South Africa Souvenirs

This summer we traveled to South Africa.  I found a few greeting cards made by a local artist using recycled objects and thought they would make a great souvenir.  Ranging from 35 to 50 Rand each (between $4 and $6 Canadian) these were a thrifty purchase.  They were small and flat and easy to pack in my suitcase, too!

I knew from the start that I wanted to frame and hang them, but I had a little trouble because the cards were a bit 3D and I quickly realized that they weren't sized to any standard North American frame.

The solution was to purchase some "adjustable depth" frames from Michaels.  These provided some addition space between the card and the glass.

They're actually a really neat idea: just pile as many mini frames behind/in front of the piece of art as you like and get the depth you need.

I mounted each card on burlap printed scrapbooking paper trimmed to fit.

Right now the pictures are hanging in our 1970s rec room,  ready to be the inspiration for a modern makeover to that floor of the house.  I'm so very pleased with their cuteness and originality.

'Tis the season...for wrapping gifts

I can't believe I found the time this week, but I'm glad I did!  I wrapped with paper, tissue, tape, string, ribbon, bows, and gift bags.  After about 5 hours, my lower back started to hurt, but I kept on going for just a little bit longer.  It's not that I had a ton of things to wrap, it's just that I had a lot of crafty fun with the process.

Here are a few peeks:

1.  Plain brown dollar store gift bags + simple black stamping = cute, unique, thrifty gift wrap.

The dollar store bags come in packs of 2 or three for a dollar.  The stamps are from Michael's for about $1.50 each.

2.  I've used the same ornament for about 4 or 5 weddings now, but I still love it.  The mirrored decoration is from the home decor aisle of the dollar store.  I wrinkled up and re-flattened tissue paper for the innermost layer, wrapped that in polka-dotted cellophane and wrapped that all up with a 2m x 40cm piece of silvery tulle.

Full Disclosure: Not everything got wrapped, I must admit.  In an act of true classiness, I handed two of my colleagues their gifts "wrapped" in the brown paper bags they came in from the LCBO. :)  They didn't seem to mind one bit!  Wrap some, leave some: it's all about balance, I guess. ;)

Mug Shots

I kept seeing this little craft on Pinterest, and after my sister-in-law tried it, I just had to see for myself how it worked.

We have had a run of bad luck with breaking dishes lately.  More specifically, we're busting more mugs than a punch-drunk boxer.  So I decided to get Dan some coffee cups for Christmas.  I love it when a gift can be practical and personal at the same time.

I like to drink from soup-bowl sized vessels, but Dan prefers small cups that he can refill so the coffee stays hot.  I found two cute little cappuccino cups in the housewares section at Zehr's (a local grocery store) for $3.00 each.

A few minutes with a Sharpie marker and a half-hour in the oven at 350 degrees produced these:

I was too excited to wait until Christmas with all of the presents under our tree, so I've been getting Dan to open a gift a day for a while now!

I sense a coffee date on the couch in our near future.

Hello again.

One hundred and forty-three days!  It has been one hundred and forty-three days since I last posted on this blog.  This was not an intentional fast, but more likely a sign that it has been a busy fall.  Now, on my first day of Christmas vacation, I'm knocked out on the couch with a cold.  What a perfect time to upload some photos from my camera and take a look at what I've been up to.

First things first: back to that Knobbly Noggin toque I posted back on August 1.  That was made with leftovers from this blanket:

Can you see the bumpy texture?  I thought it was a lot of fun.  I started off following a "Ruffles and Dots" pattern I found online.  I thought this big ball of yarn would be more than enough to complete the job.

The big chunky ball, however, disappeared before the blanket was square.

So rather than attempting to match dye lots, I decided to go funky and mix red and pink.

I didn't have enough yarn left to do the ruffled border from the original pattern (ruffles are yarn gobblers!), so I finished it off with a scallop border.

It ended up being a pretty big baby blanket for my cousin's baby girl, Shiloh, but hopefully she'll be able to enjoy it as a play mat as well.

The lesson in this little crochet adventure: starting with a plan is a good idea, but being flexible when the yarn runs out is how to get things done. ;)

Name This Pattern!

Hello!?  What is this strange creature ambling across my deck boards?

Straight from the so-bizarre-it's-cute category, here is the hat I made last week with some leftover scraps.

The puff stitch is a good one to know.  It's so easy, too: if you're crocheting dc's, use tc's for your puff stitch.  Just start making multiple stitches in the same dc from the row below and it'll start puffing out for you.

The basic pattern here is 4dc, 4tc in the next dc, repeated around and around and around.  It's that easy!  I will post a pattern once I find out how it fits the baby I made it for.

The hat is currently on its way to its recipient, along with a larger project.  I'll post the other project once I'm sure the giftees have seen it first.

But for now, this hat needs a clever name.  Any great ideas?  Submit them by leaving a comment below.

I'm sharing this post at several of the link parties featured on the right-hand-side of my blog.

Table Upgrade

Today was Spraypaint Saturday 2012.  (You didn't know it was Spraypaint Saturday?  Oh, don't worry: neither did I until the whim struck mid-afternoon!)  I had 4 projects on the go.  Take a look at project number one.

The biggest project of the day was an IKEA table upgrade.  A before shot would have been a good idea, but I guess I missed that step.  This came from Dan's bachelor pad: can you guess why it had been relegated to the basement storage room?

No, he's not a hobbyist butcher or anything.  It's a combination of tea and black cherry juice stains.  Pretty gross.

Step One was to sand the table top.  The stains were significantly reduced with some 100-grit sandpaper (leftover from my ongoing dresser redo) and then I wiped down the table with a damp, dish-soapy rag.

Step Two was to give the table a skirt, made of newspaper and painter's tape.  I had fun reading the sale flyers while I made the skirt (they only arrived this morning; there are some good deals at Shoppers Drug Mart this week, by the way).

I got smart this time and saved what's left of our sunburned lawn with plastic drop sheet.

Step Three was to prime the table top.  This was my first time using a spray-on primer.  It is surprisingly messy stuff!

Now, the original plan was to paint the tabletop with the leftover Peacock Blue cabinet paint, but when I read the labels on the spray cans and realized that I could spray over top of the primer after only 20 minutes, well...I grabbed some leftover black paint and made quick work of it.

Ta da!  My sophisticated, stain-free table is complete.  This is the start of the craft corner set-up in our rec room.

What is that black thing on the left?  It's Project Number Two, which should be dry enough to hang and share tomorrow.

Project Cost:

$0.00 for a table from the furnace room

$5.00 for a can of primer

$4.00 for 2/3 can of black spray paint

$2.00 for the drop cloth

====================

$11.00 craft table!  Hooray!

Painting Week Begins

On Saturday, the plan for the coming week was to finally get to painting our bedroom.  On Sunday, we found this cabinet at a vintage furniture store, and the plan changed a bit.  (Summer days are long, so a short attention span is okay, okay?) 

The cabinet was in definite need of a makeover, but it had definite potential: all of the drawers slid smoothly and had stoppers to hold them in place.  The door hinges and latch worked well...and it had a complete set of hardware.  Also, it fit into the back of our 2-door hatchback, which I took as a sign that it was meant to come home with us.

Yesterday was Part One of the makeover process.  I removed all the hardware, scrubbed everything down with dish soap and water, sanded, applied wood filler, sanded again, and washed the whole thing down with TSP to prep the surface for painting.  The prep work is the hardest part: I took about 3 hours to get the furniture ready to paint, but hopefully that time was worth it!

I bought my first can of Benjamin Moore paint for this project.  It wasn't exactly inexpensive but it's a specially formulated product that can be applied over oil or latex, and it doesn't require a primer (and less expensive primer plus less expensive paint starts to equal more expensive paint, anyway).  Also, the colour (Peacock Blue) is gorgeous.

The dry time between coats is 16 hours.  I'm painting it in the living/dining room so that I can have the TV on while I work.  Add to that the fact that we currently have two full sets of dining furniture in there (more on that later) and it's cramped quarters in our cozy cottage.  That's a definite motivation to get this project finished!  

In the meantime, Paint Week continues.  While I'm waiting on this project, I can start the next one.  Project number two is to paint the bedroom.  I'm picking up the paint today and keeping the paint roller rolling!