Photo Scavenger Hunt

For the third year in a row now, I participated in the photo scavenger hunt that our city visitor centre puts on.  I won second place this year – the prize was a cooler set, which was not the coolest prize I’ve ever won, but still something we didn’t have already.  Since photography is an art form, I thought I would post the most artistic of my photos.  There were fifty categories to photograph and most of the pictures I took were just taken to fill the requirements, so I won’t bother posting them.  Every year, I find myself pushing to get all of the photos done and ending up with a few slightly more artistic ones that I am more impressed with.  I bought a much nicer camera after last years hunt, so this year was even better as far as quality goes.

So, without further ado – my favourites: (remember, these are my pictures – please don’t use them without my permission )

Something with wings

 

A piece of furniture where it doesn't belong

Tall, tall trees

Cloud formations

Something lucky

A piece of history

A place to sit

Someone on a swing

Green people

 

Rural Rose Prairie (fifteen minutes out of town)

Go for a swim

A pair of shoes that tell a story

Look through something

A Fort St. John airshow

Running water

A peaceful river

 

My personal favourites are the office chair in the fence, the dragon-like clouds and the view of my son through the paper towel roll.

Every year it feels like so much work and I think about skipping the next summer, but every year I go back and do it again.  I imagine that the only thing that would keep me from doing it next year would be a very new baby or a very old pregnancy .

Craftster Challenge #40

I’ve had such a full month that I only got to this challenge after the first of the month – I’m amazed I managed to finish in time!

 

 

I had been thinking about doing something for this one, since I love taking pictures, but first had to decide which picture to use.  I love macro photography, especially of plants, and I had one in particular that I loved – a picture I took last summer of a succulent plant in my mom’s garden.  I love how vivid the green is in this picture.

My original plan was to print a full sized photo onto fabric transfers and then cut quilt squares out of the fabric.  Unfortunately, I tried it and the fabric jammed in my printer.  I had some iron on transfers, though, so I first did nine wallets on one sheet and then a full size photo.  I didn’t check my printer settings and ended up printing the full size in black and white, so I went and made another one in colour.  I ironed the wallet sized photos onto white quilting squares that I got in the scavenger hunt swap.  I ended up using nearly all the squares my partner gave me in that swap to make my quilt.  I added a few that I’ve had for years (I think they were my mom’s when I was a kid) and some others to add a bit more colour.  In the end, I used this photo seventeen different times – nine wallets on white squares, four full colour squares and four black and white squares.  I made the quilt relatively small, as I’m planning to use it for hockey games and as a lap blanket.  The backing I got for free from a thrift store – it was a double sheet that I folded over so that it gave the quilt a bit of thickness.

Craftster Challenge #39

So I totally know that I’m not going to win this challenge, but it was still fun doing it and entering.  I got some good feedback, which is always nice, and I think creating this piece made me more interested in the way other people entered the challenge.

The challenge was to re-purpose a catalogue.  I didn’t actually have any expired catalogues, so I asked my mother-in-law if I could have a few of hers – she had a 2008 Ikea catalogue that was particularly inspiring.  It turns out that even though I took an old Sears catalogue as well, I only used the Ikea one in the end.

I love Ikea’s patterns – in their art, fabric, upholstery and furniture – so I thought I’d see what I could do with it.  The first thing that made me sure of what I was doing was the corner of a couch that looked just like a skirt.  I cut it out to make a skirt and went from there.  In the end, I had ten little outfits on a canvas, each made from pictures of Ikea products.

[img]http://www.craftster.org/pictures/data/500/medium/002235.JPG[/img]

For my entry and more pictures and details, use this link.

Knitting needle case

My sister-in-law is an avid knitter, so I made her a carrying case for her needles that rolls up.  I made most pockets to size for needles, but made a few larger pockets to put patterns, circular needles and yarn in.  There is also a flap that comes down over everything so that if the case is carried upside down, needles won’t fall out.  I was following a pattern from wikiHow at first, but after awhile, it stopped making sense, so I did my own thing then.  This case could also be used for paintbrushes.

After she put her needles in, she had the idea to sew another ribbon into the inside to hold her yarn needles so they don’t rattle around in there.  I’m planning to make one of these for myself, so when I do, I’ll probably use her idea.

Hippie skirt for Jenny

I bought this fabric at the thrift store and it wasn’t in great shape.  I loved it, though, so I used it to make a skirt for Jenny.  The shape is a bit goofy, but it worked out well because she can really run and play in it, even though it’s long. 

Flowers and houses

I haven’t done much cross stitching, but after starting a baby name sampler for Erik, I wanted to play around a bit more.  I drew these flowers on graph paper but then just did my own thing – I made them up as I went along and then finished with a checkered border.  I sent this to my mom for Mother’s Day and she loved them.

The second one I did was for my mother-in-law’s birthday.  My husband spent seven years in Haiti with his family and his parents still speak Creole off and on.  I started stitching the outline of houses as a border before I had any plan and then I used paint and pasted some graph paper there and made up the rest of the design.  I used an alphabet from a magazine, but otherwise, it’s my own invention.  I asked someone from Haiti for a saying I could stitch that meant something like Home Sweet Home, and she gave me this one, which means, more or less, “there’s no place like home”.  It was a perfect fit, too!

Paper tree

I wanted a tree made from newspaper on canvas – this is what I came up with.  I’m planning to do a series of three.  I finished the smallest one, but then didn’t like it, so this is the only one completely finished.

Ninety minute stuffed animal/pillow

This bear has no arms or legs, so it really serves more as a pillow, but it is so soft and cuddly.  It was a gift for a one year old birthday and it took me just about an hour and a half.

The eyes took the longest amount of time, and I’d do them differently next time.  I also know I could do I better job if I did it again, and I’m planning to make more sometime soon.  The body is polar fleece and the eyes are flannel.  I’ll probably use felt next time for the eyes.

Free nightstand gets a new look

I’ve been wanting new nightstands for a long time now – we’ve been using wood tv trays for nightstands since we first got married.  I mentioned this desire and the fact that I couldn’t seem to find cheap ones on Facebook and a friend of mine gave me two for free!  They are made well and are very sturdy, but are veneer on top and had lots of chips in them when I got them.  I was going to just put them in our room as is, but I thought I’d make a project out of it instead. 

Before:(this is actually the other unfinished nightstand – I forgot to take a picture of the first one, but the were more or less the same)

I started out painting green and then used a crackle medium and black paint on top of that.  If done right, it would look great, but I was not patient enough and it didn’t quite turn out as I was hoping. 

I did some brainstorming and decided to do a tree shape on one side of the top.  I found a picture I liked, edited it a bit on the computer first and then printed it out.  I pasted it to two layers of cardstock and cut it out, then mod podged it to the top of the nightstand.

I then painted black over the whole thing, hoping that it would cover, but the crackle medium was still coming through and making the black paint crack.  I outlined the tree in green and mod podged over the whole thing. 

After this, I still wasn’t happy with the look, so I painted the top with black again.  The drawer fronts and sides of the nightstand got sponge painted with black so that the wood colour still comes through a bit.  I mod podged the drawer fronts, but didn’t bother with the sides.

I also added new hardware that I spent $1.99 on (for each handle) - in the end, this project cost probably less than $10 with supplies (paint, mod podge, paper and hardware).  I’m very happy with the result and plan to finish the second nightstand in the same fashion.

Itchy Fingers!

Now that I actually have a finished project to post, I thought I’d post an introductory entry for my new blog. 

For a description of “itchy fingers” see my description page.

So, I started this blog when I realized that I wanted a place to show off my creativity without cluttering up my main blog (The Everyday Life of a Messy Housewife).  I dabble in lots of different art/craft forms – sewing, knitting, card making, furniture refinishing, decoupage, and a variety of other mediums.  I have done pottery and jewelry making in the past, and would especially like to get back into pottery in the future.  I also love to cook, read, write and play with my kids.  For more of that life, visit my main blog or my pregnancy journal from my last baby – Baby Number Three.

I’m not promising regular posts, but I will try to post as often as I have finished a project.