Today was the first time I tried out my new wood burning kit.   Actually the brand name is Versa Tool.   After practicing on a small piece of wood with a few of the tips, I decided to work on my big project.   My friend Steven had given me some awesome driftwood that I have been using in a display case at Jersey Made.   I had also selected this piece from his vast collection.   He said this particular piece had came from the riverbank in Delanco -  real New Jersey driftwood!!!

First I marked the letters onto the driftwood with yellow chalk.   Pencil lines would have been too hard to see and I was not couragous enough to even think about using a pen or other permanent writing tool!    After doing the outline of the letters I got braver and made a design inside the letters too.     

I think I did mighty fine for my first adventure!!!

It still needed a little something.    I had some of the light gray paint left so I brushed that onto the outer part of the letters first.   Once I was sure I liked that I added the green.    Just want to make really sure everyone could see that Jersey Made was O P E N. 

 Next week’s project will be to figure out how to hang it right by the front door.    I have a few ideas but need to make sure the sign is secure and still easily removed each night.  

As usual thanks for reading!

Come on over to Jersey Made …..

The sign will be hanging every Wed & Fri from 11-6PM, Thurs 12-6PM, Sat 10-6PM, Sun noon – 4PM.

Jersey Made, LLC

Mill Race Village

33 White Street

Mount Holly, NJ   08060

609-914-1536

Over the weekend I was finishing up alot of things for the upcoming shows.  After trying to figure out the best way to make necklaces out of my antique keys I came up with an idea.  So I took 3 different kinds of string.  One was a variegated yarn made by Twisted Fiber, an artist who comes to the Kirby’s Mill Art Show & Sale sometimes.  It has been here unused for many years now.  The second was a cotton twine.  Lastly, a variety of embroidery floss pieces.  I figured out a way to rig it so I could sew the 3 together.  It made quite an interesting look.  

This led me to my Scrabble piece collection.  I spent a few summers going to yard sales and buying any Scrabble boards I could.  My limit was $1.   Friends were looking for me as well.  So I ended up with quite a jar full of the letters.  I have been looking for another project to use them.  They have already been included in scrapbook pages, attached to decorative plaques and even a greeting card made on one of the game boards.  So I started drilling holes in them so I could attach jump rings.  

The idea of this project was to use what I had at home.  Recycle old items into something new.  So a trip to AC Moore for a bag full of jump rings seemed out of the question.  I remembered a friend bringing me some wire wrapped in red plastic.  I started to take the wire apart and found that it was copper.  This would be perfect for the Scrabble pieces and even the pennies that Abbie and I had spent so much time cleaning up.   Instead of my antique keys I brought out my collection of keys to everything that I dont’ have anymore (doesn’t everyone have a collection like this?  hmmmm)   The keys were colored with alcohol inks – a messy job but a great way to get that subtle color look.  Jazzed up some boring old keys too!!!

Finally all of these projects have aligned.  LOL!!!  I will have some of them ready for Saturday’s show but hope that it is a popular item so that I can continue to make them.  There sure is enough stuff around here to keep this project going for quite awhile.  

Here is my necklace.  The heart shape is the old registration tag from my 1st cat.  Her name was Gemini – yup – a birthday present – hehe.  Such a special charm for me to add.  I plan to wear the necklace a few days this week and gather opinions.  So far the response has been really positive. 

Tell me what you think!!!  The working title for these is “Charming Again”. 

As always, thanks for reading my tale!!

Well I am a little behind on my blogging but life has been hectic.  So we will travel back a few weeks to Sunday, May 31st.  My neice got confirmed.  As her godmother I wanted to have an extra special gift for her.  You might remember the antique skeleton keys that I purchased at a yard sale awhile back.  

Well I spent a bunch of time with the Dremil tool getting the rust off and making them look really pretty once again.  This began the idea for my neice’s gift for her confirmation.   I added a Scrabble letter ‘G’ for her name.  Abbie helped me with some beads to decorate it a bit and we had to include a wheatback penny that we had spent all that time drilling and polishing too.

I stamped a card to go along with it using Stampin’ Up! ”Refuge and Strength” set.   The box is recycled and the lid was decorated with some beautiful paper that I bought at a yard sale.   Together it was a great gift set and I was really pleased with it.   More importantly – SHE was pleased with it.  In her thank you card my neice called the necklace “cute & creative”.

It is great to be able to make my own cards.  I had spent so much time on the preparing the making of the necklace that the card was left until the last minute.  Hehehe – I don’t want to mislead my readers into thinking that I do everything ahead of time.  Like most people I need a deadline.  My Mom is famous for her motto that she often reminds us “never miss a deadline” and she never did!   Deadlines help me keep up with things and often I have so many things on my agenda that I need to follow in the order when things are due.  This of course keeps me burning the midnight oil sometimes.  It is also the reason I am blogging at this late hour since I really had an urge to blog before sleeping tonight.

As always, thanks for listening to my tale…..

I have a puzzle of lighthouses.  It has been moved around and saved for many years.  Yet still the many projects that come to mind remain undone.  I have thought about putting some pieces together to show a single lighthouse and making a pin out of it.  I want to use them on a scrapbook or altered page. 

The above was written as part of the One-Minute Writer.  Their website/blog has an inspiration for each day and we spend 60 seconds writing about it.  Today was my first time trying it.  I am turning over a new leaf and focusing Monday to my creative side.  Well really I want to focus all my extra time but I got layed off from my Monday morning job so it seemed like the perfect time to change things around for myself.  It sure was an eye opening experience doing the One-Minute Writer and opened up some creative brainwaves.  I am sure the exercise is meant to expand my writing but since today’s subject and my whole focus seem to be evolving in a artistic direction, the word “puzzle” just sent me down this path.

So I think I will pursue my lighthouse puzzle piece projects.  Anyone have ideas for me? Sure would be glad for your inspiration…..

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” – Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Got this great quote in an email today.  Although it did not inspire me to write down countless resolutions that would fade as the days past, it did remind me that we all have the ability to create our own lives.  Only I can choose this path for myself and keep away the distractions that keep me from it.

So in light of this revelation that I am having today I decided to take some pictures to remind me of the projects that I want to accomplish early in 2009. 

1.  I need a curtain for my kitchen window.  My neighbor on that side goes a little crazy during the holiday season and the whole area is aglow with the results of that. This year he added music and coordinating blinking lights – woohoo!! So these fabrics are the same that I used to make these two 12″ blocks about a year ago and I selected all of these from my UFO (un finished object) pile to make this much needed curtain.  The curtain rod is already sitting on the kitchen table – a leftover from my curtain for Bain’s Deli project.  So it will feel really great to get this small project finished. 

2.  For Christmas I asked for a thread carrier so I could take a variety of threads with me when I take sewing or quilting workshops.  This clear plastic carrier will fit in my bag great and I look forward to gathering my special quilting threads to put inside it.   Thread is so pricey these days.  Some of my quilting threads were $8.50 each – eeek.  So I want to make the best of what I have.  Plus I have thread in  several different places so this will eliminate searching the house for just the right color.  I might go get another of the same containers to further help in the sorting process.

 3.  No matter how many fat quarters I take to my monthly quilting meeting, I never ever win.  This fat quarter was included in a pack won by a woman who was sitting near me.  I oohed and aahed so much about this one piece that she pulled it from the stack and gave it to me.  My nephew is turning 21 in January 2009 and this guitar print would make a perfect ‘something’ for him.  The inspiration hasn’t gone much further than that.  I still need to think of what that ‘something’ will be.  But I intend to include it in his gift somehow.  He asked for money (not a creative gift suggestion) so I have to be clever on this one.  Any suggestions?  

 4.  The Love Apple Quilters will be having their “Spring Into Quilting” Quilt Show coming up in March 2009.  The 2 fabrics in front are part of the member challenge.  I added a black fabric and also a gorgeous hand-dyed fabric that I carefully selected at the NJ Quilt Show.  Together these fabrics will make my challenge project.  At our last show I won a ribbon for my Christmas stocking done in red and white – however the victory was ironic since no one else was in the “other” category and I won without opposition.   So I have spent 2 years saying to everyone who had a comment that I would welcome the competition.  Still haven’t thought about what my entry will be this year but I can be assured there will be more competition.   Not really the goal of all this for me, but it has made it fun and a running joke between Carole, Claudia & I.   

So there they are - 4 projects I need to get busy on.  Today is an open book and I want to fill 2009 with great things that I have made.  Some to put into the Leafpile.org shop and others to enjoy in my home.  There are many things that distract me from sewing and quilting and scrapbooking and creating but I hope and pray that I can remain focused.  Sometimes busy is the best solution for me and gives me less time for worry.  

Happy New Year 2009! 

….and they’re not made out of ticky  tac and they don’t all look quite the same – so stop singing!

So a few weeks ago I blogged about the little boxes that I made.  I will attach a link to that blog in case you want the pattern or more info. http://www.leafpile.org/blog/2008/11/11/little-boxes/ Well I took the little boxes one step further.  I made 25 boxes out of dark blue linen cardstock and stamped them with the mistletoe/berry stamp included in “Peaceful Wishes” copyrighted by Stampin’ Up!.   I used the fingertip dauber to put silver ink on the edges.  These boxes were then filled with 10 Hershey’s kisses and given out at my sterling silver open house.  My sister (Amy of course) was caught stuffing extra boxes into her purse on the way out the door.  Since I made way more than I needed I had extra and have been enjoying giving them to friends that I’ve seen since.   Everyone seemed excited to receive one.

The funniest story of my little silver boxes happened at church.  I had given a box to a few friends who couldn’t come to my open house.  Plus one to a lady who has been having a hard time of it lately.  It was nice to see her smile and kiss me on the cheek.  Well another lady sitting with that group leaped from her chair and came running over to the table where I was sitting.  She demanded to see the little silver boxes and informed me that she wanted 2 of them.  I had stuck a bunch in my bag so there was definitely 2 more and I couldn’t think of how to say ‘no’ to that one.  So I scooped out 2 and handed them to her.  She then quickly informed me that now she wanted 3 and she was going to give me 3 dollars.  Still not knowing how to say ‘no’ I told her to look in the bag and if there was 1 more she could have that as well.  The group at my table had been busy making cards for the shut-ins using my painted drawings from last Sunday’s bulletin (there’s a blog on that too) so I couldn’t stop again to help search at the bottom of the bag.   She oohed and aahed as she scurried from the table with her boxes chattering about them the whole way.   A few minutes later she was back to place 2 dollars (not 3) in my bag next to me and off she went.

So now all the women at my table, who had been busy making greeting cards for the shut-ins, were now at a standstill.  They had been watching all of this happen and the giggling was too much.  The progress of cutting, gluing, stamping and labeling had halted while we all pondered what I would do with the new found income.  I was busy calculating my hourly rate which I estimated at 30 cents per hour, not including the price of the chocolate.  The more we went on the more we laughed.  I figured that amount wouldn’t take me too far on a trip so I walked if over to the donation basket.

So create something today and see what kind of story you come up with in the process.  You just never know what will happen but when you give away something you’ve created.  It makes a difference to people (sometimes in odd ways but nevertheless it is a difference).

A silver box is in this for anyone from church who can guess the mysterious 2 dollar woman with 3 little silver boxes — just cause I do this blog for fun – hehehe!

This blogging thing can get kind of addicting.  It is fun to meet new fun creative people.   Robin makes ATC’s (artist trading cards) and altered art.  So she was my inspiration for the little box.   http://www.creativescraps.net/?p=106   Her blog had the link for the pattern and video and I quickly was excited to make my own little box.  http://www.viannpapers.com/wordpress/?p=20

So I had to make my own.  I glued the pattern to chipboard and made a pattern.   Then traced it onto creamy yellow cardstock.  Of course I had to stamp it before folding it and used Stampin’ Up!’s “Artifacts” set.  I have a friend who always says if it sits still long enough, stamp it!   Good words of wisdom that I have tried to follow.   I filled the little box with some candy and poof – it’s a birthday gift!     It is very clever how the box fits together and now I have to make more!