UMELECKY

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Gray Days

Looking forward to Spring.

This is what it looked like here today when Jack and I went for our walk.

Still interesting, but I could stand some sunshine and some pretty colors.

It shouldn't be long now.

Just a few more weeks.

Hope the sun is shining in your part of the world.

Karen

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Bernice The Bunny

Hi!

Meet Bernice.

She came to life in my sewing room yesterday.

She was once a grain sack, a curtain, and a bed skirt.

She likes being a bunny better than all those other things.

And she loves her carrot!

Do something silly today. It will lift your spirits.

Karen

Paper Garland

As I mentioned in an earlier post, there are 4 birthdays in my family in the month of March.

Three of our daughters and mine.

This year we are planning to celebrate all of them together with a tea party.

We are making this a very girl kind of thing with lots of frills and pretty decorations.

Last night I made some paper garlands for the event.

These were so simple to make.

I used card stock and a large hole punch to make the circles (you could cut the circles out by hand if you don't have a hole punch), then stitched them together with my sewing machine (you can also stitch them by hand if you don't have a sewing machine). I used upholstery thread to make it a bit stronger.

I strung these across the curtain rod.

I made another type of garland to drape across a chicken wire door that hangs on the wall in my dining room. I cut out the circles then using a regular size hole punch, made 2 holes in each circle to string ribbon through (they look like a big paper button). This would be a great project to do with your children.

I'm pretty pleased with the overall look and I love the pretty colors.

This was a fun project and the happy colors brightened my day.

Hope you have a bright and happy day too!

Karen

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Green Living

I made a quick stop at the thrift store today and came home with some wonderful new treasures which I'll share with you on another post. Today I want to ramble on about how I've decided to recycle more, waste less and just make an overall effort to live a greener life. Although I've been using recycled materials in my crafts for years, I'm now taking it to a whole other level. My Mom called me yesterday to let me know that she has a big stack of old newspapers for me, but she forgot to save her used dryer sheets this week. My daughter stopped in for lunch today and complained that she has "trash" all over her kitchen that she's saving at my request. I know this might sound a bit like I'm some kind of hoarder and I guess I am to a certain degree, but not the kind you see on TV. I try to keep it all organized and I actually use these materials, not hoard them. Here are some of the things that I'm recycling at this time.