It's Getting Buggy Around Here

Lady Buggington has made herself known.  I have been hiding this beauty inside, hanging on my door to the garage, waiting for the right weather to come outside.  Spring has finally arrived in Minnesota, and I thought an effort to welcome CUTE bugs would be well worth my time.  Heaven knows the ugly ones will start appearing any day now ;0}

I made this sweet lady out of 1/4" mdf and a little bit of beaded plywood.  She is a simple one, but the splash of red on my porch complements the flurry of activity in the neighborhood just fine.  I love the swirls that make up the wire antennae.  I think that thick, flat floral wire would be a nice way to make the antennae, but I was a little impatient and wanted my girl complete like yesterday!  This 16 gauge black aluminum wire did the job.

After she was all painted and sanded I sprayed her down twice with a nice clear spray paint.  I love the stuff.  I might as well invest in the Rustoleum company because I use a couple cans a week with my orders and all my new stuff.  

Speaking of new stuff, I found a fabulous Garage Sale Store in Eagan, MN.  I say it is fabulous because, unlike all the chain thrift stores in these here parts, it was actually affordable.  This lampshade would have cost me $7.99 or more at Savers or Goodwill.  It was $3.00 at the Garage Sale Store, and then 50% off after that.  

That low, low price was what made it possible for me not only to purchase the lampshade, but to reduce it down to this wire frame.  I bet you can't wait to see what I make with it, can't ya'?  Hopefully later this week I will get the chance to tackle that small sewing project.  

Things have been so crazy lately I am finding it harder and harder to get real work done.  I don't know if it is just spring, or the fact I now have teenagers that have to be driven all over the state, but I find myself wanting to just sit and rest OVER CRAFTING!!!  What is this world coming to!?!  

Don't worry.  I have plenty of projects up my sleeves.  There is a whole pile of started Memorial Day/4th of July projects sitting here, dozens of patterns waiting to be written, photos to edit and post, a stack of sewing projects...Whew!  Just the thought makes me want to retreat to the couch and play a couple more rounds of Candy Crush.  

I will be back.  After all, Lady Buggington isn't the only Bug buzzing round my porch.  See you soon with more little critters and hopefully a pattern to go with them!

Happy Spring!!!

I See Grass!!!!

Whoot, whoot!  I see grass in my yard!!!  It seemed like a distant memory slowly blurring into a dream, but, at last, there really is grass beneath all that frozen white-ish goodness!

I better get my spring decorations up.  This new spring sign for my porch shutter went up today.  

It would have been just as cute inside on a mantel or something, but then my shutter would be left all naked and that just doesn't seem decent.

I cut all of these pieces on my scroll saw.  They were all cut from 1/4" mdf, painted, sanded, then glued together.  I drilled a small hole at the top of each letter, then simply strung them together on the same long wire, 16 gauge.

I simply adore the grass.  It was a bugger to cut out.  It could have been worse though.  I stacked up four pieces of the 1/4" mdf, taped them together, and then cut four pieces of grass with one cut.  With that much mdf in the stack, it takes a big longer than if I were just cutting one piece, but nowhere near the time it would take to cut four individual pieces of grass.  The grass is pretty detailed, so you either need to be experienced at wood cutting, or in the very lease, insanely patient to get it cut out, but the end result is totally worth it!

I put my spring sign right next to my very own Sir Hops-A-Lot.  What a fun scene to come home to.  

I am so excited for spring!

With A Little Luck

I just realized I never showed you my March Door Decor!  

As you can tell, I am feeling "Lucky" these days.  I am all the more excited for the whole shamrock theme seeing that the school mascot for all three kid's is the fighting Irish.  We could just leave these babies up all year long and the neighbors would just think we had amazing school spirit :0}

I think I was waiting until I did something else to this big guy.  I was thinking a big raffia bow in the center...and then I probably should have done the bead board at an angle to make it more exciting or something.  I really just wanted a simple, yet festive replacement for my sweet pink owl from Valentines Day.  I wanted to do a green version of the owl...

Can you tell I need more adult conversation?  I am even babbling on the blog now.

I made this little arrangement too.  I can't be held responsible for the whole button fiasco though.  The four leaf clover NEEDED something, I am just not the best at figuring out what.  

I still love my shamrock blocks though.

Just in case you need a little more St. Patrick's Day inspiration, you can check out what I made last year HERE and HERE.  The rainbow makes me smile every time I look at it sitting on my shelf in the hall.

See?  I like the rolled flowers I did last year.  I wish I would have looked at the picture earlier. 

Thanks for stopping by today, and "with a little luck" you and I both will get that adult conversation time we have been lacking!

New Pattern!!! Sir Hops-A-Lot

Remember this darling little guy that warmed up my porch last spring???  Well, FINALLY, I have finished the pattern!  That is right.  After so many requests, you can now purchase the pattern and make one for your self!  This guy is big, but the project is fairly low stress, as wood projects go.  So don't be afraid to give him a try.

I even made two versions in the same pattern.  You can have Sir Hoppy holding the Easter egg you see here, or a nice giant carrot to stick more to a Spring theme.

Where can you buy the pattern you say???  Well, on my Etsy site, of course ;0}  I am such a fabulous sales person, right?  No.  I know that I am not.  But, I do know that I totally love my big bunny on my door, so let me know if you want one too.  The pattern is only $4 and is available as an instant download.  Don't have a saw???  Not a problem.  I can get you a kit or even a finished bunny.  Just convo me on Etsy or email me at Vanessa.cam5@gmail.com

I hope your week is a hoppy one!

Tea Cup Bird Feeders

I made a set of three of these lovely tea cup bird feeders for my grandma this year.  Sweet Grandma is pretty hard to shop for given that she is so content with a puzzle and a smile, and all.  She does love her birdies outside and throws birdseed out for them all summer long, so I thought this might be just the gift to make for her.  

Basically, you just need a tea cup and saucer, one 1/2" copper cap {about $.40 each at the hardware store}, and a 2 ft copper pipe {sold 2 ft long at Home Depot for just under $5}, and some E6000 glue.  We have tons of tea cups and E6000 glue lying around so the only thing we had to buy was the copper pipe.

Rough up the saucer top and tea cup bottom just a tad with a bit of sandpaper, then apply the E6000 in a generous blob.  Press the tea cup down into the glue on the saucer and let it dry overnight.  Then you can turn the whole thing over, add another blob of glue to the center of the bottom, and press the flat side of the copper pipe cap into the glue.  Leave the whole setup upside down over night, and then you should be ready to go.  

When you are ready to place the bird feeder into the ground outside {for Grandma-who lives in Minnesota- she can't do that for another 6 months}, use a hammer to drive the copper pipe at least 4" into the earth in your desired flower bed, then place the cup on top by placing the copper cap over the copper pipe.  Fill with bird seed and the birdies will fly in from all over the world to snack from your stylish feeders.  

Right now Minnesota looks a bit like this.

but in my mind, I imagine the tea cups looking something like this this spring ;0}

Whatever keeps us warm, right?  Now to make some of these for me!

Such a Hoppy Family

Ok, last Easter craft I will show you today!!!!

This one has to be my favorite :0}

I had some ladies over on Tuesday to paint some bunnies.  I had the bigger bunny and three flowers for everyone to paint however they liked.

Ending up with one or two extra, I decided to make my family.

I hit the garage to cut out three little trouble makers that could resemble my own little monsters.

Above is Dad and Madison.  I still want to make a little tutu for the Madison bunny since my Madison just can't get enough of them....even at 14

Here is Momma and Eli bunny.  My nutty son absolutely loves to wear bow ties.  That is why his bunny had to have a bow tie.

My littlest princess bunny has a silvery crown.  I also have a little wand I will put on when I get her tutu finished.  Sadly, I have no more time for my "Hare"y family today.  With any luck my girls will have their skirts before the weekend is through though.  No worries.

I am loven' these chunky flowers too!

I love it when I have left overs ;0}

Easter Is At Our Door

I feel like I have been painting for four days now.  I finally got to some wood projects Monday between running children, napping {still trying to recover from our "vacation"}, and trying to get my house clean enough to show {YeAH rIgHT!  Like that is ever gonna happen!!!}.

I cut out this handsome devil and about a thousand other projects :0)

The number of projects cut out is why I didn't get Sir Hops-A-Lot finished and on my door until today.  We are leaving out of town today...did I mention that!

That means I won't even get to enjoy seeing his cheery face upon my door step, but my neighbors can wink at him for me as they drive by.

I made the majority of my bunny out of 1/4" mdf plywood.  I cut him out, sanded the edges like I love on my disk sander, then painted him up, sanding again, then gluing him all together.

This door is not mine, so I haven't hammered a hole in it to hang my projects.  That is why I have the unsightly wreath hanger, but when we move, I am hoping to put it to rest. 

"Emmers.  I am still taking pictures, Love.  

Can you shut the door please?"

Emmalee's response: 

"Oh, so sorry to ruin your picture Mom!  I thought you were finished."

Mom's response:

"Darlin', you could NEVER ruin my pictures :0) 

X O X O

You are my dolly!"

We in the Sew*CakeMaker household wish you a very reflective Easter weekend, 

Not all about the bunnies, but about the love and sacrifice that inspired the holiday.

Oh, and have a very Hoppy Spring!

p.s.The pattern is for sale, only $4 and instantly downloadable on my Etsy site.  Let me know if you have any questions ;0}

Hip Chick Trio

I know that Spring is long gone from your brain, but we had a ladies church activity last night and I was in charge of the table centerpieces.  I was originally going to do the chicks out of wood, but my band saw was not working again.  I gave up on it altogether and took it back from whence it came.  I ordered a much bigger, more powerful saw, but it won't be here until Monday.  That left my mind wandering about what to do.  Oh, did I mention that the theme for the activity was Chicks Night Out-why I am making chicks when I should be making Uncle Sams :0)

The yellow one was my original idea.  I drew a tombstone-like shape, then added a long finger-kinda-thing on top.  I thought it would be cute to have a little spurt of fabric up there in stead of feathers.  When I went to Joanns to buy the fabric, I was suckered in by the minky and it's oh-so-fluffy softness.  The chicks were made different shapes and sizes just like the ladies at church :0)  I use real blush on the cheeks, brushed on with a brush, my finger, and/or a cosmetic sponge depending on the fabric.

Here they are with their faces on.  I went with 1/8" wood for the nose and feet.  The feet were perplexing me.      

These chicks are rather similar to the chicks I did last year and I didn't want them to be exactly the same.  That was why I ended up hot gluing them under the chicks on the yellow and pink ladies.  I really do love them glued to the front of the body just a little bit more.

We did up their hair.  I glued white or pink boa to the heads and added small bows.  The poor yellow chicks were looking kinda bald at that point, so they got some bald-baby head flowers (something we know a lot about in this bald-baby house :0)

Did I mention how many I made...8...8 sets of 3 chicks.  I started Wed. night at about 11pm.  I went strong until 2:30am, then started back up again Thursday morning.  One set would be relatively easy.  The part I hate most is stitching the bum shut by hand :0P

There you have it!  My Hip Chick Trio!  I added the block with saying for added table fun.

I realize that it doesn't make much sense..."This chick" instead of these chicks, but whatever.

I made double of these so they could be given out one block with one chick. 

Here is the printable if you are interested. 

Click on the image.  When the bigger image comes up, right click on that and choose "save image as" when the prompt box appears.  From there, the file is yours!  You can send it to Costco/Walmart/Target/wherever you send your photos.  Order the number you need.  When you get your prints, trim them down to the yellow outline.  I bought my wood, a 2x6 and cut it into blocks.  I will tell you, if you don't have a saw, you can head to Lowes or Home Depot, or even better, your LOCAL LUMBER STORE-Man I LOVE local lumber stores- and ask them to cut your block(s).

Paint the blocks, Modge podge or glue image to the painted block with on with white wood glue.  Modge podge over the top and you are good to go!

Happy Spring!

Afterall, we still have half of spring to go.