Mardi Gras week

 
Hi There! I decided to participate in Mardi Gras week at Embellished Bayou by sharing the decorations that my friend Sarah and I made last year. Check out the other Mardi Gras crafts there.
Each circle has Mardi Gras beads that I got in Nawlins in 2004 glued around the edge. Also some medallions and coins are used here and there. We painted one side of each circle and put mostly Gold design wrapping paper on the back. Unfortunately the wind is too strong on my front porch, which I discovered the hard way, so I'm not sure where and how to display them.
Click here to go to a past post to see close ups of 2 (scroll down).
BTW, When we went to Mardi Gras (dh and I) we watched the parades in the family part of town, not in the French quarter with the wild college students.
Kathy

Vintage Thingies Thursday

Its VTT already! Visit the other VTT posts at Coloradolady to see lots of great vintage items!

I am again showing some vintage things that I use often: My mom's crockpot, in use as I took the pic; an old spatula, one of my faves to use, good for quiche; a little individual creamer that I love I pour milk in it for my 2nd cup of coffee in the morning; my little house teapot; and a rooster nutcracker, the same as one someone showed last week.


Happy VTT!
Kathy

When you make a lemon...

Ok. I was over at Why Not How About Orange reading about how to make coasters out of strips of magazines. And I was technically at work and had to make a long phone call that mostly involved me listening so I decided to do a little weaving while I listened. Any way, I got caught up in listening and didn't follow the instructions right, apparently remembering instead those woven heart baskets you hang on the Christmas tree. So I ended up with a two layer square pocket which is too thick and uneven to use as a coaster. What to do with it?
A wall pocket!
Ta Da!



I had my high lighters in it but took them out for the photos. And here it is in context:



Hey its better than buying plastic things to put things in isn't it!
Kathy

Vintage Thingies Thursday

Visit Suzanne/Coloradolady to see the other Vintage Thingies Posts.

Here are some vintage thingies from my kitchen that I use often: My great grandmother's cast iron dutch oven and ceramic crock. Just to put them in context: these great grandparents married in 1900. I use the crock to hide things that I need nearby but don't want out in the open. Right now it has kittycat medicine in it. She had several more, I'm told, this one is the smallest. She kept food in them in the cellar. Then theres the world's best jar opener (see the gears on the underside?)is in the front on its side, and finally a grey pot that I keep on the counter as a catch-all.


The next 2 photos are plates and bowls that I got mostly for 25 cents each yesterday, some a bit more, to make plate flowers or (gasp) to break up for mosaic. There were 3 more but I took them to my mosaics class last night and broke them up for my project. I just love the hollyhock bowls. I will probably use the other bowls for kitty dishes. There was a whole stack of the glass star shaped plates but they were expensive at $1 each (as were the hollyhock bowls) so I'm going to play with them to see if they are wonderful enough on plate flowers to justify the price.


I just think the appleblossom plates are so pretty, I took a closeup.



Thanks for looking!

Kathy

Taking a mosaic class

I am taking a mosaic class at a local non profit gallery. I spent three hours cutting up dishes and glass last Tuesday and I loved it. I hope I can learn to make something beautiful. We'll see!
Kathy

 

Here is the amaryllis opened. I could have kicked myself yesterday because I forgot my camera at work and the sun was shining through it so beautifully at lunch time!
Happy Ruby Tuesday!

Finished for Friday - Show & Tell Paper beauty!

I bought a Robocutter for work where I periodically have to make vinyl letters and signs. It had gotten expensive to order the letters out and then often they were not exactly what I wanted or thought I'd specified. And the robo cutter will cut any font that you've got. So that's how I justified the $200 purchase for the machine and materials. But I knew it had other purposes....
FINALLY I figured out how to use it and made a bunch of letters and signs that I needed yesterday. (I'd had to call the company some time ago and they helped with a software problem, but I got discouraged and gave up for a time.) The letters are perfect, and actually easier to place than the ones I used to buy.
So I decided I was allowed to have some fun and this is what I did, or rather what the machine cut out of bright pink paper for me! Its about 8 inches tall. The flower file was a share from a generous person, but the machine will cut any line drawing and there is free software called Inkscape on the internet with which you can convert pictures or your own drawings or what ever into cuttable files! In theory it will cut fabric, but I bought the less expensive machine so I'm not sure how it will work on that.
 
Wa hoo! So many possibilities. This particular one will make a nice Valentine. Or it would be lovely framed... Its sitting on my black dining room table right now and I'm thinking decoupage it (or THEM as in the ones I make today, lol) on something black...
Check out the other fine projects at Show & Tell at My Romantic Home and Lit and Laundry's Finished for Friday!

Added much later: Its the size of a small printer or a long shoe box, really the same as a cricut except you send images through the computer instead of through cartridges.

Ruby Tuesday Cat and Flowers

Its a wintery January day, and I've been procrastinating on finishing the dress I'm supposed to be making. Check out the Other Ruby Tuesday Posts at Work of the Poet!
Instead here is my Zorro again, and also the amaryllis that didn't quite open on Christmas Day. I'm proud of myself because I saved it from last Christmas. Last summer I had it on my porch. This summer I think I'll actually plant the bulb in the garden, and get it some nutrition.

Zorro in the gift basket (the red throw was already there, honest!):



And here is the Amaryllis in bud. Had a hard time photoing it.





Kathy

Finished for Friday - End of the Christmas Goose

This isn't what I'd planned to post for FFF, but I didn't finish my dress. Maybe next week! Check out the other posts at Lit and Laundry's Finished For Friday!

I didn't love my Christmas Goose. Tho I cooked it by Julia Child's directions in my new cook book and gift from my dh "The Way to Cook".
I thought I would like all dark meat cuz I prefer dark chicken and turkey meat, and I like duck. But no. It is actually kind of chewy which doesn't appeal to me. So after making various leftover dishes which my dh ate most of, I finished it off Friday with Goose Pot Pie, following JC's recipe (sort of) for Turkey Pot Pie. Its good! But I didn't think to take a pic until we had eaten some.
Goose Fat is supposed to be the best thing to cook potatoes. You can see I have a jar there that I canned. I also gave 2 smaller ones away, but for them I painted the top of the jar pale yellow then glued the goose picture.
I fried some red cabbage and onions in it and it was delicious.



Happy New Year!

Kathy