AMANDA'S BASKETS: A SMALL, FRUGAL, FABRIC WREATH

Thursday, July 31, 2014

A SMALL, FRUGAL, FABRIC WREATH

The sun appeared today!!! Goodness, I was wondering if I would ever see that big round shiny thing in the sky again.

Going to bed with rain and waking up with rain several days in a row was really unusual. Take a look at these clouds...by the way, the pictures were taken during daytime. Clouds in the mountains are so low (because we're so high) that it is an erie feeling when they descend...

The garden survived. I saw more tomatoes, peppers and squash. This afternoon, I picked up all the stuff (including the swing set) that had blown over these past couple days. Took quite a while.

I was looking through Pinterest and saw many frugal, fabric wreaths. I liked them so much that I decided to try making one for Duchess. And as Duchess is small, I decided to make the wreath small.

The supplies you need are a wire hanger, wire cutter, pliers, scrap fabric and scissors. Not much at all.

First, I cut the hanger at the halfway mark at the bottom of the hanger. I then forced it into a small circle, twisting the wire around. I squashed the top part and folded it down so that there was still something to hang the wreath from and attach a ribbon to but that would not be seen.

Next, I took several pieces of fabric (squares) which I have not used...

Stacking into piles of five, I cut them into strips...

I then tied these unto the wire hanger circle...

I continued until I stuffed, and you need to stuff it, the wire circle full. The wreath didn't look very good until I was close to finishing. And when done, I was really pleased.

Adding a bow at the two was the finishing touch...

ZENTANGLE CHALLENGE: DAY FIFTY-THREE
Tomorrow is the last day of this challenge. As I have said before, it was well worth it to me.

And here is my journal page so far. I added more color to the lettering using colored pencils. I did have to retrace the black marker outline as the colored pencils muted the marks...

Well, that's all for today, folks...
Thanks for coming by...
See you tomorrow...
Can you believe that August begins tomorrow? I'm finding it hard. School begins this month for many students...on the plus side, so does preseason football!!!

CRAFTING IDEAS

I am always looking for a small piece of paper to write down something which will later be disposed of. I decided to use some of the scrap paper of which I have a ton. I mostly use the paper for glueing projects. I decided to cut the paper into a small size. (Six pieces from a piece of copy paper.). But just having them sitting on my desk would get messy without a container. So, using a cardboard box, I cut it down to size and using a hot glue gun I glued the ends together. Using a picture from a magazine cut into pieces and stick craft glue, I glued the pieces to the box inside and out. I also used some decorative tape for the outside edges. And to finish the top corners which were not covered, I used straight pins with colorful tops. Looks nice and works well.

MAGAZINE IDEAS

(New) One article in the Farmer's Almanac 2024 is a list of trends. One I knew about is the trend to downsize in just about every area. Another trend that I was surprised about was called ''The Human Library' which offers people on loan to talk about specific subjects. Finally, more folks are adding pets to their family and as a result, stores are adding more pet food, toys and medication to their offerings. There's also a nice garden article which suggests mixing vegetables and flowers together for success.

RECIPE IDEAS

Have you every made Cherry Dump Cake. It calls for 2 cans of Cherry Pie Filling (21 ounces), a white cake mix, 1/4 -1/2 cup butter, melted & 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans. In a 9 by 13 pan, spread both cans of cherry pie filling. Add the melted butter to the cake mix and break apart the resulting mixture and crumble it evenly over the pie filling. Sprinkle the pecans evenly over the mixture. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 35 - 45 minutes until the topping is golden brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Fast, easy and very delicious.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

What if you want to establish better habits, then decide what habit you want to work on. Again, try an easier one first for that good feeling of success. Let's consider more exercise. Start small. Don't try to run a marathon right away. Set the amount of time, the type of exercise and when to do it to begin making sure that it is within your reach. If it works for you each week add a bit more. Walking is one of the best ways to get good overall movement but there are many exercise videos on YouTube of varying lengths and difficulty to check out. Change your exercise routines to eliminate getting bored. For hardcore exercise with weights, give yourself a day in-between to recover. Even on days you would rather not exercise, do it and see if you feel better. It takes an average of 66 days to establish a habit. Just think 66 days to establish a good habit for a lifetime. Sounds like a good thing to me...how about you?