Little Projects

With the short string of good weather here I was able to get some spray painting in. It was wonderful. I hit Hobby Lobby's 80% off aisle and found these pretty candle holders. I needed something a little lighter.....
And they never looked better.
It always amazes me what a coat of paint can do.
I also found these beauties. I loved them. Three I had uses for right away. The sunburst is waiting for my next wreath.....yes....there is ANOTHER wreath.
It was a gorgeous sunny 55* day outside....no wind...perfect for spraying!!
I like to keep the dryer sheets out on the dryer for easy access....now I have a pretty box to hide them in. The "R" went on the latest sock wreath....and the candle stick is..well..holding a candle.
Have you been up to no good lately??

An Old T-Shirt Wreath

Obviously I'm obsessed. But just so you don't picture every inch of wall space in my house covered by these round beauties, I have actually given all but 3 away. It's true. So on that note...what do you do with old t-shirts that still have some wear left but you are sick of looking at them? Cut them up? Huh...me too!! And that is precisely what I did.
I cut them into strips and some into swirls.
Swirls??? Of course. Lay your fabric out like this and cut around in a big ol' swirl.
And here you have a rosette in the making.....
Some I tied together and rolled up. Some I left in single strands.
I had a green ribbon-wrapped floral foam wreath base that needed a project. The green was throwing my colors off so I added some aqua ribbon too.
I used my trusty, smokin' hot glue gun, and put some beads in the middle of the flowers and then glued the whole mess on the wreath base.
It was missing a little something so I added some chip board letters that I picked up on sale at Michael's. Spring....isn't it on every one's minds lately?
There ya go. She is boxed up and ready to go to a very dear friend of mine as a pay it forward gift. I hope it brightens her day.

What Goes 'Round....

I have this new friend. Her birthday is March 17th and her favorite color is green....so the obvious gift for her this year....ha....a wreath!! (Of course it is because that seems to be all I want to make lately!) Lots of projects floating around the blogesphere with paper loops. I had a straw wreath form (that I left the plastic on and then covered with ribbon) I cut 8 or 9 12x12 sheets of paper from my stash into 1 x 6" strips.
There are only 6 pictured because as I was gluing them on I realized I was going to need more.
Using my handy dandy glue gun, I put a drop of skin searing glue on one end.
And then very carefully folded them together without burning my fingers.
And a million trillion loops later, you have no finger prints you have a pretty pile of loops.
Then I started in rows like this and glued them all around the ribbon covered form.
I added a shamrock for luck.....
And fluffed out the loops a bit.....
And there you have it. I beautiful wreath for a sweet gal with a heart of gold!!
I am linking up with:
Metamorphosis Monday

A Marvelous Mess

Whatever Goes Wednesday

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy Birthday Mom. I love you.....and I miss you terribly. Thank you for teaching me to be a good person and to love my kids my family and my friends with all of my soul. I will continue to be the person you always knew I could be....as a testament to your strength and determination and faith in me.

For Grandma Good

I have been trying to do things to keep this month from pulling me under the wheels of the bus that go round and round. One thing I've been doing is LOTS of crafting. Today I made a gift for my Grandma. She always had lemon drops at her house while I was growing up....so I thought about sending her a big bucket full for Valentine's Day. I had some felt flowers left from my wreaths and I wanted to incorporate them as well. So I took some skewers and hot glue and got to work. If I had had more time (and warm weather for spraying) I'd have painted the skewers green.....but I didn't.
I took a vase I already had (from GW) and washed it really well. Then I lined it with tin foil....cause that's how I roll. Then I hot glued the felt flowers to the skewers and used Hubby's wire cutters (not mine in case it dulled them) to cut them to the right lengths.
Then I jammed the sticks into the lemon drops and arranged them just so.
I glued a felt "Love" on the pot/vase and there you have it. Cute little thinking-of-you gift for my sweet Grandma.
I hope she likes it.
The flower that looks like it has an eyeball is kind of freaking me out.
Maybe Grandma won't notice.
I wrapped it in red and white Christmas paper. Very Valentine appropriate.
I took yet another fabric flower and glued a felt flower to it and glued it all to a brooch pin so she can have that too. My Grandma always wore a pin to church.....not that she has to wear this to church....just saying that she used to.
I am linking to these parties.....please check them out.

I Made THIS Tuesday

Show and Tell

Whatever Goes Wednesday

Strut Your Stuff Thursday

It's a Keeper Thursday

Pretty Packages Party

Not Bright and Shiny

More like Blue and Whiny. If you came for bright and shiny.....just stop now. It isn't one of those days. I'm just going to wallow in the self-pity for a minute....a pity party if you will. I tried. I really did. I put up stupid decorations and everything. I had a plan.....I made crafts.....I had a plan. This year was going to be different. This year was going to be easier.....I had a plan....I decided. But today....I can't even fool myself for another minute. It's too hard....and taking too much energy to keep up the farce. February has hit and along with the winter blues....I have the third anniversary of the passing of my sweet Mama. How I miss her. I try all the dorky things that people who aren't grieving say to do....focus on the positive, stay active, exercise, do something for someone else.....did it all. No good. The next two weeks are going to be hard.....again.....still. We have the anniversary of the day I flew to say good-bye. We have her birthday. We have the memories of her last doctor appointment and her first visit from Hospice. Then of course Valentines Day....the morning she left. And then the memories of the viewing and all the people who had such sweet things to say about her. And then the funeral.....and the burial.....and the haze of days that followed. Watching my Dad grieve in the most unbearable pain. Then my trip home and having to adjust to the fact that I couldn't pick up the phone and call her. Seeing something in the store and thinking how much she would love it and saying "I'm going to get this for....." and then realizing that buying it for her would be pointless. All of this I have been working so hard to avoid thinking about this year. All of this I want to lock away and not feel year after year. All of this I would give anything to never have to experience again. She left such a huge hole in my life. It is always there but February it seems to be a little jagged around the edges.....completely unavoidable, no matter how hard I try. So if I don't answer the phone or email....I am still here. I will be ok. Just not yet. Just not for a while. And I guess that will just have to be ok.

Hint, Hint

This is hanging on my fridge right now. Do you think anyone will notice? Always happy to help out!