Rain Rain Go Away

It has been raining what seems like forever. Yesterday was so dark. It was dreary and grey and really brought me down. I took to the couch ( or my bed, one and the same) a few times.

I tried to take pictures of more of my stuff to list on Etsy but I didn't like how they turned out. My trees need to photographed in natural light, the yellow indoor lights mutes the beauty of the beads and wire.

I was hoping today would bring more sun but it doesn't appear that way, besides my daughter grabbed her camera on the way out the door to skool this morning.

Speaking of rain we had the loudest Thunderstorm around 6 am this morning. Woke me up. *Not Happy*

Anyway, I have just been crafterbating again, checking out what's on the web. Ya know I am all for repurposing ( I hate the throw away mentality society has acquired) and NO I dont ascribe to the Global warming theory, but do agree we need to repurpose and cut back on waste as well as eating healthy and organically.
I love browsing websites, just surfing from one link to the next, however....Have you ever seen some things created or repurposed where by you go..."Just Because You can, Does NOT mean You Should!" I have. From Condom dresses, to Toilet paper wedding gowns and even t-shirts made into girls dresses.
Some things should never be attempted. I realize that some of these are art challenges ( ala project runway - NO I don't watch that show, thanx) But still, IN the vein of cutting back and sustainability you go out and buy up 3 gross of toilet paper to make dresses? HMMMM I don't really consider that saving anything. Oh and YEA you can wear these dress, so they say..What happens if it rains? Wanna see more TP designs? CLICK ME!

Oh and the condoms? I hope they weren't USED UGH! YUCK!

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.

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!

CHECK THIS OUT!

I am going to make me one of these with all these mags we got coming in now for Christmas....OY! Paper Overload

Living with lindasy has an EXCELLENT Tut for this.

Book Page Wreath!

It's That Time of Year Again

My girlz can count on me to make jewelry and HBA boxes for Christmas, If nothing else.
I started the HBA boxes when my oldest was a teen and taking ALL my hair products for herself. One year i decided to make a big box with nothing but scrunchies, hair ties, clips, hair mousse, styling gel, deodorant, perfume, etc.....She grew to appreciate that box as she got older....Like a mystery goodie box. As she became an adult and was supporting herself these boxes were a Godsend. Then they stopped. She was married with kids and I figured she didnt need them anymore. A few yrs without them and she begged me to make them for her again. Well her taste in hair products have changed with DEFINITE preferences which means not so many dollar store things.
And now her sister is nearly 15 and at the age of her own boxes....woowoo. Did I mention these boxes have gotten awfully expensive to make? Well between them and the jewelry orders it will be all they get, well maybe a cell phone for the young'un who does NOT have one yet. I absolutely refused. Now I relent!

I spent a small fortune yesterday at Michaels getting swarovski crystals for earrings and a bracelet they want. However when I think about how much it would have cost me to buy them already made I think I saved myself a bundle.

Anyway here is what I have been doing as of late.

First I made a magazine tree with some of them holiday mags we are now being flooded with!

These are called Sweetheart Citrines, and i made them for my young'uns friend who turns 13 today.



I also made her these, which I call Sarah's Crystal Drop Earrings.


Then I made these for MOI! I have been wanting a nice long pair of dangles in my b'stone and I finally got around to making them. ( OK so it is not my exact b'stone but I lurvez these blues :-) ) It is this pair that my daughters want, although my oldest likes the crystal drops too in different colors tho. So I am making them a similar design for Christmas, ( I will Never make an EXACT duplicate, I like my work to be OOAK)

More Recycled Box Ideas.

I made this scratch book.

I have seen people making these, and thought there was a great idea, but I didn't have a binding machine.

I finally seen one made with the rings. I had to try to figure out what rings they used, but eventually after a few keywords in a search I found out they were binder rings.

Well I eat cereal and buy things in a box and I am always looking for ways to re-use or effectively recycle them.

One thing I am always looking for is scratch pads. I tend to write ideas, shopping lists, and stuff all the time and am always looking for something to write on. I used my printer paper cut down, ( the scraps are the perfect size to make to do and shopping lists on.)

I pinked the edges to distract form the uneven cut.( Even with a rotary cutter I can't cut straight!

Not to bad. I quite Like it.

Pictures, Pictures and More Pictures

Did I mention I am bombarded with Pictures? HA! ( Yea I think I did.LOL) Why do we take so many? Have film and digital on 2 PCs! Professional and amateur.

When my grandparents Died I got to inherit everything since I was the packrat I guess they felt it was safe with me? Who Knows. I am glad to have inherited the pics and the genealogy info ( what little of it there was.) Problem was, most of the pics weren't transcribed. I have pics of people that are most likely dead and buried and if there is any family I don't think they know their family members were recorded anyway.

Some of these pictures were taken so far away that it is impossible to clearly see who was there, ( as if they were capturing a memory of the event rather then the people involved). But don't we all do that, that's why we take so many damn Pictures.

Well I hate throwing pictures away, I feel guilty. So I finally set out to tackle the mountain of pictures of people I don't know, HAHA!

First step: Sort and cut -out and trim.

Come Back Tomorrow to see how this goes....

PART 2

Recycle FAIL

I am all for recycling, and reusing but this is wrong. But if you want to see how it was done go to Crooked Brains website. The have a tutorial.

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.