Plant Stand For The Summer

Remember the PLANT STAND I made out of a coffee table and end tables last fall?

I gave it a mini makeover for the summer, now that the plants are outdoors.

Here’s what it looks like now:

 

I removed all the plants to outside for the summer…

 

Rearranged the gardening magazines and books…

 

Switched out candles for the garden tools I had in these vases…

 

 

 

 

Shifted some of the other knickknacks I had on it…

 

And added a couple of other things from other parts of the room.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not a bad look if I do say so myself.

I actually think it looks better than with all my plants on, but alas, the purpose is for plants during the winter.

 

 

 

 

Technorati Tags: Decor

Planter Bench Design

I bought an old metal bed at an auction, this past weekend. 

My plans  are to make a planter bench out of it.

Here's my design for how I imagine it to look:

Whadda think?

SILHOUETTE LOVE

A few weeks ago  we celebrated my Mother-in-law and Father-in-law’s 60th wedding anniversary. Each child’s (of theirs) family was asked to contribute some type of wall decoration, poster, pics, etc., to decorate the church cafeteria, which was where the affair was held.  This post is a long time coming, because I was waiting for nice clear pics from the photographer that was there that day. Unfortunately, either the pics of the tree did not turn out or she forgot to take them, so I’m stuck with my usual point and shoot camera pics.

This was our contribution:

What I did was to make hearts on my Silhouette. For the children, of which there are 8, I started each branch with the child’s and spouse’s name and the year of their marriage in another heart at the bottom. Next on the branch came the child’s children (grandchildren),  followed by their children (great-grandchildren). For these it was just the grandchild’s name and spouse (if applicable) and just the great-grandchildren’s name on hearts after each of their parents.
 
I used an online poster maker, Block Posters, to make an image of a tree trunk, which I cut out from black poster board and placed the branches starting from it in a willow tree type shape. Here it is laid out on the living room floor to check for size and composition.

Across the top of the trunk I put the cut out phrase “All Because Two People Fell In Love” on a gold ribbon.

Under the ribbon; the tree trunk is attached, with thumbtacks, to a cork strip that runs across that short section of wall in the church cafeteria. That was a pretty sweet way to put it up. Luckily, nobody else needed that much space, so I could use it.
For the anniversary couple, I made a B&W copy of their wedding photo and placed it in a heart which I cut out of wood print contact paper. The two intertwined hearts at the bottom contain their names and date of their wedding.

I took these pics the day before the event when we set up for the party, so I don’t have a final pic of the Family Tree. What I added was a large Black Heart at the center top  with  60th Anniversary and the date of the party, just because I felt it needed something in that space up there. I think it turned out rather well and I got numerous compliments on it.
I left the backing on the hearts and just cut out the main part, so that we could just attach them with some double sided carpet tape and each sibling could take their family’s branch home with them to do as they pleased. I plan to make some sort of framed picture with our family’s hearts.

 

Have A “Love”ly Day!

Linking to:

Fireflies and Jellybeans

Polly Want A Crafter
Homemaker On A Dime
Sew Many Ways
The DIY Show Off
Someday Crafts
Night Owl Crafting
Beyond The Picket Fence
Fireflies and Jellybeans
Paisley Passions
The CSI Project
The Thrifty Groove
My Re-purposed Life
Remodelaholic
The Creative Crate

Technorati Tags: DIY,Silhouette,Love

FROGS

Technorati Tags: Silhouette,Crafts

I just attended a baby shower, where the mom-to-be had a frog theme.

This is the gift bag I decorated to put my homemade gifts in (more on those in another post).

It started out as a plain green bag to which I added some cut outs  from contact paper, made on my Silhouette cutting machine.                                                                                                                                    
I did trace around the letters and the features of the frog with a fine tip marker, just because they didn’t quite show up as well as I would have liked.

This is the cutting file I used for the bag and the outline frog I used for another project.

These are my own creation and I am sharing the zip file if anyone is interested in the frogs. I am not sure if this file will work for any other cutters, since it is labeled a Silhouette studio file on my PC.
This is the first time I am sharing a file, so I would like some input as to whether or not it actually works. If so, I will share some more in the future.
Zip file  ----- http://www.mediafire.com/?d4keui6ax3digp3

Linking to :

The Creative Crate
Sew Many Ways
Homemaker on a Dime
The Idea Room
Polly Want A Crafter
DotDotDot
DIY by Design
Remodelaholic
The Creative Crate

KITCHEN OFFICE PLANS

I have this area in my kitchen where I have my desk for doing book work. It is about the size of a closet, but not a closet. Get my drift?

Anyway…..

This is what it looks like now.

Not very pretty or even neat. I have a lot of stuff to file and put away.

This is how I would like it to look.

Whadda Ya think?

Now I just have to wait for the weather to warm up some more so I can get to painting in the garage.

At least I can be dreaming in my home designer program until I can actually work on something.

Technorati Tags: DESIGN

KITCHENS AND STUFF

If you enjoy reading my posts, leave a comment at the bottom.

I really like getting feedback and respond to every comment or question.

So please, won't you leave me some footnotes!

http://imgfave.com/view/969605

Just my opinion, but does anyone else not like this, or is it just me? I have no problem til I get to the barn board cabinet doors.

http://imgfave.com/view/998796

This would be a great idea for a craft table. You could elegantly label the drawers with craft supply names.

http://imgfave.com/view/953593

Kind of a neat idea for a kitchen herb garden, but I'll bet it's expensive.

http://imgfave.com/view/933659

Wouldn't I just love to have a kitchen garden like this!

http://imgfave.com/view/933658

Here's another view.

http://imgfave.com/view/899934

This would be nice for a covered porch. Don't think I'd like it for a kitchen or dining room, though.

http://imgfave.com/view/881014 

All I can say is.... WOW!

http://imgfave.com/view/866917

I really wish I could pull off something like this in my kitchen, but probably not.

Now this would be my dream kitchen for a new house. Just couldn’t make it work in our present house. Some of these images are from the Kohler website and some I took myself at the Kohler Design Center.

Have a Dream Filled Day!

CROCHET RIBBON NECKLACE

I made this necklace for one of my daughters for Christmas.

 Materials and Tools 

1 spool of 1" ribbon
1 spool of 1/4" ribbon
5 large beads
Size H crochet hook
Large embroidery or darning needle

CROCHET BALLET SLIPPERS - VARIATION

This is a variation of my Crochet Ballet Slippers.

CROCHET BALLET SLIPPERS

My daughter wanted some ballet type slippers. I looked at several patterns online and did not like any of them. For one thing, they didn't seem to have much substance for slippers. I made up my own pattern. I started with my trusty Slipper Sock  pattern and developed it from there.

**You are welcome to use the pattern, and even sell any slippers you make from it, but please don't sell the pattern and pass it off as your own. Kindly link back to this post if you use it.**

**If you see a mistake in the pattern or something is not clear, email me and I will try to help.**

♥email me♥

Here's the pattern:

Crochet Ballet Slippers

Materials

Worsted weight yarn approximately 6-8 ounces

(Can be made with 1or 2 colors)

Crochet hooks size I and size H

Large button

*Note: These are made with 2 strands of yarn.

Instructions for womens size 11. For smaller sizes, use a smaller size hook, or do a few less rows in the ribbed part.

Right Slipper

Rnd 1: With size I hook and 2 strands of yarn, ch 2, work 5 sc info 2nd ch from hook to form a circle. Mark last st of this rnd with a pin, then move pin to mark the end of each succeeding rnd.

Rnd 2: Work 3 sc into each sc around: you should have 15 sc.

Rnd 3: * 2 sc in first sc, sc in each of next 2 sc, rep from * around:  20 Sc.

Rnd 4:  * 2 sc in first sc, sc in each of the next 3sc, rep from * around 25 sc.

Rnds 5-12 Work even on 25 sc, making sure to move your marker each round.

From now on sc in the back loop only.

Rnd 13 Ch 1, turn. Sc in back loop of  next 18 sc.

Rnds 14-31 Ch1, turn. Sc in back loop of each sc across. (18sc)

Dec Row 1: Ch 1, turn. Sc in each of next 7 sc, dec over next 2 sts as follows: draw up a loop in each of the next 2 sts: 3 loops on hook, YO and pull through all 3 loops on hook, dec as before over next 2 sts, sc in each of next 7 sc.

Dec Row 2: Ch1, turn. Sc in each of next 6 sc, dec over next 2 sts, twice, sc in each of next 6 sc.

Dec Row 3: Ch1, turn. Sc in each of next 5 Sc, dec over next 2 sts, sc in each of next 5 sc; ch 1, turn.

Fold back section in half, carefully matching sts. Sl St inside loops of sides tog. Fasten off.

Edging and strap

With the size H hook, attach 1 strand of yarn in the first stitch to the left side of the back joining with a sl st.

Rnd 1: Ch 1, sc evenly around top left  rim of slipper (about 3 sc per row on the sides), in each sc across front, and  evenly around top right rim of slipper. Join with sl st to first sc.

Rnd 2: *Ch 1, sc in next sc, dec over next 2 sc. Repeat from * 8 more times.

Ch 30, join with sc in 10th sc back from chain in same row, sc in next sc back in same row.

Ch1 turn, skip first sc, sc in next sc and in each chain back around. (strap)

*sc in next sc, dec over next 2 sc. Repeat from * around to back. Join with a sl st and fasten off.

Left Slipper

With the size I hook, crochet the main part of the slipper the same as the left one.

Edging and strap

With the size H hook, attach 1 strand of yarn in the first stitch to the left side of the back joining with a sl st .

Rnd 1: Ch 1, sc evenly around top left  rim of slipper (about 3 sc per row on the sides), in each sc across front, and  evenly around top right rim of slipper. Join with sl st to first sc.

Rnd 2: Count 13 stitches to the right of the back joining and place a stitch marker.

* Ch 1, sc next sc, dec over next 2sc. Repeat from * around to the marked stitch. 

Ch 30, join with sc in 10th sc back from chain in same row, sc in next sc back in same row.

Ch1 turn, skip first sc, sc in next sc and in each chain back around. (strap)

*sc in next sc, dec over next 2 sc. Repeat from * to back joining and fasten off.

Weave in ends. Sew a button  on the opposite side from strap directly across from the center of the strap on each slipper.

Alternate finishing:

Edging

With the size H hook, attach 1 strand of yarn in the first stitch to the left side of the back joining with a sl st.

Rnd 1: Ch 1, sc evenly around top left  rim of slipper (about 3 sc per row on the sides), in each sc across front, and  evenly around top right rim of slipper. Join with sl st to first sc.

Rnd 2: Ch 1, * sc in 1 sc, dec over next 2 sc. Repeat from * around.

Rnd 3: Repeat rnd 2.

Rnd 4: Sc in each st around. Fasten off and weave in ends.


You can see the finished variation HERE!

CUTTING BOARDS

These are the cutting boards we made for our future daughter-in-law for Christmas.

Here they are before oiling.

We bought a scroll saw last summer and finally got it set up to make these.  We traced a couple of my cutting boards onto an oak board for the pattern. When Gary came in with the new boards and asked me if I liked them, I was thrilled. I loved them and told him we may have to make some for me! Gary did the initial sanding on the belt sander and I did a little final touchup by hand. Then I oiled them with mineral oil and after that soaked in, I waxed them with beeswax. That is supposed to close up the pores of the wood some, so bacteria can't get in. I think they turned out wonderful!

Have a "cut-free" day!