Owls and Some Other Things

Hello Readers! 

I've been away for awhile. The eldest son kidnapped me for four days last week and I forgot the camera when I packed for that trip so there are no pictures of the dog and cat softies that I made for the grand daughter while I was away. There are no pictures of the numerous origami cranes I made for her either. 

I had a great time with the kids and the grandies! They've warned me another kidnapping is in order. I just don't know when it will happen. I may put up more of a fight for the next one than I did for this one! The grandkids always wear my hide out! I needed a few days to recover from all the fun. The old body went into rebel mode big time! I was supposed to come home on Saturday morning but I decided the kidnapping was ending on Friday evening. I was home before midnight and stayed up till the crack of dawn cause I couldn't sleep. 

Saturday was the Sisters Valentine Party at Ma's house. You'll see somethings from that later in this post.

I must warn you this post is heavy on the pictures.

2013 seems to be the year of the owl for me. I know it's really the year of the snake in the Chinese zodiac but snakes aren't on my radar at the moment.

It's owls and more owls and I really have no idea why that is.

This owl is made from ironing beads. I'm not sure that is what those beads are really called but you put them on a template and iron them to stick them together. This one is my first experience with these beads and it isn't the greatest thing. It will go on a chunky page.

I was surfing the internet earlier today and found these next owls after typing 'owls' into Google Images. I looked at hundreds of owls prior to these. 

They're made out of a cardboard box flap. They're about three inches tall, held together with hot glue. I peeled away on layer of the cardboard to reveal the corregation. I cut strips about an inch wide and rolled them into rounds. The eyes are plastic beads, the beak a sharpened dowel. I slapped a big magnet on the backside and called them done!

I really like them!

I suspect I'll make some more of these once I figure out a better way to peel that one layer off the cardboard. Took forever to do that the way I did it.

After I made the cardboard owl I thought; 'why the heck couldn't you make the same thing, but smaller, out of paper put through the crimper?' 

So I gave it a shot!

These guys are two different sizes. The top one is a might thicker than the lower one. I like the thinner of the two better but either will work. They are made in the exact same way as the cardboard owls except with construction paper and toothpick for the beak. I put a string on these guys so they can be used for charms on my owl chunky pages. They're about 2 inches tall.

And one last owl for this post....

I never claimed to know how to do beading. This owl proves I do need practice if I'm to get the hang of this! I used a pattern for a pony bead owl but used seed beads instead. This couldn't have been done (even as badly as this one is) without 2 beading needles. As you can tell by the ruler beneath the owl it is not very big at all. I used a necklace closure for the bail on this one. I have a ton of seed beads so you'll probably see more seed bead animals of one sort another in future posts.

That is a center-finding ruler the owl is laying on. One of my most useful tools!

The Valentine's Party was a roaring success!

I promised Ma I would be home for it when RJ kidnapped me on Monday evening last week. I started these hearts on Wednesday and had them all the beading done by the time RJ kidnapped me. I finished sewing them together while at son's house.

They're all made the same way.

About 2 inches across.

They're made from brick red felt, sewn with brown thread.
I couldn't find any red thread that would fit through the beading needle.

They're filled with polyfil and magnet slipped inside before the sewing was completed to close them up.

All of them but this one are done with glass seed beads. This one is done with steel seed beads. They might be brass, not steel. Metal nonetheless.

I gave five of them away to three of my sisters, my aunt and Ma.

Everyone oohed and ahhed over them.

A shot of all of them.

I've been working on this little pink fairy queen dottee for weeks! She's been done for about a week now. I forgot to take a picture of her when I did the last post. 

She's made from pink felt, embroidery thread, white tulle, fiberfil, seed beads for eyes, aluminum chain for her arms and legs and a recycled coffee can seal for her crown. She stands roughly 3 inches not counting her legs. I know dottees aren't supposed to have arms but she needed some arms.

I played with a new toy.

The new toy! Not sure when I got this thing. I know it looks like it should be a Valentine's thingie but I didn't get it this Valentine's day. I'm thinking Ma gave it to me a few months ago. I hadn't played with it at all till a few days ago. 

I was trying to go to sleep the other night and my mind was racing with all kinds of thoughts and this thing popped into the old head out of the blue. I got up the next morning and played for an hour or so with it. 

It comes with three large heart thingies but you only really need one when using the discs. Would be a fun project for a party of three! I used sharpies to make the spirograph envies.

I needed a new needle tool so I made a new one. I really liked my old needle tool which my brother made for me out of a half inch wooden dowel and a needle but I broke the needle off of it and it's now just a wooden dowel and I haven't seen brother for months. This one is just a needle wrapped with copper wire through its eye and covered with polymer clay. The copper wire was put there in hopes that it would help keep the needle from falling out with rough use. I tend to be very rough on the needle tool! The last one was fixed numerous times before I actually broke the needle rendering it useless. It is a pain in the butt to make little books without a needle tool and as you'll see a bit later, I've a new book in the makings.

My eldest sister asked me about making her some origami cranes a few weeks back. I decided to practice making some. While at son's house, I made about a dozen of these out of phone book pages and dictionary pages. These are a map and two dictionary pages cut into 5 inch squares. 

ATC

Happy 5th

markers on cardstock

AFA is celebrating its 5th year!

And as I said, I've a new book in the making! 

This one is HUGE! Weighs a ton. It's a cereal box for the cover and UPS envelopes, file folders and other cereal boxes for the pages. I'll be showing this one off again once I get the cover decorated and the pages sewn in. I cut the pages 10x7 inches so that gives you idea of its size. I have no clue how many pages are in it. I didn't count them.

I'm still working on the dolls with polyclay faces. Maybe next post they'll be done! 

That's all for today though.

Thanks for stopping by!

Be good to one another!

It matters!

Peace

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