Easter Craft 2012

Yes. I know Easter is over. I'm aware. You don't have to be snobbish about it.

But, the thing is...I didn't finish my Easter craft until after Easter. I know. That is some bad planning on my part. It's very un-Sarah of me. I like to do things in a timely fashion. Not complete a task two weeks late like some shiftless roust about.

I mean, here it is nearly a week after Easter and I'm just finishing getting these little babies out. But, at least they are so awesome that they'll still look great next year. And, everyone likes a fresh, new bauble to put out, don't they? I blame this whole thing on Martha Stewart, anyway.

So, here they are. My Easter Craft, 2012.

Papier mache eggs. Decorated with crepe paper flowers, made by me. The slightly larger, green egg in the middle is mine. I made it for me. It doesn't have anything special inside. It is also the only one that doesn't have crepe paper flowers. Because I couldn't figure out how to make teeny tiny lily of the valley like this, here. So, I just cut out the leafy bits and stuck on some vintage floral sprigs. The bases are made from checker pieces wrapped in crepe paper.

Lilah loves tulips. I'm not going to show you how I made these. That's not what this blog is about.

Pompom bunnies! I purchased the papier mache egg boxes online after a long search.

HB loves orange and aqua. The eggs were less available and more expensive than I thought they'd be.

Pompom chicks! But, I had a fever and the only cure was a papier mache Easter egg craft.

Sarah Mae got the only rhinestone. Can you believe I restrained myself? I HAD rhinestones and I DIDN'T use them ALL. I have to admit, I think I love the daffodils the best.

Sarah Mae has creepy-ass taste.


This last egg travelled all the way to Philadelphia! This will look killer with LuLu's decor.


You have to look at it on an angle to really appreciate the beauty.


Big ol' pompom bunny man!

Well, that was fun.

Last Friday the husband and I had the day off. It was amazing. We went to lunch at Orange Glory Cafe. Dear anyone in the Rochester area, this place is only open during the week for lunch. Do yourself a huge favor and take a day off (come on, you deserve a day off) and GO THERE, GO THERE NOW. Seriously mind blowingly delicious. We also hit up a few Estate Sales. Now, Estate Sales are vastly different from yard, garage, tag or church sales. Estate Sales is where the antiques dealers go for their booty. Prices and stakes are higher. They razz each other and gloat quite a bit. They scoff, stick up their noses and act like crazed animals the entire time. It was a good reminder of why I stay as far away from Estate Sales as I can. I did end up getting some good stuff for the Etsy page, but I only got a few things for myself.

Can I get a witness?


25 cents each. Red felt deer head on a holly pick with bells and a ...snow...tuft. With glitter.

Also this vintage Goose-Grease mug which will be a prize at the Seersucker Social this year! Come on out, folks!

Also, as a word of warning: Sometimes a trip to the toy store for your niece's birthday turns into a trip to the toy store for yourself.

So, in summary:

Give Someone The Gift Of Glitter This Season
Oh, Please With Your-Antique-Dealer-Self
Plastic!
Seersucker Sounds Dirty But Isn't
These Are Aunt Sarah's Toys

OOC

I guess a lot of things feel out of control in my life right now. For someone who is a control freak like me, it can mean a very bad emotional road.

One of the things that I like to do when I'm feeling all angsty is craft.

Start with a little of this.

Move on to some of this. The thing on the left is the craft project. It's a papier mache character on a base that I bought at the craft store. (a small papier mache box) Inside the body of the character is a wooden dowel and wire for the legs. Nail for the neck.

I don't usually use Fimo. Now I know why. I hate that junk. It never really softened up to the point where I like clay to be. I had to wrestle with it. It's crap. I'm not using it again. Nothing you can say will change my mind.

The whole process took me about a week of working on it after work for a few hours a night. This is the final product.







He's right dapper. Maybe all the paint, papier mache and glue will hold me together for another season.

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program...

To bring you something other than Christmas decor! Gasp! I know, right?

Instead I bring you...Christmas present. I made an apron for my godchild/niece, Emma. She's getting interested in helping her mother and grandmother bake and insists on wearing an apron. I made her one that is just her size. I embroidered one of the pockets with her initial and put a button from my grandmother's stash on the other. Emma's mother is my cousin, Deb, so it's pretty neat to incorporate something like that into the design. I think. I finished it with rick rack, because, what is an apron with no rick rack?



Sitting here, by the tree, watching Anne of Green Gables and listening to Rachel Lynde rant on about the Demon Liquor...all seems right with the world.

Now, onward. There are more presents to make. Like a plush octopus with a beret. Obviously.

Bathroom

You know you've stepped across some sort of line when you begin decorating the bathroom for each holiday. You've turned your heart away from the familiar, the rational, the norm. Instead you look with greedy eyes on the only uncharted decorational territory in the house: the crapper.

You'll remember these from before. The silver tree is from Avon (How is it that I've never written a post on my love for all things Avon?!) a few years back and it lights up. We use it as a night light during the holiday season. Sometimes I stop to wonder if it's uncouth or even derogatory to decorate the back of one's toilet. Then I think of all of the other areas in my life that are uncouth and derogatory and I shrug and say "meh".

This is the scene above the toilet. Slightly less garish than the fall set up, surprisingly. The green glass tree on top is a vintage Avon perfume bottle. I used to have a giant collection of vintage Christmas Avon bottles. That collection had to go. It got the boot in one of my yearly purges. Only the trees remain to tell the tale.

This is my snowball garland. It was given to me by a friend's mother on one of our yearly holiday shopping trips to the Craft Antique Co-Op. It's very long and is draped above our medicine cabinet.


Lastly, we have Gene Frost. I drew him. I also made a little character guy out of clay and stuff. I gave him to Heather, so he doesn't live with me any more, but he looks just like this:

I did the drawing first, and was going to call him Jack Frost, of course. But then, I looked at him more closely. He reminded me of Gene Kelly for some reason. Maybe it's the eyebrows. And, you can bet your bottom dollar that Gene Frost can tap dance like nobody's business.

Saying goodbye, going away...

Seems like goodbye's such a hard thing to say...

Touching a hand, wondering why, it's time for saying goodbye...


Saying goodbye, why is it sad...


Makes us remember the good times we've had...


Much more to say, foolish to try, it's time for saying goodbye...


Don't want to leave, but we both know...


Sometimes it's better to go. Somehow I know we'll meet again, not sure quite where and I don't know just when. You're in my heart, so until then, wanna smile, wanna cry, saying goodbye.

Ta-Dah? (#2 with a little less gusto)

There once was a girl who made curtains for her living room. She felt so good about the way these particular curtains turned out, that she thought she would make one large curtain for her bedroom. Now, you should know that this girl had a LOT of help measuring for the living room curtains. Then, because the turned out so well the girl got a big head and measured for the bedroom curtains on her own.

She made the curtain up and pressed it with the iron getting it ready for its big debut. But, alas! SOMEone measured the fabric incorrectly! The curtain was too small! For shame! Then SOMEone remembered that SOMEone's grandmother had given SOMEone an old crocheted tablecloth once upon a time. It was old and stained and had some holes in it. It would be perfect to help SOMEone cover up their heinous mistake.

Voila! Hey, presto! (yes, it was actually meant to be a half curtain, thank heavens!)

Ta-Dah!

The curtains are officially finished. I'm pretty happy with them. Gosh, it feels good to finish something. Now, on to the next project!

Hand Made

One of the reasons that I started my own blog is that I had become relatively obsessed with this blog. Everything on it/in it is beautiful. The writing, the pictures, the feel of it. Reading it has made my day more than once, made me laugh out loud often and brought me to tears more than I care to admit.

The woman who writes that blog makes things for a living. She is a crafter. For a job. It makes me at once jealous and also tired to think about creating things to pay bills. It was through reading her blog that I started to get excited about making things again. I stitched up a cafe curtain for my bathroom out of old hankies. I made a case for my camera and one for Nick's ipod out of old pajama pants. Small things, but fun to create.


Recently I've been getting a lot of hand made presents from my friends and family. Tailored scarves, Christmas wall hangings, sauce, peanut butter, and even a quilt! I've started to realize how special it makes me feel when someone makes me something. It feels like the person has put a little piece of their soul into that item. (Maybe I only feel that way because I just got done watching 9...)


So I've got the bug. I want to start making things. My goddaughter's birthday is coming in a few months and I've got some things planned. The girl who's blog I stalk wrote a book of crafting/sewing projects. I received it as a gift two years ago. I'm ready to start. Dolls and banners and even a horse! I'm sure it will be hard and frustrating at times but, I'm ready.


The small windows in my living room are the guinea pigs. They need real curtains. It only took me six years to decide on what to do with them. I'm sick of having various blankets draped in front of them so that Nick can block out the light in his lair of film.


We went to JoAnn's Fabrics. I only allowed myself to look in the fabric section. I nearly died of a fabric joygasm. I wish I was making a hundred things. I wish I had a million dollars to spend on fabric. I wish all of my friends had been with me so that I could use my special power of persuasion to make them all buy oodles of fabric for new kitchen curtains and something for their bedrooms and pillows and...things.


But for now, one step at a time. Living room curtains. Begin.