Father Abraham

I finally got my computer and phone to talk to each other. Which means, finally, I can post pictures of my Sparkies Stars bulletin board.

The story was Abraham and Isaac -- God's promise of nations and peoples as numerous as the stars, all descended from Abraham. Explaining this concept so five-year-olds could remember it seemed like it might require a game.

The sort of game where they have to guess how many stars there are... there were 96 blue stars, 28 stars that I painted with a special paint so they glow in the dark (they loved that), 154 total 3D stars (there are more stars printed on the fabric background)...
and one Abraham standing on a small green hill in the bottom right corner looking on in amazement.
God took Abraham outside and said "Look up at the sky and count the stars -- if indeed you can count them." Then God said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Genesis 15:5

...Candlestick Maker

These are 3/4 inch female adapters for copper piping found in the plumbing aisle at Home Depot.

And those are 10 inch plain, unscented, taper candles. The classic candle, with the classic "just wax and fire" scent, in the classic "thank you but white is a color too" color.

When there are no copper candlesticks to be found, indeed when any kind of candlesticks at all seem to be a rare find on store shelves devoted to jars, pillars, and votives, a bit of creativity is called for.

A little Boraxo and a scrubby pad quickly removed the price stickers from the copper fittings, and no further cleaning or preparation was required. Insert candle. Voila.

I love when simple things are actually simple.

Peruvian Tweed

Alpaca yarn is a dream to knit with. So soft it slips smoothly through the fingers as my needles fly along.

Blending together different natural colors from the fluffy fiber animals this three-ply yarn called "Peruvian tweed" was selected by my sister for the sweater I was to knit her. Mind you I'd never knit a whole sweater before. Socks and baby things have been my deal.

The hood was the most difficult part for me -- figuring out what the instructions meant for me to do with binding off and casting on and shaping and joining. Bunny agreed to hood model so you can all see: I actually managed to get it looking like a real hooded sweater.

I am informed I will be making more of these.

One Foot Stool

Want to make a foot stool with me?

Here's what we need: A scrap of leftover pine board (mine's about 10 inches of a 1x12 board).

Four curtain rod finials (these will be our legs -- they're about 5 inches long).

A big hunk of leftover quilt batting (I didn't measure how much).

Upholstery weight fabric (everyone has a closet full of random fabrics, right?).

Paint, sandpaper, staple gun, staples, pencil, ruler, and a drill (for pilot holes).

After sanding the edges of the board smooth to avoid snags and splinters, mark the position of the four pilot holes. For this size stool and this size "leg" I decided to go 1 1/2 inches in from the edge. Be careful not to drill in too far -- we don't want to go through the board -- then sand the holes, just to keep everything smooth.
Place a piece of fabric (larger than your board) right side down on the floor. Fold up the hunk of quilt batting (to be the same size as the board) and place it in the center of the fabric, with the board on top hole side up.

Folding the raw edges under, pull the fabric up and staple it to the board. Begin at the center on one side, pull tight and staple the opposite side. Then staple the two alternate sides, leaving the corners for last.

Trim the excess fabric away from the corners.

Fold and tuck the corners, and staple down. Be sure to leave the pilot holes visible.

Paint the curtain rod finials to a coordinating color.

Once the paint dries, screw the four finials into the four pilot holes to make the legs. Flip over and...

Tada!

Magnet Magnification

For those of who asked... close-cropped photos to show individual magnets.

Magnetism

How much would you pay for decorative fridge magnets? It was not a question I had really ever considered before. The aisle display mocked me with pretty magnets stuck to big price tags. Well, bigger than I was going to pay anyway.

Then I saw the little clunk of 12 undecorated magnets selling for the same price as one of the fancy ones. SOLD. Magnets I needed. Decorative I could manage, I hoped, on my own.

Out came the button box with all the spare buttons in their little baggies, the random leftover beads, the scrapbooking glitter, and the super glue. I tried a few things.

For most of my magnets I decided on stacked buttons with a finishing bead or "rhinestone" to hide the button holes and a bit of glitter thrown in here or there. Anytime the superglue got drippy the magnet got glittered -- no sense wasting glue. :-)

I also made a "Clean" magnet for the dishwasher ... and I'll admit it took a couple times to get the printer to print in the same color as the centers of the daisies in the old lace I used, but I got it eventually. I think they turned out pretty well.