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!

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.

Starting the New Year Off with Cookies & Crafts

Now that I bake, I just can't buy commercial cookies anymore.  They taste so chemically.  The last Seahawks game of the season was going to be on TV for a change, so I decided to use my new cookie cutters to make some Hawks sugar cookies.  Also picked up a Jones Green Apple Soda for the game...based in Seattle and bottled in British Columbia.

Even Sasquatch is a 12th Man!

This is the rest of the batch.

My craft table is, as usual, a white hot mess.  I decided that I have to make the projects on it before I move onto other things.  This pink glass drop needed to get a beaded hanger so whipped that off in a few minutes.

Russell bought me that crystal after LAST Christmas...of 2014....and it, too, was waiting for a hanger. I found these beautiful beads this fall and whipped that one up as well.  Yes that's snow in the background...first of the season.  

I found this little jar in Target...I bought 2 of them.  Stuck glitter tiles on this one.  It's so pretty!

Last year I purchased that gorgeous rutilated quartz wire wrapped pendant from my friend Robin. Also last year, my friend Lynda gifted me with those beads, which used to belong to her sister Cyndy, who passed away a few years ago.  Cyndy was part of my 'group' back in high school and it was so heartbreaking to lose her so young.  I wanted to do something special with them.  It was by happenstance that I pulled out the bag of beads and the pendant at the same time and realized how great they'd look together!

I had these metal and glass pendants sitting around so I added the decorative papers to them finally to get them off my table too....and into one of my many beading boxes for future use.

Still chipping away at the projects on the table but it already looks way better than when I started.  I should've taken a before picture but I was so mad at myself for letting it get that bad!  Next up is one more necklace and add embellishments to the glass float I got up in PTown last fall.  

Organized Chaos

So this happened one day when I was trying to clean up or at least reorganize my craft table.  I found a baggie of crystals I ordered to make a project I'm dying to do, but haven't because I have nowhere to put it when it's done. I dug out some driftwood to see how they'd look as a driftwood hanging instead.  I didn't end up assembling it with the driftwood.  

So pretty!

Then I unearthed a few small things I'd been meaning to do so I glued these glass tiles onto a votive candle holder.  I keep forgetting how time consuming these projects are due to drying time and making sure the tiles don't slide out of place or fall off.

I had a bunch of small red skull cabs so I put them on 4 sides of the glass and filled in with red and purple glass blobs.  

These lightbulbs also surfaced on the table so I broke out the glass paint.  The Pinterest project originally showed nail polish on the bulbs but I didn't like the way it looked. I had to pilfer the tops of Christmas ornaments to glue on top of the lightbulb, then added the beaded hanger.  

I made this a few days before the attempt to clean the table off.  10 points to Ravenclaw!  Just a hangie thing I stuck on the wall in the bedroom.  I found the fillable bottles at the craft store and got the copper coloured ones.  Filled it with blue beads and then added the copper wings (for the Ravenclaw eagle) and then the hanger in the House colours as well.  Yes I'm obsessed with Harry Potter.  OBSESSED.  I don't even want to admit how much time I spent on the Pottermore website this month and watching the movies on ABC Family, as well as rereading the last 2 books.

My honey and I were at this great old store called Benny's, which is a real throw back to another era. It's been around forever.  He bought me this black velvet colouring poster which I can't wait to do.

The table may look as bad as it did before it was reorganized, but I truly can tell the difference.  At least now it's organized chaos.  And now I'm ready to start my new poster!

Our Stonehenge

Our townhome in Fairfax, CA had a unique floor plan, with vaulted ceilings and skylights upstairs. We moved into the place in August of 1994, and that fall, we watched as a narrow ray of sun crept down the wall along the stairs, from the skylight at the top of the upstairs hall. In March, it happened again. That time, I grabbed a faceted crystal ball, stood on the bottom stair and held the ball up into the ray of sun and a thousand rainbows flashed across the whole room. Brian yelled, "COOL!!!!! We gotta hang that there!" So I beaded a suncatcher, that hung there above the bottom stair in the livingroom, year round. Friends were always so puzzled, "Why in the world would you have a window crystal hanging there?" Because twice a year, near the Equinoxes, for about 4 or 5 days, the sun would light that bad boy up. So we started calling it our "Stonehenge". Now here's the kicker: The one and only time I thought to shoot a photo of it, as seen here, I didn't realize I had black & white film in the damn camera.