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.

Happy Mother's Day!

It seems strange to be writing about Mother's Day in September but I'm still trying to work my way chronologically to date.  A year is a long time to catch up on but I'm determined and will keep posting away until I am caught up.



Butterfly Mother's Day Card 2013

Here is yet another style of card using the paper napkin technique and some micro beads to make this year's Mother's Day Card.  It seems that last year for Mother's Day I made mom a butterfly card too.   To see last year's card go to Paper Cards and scroll down to May 2012.

Flock of Yo-Yo Owls

Birthday Owl for Granddaughter  and Mother's Day Owl

Birthday Owl for Sister

While browsing through a Mary Maxim craft catalog I saw these very bright and cute yo-yo owl kits.  As you know I love making yo-yo's so I purchased the kit.  Once it arrived I quickly got busy making the yo-yo's for the body. Once those were finished I started on the wings and horns but I did not like the "raw" technique the pattern directions gave.  So instead of just folding the wings in half and sewing a running stitch I ironed under about 1/8" of the wing edge then I folded the wing in half and completed it with the running stitch.  For the horn's I used some fusible webbing to adhere a bottom piece of fabric which gave the horns more body so they stood up better. 



 



Thank you Owl for Eldest Sister



The yo-yo's for the owl's body is a great way to use up those smaller fabric scraps which is what I did for the two brown, white and beige owls. At the craft store I purchased the wood base, spool, dowel, chenille stems and  glue on wiggle eyes and used my pattern and instructions from the kit to make owls using up fabric in my stash. As soon as I get some more time to go through my fabric I'm going to be making a few more owls.

 

What a "hoot" everyone had opening up their gift and I had a "hoot" making them!





Getting Back to Woodturning

Wood Turned Goblet - May 2013

My dilemma this morning was do I try to get a better photo of the goblet Don turned or do I get on with continuing to catch up with my posting.  I chose to catch up with the posting but the photo does not do justice to the goblet. Now that Don is retired he is having fun branching out and turning more than just pens.  Since May he has experimented with Tagua nuts, Banksia pods, finishing techniques and new styles of pens which I will be posting about in the very near future.

Stay tuned for more of "As the Wood Turns". . . .

HELLO Card for April

Mom's April Card

This card was fun and quick to put together which was a very good thing as I was also in the process of making two yo-yo owls as gifts (you'll get to see those in another post) and getting ready to go cross country to see my mom for Mother's Day.

Using pre-printed card stock, ribbon, silk flower petals, a button, and some alphabet letters, I was able to finish this card in a short amount of time. Again I was lucky that I had everything on-hand especially since my craft room is bulging at the seams!