Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Bamboo coasters

A set of 4 coasters rolled and tied.  So fun and easy!
Go green!

Memory games

I made these from wood and scrap paper with mod podge.  Kinda fun!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

New crafting blog

Okay.  I'm going to try and start a crafting blog so you don't have to sort through all the boring stuff.  I'm starting this off with a welcome for all of your great crafting ideas.  We are planning for a fundraising project for an announcement that is soon to come. 
On this blog, I will record and share all of my crafting ideas and also offer them for purchase to contribute to our cause.

I thought I'd try my hand at Soap

These ones are a clear glycerine soap with my favorite fragrances!
This one is Avacado and Cucumber glycerine soap with Lavender flowers added

I got brave and tried oatmeal and cinnamon with this one and I love it!

Happy Mother's Day!

I have finally found the time to do something with the Turquoise I bought in Ethiopia.  These are for my Mom, Grandma and Adopted Grandma.  I love you girls!  I am so blessed to have so many wonderful women in my life.  Oh, and Mom - Thanks for "borning" me ( ;

I made jewelry cases from an old pair of Thomas' jeans - I'm all about up cycling!
This is the bracelet I made for my Mom.  It has 2 freshwater pearls and my favorite Ethiopian Turquoise.  I love you Mom!
I made this necklace for my Grandma.  She will look amazing wearing this.  My Grandma is gorgeous by the way.  Thomas always tells me that he looks forward to every stage I go thru in life because of how beautiful my Mom and Grandma are ( :  What a sweetheart.  It's true.  My grandma is a babe!

I found some old music in a seminary or institute songbook from the 1960's.  I thought it would make a nice back for this pendant.  The front is made from grass and a flower petal I picked and dried in Addis Ababa while we were in Ethiopia.  I like the way it turned out.

This is Marilyn's gift.  Marilyn is my adopted Grandma.  She is my grandma's soul-sister and I am grateful to her for her friendship and love for my grandma.  I love her so much! 
Thomas and I found an amazing little silk place in Addis Ababa called Sabahar and made an appointment to visit there.  Sabahar translated into English means Queen's silk - Saba was the queen of Sheba.  It was like a garden oasis - the whole property was a beautiful garden and the buildings were made of rock.  We spent the whole day there soaking in the sun, the flowers and the freshly dyed silks drying in the breeze. 
The woman who owns the place learned about silk worms in Asia and decided to try it out!  (My kind of girl!)  Anyway, she employs local disabled people to spin the silk and weave it.  They even save the pods the worms make, dye them and sew them on their shawls like flowers - beautiful!  This is a piece of raw silk and cotton woven into a shawl that I couldn't pass up.  SO beautiful!  Happy Mother's Day Marilyn! aka My other Gran.

P.S.  Check out my post on Sabahar - I've linked it to their website.

Sabahar

Aren't they cute! - Silk worms hard at work
Look past the grumpy little girl making a rough transition to her new mommy - look at the beautiful silks in the background - aaahhh heaven!
More shots of the amazing garden at Sabahar
Silk waiting to be spun into thread and yarn
Thomas' famous shot - he's so proud!  BEAUTIFUL garden!

Mod Podge Hair clip holder

Mod Podge Hair clip holder
I cut the buttons off of one of Thomas' old shirts and used scrap wood, paint and ribbon.

These purses are SO easy and SO cute!

New sew denim pocket purses

These purses are SO easy and SO cute!

The girls LOVE them!








Denim pocket purse instructions

Here are the instructions for making no sew pocket purses!

1. Cut out the butt pockets of adult pants - square ones are cute too.
2. Hot glue them together with a ribbon between them for the strap.
3. Decorate.

Voila! An adorable little pocket purse any little girl would be proud to tote!

Oh! One more thing...You don't have to cut the back fabric off the pockets. This provides 2 dividers inside.

Did I mention no sewing?!

Hair clips

My girls just love these! They're so cute clipped onto a headband or in piggys.





Jewelry



I took apart 2 earrings and discovered that these little rings fit the girls' fingers perfectly so I soldered these little sterling butterfly and dragonfly spacers to them. My girls love them!

All Ethiopian teenagers seem to have an incredible sense of pride in their heritage and flag. They wear anything they can get their hands on that are green, yellow and red. While in Ethiopia, I gathered flowers, leaves and grass for pressing. I learned how to tin microscope specimen glass and decided to make this Ethiopian flag pendant out of flowers and leaves I gathered in Addis Ababa. I filled this tiny vile with soil from Ethiopia and wrapped a bead with the letter K on it for Kidist. My tinning needs work, but I kind of like the rough look.

I actually got this idea from a magazine and thought it was brilliant! My girls will wear these when we go out. If we are ever separated, they will always have my cell number with them.
(I had to doctor the picture to get rid of my number - you get the idea though)
I've seen these for boys too - just different beads

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