Playing Catch-up

I forget to write my blog while the kids are at school; I'm busy with work, and the house, and facebook, and pinterest....

Anywhoo, the kids get home, they take over the Mac. For hours. And while I can write my blog on my laptop, I use our family Mac for uploading photos. So I use their computer-hogging as the excuse for not updating my blog.

But that doesn't stop me from creating. I was keeping Wednesday's creation in my back pocket, an easy project when I needed a quickie. When my oldest was in grade school, she and I would make little crafts as her Valentine's Day gifts to her classmates. There's so much candy given out, I convinced her that a non-edible object would be unique and memorable. One year, we made Shrinky Dink heart keyrings; another year, we made ribbon bookmarks. And they were popular, her classmates really liked having something they could keep and use.

bookmark fixings

end rings attached to the ribbons

I like the bookmark project particularly; just about everybody I know could use multiple bookmarks, and these are hard to lose. I cut a length of ribbon, used jewelry pliers to attach end rings to each cut end. Beads or charms can be attached to the end rings with jump rings.

fancy reading accessory

I made two bookmarks; good thing, because my youngest took the brocade ribbon bookmark for herself the next day! I used long beads on the blue ribbon, putting a head pin through each bead, bending the end of the pin into a loop, then using a jump ring to attach the pins to the end rings.

I continued the wire work on Thursday - I made tiny hangers and itty bitty fabric dress silhouettes, then attached the dresses to the hangers with little red clothes pins that I bought in December. See, this was a project I saw displayed in a fabric store - with a pattern and everything! All I could think was, "Really, somebody needs a pattern to make this?!?"

What's wrong with wire hangers?

I made up the hanger shape, cut out a dress shape, and pinned it all together. No pattern necessary. This would be a fun Christmas ornament; or make a set of dresses in coordinating fabrics, put a string across a window, and make a whimsical valance.

so cute!