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!

Pictures....Overkill....Repurposing?

Why do we take pictures? I found myself thinking that the other night.

I have been wanting to gain some control of my clutter, one thing I have been putting off is organizing my photos.
Some are already in boxes with index cards, somewhat organized, but the boxes are old and falling apart.

I really wanted to do scrapbooking but cannot get myself in the MODE....UGH very detailed and would definetly put me in the zen mode if I would just allow myself to go there....Life was so much easier before I got a PC. It seems the PC has sped up my brain processors somewhat, not to mention years of anti-depressants ( which left me with a form of Adult add! Damnit)...Anyhoo I am digressing....

Back to the pictures.

I figure we are trying to capture a moment in time, that is so fleeting and slipping away so quickly. Preserve a memory forever, as it were.

As for me I learned early on to take 2 or 3 shots to ensure a good photo..That was before digital, where we can just hit Delete. (SHHHHH don't tell anyone but I got TONS of digital pics too, They are on 2 different PCS)

NOW I am being overrun with photos.






I decided that I needed to pair down. I have tons of pictures where the subject in question is..well... Questionable....

"HMMMMM... What exactly was I trying to capture here?"

Not to mention blurred photos and tons of duplicates. When my daughter was young I took tons of photos. The labs used to run specials on duplicates and since we always share our pics, especially with gramma well.... We always ticked the box for dupes for a penny or half price, or whatever....

Now that my mom has passed I inherited her photos, which means i have dupes, and trips of everything. UGH!

DOES anyone know how to repurpose photos?

Not only that but I also Inherited the pics from my grandparents when they passed...I have a tote of black and whites of PPL I CANNOT IDENTIFY! HELPPPPPP!

So I am surfing the net and the green sites and there is very Little in way of crafting or repurposing old photos. (NO I dont want to digitize my 2,000 pictures! I still LIKE Tangible things.)

I am open to suggestions People....Anyone???? ( Cue Crickets)

Ok so I got this idea when looking at some of the pics to make coasters or postcards. Does anyone even use Postcards? Not to mention snail mail.

Placemats with the old black and whites would be super I think. Most of the ppl I am sure are all passed away since the pics were from the 40's - 60's mostly. ( we are talking adults in the middle age range) Alot are my family and their friends and some are just people who got in the shot of a lake or beach or pool. So I don't think there would be an issue with image usage and royalties and such, and alot of ppl like nostalgic things.

I tried the coasters already. Here are some Prototypes. I made 6. 2 with a deckled edge, 2 with a pinked edge and 2 with a straight edge.




Ok. I guess the real test comes when I use them. I used clear contact paper. I glued the picture to a piece of cardboard from a cerealbox.



I'm just wondering if I should have used laminating plastic instead since it is thicker and offers a better seal. I will see how these hold up.

Meanwhile If anyone has any ideas on repurposing pics pleaseeee Let me know....I have tons.

Flowers Anyone?

Empty Soda Cans

Green Crafting

I think I posted this over the summer. I have finally finished it. They are Friggie magnets. I do believe I am the only one doing this and will be putting them up for sale soon, after I tweak a few things.


This is an Empty Soda Can I turned into a Suncatcher. I just cut off the top flipped it over and hung scrolled craft wire thru it and then made beaded Dangles.

Protypes

I have been seriously considering volunteering to teach some craft classes this yr at the school. So I have been doing protypes of different things, and doing more recyling or upcycling ( whats the diff?).