Nominated to share my projects by Teresa Godines - Day 5

I figured as my last #artChain project I would make something from paper. On facebook someone shared a beautiful white hummingbird that was made from paper. It was amazing and it looked so delicate, almost like it was made from some sort of tissue paper or velum. I never found the write-up so I don't know what it was made of other than 'paper'. I looked around and although I never found how to make the white one I did find a realistic colored one out of paper by Johan Scherft. Not only did he show how to put it together, he gave the pattern for it. So I figured I'd give it a try and here is what I learned.

People make things look so easy when they do them on YouTube but they are not!

When Johan suggested starting with the bigger hummingbird instead of the life-size one, I should have listened. (He gives two sizes, one slightly larger than life-size).

When Johan said what weight paper to use, I should have waited until I could get out and get some.

When Johan said use a 'good' glue, I thought I was but obviously I should have 'tested' the glue with the paper I was using that I had printed something on to check for 'smears' first.

When Johan said to be sure to get the beak at the correct angle, I shouldn't have fallen asleep but kept checking to be sure the beak didn't move while the glue was setting/drying.

But...I won't let it get me down. The pieces are so tiny, I had to use tweezers and a sewing needle to glue the piece. I still didn't get them perfect but for a first try, it was good. I used 65 lb paper and it isn't right, I believe he uses 85. When I tried gluing the pieces, where the glue got on the 'printed' side, it either made the paper peal from me touching it so the print was gone and the smooth paper is now rough or it just pulled the color off. So I ended up painting my hummingbird with H2Os so I could capture some of that shimmer real hummingbirds have. I also used Copics for detail (under the H2Os) and I used Liquid Glass for the eyes. (I really love the way the eyes came out.)

FYI. It took me 12 hours to do this one bird.

I hope you enjoy my final project.

Nominated to share my projects by Teresa Godines - Day 4

Living in New England this winter hasn't been fun with the extreme cold and snow every couple of days. So what is a person to do when they are snowed in? Sew of course. But what to make?

Hmmm...I see someone else who doesn't like the cold and snow either. 

Now what self respecting dog don't want some nice warm jammies?

No! The other dogs are not laughing at you...

Meet My Grandson!!!

At 8:54 P.M. my daughter gave birth to a healthy baby boy. His name is Dayton and he tipped the scale at 6 lbs. and 6 oz. and is 19" long.

Her labor was long and rough but mom is doing fine although extremely sore and tired.


So no one guessed the correct time I had left to do my hat and blanket on my #artChain project but 3 people did make a guess prior to me posting this so......surprise! All three of you will be getting a mystery prize. (Nancy, Jean, and Tona please email me your addresses)

Nominated to share my projects by Teresa Godines - Day 3 and give-a-way

I have been busy lately sewing. I want to share what I made last night. I found this cute pattern and tutorial on making a baby hat here at Zaaberry. It is super easy to make and I wanted to make the knotted one too but thought I would wait until Dayton is born before I make more hats since every time I bought newborn hats for the babies, they never fit. They were always way too big. I am using the same material for the baby blanket but I just haven't decided if I want the baby blanket as a baby blanket or if I should make it into a canopy for the car seat. I may do both since I have bought plenty of material but time is short. Can you guess how long I have to make the blanket and/or car seat cover? The first person to be the lucky guesser will receive a mystery prize.

Nominated to share my projects by Teresa Godines - Day 2

I made a card using Stampin Up products. I really had fun doing it and learned a great new technique for making bubbles or water spots. I also learned I was using my stamps wrong. The flower on this card is a Stampin Up 3 part/piece stamp for the flower. I always thought you put your darkest color on first, then layer on the lighter colors. Well, it turned out that I should have done it the other way, lightest to darkest. I know, I know, it don't make sense to me either. It seems to go against logic but I love the way the flower came out. So....my suggestion is to play with your stamps and try them both ways to see which you like.

Nominated to share my projects by Teresa Godines - Day 1

For those of you who are not on FB I am posting here as well.

I was nominated by Teresa Godiness to do a 5 day challenge called an art chain. For 5 days I need to share my 'artsy' projects with you and get to nominate a person to join per day.

So for day 1  (one) I was going to share the card I made on Tuesday but seems I can't find the darn thing now that I took all my sewing stuff out. So, looks like I will share what I sewed and hopefully somewhere in this mess I will find my card...LOL.

First a little background so you understand the 'why'. (Yes, there is a reason behind my madness.)

Back when the year started I wanted to 'unclutter' and that was my New Years Resolution. I started in the basement because once that is done I can move things that don't need to be upstairs into the cellar. I am getting rid of everything I have no use for. I am either donating it, giving it away, or throwing it out. In my quest to go through boxes I came across my chapter coat. I still have my patches and pins on it so I put it aside as I wanted to take them off before I throw the coat out. (Because it had the chapter and organization name on it plus "Sue" and "Army" it really is useless to wait until someone named Sue joined this particular chapter and was in the Army and I couldn't donate it because it is against the 'rules' to do so since the chapter name was on it.) Ok, so I will take my patches/pins off and it gets tossed someday... I put it aside and continued my sorting.

Now we get to present time and all our snow. It seems to snow every other day and I hate it but Damien loves it. I in my ultimate wisdom remembered snowsuit and even hat but never got gloves. I can't let him go out without anything on his hands so I put socks on but as you can see, they are not very warm plus do nothing for moisture. They didn't stay on his hands very well either.

Solution was of course to buy the child some gloves. Only one problem, stores no longer have gloves, they are already into clothing for spring/summer. I could buy him a bathing suit but not boots or gloves! So....I came up with my own solution. I remember seeing all these posts on FB about making mittens out of sweaters so why can't I make them from a coat?

I got that coat I put aside and took all the patches and pins off, then I cut the end of the sleeves off. I used that material for the 'hand part' keeping the elastic that were at the end of the sleeves for his wrists. I cut them in a mitten shape minus the thumb because he hates using the thumb for some reason (I am sure he will outgrow it) and added a nice flannel inside and sewed them together.

I sewed the halves together, washed them, and now he has water resistant, warm mittens.