Around the house

This is a potato. Shaped like a heart. (Dish is from Winners, given as a gift from my friend in NS. It is huge. Holds a bag of apples, a box of mandarins and various other fruits. I didn't even know I needed it. Now that I have it, what did I ever do before?)

This is a potato chip. Shaped like a heart. (look in the strawberry) Found on the same day as the potato. Draw your own conclusions, write your own story. (this fish dish was in my suitcase from our Portugal trip a few years ago. We bought it at an artisian market on our last night. The weather was perfect, the lights, people, smells, sense of adventure. I shall return there again. I use it to hold my tea bags so I don't have to get up from the table. Draw your own conclusions, write your own story.)

We are preparing for our letters to our penpals. This is a life sized tracing of the kids that they colour. Rafael's pen pal is from Alaska and Neve's is from Australia. If the moms are reading this, the letters are not sent yet. It's on my mind and I feel more guilty every day I don't get it out. please forgive.:}


And the Mister found a few moments this weekend to dig his fig tree out of the ground and turn the soil.(fig tree not pictured) Kind of excited about the garlic. I think this is the year we should get something.

And my computer is broked again. I'm using an old laptop, which surprisingly, is better than my own. I may have to claim rights to it.

off to sew. All day. I have shipped the kids out. A sale is coming this weekend. If you're in town, it's the Mom2Mom sale at St. John Norway? church at Woodbine and Kingston rd. 10-2. drop by, say hi.

Have a good one.
Amanda

Easter tree

Happy Easter!
Our efforts at Easter decorating were practically nil. Except for this tree thing with hangy bits.

And an egg that neve did at school. I was wondering why she came home full of colours one day.

A few wee ornaments that were kicking around in a bag. Greatly loved in another time.

And bits of roving that just happened to be close by.

A few pom poms on string.



And there you have it.
Spring threw up on the tree!

Happy Easter. I'm going to curl up with a book. Much celebrating of the singing kind this past week. Some quiet is in order. If only my kids could understand the need!! :}
Amanda

hair clip holder

Here she is completed....

My first clip holder was from Sewing for Children
And my 2nd one wasn't quite done in my mind as seen here

So finally, I got to it and put it together.

The flowerpot is a pouch to hold ponytail holders and other treasures like silly bands.

Wool sweater flowers and leaves. Bit o ribbon for the stem.

And you have a place to hang as many hair clips as you can.

Have a good one,
Amanda

spring chickies

Inspired by Myrtle and EuniceI just had to make up a few. (phone photos, sorry)

Quick and easy to make for my music students.

Colourful. Quirky.

I'm going to put some legs on the ones for my kids. That should be fun.

Chirp, Chirp.
Amanda

spring ist sprungen.

Almost. it's not spring to me until the magnolia blooms.
But this little guy was making a lot of noise. That's how I noticed him.

The garlic is sprouting.

Chives. Funny story.. I was putting the kids into the van the other morning and commented that it smelled like onions in there. My son chuckled and said that he had tasted some of the chives. He liked them. now I can smell chives on his breath when he goes outside or comes in to the house. cute.

Last year, DH and the kids went to the garden store and brought back some poppy plants for this planter. They were beautiful and finished their growing. but lo and behold, they bloomed again. Several times for the whole summer. I hope that they are perennials and not annuals. We'll see in a few weeks.


This past weekend was a blur of socializing and lots of desserts. O gym how I will greet thee tomorrow!
And this coming week, holy week is a busy time for me. Singing for 5 services and 1 rehearsal. Let's hope the chocolate I ate this weekend is a buffer for the germies floating around. I must stay well until easter monday.

have a good one.
Amanda

monkey cubed

Sorry for the onslaught of monkeys readers, but someone in this house that is taller and hairyer than me thinks this is funny!

Luckily, I do too!


Have a great weekend!
Amanda

TOO Many WIPs

I really should get focused enough to finish some of these projects.
These need to go in the washer.

Along with these.

These hairless, capless gnomes need a garden bag each. And a toadstool. And some flowers.

These sweater flowers need some ribbon stems to make into hair clip holders. I'm waiting on little clear hoops that I had in my hand at the notions store. I was holding them thinking, "what do I need these for? Do I really need these now? I'll wait 'til I know what I want them for." Then I came home and remembered. Another trip to the store in the future.

And lastly,
these silk cocoons are waiting to be dyed like the ones in the latest issue of Living Crafts.

And a dress cut out for Neve. Waiting to be sewn. I keep saying that it's still a little too cold for it. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. Nothin' to do with my inability to finish things these days. Or the crazed search for the bag of craft stuff I was just working on. What kind of bag did I put it in? Where did I put that bag? Where's my case with all the threads in it? Where are my needles? ugh. see, need some focus.

Have a good one,
Amanda

Creating *b*

My crafty niece has a blog of her own. She reminds me of myself. I was always making something out of nothing. She has a bit of a better start with this access to the internet and crafting all over the world for inspiration than I did at her age.

As such, she has tried her hand at almost everything. I've sent her felt, paints, sketching supplies, and most recently at Christmas, tools for sculpty. But now, now she has moved on to jewelry making. And thus, her blog has been born.
Creating *b*

Go have a look, say hello. She'll be tickled!

Have a good one,
Amanda

friday finds

This week in thrift.. aprons.


This little treasure was spotted by my eagle eyed friend and she allowed my to have it. Too precious not to go home with one of us. And since I have this Portugal connection, i.e. he sleeps in my bed, it's now proudly mine.

The stitching is simply amazing! A well practiced hand has been here. I wonder what it's history is?

The whole thing is a giant pocket! Which is very handing whilst cleaning up and having to bring things from room to room. My DH says it was probably used to gather whatever was for dinner from the garden. Doesn't that sound great? And indeed, we did that when we went to DH's family's home in Portugal.
here Nothing like fresh from the ground to the table.

Another apron is this pink one. The gingham in light pink with all the stitching was a draw again.

A bit of patience here also.

A little lighter for hot summer days crafting outside in the yard. I have some plans.

have a good one,
Amanda

bowl full of monkeys

What's better than a barrel of monkeys?
A bowl of em!

The large ball has been wet felted in the washer after I needle felted the face. It came out pretty tight and as you can see, it isn't as fuzzy as the rest of them.

Look ma, no hands!

The little ones are going to be key chains or zipper pulls. I'll show you when I get them done.


Fun times around here!

Thanks for looking,
Amanda

wool balls tea pot trivet

Here's the tea pot trivet I made with all those balls.

I think I may try one in a square next time, should there be one. There are glass bead in between the balls.

And not to have just one photo, here is a "time" at our house. This instrument is called an Ugly Stick. It is made out of a mop, piece of birch on the bottom and lots of washers and beer bottle caps. It is commonly used in Newfoundland when having a good scuff. It makes a good jangly sound.


The kids get a little rangy every once and awhile, so we put on some music. This time, we put on a CD from the band my brother used to be the drummer for,Da Rock
This type of music calls for some instruments, the ugly stick and some spoons made their way into the merriment.

I always said, if you want a fun workout program, just do 3-5 Newfie Jigs a day. Google it. Some fun wha?

Have a good one,
Amanda

Felt bead bookmarks

K, I have to get more imaginative with my titles and with my line of crafting.
So another post on wool, felting and little balls... guess I'm in a mode.

Last weekend, my girlfriend and I went to the fabric district and happened upon Arton beads Oh. My. Word! And I'm not even a jewelry person or beader. (yes, I made that word up. I think) Anyhow, I bought a bunch of findings that I've been wishing I had. Here is one of them....

The metal Book marks. These are the small size. They also had some more ornate ones with mermaids, dolphins and I think even some kinds of skullery. Fun stuff!

Being in a wool bead mood, I made these up. The rainbow beads are from Deserres, the winter ones, I made. A few more of these will be made and played with.


Have a good one,
Amanda

Button felting pictures

Last week, while Neve was needle felting, I gave her a rectangle cookie cutter with green and blue fleece to make the sky and grass.

Then we found some buttons to add to it. She has a bear who just jumped over the star. Can you see it? Forget the cow and the moon. We have stars people!

I had some fun digging through my special shapes button stash.

Bunnies and roses.

purple bunny and flowers.


There are more in the works and a hunt for wee buttons.

Have a good one.
Amanda