February Flew By

Seems like it was just Christmas and now February is almost over.  So far the winter has been manageable.  The snow has melted off quickly after each storm.  It's been much easier to get errands and things done this year than last.  My computer had a weird virus issue so my computer guy fixed it and upgraded me to Windows 10.  So far, not a fan.  And my mouse goes crazy and zooms around on it's own despite my changing the settings.  Does it anyway.  

So keeping on with my craft projects both new and WIPs, here is a window crystal I made for my dear friend Yvonne.  

I stashed these 3 tiny ribbon amulet bags in a little ziplock.  They needed to be stitched on the sides. The red velvet one was already stitched but I added the gold beads around the edges, key and the hanging thing.  Added beads to the blue and peach ribbons and their hanging loops.

Another project I saw on Pinterest.  I found the little Adirondack chair, flip flops and wine/cheese tray online.  Then it was just a matter of getting a large/wide enough vase and some sand.

Glued the wine/cheese tray to a flat rock.  Obviously the beach glass and shells aren't to scale!

Michael's was having a huge sale on my fave beads.  But the strands are so beautiful as-is that I didn't have the heart to break them up to make something with them.  On the other hand, I also wanted to showcase them somehow.  I ended up gluing the top loop to this aluminum bar, and adding a hanging chain which also had to be glued in place on the bar.  

While in Michael's, I also spotted a pocket watch case, which I've been trying to find to do that beach glass with tiny sand dollar project.  I also felt like doing a super fast beaded cross stitch magnet, which just took a couple of days to complete.  

I treated myself to a Mardi Gras King Cake this year.  I haven't gotten one since 2010 so I went for it. I get them from Haydel's Bakery in New Orleans.  I always get either the Queen or King package. This year I got the Queen and it comes with beads, doubloons, a porcelain figure, package of coffee, and souvenir Mardi Gras magazine. 

The cake is so incredible.  I really just like the icing but the whole thing is really good.  I gave huge hunks to both Marsha and Val.  

Beeeeeeads!

 I've been cooking and baking a lot lately too.  This is a spinach feta quiche.  Yum.  

Thumbprint jam cookies, which are tasty but really dry.  I could not figure out what I did wrong.  The next day it finally occurred to me that I misread "One and a Half Cups Butter"  as "One and a Half Sticks Butter", which means I only used 3/4 cup butter.  

Hope to have some other stuff to post one of these days.....not much going on this time of year.  Still too icky to do any day trips!

Recently Completed Projects

This pretty silver locket was included in that awesome bag of stuff I got from my friend Monica awhile back. It was all tarnished so I polished it up nice.

Then I added red suede-like paper on the inside with some steampunk gears and a key.

Spotted this design online and it was a very quick, two day work up for my bff Liz.  It fits easily in a 4x6 frame.  

My stepdaughter loved the black & red egg I made for Lady Axe so I offered to make her one too. That meant hunting down another skull & cross bones cabochon, which I finally found on ebay.  The seller also had a purple and black one so I got that too.  

I used lilac paint and then purple glitter paint on the outside and trimmed the edge with chain, similar to the red & black one.  I gave 'em both to her.  

Marsha commissioned 15 beach-themed bookmarks and 2 bracelets. I assumed that beach-themed paper supplies would be easy as pie to find here, but I was wrong.  There were lots of cutesy pie, cartoonish fish, flip flops, umbrellas, shells, sunglasses, etc. but not a lot of more upscale items. I couldn't even find a nautical map to buy!!  I bought what I could and dug out the rest from my supplies stash.  I made them all in one day.  I didn't take pics of all of the backs, but there are sea-themed quote stickers on each one.  Sorry for the bad pics.

The 2 bracelets were to have a sea theme and the other with 'faith' and a music charm.  Do you think I could find a music charm anywhere?  Liz came through for me by finding one at her local bead shop in Northern Vermont.

I wasn't sure if E6000 would dry enough to be waterproof so this windspinner project started off using LockTite which is supposed to be the best waterproof super glue for glass to metal.  I let all the pieces dry for a couple of days and when I picked one of the discs up, all the glass blobs popped off!!!  Slight delay as I re-glued them with E6000 and so far they've held up through some rain and wind.  We'll see how they do by the end of the summer.

I found some amazing beads 50% off at JoAnn Fabric and Crafts and used one to make another useless hanging thing that's based on a picture I saw on Pinterest and which were for sale in the Moonbeams & Mayhem ebay store.  I have no intention of making these to sell because this one was a pain in the ass.  Seriously.  The frustration to figure out how it was made and adapt it to my supplies on hand and skill level (which, to be honest, ain't so hot when it comes to seed bead art), wasn't worth it.  Also, I had to deal with thread and eye pin breakages at really bad times.

This heart hanger was leftover from that Christmas shelf I made a couple of years ago.  It was already curled on the ends but I had to unbend them in order to get those beads on there and I didn't do a very good job of bending them back.  The steel was difficult to work with.  Then I painted the heart part black and glued wood beads on each end to keep the beads on.

It really does look better close up and in real life.  Used a bunch of the JoAnn Fabrics beads for the bottoms of each strand, with glass pearls, Czech glass, square lavender beads and silver beads of different shapes.

The weather's been so nice and I've been between projects so this is all I've gotten done in May.