of things burlap-ed

I'm in a decorating mood. A Christmas decorating mood.

But in orange. No reds or greens here. 

I'm decorating the brewery in burlap, doilies, silver and orange. Lots of orange.

These jars will hold tea lights.

 Stairs wrapped in burlap, silver ribbon and glitter balls. 

The stockings are made from grain sacks. 

That's only a little example of other plans I have for grain sacks. Can't wait to have time to do them.

 And on the tree..

Burlap wrapped balls... white Linen wrapped balls and orange too.

 Snowflake wool hearts... burlap and orange ones too.

 Burlap and doily stars

Oh, I forgot to show the burlap bunting. 

But more pics will follow. With a proper camera, in proper light. When it's all done. 

A few more touches and it will be good.

I also made this little canvas for an art auction at the art centre.

It's a great, fun fundraiser.

How it works: 

You buy 2 canvasses for $10.

Decorate them as you wish.

Once they are displayed, they are for sale for $25 each. the artist gets $10 back and the centre gets $15.

Ones unsold are returned to the owner.

It was a lot of fun to do and to see all the canvasses, trying to guess who painted what.

Various levels of talent and various mediums.

That's it for now,

Cheers,

Amanda

Sandwich Wrap

I was given Betz White's book Sewing Green when I turned 40. I remember it well. Not because it was my 40th, but because we were camping on the May 24th weekend. It was actually a nice one. Sitting outside in the sunny spot, I sat in a lawn chair and read every. single. word. and poured over every. single. picture. in that book. Uninterrupted!

I had wanted to make the sandwich wrap, but didn't want to use just cotton. I wanted a laminated cotton. Laminate on the INSIDE of the fabric! Not the outside.

Let's just cut the story short, my quest brought me to Ikea's acrylic coated fabric from a few years ago, but it was on the outside, not inside. NOPE.

Then this past fall, someone told me of an iron on vinyl at the amazing fabric store Avonport Discount Fabrics in the Annapolis Valley. I made sure my next road trip included another reason to "pass by".

 I bought some. Made a little doggie treat pouch for my friend. meh. Decided to try it again on the sandwich wrap. But not on the inside where I wanted it to be. I could not find any information that said it was food grade. Since the sandwich would be directly on the vinyl if it was on the inside, I did it on the outside. 

It's much bigger than I though it would be. It was a bit more labour intensive than I wanted it to be because of the extra step of ironing on the vinyl. I did however, cut out the hemming step by serging the ends. 

We've used it to hold a beef patty and a sandwich. Easy peasy. I may make another one, with that pre laminated fabric from Ikea for my daughter, but there are more things on the list to do.

 I didn't make any new ornaments to sell this year, but at the last minute, made a pile of Sweater hearts for my friends. I think I'll make these to sell next year. I like them. (stamps from Stampin' Up!)

One more Show and Tell....

A Craft FAIL! The picture below is supposed to be a bird in a nest!!! FAIL.

Stop laughing. The kids guessed beaver, weasel, and some other non-sensical things.

This one stayed home.

Rafael's 9th birthday is this Saturday. He has requested a Minecraft Birthday. Music has been chosen, style of cake (to be made on Friday), creeper cookies are cooling as I type, waiting to be decorated, and other elements of minecraft are creeping around here. 

You know I'll show you!

Cheers,

Amanda

all together now

Here they all are. 

Happy Friday!

Tomorrow, I'll be at the NSCCEntrepreneurship Craft Fair

1575 Lake Rd. 10-4 as a part of Christmas in Shelburne

See you there!

Amanda

sleddin' penguin

This little guy can't wait for the snow to fly!

 So he tried out the new sled on some moss. Poor Pengi.

 And a couple more gnomes. I wanted to show you the fabulous hot pink thread. Nice wha? These guys are hard to take a picture of. The wind blows in them thar trees.

Catch ya later.

Amanda

coal bucket

Another one to finish for next weekend.

What will you get in your bucket? Coal or sweets?

Amanda

Felted Snowman face

Just a quick post to let you know I'll be at 137 Water Street tomorrow for  Gifts Galore. 9-1.

 I'll be accompanied by 4 of these fellows.

 Hmm, the one on the end looks a little droopy. Well, at least his nose does. Maybe he has a cold?

See you tomorrow?

Amanda

a Little owly

Howdy,

I'm in full Christmas making mode. Sorry if it's too early for you. Maybe that's why I'm having a hard time focusing on doing this. As a crafter, I start thinking Christmas when the leaves change. I'm on the hunt for inspiration, ideas, projects. But I don't usually start making them until Nov. Oh wait, it already is Nov. How did that happen?

So I'll start gently.

Owls.

 In avoiding my sewing machine today, I played around with many ornament ideas. This was a last minute grab at the roving pile and an owl shaped cookie cutter. I think I like the white one better.

I took the same picture, but played with the white balance. One day, I'll figure out my camera.

There may be more playing around tomorrow. I can't find my glasses. I mean, really can't find them around the houseIthinkImayhavedroppedtheminapileoffabricorsomething. Where should I start to look?

It's really bothering me. I'm getting a headache.
Edit to add: I found my glasses. Under a pile of sweater bits. I have since bought me a fancy beaded string. Yes, I'm finally at that forgetful stage. I don't regret this string. I've known where my glasses have been all day. :}

And lookey there, I'm using a spruce tree for my pictures this year. I have a whole garden to choose from instead of the 2 small cedar trees I had off the end of my deck at the old house. tee hee.

have a good one,

Amanda