Flowers From My Yard

All summer I have been saving flowers picked from around my yard.  Some are flowers that most people would not consider drying as they shrink up pretty badly.  But I saved them for their colors.  I even saved some wildflowers.  They laid on a tray on my table for months.  I'm sure my husband thought I was crazy.  But I had a purpose.  Finally I felt like I had enough to make an impression.  so I cut a ring from cardboard and hot glued the flowers to it.

I started with the longest stems because once you start hot gluing you can't just stick the stem in wherever you might want it.   Then the largest flowers and fill in the spaces with the small ones.  You can even glue flowers on top of flowers.  It is now hanging on my grandchildrens playroom door.

And just to prove that you can use just about anything from outside, the 'real' floral stuff in this arrangement is just overgrown grass.  I guess fescue is really just wheat?  Anyway.  I picked a bunch of it and put some in a glass jar and some I hung on a wall.  This is after one month.

Sorry this is blurry.  But you get the idea.

New Old Kitchen Cupboard

I finally finished a project that I have been slowly working on for 6 months.   I purchased an entertainment center for $50 at a thrift store to turn into a free standing pantry for my kitchen. It was a good purchase as the center was real wood and had electrical wiring for the upper and middle part of the cabinet.  The upper part has a built in light and glass doors.

I had already taken off the doors and hardware before I remembered to take a picture.  So this is what it looked like before.

I painted it a dark green and was going to paint over with white and then distress it.  But I liked the green so much I decided to use the green as the primary color and distress that.  So after adding the black to the interior and red pattern to the doors I could not decide on what color to paint the back inside.  Green would have hidden the plants i planned to put in there and black seemed to dark.  So I ended up painting it like the textured faux venetian wall.  It looks so much like the wall (even without the texture) that you can't tell.  It looks like it has no back panel.  I'm not sure I like that but for now it will have to do.  Last was to put in the gallery glass paint for the faux stained glass doors.  I ran out of paint at one time and had to order more off of ebay as I could not find it at any of the craft stores.  Putting the doors back on was no easy matter either, but it is done and I really like it.  This is what people see when they come in the door.

See what I mean about the back panel looking like the wall?  I had the light on in the top cabinet when I took the picture

.  The trim and molding that I added make a huge difference in how the cabinet looks.  I took the clunky molding off to replace it with dental molding which I had painted black. I painted the cabinet red under beneath the molding.  You can just see the  molding under the top and bottom cabinet. The top molding has small dentals and I painted a line of red under it to match the other dental molding.  

Here is a before and after picture of the spot where I put the cabinet.

I put the tree outside for now.  We received it as a gift for our 25th wedding anniversary and there is no way that i would get rid of it. So I will have to come up with a place for it. I moved the wreath over and got rid of the cheap wire rack on which the plants sit.  I think the bottom doors are a little too much and may distress them more. You can't see it in the pictures but I distressed the doors so that some of the natural wood comes through which matches the door knobs.  I still may decide to paint the back panel black or green or maybe the color of the interior of the top cabinet which is just a mild yellow color.  It holds  a LOT of stuff.  I  have my canned good (as in stuff that I canned) in the top and the colors are nice through the glass.  I still need to order a glass shelf for the inside.

Sewing Again!!

Yipee!!   My little precious granddaughter is now in day care and I have found myself missing her dreadfully but nonetheless, I am beginning to appreciate greatly the hours I now have to be creative again.  I even feel that maybe by Christmas I will have numerous old and unfinished projects completed.  In fact, I was able to complete one of those such projects this week.
A friend from one of my doll clubs had asked me almost a year ago if i would make a doll for him.  He had purchased the pattern on ebay and said that it was like a doll he had received as a child.  I hate that it took me so long but that is just how things go.  However, I had the pleasure of making the doll and gifting it to him this week.  The doll pattern was very fragile although not THAT old.  The picture on the front was one that turned me away from ever wanting a doll like that.

As you can see, especially in the photo below, The doll body and even head shape was a very common pattern for the 1950s - 1970s.   The embroidered features and yarn hair was as common, and varied in quality according to the maker.  A lot of the dolls you will find had no pupils in their eyes.  Just the colored Iris.   Below is a close up of the face of the doll on the pattern. 

I'm sorry,  but I have said before that i just don't like to make ugly dolls.  And although she is rather endearing she is not what I would consider as pretty.  

The pattern was fragile and I traced it carefully.  The instructions were horrible and if I had not already made many dolls i would have been unable to make this one.  The dress was too small and I had make the bodice a second time and then enlarge even that one.   I fully lined the dress, which was not in the instructions but I wanted it to be made nicely.  He wanted Blonde hair and so this is what he got.

Although I do not do it often, I enjoy embroidering and I think I am pretty good at it.  I did however, add pupils to this doll.  And I gave her little white highlights in her eyes with paint.   She came out rather cute.

I am looking forward to being able to create more dolls and such as the year goes on.  I am really ready to do a  doll with a sculpted face.  But I have a Maggie Bessie in the works that has been hanging from my "limb tree" for a while.  Maybe pics of her will come soon.  In the meantime I am almost done with my Kitchen Cupboard and am really happy with it.