Trial and Error

Spoiler alert! I just had to start with the finished product even though that's not what my post says. Sorry!

So this is where I am at this moment...do you see it? And, just to give you a chance to "run" now, this is a long post!

The newspaper underneath the hat is VERY visible. That means that the coat of black spray paint didn't fill in the openings in such a way that I won't have to still paint all of the black areas with craft paint. Since I enjoy painting on the burlap, that won't be a problem (except by the time I get to #6 I might be going just a bit crazy but that will be another story) except that I will need to buy MUCH more paint.

The other issue is that I am pretty sure I am going to need to do a full second coat on every color-which also translates to a LOT more paint needed. I'm not sure if this is because I'm doing it on the black burlap. I might have been able to do less painting with the orange on the "traditional" burlap beige but I think I would have had as hard a time getting a decent coverage on the purple and probably even worse on the black! Since I bought 3 yards of the black already, I will never know for sure because I am using what I have!

In any case, I always love to do a sample. I have figured out a few other little tricks that will make the rest of the witch hats a bit easier to paint. Now if I could just fix the temperature outside as easily! The A/C runs constantly and I'm still HOT! Can't wait for those witches to don these hats and really be flying past! Lol

I'm home from the dentist and have my grand daughter with me for the rest of the day but while she is busy with something on her own, I managed to get a second coat on the orange and purple. It could probably even use one more coat for really vibrant color, but I think I'm stopping here. Always subject to change.

I think when I do the rest, I will also give the black areas a second coat of craft paint. There are still too many places where the burlap is not solid but it is too late now to go back-no way I'm painting around all of those dots! I did find some WalMart bags in my stash that are gray so maybe they won't show through as much...we shall see. I'm off to begin the assembling. So excited! I'll soon find out if there are other tweaks to be made.

Now that the edges are sealed and this thing is stuffed with WAY more bags than I would have ever imagined - wish I had thought to count so I would know how many more I have to scavenge - I am even happier than ever that I chose to make a sample first. I usually do this when I craft with the kids so I can head off any pitfalls along the way but this time, I actually made it easier on myself as I tackle the remaining 5!

So do you see the most obvious thing that happened? If you saw my first post on this project, you might remember that I said I made it a bit wider because I knew that the stuffing would make the hat narrower. But, I didn't foresee that once the tip of the hat was stuffed, it would move over as it did. I had anticipated dangling a spider off of that tip and not sure that will work now but I kind of like the "jaunt" of it so it's not an issue. I'm sure if I was more technical I could figure out how to tweak the initial pattern so that didn't happen...but, I'm not.

Something else I've discovered on making so many of these is that the painted side of the burlap shrinks a bit from the wetness of the paint-I guess. And so, when the gluing happens, the back is a bit larger than the front. In most places this doesn't matter because you can just trim it after you're done but in rounded areas it seems to make a difference and you end up with lots of fabric on one side having to scrunch into little fabric on the other and wanting to make little pleats or shirrs like when you're setting in sleeves when sewing. I somehow discovered that it MATTERS which side the glue is being applied to. When I can see I am running into this problem, I simply flip the whole thing over and apply the glue onto the other side and I have not had any problems. I'm sure this is TMI for most of you but just in case anyone takes a notion to actually try this craft her/him-self, I thought I would pass along my tips.

And, as weird as it is to say as I'm the queen of buying good tools and maintaining them, these are, in my opinion, the three most necessary tools needed for these projects...as well as a good, sharp pair of fabric scissors.

 I think I have shown you the little, cut-off chip bristled brush. It works so well to scrub in the paint. I'm sure a large sized stiff stencil brush would do the job as well but I don't have any large enough and, since I really don't like these inexpensive brushes for any "real" painting, cutting this one off didn't bother me at all.

And then there are the true necessities-the broken off, wood paint stirrer and the chopstick. They are invaluable for the assembly process. The chop stick helps push the bags into small spaces like the tip of this hat and the paint stirrer helps in the larger areas. The broken edge was just an accident. My grand daughter snapped off the rest of it to do some project she was working on. When I grabbed it to help shove in countless bags, I discovered that that broken end actually worked best as it kind of caught the bag as it went and you could "scrunch" so much more easily.

And then, the flat end really helps to push the two sides of fabric together after they are loaded with hot glue. Ask me how I figured that one out. The burlap is a very loose weave and the glue seeps out onto whatever might be pushing on it-like my fingers more than once. I might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but it didn't take me too long to figure this one out!

Since I'm really not the most patient person in the world and I just HAD to see how this will look completed, I went ahead and made up a bow with Halloween ribbon I had left over from past projects. The last time I checked, Halloween was just beginning to get on to the store shelves and there was no ribbon just yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Michaels will have more of that multi-colored dot ribbon again this year. We shall see. I might even add a few other embellishments when I see what is showing up this year but for now, here we are and I am so excited. Now on to the next five. Stay tuned.

And Here We Go!

I know. By now you thought I would be posting a perfectly lined up parade of witch hats ready for Halloween gifting. I kind of thought so too...but, as they say, life got in the way.

Each time I think I have a pretty empty week ahead of me and start to scramble to find a project, I seem to get unexpected "interruptions" that do nothing but brighten my life. Such was this week.

It started on Sunday with a call from daughter #2 asking if she and grand daughter #3 could come down for the day-as IF they ever have to ask! We had such a lovely visit...lunch from one of our favorite restaurants, lots of game playing and, of course, lots of talking. Such an unexpected way to spend the day. Couldn't have been better if I planned it!

Then, on Monday, daughter #3 and her three kids showed up carrying bags of food from some of my other favorite restaurants. We had the nicest visit catching up on my daughter's adventures in Europe and, when I finally had all three of my grand children together at a time where I thought things would be peaceful, I decided to get their picture to fill in the Father's Day frame we gave their dad with the IOU for a cute picture.

Here is what Father's Day looked like this year. My son-in-law actually cooked and then my brother, sister-in-law and I went over for a visit. My brother and sister-in-law brought dessert and it was a really nice afternoon even though the decor and table settings were kind of "down to earth" (paper recyclable?)! Lol Gotta love the difference between men and women. The food could not have tasted better nor could the company have been more engaging. Maybe I could take a leaf from his book...well, probably not but it does bring home the fact that it's really all about the time spent together.

Back to the picture taking. Of course, with this gang, I should have known better. I really tried to take the picture right after lunch but my daughter was so excited about her trip and wanted to share so I was assured...we'll do it before we leave. Can't believe I didn't recognize that ploy-I think she thought I'd forget! Lol

Sure enough, after several hours of visiting, they had to scoot as Presley had been invited out to the horse farm where she takes lessons to meet the newest horse just born. Of course, now they're running late...and it is the usual scramble to find a place to take this picture-ended up in a spot I never would have chosen...but, I digress. Then we had to get them ready and the pens kept running out of ink...and it tickled so they kept moving...and the littlest was not happy sitting next to her brothers....

And so, once they were anywhere close to resembling what we were going for, my daughter started snapping pictures and, let's just say that if I had been looking through that lens, there would have been some editing. But, in the end, it IS for their dad and he has witnessed these same attempts many times so I know he will be grateful for what he gets...if they remember to even give it to him! Lol

My daughter must have taken more than 20 shots and believe me when I tell you that this is the ONLY one even close to usable! In actuality, it definitely speaks to our family-what you see is what you get! Lol No pretenses here! As I'm looking at it here, I'm starting to think it is kind of cute. I hope my son-in-law likes it.

Then, since her brothers were off to the river for a few days with two of their friends, I'm getting to spend more time with Presley this week. I had a few errands I had to do and she has become quite the little shopper as she tags along on these adventures. This week is very low key as it is just so hot outside that our energy is sapped by the time we get home and we're both kind of happy just to chill!

Presley is off on a play date today with one of her best friends so I have the whole day...and this is finally about to happen. I think I will make one from start to finish before I move along with the others. That way, if I am going to make any mistakes, I will only do it once.

There is always something I have to think about before I cut. Usually when I am sketching my pattern, I am making it the size I want the finished piece to be. And, sometimes I can cut exactly that. But other times-as was the case here-once I factored in the amount of width taken up for hot glue "seam allowance", I thought this hat may be too thin-sort of dunce "cap-ish". And so I just cut it a bit larger. I will make the final decision once I actually start painting but it is always easier to take off a bit than to put a bit back on. Lol

I also did this step a little differently this time. Usually I coat the raw burlap with a clear spray sealer but since this burlap is black and takes up a lot of "paint surface", I decided to do this coat with matte black spray paint. It will serve the same purpose and it might even look good enough to serve as the black base coat. If it does it will save a LOT of paint and painting. If not, it will still be ready for the next step.

 
 I really am excited to see what they look like...and definitely happy to do anything that even hints about the fact that summer will not last forever...there is an end...even though it truly may not be in sight just yet. Stay tuned.

I Can Almost Feel The Autumn Air

Absolutely NO surprise that this one is my FAVORITE!!

I thought I would be hitting the ground running this morning to start painting the autumn leaf door hanger but, I had a few little chores to get done around the house and while I was out front doing some watering, my neighbors walked up and, no surprise, we talked for quite awhile! And so I got a bit of a later start than I anticipated but I am now ready to go!

I got the full coat of orange on but before it got too dry, I decided to come back and swipe in a few more colors. I tried to do a play on "dry brushing" but since this is on such a textured surface, that technique is almost impossible.

I swiped it as lightly as I could with the bright yellow and mustard and then went back over it all kind of scrubbing it together with my stiff bristled brush as I went.

The last thing I did was to take a very thin brush and drag in some veins. Again, this is the part of painting on burlap that just can't be precise-or at least I haven't found a way to do that. The paint and the brush tip pretty much go where they want as you lay them down and begin to pull. This is the part of the process where I could go on and on all day but I think it is time to know when to stop before it is a muddled mess.

It is also the part of the process where I realized that the more whimsical, polka dotted, striped kind of hangers are easier to accomplish than something that is supposed to look a little more realistic. Of course, I could have made a polka dotted or brightly striped leaf but for some reason I just couldn't bring myself to do it!

Now, I am once again waiting for paint to dry. As soon as it gets even somewhat touchable, I will hang it so air can hit both sides and that speeds up the drying process a lot.

Once it was dry, I hot glued it shut and stuffed it with the Publix bags. Then I twisted up some thin copper to make a thicker piece for the hanger.

The autumn ribbon wasn't on sale at HL when I was there and I was already using my coupon for the sunflower ribbon so I decided to wait knowing ribbon will probably be on sale next week-I truly believe that half of that store is on sale every other week so I never buy anything if it is not on sale or with a coupon. Nor did I really expect to have this door hanger done already...but I should have known me! Once the autumn colors are in my house, there is no stopping me.

And so, when I finished the painting and stuffing of the leaf today, I was prepared (kind of) to wait until next week to finish it. But, just by chance, I opened my ribbon drawer and what do I see but a tan and orange plaid bow that I remember being on a gift from daughter #3 and then another bow of just the plaid. I may or may not have had to jerry rig that stuff a bit but, since I always attach the bows with a large dollop of hot glue, many unsightly ends can be shoved under and glued down and no one is the wiser-until now! Lol

I think I may have seen an acorn floral pick at HL when I was there the other day. If so, I may pick one up to stick into the bow-otherwise, I am ready for my next two decor themes-sunflowers and autumn leaves...on to Halloween!! Stay tuned.

The Hardest Part is Over

So it no secret to followers of this blog that I am ALL about symmetry. I think I have even shared my story somewhere along the way. Many, many years ago, when I was taking an art class in college, I was tasked with making an asymmetrical design and then turning it into some form of art. Since I was newly married and all about "decorating" our rented apartment, I decided to make my design into a hooked rug. And, somehow I came up with the idea of using a section of a peacock's spread tail for my design. And so, I sketched, picked a portion and submitted it to the professor...and waited, only to be told it was SYMMETRICAL. OK. I moved on to another section with the same result. I think it may have been my third entry when he called me into his office to see why I was having so much trouble. I truly DIDN'T see how it could possibly be symmetrical. I tried to explain by folding my design in half vertically and then horizontally and thought I had proved my point-no symmetry. But a minute later I saw what he had been trying to explain when he took the design and folded the paper diagonally...and yep, it was indeed symmetrical. Somehow, no matter what I tried, my eye just couldn't tolerate anything asymmetrical. I soon saw the error of my ways and was able to pull off not only the design but quite a beautiful woolen hooked rug that I used for many years.

But, this issue has dogged me for many years in many, many design attempts.And so we come to the point of this post. I had a fabulous day yesterday with my friend and was ready today to move along with my next hanger. I wanted to make an autumn leaf. I know I have also told you before that I don't have an original idea in my body. I need to see other things and then can jump off from there. And so, I began looking at clipart leaf images and soon realized that the leaf I wanted needed to be different on each side-no folding the kraft paper in half and cutting for this design. Uh-oh. I knew I had quite the task in front of me. It actually took me awhile to get the length and width I wanted with the leaf in proportion but then, on closer inspection, I realized I had done it again-both sides were exactly the same and the leaf didn't look like a leaf. It took me a number of attempts-just like that day back in Norman Hall oh so many years ago, until I got close to what I wanted. I decided that I would quit while I was ahead. This is where I am:

It's not perfect but, it doesn't need to be. And now it's late on a Friday afternoon and I am ready to sit down, put my feet up and call it a day. I know I will probably hit the ground running tomorrow because I'm not moving on to witches' hats until this is done and I am really anxious to get on to witches' hats! If I'm making Halloween gifts can autumn be far behind? Stay tuned.

Let the "Sun" Shine!

Ahhh, so much better!!! NOW it looks like a sunflower...and, except for about 1 1/2 bottles of craft paint (on sale) and my time, I didn't lose anything else.

I will say that this one was definitely more of a challenge to stuff and glue. Those points were tricky. Not only am I always amazed at how much paint the burlap drinks but also about how many Publix bags it takes to stuff them. I like the Publix bags the best because they are brown and usually don't show through the burlap. But, trying to be environmentally friendly, I use "permanent" bags (seasonal of course) and so I had to beg as many empty bags as I could from anyone that I could. When I started thinking about how many it would take to make all of my Halloween witches' hats, I knew I would need help so I spoke to my friendly Publix manager. I told him what I was doing and he graciously told me I could take as many out of the recycling bin in front of the store as I want. Of course, I do get a few sideways glances as I am "dumpster" diving but I run by each time I shop and grab more and I think I am finally ready to go!

While still in Europe, my oldest daughter celebrated birthday #50! Imagine my surprise when my doorbell rang and I was presented with this beautiful bouquet of flowers. They are from a new florist here in Ocala and they are so whimsical and free floating...just exactly what I would pick for myself. There are even a few things in there that I have never seen before and smell just like a spring garden. Does she know me or what?!

I am spending tomorrow with an old friend but I will be ready to tackle the autumn leaf on Friday and then it's on to Halloween! Stay tuned.

"Be Prepared"

Almost all of my family is once again either out of town or STILL out of the country so I am trying to find things I want to do to stay busy this week. As much as I would love to be outside in the gardens, if you don't get out there really early-and then back in quickly-it is just too hot to be enjoyable. And so, of course, I think next about crafts. I do have a few large projects looming but I'm waiting for the pool install to be complete so my mind will be free to move along-but, I digress!

Since I have decided what I want to do for Halloween and have purchased all of the items needed to begin, I was on my way in that direction when I remembered that my 4th decor will be coming down pretty soon. The rest of July and all of August usually means sunflowers in my house. To many people, sunflowers "say" autumn-and, if I was being honest, they probably do to me as well-but, I am going with the SUN part of the word and using them to represent summer. They are yellow and look like the sun...which is hot...and so is summer...do you see where I'm going? Lol

And then I remembered that since I'm not putting the wreaths or metal basket full of flowers on the front door any more-thanks to the world's biggest tree frog taking up residence every time I do-that I would need a new burlap hanger. And so, off to my Pinterest boards I go and find some sunflower hangers that I am OK with. As always, mine will be somewhere in between but I always seem to need a jumping off spot.

And so I got going. Luckily, I had a new bottle of a sunflower yellow that I bought for dots on the witch's hats so I could start right away. As always, I started by drawing a pattern on kraft paper, pinning it to the burlap and cutting it out. Then, I gave both sides a quick spray with a clear acrylic sealer. That is what I did way back on my very first one and since it worked then, I have continued to do it. I think it closes up the roughness of the burlap and fills in any of the really wide openings in the weave.

I have one coat on in this picture and have used the entire, brand new bottle of paint! I am going to wait and see how it dries before I decide if I will put on a second coat.

So, it did not need a second coat. The color intensified perfectly. I bought a dark brown paint for the flower center and a lighter brown to delineate the leaves. But when I used the lighter color it came out too intense for me. When I painted the inner circle, the two colors were almost the same so...

...I mixed some of the light brown with the yellow and I am much happier with the color contrast. But, I am still not crazy about the whole thing. I wish I had put 8 leaves all coming out of the center but, as you well know, measuring is NOT my forte!! I could not seem to get that worked out (within the confines of the desired 18" size) no matter how many times I tried. The leaves were too small and it just didn't look right. And so, it is what it is! I'm pretty sure anyone looking at it will know it is supposed to be a sunflower.

My next hanger will be a leaf (with maybe a dangling acorn) for September. That is when I take down the sunflowers and put out my pumpkins and leaves....and, begin to BREATHE again!!

It is now the next morning. Those of you who are loyal readers of this blog-and a bit intuitive-may know where this is going! When I am "not crazy" about something, it usually continues to niggle at my brain. I could not get the mis-step on my design of this sunflower out of my head. As soon as my feet hit the ground this morning-and, I had a cup of caffeine coffee, I was back at the drawing board. I knew I could work it out. My mistake had been in folding the paper into sections so I could cut once and have even petals. Once I got over that, I simply sketched out what I wanted and THEN could fold the paper and get things even.

At this point, I truly thought I would be tossing the old one. For some reason I looked very closely at it before I did and I realized that I still had the same number of "points"-they were just thinner and placed differently. That meant with a little trimming, I could use the same burlap. I am going to turn the old sunflower over, paint the other side a solid brown and now use it for the back of the hanger. The old back will now become the front...got that? Lol

This is where I am now...watching paint dry! So I am off to get a few things done and the next time we "talk", I hope I can show you the finished product...one that will please my sense of symmetry. Can you spell OCD? Lol Stay tuned.

All That Glitters!

My daughters are still in Europe and my son-in-law is still going to work every day, so the "littles" are still with Nana. Summer days can get very long so I try to have a few things always on the crafty horizon.

Today, we made 4th of July slime. We picked up the clear glue when we were at HL the other day. I had everything else on hand. Presley is apparently the "queen of slime" because she immediately told me that the recipe with Borax didn't make a very stretchy slime. We went ahead and put it together because it made the prettiest one. But, she was right. It is still fun to play with-as a matter of fact, I like it more-but she wanted to do the one with liquid starch...and, of course, I had that in my craft arsenal as well.

The starch produced a more white colored slime but waayyyy stretchier! This time we used red, silver and blue glitter and 4th of July confetti.

She's very proud of her "slime swirl".

The Borax recipe is more "Flubber-ish".

 
The starch recipe is white while the Borax made the clear...even tough they both used clear Elmer's glue.

And to make our day even more fun since there is construction going on at my daughter's house (even though she's not there to supervise), their two dogs came to visit as well. As long as you don't leave any food ANYWHERE reachable-and that is pretty far as Parker is a very tall dog-they are pretty good. We do have to try to keep Hazel from swimming and rolling in dirt, but that's a whole other story. Lol

I'm loving that I'm getting to pretend it's the 4th. This way, even if the whole gang is out of town on the real day, I will have had my photo ops. Now I need to get some of Harrison after he returns from camp tonight. Stay tuned.

Starting the Celebrating

This has been a busy week...with more to come! With my daughter in Europe, my son-in-law at work and my oldest grand son at Camp Kiwanis for the week, the little kids and I were left to our own devices. After so many years of being around children, I know it is always a good idea to have a "back-up" plan. As they say, "idle hands..."

And so, I let you in on some of my ideas in my last post. The kids
 arrived bright and early on Monday morning and I filled them in on some of my ideas and they were good with all of them but, first we had to head out to pick up some supplies:

Always something good for a laugh at HL. The kids thought this Elvis gnome was hysterical...gotta admit that I kind of laughed as well!

 

We have had a fair amount of this this week:

But we were armed and ready to go. We decided to start with the paintings. I made one to get the feel and give them some tips and then they were off and running. Each of these kids won their art teacher's year end art award for their perspective grades, so there really isn't a lot of direction needed. They both have their own ideas of where things are going and it is fun to watch.

 

And here are the final products. They are so proud of themselves and a rainy afternoon was well spent. Of course, there was still time for a looonnngggg game of Monopoly. Did I remember to say LONG!!? Can you tell it's not my favorite. Tomorrow I will be pushing to get back to Yahtzee, Rummikub, Racko, Bingo....anything but Monopoly. I'm a good sport but we've now played this two days in a row. Since I have managed to avoid playing it less than that in the last 20 years, I think I've done my part. Lol

 

Here's the flag I did to give them an idea of where they could go with this. I didn't want them to think they had to just paint a traditional flag. I should have known better They're both pretty good at doing their own thing.

I've got to go as they will be here any minute for today's adventures but I'll be back. As you can tell, I'm squeezing in as much 4th of July as I can because I think this gang will once again be out of state when the real day rolls around. Stay tuned.

Always Trust Your Flowers

I need to pay more attention to my gardens and less to my phone. I was planning my day and checked the weather on my phone...maybe just a very slight chance of a very gentle shower it said!!! But then, out of the corner of my eye I spy these:

Why didn't I believe my eyes? I really don't think I ever knowingly planted rain lily bulbs. But here they are...and in lots of other random spots around my yard. And, when they bloom, it is a pretty sure indicator. And, sure enough, we have been having a monster of a downpour. I'm not complaining because I have been indoors replanting some of the sun room pots that needed more space to grow and, I did get out quickly and move some of the porch pots out so they could get a good nice soaking as well. But, I was kind of hoping that I could spend some time this afternoon out by the pool catching up on some reading. Maybe it will stop and dry out by then. In the mean time, I think I only have the guest bath left to show you. Again, I'm keeping it simple.

And just a nod to the holiday in the master bath:

When I last posted, I was thinking of doing some water gun painting with the kids but as I re-read the instructions and supply lists, I think it would cost more more than the amount of pleasure and creativity they would receive so I am on to a new idea:

I think they might enjoy this more. We can do them on canvas and they can be as creative as they want. They can go more traditional flag-like or free form like this one. It will be fun to see what they come up with!

Promising to be a busy week but I will check back soon. Stay tuned.