Handcrafted ornaments and the Flu Bug

The flu bug has hit our house! Yikes! Hubby woke up this morning and ate breakfast and all was well. He did a couple of loads of laundry (yes, hubby does laundry, I do not) and was taking an armful of clean sheets and clothes upstairs but dropped them on the table quickly and made a mad dash to the bathroom. Wow, that hit quickly. Since then he's had a cup of tea and one cracker, which did not stay down either, so definitely got the flu bug. Of course, the first thing he says is "So much getting the flu shot" but I explained to him, again, that the flu shot is for the serious respiratory flu that can kill people, not the 24 hour stomach flu! I sure hope he doesn't share it!

While I was decorating the tree yesterday I snapped a few pictures of some of the decorations that I've made over the years. These ones I made about 18 or 19 years ago and they are looking a little shabby and need to be redone but at least you will get the idea of how to make them for yourself. I didn't put them on the tree this year they were so beat up looking.

As the sign says, I made these from used Avon blush containers - mini ones. I used to sell Avon (and did very well at it and loved it but had to quit when I got sick) and my customers would keep their empty blush containers for me. Each one is a little different.

Here's a close up of one of them.

That picture is my beautiful granddaughter, Kadri, who was about 2 when this picture was taken, and is now almost 21 so yeah, these are oldies. First, find some containers with a clear lid. Paint the container - I used gold paint. Cut your picture to size and glue it in. If you look back at the first picture you will notice that some of the pictures have shifted so obviously the glue has dried out over the years. I likely just used a glue stick as supplies were limited back then. Wrap ribbon or lace around the edge and glue it down. Decorate the top and glue in a hanger. Done!

This next ornament was taught to me by my friend and nearby neighbour who came to Canada from South Africa. She is also the one that challenged me to make the African doll (check under Labels for dolls to see them).

I made these for all my daughters and some friends too. Fun to make with chunky chenille, one large jingle bell for the belly and small ones on the ends of the arms and legs, and a wooden head. Just twist the two pieces of chenille together and insert them in the jingle bell - you may have to pry open the ends, and then squeeze them shut again. I stuck the ones that go into the head into Tacky glue first to make sure they stay there. The small pompoms are also glued on with Tacky glue....great glue!

I'll post some more oldies another day! Have a great weekend everyone!

My Easter Basket

This is my Easter basket that sits on our dining room table each season. The basket itself was a gift we received with silk flowers in it but over the years the flowers got a little sad looking so I tossed them and kept the basket. It’s just decorated with bits of various flower stems I had in my stash along with the butterflies from the dollar store.

 The eggs you see are just those plastic eggs also from the dollar store. I drilled a hole in the top of each one and put a string of clear fishing line thru some with a large button on the inside because I used to hang them on suction hooks on the window. Then I made some more and I put ribbon thru right away with a big old knot glued on the inside so it would stay put. Then I glued the eggs together. They were then covered with bits of torn tissue paper which I applied with Mod Podge. After I was satisfied with the coverage I applied one more coat of Mod Podge and then sprinkled clear glitter over the entire egg and hung each one to dry.  After they were dry I added small roses or other flowers and sometimes more ribbon was glued on. Love my glue gun! These are so easy to make. My granddaughter, Kadri, was about 6 when she was here one Easter and she sat and made some as well. So it’s a great kid project.

Here is a close up of a couple of the eggs.

The little rabbit standing in front was another one of those projects that I do without planning. I picked up a huge bag of various wooden parts at a church rummage sale and inside was one wooden bowling pin. I took one look at it and decided it was not a bowling pin but a rabbit. A quick coat of white paint on it and a heart shaped wooden piece was all it took to get it started. The bowling pin was glued to the heart shape which made the rabbits feet. I then painted on the eyes. I had some of that chunky chenille in white so I cut off a length of four pieces, bent it in half, added plain pink chenille for the middle and glued it all together and on top of the head. Two white pompoms for the cheeks and one pink one for the nose completed the head. I used the two left over white chunky chenille for the arms. I just glued them at the back and wrapped them around. He also has a white pompom tail. Another easy kid project.

Here's the rabbit.