Tuesday, February 28, 2012

There is no crafting without cursing

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My mom went to see my grandma and came home with a surprise for me.


Not only did she agree to give me her wedding set, she also sent home my great grandma's engagement ring, a locket my great grandpa gave his intended before she became my great grandmother, and also her mother's earrings. Earrings so old they attach by turning the small screw on the back until they were tight against your earlobe. Have to wonder how comfortable they were!


This time when I put the ribbons on the ring inside the frames, I was a bit smarter and attached them to the matting, rather than the back paper. I also hot glued small pieces of cardboard to the side of the frames to hold the paper back further. Not sure why I didn't think of that the first time I did them!

But you say, where's the cursing in all that?! Well, it wouldn't be a craft of mine if it wasn't more than slightly frustrating. Those earrings. The ones with the fancy screw backs. The ones that liked to flip and twist and slide and turn. Do you think they would hold still on the ribbon for me to figure out how to place them in that tiny frame?? Mom was over though, and together with a little family cursing, we put a little hot glue on the earrings and glued them to the ribbon!


And then figured out a configuration that we both loved! I love how the ring sits behind the pearls in the earrings. There's not a lot of space in that little frame but we made it work!


This time I also made little notes for behind the paper stating who the rings belonged to and their wedding date. I glued them with a few dabs of hot glue and left room to tuck in my grandma's original notes.


As for the locket, I took apart my scrapbooked frame, and taped it to the middle of the picture. Luckily it is thin and the back had a little bit of give in it.


All back up on the wall again! Looks like I may need to go on the hunt for a few more small frames though if I ever get to Rimbey to ask my dad's mom for her rings!

Oh darn. More shopping. Curses!

Monday, February 13, 2012

It may not be a gallery wall..but it will do for now.

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I really want a gallery wall.

Full of awesome frames of every size. A beautiful mirror, maybe a porthole one, or a bubble mirror or maybe just mirror in an epic frame. Shadow boxes. Pictures that we love. Possibly a few objects hanging in and around all our awesome frames.

Sensing a theme yet?

My framed rings and newly painted white frame would have a home. A lovely, beautiful home surrounded by other beautiful things.

Too bad Ryan has said no more acquiring of things that I will then require him to move.

That meant I had to come up with some fabulous idea of how and where to hang my frames without shopping. Boo. The spot that the frame originally came from was just wide enough for it to hang nicely in. I couldn't seem to wrap my head around how I was going to add those four little tiny frames to the area without them looking odd.


So, I took down some different photos (sorry kids!) and shopped my house instead. I bought this lovely bowl at IKEA a while ago. I had left Ryan at home so he couldn't veto the purchase. It was holding some glass balls on my buffet. But I think it looks much more amazing as art on my wall instead.


What do you think? I love it. And it didn't cost a thing, nor did I add to our collection of things to move. You're welcome Ryan.

Oh, and thanks for hanging these and going along with my crazy ideas!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Framed Art

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While trying to think of where to hang my small square frames with my mom's rings, I happened to think of the area where we had a framed picture of our wedding invitation.


A family friend gave us this as a wedding present.  Although I loved the sentiment and idea of it, I've never liked the color. Green is not my favorite.

I thought maybe I could take it apart and somehow save the invite and the flowers but change out the green to better match the small ring frames.  Too bad for me, she really glued those flowers on there! I dug through my box of keepsakes though and happened to find an invitation I had saved.


Mine has a wee bit of water damage on the bottom of it. I figured I could disguise it though with matting. Unfortunately, no matter which paper I held up to it, I just couldn't come up with anything I loved. I kept coming back to one particular piece of scrap book paper that I really, really liked. Only problem was the best part of the design was right in the middle of the page.



So I decided to toss the invitation back into the keepsake box until I could come with some ideas for it and just frame the paper by itself!

I painted the green outline of the mat with some leftover red paint I had. The frame I spray painted with some left over off white from the cupboard repair. I didn't want bright white as the small frames are not quite white either.


Sorry about the flash. It's super hard to get a good picture this time of day in this house of shadows!

I love the way it turned out. Love it. Now to get them all hung up!!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Recycled Leg Warmers

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Storm's school is finishing up a unit on recycling. They are having a fashion show where the kids can show what they have learned by making clothing and accessories from recycling and reusing.  She has a tin can purse, some toilet paper earrings, and a few other items already made. I've had this idea for making leg warmers out of an old sweater booked marked for quite a while and this seemed like a good opportunity to try it out.

I have three of the same sweaters, just in different colors, so I decided I could sacrifice one of Storm's choice to her cause.

Cut off the sleeves of your sweater. I cut mine straight across by the armpit. You're going to also need the bottom waist cuff of your sweater so cut that off too.


Cut your waist cuff the right length to match the top of your sleeve, with a seam allowance. Make sure it will fit your ankle/calf! Sew it right sides together into a circle. I sewed it with a straight stitch twice and then zig zagged it a couple of times, hoping to control any fraying.


Now there are two ways you can sew your cuff to your legging. You can sew it with the right side of the cuff facing the wrong side of the sleeve. This will create a fold down cuff. You can sew a button onto the outside to hold down the cuff. Since my leg warmers are for just for Storm's Trashion Show, I went the simple way and sewed right sides together. I also didn't have two buttons I could use for the fold down cuff! Made the decision simpler.


Line your seams up and sew the shit out of it. Okay, I don't know as that's strictly necessary but  I sewed around a few times and then zigzagged the edges.


Flip them out the right way and tada! You have yourself a set of free leg warmers.

How very 1985 of you.

Monday, February 6, 2012

Rings full of memories

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These are my mom's wedding rings.

Standing sorting potatoes all day long, my mind tends to wander. I was standing there thinking about my Dad and somehow started thinking about my mom's old wedding set. I've had it in my case for the last 22 years. I wore them for a couple of years after they split up then gradually I stopped wearing so many rings and I put them away in my case.

My brother and I had a really great childhood for kids whose parents would eventually divorce. We never seen them fight. They never swore. The closest my mom would come was to give my dad the finger. Which amused us kids to no end as we knew she was pissed then. He would usually grin and soon enough she would come back into the room and that would be the end of it. From a child's perspective anyways. By the time they separated, we had grown up and realized not everything was so simple as it seems when you are 6.

In my wandering thoughts, I decided I wanted to do something with those old rings that I've had just stored away. No one will ever wear them again but they symbolize a really great childhood for me and I wanted them out where they could remind me.

I decided to frame them. I found some small square frames that would be deep enough to hold the rings on a ribbon.


I bought four because I've decided to ask my Grandmas for their rings as well. Both my Grandpas are gone now, and I'm hoping they might let me frame their rings. The fourth is for my set. Eventually I will get a new ring and I plan on framing mine as well.


Shopping with Storm, it's no surprise we came home with a whole pack of scrapbook paper!


In my frame, I'm hanging a tiny key that we had floating around here. It actually came with a really cheap pair of Blade's handcuffs. I eventually tossed the broken cuffs, but kept the key.


The other two frames just got a square of scrap book paper. If the Grandmas say no, I'll find something else to hang in there eventually. But for now, they look cute just like that.


I think I'm in love with this idea. I wish I had done it sooner!


Now to find the perfect place to hang them. I'd like to do a gallery wall, but that will have to wait until after the big move!