Wreath Instructions
In August, I posted about this wreath when I made it. Jo-Ann's Store posted this link to the instructions this morning. Take a look!
Nice to see the fruit of making a holiday wreath in August.
Take your Vitamin C!
The Color of the Year
Oh yeah, Pantone has redeemed itself from the 2012 orange year by giving us Emerald for 2013. I am almost as happy as 2010 turquoise. Greens have always been my fav colors. Come on, how can you not love emerald green?
I am so hip that I just bought an emerald green metallic tea mug without even knowing it was the color of the year.
So, now, we start thinking in green! Use your Vitamin G!
The Gift
Every semester when the women's bible study at my church is complete, we have a brunch. It is a great time. Today, we ate, we sang carols, we visited with each other, and I was invited to be the speaker. Oh boy, this is not my forte, so I turned to my forte. I gave a short devotional message on God's gift. God has given us the indescribable gift of salvation by grace. That gift is wrapped up in compassion, mercy, and love.
And then I put everyone to work, crafting!
To help us all remember our lesson, we sat together and made these wood gifts, and added a bible verse about God's gift. Every single one turned out cute!
Wrap a one yard piece of wired ribbon around the gift. Knot at the top.
The wood pieces are about 8" tall, so they are fairly substantial. They cost $2 a piece, which is fairly awesome!
Today, my Vitamin C stood for creativity and cheap!
This is Keisa. She lives with her two older sisters and her Mother in a home that CDC built. They own it, making them a wonderful little success story. The girls were darling, as well as the home. I got to interview Keisa.
Me: If you could have anything in your room, what would it be? Go crazy. I am not promising, but say what you really want, just in case we can make it happen.
Keisa: Hello Kitty. I visited the Hello Kitty store and was there for an hour! I loved everything.
Me: Wow, that is a lot of pink.
Keisa: YEAH!
We drove the neigborhood in a big van. When we turned one corner, we saw a Mom jumping up and down on the porch, clapping and yelling. What better welcome could we have had? She lived in the house with her son, whose room we are making over. The house is a glorious old victorian that has so seen better days. The inside was quite bad and there was no heat. In the living room, she had gorgeous victorian sofas. Gorgeous. She told us she inherited the house from her Grandmother. Her Grandmother used to drive a cab. She moved on to be the bookkeeper of the cab company, and ultimately became the president of City Cab.
And, I thought, when you have the blood of that woman in your veins, you are going to survive!
Now the meet and greets have begun. It is time for the Vitamin C to flow!
Trendy Kid's Art
So, this morning, I went to Hobby Lobby and HomeGoods to see what is currently trendy in wall art for kid's rooms. Why re-invent the wheel? And I got some good ideas!
Now, I have some basic ideas, and it is time to use my Vitamin C!
How about you?
I Love My Magical Crimp Tool!
I went through the drawer and took out all of the green beads I had. Then I added a couple turquoise beads to add a touch of brightness.
My Magical Crimping tool got a good workout. I love that thing. Do you have one? I lost count of the rings around 120. Probably there are close to 200 rings on the necklace. The process took me a couple movies.
It is definitely a 3D necklace! Made of leftovers!
Use your Vitamin C....
Jacket: Kalmbach Bead Soup
They asked bead stores around the country to donate the bead soup, and asked Lori's blog hop participants who wanted to play. Natch, I said, "pick me!" They did.
I received a nice collection of beads from Christine Ballas at Wicks & Stones in Wyandotte, MI. She sent me furnace beads, pressed glass beads, some black faceted beads, a couple short lengths of chain, and a big triangle toggle clasp. I had a lot with which to work.
My fav part of the design, is the added movement. I stitched on the triangle part of the clasp, by the loop so it hangs freely. Then I added a few bead dangles to it. They swing! You can also see the short length of chain I added at the bottom. The chain is attached only by the ends. Three small dangles of black faceted beads hang from it.
I had fun doing it, not worrying about design, just adding beads as I worked. I had forgotten about the lengths of chain in my soup. I thought I was finished and was cleaning up my work table when I found them. And it turns out the addition of one bit of chain is one of my fav parts of the design.
Thank you Lori, Kalmbach, and Wicks & Stones for all of the work that made this possible. Hope the book sells like hotcakes!
It is great to use your Vitamin C in a challenge!
Flowers for Beds
To begin raising some money for this project, I am offering some pins/pendants made by me. You will find them in my Etsy shop. Every cent you send me for these flowers will go toward the project.
I have made these flowers so you can pin them to your shirt, jacket, or bag. Or, you can string a cord or chain through the ring on the back and wear it as a pendant. I have attached several to a necklace chain and it is quite striking. When I wear it, people stop me on the street to ask about it.
I call them faux enameled flowers because they are made of paper but look like vintage metal flower pins. They are heavily glazed and are quite sturdy.
Maybe you could use one as a Christmas gift. Every dollar is going to this very important bedroom project.
Thank you!!
48202
I don't usually go off the creativity path in this blog, but this is firmly on my mind and I am hoping that writing about it will help me process some of it.
For the next 7-8 months, I will be working on a project that will give beds and bedroom makeovers to some kids in Central Detroit. So, on Saturday, I took a tour of inner city Detroit, thinking I should find out a little about the area and the culture.
The bedroom project will take place in the 48202 zip code. That zip code is the poorest one in the United States. Not just Michigan, but all of America. It is like a third world country. Unemployment is 66%. High school graduation rate is 15%. The first grade class at the elementary school has 69 kids in it. Little kids have to walk 4 miles to school and then sit on the floor on a mat all day with 68 other kids....while being hungry, after sleeping on the floor with a blanket the night before.
Some families live without furniture, their children have never slept in a bed. Some homes have no electricity or running water. I saw several with broken windows and blankets stuffed in the holes. Think about having no electricity and trying to heat your home with the gas burners on the stove.
We did a poverty assimilation exercise. We were given $1000 for our family of 6, to last a month. We priced food, transportation, clothes, and housing. We looked for jobs. It was impossible to even take care of the basics for a family. And then we were told they gave us a cushion and most families have more like $500 a month.
Now I am thinking about our lifestyle here in the suburbs. How many times have I pulled into McDonald's for a $1 ice tea? And how much could I have to buy food for someone if I had not done that for a year? And it just goes on and on from there. Sigh.
Yes, we have been educated and worked for what we have. But, don't we have so much that is not necessary? And we are sitting over here in the burbs with our miracle cell phones and computers and closets and pantries full, driving to get more stuff in our new gas guzzling cars? And not even thinking about the people over in 48202?
See? So much to process. It puts reality to loving your neighbor as yourself.
Hoping my Vitamin C will work here.
fruits de l'aiguille
Witchy Sister Beads
I had fun designing the witch bead. She is made on a cone. Instructions for making her are in this month's issue of Bead Design Studio. And then, I had even more fun making the sisters and writing their mini bios.
And, go here to find instructions to make this Trick or Tweet ornament.
Scary thinking about Halloween being right around the corner, but it is. Use your Vitamin C!
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