My Busy Weekend

Hello my dear friends,

I have been very busy over this past weekend. Apart from shoveling snow I was also trying to accomplish all of the things I was hoping to do. I love sitting down and crafting. I get such a buzz out of creating. BUZZ, BUZZ, BUZZ!! Standing back and looking at what I made, just makes me feel plain and simple good about myself.

My wee old bird cage was the first in line and I managed to repair it. Now it is ready for any little feathered friend to call it home. I absolutely LOVE this cage - it is just adorable! All that was needed was some old steel wire (I didn't use the new brass wire I had bought for it in the end, it was just didn't look the way I wanted it to) and a little something old, which I did find amongst all my vintage treasures in the form of an old brass hinge which was another find of mine at a church sale some time last year. I had bought a small wooden box full of them for just 10 cents - what a deal!! I can't wait until it's that time of year again - church sales, garage sales, rummage sales - so much fun!

My next project was actually a two-in-one. I wanted to learn how to make a felt from an old sweater. I found a suitable brown men's sweater that came all the way from Ireland in a second hand store. I did some research on the net, and decided to try and make felt in the sink and not in the wash machine. I think that in the future I will prefer it this way for making smaller items. It takes a bit longer this way, but you do save energy by doing so and I love doing things "the good old way". Not only did I want to learn how to felt but I wanted my first felting project to be a birds nest. So, I sat down, pictured what I would like it to look like in my head and then started. It took me about an hour from start to finish - mainly because I decided to use three different strands of wool to embellish my nest with before I started felting.  The felting part wasn't too difficult and when I had the effect I wanted, I left it to dry on a heating vent over night.

And here is my first felting attempt. What do you think? I am sure I will have another try again very soon.

Amongst felting there was another project that needed my attention. My daughter Caylagh needs to be Cleopatra for a school project, so Sunday morning was spent creating her costume. I ended up gluing over 250 gems to a large fabric collar that will resemble the large jewels that Cleopatra wore. I can't tell you how happy I am that I had decided not to use a glue gun. This way my fingers are all very happy and unburnt.

And last but not least ...

I also started to work on my old dress form. I bought this old girl from a little old lady. At first I wasn't sure about buying her - I was worried about spending too much money. I had no idea how much a dress form should really cost, but looking at her twice I gave myself a push and paid $50 for her. After stopping at Fabricland on the way home and seeing how much new dress forms cost, I was more than happy to have spent my money.  When I got her home, I took a closer look at her and decided that the fabric was just ugly and didn't really smell that good either. So, what to do? After seeing so many beautiful recreations of dress forms on many wonderful blogs, one of them which is Lisa's (Tarnished and Tattered), I knew my old girl needed a makeover.

   This is Lisa's recreated dress from, so beautiful!

You can take a look at Lisa's "mannie makeover" here:

www.tarnishedandtattered.blogspot.com/2010/01/mannie-makeover.html

I am sure  this project will take me some time, but I am also sure that once she is done I will absolutely love the new look I would have given her.  I haven't decided yet as to how I am going to decorate her  but that's OK because at the moment I am working on getting all the old fabric off of her first, since it is is glued very, very well to the inside of the individual pieces and I dont' really want to take her apart. (I am worried, I won't be able to put her back together again!) When I am done with my old girl, I will share the result with you.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to work on a new tutorial this weekend. As soon as I do, I will post it for you, my dear friends.

I hope you have a peaceful and creative day,

Karen B.