Thu - April 22, 2004
Urkrainian Eggs
We were eating dinner here at the Homestead and
watching some show on the Food Network a few days before Easter, when I saw a
little blurb about a woman who "writes" Ukrainian eggs. I've seen them before-
even watched some demos at craft fairs, so now, of course, I just had to track
down all of the necessary supplies to make my own Pysanky ... This meant many many forays into
craft stores, much to E's dismay. We came up empty at the bigger chains and the
local art supply store, but after a long hunt, found the motherload at a
craft/outdoor furniture store nearby - kistka, dyes by the packet or in sets,
extra wax, egg blowers - everything! I bought the medium kit - not too fancy,
but not too limiting either :) It came with a block of black beeswax, two
kistka, and some design ideas. My second time around, completely winded, I also
bought a one hole egg blower so I didn't have to put a hole in the top of the
eggs - the part that "shows"....
Off to work I went, heating up the wax, drawing designs, dipping eggs, letting them dry, drawing some more.. The process is much like that of batik, except on a much more fragile surface!!!! I used mainly white eggs, since that's traditional, but tried out designs on a few on our own eggs...as long as I used the lightest ones our hens lay, they turned out nicely - with an aged sort of look.
Here are my supplies...
Off to work I went, heating up the wax, drawing designs, dipping eggs, letting them dry, drawing some more.. The process is much like that of batik, except on a much more fragile surface!!!! I used mainly white eggs, since that's traditional, but tried out designs on a few on our own eggs...as long as I used the lightest ones our hens lay, they turned out nicely - with an aged sort of look.
Here are my supplies...
And here is a close-up on one of the brown eggs
from our hens.. The rabbit is the original egg color.
Here are just a few of the links that I found helpful - have fun!
Egg-cessories
One Artist's Page
Tutorial
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Posted at 06:43 PM
Wed - February 11, 2004
Feahter and Quills Shadowbox
I have been working with exotic critters for
years- and in my travels, have accumulated bits and pieces picked up (literally!
along the way as mementoes and educational tools. These were simply stashed in a
file folder though when not in use, so they would stay "safe". I decided to use
the technique I used with my shell collection from our honeymoon to display
these feathers and porcupine quills. That way I get to see them every day, enjoy
the fond memories, and share them with everyone who stops by!
First I painted a purchased shadowbox with black acrylic - the inside will show, so paint the whole thing! (These are a decent buy when A.C. Moore or Michael's has a frame sale - these are almost always included in the sale)
Then I spent some time arranging the feathers to my satisfaction - in the end, I tied the feathers together with khaki colored embroidery floss, and hot glued the top of that bundle to the quills that I had already attached... the background here is simply the cardboard that comes as "filler" - I like the natural look it gives the shadowboxes...
First I painted a purchased shadowbox with black acrylic - the inside will show, so paint the whole thing! (These are a decent buy when A.C. Moore or Michael's has a frame sale - these are almost always included in the sale)
Then I spent some time arranging the feathers to my satisfaction - in the end, I tied the feathers together with khaki colored embroidery floss, and hot glued the top of that bundle to the quills that I had already attached... the background here is simply the cardboard that comes as "filler" - I like the natural look it gives the shadowboxes...
Then I simply assembled everything, making sure
the glass was super clean before I put the shadowbox together - now to get E to
hang it up!
p.s. Feathers from native birds can't be held expect for educational purposes (I've been in wildlife rehab, falconry education, zoo ed. and now in regular ed.) so if you're just looking for something pretty - pick some nice fake ones:)
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Posted at 11:10 PM
Quick - the Baby's Here! Project
My cousins didn't know if they were having a
boy or a girl, and so, when Madeline came along, I wanted to quickly make a
little something to bring with us to the hospital. Off to Marshalls! I found
two onesies, came home, and washed and dried them to remove the sizing. Then I
traced out a freehand monogram with one of my disappearing ink quilting pens. I
used a heat-setting black fabric marker to fill in the monogram, and once that
ink has dried, set it by reverse-ironing it for about five minutes. It turned
out cute - this will definitely be kept in my arsenal of quick fun gifts.
.
Posted at 11:01 PM
Mon - January 12, 2004
Haunted Gingerbread Houses
For Halloween this year, I continued my "new
tradition" of making gingerbread houses for friends and family (I started two
years ago). I made a simple pattern for the four walls and roof, and using a
basic gingerbread recipe, rolled out and cut pieces for about four or five
houses. I also like to cut out and bake little ghosts, windowsills, tombstones,
trees, etc. at the same time. I attached them with royal icing (can I say how much I love meringue powder - just another benefit of those
fun cake decorating classes I took last year. This year's weren't as elaborate,
and were a bit...haphazard, but I'm still glad I made them.
I also dipped the tombstones in royal icing so I could "write" on them with a toothpick dipped in paste coloring . A fun extra touch - kind of a happy accident: I was getting frustrated with the roofs, and I thought, well not just make them flat - and then, well, if I'm going to do that, why not fill them with candy and leave the top unattached - trick or treat! I'll be doing this every year from now on! We also put a candle inside one big one as a Halloween centerpiece at our Halloween party - a la Martha Stewart. It looked verrrrry cool - until the house caught on fire. Can't win them all, I s'pose. Here are the pics (not of the fire though - that went undocumented!) The "leaves" on the ground are three colors of dried coconut I colored by shaking coconut around in plastic bags along with a dab of paste color (brown, orange, and red). Then I spread out the coconut and put it in the oven at low heat to dry out, and then mixed all of the different colors together to give an autumnal effect. :)
I also dipped the tombstones in royal icing so I could "write" on them with a toothpick dipped in paste coloring . A fun extra touch - kind of a happy accident: I was getting frustrated with the roofs, and I thought, well not just make them flat - and then, well, if I'm going to do that, why not fill them with candy and leave the top unattached - trick or treat! I'll be doing this every year from now on! We also put a candle inside one big one as a Halloween centerpiece at our Halloween party - a la Martha Stewart. It looked verrrrry cool - until the house caught on fire. Can't win them all, I s'pose. Here are the pics (not of the fire though - that went undocumented!) The "leaves" on the ground are three colors of dried coconut I colored by shaking coconut around in plastic bags along with a dab of paste color (brown, orange, and red). Then I spread out the coconut and put it in the oven at low heat to dry out, and then mixed all of the different colors together to give an autumnal effect. :)
Trick ....
Or Treat!
.
Posted at 09:42 PM
Nicki's Baby Quilt
Nicki's baby is due any day
now...and I made this quilt for the little one. The crazy star pattern is now near and dear to me!
Directions for the pattern are here . I made enough patches to round out a baby
size quilt, using an appliqued sunflower piece I had made last year for the
center.... I backed it with a pretty striped remnant that brought all the colors
together (as a bonus, it's upholstery fabric with stain-guard- especially good
for a baby quilt!) , and used fusible batting. I quilted around each star, and
made crisscross lines across the center of each star as well. The edges have a
zig-zag border. The whole thing was hand quilted - I haven't attempted to
machine quilt anything yet since I started sewing. I really like the blue and
yellow combination here.... there are more picture of of the process if you read
more...
here are the first few pieces....
And the quilt top laid out:
The fully assembled quilt....
And, or course, the dog getting in the way....
Posted at 09:25 PM
Can't forget Papa
For my dad, we found some handkerchiefs - he is
a strict handkerchief man - no Kleenex for him, and I wrapped them up with my
mom and dad's favorite macaroons that I make every Christmas. The "recipe"
follows...
Shannon's Macaroons
Whip 4 egg whites into stiff peaks, along with a pinch of cream of tartar.
Add sugar to taste - more if you're adding unsweetened coconut.
Pour in one bag sweetened, shredded coconut flakes and one tsp. vanilla extract.
Fold together JUST UNTIL COMBINED - you want them still nice and light and airy!
Using two spoons, spoon round mounds onto cookie sheets - I bake these on silpats, otherwise grease the pan well!
I usually bake them at 350 till golden brown.
* Using honey instead of sugar as a sweetener will keep these macaroons softer longer.
.
Posted at 09:07 PM
Christmas Trees
My mom is a craft fair junkie, which serves me
well around holiday season - all about the folk art, people. So E and I whipped
up these tallll christmas trees for each side of her hearth. Painted green, I
added quilt batting around the bottom, giving it overlapping, wavy edges, and
added a "garland" of cranberries and popcorn, painted on both sides so the trees
are reversible or can sit at an angle. The bows were just to be
fancy....
.
Posted at 09:01 PM
Sifl and Ollie Puppets
For J's 25th birthday we made his favorite
puppets / t.v. celebrities , Sifl and Ollie. It involved much scavenging of
craft stores, thrift stores, CVS, and my sewing box for the "perfect" parts. E
and I were laughing because these puppets were obviously originally made from
whatever was lying around - and here we are in search of "that exact leaf". The
noses were elusive, so I made them out of Fimo. :)
Here's Sifl - a green sock from
Marshalls, with two google eyes (modified by gluing the googly part in place,
and adding a yellow background). I know I've seen yellow cat's eyes near the
doll supplies in craft stores but that was years ago - maybe they aren't as
popular anymore. A silk ivy leaf or two were sewn onto his head for the
finishing touch.
read on for more ...
read on for more ...
And Ollie - a white sock, with a
piece of yellow felt, brown doll eyes, one of the Fimo noses I made (I made
holes in the back and sewed them on like buttons), and some stitching to make
the sort of dog like snout division he has.
And, of course, Chester... He's a yellow dishwashing glove turned inside out, highlighted by E who thought he wasn't the right shade of yellow. Since your hand doesn't go in very far this way, I made a sleeve or "turtleneck" out of the other green sock. He has a fimo nose, tow brown doll eyes, and two halves of a silk sunflower for "eyelashes"
And this is how we packaged them all up....
The gift was much appreciated :)
And, of course, Chester... He's a yellow dishwashing glove turned inside out, highlighted by E who thought he wasn't the right shade of yellow. Since your hand doesn't go in very far this way, I made a sleeve or "turtleneck" out of the other green sock. He has a fimo nose, tow brown doll eyes, and two halves of a silk sunflower for "eyelashes"
And this is how we packaged them all up....
The gift was much appreciated :)
Posted at 08:58 PM
Doorway Puppet Theatre
It's been a while! I'm moving over the project
files tonight, AND all of the new projects -we've certainly kept ourselves busy
here at the homestead - too busy to even blog about it. So read and enjoy!
This project was inspired by a link from Christy's blog, whom I also believe made some for the holidays as gifts. Anyways, now that K and fam are enjoying it, I can post pics and details:
This project was inspired by a link from Christy's blog, whom I also believe made some for the holidays as gifts. Anyways, now that K and fam are enjoying it, I can post pics and details:
* I took E fabric shopping with me, and we bought
several lengths of fabric - I bought 3 yards of each just to be safe (what, me,
measure?) Heck, I can always quilt with the rest. I dug around for the
contrasting fabrics in my own stash and we also bought some blue satin ribbon to
use as tiebacks, and tension rods - the kind you would use for curtains.
* First I hemmed all the sides, and made a pocket on the top for the curtain rod.
* Then I used my rotary cutter to cut out a appropriate "theatre" shape - in retrospect I would make this a bit smaller, although the problem of the size was solved later on, as you will see.
* I hemmed those interior edges, and then cut two pieces of contrasting fabric to act as curtains, which I hemmed and attached to the back so they covered the theatre shape.
* To those, I sewed on ribbon, which ties to ribbons attached in the back corners.
* As I said, the biggish cut-out shape posed a wee problem - the bottom wouldn't sit "straight" and after some brain storming we added a bottom border of a dowel that slipped along the back edge - this kept the edge nice and crisp for the perfect puppet show. :)
Ta- Da!
* First I hemmed all the sides, and made a pocket on the top for the curtain rod.
* Then I used my rotary cutter to cut out a appropriate "theatre" shape - in retrospect I would make this a bit smaller, although the problem of the size was solved later on, as you will see.
* I hemmed those interior edges, and then cut two pieces of contrasting fabric to act as curtains, which I hemmed and attached to the back so they covered the theatre shape.
* To those, I sewed on ribbon, which ties to ribbons attached in the back corners.
* As I said, the biggish cut-out shape posed a wee problem - the bottom wouldn't sit "straight" and after some brain storming we added a bottom border of a dowel that slipped along the back edge - this kept the edge nice and crisp for the perfect puppet show. :)
Ta- Da!
.
Posted at 08:35 PM
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Published On: Oct 21, 2005 12:00 AM
Published On: Oct 21, 2005 12:00 AM