Today I Made Stuff

My glue gun came out this morning!

These are a few of the things I made with stuff I have lying around the house.

This was made with a piece of wood that was left after THGGM added a padded top to an old wooden box he bought early this year.

I white washed it a bit to lighten it up.

I had the letters (after all, my name is JudY) and a small wreath.

These are lined with some scrapbook paper I've been hoarding for years.

The cookie cutters are from a collection I have built because I cannot pass up a cookie cutter.

 It's been said before, but I'll say it again, it's easy to do this with things around the house when you have a lot of stuff just lying around the house.

A Pleasant Winter Saturday

It truly has been a pleasant Saturday.
Presently, it is 8:10 pm and I am sitting in the darkened living room listening to THGGM snore softly. I am also enjoying a fire in the fireplace while dreaming that someone will make me popcorn.
It won't be long until it's time to watch Keeping Up Appearances and As Time Goes By on PBS.
This morning I puttered around the house while THGGM did some errands.
In the afternoon we made a quick stop at one thrift store where I spent a total of 50 cents.
THGGM had more things to tend to in the afternoon.
There were many things that I should have been doing but I had that feeling that I MUST do something at least somewhat creative.
So THIS is what I did!

I drew on a plain old eraser and then carved out everything that wasn't a part of the drawing.
I may keep doing this until I run out of plain old erasers.
On the next one I try I won't worry so much about eyeballs or buttons.
Those can be added after the fact with black ink.
This is another one of those things that I highly recommend that you try!
All you need are plain old erasers, a craving tool, and a stamp pad.

Busy At Work

Yesterday morning I dug into the depths of my basement and brought up a picnic basket FULL of Christmas-y rubber stamps.
I wasn't sure if Hertsje would enjoy doing this as much as I do, so was pleasantly surprised that she LOVED it!

Were I to put out ALL of the rubber stamps it would have been overwhelming even for me, so I just put a few between us and we went to work!

This girl barely needs my help with ANYTHING anymore!

And I found some old favorite stamps of mine from days of yore!

We did all of this "work" while listening to Christmas music and reading Christmas stories.

Hertsje also decorated a few "gift bags" for use a little later in the season.

I found an extra tree in my basement too.
It even had lights on it that worked!
So, I brought that upstairs and put it in front of the window in the guest room.
It's a very sparsely branched tree, so we shall continue to make ornaments to hang on it.
Obviously, we have a loooong way to go!

This Week

These pictures were taken over three days.
I just left everything out on the table from Wednesday afternoon to Friday night.
It's all cleaned up now.

These three kids enjoyed making these as much as I did.
And you KNOW how much I enjoy this stuff!

Aren't they just the cutest?
The spiders too!

When I get low on certain craft supplies my anxiety levels rise.
I had to make a Friday night run for stick-on googly eyes.
Oh, I HAD more.
But could I FIND them?
NO!  I could not.

They are now hanging (there is a tiny clothespin glued underneath them) in our breezeway, looking very scary.  But in a cute way, as I don't like really scary things.

Acorn Hat People

 Every afternoon that Hertsje is here, we "play" school.
Today, I got to be the art teacher.

We made a few little acorn hat dolls.
She has her own desk, and seems most happy to be either the teacher, the big sister, or the class pet.  But mostly, the class pet.
Rarely does she want to be the student.
Probably because she spent all morning being that.

We read this book each afternoon too.
It is one of my favorite!
I LOVE Salley Mavors lovely artwork.
I have one of her books on how she makes these dolls, so we used that as a jumping off point for our dolls.

So many interesting little bits in this book.
We are all about putting our own spin on it, which makes it fun for both of us!

I Make Stuff Out Of Stuff

I made this couch for Famke for her 9th birthday which is next week.
Saturday at her sleep-over we started working on it together.
For the next few days it took over our kitchen table, but I got it finished Tuesday evening and she took it home with her last night.
I probably should write down somewhere how we did it, but I sort of just wing it, which makes writing it all down somewhat difficult.

I'm happy with how it turned out, but more importantly, so is Famke!
I make them deep, since the American Girl doll's knees do not bend.  This one will nicely hold two dolls sitting, but one fits pretty well lying down.

This is what I used to make it:

A cardboard box (from an Amazon delivery)
Thrifted upholstery fabric ($2.00)
Half a bag of thrifted fiber fill. ($1.00 for the bag)
Thrifted wooden napkin rings (.50)
A handful of tongue depressors (to reinforce the back)
The "board" from a broken clipboard (to reinforce the seat)
Two pieces cut from a pool noodle (for the armrests)
Thrifted crochet lace
Regular ol' Elmer's Glue

Son-in-law built a loft bed for Famke for her birthday.  Underneath it she is going to have a little reading area for herself, and a place for her American Girl Doll and her furniture.  I can't wait to see how she arranges all of it!

Crafty Goodness

Have you ever tried this?
I think that you should!
It is sooo fun to do.
All you need are three clear plastic cups.
These are wine cups.
I used them for our yogurt at our July 4th breakfast.
I didn't really NEED them for that, but I did WANT them for this craft.
You know, for the grandchildren.

On the first cup I drew a simple stick figure.
Just one will do.

Next you place a cup over the stick figure and draw a face, hair, bows, earrings, hats - whatever you like.

Then turn the cup a third of the way around and draw another face, etc.  Do that one more time totaling three different looks for your one stick figure.

Now add a third cup.

On this cup you can draw three different outfits with accessories for your stick person.

I'm only showing you one option here, but it really is fun to switch them up!

Jonge enjoyed it too.

He made one for himself with three different looks that interested him.

He also made one for Feintsje with three different sports.

Kado is still working on his, which is all four Teen Aged Mutant Ninja Turtles.

He's holding out for more colors.

I used a regular black Sharpie, and a red paint Sharpie.  Both worked well for this.  I haven't tried it yet, but I'm thinking about putting a hole through the top of all three cups and adding a brad to make the turning smoother.

Famke hasn't made one yet.  She has been enjoying a very active social life this summer, and she is loving it!

We Made Stuff on Wednesday Too.

It rained all day Wednesday.

So, after lunch we got out paper, markers, stamp pads, and rubber stamps.

This is not Feintsje's idea of a good time, but he was a good sport about it.

Hertsje ADORES crafting, so she was having a wonderful time!

It was her idea to make Mother's Day cards.

I just wanted to make patterns, which she so sweetly refers to as "patternments".

Although I DO love making things, my favorite part of it is the talking that goes on WHILE we are making things.

If you haven't spent time talking with four year olds lately, you really are missing out.  They have fabulous thoughts and ideas.

I'm working hard to not bring out every single craft supply I own, as it overwhelms them (and me!) so this is what I came up with working with what I had at hand.

I am also trying REALLY hard to share my supplies.  I'm sure you have been aware of this long before I actually became aware of it myself, but I have a teensy wee bit of a hoarding problem. Especially when it comes to craft supplies.

So, I am streeeeeeetching myself by using AND using up my  REALLY GOOD supplies.

It's hard.  I like to HAVE things.  One would think that I lived through an awful craft supply shortage of Herculean proportions, as I feel all panicky if I run low on paper, or markers, or what-have-you.  It's embarrassing to admit, but it is very real.

Ugh.

Someday very soon these two will also be in school, and I will wonder what I collected all of this stuff for if not to use it with the people that I love most on Earth.

Oh, and Feintsje wanted me to take a picture of this. He finished with his picture before Hertsje and I were barely started.  He was rather impressed with his ability to hold a penny up with his eye.

Be amazed.  Be VERY amazed.

Hertsje and I were using this great Stampin' Up! stamp set I found for $1.25 at Nice Twice.  WHAT A DEAL!  I used to sell Stampin' Up! and get a thrill anytime I can score some of these at low thrift store prices.  They had three other sets for the same price which I had in my basket, but I put them back.  And of course, Feintsje liked the construction vehicles.  Although, he prefers to play with the real deal rather than stamp.
Broeder wasn't feeling too well on Wednesday.  He slept right through craft time.

My Wednesday

There is NOTHING like an afternoon coffee break with these two four year olds.

They like to dunk their Steenstra's St. Claus Cookies into milk.

They know a good thing when they taste one.  Or two.

We also spent the afternoon making paper butterflies!  They REALLY got into it, helping me chose the best papers and suggesting which size print would work the best for different size butterflies.

The big ones were made from a 12x12 piece of scrapbook paper.  I found the directions on Pinterest by searching for Simple Paper Butterflies.  I've made origami butterflies before, but these truly were more SIMPLE.  And now I have a plethora of butterflies all over my house.  But I am NOT complaining!  

Such a FUN Saturday

Today I made this!  I haven't glued it all down yet, it's just resting there.  Obviously, this was not difficult at all.  You should make one too!
Oh, and if you read the post below, you may be interested to know that at 3:30 am I heard THGGM stirring, so I asked him what else I bought at the last antique mall we went to.  He said, "You mean the little wooden things".  The little wooden things.  No.  That didn't even help.  What little wooden things?  Then it hit me!  I bought two little baggies at less than thrift store prices.  One had wooden game pieces, most likely from an old Sorry game.  The other had an assortment of old shaped blocks. And THEN I fell deeply asleep.

A Living Room for a Doll

This is the living room area.

I have a slightly larger table in the garage which may hold a few more pieces of doll sized furniture.
Considering all the stuff I still have in my stash, there will need to be more room.
I thought of putting the doll sized bookcase over here, but it seemed to get lost among all the other books.
See that cute little globe bank? Didn't everyone have one of those when they were a child? While antique shopping on Tuesday I saw two of them. They were asking $24 a piece. Mine is a thrift store find - so.., yay!
Once I get the school room together it will go on the desk.
I also came across an old cutting board that I have in my work room.  It's all banged up on one side from being hammered on, but I think with the right legs it will make a great school room table!

This chair is the one made from a wooden box.
She sits very well on this.
I'm hoping to make a few more of these for when her friends come to visit.
Which is why I shall need a slightly larger table to set them on.
And the couch does seem to be holding up.  Famke accidentally sat on it while we were arranging things, and nothing happened to it.  So, there may be some truth to Grand Rapids having stellar furniture makers.
I'm still pondering adding trim to some of the pieces.  I don't want any of it to be TOO fussy.
As they are presently, if something falls off it's easy to put it back together.  I have to remember that my GOAL is for this to be for the grand kids.
NOT ME.  I occasionally forget that.  (sigh...)

For the living room to be complete, she shall need a basket of magazines.  That should be fun to make!

 I found this piece of Ralph Lauren in my stash.  I think Famke might like this one.  At her next sleep-over I'm hoping we can make a couch for her to bring home to her doll.

Well that is all for now.

There is still the kitchen/dining area to set up, and then the school room!

But I probably should not do it all in one week.

I need to live with it all for a bit to determine what works and what doesn't.

And I keep telling myself that I do not want to over do it.

But, um.., I do not think I know how to not over do things.

Nope.

So it will be a learning experience for me.

Wish me luck!

She Is Having FUN!

So.., this is the SECOND couch design I've come up with.

And the chair, made from a wooden box that has stuffing added to the seat and back.

Oh, and I found a small lamp shade at the thrift store Saturday and trimmed it out into a WORKING lamp, using a battery operated candle I picked up at IKEA a few years ago.  Love those things.

I spent more time on this bigger couch, but didn't quite know what to do with the exposed cardboard box.

But alas!  I found a larger piece of thrifted upholstery material that I already had on hand, and now am just thinking about how I should best attach it to the couch, or should I make it a slip cover?  Hmm.

See?  It's a very nice piece, and I do like that shade of green very much.  And as a slipcover it would be washable.  I know this because I have already washed and dried it once.

The chair still needs to be trimmed out, but I'm waiting a bit to dig around for trim.  These things take time.

Oh!  Look!  It's ME on the couch!

I added glasses, an empty bowl, and some stuffing up the shirt.  Yup.  I see it.  I even have a similar outfit.

(this is sad, isn't it?)

This chair slides nicely under the table, which I've redesigned a bit.

So, by night this AG Doll is ME.

But by day she is Hertsje's Elizabeth, the bunny ballerina who dances around on couches!

I've had to move most of this stuff to my basement.

Easter is less than two weeks away and I must put aside all this folly to concentrate on that.

Seriously.  Do you know how bad one's house can look when the one responsible for such things spends her time making comfortable seating for a doll!?

It's bad people.  It's bad.

I'm sure there are many people who enjoy spring cleaning.

But I am not one of them.

So it is time for the fun to end and the work to begin (at least that is what i am telling myself).