Crochet covers

So, on Sunday while J was sleeping off his illness and I was still feeling under the weather, I lay around all day...literally.  It was quite a loooong day, lying there on the couch.  I did get up once to have a few Beyblade battles with J in one of his more lively moments but other than that I lay there like a sack of potatoes...and crocheted.  It was "just because" crochet, "I'm bored and restless"crochet, crochet for the sake of crochet.  The idea started awhile ago with Lucy's crocheted herb container over at Attic 24.  What a brilliant idea to make attractive storage out of what would otherwise go in the recycle bin!  Then I got thinking about other items I could cover.



A milk carton, a kleenex box, a YOP yogurt drink bottle...the excitement was almost too much for me to bear!



So simple.  Just crochet around and around in the colors that delight you.





A perfect little container for my bedside table.  My precious items are in there - a pet rock and a sock creature which were gifts from J on mother's day the last 2 years, and a beautiful origami box that J made for me which I keep my ear plugs in.



ooooooooohhhh!  aahhhhhhhhhhhh!





Lucy put a plant in hers, I'll put my rainbow collection of fine tip markers in mine.



For this one, just decrease stitches when it gets narrower.  It was "tried on" many times for a snug fit.



I took these flowers from C's room - one of her finds from the Reuse Centre.





The color is exhilarating, isn't it? 



 

Mosaic box

We are having a lazy, sick Sunday.  I am wheezing and sneezing but again enjoying the slowness that comes with illness.  Poor J is coping with a fever and has dragged our bed cover to the kitchen and is buried under it.



Yep, he's somewhere under there.  M is feeling fine and decided to go fishing for whales this morning.  The yellow bone is her bait.



Now she's brushing the whales.



G decided to go to church without us.  C is playing with her Barbies.  So while everyone is occupied, I thought I'd take some time to show you my latest finished project.  What is it, you ask? (oops, I guess the title of this post gives it away!)





A little closer, please.





Okay, enough teasing, here it is.



A wonderful mosaic box.  Cost?  Some elbow grease.  Results?  Beautiful storage and a ton of satisfaction!



This box was oodles of fun to work on.  It is such a simple idea, suitable for adults and children alike.  M got quite excited about this project and dove right in.  Her box is not quite finished but here's what she came up with.



All you need is a box, some old magazines, some Mod Podge or white glue, some paint (if you like), some lace (if you like) and a glue gun (optional).  I used a random cardboard box that I found in the cave of doom (the basement).  I thought it was a little tall so I cut it down a bit with a knife.



Then I ripped up magazine pages into 1 inch or so squarish shapes in the colors I liked and glued them on with Mod Podge. 





As you can see in the picture above, I made sure to make the pieces wrap around the corners of the box.

I found some interesting images and cut them out to mod podge on top of the mosaic pieces on each side.



Then I put a coat of Mod Podge over the whole box to make it shiny and seal it well.



The inside of the box wasn't looking so pretty so I decided to put a few coats of white paint on the inside.  After I'd done that, I still wasn't 100% happy because the edges looked rough. 



So I went hunting in my stash of lace and found the perfect piece to finish off the edges.  I hot glued it down with just a bit showing on the mosaic edges and the rest folded onto the inside edges.





The perfect finishing touch.



While the rainbow colors of yarn look lovely in my box, I think I'll use it to store the cds that were strewn messily on the bookshelf a minute ago.





It adds some pizazz to the shelf doesn't it?  Ignore the messy basket on the left,  pretty please.  I'd love to make more of these.  I'm thinking different sizes, perhaps playing around with fabric liners?  The possibilities are endless!

Sick Days

The last couple of days I've been sick.  It all started on Valentine's Day.  I made a big double layer carrot cake with creamcheese icing and had plans to make my family's favorite chicken nuggets for supper.  My body started feeling achey and jiggly and wobbly before I could start the nuggets.  Just under the weather, not right, lying down in bed status.  So G ordered pizza for him and the kids. And I think the carrot cake was enjoyed by all.  (I've been craving carrot cake ever since Nikki at Life at Holly Cottage made one!) 





Oh, I hope I get to enjoy some soon!  Since then, I've gone downhill then back up.  I was so lucky that G could take some time off work yesterday to be with the kids as I was completely bedridden with achey bones, upset tummy and a head that felt like it was going to explode.  I feel so grateful to him for running the house - making lunches, running kids back and forth from school, attending student-led conferences at school, running M to dance and back...it was a busy day.  Today I feel like a human again.  At least I can stand up and do the basics.  I've had 3 slices of orange and a cup of lemon honey tea and I feel okay.



M is at a friends house and will go to Kindergarten from there.  C had a nice warm bath with her Barbies and Pollies and now we are snuggled together on the couch watching a movie. 



I love feeling her little warm body against mine and her head on my shoulder.  Today is a day when I can give myself permission to slow down and I like that.  The sky is wonderfully blue today.



Maybe I'll work on some cuffs that have been sitting and waiting for a slow day.



And do some more hooky on my blanket which is growing bit by bit!  I found Brownbat the bunny admiring the stripes the other day.



It's been awhile since I've spread it out and admired it.  I really, really like it.  It makes me happy!

Wishing you a gentle and restful Thursday.

Pendant Party Sunday

Today was my second go at a "Make A Pendant" party.  This time it was with 7 girls at a birthday party.  I was so honored that I could be part of this - and hoping that some disaster wouldn't happen where I'd screw up the whole party!  I always feel some anxiety before I have to teach something, the same feeling I had when I was a teacher.  Nervous before the class comes in but okay once the ball gets rolling.  I never thought I'd teach art, as the first and last lesson I taught in the public school system involved potatoes, knives and grade 6 students.  Not a good combination.  I think I still have some trauma from that!  But I think I could do more of these pendant parties.  I'm thrilled that people are interested in my artistic process and would want to learn some techniques.  And I get a kick out of what people come up with after I give them a few guidelines.







Beautiful, aren't they?



The colors combined with the painting techniques each girl chose to use combined with the choice of stamp on top made for very unique, one of a kind jewellery!  I think everybody was pleased with what they'd made.

Kids' Valentines Project

This project was a whole lot of fun.  It's finally finished and ready to show!  I got the idea from here on Pinterest and thought I'd put my own spin on it by making it kid-friendly.  So...are you ready?  I'm going to take you through the process and you don't get to see the results until the end of this post (unless you cheat!).  I started with a hunk of 2 X 4 wood from the Reuse Centre that I cut into 3 squarish pieces with my scroll saw (note: make sure you're using the right blade!  I was too lazy to switch from my thin wood blade and ended up making a whole lot of smoke as I cut!)  The squares were then primed by me.  Enter the kids part.



They were given only 2 colors to work with: red and white.  Their job was to cover the blocks with paint however they wanted.



When the paint was dry they stamped their blocks with a variety of heartsy flowery stamps and some hot pink ink.



They then each chose a word to put on their block.  I traced the words from my computer (102 font) onto some scrap paper.



Then with a ball point pen I traced the letters onto the blocks, pressing relatively hard to get an indent in the block.  You can see it here with the word candy.



I then traced around the letters with a super fine black marker and painted inside the lines with black acrylic paint.  I do wish I had a better thin brush - mine is ready to be tossed out!



After the paint was dry I brushed over the blocks with Mod Podge.  Some of the black paint smudged which I was not too happy about.  But overall...



...I love how they turned out!!!!



They are happy, bright and fun.  Best of all they were a team project. 



They are sitting beside my Valentine's tree....



...directly across from my rainbow heart garland.



My Valentines projects make me feel happy, happy, happy!