Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Afgan, ornamnets and papar stars...

Goodness Micaela, where have you been....?
It's been about two weeks since I last posted, two weeks of crazy busyness for me...
Throughout the last two weeks I never found time to take pictures of some of the crafts I was working on, but of course I was still crafting numerous things. I finished an afghan I had been working on for about six months...

I was asked to teach a craft class on the "Simple Paper Stars"! Here is one of my sample stars I made for the class...

And I have been working on making tons of Acorn Top Ornaments (yea, I know it's not Christmas... :) )...


I have also just finished a soft yellow crochet baby blanket (I just finished it last night so I don't have a picture of it!) and I started a light blue afghan last night as well and a multicolor scrap crochet afghan...
My room is covered in silver glitter, yarn, finished afghans waiting to be put away, paint, and paper stars that I have no idea where to store...heehee
I guess I know what I will be doing this week ;)...
Micaela

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Birdseed Heart Ornament- Tutorial




1 package of unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup of hot water
3/4 cup of flour
3 heaping TBSP of corn syrup
4 cups birdseed
Heart molds
Straws
Twine
Scissors
Medium bowl
Spatula
Wax paper
Spoon
Nonstick cooking spray

Time: 30 to 45  minutes


Combine:
1package of unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup hot water
(stir water and gelatin together well before adding the other ingredients)
3/4 cup of flour
3 heaping TBSP of corn syrup
and
4 cups of birdseed
All in a medium size bowl

Mix until all ingredients are combined...
Roll out a sheet of wax paper.
Spray your heart shaped cookie cutters with a non stick cooking spray and lay them on the wax paper...
Fill cookie cutters to the top with birdseed mixture and press down the mixture with a spoon.
Make a hole in the birdseed mixture with a straw (Do not make your hole too close to the top of the heart this will cause your heart to break when it dries.)
Remove cookie cutter gently...
Spray your cookie cutter again with non stick spray and repeat the process...
Once you have used all of your birdseed mixture let your heart shape birdseed
dry overnight...

Once your birdseed hearts have hardened loosen them from the wax paper...
Remove straws
Take a heart and tie a piece of twine through the hole, allow enough string for them to hang on your favorite tree.

Your birdseed heart is now complete!
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Please let me know if you have any questions or comments in the comment box below!
Thanks,

Micaela
P.S. Happy Valentines Day! <3

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Embroidery Thread + Clothespins = Organized ;)


Yes, that's right, I spent two hours today organizing all my embroidery threads...totally an exciting way to spend a Saturday, right? :p...heehee.
I've always had a terrible time trying to keep my embroidery thread from getting tangled and lost, so when I saw a picture of how someone wrapped their thread in clothespins, I was like, Whoa!...I so need to do that...so today I did :) ...
But, not only did I just wrap the thread around clothespins, I also wrote on the ends of the clothespins what each embroidery threads' number was...

I have about half a basket done and
still have more to do...
If you want to do this to your embroidery thread... you will need...

Open up a clothespin and place one end of your embroidery thread in between, then close your clothespin. Wrap your embroidery thread around until you have about an inch of thread left and slip it through the tip of your clothespin...
Take a pen and write on the top of the clothespin the thread's number...

Yeah, it's really that easy (you probably didn't even need these instructions :) )...

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!


Micaela