Getting Down to the Little Things...

I finished the copy of Amare's wrought iron sign on the side of his bed.  I have to do a little cleaning up of excess glue, but it is finished. It looks just like the real one.

I found a mouse to wander around, unless Amare puts him in a cage.

He seems happy so far.

I finished the bookshelf.  Now all I have to do is fill it with all kinds of goodies.

Amare has been trying to get that stack of sheets away from me for a couple of months now. I am not sure what the fascination is with them.  I suspect that he will open them up and that will be the end of the extra sheets for his bed.

The little plastic drawer unit is made from three plastic bubble packs from jewelry findings and some of the cat food dividers.  The drawers do come out... If you pull hard.  I may just tell Amare that they don't come out.  That will save a lot of time trying to stuff them back in.

I am now recreating the little boxes that I gave him.  I got them at Dollar Tree a few years ago and I use the real ones for book shelves and other things mini.  They are about nine inches square.  Therefore, these are 3/4" square.  the backs and dividers are the good old Cat Food box dividers. 

I see a couple of pieces that need to be straightened.

I guess I had better get back to work.

See you tomorrow.

New Year Calls for a New Project...

I decided that, rather than looking at old projects, I would do something new and quick.

I have done these before, but they are fast and fun.  What better way to start a new year?

If you walked into some one's workroom and saw a box labeled "tampons", you could possibly think that was a little weird....So...I labeled the box "bolster forms".  That sounds not quite so strange...and I get out of explaining the tampons to every new person that comes in and starts reading my labels.

The new ones are a bit different than the old kind.  I didn't discover, until I started using them that once again those silly people have messed up the design.  the new ones aren't an exact fit like the old ones were.  The inner tube is much smaller than the outer tube.  So I used part of the outer tube and cut a section out, in order to make the inner box that holds the top on.  Easy enough to do.

All you need for a nice powder box is the tampon, an index card, wallpaper or another paper of choice.  Thinner is better.  No card stock.  Other than that, you need white glue and small sharp scissors to cut the Vs in the top edges.

I should have said top and bottom edges.  The reason that I specify V cuts is you don't want the paper to overlap.

After you glue it as shown in the photo, cut a couple of strips of the paper that are the same size as the top and bottom sides.

Glue those around the box and over lap about 1/16".  I used my paper cutter to do the strips.  It makes for a nicer, straighter edge than scissors.

After you do that, decorate your box any way you want to.  I put bunka around the bottom of the top of the box.  I used four beads for three feet and a handle on top. 

As soon as I finish here, I am going back and put bunka around the top and bottom edges.  After seeing the photo, I think that it needs that little extra.

The answer to your next question....Yes.  It opens and you can hide things inside...Or you could even put a bit of dusting powder in it, with a felt circle on top for a powder puff.

Now go make something for the new year....If you don't need a powder box, you can make a set of canisters for the kitchen...Just don't tell anyone what you used to make the box.  They will think that you are a bit strange....

See you tomorrow.

Bits and Pieces In Progress...

Today I am playing at being a mad scientest.  It's working pretty good so far....

Meet my assistant Widget.  He has to see if any of it is for eating... Sorry Widge...No bites.

These are the little stamps that I got at Dollar Tree yesterday.

Taking things apart can be fun.  The first was a two ended stamp.  The two pink domes have possibilities as bottles of some kind.  Not necessarily for this project. It also yielded the two frosted pieces next to them...Maybe jars or glasses of some kind. 
'
The middle ones are called paddle stamps.  They were a bit difficult to cut apart.  I finally got out my side cutters for wire.  Those worked to get most of it off.  Then I finished the job with an Exacto knife.The blue, yellow and orange lidded jars were the result.  I also experimented with using a piece of clear plastic,  cut round as a lid.  They would have to be glued shut. These are a bit larger than the next ones.

These were rings.  They were the easiest.  I just cut off the ring part and cut the leftovers off with the Exacto.  All were pretty easy and will make interesting containers in the cottage.

Next, I started playing around with an idea for a corner box.  This one is by no means finished, but I had to see if it would work.

It did.  I used a 1" square Woodsie for the top and bottom base.  Then I used walnut veneer to cover the top and bottom. The walnut veneer also makes up the sides.

The plastic box that you see beside it is what I used for the glass. Easy, no bending.  I just cut out the piece I needed.

When I get it to something I am satisfied with, I will give you directions and measurments.  Meanwhile, be looking for products that come in these boxes.

I finished the large shelf unit.  As you can see, the little boxes will work great in there. 

Zar is with me on using the window unit for another workspace.  It helps when there are two against one in the voting. 

Speaking of voting.  We were ahead for a while yesterday...Then back to a tie.  I just went and looked.  We are ahead by 1%.  Tessie is doing her happy dance! Keep it up!

Night before last, I started designing a rug for the cottage....This is how it looks so far...

I have to finish the design, so that I will have something to work on in the evenings.

I need to get that blue one that I finished last week on here, but I have to go through a few steps to get it from the laptop to this computer before I can do that.

Anyway, don't forget to go up and poke the About.com badge to vote.

See you tomorrow.

Zap! I Made You An Umbrella!

Tessie hid for quite a while after I threatened to change her into an umbrella yesterday.....In fact, she was still hiding this morning when I went to get her for the final photo of this project.

No. I didn't make her an umbrella. I made her an umbrella. I started with a couple of index cards, some fabric to cover, trim, a cone finding and a piece of copper wire.

First I made a pattern that was curved at the bottom and just a slight S curve on each side of a triangle. The wider and longer you make the pattern, the larger the umbrella.

This one is permanently open. Nothing fancy. As Tessie said, she needs it now. It is still raining buckets outside.

The center example in the first photo is the shape to cut the fabric, so that it will go around the piece smoothly. The last one is how it looks glued.I did seven pieces just the same. Then I curved the bottom downwards and the top point upwards on each piece. After that it was simply a matter of sticking all of the sides together in a circle.

Here you see two of the panels glued together on the left and five glued together on the right.

Yes, you can see a bit of glue sticking out between the two on the left. That's OK. It will be covered with trim after everything is glued together.I cut panels the same size as the index card to glue to the inside. I will cover the seams in there also.

For the handle, I cut a piece of copper wire and curled it in a cone shape on one end and a hook shape on the other. You could use a thin piece of wood and get really fancy, but keep in mind, I had Tessie tugging at me and whining about getting rained on.

I did manage to get some trim on the outside before she grabbed it.

I told her that she was going to have to pose on the back porch for the final photo....

She got the strangest look on her face and replied, "But it's raining out there! I will melt!!!".

I told her that statement was just a myth. Witches don't melt in the rain, or in the bathtub, or washing dishes.... Then I shoved her out the door and closed it.
She ran and stood under the porch swing. She hopped from one foot to the other and whinged,"It's cold! My feet are turning blue! My fingers are numb."

I timed it. she was out there for all of 23.5 seconds. I took photos through the window in the back door...

Then I let her back in the house.

She threw the umbrella at me and stomped away. She is now rummaging through my yarn stash. She wants a sweater and leg warmers to match....

She hasn't learned yet. If she gets those, I will have to shove her out the back door again when it snows to see if they are thick enough to keep her warm in freezing weather....

This time I am going to warn her ahead of time. It will save me a lot of knitting if she opts to stay inside where it's nice and warm...

See you tomorrow.

Post It....And Hide My Jewels....

Sooner or later, if you sit on a pile of post it notes long enough....You come up with something to make with them in miniature....At least Tessie does.

She has been plopped on this pile of notes for the past few days watching me work.


This morning she decided that she needed some place to hide her "valuables". She has valuables???

Anyway, she asked me, "You have so many of these note thingies. Why can't we make something from them. They are already stuck together. They would make a good start for one of those books that you hide things in. No mess. No fuss."

I thought about it for a while and decided to try it. I refuse to use those nice new notes to experiment, so I grabbed a partially used yellow pad. Now that I know it works, I am sorry that I didn't go with the parchment colored ones. I had to stick two pieces together with the used ones.

Here's what I did. I started with a very fresh, never been used blade in my Exacto Knife. I found a pencil and a ruler and measured a 3/4" by 1" rectangle on the edge where everthing is stuck together.....The method to my madness? If you use that side, you don't have to do any messy gluing to stick the pages together. OK...So I am lazy. Lazy but smart.

I then measured in 1/8" all around to mark the inside of my box. With my metal ruler as a guide, I started cutting out the center, a few sheets at a time. I went about 3/4 of the way down.

I then took a piece of paper that looked almost like mini marbleized end paper in old books and cut a piece 1" by 1 1/2". Then I folded it down the center, the short way.

I laid one half on the opening, face up and glued it flat on the top edges. Then I cut an X in the center and forced the four pieces down into the hole, creased them well, lifted them and put glue under them. That's what you see in the second photo.

Then I took a piece of paper and using the center measurements as a guide cut a lining paper with four flaps that would just fit inside. I glued this in place.

On to the next photo. Here you see a couple of pieces of card stock cut just a bit larger on three edges. The fourth edge lines up with the back. A third piece is the width of the spine and the same length as the outer covers.

I laid them out on a piece of fabric that I liked and left just a thin line between the pieces so that they would bend.

I trimmed the fabric as you see in the photo and glued all of the flaps to the inside. Make sure that you put a little extra glue in the corners. That way, if it needs trimming, it won't ravel.

After the glue is dry,starting with the back(bottom) of the book, glue the block to the cover, lining up the spine with the back of the block.

Then do the spine and last the front cover. That gets glued to the end paper. Make sure that the front cover will open and close.

I confess that this one was arguing with me about staying closed. I did win the argument with a bit of mini wax....Don't tell anybody I cheated. After all, this was just a prototype.

It does open and close and Tessie is already looking for valuables to put in it...."OK. Now you have to make me some jewelry."

I knew she didn't have any valuables. Why do I fall for these schemes?


The last step, Tessie did herself. She dug up some of my self stick gold paper ornaments.

Only Tessie would think that leopard skin was too tame a cover for the box. I tried to tell her that gold on the outside would be a signal for anybody looking for her treasures.

She's not having any of it.
She's keeping the gold. In fact, she just looked me in the eye and cheerfully announced, "I need an bigger book to hide the leopard skin book inside, so nobody will steal it.....

Somebody hide the gold paper! I have visions of building a series of boxes that look like books. Each one successively larger....This could go on forever! Does anybody know where I can get a pad of post it notes that are about 5 feet square???

See you tomorrow.

Still in the Workroom, But....

Yes....I am still stuck in the workroom, but you don't have to be. So I stopped long enough to draw up a new purse pattern.

This was one of those middle of the night, maybe seen in a dream kind of things. It just popped into my head, full blown. Don't ask me why. Don't forget to poke the photos to make them bigger.
If you just want to enlarge this pattern and make it the right size in one of your programs, the squares are 1/4".

I cut all of the pieces out of lined index card. I find that they are just the right weight for purses and use them quite often. You could also use card stock, but I prefer the index card because of the lines. They help me keep things straight.
I cut the pieces out and glued fabric to all of them. Please note that the only piece that I left the sawtooth border on in card was the side piece. You need the card to fold under and glue to the back and front.

A little side note for those of you that haven't done much fabric covering before...Always cut little Vs out of the outer curves, like the bottom corners of the purse. Always simply make little slashes up to the edge of the card on fabric, when you are doing an inner curve. This will make all of your pieces lie flatter when you go to glue them to something else.

The first piece illustrates the cuts. The second and third pieces show the front side and inner side of the pocket flap.

The two straps are simply fabric strips folded and glued together without index card.

The last is the side panel that has the card left in the V points. More stability.

Basically, to put it together, you glue the side panel to one side and clamp the edges to hold. I use the old metal hair clips to do this. Let it dry...Do the second side. This one is a bit more difficult to do. A stylus or even the end of a pencil will help get it right. Clamp and let dry.

I used chain links from a necklace for the buckles on the straps, tab and outer pocket. There are six all together. Bend down about an eighth of an inch on the top tabs of the purse and glue the ring inside the bend. Then take one strap at a time and loop it through the top half of the installed loops and glue the end together. One strap goes on the two tabs on the same side of the purse.

Next you put a link around the closing tab and glue it. Then glue the tab over the center of both sides of the purse. The purse that I just made is not meant to open, but if you wanted to, you could glue lining pieces(the same size as the pattern)inside.

The last step is to bend the front pocket flap and glue the bent part to the purse front. Before you glue the flap down, insert another link and glue with about half of it sticking out.

There are a lot of variations that could be used on this pattern. Different findings and trim can make it look like a completely different bag.

Experimentation can be fun. Run along now and play. I have to go back to work.

Tessie already disappeared with the purse and left me holding the bag....Workroom cleaning, here I come.

See you tomorrow.

Bling is a Good Thing....

After getting over my snit yesterday morning, I went to work and for the third time, put all of the dangles on the three armed candlestick. They will never come off now. I found that, even with losing some, I had a lot left over. Waste not. Want not. I proceeded to make another single candlestick, with the addition of extra parts that I needed, from my own stash.

I also finally really finished the zebra chest. I drilled holes in the drawer fronts and with crystal roundels, seed beads and head pins, added the knobs.

Tessie was pleased and started stuffing things in the drawers before the glue was dry. I have to say that I am pretty pleased with it too.

Anyway, I thought that you might like instructions on how to build the single candle stick that I did. Start at the bottom and work to the top. When you get to the top, after gluing, cut the top of the head pin off.

Here's a diagram of how it was put together. Please note that I used Aleene's Jewelry glue to stick everything together on the pins. Poke the photo to see the order of the beads and findings.

It is easy enough to substitute other beads and findings for the ones that I used. Just be sure that your base, with the headpin stuck up through it and glued stands straight. Then have at it. You do have to have a wider finding to dangle the bugle beads from. Otherwise they won't hang right.

As I said yesterday, if you use the longer head pins and cut them off after you make the loop in the top, it is much easier to do. Just make sure that the beads that you want to use will fit over the head pins. By the way, you can get the head pins at Walmart or any bead or craft store.


I haven't changed the candles in the big one. When I do, I will make one for the single stick too.

Here's a close up so that you can kind of see how it should look....You can vary it any way that you want to. This one is actually straight. I took the picture at a bit of an angle. Oops!

After I finished that, I started working on another of the chests that I made from the kits.

The first step was Early American Minwax stain.....Stay tuned for what comes next....

See you tomorrow.

For The Birds and Weaving a Nest.....

First of all, look what came in the mail yesterday! Katie over at Katie's Clay Cornerhttp://katiesclaycorner.blogspot.com/ has been on a kick making all kinds of birdhouses. Lucky for the rest of us, she decided to put some of them on Etsy. As soon as I saw this one, I had to have it.

She is so good at aging and weathering. This house looks as if it has been in the garden for years. You can't see it in the photo, but there is even verrrry fine crackling on the paint.

To add insult to injury, now she has started making garden benches in the same finishes. I am slightly afraid to back and look at them....I probably will though. There are a couple of benches that are in the same color as the house...That's the injury part...My poor wallet! Anyway, go look at her blog and from there you can get to her Etsy shop. Sidebar, top right.

In fact the birdhouse put me in the mood to work out in the back yard. It is 70 degrees out right now. Perfect gardening weather.

While I was outside, Tessie decided to work on Kim's chair. I doubt that she will get much done beside putting knots in the thread, but it keeps her busy and out of my hair.

I peeked in the bedroom window a couple of times to see how things were going....

I was right. I will probably be spending the rest of the afternoon untangling what she did.

I guess she thought it was too much like work, because the next thing I knew, she had Zar's Mesmerizer in hand and Zar's complete attention.

The only trouble is, he knows even less about weaving wicker than Tessie does. It's especially hard to do that sort of thing when you are in a trance....

Thank goodness for Tessie's short attention span. The next time I looked in, Zar was nowhere to be seen. Tessie had managed to untangle everything, found a book and was trying out De's new chair.

De, I hope you are not opposed to a used chair. It's only slightly used. I chased her out of it as soon as I saw what she was doing!

I need to ask a favor of you. Do any of you know Sabiha's e mail addy? If you do, could you let her know that she won in the drawing and have her e mail me? I put a comment on her latest blog entry, thinking that she would read that....So far, no Sabiha. I need to find out her preferences.

One last thing. There are only four more days until the end of the Reader's Choice Award contest. Thanks for all of the support. Please keep voting. Tessie checks the stats about every 11 minutes....So far, So good!

I'm going to go weave wicker some more now. Tessie's back in the chair again. Looks like I am going to have to toss her out if I want to get anything done.

See you tomorrow.

End of the Year Clean Up....

Or as Tessie called it, "End of the year smash and grab."

Remember that laundry basket that was full of odds and ends from the last purge of the workroom? I decided to tackle it. Tessie decided to supervise and take whatever she thought that she deserved as payment for putting up with me for another year....

I didn't decide to take the photo until I had already disposed of about a quarter of what was stashed in there.

As you can see, Tessie was "helping". Helping herself to what she wanted.

We are going to a movie and a late lunch soon. Tomorrow is Walter's birthday and we are starting the celebration today. He is playing golf tomorrow.



Anyway, I got some of the sorting done. Tessie made quite a haul.

She found her beloved rubber chicken, her favorite hat, three purses, lots of baskets, some fabric, various findings, books and a microwave oven that has a working turntable....It is from the 80s. You can tell by the lovely avocado green case...If she is really going to put that in the townhouse, I think that it is going to have to have a color update.

See the orange bead at the front of the photo? I have plans for that. With a little work, it is going to be a samovar for the Russian Cottage.

When April was here at Christmas, she saw the cottage for the first time and likes it a lot. I guess that I am going to have to get to work and finish it. She found some mini baby hedgehogs
in a basket and announced that Russians love hedgehogs. Then she found a mini Faberge Egg. I tried to tell her that Russian peasants living in a small cottage wouldn't have anything so fancy. I couldn't talk her out of it, so I guess that the occupants will have to be closely related to the late royal family. I am going to leave it up to her to think up a background story.

Anyway, today movie and lunch...Tomorrow I will build a samovar.

See you then and Happy New Years Eve!!!

The Screening Process...

Today is Wednesday and on Wednesday, I am not great at working on long projects. Soooo.....
I decided to do a quick project that can be done many ways.

This process can be made into a triptych wall for display as I am doing it or it can be made much smaller for a three panel screen with different materials as a base.

I designed this one on graph paper this morning. I made it 6" wide and 8" tall at the highest point.

I drew out the center panel and put a curve at the top. You can make it symmetrical by simply folding the graph paper down the center and cutting the curve at the top for half. The sides should automatically match that way. Then simply use the half for the two side pieces.

For this wall sized unit, I used foam core for the back side and poster board for the front. That gives it stability to stand alone.

If I were making a three panel screen, I would use one illustration or mat board for the back and poster board for the front.

I cut out the three pieces of foam core and three of poster board and then found two fabrics that looked good together. I cut three pieces of each fabric with about 3/4" extra around the edges.

I used spray glue to adhere the fabric to the front and Aleene's gel glue to wrap the edges around to the back.

I mitered the corners of the fabric, making allowance for depth on the foam core and just cutting close to the corners on a slant on the poster board. Poke the photos to see better.

I laid the foam core pieces face down and lined them up, gluing lengths of ribbon to the seams. If you wanted a more solid look, you could use a strip of fabric instead.

Then I glued down the pieces of poster board on corresponding foam core pieces, sandwiching the ribbons in between.

I did have to weight these down with books just because I used Dollar Tree foam core. It is more warp-able than regular foam core.

When it was finished, Tessie volunteered to model for scale.

The nice thing about these little screens is, they can be set anywhere that you need a back drop for a couple of pieces of furniture. They also can be folded for storage. If you are planning to fold them, be sure to make the center front just a hair smaller than the back, so that it will close easily.

I got the idea for this from a needle book on one of the embroidery websites. Theirs had a neat tie closing on the center front. I eliminated that part and also the padding that they had on it.

It might be interesting to pad the outside and do the cover in patchwork or embroidery, but that's another story for another day.

I am off to Wednesday Witches' mini meeting soon.

See you tomorrow.

In Flight.....

I mailed off Katie's wicker this morning and then went in and was going to start cleaning the workroom....I confess...I got sidetracked.

First I unloaded the bag that I brought home from the show. The only other pieces that I bought that were by an actual artist were two crocheted doilies from IGMA Artisan, Laurie Miller Landa. They were both amazing and I don't know which one I like better.

I photographed them with one of Nikki Rowe's gourd bottles for scale. That's Witch and Wizard Miniatures http://nikkinikkinikki72.blogspot.com/ just in case you don't know who she is.

The first one has four fan shapes in the corners and the second one is very similar to one that I started in real life based on a granny square and working out from there.

I forgot to ask what size hook she uses, but the thread is Sulky rayon sewing thread. She was zipping right along on another doily whilst sitting at her table at the show.Pretty cool to watch.

OK. Now that you know that I didn't exactly start cleaning right away, I have an excuse.

I had to keep putting the wicker back in the box. As soon as I would put it in and turn my back to reach for the tape, Tessie would jump in and drag it back out. That went on for the good part of 15 minutes. At one point I had to undo the box to get her out. She had gotten herself tangled in bubble wrap. Good thing I spotted her before I sent the package.

Anyway, when I got back from the post office, Tessie had changed aprons, saying, "I can't wear that one until you make me a new chair like Katie's." And then,"You are going to start that today, aren't you? Aren't you???"

I looked her up and down. She had changed into her Halloween apron from last year. She was holding out the other one as if it smelled bad....Maybe it does. She has been wearing it for a month.

As soon as I finish here, I am really going to go clean the workroom. Honest! Tessie is going to help.....Maybe. If she wants a chair like Katie's, she is going to have to help. The materials for wicker are at the bottom of the heap on the floor just inside the door. I do hope that she doesn't change her mind. I need all the help I can get! You did notice that I didn't show you the mess, didn't you? That's how bad it is.

See you tomorrow.

Treasure Hunt...

Since it's Wednesday, once again, I will probably not get a lot done on minis. I decided that it was time to go through some of the drawers in the workroom.

I picked out the one that is full of "misc miniatures". At least that is what the label said on the outside of the drawer.....

Of course, as soon as I started rattling things, you know who showed up.

Tessie and Zar insisted on helping....This didn't bode well....They immediately started grabbing things for their separate houses. It was a mess.

I finally put my foot down. They could fill Tessie's new shelves and each pick out a couple of personal items.

Zar picked out a chess board and pieces and Tessie grabbed a pillow....That was interesting, because she has the other one of that set stashed already. Now I know where both of them are. Maybe she can be a help after all.

They made short work of filling up the new shelves. I can see that I am going to have to do it without them around....I found canned butterfly wings, buffalo meat and Nabisco Saltines on the same shelf. I am not sure if those are for snacking or building a potion. Either way, it doesn't sound tasty.

By the way, you will be relieved to know that Tessie never did catch a cat yesterday. No warthogs.

Then Zar found an old, very old, microwave oven. I found it at Pic n' Save in the early 80s. He told Tessie that he could fix it if she wanted to use it in the workroom. He examined it and declared, "This is rare. It's the first wind-up microwave oven that I have ever seen. Very odd."

I wound it up and turned it on. After all these years it still works. That is, the turntable inside still rotates. I tried to tell him that it didn't really work for cooking, but to no avail. He insists that, when he finishes with it, it will heat things up in a hurry. This should be an interesting experiment.

Meanwhile, Tessie found an old pot rack and wants it fancied up to hang above her work table for hanging pitchers and such.

She also pulled out a beach chair from the mess in the drawer. It was a kit that someone gave me.

She insists that, painted and with a new canvas seat, she will be able to use it.

I chose to work on that. It didn't take long to paint and cut a new sling.

I have to admit that I like it a lot better now. The only problem is, so does Zar.

He says that it looks all manly painted black and gussied up, as it is.

I'm not sure about the manly part.

I think that I will let them fight it out. I imagine that Tessie will win in the end. It would make a great garden chair and Zar doesn't have a garden.....Yet. Hopefully, that will keep them occupied long enough for me to get out of here.

If they haven't torn it apart, arguing over it, when I get back maybe I will make a second one. I should tell them now that I will do that.....But what fun would that be? They would be bored all afternoon.

I am off to Wednesday Witches mini meeting now.

See you tomorrow.

Playing for Time....

I went into the workroom with the intention of working on minis this morning. I messed with some of the solid glass grapes and other beads and findings for a while. I made three bottles and discovered that I really wasn't in the mood.

It's cloudy outside and just dreary. I want my sun back. It's a good thing that the monsoon season is almost finished.

I am waiting for an order of lights, etc. for the the townhouse to get here. There was a 20% sale at HBS this week, so I figured it was a good time to get them. They should be here in the next day or two. As soon as they get here, I am going to get seriously to work. Tessie wants the house finished and I want to do something else. I realllllly want to do something else. Reallllly.

When I got bored with beads, I spotted the little lidded basket that I bought at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago. That would be a quick item to make fancy.

It's just the right size to put a couple of mini rug projects in while I am working on them, so I went to work.

I stained it with provincial Min Wax the same day that I brought it home, so it was ready to work on.

First I measured the inside and lined it with black foam core. Nothing fancy because I will be the only one to see it. I just wanted to make it so that I wouldn't loose needles through the loosely woven outside.

Then I cut pieces of illustration board to fit the inner and outer recesses of the lid. I padded both pieces with one layer of bonded batting and covered each with some bright, happy material that Tessie picked out of the stash.....She says that the box would make a cozy place to hide when she wants to get away from Zar....She is now trying to talk me into padding the whole interior....For some reason, that gives me visions of a padded cell......

Anyway, here's the outside. The red button was meant to be. It was laying on the worktable under the Ott light, just waiting to be used.

I am thinking that I should do some more digging and see if I can find some ribbon or trim to cover the side edges of the top. They were not very well finished.

I have a feeling that Tessie is going to have some fun hiding in there and jumping out at me whilst I am trying to work....Not a Jack in the box...Tessie in the Box. I wonder why I have never seen a female person jumping out of a box before. Maybe she will start a new fad.....

OK. Enough stalling. I am going back to work now.....Unfortunately, I will be cleaning out the real refrigerator.....As they say, "Reality Bites!"

See you tomorrow.

Frippery, Gewgaws and Triffles.....

I promised to show you how to make a silk carnation without a needle and thread. Here it is. All you do is cut a 2 to 3" piece of silk ribbon. Then you put a dot of glue on one end so the the threads won't come loose. On the other end, you work one thread out of one edge with a pair of tweezers or a needle....OK so there can be a needle involved, if need be. Then you simply pull on the thread until the silk gathers into a rosette(carnation). Put a small dot of glue on the back to keep the thread in place. Cut off thread and there you have it.

Another interesting thing with the ribbon is to pull both edge threads. This gives you ruching. With this, I sometimes simply start with the whole bolt of ribbon and just pull the two threads until I think that I have enough. Then I put a dot of glue at both ends and cut it off. If you need to cut it anyplace in the center, be sure to put a dot of glue on the edges before you cut. Otherwise, you will loose all of the pretty gathers. You can tape it or pin it to a board and play with the ruching until it pleases you. It can be glued to clothing or furniture as decoration. Once it is glued, don't expect to move the pleats. Do that before you attach them to your project.

Last but not least, bow tying can be a nuisance. I am sure that some of you have already heard about the pin method, but I will include it for people that haven't.

Enlarge the photo to see the steps better.

1. Put two pins in a pinboard as far apart as you want the finished bow. In this case, I did them 1/2" apart. Thread your ribbon on a tapestry needle. I find it easier to work with the needle than fighting the flimsy ribbon. Starting with the end of the ribbon at the bottom right, leaving a tail as long as you want the finished bow, pin it to the board. Then loop it around the top left pin, across the back and around the right pin, crossing over the first tail.

2. Bring the tapestry needle up and under the body of the bow, between the pins.

3. Pull the tail on the needle down over the top of the bow, keeping the ribbon tight.

4. Loop the needle under the first tail from left to right. Then bring the needle back over the top of the first tail and loop it under itself. Pull the two tails up tight and you have a perfect bow. If you need to make several bows the same size, this comes in handy.

Go get some silk ribbon and practice. Tessie is tied up right now....Literally. She says "Help!" and "Get me out of this mess!" I won't show you a photo of this. It would be cruel. I have to go unravel things now.

I will see you tomorrow.