Here's a candle holder trio I made from the tops of beer bottles (remnants from our kitchen redo). The bases are made from some decorative laser cut wood pieces which I found at Micheal's and then I wire wrapped to hold the bottles. The stands are slices from some table legs we recycled when we build our bathroom vanity (we build that before I started blogging & one of these days I will get around to doing a post on it).
I've got way to many materials to recycle, including all the bottles from the kitchen renovation. I finally used some to make a wire wrapped necklace. I had my husband slice the rim of a beer bottle off and I filed down the edge of a chip from the same bottle for this creation.
As you may know, my husband is a brilliant photographer & I have linked often to his flickr where he goes by the name Baubcat. He often misplaces his lens cap and a few months back I saw a cap holder on B&H that attaches to the camera strap & the lens cap snaps into it. I was thinking of buying one, but then realized he had multiple lenses with different size caps & I didn’t want to buy a string of holders. I then googled ‘lens cap holder’ & found lots of pouches used to hold them. This brought my mind around to the many animal themed coin purses I’ve faved & pinned. I decided to make one of a BOBCAT. I measured his lens caps to determine the diameter of the holder. I drew a bunch of circles on a scrap of paper & began designing. I wanted to velco it closed, rather than snap so the snap wouldn’t be pressing into the plastic cap. I figured the nose was a good place for that. Then I needed to draw a cutting line somewhere along the middle to open up & insert the cap. I looked at many a photo of bobcats & had planned to make it very simplified & abstract, but when I left out too much detail it either looked like a kitten or a fox. Since bobcats have almost a mane, it was hard deciding whether to fringe the outer edge. You can see a sketch of a few of my various ears, eyes, etc. In the end I decided to do some embroidery, and as I did, I kept adding more, so much for simplified! What do you think; does it look like a bobcat?
My great niece is still a preteen but she's very much into fashion, loves watching design shows, and designing outfits. For her last birthday gift I decided to frame one of my old fashion illustrations from college in the 70's. It took my sister-in-law & I forever to decide which of my old works we thought she might like best and it ultimately was decided by which one I could find a frame to fit (most were tall & narrow). Instead of the normal matting, I just added 2 strips of mat down the sides of the drawing to fit it in the frame. Makes me think I should break out the watercolors again (so many project ideas, so little time).
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I've been eying quite a few boot cuffs on Etsy lately & decided I should try to make some. I don't knit, but recently while in my sweater drawer I noticed a sweater my mom handed down to me that didn't really fit. I liked the pattern & realized the sleeves would probably fit around my calves. So I cut about 12" off each sleeve. I folded about 3" over and then folded it again to give it some thickness. Then I just did a zigzag stitch around the edge & done! The zigzag worked fine with this sweater because of its weave, it really wasn't noticeable. But some other techniques might be to hand sew it, or even to use some yarn and do some kind of large decorative stitch. I guess I'll keep my eyes open at the thrift stores for some more interesting sweaters.
I've definitely neglected my blog since returning to work in the engineering field. The kitchen was completed months ago, but I hadn't taken time to get my husband to snap some nice photos. Finally made time for that, in between work & using my days off to painting & reorganizing the other rooms in the house after the re-wiring job. I put together some before & after shots so you can see what a big improvement the new kitchen is.
Happy to see go: wallpapered ceiling, vinyl floor, old hardware on cabinets.
Favorite new additions: recycled glass countertops (vetrazzo), DSC range, bosch dishwasher (nice & quiet), new bar/counter & window valance made with the glass bottle bottoms & LED lights. Eco friendly marmoleum floor and bamboo cabinets with a tall pantry.
My handmade card for dad for Father's Day. That's an old photo of my big sis & I in his lap probably in 1959.
