Finishing January by Finishing Projects

I've just had way too much stuff sitting on the craft table for far too long, so I continue to move things along.  There's been a matchbox on the table for at least 3 years now.  I finally decided to do something with it.  I'm not really sure why the India-theme came to mind, but in an odd twist of fate, as I was covering the box with paper, I noticed in small print it said 'made in India' on the side.

Glass painted mini jar

Not sure where this faux crystal bottle topper came from, but there was no way to use it hanging in a window.  I wasn't going to attempt to drill through that 1/2" thick, rock hard plastic.  The only real solution I could come up with was peyote stitching around it so that I could add a loop at the top. I'm not that good at peyote, but I do it every now and then just to keep in practice.  Then added beaded hanger.

I can see 9 more projects hiding in plain sight, that need to be done...and by the time this publishes, hopefully more will be completed.  But it's nice to have things tidy for a change, although it's oddly unsettling.

Vintage Ornaments in Shadow Box

I have been dying to do this project with vintage ornaments inside of a large shadow box.  I first saw it on Pinterest a few years ago and it's languished in my 'to do' file till now.

Over the holidays, I won a couple of ebay auctions of antique Shiny Brites and other 1940s-50s era glass balls. Shadow boxes are very expensive, especially the size I wanted.  However, I had a 40% coupon for Michael's Crafts and got a wicked deal on the perfect one.  There was no way I was waiting till next fall to assemble it and I am so pleased with how perfectly it worked, and showcases the best ones.

I literally have no where to hang this, but I have till next December to figure that out.

Altered Books

I finally got around to doing the collage work on my newest gratitude/positive thoughts journal since my other one is almost full.  I am so ticked about the bottom phrase...the contact paper stuck to the edge and pulled it over, covering the word 'start'.  I tried to fix it but the magazine paper was hopelessly adhered and was not coming off.  And of course I had to leave the number off the year that this will be finished.  

Inside front cover.  The pages have fortune cookie fortunes on them, or pics I've cut out from jewelry and other catalogs.

And the back of the journal.  My friend Angie made that pic for me as part of a set of scenics from Mt. Desert Island in Maine.  The others are hanging on some twine in my craft room.  

I bought this little book a few summers ago in Hyannis.  I'm such a sucker for Guatemalan textiles. The pages are handmade paper too.  I added that gold crescent to the cover.

I wanted to use those double sided frame/glass things, so I cut a hole in the pages and slipped the frame into the hole, gluing it in place the best I could then adding ribbon and rhinestones to hide the rough edges.  This project took quite a few days.

Not that I'm crazy about France or anything, but I did like that pic of Sacre Coeur from my ephemera book.  That was the only place in Paris that I truly thought was pretty when I visited in 1982. 

"One of These Days..."

I think we all have the tendency to say, 'one of these days, I'm going to [fill in the blank].'  For me, it's with craft projects that I was going to finish, fix or scrap.  So many projects were skillfully hidden in plain site on my craft table.  So today was finally 'one of these days'.  

Pink agate slice that I tried, unsuccessfully, to drill through last year and ended up scratching badly.  I grabbed my glass engraver and used the stencils that came with it to carve this on one side.

The carousel horse was done with etching cream last year but as I said, I scratched the surface badly with the drill, so I attempted to freehand that scalloped border around the horse.  Oh well...I tried. Should've used the stencil and made it more even.

I also broke out the little metal frames with glass squares and tried some alcohol ink on it.  I love how it looks, but I know now that the sun will fade this right out if I put it in a sunny window.

There was also an old 70s era bangle bracelet buried in the pile so I wrapped it with variegated floss. It's still too big for me though.  

I had baggies of projects to fix and finish.  The 2 necklaces had to be repaired and I just had to put the crystal back on the silver & amber hanger.  I got those silver earrings and the ring next to it in a grab bag, so I added beads to the earrings, and clapper bells to the ring.  It jingles when you move your hand around.  That other set of earrings needed something on the bottom so I added rings.  The green bead is held by a clothespin spring.  Then I added silver chain to it to make a necklace.  

All of them went in to my craft show box to try and sell next year!  Glad they are done though.  

Winter Storm Jonas

I have no idea why winter storms are given names now, like hurricanes, but they are.  All week long the weather people could not get a handle on this storm.  The big joke going around that we were getting anywhere from 2" to 24".  For awhile the Cape was told we were getting slammed.  The day before the storm, it got downgraded but we would get high winds, then it started to snow around 1:00 on Saturday and we got immediately upgraded to blizzard conditions.  

I took this one around 5.  I was soooo glad that Val's wedding was last weekend.  If this had happened, it would have had to have been postponed.

Then I went out around 11:30 when it was just starting to slow down.  Yep...we got buried.  Didn't lose power though, although it flickered a few times.  The plows went by with regularity.

Yesterday dawned cold and cloudy but overall, I didn't think it was near as bad as it could've been, or as bad as the first blizzard we had last year.

It eventually got very sunny and nice out, and the snow already started to melt.  I stayed in and did a couple of crafts and cooked a big lunch for Russell.  I didn't go out to take any pics till about 4 pm.

I should probably knock that snow off so the tree doesn't break.

Looking down my street.

Also on my street (other direction)

And sunset through the snowy trees.

I am hopeful that this will melt off a bit before we get hit with the next storm.  Better yet, I hope this is the only storm we have!

Winter's Here, Much to My Chagrin

Despite my hope that the El Nino out west would give us a mild winter, sadly, it has finally arrived.  I love it when the sun sets through the trees like this.  It only happens for a few days in early January.

And this is with the new filter.

My stepdaughter was married on January 16th.  I had been hoping and praying that there would be no snowstorm.  We awoke that morning to torrential downpours that cleared up by early evening. However, exactly 24 hours later, this was happening.  The snow literally waited till the day after the wedding to start falling.  

Woke up to this on Monday morning.  It wasn't too bad...just enough to coat the ground and make things pretty for a few hours.  We went into Sandwich where they had far less, but on the way home, we went through Mashpee/Falmouth and they got way more than we did too.

Poor flamingos.  They look so cold.

Here's hoping the next storm won't be too bad.