Christmas Decor and Bows from the Sunday News.

michele made me: Tutorial: Quick and Pretty Junk Mail Gift Bow

MERRY CHRISTMAS.... Yea I know I haven't been around.... Struggling to find the spirit of Christmas and just Motivation in General..... DID I ever mention I suffer from Depression? Yea and so sometimes I can't seem to get it together ..... Anyway I found this super wonderful way to Use up all that Christmas ad and insert from the sunday paper...... Michele Makes gift bows and package decor..... Yrs back I posted about the bows I made with magazines, but she steps it up here, I really Like these.

Back Online

I finally got my PC fixed and got internet. I am all moved into my apt although it isnt in Fla, I am still in NY. Trying to finish up a bunch of crafts I started. Also working on motivating myself back onto my eating plan..... I am such a food Junkie. Another addiction I need to conquer. I think I gained back most of the 40 lbs I lost. :-(

Will be back to posting again soon, as I miss my creative outlet.

Stay Tuned.....

Jewel Box from Empty Cassette Boxes

I had all these cassette tape boxes and saw a box like this on instructables Well I didnt have the original inserts, but I did have an abundance of pictures. I took the xtra pictures of my nephew and made this Jewel/ storage box for my sister. You can use it for all kinds of things, like candy on a coffee table, or a trinket/jewel box, someplace to put the keys in the entry hall....

This is my first attempt so it is kinda rough.

I am going to put a false bottom in to cover the spots from the glue

Next time I want to figure a way of HINGING the top. Right now it is removable. ( lays on top unsecured)

What do you Know?

Q: What does a Slinky, a PET bottle and ribbon have in common?


A: A YARD SPINNER

Click to enlarge

I had all those PET Beads...Not exactly charm bracelet material. I thought maybe the art teacher could use them for the younger kids at school for embellishing...I mean How many times Have you seen macaroni used as beads, right? But in the mean time I thought this would be a good use for a few for me.

My youngest grandson had a metal slinky that lasted all of 6 hours ( If that) My daughter asked me If I wanted it after it was all twisted and tangled and at first i said NO. But after about an hour I had this nagging feeling to go rescue it, ( Ah the packrat on my shoulder) so we ripped open the trash bag and fished out this tangled mess of wire. I took my heavy duty metal snips and snipped it down to a few coils at a time, discarding the stuff that could not be saved ( not a lot). I have tons of ribbon and ribbon remnants that my craft store was selling...A bag of remnants for a dollar...yup a whole buck $1.00 Cha-ching!

After drilling holes in the ends with my NEW hole punch for metal I took E-6000 ( the one with the small metal nose) and stuck the nose into the bead and gave it a small squirt to hold the bead in place. I did this around the coil. Then I took some ribbons ( about 6) and gave them a small tack with needle and thread to hold them together.

I wrapped some silver copper wire around the end and came up with a loop.

I attached Fishing spinners to each end.

Attached the ribbon.

Used 30 LB test fishing line to attach the other end to the tree limb and .....

VIOLA SPINNER!

Plastic Beads Tut

I did a Tut for my PET Posies ( here) I used the bottom of my bottle. The rest of my bottle I cut into strips ( cut around the bottle not lengthwise) I wrapped them around a pair of needle nose pliers and hit them with a heat gun. This has been done by others by dipping them in boiling water as well, although I never tried that method.

For color I used transparency paint, & nail polish ( left it dry before rolling it and heating it) I also used scrap book paper and photos that I ran thru my shredder and made into strips that I cut down to size and layed them in the middle before rolling.

Tut Links for beaded trees.

Here is where I found my Tutorial for making the beaded cherry, autumn, and winter trees I did...
http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/bftreetutorial.html

While you are at it, Take a look at the work she does, these are so awesome...
http://kimberlychapman.com/crafts/bfgallery.html

For the smaller trees I did a 3 bead combo. Camille Sharon has videos showing how its done... I just made my own variations...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jalyVAdPSw&feature=channel

Removing Kiwee/Bing toolbar hijacker

I got hit with a nasty hijacker. Kiwee toolbar and search engine this week...It was driving me crazy that I could not rid this piece of crap. I am not a paying member of webshots desktop app but have Been a member for 10 yrs.. It got in thru their app ( I am hoping it was NOT intentional) I always considered them one of the better apps, with integrity and safety, never a problem until now. After "trying" to contact webshots thru their generic feedback I got someone to pay attention to me. Basically i told them it was a crappy way of treating a loyal fan and member of 10 yrs ( if this was intentional)...Yea moms guilt....and righteous indignation....Here is their reply.....If anyone has a problem with this..

1. Close all web browsers (Internet Explorer and Firefox).



2. Exit out of Webshots.



3. Right-click on the task bar and click Task Manager.



4. Click on the Processes tab. You may or may not have these, but if you do, then end the process of AGCoreService.exe, kwtbaim.exe, and pythonservice.exe



5. Open My Computer, double click to open the local or C: drive and then double click on the Program Files folder



6. Delete the AGI directory. Right click on this folder and then left click on Delete from the dropdown menu. Follow these same directions to delete the folders in steps 7, 8, and 9 and 11.



7. Delete the UnifiedToolbar directory.



8. Delete the Kiwee Toolbar directory.



9. Delete the Webshots directory. Be careful to not confuse this with the Webshots Data folder containing all your downloaded photos.



10. Now, please open My Computer again, double click to open the local or C: drive, and double click on Documents and Settings. Now, double click on All Users and then double click on Application Data.



11. Delete the AGI directory.



12. Now, go to http://www.webshots.com and reinstall the Webshots Desktop Software from our website: http://www.webshots.com/page/apps?app=desktop

YAY ALLFIXED!

PET Posies TUT

OK I video taped 4 ( 3 actually, I blew the lights the first time ) times how to do make these and BLOGGER in their Usual way WON'T upload the video. I even went as far as downloading a converter and changing it from .MOV to .MPEG and that didn't work either...Of course Blogger in their usual Ascineine selves don't have any help available and the user group on GOOGLE is just as USELESS!....SO I will attempt to do this with Pictures....
I hop you understand this....Meanwhile I am trying to figure out the video crap, and no i do not want to use you tube.. I hate them worse then blogger.

Tools:
Needle nose pliers
Scissors
Heat Gun
Empty PET bottle ( of course)
Transparency paint or nail polish
Embellishments if you want
and patience


Take your PET water bottle and cut the bottom off, about 2 ribs from the bottom. Then cut into the 5 long ( my bottle has long and short ribs on the bottom, most only have 5 ) ribs.

You see them Long Lines leading to the center? Thats what you cut. VVVV

This is the side that gets heated ^^^^^

After this position the center with the with the curve away from heat gun (point heat on the outside bottom center). DO NOT put bottle to close or it will MELT too fast. You are sculpting the plastic, so you need to be slow going.

You will start to see the bottom curl a little. Keep bringing it close and pulling it away as you turn the piece. Then take your pliers and pull it taut to melt out the rest of the soft stuff and decrease the wrinkling from the lines in the bottle. Finally use your pliers to curl the top of the petal into a nice flower.

Paint with stained glass or transparency paint or enamel, or even nail polish and embellish.

I hope you understand, I suck at teaching..haha... Any questions leave them in the comments, or you can hunt me down on the web...I am everywhere.... Happy Sculpting...

I have been away ... Shame on me...

I allowed myself to become distracted and turned into a Facebook Junkie over the holidays.....But I am back....Unfortuneatly I never took Pics of the things I made for Christmas. I need to round up my girls and get them to model their earrings and bracelets.

Anyhoo... I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Holiday. I cant wait for spring. WooWoo Gardening and fresh veggies..... C'mon Mama Nature.

I will be posting a tut later on how I make my Bottle Posies. I have had several ppl ask....The best part about using the bottoms? I can still get my 5 cents back for the rest of the bottle...:) 2-4-1 <3