Tales from the Kidnapping and a bit of art on the side

Hello Readers!

It has been a few days....like about 12 of them~! since I was here last. 

My eldest son kidnapped me for six days and it has taken me three days at home to recuperate from that kidnapping! 

Almost all of the art presented in this post was made before the kidnapping occurred. I got a call late in the evening last Monday from that son of mine telling me to pack my bags, I was being kidnapped in a few hours time. Even though I love seeing my grandkids and visiting with my son and daughter in law, I much prefer to just stay at home so my routine isn't derailed.  I was up with being kidnapped this time though because I hadn't seen the kids for months!

So I was kidnapped from Tuesday morning till the following Monday. Granted it was EARLY Monday when I got home. It is three hours drive from my house to theirs. RJ (son) woke me up at 2 a.m. so we could get me home and he could be back home in time to get things done before he went back to work on Tuesday.

I had a wonderful time away from home but am really glad to be back home again. Fred is glad to be home again as well. Fred dog generally gets kidnapped right along with me when the son decides a kidnapping is in order.

As I said, most of the stuff presented in this post was done before the kidnapping.

I was out in the burnt house a couple weeks ago, digging around, checking out the cleaning job my brother had done out there in the west room and I came across a brown paper bag filled with old wooden ice cream spoons. I knew it was out there, somewhere, but hadn't laid eyes on that sack for years! I don't even remember where I got that sack of old wooden spoons.

A revelation came over me when I picked that bag up off a shelf out there. Earlier this year I acquired a boatload of tongue depressors at a yard sale from the FREE box. The tongue depressors were in 2 different cool plastic containers as well. Anyway, I decided, right then and there when I'd found the spoons that they would make a stellar box!

I used all but about 2 dozen spoons to make this cool little 6 x 6 inch wooden box.

It went together just as quickly and easily as I imagined it would.

When the box was completed to my satisfaction, I decided what it needed to pretty it up a bit, was to make a lid for it as well. I wasn't sure the lid part was going to work but I am fearless and just went for it.

I didn't want the lid to just sit on top of the box, I wanted it to stay there when the box was picked up! So in addition to wooden ice cream spoons, there are four little dowels, a wooden biscuit spacer and a wooden bead for a handle to finish it off. 

I thought about painting the box some color or another but decided I would just give it a coat of clear varnish instead. I glued it together with hot glue. It's a nice sturdy little box. I like that you can see through it somewhat. 

I took the red ribbon crochet basket/tote with me to work on while I was at my son's house but it was never taken out of my bag at that time. As a matter of fact, it is still in my bag three days after coming home. I'll be doing some work on it soon, I'm sure.

This was a successful experiment. These are plastic snowflakes off a garland meant to go on a Christmas tree.  I cut the garland apart into individual snowflakes, then hot glued them together into a wreath shape. It's about 5 inches across or so. It would make a great ornament or a bit of bling on a package. I will be making more of these for my own tree. 

Mel gave us a tutorial on her blog A Mynah Production on how to make a galaxy print with paint. Mine looks nothing like hers! I couldn't get the blending to go well and gave up with trying to get it to look right. I said, "Well, that's not working! Let's just splatter this paint instead~!" I like how the galaxy looks, but it isn't exactly like it should be.

I like splattering paint! 

This is a sheet of newspaper that spent a few days on my painting table. Before the black splatters had dried I put some skull features on it. I had walked away from the table and came back through the kitchen a few moments later. I really liked how this one turned out with the purple on one side and the orange, green and yellow  mostly outside of it. I don't know what possessed me to put the skulls there. I still like it though.

Painting isn't limited to paper. This is a close up of the painted leather scraps from a white knee length coat. There was staining on this leather so I painted it with acrylics and intend to make some book covers out of it.

This piece is about 15x12  inches

Another piece of painted leather. This one is about 9 x 6 inches.

This green one is already made into a book. I have yet to take pictures of the things made while on my kidnapping trip. This piece was about 3 x 14 inches or so.

This is my favorite of the four painted leather pieces. This one is about 14 inches squarish. I finger painted the red and green colors.  

I already have enough paper cut to use the three pieces of leather that are left to make books. You will be seeing books in a very short time.

I always pack the felt and embroidery thread when I  get kidnapped  go visiting. And I always have a helper with sewing.

Rug mugs are easy to do on the run. They sew up quickly. There is no need for a pattern...just eyeball it, cut it, sew it.

This was the first owl mug rug made....the second day I was there, I do believe. There is no picture in this post of the second one. You'll get to see it next time.

This elephant mug rug has a tail made from a rope made with a braiding disk. It's done in embroidery thread. I found it in the bag of scraps I always take along. Annabel (the cute little model holding the rug mugs) says I did a great job on his toes! Her exact words were: Grandma, his toes are excellent! 

I like to make mug rugs because it is kind of like painting with needle and thread instead of paint. I made two sheep mug rugs while there also. You won't see the other sheep till next time. 

This black cat was the first mug rug I made. Annabel likes his bow tie. My son thought this bow tie was hilarious for reasons I don't care to go into at the moment. Let's just say my son loves to give me a load of crap from time to time. The boy thinks he is funny...and sometimes he IS funny. I have to admit that I do like a bow tie on a man...or a cat! Annabel liked the bow tie because it is sewn in sparkly embroidery thread in the center of it. I hate that thread! It is pretty, but it is a pain in the butt to work with! That's why the dot of sparkly is so tiny on that bow tie!

I made a total of eight mug rugs while at my son's house. I also taught two little girls how to make braids like the elephant's tail. That was fun! Annabel is five and her little friend Rihanna is seven. Annabel kept reversing the turns of the disk while braiding and ended up undoing what she'd already accomplished. Her braid wasn't very long at all, but she did do it right. Rihanna's braid was a bit longer than Annabel's but she didn't always do it right either. It took me a long time to get it across to them that they had to always turn the disk the same direction. They gave up after a couple hours but went back to it for a few days running. I finished up their braids while Rihanna was at her dad's house for the weekend and Annabel was uninterested in what I was doing. Then I made them both bracelets from the braids with their names embroidered on them.  I have no pictures of those bracelets. We made the bracelets out of acrylic yarn instead of embroidery thread. I found that skein of green camouflage yarn out in the garage and helped myself to it.

I spent Thursday afternoon and evening with my sister Jeanny at her house. 

Smudge thought he had to be in the middle of everything. He's kinda like Fred dog in that he thinks he must be the center of attention at all times when company comes to visit. He was totally unimpressed with the fuzzy green worm on a string. My sister's crafting area looks amazingly as cluttered as my own does!

Here's a rare picture of me with my niece Allison on the left side and my sister Jeanny on the right side.

And another rare picture of me with my grand daughter Annabel and one of her kitties, Squeakers, at her house. She insisted Sqeakers be in the picture. She just got those glasses the day this picture was taken. She looks so cute in them! Her mama had dressed her in a purple, green and pink striped sweater dress with a black turtle neck and black leggings earlier in the day. She looked like a miniature librarian with her glasses on! 

This picture makes me laugh!~ Her daddy, my son, took this picture while she was sitting in my lap with the cat. She was acting goofy, at her daddy's request.

All in all....it was a fantastic kidnapping!

I will get pictures taken of the things missing and the things made since I got home for the next post. 

Thanks for hanging around....

Remember to be good to one another!

It matters...

Peace

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