Bristle Brush Santa

My co-worker, Beth and I saw these Santas in some paperwork prior to Quilt Market and requested them.  The ones that came back were all gone before they even made it out onto the floor.  More were ordered and they are available in the store.  I finished this one in way less than an hour.  If you are local and prefer demonstrations to written directions there are going to be two class sessions coming up in the next few weeks.  The price of the class includes one kit.

Everything you need (except glue, blush, needle and thread) comes in a kit form Happy Hollow Designs.  I wasn’t excited about the brown fabric that came in my kit for the hat so I switch it out.  That’s what a stash is for, isn’t it?  There are three different sized brush kits.  I’m on the look out now for inexpensive brushes so I can play around on my own.

I’m not usually a big Santa fan, but these guys make me smile.

What Do You Get…?

What do you get when you draw a name and then add:  fabric, stuffing, thread,  buttons, beads, fimo clay, card stock, ribbon, floss, ink, wire, press board, batting, a dowel, wood turnings, tape, paint, cardboard tube, skewer,  sewing machine, a compass, oven, chop saw, scroll saw, drill press, hot glue gun,  and a crimper?

Why, a barber shop quartet of course.

We are having a gift exchange at work on Sunday and I drew our sewing machine repair man’s name.  He sings with a barber shop quartet.

This just started with an idea, a couple of sketches and then a lot of hours making it happen.   As an original design, this is a one of a kind gift.  The only thing I had to buy  for the project was the dowel and wood turnings for the barber pole.

If Only in My …

Dreams Jar.  Still no snow outside, but in my jar is a different story.

I showed you our biscuit tin “end table” awhile back.  But I didn’t show you the lamp I put together for it, because it wasn’t finished.  I purchased a vintage 2 quart canning jar for the lamp base and purchased the light adapter kit from here.  For now the shade is just one I picked up at Walmart.  The light was cute enough, but the whole point of a jar for a base was to put something in it.  The plan is to change it out from time to time.  The first filler is a moose.  You read that right.  I purchased a pattern called Chocolate Shake 6 or 7 years ago and it has been waiting for me in my pattern files.  The pattern is by Threads that Bind and I’m reasonably sure this is the same company, but the pattern isn’t there.   He was a little fussy, but I think it was worth it!

The pattern was for the moose in a 1 quart jar — not a lamp or a 2 quart jar.  I didn’t glue him into the jar as the pattern instructed, because I want to be able to change things out.  However, as much trouble as he was to get into the jar, it might be worth the dollars to buy a second jar.

A couple close-ups of the moose.

The pattern called for a 1″ nest and I could not find one even with miniatures!  So I soaked a small grapevine wreath.  Ripped it apart and wound up my little nest.  It is a little bigger than 1″, but better than anything else I could find.

Going to a Party

****A quick note for my local friends who don’t read this through a reader.  I’ve added several posts today and back dated them as far as Oct. 13, just to drive my sister crazy. 😀  Actually, I back date so the things show up on the actual finish date so I can look back in the future and dates will be correct.  Driving my sister crazy is just an added benefit.****

I’m planning to attend an ornament and decoration exchange this coming Sunday.  If I have the time I like to make my own exchange gift and I just finished it last night.  (For me that is PRE planning!)  It is from a pattern by Raggedy Pants called Is It Time Yet?

And the back view.

I can give it up because I have another about half-finished.  Anybody want to come with me to the party?

New Business Cards

Our phone number is changing because we have decided to give Magic Jack a try rather than have a monthly phone bill.  This means I need new business cards.  I bought 1000 cards about ten years ago and still have more than half a box remaining.  I don’t need a large quantity of cards at once, just a few at a time will suffice. 

I decided to put some of my scrapbooking tools to work.  (They have been lonely, I haven’t taken the time to scrapbook for a few years.)  I had pieces of cardstock that were about 5-1/2 x 4-1/4 that came from a printer friend as scrap.  I put together the text for the card in Word and set the paper size to my scrap.  I could print two cards per piece of paper.  I could have just cut them out with the paper cutter, but instead I used the Sizzix tag die cut and cut out each card.  Then I used the Fiskar’s Shape Boss to emboss on the end of each card.  Finally, I have rolls of ribbon from old projects that have been around longer than my children so I made loops for the tags from the ribbon. 

Voila — unique handmade business cards.  I made 40 and can always do more.  You will have to imagine the data since I erased much of it in Photoshop for this post.

Gift Exchange?

Today is an annual gift exchange party.  So of course, being Princess Procrastinator I worked on my gift last night.  The gift doesn’t have to be handmade, but those are the type gifts I like so they are what I take.

I made this snowman table runner from the Art ♥ to Heart book Easy Does It for Winter.  Everything but the buttons came from my stash.

This morning when I woke up the snow was piling up.  A lot of times when it snows in town we don’t get much at our house, but that is not the case today.  I kept watching and finally at noon decided I probably wouldn’t be going to the party after all.  I’m sure I can get there.  However, I have a long list of things still to accomplish today, and if I get stuck in snow on the way home it won’t happen.  Oh well, I either have a gift for next year or I have a new table runner.

Christmas Pudding Prop

In our school play Mrs. Cratchit gives Bob Cratchit (aka Jesse)  a Christmas Pudding and they talk about it.  I needed a Christmas Pudding apparently also known as Plum Pudding.  I have never actually tasted Christmas Pudding.  However, I had purchased this magazine for some of the patterns it contains.

Low and behold it has a pattern for a wool felt Christmas Pudding ornament.   So voilá, today I finished my pudding prop.

Jesse my poor picky eater, won’t eat pudding of any kind.  He is not impressed with this either.

Day of Finishes

I put the finishing touches on two projects today.  The first was a wool felt pillow.  I’ve had the pattern and wool felt since either 2004 or 2005.  I bought the pattern at the sewing expo in Puyallup one of those years and bought the wool felt at Fabric Depot in Portland on the same trip.  I’m pretty sure I had intended to stitch it by machine when I bought it, but I’m into a handwork phase now.  The only machine stitching was to sew the back of the pillow onto the finished front.   I didn’t realize the pattern was from the same designer as the snowman in my last post until I was ready to write here.  I think this is the first time I’ve used their patterns.  The pattern is Warmin’ My Paws from Sew Wonderful Dreams. 

The pattern directions said to sew the back on and stuff the pillow.  Fortunately, I looked at the dimensions early on and realized that if I made the pillow either one inch bigger or one inch smaller, a purchased pillow form would fit.  Since stuffing things isn’t one of my top favorite activities, I made the pillow one inch bigger.

I started the second project early in October, but just finished it.  That’s alright because it can hang until the Christmas decorations come out.  This is another pattern that has been in the stash for a few years.  I actually thought I had purchased their Thanksgiving hanging, but apparently at the time I decided this one could hang for a longer period of time.  The pattern is “No Crows Allowed” from Sweet Dreams.  I’ve made several projects from their patterns and they are just fun!

I’m off to see what else I can dabble in.

Detour

I’ve talked before about how easily I can be sidetracked and it seems to be happening quite often lately.  Friday I was looking for a pattern I knew I owned.  I didn’t spot it the first time through the collection.  However, I did notice a small kit I bought at sometime in the last few years and I thought why not.  It very short order, this little guy appeared.

He is made from one 9×12 sheet of felt.  The pattern is from Sew Wonderful Dreams.  This project was so quick, you could have a whole field of snowmen in a day.  Oh, by the way,  I did finally find the other pattern I was looking for, it was right where it belonged.

Decompressing

I don’t expect to have a lot to say today.  I’m working on recovering from this week and putting my house in order.  The dinner theatre went well and I took a couple of pictures of the boys to post, but somehow I managed to wipe out everything on my camera this morning.  They are pleased, the don’t get really excited about the plays they participate in at school.

We have a very eclectic collection of ornaments on our tree and I thought I would post a few pictures of Christmas decorations and ornaments I’ve made over the years.  Some are from books or patterns, some are copies of ornaments we’ve purchased and some I just made up.

This ornament is made from safety pins and beads.  It goes over a light on the tree so it glows.  The directions came from Christie Low.  A few years ago  we wrote a handout and had a demonstration day for our guild to raise money and Christie provided the directions then.

 

 

 

     I painted these penguins when we lived in California over 8 years ago.  They are probably some of my very favorite ornaments.

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 These three ornaments are burned out light bulbs.  The idea for them came from a tole painting book.  After making these guys I ended up with quite a collection of old light bulbs.

 

 

 

 There was a picture of one of these ornaments on one of Carol Duvall’s Holiday specials several years ago.  There weren’t any directions, but I decided I could do it anyway.  They are quick and pretty easy.

 

 

 

 

 We bought one of these ornaments and I decided to make more.  They are just tongue depressors painted and decorated.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This is another ornament where we bought one and I decided to try my hand at making one.  I’m not really into Santas, but he was too cute to pass up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

    These snowmen were made from patterns.  They are all made from batting.  The trio sits out most of the winter and their noses have faded from our bright Colorado sun — which we have even in the winter!

 

 This group of snowmen were also made from a pattern.  Are you starting to sense a bit of a theme here?  I did a Snowman Collector block of the month in 2000 and have been stuck on snowmen ever since.  The quilt top is finished, but still waiting to be quilted.

 

 

 

 

 This snowman is just a paint can from the hardware store.  This is one I actually came up with on my own.  The can is covered with batting and then decorated with buttons, felt and other fabric.

 

 

 

 

 This snowman is made from Terra cotta pots.  These happen to be very small pots, but they could be as big as you wanted.  I don’t remember where the inspiration came for this fellow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Even snowmen stockings.  The directions for these came from one of the Spirit of Christmas books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Finally a nativity set made from a 2 x 4.  The designs were  placed on the wood with a wood burning tool and then filled in with simple painting.  I didn’t have a nativity set yet when I made these.  My children were small so these were a safe set for them to play with.  I now have three nativity sets, but still really like the simplicity of this one.  The directions for this set also came from one of the Spirit of Christmas books.

I didn’t take the time today to pull out patterns and books to give specific titles today.  If anyone is interested in the specifics for anything you see here I can do that in the near future.