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Saturday, May 5, 2012

What I Did On My Summer Vacation....

OK. It's the same thing I do every year on vacations.


I am a natural scavenger. I collect things to bring home. Some things I buy. Others I collect....This year, in Carmel, I hit the jackpot in one little book.

Carmel is famous for it's art galleries. There are at least two in every block.


The gallery owners put out a free guide book to all of them. It's on beautiful glossy paper and perfect for mini framing.

Tessie has been going through it and wants one of everything framed.


There must be at least a couple of hundred paintings, suitable for framing, in this one.


Wherever you go, it pays to look at that little rack in the hotel lobby that shows anything of interest to tourists. Sometimes you can get great stuff.


The other thing that I collect are the little bottles of shampoo and lotion from the bathrooms where we stay. No. Not for the shampoo and lotion...A lot of them are just the right size for making basket molds.


The one laying on it's side in front of Tessie is a double threat. Both ends were usable as forms.


Since I had the needlework stash out, I decided to make a couple more on the bottoms of nail polish bottles too.


Can you tell that I am stalling? You guessed it. I'm forced to clean again. I didn't finish last week....I got it half done....That's better than nothing.


It's hard not to experiment when I run onto things like the bottle. These are the easiest mini baskets that can be made. No weaving, no mess.


Just wet the canvas, or in the case of the nail polish bottles, Aida cloth. Stretch them over the bottoms of the forms and then affix with a rubber band. Smooth the corners by tugging at them a bit. Let them dry. Usually there is enough sizing in the fabric to make it stiff.


I am going to walk away until tomorrow. Then I will cut off the excess and trim them with strips and unraveled threads glued around them....Almost instant baskets.
Here's what's really going on.....


This is the left side of the room.....Right side clean...Left side not so clean.

Anyway, while I am slaving away, you can go make instant baskets.

Back to work. The real world is calling.

See you tomorrow.

3 comments:

Lucille said...

Hi Casey! You're full of surprises. I don't think you ever showed us how to make these cute little baskets. I'm looking forward to tomorrow to see how you finished them.

Those tourist books are interesting. I haven't left Ottawa in decades and do not plan to do so in the near future. Just perhaps I'll stop in at the better hotels and look over their racks.

In the meantime, happy cleaning to you. It's like a merry-go-round, isn't it, this cleaning thing. It never really ends.

Raven said...

hi casey! you know, i've never thought of using the brochures in the hotel lobbies. that's a wonderful idea! now i have to go visit the two hotels in town :)

Katie said...

Such a smart idea- Using the brochures for pictures:) My Dad travels all over the world- I'll have to put a bug in his ear. :)