Hector, done in by a thug.

I is for Ida, who drowned in a lake.  (I think...those kind of look like buoys you see in lakes)

J is for James, who took lye by mistake.

K is for Kate, who was struck with an axe,

L is for Leo, who swallowed some tacks.

M is for Maude, who was swept out to sea,

N is for Neville, who died of ennui.  (He's in the window)

O is for Olive, run through with an awl.

Missing P is for Prue trampled flat in a brawl.

Q is for Quentin, who sank in a mire, (the net)

R is for Rhoda, consumed by a fire (I think).

Missing S for Susan who perished of fits.

T is for Titus, who flew into bits.  (I think)

U is for Una, who slipped down a drain, (drain is on floor in front of fire ext.).

V is for Victor, squashed under a train.

Missing W is for Winnie embedded in ice.

X is for Xerxes, devoured by mice.

Y is for Yorick, whose head was knocked in.

Missing Z is for Zillah who drank too much gin.

I guess I need to go back to hunt down the other 6 and confirm if Ida & Rhoda were identified correctly. Big fat bummer!  ;-)

Oliver Mill Park, Part 2

The day I went was partly cloudy and very humid.  It even started to drizzle a little when I left.  

This is the first time I've ever seen shiny green dragonflies with jet black wings and most of the time I spent in the park was following them around till I finally got a good photo.

 Joe Pye weed and cattails.

Joe Pye weed

That's one more thing crossed off the local bucket list!

Oliver Mill Park

Every now and then a friend of mine will post pictures of her visits to Oliver Mill Park in Middleborough, and I'd been saying, 'I really need to get up there one of these days' and in July,  I finally went.  It's a very small park, yet so picturesque that I ended up shooting close to 80 photos.  Here's Part 1:

Click to biggify if you want to read it.

I've been told this is chickory.

The stream is a herring run, which is why it's stepped with little waterfalls.