a wee proposal {second title}

I am certain there were things I wanted to write about. Things that may have involved cooking or shopping or sad racooning. And now, since I waited sooooo long I cannot think of anything to share. At least anything remotely interesting to anyone other than those involved. Oh wait! I remember....I need to re-title this hold on a second...

A few weeks ago a was working on the february bed and fretting over the artwork when I found a thrifted granny square in pink, white mad grey! I found two more but they were of the grey variety and I thought...

"Drats! If only I had more to choose from..."

Okay, now I have an idea. My birthday is in six days and I was thinking about how much I love a granny square and how inept I am at needle arts. I've already got a partner for a granny square/garland swap but I was wondering if anyone else out there would be up for sending me a square or two or three. Anyone?

 

I would love to have a basket full of gloriously artful grannies to hang over the bed or place about the craft room for splashes of pretty. Some may even make an appearance in a photo shoot. What I can offer you up in exchange is a set of six dillydelicious pom-poms made by me or perhaps a painted newspaper garland/papel picado?

 

I do love making pom-poms even if they aggravate my allergies (while wearing a filter mask even) but there is only so much room in the-room-that-shall-one-day-be-cleaned to store them. So what do ya think? Is it time for a swap?

putting those gift tags to use

It's been a comedy of errors today at the homestead. All on my behalf...I have misplaced our Christmas stockings, my pretty giftwrap idea went awry when I couldn't find my pens, too much cake batter in a too little pan makes for a BIG mess, and an exploding can of ginger-ale knows no bounds.

 

Fill-in Christmas stockings have been made (diy coming soon), I added pom poms to craft paper and created a different kind of pretty wrap, the cake is still tasty even though there are a few burnt blobs on the bottom of the oven, and after two, three, and then four passes of a wet towel, mop, and scrap towel the floor is as good as new, even better than before. But boy howdy, am I pooped!

So while my initial plan of a silver and gold Christmas did not work out, the neon-happy of my washi tags and pom-poms make for a very festive gift wrap. I think they might be more me than the silver and gold anyway...perhaps the universe was telling me to stay true?

 

And since the wee packages were so darn happy, I had to take pictures of them. I just had to! They make me smile.

And serendipity hit when I stacked them up and saw they looked like a tree...add one snowflake star...perfection!

what it looks like when i get to make art with teens and tweens...

 

 

 

 

I taught a teen/tween art session at a local(ish) library last week. I had one hour to dazzle up to 15 attendees and was delighted to find not only to have a full house but to have a nice balance between the teen and the tween ages. Thank the dilly goddess that I had planned for three projects as they were a quick and quiet group. Up above is a sample of the terrariums we made.  I had plastic charms, farm animals, and dinosaurs to spice 'em up. The moss was happy as well...

 The most popular project appeared to be the permanent marker tie-dye dealio. I had brought a half yard of muslin to jazz up and cut it into small postcard sized scraps. Each attendee got two pieces to draw on and dazzle. They really worked hard and I wish I had taken more photos but it is pretty astounding I even got these as I was running around and dashing about all over the place.

 

 

The pom-pom making was not an instant hit but since everyone rushed through making their terrariums I had to sell it. And I totally did. It took showing them how nifty the little bits of fluff look when trimmed down, down, down. I think I won the boys over when I mentioned muppet barf (thank you Za Meander!)

I had a blasty-blast and so wish I could have done more at more libraries. Alas I don't think my name made it to the list. Thank you to Kris who got me the gig, I am looking forward to next year!

scrumdilly diy: 4th of july pom pom wreath

Like I have mentioned before I'm think in the frenzy of pom pom making. I'm having too much fun and am making quite the mess. I decided to turn my compulsion into something pretty for July and thus the pom pom wreath was born.

 

I used a particle-board type base found in the floral department at my local Michael's. It was larger, sturdier and less expensive than an embroidery hoop or foam form of the same size. I also like it because it is flat and has hole drilled in it. It's multi-useful! A couple of coats of white paint on my wreath form just in case any part if it shows through and I was ready to go.

 

 

I created a happy pile of independence day-festive poms and popped them into an egg carton for storage.

 

 

 

I began by wrapping red yarn around the wreath-to-be in the style of weaving a dream-catcher. When I was happy with the wrapping, I flipped over the form and added a blob of glue and a clothespin anchor to keep it all in place. To ensure the yarn remained where I wrapped it, I added additional blobs of glue for good measure.

 

To anchor the poms to the form, I used healthy amounts of tacky glue. I find that yarn needs a bit more glue to stick to things and I never have good luck with hot melt glue (my poor poor army of love lost a few troops). My poms were on the larger, shaggier side so needed a bit more glue than usual otherwise the weight of the poms would dangle from the form instead of staying put.

I entertained the idea of layering more poms on one side to whimsy it up a bit, or maybe even adding a bow but I really liked the simplicity of using just poms and red yarn.

Here it is haging on our front door...

and here over the bed...

mother's day make: pom pom magnets

Yes folks, I'm STILL on my pom-pom kick. I just can't get enough, the options for color combos are so infinite or as infinite as my pocketbook and storage allows. My sister purchased a bright orange file cabinet for my nephew's house warming gift. She imagined it would make for great kitschy kitchen storage and wondered what kind of magnets she could make for it. Me being on this pom-pom kick, I came up with these! Whip up a batch of happy pom-pom magnets to gift yer  favorite kitschy mama or nana or auntie even. If yer mama uses a bulletin board, you can even turn 'em into fancy pushpins...I know, I did (photos coming soon)!

The first thing you will need to do is get yourself a couple of skeins of happy yarn and get to pom-pom making. You can buy a fancy maker, make your own, or use your hand. This method here might be easiest for your kiddos to try. I make mine by wrapping around my hand. This here is my favorite tutorial (thank you, Creature Comforts). To make the hand-wrapping go quicker, and to make your poms kickier, try wrapping three different colors of yarn at the same time. A thicker fuller pom uses about 50 wraps using three colors at the same time. When it comes to trimming your poms, trim close and tidy as you want a smaller, firmer pom-pom.

Button magnets are strong and universal. I pick mine up at the local craft store in the largest pack I can find (though I think I'm now going to order some online). I find myself making magnet gifts quite often. Use a strong flexible glue such as tacky, e-600, or hot melt glue. Yarn doesn't stick easily so make sure to use a good glue and let it dry overnight.

 

Package up in a cute bag, small box, or on a sheet of metal and give to your favorite mother-figure. Happy almost Mother's Day!