My daughter, Rachel and friend, Ben decided to design, build and paint their own bird house, complete with a swmming pool, before leaving for college. I think you’ll be impressed with this house. I’ll be securing it in the tree eagerly awaiting to see who moves in!
I have tortured myself with coming up with a design to use some of the many colorful French cotton fabrics I have collected over the years. I did an awful lot of designing, measuring and cutting, only to redesign, remeasure and recut. My husband does the math for me. (FYI-what is with rotary cutters with new blades not cutting all the way through the fabric? Don’t get me started.) It is not like me to change my mind so much, but if I’m going to do all this work, it better look darn good. Here are the fabrics I am using:
I only wish my 3 talented, quilt-making sisters-in law (Mary Lu, Jeanne and Donna) lived near me to help out.
Stay tuned for the finished king size quilt. But don’t hold your breath!
My daughter and I decided to make 2 collages, with a travel theme, for her dorm room walls, as she is off to UPenn in the fall. She made one, and I made the other. We used travel stickers (that look old) that came in a tin from a museum gift shop. In order to give the pictures texture, we glued some interesting things on the collages – old buttons, pins, foreign coins, old stamps, old keys, a tiny padlock, feathers, miniature items from a doll house, pressed leaves, hot sealing wax, piece of an old passport, old airmail letter envelope, ripped section of a subway map, cut out from a safetly brochure from an airplane.
We used thick watercolor paper and heavy duty glue. It was a lot of fun! Now we need to find some shadow box frames to put them in.
Overlap 2 Popsicle sticks and glue them together. (see photo) Do this with 2 sets of sticks and then glue them together in a cross. Let this dry well. Draw outlines of 4 butterfly shapes on a piece of 8.5 X 11″ white card stock. You can get inspiration from books or photos and illustrations online or copy those in the photo above. Cut out the shapes and color them with markers on both sides. I used different designs on each side of the butterflies, so there are 8 different designs total. They look best if you outline them in black. Punch a hole in the head of each butterfly. Cur 4 strands of yarn to the lengths you want. 2 should be longer than the other 2, but there should be matching pairs. Tie the butterflies to the ends of the popsicle sticks. Take another stand of yarn and tie around center of sticks where they meet to make a hanging strand for the mobile.
I designed and made a laptop tote bag for my daughter for high school graduation to hold her new Macbook laptop. I ordered a stack of 100% wool felt squares in autumn colors, washed them to shrink them, cut them into strips and sewed away. I even made a hanging cell phone case. The strap and lining were made from leftover corduroy I used cotton quilt batting between the layers for cushion support. If you are planning to attempt this, just know that it is difficult to cut 100% wool felt evenly, as it is squishy and moves around easily.
The project was time consuming, but well worth the effort! She’ll be the only student on her college campus with a bag like this!
Look what we did all day? Acrylic paint and a bit of glitter is all it took to paint the blown out eggs. They last for years!
Lilly Badilly spent an evening with an extra special group of children with cancer at Gilda’s Club last night in Fort Lauderdale. The children’s program is called “Noogieland,” in honor of Staurday Night Live’s comedian, Gilda Radner, who died from ovarian cancer in 1989. The kids learned all about writing, reading and Costa Rica. Then we did a craft project – a decorated paper bird to hang. Thanks to one of our Corporate Partners (who wishes to remain anonymous) we were able to donate a book to each of the children who participated. Thank you, thank you, thank you TB!
I cannot say enough about what a wonderful place Gilda’s Club is to be and how dedicated the volunteers and staff members are there. If you are not familiar with this organization, Gilda’s Club is a completely free cancer support center – not only for those who are ill – but for all member of their families. Networking groups, lectures, workshops, specialized children’s and teen programs, and social events are all part of their programs. The South Florida location is housed in a gorgeous old mansion in the historic section of Fort Lauderdale along the Tarpon River. They rely upon donations to keep their indispensable services going. I cannot think of a better cause to support! I am sure that Gilda herself would be so proud of what the organization using her name has accomplished and how many lives it has touched. If you or anyone you know needs cancer support, check out the website to find locations near you.
I hope to be invited back soon to do more craft projects. Special thanks to Elisa Jones, Noogieland Manager, for inviting me.
Gilda’s Club of S Florida is housed in a most inviting historic house
I was greeted by a gorgeous peacock upon my arrival at Gilda’s Club
Sharing my character voices with the children
The children loved making paper birds
An adorable 5th grade girl shows me her blue bird.
What you’ll need:
Choose 3 or 4 paint colors for your ornament. Remove the metal top of the glass ball and set aside for later. Squeeze a moderate amount of paint into the opening of the ornament. Do not dilute with water. Not too much paint at one time. Twirl the ornament around to move the paint around randomly. Don’t cover the entire ornament with one color. Add different colors, continuing to swirl the ball around to make interesting color patterns. Use enough paint until all the clear glass inside is covered. (If you like glitter, put some in before squeezing the paint in. It will show up when the paint dries.) Turn the ball upside down with foil or a Styrofoam tray beneath it to catch the excess paint. Prop the ball ornament up so the opening is not sitting on the foil, but rather is suspended to really let the extra paint drip out. Keep the ball like this for 2 days or until really dry. Once dry, put the metal tip back on. You can hang these ornaments on a tree or from a chandelier with beautiful ribbon. They make great gifts!
Making a bookmark is fun and easy to do! And bookmarks make great gifts for every reader in your life.
Here is one I just made for a friend’s birthday. Notice – it is not perfectly rectangular. How cool is that? Who ever said a bookmark must be boring?!
Here’s what you need:
Directions:
Here are some great websites for you to check out….
