How to Cover a Pencil

How to Make a Travel Tissue Cover

This tissue cover is so easy an EIGHT year old can make 9 of them in just over an hour!  She made one for each of her teachers, her grandmothers, her mother and one for herself!  (along with two pillows!  WOW!) And this was her first time to ever sew!!!  She did EVERYTHING, I just talked her through it.  You rock Nicole!!!

(I wrote a little more and added more pictures on today's blog 12/14/2010...here.)

IMPORTANT NOTE:

In the video below I show you cutting the 1st sewn strip into 6" pieces, then pressing the seams..... It is MUCH FASTER if you press the seam (making the trim) BEFORE you cut the 6", that way you press all of them at once...MUCH FASTER!



WHEW!!!  I just watched this again (3 months later) and it is ROUGH!  I am so sorry!  I made it when I was learning how to use the camera and software so it is VERY CHOPPY!  Please forgive, I'll do it again as soon as there is time.

Crochet Flowers

Please note... I didn't say "How To" in the title.  That's because there is no way I'm going to tell you how to make a crochet flower!  BUT, I did learn how to yesterday... amazing, since just two blogs ago I said I had no interest in learning!  What can I say?... I just never know where I'll end up!  Since I have made two videos making different kinds of flowers I decided I wanted to make yet another different one. 

I found a version of it from the web (http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory/flowers.php) but I modified that to fit my needs.  I took the pattern to a friend and she took about 10 minutes to show me how to make one.  She said she would make a video for me, but she had to go out of town today so that may, or may not, (???) happen later.

I can't believe it, I have actually made 28 so far.  I have no clue exactly what I'll do with all of them but I got on a roll and did them while watching TV....love it when I have busy hands....don't like to just sit and watch.

Here is something I made with one last night:

If you notice, I used a yo-yo for one of the videos. The center of the flower is just a brad. I will do another video on making the "hat pin" soon.    But today I wanted to share the pattern for the flower.   I hope you can read it!  If not, I bet you know someone who can... or go to YouTube and search,  there are TONS of crochet videos out there!

Rnd 1: ch 2, 5 sc in first chain you made. Join with sl st to first sc.
Rnd 2: [ (ch 2, 3dc, ch 2, sl st) in the same sc, sl st to the next sc], 5 times, making 5 petals. Cut off.

Just FYI.... I bought variegated yarn so I can have lots of colors of flowers...all that look good with each other because they came from the same skein

How to Make a Yo-Yo Flower

How To Make Fabric Yo-Yos

OK! FINALLY a new video! You would not believe how hard it is to get one posted sometimes!!! The first couple of videos I did I used MS Movie Maker... I had it as part of the bulk MS group so it was basically free. But, I make so many mistakes, and I tend to cough A LOT while I'm filming, so I really needed more editing capabilities to edit some of that mess out (you'll see, its kind of jerky, in places).... I did the next couple of videos using a trial version of Corel VideoStudio 3x... that worked well enough, so I felt it was worth the $50 it cost. WELLLLLL, WHAT A MESS! Apparently there is a conflict with it and ITunes!!! (???)... and other Adobe packages, so I had to delete those in order for Corel to work properly!!! ARGH!!!!

ANYWAY! Long story short... I worked on that mess ALL DAY yesterday! But, you know, that's OK, I am learning a lot as I go.

Now, on topic, today's video is on making fabric yo-yos. I'll do another some other time of how to use some... Please, enjoy

Legacy

When I first started this particular blog, it was for you, the casual stranger that fell upon my site.... but, this past week I decided that I really wanted to leave some of what I know to my six nieces... it is my way of leaving my legacy to them.  Only one of the six(Mattie) actually care right now, but you just never know when the others might be curious.... probably after I'm dead!  But, that's OK, it will be here if they do ever care.  Think how cool it will be to hear me after I'm gone! (something for you to consider with your family)

I am now 56 years old, going on 57 soon, so I have been doing some form of crafting for over 50 years!  Both of my grandmothers taught me their "craft", as did my mother.  My mother's mother taught me to sew, starting with hand sewing Barbie doll clothes before I was 10.  My Daddy's mother taught me "Drawn Work", a way of creating BEAUTIFUL lace within a piece of fabric.  My mother taught me hand embroidery.  That was their legacies to me, and I'm so glad that I have those gifts from them!

I took every Home Ec. class offered in school and then I majored in Home Economics Education in college.  I have done everything from stain glass, fired glass and fused glass to simple paperwork.   Really, the only thing that I never loved enough to learn, was knitting and crocheting! Don't look for that here, I don't know how to do either well enough to show anyone "how to"!  

Anyway, that's a LOT of learning in 50+ years! The plan here is to share some of what I have learned in all that time.  There won't be a focus on any one thing like card making, you just never know what might show up here!

So, here's the deal .... 

If you are not one of my six girls you are still welcome, but, please understand that I may seem to be talking directly to them, and you may see some things that you can find on other websites, but I want a consolidated location for my girls. 

I will still offer things for sale here because I have LOTS to sale and it makes most sense to do it here. 

Please enjoy!

How to Make a Paper Flower from Circle Punches

This is the flower from my Bottle Box Template. I wanted to break the instructions apart so that you don't have to watch both at the same time.



I have also created another template for 6 different colored flowers. I used SU! colors (or close) no promises because it depends on the printer and paper used. AND, the picture is much brighter than the actual printed version...as you can see there are three shades of each color and one of those shades was taken directly from SU! colors so it should blend with their papers.


FREEBIE: (just click then "save image as")

How to Make a Water Bottle Box

Hi!  I have been having tons of issues loading my videos...not sure if its size or format, it doesn't tell you what the problem is, it just spins FOR HOURS then says it didn't work!!!  ARGH!!!... So, I finally tried loading it into YouTube and copied the code and that worked.

FREEBIE: (Click then right click and "save image as" for each page)

The flower for the front will be on the next blog.

Staining Clothes Pins

Today's lesson is "How to Stain Clothes Pins". I know, just what you always wanted to know right?! Well, wait a minute, they really can be a cool, (cheap) gift if you think about it. Put a strip of magnet down one side and you have an instant refigerator magnet... Or, add a glue dot and you can hang a recipe from a cabinet door. Think about that one! Give a gift basket of muffins with the recipe card for the muffins and include a clothes pin magnet!

Here is a SU demonstrator's website that you can use to purchase refill inks.  Her name is Linda, I've never met her but she has been very helpful to me, so let's help her out! 

http://lindamadison.stampinup.net

Here is a link that gives: 11 New Ways to Use Laundry Clothespins