Yarn Scarf....

I found this scarf on a blog I stumbled across a while back. I knew I wanted to make it. I even pinned it onto my Pinterest collection. 

 

The blog is called Katy Did and she has some neat ideas in her blog. (And the cutest little girl!)

Check it out. (although she seems to have stopped contributing to her blog after an unfortunate copyright incident......)

Anyway, here is the scarf. As you can see, it's all thick, soft yarn and it's stitched together!!

I used gold yarn and I happened to have some shiny gold thread left over from another project. I used that for sewing it together.

I left a bigger space between the stitching than Katie did.

It wasn't easy stitching across the yarn. I couldn't keep the yarn as wide apart as I wanted to. The sewing machine kept smooshing it together. 

For the first few sections, I used masking tape to hold the yarn together, but it was a bull to pull off without shredding the fuzziness of the yarn. If I had had some of that less sticky blue tape, it probably would have worked better.

By leaving bigger spaces between the stitching, I am able to interlock the scarf halves to wear it without tying it.

I made it the same length as one of my regular scarves.

As a matter of fact, I am wearing it right now!

Thanks, Katie.

Crocheting.....

I love doing things with my hands. My hands need to be busy all the time.

There's a fantastic blog out there that I love. This inspiring woman also keeps her hands moving and does lots of hand sewing. If it didn't take so long, I'd hand sew everything.

Anyway, she had a post about knitting with thread. Since I don't know how to knit, crocheting was my attempt at this unlikely scenerio. 

It was NOT easy. Check out the above photo. Just making the chain stitches in the first row was interesting. Thread is very slippery.

Then adding to the chain stitch felt like trying to make bows out of wet spaghetti covered with sauce. 

Thread does not hold itself in place or keep it's shape very well.

I stuck to it and ended up with the above....and that's at far as I've gotten. What could I make out of that???

So then I tried two threads at a time. A little bit easier. In about 6 years, I will have a scarf.

So I went back to my Infinity Scarf with real yarn. I have to make 56 inches of this pattern, the directions inform me. Mine might be a bit shorter.

I thought it was going to be a mobius strip, but I don't think it is.

That's good. I like things to have more than one side to them.

I'm hooked....

I am soooo hooked. All I do is look at Pinterest......all the time.

I have joined and have saved stuff.

I takes a while to figure out, but just look at what people post and then click on the picture. You will then find out where it came from and get the info you want.

SOOOO much info. I just love it.

Check it out! So cool.

Pinterest

It's Bittersweet....

Bittersweet.  Ah, such is life.

But that's not the Bittersweet I am referring to.

I mean this:

I used to drive around all over creation looking for vines of this stuff  to cut and use in fall decorating. It's really lovely in flower boxes.

BUT....

BUT....

The Oriental species is an INVASIVE species and now has taken hold on my property. And I am not too happy about that.

You see, it can kill things, strangling trees and shrubs to death!

And, the entire plant is poisonous. 

And it's almost impossible to get rid of.

So what to do when life gives you lemons?

Make lemonade. 

Or a wreath.

So I cut off long vines of the stuff (which actually makes it grow more), stripped off the leaves and wound the vines into a wreath. Added a few beach rock touches and voila.... 

Speaking of the beach, I usually collect driftwood pieces and interesting shells when at the beach. Remember the fish I made?

I had some left over pieces of wood, so I constructed this wreath.

Probably would look nice if a added some Bittersweet berries to both of those wreaths.

They are not ripe yet. Have to wait.

Hate the stuff.  Love the stuff. (well, 'like' it...)

It sure is Bittersweet.

How to make gigantic poppies.....

These poppies were adapted from directions on Martha Stewart's website.

You can see the scale of these flowers in a previous post. Here.

Here is a finished one. It's about 24 inches across.
I don't have the exact measurements for too much, as I basically wing it when I make them.

This pattern I made because some of my friends wanted to make some. This is on a piece of 12" by 18" colored construction paper. Cut 4 petals that look something like the pattern.

Cut 3 smaller ones.

Sorry, I didn't measure these circles, but they are placed on 9" by 12" colored construction paper, so you can estimate the size by comparing it to the paper. They don't have to be exact.

(this will be the centers of the finished flower)

Here is a close up of how I make the cuts. As you cut more, the paper gets weaker, so the later slits are cut shorter and shorter not to weaken the center of the circle.

Cuts already made. Randomly take something round like a marker and curl the strips of paper on the marker. See a close up of the finished flower up above to see what I mean. (biggify the photo)

The folds that are made on each petal are made on the edge of a ruler randomly, radiating out from the imaginary center of an imaginary circle. (Clear as mud......) Some folds are done from one side of the paper and some are done from the other side, in no apparent order and no rhyme or reason. 

All the petals are actually stapled together. First the outer four, in a circular fashion, and then the center three. Then I stapled them all to each other wherever I could.

I'm sure they are supposed to be glued together or something, but I didn't want to wait until the glue dried.

Poppy leaves are cut out to some shape that resembles poppy leaves.

I scored them down the center to create a vein of sorts.

After I took these photos, I forgot to take any more. But I think if you refer to the first photo of the finished poppy, you get the gist of how to glue the pieces together.

These are the worst directions I've ever given, I'm sorry to say. 

We just went out to dinner, had two glasses of wine, came home (we are actually in Oregon, believe it or not), had some delicious chocolate chip cookies, am stuffed to the gills and suffering from possible jet lag and THATS when I decide to do a blog entry.

You get what you pay for, and I'm paying.

Going to bed to try and remedy the situation.

Good night!

Paper Flowers I made...

Here are some large paper flowers I made for a special occasion at my school. I was inspired by googling 'large paper flowers'. Some places had directions, like the poppies, some sites were just photos and then I figured it out myself. A lot of the flowers I just made up.

They really make a big impact. I will post directions as soon as I can for some of them.

Oh, by the way, they are just construction paper.

Going Green...

Organic material shrug enhances a layered wrap around skirt with chunky clogs. Hat by Rhody Dendron.

Some of you know that I like to make stuff from other stuff. If you read my Going to the Beach post this summer, you saw some evidence of that....(scroll way down, past the guy in the bikini thong, you pervert.) (I don't know who put those photos onto my wholesome blog! Still a mystery to me....)

Here are a few of the 'people' I made with Mother Nature's help and put in my display case at school. I needed something to put in the display case because it will be a while before the kids make anything display casable.

Enjoy....

Iris leaf spandex leggings with sleeveless muscle shirt and white Shape Up shoes. Hair by Old Spice.

Pleated Mini-skirt with textured leggings topped by a layered shell and a natural seed choker. Earth shoes in nutmeg color. Hair by Herbal Essence and hat by Pacific Sunwear.

Possibilities are virtually endless!  (Wiggle eyes are not organic. Sorry Al Gore.)

Sticks and a stone....

While Mr. DEDS was away last week, I puttered a lot. Here is a result of one of my putterings.

A vase made out of sticks!  Artfully placed next to a stone. (I collect stones with lines on them.)

I tied the sticks together with thin gold wire I found in my junk drawer. I added beads as I went along looping the wire around each stick. This is a shot from the BACK, where I put a few dabs of hot glue here and there to give it all a little suppport.

Come to find out, the sticks were still a little wobbly when stood up, so I glued a piece of black felt onto the back to hold everything in place.

This is all wrapped around an empty spaghetti sauce jar. (Did I really have to say 'empty'?)

I also added a few more wires here and there with more beads and I twisted some of the additional wire into spirals.

Fill with water and flowers I found along the side of the road and voila. 

BOO!! Another project....

Are you scared? You should be. It's another project you can make 5 minutes before Halloween.

Your very own ghost. 

I told my kids at school that it's a real ghost. I'm sure there are a few that will go home and tell their parents that I have a real ghost in my room. My classroom can be spooky at times, that's for sure.

This real ghost is about 12" tall. Not really big enough to cause any mental or psychological problems if you see it.

Want to know how to make it? Then keep on reading. If you don't want to know, go to www.hulu.com and watch any episode of any tv show you want to see. That's how I got caught up on Glee, Modern Family and Community. I have tried watching the Office multiple times and just don't get it.

Nevertheless....
Get any bottle or something like a bottle. This will determine how tall your apparition will be. Add something round to the top for the head shape. Twist a wire around the neck of the bottle and bend it into whatever position you want the arms to be. I then bent the wire around at the ends to make 'hands' and padded the 'hands' with some scrunched up masking tape.

I took a piece of plastic wrap and draped it over the armature.

I taped the plastic wrap to position it around the armature better. I bought some liquid starch and some 100 percent cotton cheesecloth at the grocery store. (Before I got to this point.)

I draped the cheesecloth over the armature from back to front to see how much cheesecloth I would need. Leave a little extra so you can bunch it up at the base. Cut.

Unfold the cheesecloth because it's all folded up when you get it. And then double it before you use it. Pour some starch into a bowl.

Dunk the cheesecloth into the starch to soak it.

Carefully remove the cheesecloth from the starch. Don't wring it. Drape it over the armature and arrange the folds into however you want them to be. I did mine on a paper plate. I bunched up the cheesecloth at the bottom to give it good support and arranged it into the shape of the paper plate. (Actually it was a styrofoam plate but don't tell the environmentally concerned teachers I work with. They would have a coronary.)

Ready to dry. It takes a long time. Don't attempt to remove it if it's at all wet.

When it's all dry, carefully pull it off the armature. Cut out some black felt into eyeballs and a mouth of your choice. Tell everyone it's real.

That's it!

P.S. Did you know that you could actually make CHEESE with cheesecloth? 

Pumpkins Rock!

Here's a little project, using small, smooth rocks to make small, smooth pumpkins.

They can be used as a paper weight or......

I don't know what else they can be used for.

But I thought they were kinda cute!

Two finished rock pumpkins.

HOW TO DO THIS:

First I went to the beach and found some nice, smooth, small rocks. If you don't have a beach nearby, I don't know what you do.

Then I primed them with some Gesso. (I suppose any primer will do.)

I used Acrylic paints: an Orange, a yellow-orange, and black.

I painted them regular orange first. Then I did the streaks using orange and black mixed together to make a dark orange/brownish color.

Then I used the yellow-orange to brush in some highlights here and there.

Close up.

Then using a fine tip sharpy, I carefully drew on jack o'lantern faces in black.

I brushed on a shiny finish. I used gloss acrylic medium. I suppose any type of glossy, clear finish will do, like Shellac, Polyurethane, etc. Then I hot glue gunned a stick to the top for the stalk. I also cut a small oval of orange felt and glued it to the bottom so that it doesn't scratch anything.

That's it!