Thoughts of a Grasshopper

Back in 1997 or 1998 we were living in Sacramento in a town house.  One evening we went for a walk to look at Christmas lights and decorations.  As we were walking, I saw this light ball hanging by someone's front door.  I thought it was awesome.  A year or two later, I found directions to make it but I never did.  Every year I would have the best of intentions to make it.  On several occasions I bought the cups to make it.  Lights are never an issue.  I have a plastic tote filled with lights. This year I have 5+ projects to make:  1. pine cone light basket, 2. light ball, 3. wreath for the kitchen, 4. wooden candle trio that is 42" tall, and 5. "NOEL" for the mantle.  The other projects are small things that I want to make to give to people.  I made the pine cone light basket on the 8th.  I made one back in 2000 which got wrecked in one of the moves or perhaps water damaged from flooding in the basement in Virginia that happ...

Back in April our niece took her life.  It was heartbreaking for her family and family and friends, understandably.  She was so young at 19 years of age to feel so much sorrow and that ending her life was the answer.  Shortly after I saw the quote "Because someone we love is in heaven there's a little bit of Heaven in our home."  I'd seen it before but it didn't mean as much to me then.  I also saw a frame done that said "welcome to our home".  I merged the two and am sending this off to my sister-in-law. My niece's favorite flower is a hibiscus.   I tried several different ways to make them but they just don't look good and with the stigma extending so high, it looked wonky in the shadow box frame.  I decided to go with the purple roses because purple was Bria's favorite color.

I wish I took some pictures as I went along but I wanted to share with you something that I made a couple of weeks ago for a decoration outside this year.  This was a two-hour project. In October, I bought to rolls of mesh ribbon.  One was white and the other red.  I can't visualize what I intended but I think I planned to use it above the windows . . . somewhere.  Perhaps on a wreath but I doubt that due to the size of my wreaths.  Due to the colors of the mesh, it seemed logical to make a candy cane.  I went to the store and bought some green ribbon for a bow, which I think needs to be a little lower on the candy cane but it will do for this year. We had left over chicken wire from a science fair project last year.  I rolled it to make a cylinder shape, securing it with zip ties and then shaped it for a candy cane.  The hook of the cane wouldn't stay bent so I used some wire (silver floral wire) to connect the base of the hook to the ...

When I was at JoAnn's buying fabric for my girls' costumes, I saw this material and loved it. I used the square scallop die from Stampin' Up! to make the squares. I loved how quick it was with the die cutting through 8 layers of fabric at once. I used a jumbo button from the Deck the Halls Big Designer Button pack. After I had the button sewn on, I put an antique brad through the center to add a little something. Just because I think my girls were so stinkin' cute for Halloween as Snap, Crackle & Pop, here they are. My son it too old to dress out it seems.

Apparently washer necklaces were "the thing" to do last year. Somehow, I missed that. However, when I saw a few recently, I liked them and wanted to give them a try. I plan to make some for the girls (8-11 yr. olds) I work with at church. I'm so glad that I have StazOn in 8 different colors. I plan to add some bling to their washer necklace too. I made mine double-sided so that if it flips over, it won't matter. On the girls, I plan to use DP on one side and the other side will be stamped.

My youngest girls are twins and they have a birthday coming up. When I was thinking of the invitations, I thought of making one that looked like a sleeping bag. That seemed easy enough to do with cardstock. I got to thinking that most will bring a blanket and a pillow. I decided to make pillows out of felt and have the invitation inside. I sewed white felt in the shape of a pillow. Trimmed the invitations to fit inside. (Some pillows had to be wider because they had both girls' names on them.) I added some batting to fluff them up a little. A ribbon stapled at the top, a flower and a gem and they are done. They are happy with them and that is all that matters.

When we were stationed in Virginia, I learned how to make these bags. They are really easy to make and a lot of fun. I made one and then on of my daughters had sewing 101 helping me with the other two bags a couple of days before we left on our trip. We took one of them to Massachusetts to give to my cousin's kids. Their kids (7 & 5) really liked it. These bags are super easy to make. They get a little spendy with all of the things you put inside and the beads but they last so long. When I first made one, my kids would sit and try and find things, their friends liked it when they came over and were waiting. It went in the car with us and even to some dr. appointments. You need: 2 - 7-1/2 to 9" squares of sturdy fabric heavy clear shower liner poly-fil micro beads (linked so you'd know) As many things as you want to fill it with. Ribbon Printout of what went in Laminating paper or clear contact paper The size of the bag is up to you. I made 8" bags. From...

Jami showed me a picture of a bracelet made with mini spools and paper. It looked really cute. My first thought was the girls at church could make it for their mom for Mother's Day. I knew I would need to paint the spools ahead of time for them. I spent over an hour and a half painting the spools (2 coats) and knew I would have to spray paint them since I would need around 300 of them. I cut the strips of Parisian Breeze paper 3/8" x 1-3/4" and used Mod Podge to adhere them to the spool. My fingers got really gunked up, but I like that. It took me back to elementary school when you would put Elmer's glue on your fingers just to peel it off. I used black elastic cord to put it together. I had intended to seal it but I wanted to finish it before I went to bed. I got a lot of comments on it today. The picture Jami showed me used 21 spools. I used 20. I really think you could do with 19, perhaps even 18 spools for the bracelet.

I finally made time to visit a very dear friend of mine here. We had planned to get together for some time but I was busy unpacking, organizing, working on a cross-stitch, etc. We had a wonderful visit. Ten years ago when we lived here, she began crocheting snowflakes for her tree and to give to others in their Christmas card. When I visited, I noted her tree was full of snowflakes and these ornaments. I commented on them and one came off immediately and she showed me how it was done and gave me some scrap ribbon to make one myself. Last night I sat and made my ornament from her scraps and it turned out pretty well for my first try. I don't know if I want to make more or not but they are pretty. Her ornament is so elegant looking. Mine uses some fabric since there wasn't enough ribbon but I think it turned out pretty well.