Fishing line trellis

Hey every one...remember when I posted about allllll the fishing line that I received on one of my freecycle trips?  No, didn't think so!!  Well here is a pic to refresh your memory.  This is only one bag of it.

Since I am crafty and cheap ($ wise), I have been looking on-line for different ways to use up this stuff.  One of the ways to use it up was to make a trellis.  So I got to it.

I pulled out my little box of all the misc. screws and bolts that have been left over or recycled from stuff that has been put together in our home and 1 handy dandy screw driver.

I marked the fence where I wanted to put the screws...I didn't measure, I'm a big believer in eye-balling stuff, lol!!  

I found the strongest fishing line in my pile and got to wrapping and knotting.  If you look very closely I have (5) lines a that go from left to right and (2) lines that make a (X) in the center.

I bought flowering Jasmine to grow there.  I wish there was more to show you, but that's it, that's all that has grown.  It doesn't even have flowers  (*.*).  I really hope it works out the way I want it to.   It has been really hot and I've been trying to water, so we'll see.

Until next time!! Thanks for stopping by.

Linking up at these fabulous parties this week!

The Dedicated House

Savvy Southern Style

My Repurposed Life

 

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Patriotic Pillow

This past Saturday we drove out to the country to visit some wonderful friends.  They have their property in Sommerville, TX and a short gulf cart drive to the lakes edge.  I love it!!  Well, we never go or leave there empty handed. Not that we expect or they expect anything, it's just a nice gesture since we only get to see them about once a year.  I wanted to make something that I knew they would enjoy and appreciate.  So I decided on a Patriotic Pillow.  Of course it can be put out all year round, not just the 4th of July. 

The Patriotic Pillow

(I apologize for the not so great pics. I was in a hurry)

I decided on the more muted colors of Red, White and Blue. 

1.) Washed and pressed the 3 fat quarters.

2.) Made my cuts, I didn't measure - I usually eyeball everything.

3.) I printed out a star, traced it onto cardboard and cut it out.

4.) I traced stars on the light fabric.

5.) Cut out my stars and they're ready to be sewn on.

6.) I sewed using a zig-zag stitch.  I sewed on the stripes to the light fabric, I sewed the stars to the blue fabric, then sewed the blue fabric onto the light fabric.   Then I used embroidery floss to sew the buttons onto the stars.

For the back I used burlap lined with the light fabric, I didn't want the stuffing to poke out thru the burlap.

Here is the finished pillow.  I have to say they really loved it.  I loved making it for them. 

I made another pillow for my friend's birthday but I will show hers later.  If you follow me on Instagram (@fifiybr) then you got to see a sneak peek of it and I also introduced her pet potbelly pig Bacon.  Her parents are the ones who received the Patriotic Pillow.

Thanks for stopping by, everyone have a fabulous day!! 

Until the next project.....

Linking at these spots and others on my Link Party page

CraftyTexasGirls

Savvy Southern Style

My RePurposed Life

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Pictures and Words Wednesday 6/20 - Stella and Ms. Betty (furbabies)

It's been a while since I posted anything about my fur-babies!!  Here they are living the life!!  Eating and sleeping all day saving up their energy to run up and down the stairs at all hours of the night.....sigh!  Really, they sound like horses galloping up and down, lol.  I know they jump on the counters and the tables when we're asleep, then act all nice and lazy when we're awake.

Who are they fooling?  Nope, not I!

Here is Ms. Betty, she acts all tough and bossy like she's running the show.  But she's just a big baby, literally.  Bring on the thunder and she's at your feet, hiding between the drapes, has her head under the sofa, or sneaking into the pantry like you see in the picture below.  This was yesterday with all the thunder going on yesterday.  I think I need to take her to go see the movie BRAVE.....lol!!  Well this is Ms. Betty and in the next couple of days she's getting her summer hair cut. She's going to transform into Mrs. Bigglesworth.  This kitty is all fur, she looks big but she's really a tiny thing.

This is my sweet  Stella!  She's more laid back, I truly believe she's the boss when it comes to both cats.   Both cats are not lap cats, but Stella can be very loving.  She follows me everywhere I go.  She doesn't have to be next to me but in the same room.  Here she is in the craft room, watching me sew.  She's a big momma, at almost 20lbs.  She gets a trim too, but since she's already a short haired cat you really can't see a difference. 

These are the hags that live with us.  I call them hags because in cat years they are older than me, lol!!

Okay, everyone have a great Wednesday!  See you soon.



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Spray Paint project!

I ♥ spray paint!!!  Why, because this stuff can pretty much change anything into something pretty to look at.  Frames, furniture, glass, even shoes!!!!  I'm still trying to convince theHubs why I have so many spray paint cans or why I keep buying more....lol!!

I spent one of these past Saturdays spray painting outdoor plant pots.  They were due for a upgrade.  When we first moved into our new home we had no plants what so ever, the front door looked sad and lonely.  My mother-in-law gave me this potted plant, it is a type of Ivy.  The pot was painted white, probably with house paint not sure and after 7 years the paint has chipped away.  I sanded down as much as I could as you can see from the picture below.

It's no secret, I love easy projects.  This was super easy too!  I didn't remove the plant, because I was lazy and I said I loved easy projects.  So I just covered the plant with a plastic bag, tucked in all the long Ivy arms and pushed wooden skewers in around the bag so I wouldn't get spray paint all up in there. 

Ta-da!!  Fresh and white! 

I picked up this salmon colored pot at a garage sale for $1.00, yay!!  I washed and dried this baby and it was ready to be painted.  I loved the shiny color it had, it just didn't go with the outdoor color of the house.  So I just chose another shiny color to make a statement in the entry way.   

LOVE IT! Who doesn't love a nice turquoise?

Now, they are ready to show off!

I just put them here to take the picture.  They have since been moved, the blue one is on the walkway now.  

Everyone have a fabulous day, stay cool if it's hot out or stay dry if you're getting the rain! 



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In full bloom - Framed Flower Art

Who doesn't like LOVE flowers???  Well you're the weird one if you don't!  My favorite flower to receive is Tulips...in any color, but my all time favorite are Yellow Tulips!  Getting flowers, any kind for that matter for no reason is always a pleasant surprise.  My second all time favorite flower is the white Peony.  Really, these are soooooo beautiful.  I love them when they are fully bloomed or just barely opening.  

Okay, enough of my flower rambling!  I decided to make a piece of art to resemble a fully bloomed peony.  Can you guess what I used to make the flower?  I was also able to use a piece of fabric from my scrap busting bin and I also reused a garage sale find frame.

Sorry for all of the pictures....I couldn't decide which ones to show, so I just kept most of them.

Have you guessed yet?  It's really simple.

To make the flower petals was fun and easy...but the burning of my finger tips, not so much .

The flower looks like porcelain here doesn't it.

I really enjoyed making the center of the flower....after it was cooled I then spray painted it. 

You figured out what was used yet.  C'mon they're repinned all over Pinterest.

I wiped down the frame....my bestie found it for me at a garage sale for - dun...dun...dunnnnn 25¢

I cut out a piece of cardboard to fit the frame, then wrapped it in the piece fabric.  For the backing I just glued a piece of newspaper so you couldn't see all the glue and tape.  Sorry I forgot to take a picture of it.

Then I hot glued the flower onto the fabric.  After the glue dried I stood the frame up and put glue into the crevices.  I don't want it to fall off after it's put up.

It looks really great if I say so myself.  Well of course I'm gonna think that, lol!!

The three different textures used were wood, fabric and plastic!! 

Fine....

I used spoons for the petals and forks for the center! See, now you're thinking...really or whaaat!

Cool huh!!

Now it's ready for hanging.  I just have to decide how I should hang it.  The hook is at the top, the way the pic above is.  But I could easily add hooks to hang in the other way. 

Leave comments letting me know which way to hang it.

↨ upright

↔ sideways

   I'll tally up the comments next week and hang it up.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a fabulous week!


Linking up here and many other parties!  Take a look at my Parties page.


Today's Creative Blog

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Crafting the midnight away! Embroidering

Where has the year gone?  It's May and there are a little less than 2 months before the 4th of July!! CRAZY!!  We were just popping fireworks for New Years.  I really hope we don't have a ban for the 4th of July, we were on a fire ban and water restrictions last year. 

I've been busy these past couple of weeks with different projects...the sewing is easy to get done and show it off.  It's the bigger stuff that takes a bit of time - like furniture.  Slowly but surely its happening. It doesn't help that we're already getting the humidity....it's taking forever for my spray paint projects to dry.  After last years super smart idea of spray painting in the craft room and the big fail, I have to stick to the garage from now on...lol!! 

So, while the other projects get finished and pictures are taken and edited, I will show you what else I do at the midnight hour besides getting my beauty sleep.

I make things like this in bed with my lamp on because I don't want to wake theHubs.   

I made this one for my craft room!!  It's my blog name.  I hand drew the whole thing and used colored thread, it was not easy because the thread is too thin and kept knotting.  But I finished it!

This one is also for the craft room.  I used embroidery floss here.  Sometimes a gal needs some motivating words.  These are from a song...don't songs sometimes speak to you. Or don't you think wow... story of my life.  I traced the star from my lap top and wrote out the quote by hand.

The above blue one is for my side table in my bedroom....It's my wedding date.  Yes, I know the date to my anniversary, it's just a reminder of our LOVE.  Don't worry I'm not gonna talk about our gross, mushy love!! Who wants to here that!! lol!!  I used a iron on for the heart,  I couldn't draw that perfect.

Not to be rude or mean, but for a loooooooooooong time I thought of embroidering as a old folk craft...Sorry!  It was always old English letters, or the country cat that I saw and I was not interested at all.  If it was cooler or more modern maybe I'd try it.  I know now that there are about a million things that can be embroidered.  There are tons of iron ons that are cool enough for me, or I can draw whatever I want.

Well, I hope you like them.  If you've never tried to embroider give it a try...it's super easy and it's fun to pick all the colors.

Everyone have a fabulous day!!

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Crochet Covered Jars - Mother's day gifts or whenever gifts!

Well I took a break from all the scrap busting this week! I wanted to do something else so I decided to cover some jars with some really bad crocheting.....as you can see from the pics below I'm not the worlds best crochet-er.  I did get the affect I was looking for though. This is what I will be making for Mothers day gifts for my mom, sisters, M-I-L and S-I-L's.  

I have about 100 empty jars and bottles in a spare closet waiting for future crafting plans.  When I get to them is another question and theHubs is getting a bit worried with all the jar hoarding going on. "Men", sometimes they don't understand.

I know the big thing that's going on around blog land is painting and tinting glass jars, but I don't want to do that just yet.  I don't want to do it because everyone else is doing it. Sometimes I want to be the oddball when it comes to crafting. ('',)  Yes, I know I'm not the first the crochet cover jars, but I'm showing you the jars that "I" covered. 

I used some yarn that I had bought at the $ store...and used some jars from my stash and cut some knock-out roses from my backyard.  Doesn't it feel great to be able to use what you have and not go out and buy anything.  The jars can be used as plant holders, candle holders or what ever you decide to do with them.

I hope everyone has a great week!  Look out for me I'll be linking up to lots of parties this week.  Check out my I ♥ to Party links page to see where I link up and where you can link up as well.

One of the places where I'll be linking up at is Craftbotics

Rosie is having a month long link up, so what'cha waiting for go over there and link up your AWESOME projects.  She also has co-hosting opportunities if you email her.  Go and check out her cute and crafty blog.

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Spring cleaning in the yard!!

Besides scrap busting for the past couple of weeks, I have also been doing a little Spring cleaning in the yard.  Well when I say "I", I really mean "we" as in theHubs and myself.  He cuts the yard and edges and I do the weed pulling, planting and sprucing.  This is sort of looooong post, but I have pics!  "You've been warned" lol!

March was here and then it was gone, I kept putting off the yard work.  I had no motivation to get in the backyard and clear thing up...it was getting kind of ugly back there.  Looking in the back yard is kind of scary....weeds up to my eyeballs, which isn't saying much because I'm like 5'2, there are spiders in the grass, wasps and bees a buzzing, ants.  Fun times!!  

Look at this....ocean of weeds!!  Looks like a family of Leprechaun's invaded my space. This stuff was in the WHOLE BED.  Which is about 50 ft across and varies between 3, 5, 8, and 12 feet wide in some places.  Every time I pull weeds from this bed, I ask myself....."WHY"  well more like screaming that is.  I knew it had to be done.....theHubs said he would hire someone to come and clean it out, but I said why should we waste money paying someone to do this.  Plus, I could use that money to buy more plants or potting soil. So I got to it and started.  One Sunday, took me about 5 hours minus this corner below.

See this pic below....well in this corner there should be a moss rock border, Lantana bushes, a hibiscus plant...I think. Sometimes I wish we had nothing back there, it's too much work.  But then I'd be mad because I'd want plants and color back there.  

I was there another weekend and only got halfway done here...I started to see my plants! Now you can see the rock border too!!  I just wish you couldn't see the cable boxes.  Thanks "SBC"  why did my yard have to have them....oh well once the plants start growing you can barely see them.

This is what I did on Good Friday!!  It doesn't look like much yet....I have to wait a couple more weeks before the flowering plants start blooming.  I also added a Yellow Lady Banks Rose bush....I can't wait to see that start to crawl.

This whole bed was full of weeds!  The biggest tree here is a Texas Lilac, it can be trained to grow as a bush or as a tree.  I loooooove this tree,  it has about a zillion buds on it and it looks awesome with its flowers.  The only bad thing about this tree is the tree leaves look very similar to a marijuana leaf...weird, lol!!  I can assure you, there is no illegal plant growing going on in my back yard.  I have a Bradford pear tree,  a couple of Crab Apple  trees, Althea bushes, and a Rose of Sharon bush, Lantana bushes, sage bushes.  The knockout rose bush is in full bloom....even though it hurt me to my heart to hack it up, it was getting kind of wild.  See below ↓ I cant wait till all the color comes in.  It looks amazing....then when fall comes it looks sad and pathetic no color and no leaves.  I can see the backs of my neighbors houses and we have no privacy at all.  Due to deed restrictions we can't put in 8 ft fences....booooooooo. And since we to share fences with 4 different houses it would be kind of hard to get any of the neighbors to pitch in any funds to replace the fence.  That's the burbs for you. 

Lookie here.... we have some buggy competition going on.  It's good and bad....these are the leaves to the Crab Apple tree.  So now they're gonna get eaten by the caterpillars...and I saw like a billion of them.  No worries,  they asked for permission and I said as long as you turn into lovely butterflies and visit it would be okay.

The Crab Apple is full of blooms too!!  Soooo pretty!

The front yard is pretty much full of colors.  I love it!  This plant below is a Duranta bush and will flower all the way to Fall.  

Pretty right???? Next to it I have some Morning Glory and Passion vines crawling. 

Hey lil fella...what'cha doing there.

With all the Spring cleaning going on, I broke all my nails, went through 2 pairs of garden gloves, got bit by ants (knee, arm, shoulder, hands, ankles, thigh, and a toe)....why do their bites hurt so bad, killed  6 (BIG) spiders, scraped my calf with the shovel, got a lil sunburned, almost ate a knat, almost stung by a red wasp - there's a nest in one of the bird houses and had a lizard jump on my leg.  I told theHubs that I'm glad we only do this a couple days out of the year....my back was killing me.  See fun times!

I hope you enjoyed my Spring post.  Thank you for stopping by.

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Scrap Busting - Yes....more! It's a desk pad.

The Scrap busting fool is back!!  Since all I'm using is scraps I didn't have enough to really make something more glamorous, like fancy place mats for the dining or breakfast tables. But I did have enough scraps to make a desk pad for my laptop.....yay!!

Here's what I did...

1) I cut up 2 x 2 inch squares

2) I arranged them the way I wanted it to look, stacked them by rows,then sewed them to make the strips.

3) Sewed the strips together and now you can see it what it will look like.

4) Here you can see what the back will look like.  I used a white on white paisley print.

5) Now to baste, bottom and top sandwiching some batting.  Then I pinned to keep it all in place.

6) Since this is a hodgepodge of different scraps I just top-stitched squares on the inside of every square on the top. (boring)

7) Whew....I was close to not having enough scraps for the the binding.  I had to sew lots of little pieces together, then cut to make it about 2 inches in width.  Make 2 folds towards the center, press with the iron....then fold that in half and press with the iron....done!

8)  I pinned the binding allllllllllll the way around.

9) Sewed the binding on and mitered the corners....at least I didn't mess those up because that sucks!

10) Done......It's not perfect but it will work for me.

11) Now my Laptop can sit all fancy on its new desk pad.  Perfect fit too!!

11)  Just had to show off my little desk top too!  You can barely see my plant on the left side. I've had that ivy for about 13 years now.  It stays on the desk in my craft room...why?? Oh because I have 2 really bad and sneaky fur babies that like to shred my plants.

Hmm....I wonder if I'll have more Scrap busting posts!  Maybe, I do have lots of it.  You might get too bored with it.  We'll see, lol!

Thank you for stopping by!! Have a great day!!

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