Surfin'

I've been doing a bit of web surfin' these past days and have seen some great stuff online . . .


1.  You can WIN this GREAT paper:

by clicking on this link: Core'dinations Contest

The Jenni Bowlin set is amazing - those colors are my "go to" colors . . .  gotta have this . . .

2.  A new Jenni Bowlin Challenge is up right here!  Go for it!

3.  This site is GREAT!  She's going through cleaning 21 areas of your house in 21 days.  Oh be still my heart! I'm going to try this - but because of the "lovely life challenge" i've been given - I'm going to do it in 21 WEEKS not days.  Hey who cares, right?!

4.  Have you heard of Pin Boards?  They're in beta testing - oh I wish I was in on that!

I love beta testing anything computer related.  Most of my beta testing has been in the medical field though. Interesting, but definitely not as pretty!  Pin Boards is a collection of online virtual bulletin boards where users post their images that inspire them in some way.  Check it out - you can request an invite to join when they're up and running, too.

5.  And just an fyi - my great "sketching tile" idea was a flop.  Way too big.  Way too heavy.  If you have a large area, it may work!

6.  And I read the other day that Wilna creates her projects with a glue gun!  I always thought she was an incredible artist, but really now . . .

If you can create this . . .

by Wilna

Using an adhesive that looks like this . . .

you gotta be good!

Thanks for stopping by!

Making Grandma's Snowflakes

After posting my Grandma's Snowflakes on the JBS Inspiration blog, I got a couple of questions about how I made these.  It's very easy and is a great winter activity.  After all, snowflakes aren't just for Christmas!

Here goes!

1. Supplies:  A strand of costume jewelry, wire cutters, needle nose pliers, a snowflake wire form (made or bought), tape, and a non-slip surface.

My handyman (aka dh) made my wire forms for me by soldering 3 lengths of floral wire together in the middle.  Ready made forms are easily accessible now though in most craft stores and online.  A scrap piece of velveteen works well to keep the beads from rolling all over the place.

A lot of the fun in this project is picking out the jewelry to use.  If you haven't inherited any costume jewelry, look for strands at flea markets and tag sales.  Prices are usually very cheap if you go to the right places.  The best jewelry to use for this project would have different sizes or shapes of beads in multiples of at least six.  Having some tiny beads helps also as you will see.

2.  Using scissors or your wire cutters, cut the strand apart. You can separate the beads by size and shape if you want.

3.  Start threading your wire form with small beads first, threading each arm to make sure they are small enough to meet at the middle of the snowflake.  If you used larger beads at this point, they would not be able to meet at the middle, and you will be left with exposed wire in the center.

4. You now start threading each arm separately, alternating color, size, and shape as desired.

5. When you like the way one arm looks, place a piece of tape at the end of the wire to keep the beads from sliding off.

6.  Continue on with each arm, making each arm the same because snowflakes are symmetrical after all!

7. When each arm is done and taped off,  push the beads together snug on one arm, and cut the wire about 1/4 inch from its last bead.

8.  With your needle nose pliers, turn the wire end into a loop.  Turn and end the loop snugly against the last bead on the arm.  The beads will now be held  into place and you shouldn't see any exposed wire on that snowflake arm.

9. Do the same for the other 5 snowflake arms.

10. You now have "Grandma's Snowflake", ready to be hung, and help you celebrate winter!

You can find these directions as a PDF here.

thanks for stopping by!

There's No Day Like a Snow Day!

And once again, those pretty little flakes are tumbling down . . .

and this little sweetie loves the snow . . . 

And even though I'm sick with this cold that probably half the east coast has, it's a GREAT day for scrapping.

I'm pulling out my January Jenni Bowlin Mercantile kit to make some more sweet things.  These were made a while ago . . . 

a layout of ds#1 and a sweet note he wrote about our house . . . 

I've never played with the Pink Paislee Artisan elements before. So much fun!

And more photos from the past of ds#2 having fun in a snow storm . . . 

and here's a sneak of a new project from the kit I'm working on . . . 

Don't we have a GREAT hobby?!