Not exactly what I'd planned...

My grand plans for crafting every day in November did not go quite as planned.

But before the busyness of the holiday I did manage to make a few fun things!

I'm not sure if this is one of them, though:



You're probably asking yourself, "What is it??"

 

That is a valid question.

 

It's a candle holder. 

 

With film cells Mod Podged nigh-unto-death upon it. 

Can one use "Mod Podge" as a verb?

I'd purchased a bunch of these film cells online just after the time the newest

version of Pride & Prejudice was released. 

I was am a bit obessesed with that movie.

And  now everone knows it. 

 

Anyway, they rested comfortably in their little envelope, tucked

between a couple of books, until I remembered seeing something like this

done on some website somewhere.

Only, there's turned out adorable, while you can see all the streaky lines on mine.

 And yet I love it.

Even have it on display in my house.

 I may have to find some more and try again.

Happy crafting!

Thanksgiving...and a napkin folding tutorial

I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving. 

I did.  I ate too much, enjoyed time with family, and had so much fun setting the tables!

 

I put these vases to work.

 

After playing around a bit.

 

 

We'd hosted our traditional Friends Thanksgiving the weekend before and used these

sames jars, but I'd chosen mainly yellow and white flowers so the pretty colors

of jars would be highlighted. I think I like the extra color better.

 

I think they all looked nice throughout my parent's house and on the tables.

 

This is the "grown-ups" table.  They get the real silver.

(See Melita?)

 

I love these guys!

 

Warren helped me fold the napkins.

I think he also borrowed my camera. 

At least I don't remember taking this picture:

 

 Want to know how we did it?

 

Step 1 - Fold napkin in half diagonally, making a triangle/pyramid.  Sorry, I didn't take a picture! 

(They're all blurry on this post, so maybe it's for the best!)

 

Step 2 - fold each bottom corner up to the top of the triangle.

 It should now look like this:

 

Step 3 - Fold the bottom point almost to the top.

 

Step 4 - Fold the top of that point down, like so.

 

Step 5 - Flip over.

 

Step 6 - Fold the sides in so they overlap. 

See how the fold on the bottom of the side looks like a little pocket?...

 

 Step 7 - ...Stuff one side into that pocket.

 

Step 8 - Flip over and...

 fold the sides down, like this:

 Complete!

 

And now you have your very own napkin army.

 

Here they were on the "kids" table.

 

Time to eat!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Prepping for Thanksgiving!

 

Odd Inspiration

Inspiration can strike at any moment!  For me, it's usually at the most inappropriate

moments - at work, in church, in the middle of another project, in the middle of the

night.  Generally when I cannot, or should not, do much about it. 

 

And, in our house at least, it often comes from the most ordinary of places.

 

Case in point:  this quilt.

My sister was looking through the dictionary for fun, as you do, and came across

a picture of some U.S. Navy Signal Flags.  She thought they'd make a great quilt.  

I think she was right!

It's both fun and informative. 

And could be useful in every day life!

 When do ideas most often strike you?

Days One and Two - Iceland, part 1

First post about my trip to England!

 

But before England came Iceland. 

 

We took off from Sea Tac bright and

early on a Saturday morning and...

 ...landed at Keflavik Airport bright and early Sunday morning.

The sun was just coming up and it was beautiful. And cloudy. And cold. 

I think all my pictures in this post were taken from behind glass - either

inside a plane or a bus, or in the airport. Sorry for all blurriness.

It took us probably an hour to make our way through security and find our luggage
and then figure out where to go after that.  The airport is not large, but we were

following a very confused crowd of people!  I recommend not doing that.

We ended up buying tickets for a Flybus bound for Reykjavik.
I have to admit that for a bit I felt like we were on a different planet. 

For the nearly 50 km to Reykjavik we saw little but water, lava fields and clouds up above. 

("And what is fifty miles of good road? Little more than half a day's journey.

Yes, I call it a very easy distance.'' - Name the movie!)

But it was stunning scenery and a great way to ease into a long first day.

 

 

The view to the left:

 

 

 

 

The view to the right:

 

 

 

 

 

My next trip post will fill out this day and include

pictures of the Blue Lagoon and Reykjavik.

 

All told we spent only 24 hours in Iceland and it was not nearly enough. 
I almost wish I hadn't done any research ahead of the trip as there is so much more
to see and do than we were able to squeeze in.  I'll have to go back!

 

Where have you been recently?
Are there places you'd like to visit again?

A bee and a box

I ran out of time to post yesterday, so how about two crafts today? 

 

A day or two before my trip to England I decided I needed to have a

yellow bracelet to go with my new yellow and white striped scarf.  So I

decided to make these sparkly things:

One friend was astonished considering my terror of bees,

but I can handle one as a charm.

I ended up wearing them several times on the trip and was happy

I took the time to make them.

 

 

Now for a very cool craft!

My sister is working on a piece of tromp l'oeil that is amazing.  She's letting me put up

pictures of it even though it's still a work in progress. 

See the box with the letter on it? 

 

That letter is not real.  She's in the process of painting on the envelope.  

I'll have to post pictures again once it's complete.

 

 

The addresses are not real (I don't think), but inspired by real places. 

I love the detail around the stamp!

 

 

What do you think?  Pretty realistic?

 

Happy crafting!