And now we wait

We dropped off our craft entry items at the  State Fair yesterday.  It's always exciting to see all the other creative people and their creations. Who knew a hippopotamus could be made from small crocheted granny squares? Then there was this black elephant wearing an elegant black and white blanket and headdress.  You can bet I will be looking for those items in the craft hall when we go to the Fair next weekend as well as looking to see if maybe, just maybe, one of our entries won a ribbon.

With the encouragement of my family as well as the lady from the State Fair I entered my yo-yo sweater.  The sweater was made with 866 yo-yos. The McCalls pattern I used called for 1050 yo-yos to make a medium sized sweater but as I tailored the sweater to fit me I ended up using less yo-yos, a lot less.

So, what to make with all those extra yo-yos? A yo-yo covered hanger. Which became my second entry. Coming up with how to cover the hanger was fairly easy but embellishing the hanger was a challenge, especially deciding on all the different combinations of yo-yos, colors, buttons, beads and ribbons. Again, with the help of family a final choice was made.

Vase entry for the State Fair of Virginia

Soon we will be delivering our craft entries to the State Fair of Virginia. This year Don entered his miniature dried flower vase in the Turnings classification.  The vase is turned from a banksia pod which is the fruit of the banksia tree in Australia. The pods vary in size with seed pockets running out from a solid center and are very hard and solid.

After turning the pod inlay material was added to some of the seed pockets for added color to the vase. The pods can be purchased from Woodcraft, Rockler and other wood working stores.

Inspired to try making a button flower vase

Pearls & Buttons

For me, Pinterest has been such a wonderful source for kick starting my creativity and inspiring me to try new techniques. A few months back I saw this cute vase with button flowers using a glass kitchen (I'm guessing) salt shaker. I knew there was something similar hiding in my kitchen cabinets so I dragged it out, found all the old pearl necklaces that were lying around and dug through my button jar. It surprised me how many necklaces were needed to fill my vase but I'm thrilled with the finished product that came from items that were hidden away in drawers. Now they can be seen everyday!

My "Bucket List"

Last year I marked another item off of my "bucket list." Ever since I was a little girl attending the local county fairs in California I have wanted to enter one of my craft items but the timing was never right. My favorite part of attending the fair was walking through the arts & crafts building and seeing all the creative and amazing crafts, quilts and table settings. Due to a lot of unusual circumstances it all came together for me last year and I entered my yo-yo flowerpot pincushion into the State Fair of Virginia's Adult Art's and Craft competition. What a thrill it was to win the first place ribbon!

White Yo-yo Owl

  This owl was a lot of fun to make. I used several different white fabrics and some lace to make the yoyos. The wings were also made out of lace and gave the owl a very textured look. Usually I make the owl to be given as a gift but this owl ended up being a gift for me and I love it!

Yo-Yo Flower Decorated Bag

It's been quite a while since I've posted anything to my blog. I'm hoping that with the blog app I will be able to fit blogging back into my schedule as I love sharing our projects with you, our family, and friends. Today's post is a little canvas bag decorated with a few yo-yos and some rick-rack I had in my stash.

Paper and Pen

Alex's Birthday Card

Musical Note Pen

The month of July had us trying new techniques.  With Don retired he has the time to be creative again, and with the computer and a photo of his son surfing he created a very personalized birthday card. He also turned and pieced together a musical note pen.  It takes a steady hand to get the musical note to come out right. 


The reward for Don was to see the expression of "you made this for me?" when his son realized not only had his dad made him the pen but that he had created the card as well.

The Tagua Nut



Tagua Nut Necklace

While browsing at Wood Craft Don saw a package of Tagua Nuts and thought he would like to see how he could use them on his lathe. In experimenting on how best to mount one of the nuts for turning he glued the nut to a piece of wood.  Next, he decided he would cut off the outer layer to see what the nut looked like on the inside.  Well, he made several thin cuts working his way down to a piece he felt could be turned. 

Not wanting to waste the tagua nut slices Don asked me if I could think up a creative use for them.  As I looked at the slices my mind saw a "pear shaped" piece and immediately I knew I was going to make a card with it. 

Mom's June Card-Tagua Nut Pear





It wasn't until we were browsing in the craft store that the idea came to us to make a necklace with the tagua nut.  So we purchased the jewelry findings and Don drilled a very tiny hole at the top of the nut to attach the necklace holder and the final step was to add the sterling silver chain.  The fun part about the tagua nut necklace is that no two necklaces can be the same due to the shape of the nut.


Mom's July Card using tagua nut and wood shavings

So far Don hasn't turned the tagua nut on his lathe but I'm sure one of these days it will make it there.  In the meantime I continue to use the slices in my cards and Don has a list of family members to make necklaces for.

P.S. I love how the lambs head turned out.  All it took was a black Sharpie marker to draw the eyes, nose and mouth. The  body of the lamb is made with wood shavings and I used felt for the hooves.



June Birthday Card

Birthday Candle Card for Linda - June 2013

In my last post I mentioned that the Spring/Summer 2013 issue of Make It Yourself magazine had a lot of card projects using bakers string (or twine as some call it). 

Another of their projects I liked were the candles made using the twine.  Like many of you I have someone in the family having a birthday every month of the year which is quite a challenge to try to make a card for each and every one of them - my solution is to try to alternate it so at least every other year they receive a homemade card but a few lucky family members seem to get one yearly. 

Making the twine candles was a little more challenging than I expected but the end product was well worth it.

Hot Air Balloon Thank You Card

Hot Air Balloon Card May 2013



For my trip to California to visit my mom and sisters for Mother's Day I purchased the Spring/Summer 2013 issue of Make It Yourself magazine to read on the plane. It had a lot of card projects using bakers string which is a product I had wanted to try creating with. One of the projects that really caught my eye was the hot air balloon card.  When I got back home I quickly got busy making it using the pattern and direction from the magazine.  It was the perfect thank you to send to my sister for her hospitality.  It was also a fun card to make and I love how it turned out - I hope you do too.