Showing posts with label crafts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label crafts. Show all posts

Friday, March 25, 2011

Bumble Bees and Pecans

It's Spring and our Spring Cottage Sale is in full swing, and here I am at 12:25 a.m. making bumble garland to put out for tomorrow's sale.  Still going strong Friday and Saturday, hundreds of great Spring and Easter Decorations, gift items, collectibles, antiques and so much more, but that's for another blog.....

I haven't ever posted about one of my craft projects before, but I think this garland is quite clever, and takes a little time, but is fairly easy.

What you'll need:
Pecans
Black Spray Paint
Yellow craft paint
Cordless drill and small drill bit
16 gauge black wire
Window screen
Heavy duty scissors
Glue gun
Needle nose pliers




Drill holes through pecans either end to end or through the middle depending on how you prefer to hang your bees; spray them all black;




Using bright yellow craft paint - I used Daffodil - add your bumble bee stripes;


Using heavy duty work scissors, cut modified heart shapes for your wings from the window screen;


With a drop of hot glue add your wings to the top center of your bee. If you have drilled the holes through the middle for vertical hanging,be sure to not glue your wing over the hole. I simply cut a deeper v into my heart shape so the wings go "around" the pre-drilled hole.


I like to leave my wire on the spool until I have completed my garland because I kind of "free hand" my curls and spirals, so I never know how much wire I will actually use. For garland, feed the horizontal drilled "bees" onto the wire.

Curl the cut end of the wire into a loop for hanging, the add a few spirals. Move a bee that you previously fed onto the wire up to the spiral, and add another spiral, move the next bee up the wire, and continue for length of garland you wish. I use about 7 "bees" per strand. Once you've completed getting the "bees" into place and your final spiral, leave a length of wire, and clip the garland from the spool, with your needle nose pliers, curl the end into a loop for hanging.



I like to use a wooden spoon to wrap my wire around for my spirals.


I like to make vertical "bees" to hang from pots or garden hooks. Use the same technique above, but use the bees you drilled through the middle.







and there you have a garden of bumble bee garland from pecans...........buzz! I think I shall try some Lady Bugs from walnuts next!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Crafting Havens From Clutter Comes Creative!

or•gan•ize [awr-guh-nahyz] verb, -ized, -iz•ing. –verb (used with object)

1. to form as or into a whole consisting of interdependent or coordinated parts, esp. for united action: to organize a committee.
2. to systematize: to organize the files of an office.
3. to give organic structure or character to: to organize the elements of a composition.
4. to enlist or attempt to enlist into a labor union: to organize workers.
5. to enlist the employees of (a company) into a labor union; unionize: to organize a factory.
6. Informal . to put (oneself) in a state of mental competence to perform a task: We can't have any slip-ups, so you'd better get organized.




           There are articles and even entire magazines and books dedicated to organizing your home, your workspace, your craft area………….I’ve bought them, I’ve read them, some of them I truly covet, like the magazine Where Women Create………..but how do I get from where my space is now to that heavenly, organized, welcoming, creative inspiring space? I think I have finally found the answer, good old fashioned competition. Our farmgirl sister Joyce told us that she and another friend have agreed to photograph their crafting spaces now, “before” and at the end of the month, be prepared to photograph them again as “after”. Well of course sharing that with four other women, we were all inspired and took up the challenge. So here we are posting our “before” pictures, the only constraint placed by some of us was that no names could be tagged to the picture, HA! So here are our before pictures, and our challenge is to create welcoming, work inspiring spaces that we will photograph and share at the end of the month! Some of us have rooms, some a space in the garage or other outbuilding, some of us are blessed with entire studio space………..each has a personality, even in the clutter, and some of us, well actually one of us, already has a place of perfection, the rest, well let’s just say we participate only because of the promise of anonymity!




      What do these farmgirls make? Shabby chic treasures, painted furnishings, gifts and florals, tags and paper treasures, aprons, totes, fluffs and flourishes, soaps and candles, and well, just too much to name – but all goodies you will find at our Cottage Sales, soon on our farmgirlsisters.com website store, and three of us have fabulous flea market booths filled to the brim with treasures and delights!



      Once my space is a tad more welcoming and ready for visitors, we will all enjoy a weekly crafting night where we can gather, work on projects, share ideas, test new techniques, and just be together and enjoy our farmgirl camaraderie.




       So here are our “before” pictures, and at the end of the month……….we are all committed to sharing our “after”! Maybe we’ll let you match the farmgirl to the workspace ……..and give prizes to the first 10 who match them correctly! Watch for details!










Friday, September 17, 2010

Skip to My Lou - What a Darlin'



I love this site, and the blog is wonderful, I really do look forward to the ideas she sends.....from recipes to crafts, its just cute, and its usable! So I'm back, and you can count on regular posts my friends,enjoy this little teaser, and a full blown blog post with pics coming tomorrow. 'til then, Stormy