The Winter That Refused to End....

Or as I call it, 'Stuck Inside the House Craftapalooza 2014'.  I'm beginning to think it will never warm up again.  I got real spoiled that first winter here when it was so mild with just that one snowstorm in January.  I remember sitting out on the deck in shorts in March.  I also took the dogs to Scusset Beach that March too. I don't even remember the last time I went to the beach.  Probably in October when I went to E. Sandwich and also to Chatham!

Since I've been stuck inside, I've gotten exceptionally prolific with projects.

Now that I have finally become technologically advanced enough to figure out how to transfer pictures back and forth from my laptop to the 10 year old, modem-less, flashdrive-less, desktop computer in my craft room, it's now way easier for me to work on projects I've saved to my hard drive...stuff that doesn't require tutorials because they are pretty self-explanatory.

There were a couple of designs I wanted to try.  The top right is amber but it photographed red.

Somewhere online (probably Pinterest), I saw a necklace with a key pendant that I liked and this was my interpretation, using Czech glass.  Stringing goes much faster than this eyepin technique, but it came out nice.

Yes this is a Christmas card.  Don't judge.  I am planning on making my cards really soon anyway because I enjoy it and I have a lot of 'cardworthy friends'.  I loved this cute Rudolph cross stitch design.  Took a couple of hours to finish, mounted on blue cardstock and that was mounted on a pre-glittered card.

Since I had the red thread out, I made this stitched baseball card too.

This was a printable Grumpy Cat that you cut out and then assemble by sticking the tabs together.  Unfortunately the tabs are so narrow that it was really hard to get this thing to stick together using regular tape, glue and double stick tape.  It made me quite grumpy. Maybe that was the intent.

I can't draw at all, but I saw this on Pinterest a long time ago and thought yeah, I can totally do that! It's so easy!

Uh....not so much, no.  Think I'll just stick to beads papercrafts and needlework!  My poor Corgi has 3 peg legs.

Then later that day, this arrived from my dear friend Tracy, from the Pull Up a Toadstool blog!!  Sugar cookie mix in an adorable Bumbles oven mitt!!!!   With cutter!  The mitt's just way too cute to use though.

So after dinner, I made them, complete with homemade icing, a first for me.  And I used WAY too much vanilla extract...less than what the recipe called for, yet it was very strong.  That's why I dumped so many sprinkles on it.  The cookies taste good though!

What should I make next?!?!  How about more keys?

My bff Michelle said that the one on the right looked like an owl.  Now I can't unsee it!  This was completely unintentional.

I'm sure winter will end in time for me to be stuck inside the house for the hot, humid summer months!

All Is Quiet on New Years Day...till 8:30 pm Anyway

New Years Eve and Day were pretty quiet.  We got up early on the 31st because we had to do an errand about an hour away to help out a friend.  It went smoothly and we were home by about 12:30, including having grocery shopped.  The rest of the day and night was devoted to lounging around and watching TV.  Since I had a late cup of coffee and Russell took a two hour nap at one point, I thought we'd both be able to make it till midnight to watch the ball drop and kiss in the new year.  By 11 pm we were both ready for bed! It's so hard to believe that there was a time when I could easily make it till well after midnight on NYE.  All those years of Dead shows in Oakland that ended after 2:00 a.m., then the drive all the way back to the Richmond District San Francisco, then a burger at the 24 Hour Video Cafe down at the corner and finally going to bed at 4:00 a.m.  Those days are so clearly over! 

We got up around 8 on New Years Day.  It was sooo cold out.  I had to run out to the store to get some diesel fuel treatment for the tractor, because he was going out that night, but I was home by 11.  Decided I might as well do a couple of crafts.  

First up were these little fridge magnets.  You just use a clear drying glue to stick pretty paper, pattern side up, to the bottom of clear glass blobs.  Then glue a magnet to the back of the paper.  Viola!  I would prefer to find a larger size blob though as the ones I have were so small that it was hard to find patterns to fit.

This was done with the bottom of a plastic pop bottle.  I guess you are supposed to dip the bottom in the paint before stamping, but I painted the paint onto the bottom before stamping and that may have caused the build up on the petal edges and lack of paint in the centers.  I'm glad I tried it; it works....would be an easy and fun craft for kids, but I won't repeat this particular craft.  

This is kind of a funky craft.  You just take clothespins and clip them to an empty and washed medium-size tuna can (the 4-pack size). I didn't want the grey can to show in the gaps so I adhered a rainbow ribbon with peace sign designs around the outside.  The cans take 20 pins.  I painted them in the colours of the rainbow and added multicolour glitter paint to them too.  Put a glass votive cup in the center. 

Better view of the ribbon.

And a beach themed project.  I coated the outside of the can with mod podge then rolled it in sand. Once that dried, I painted a layer of mod podge over the sand to keep it from flaking, then added shells & glass to the pins.

I've been very influenced by the beach and ocean lately.  Can't imagine why.... ;-)

We went to Dunkin Donuts to get  his coffee for the trip, a little after 8.  I went to the drive-thru, operated my drivers side window and the glass goes, 'ka-THUNK'.  Fell right out of the track and was sticking inside.  Greeeeeeat.  15* and my window is broken.  Finished the coffee order and went back to the truck where my amazing hubby got the window back in place and in the closed/up position.  I drove home thinking, 'This is sooooo not the way 2013 was supposed to start...not with an unexpected car repair'.  And 'Taking that 100k picture really bit me in the ass'.  The following day I had to take it to the glass place in Sandwich to see what they had to say.  The guy popped the whole window out and said that the glue had finally dried up, but then he discovered that the regulator was also broken.  Figures.  It went from needing some glue to needing a part that was, of course, going to take a week to get. He got the window back in and closed, and taped the whole thing shut with black tape.  At least the entire cost including labour isn't near as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Finally, here's one more quick crafty I did on the 3rd.  Double stick tape and glitter on a candle.  This is a very messy project and doing it on a dry, cold day increased the static electricity factor tenfold.  I ended up coating the glitter/tape with mod podge, which cut way, way down on the flaking.  Then I used a dry paintbrush to sweep the stray bits off the candle.