Paracord * Buckles * New Knots * Butterfly * Bracelets!

Nothing like a lazy weekend!  Storms with the full complement of thunder and lightning - chilly to way too hot for me .. and all that cord sitting there to figure out what to do with .. not to mention tons and tons of videos with knots I've never heard of .. and lots of them that seem impossible to me .. good thing I didn't enlist in the Navy - I would have flunked Knots 101!  BUT .. I did find time to do some creative adventures .. and these have no rhyme or reason .. they just seemed fun and can be so different each time .. I also flunk Lighter Handling 101 .. sigh ......

Uh oh .. garage door is opening .. and I haven't done a smidgen of work .. not even close to trying to pretend I cut the grass .. ummmmmmmmmm .. ok .. grab the phone .. get outside .. look alert (NOT) .. and guess what I found!~!

The lilacs smell so 'springy' and nice - the butterfly just posed prettily for me to capture the picture before flitting off to discover new blossoms! 

And then ................ bummer ............ had to cut the grass before more rain arrived ..........

Now .. bring on the shackles .. can't wait to try them!  IF I can find some ......

Firemen's Bracelet - Paracord Thin Line Cobra Weave - Red/Black

Tricky ... but I really like this weave .. and the color combinations are endless .. this one came out really nice with the mix of colors .. from my new paracord stash ;o)

Of course I didn't stop at just one ..... had to try another color combo -

Challenge is going to be figuring out how to make a keyring .. in the black/red combo .. off to watch more youtubes ...

Square Knot Bracelet .. Try One .. Will it Work?

So when things go wrong .. like sitting in a Michael's parking lot .. with the smart phone being very dumb .. and not working .. I can't access my coupons!  Major dilemma!!  Hmmmm .. so call ATT and they say there is an outage .. and reset my phone for me .. in the meantime I've gone in the store and found a few things I need (right .. need) .. and the gal says she will honor the text I can't get to .. LOL .. yippee!!  Extra 15% off even when the stuff is on sale!!

Back out to the car .. and I have some string with me .. and rerunning youtube's through my head as I'm calling ATT again .. hmmm .. I'll try making a bracelet with the findings I just bought .. and the string I have ... no scissors .. fingernail clippers .. that'll do the trick!

No way to measure .. no way to make the string longer .. so here goes:

I don't think I got it quite right and I know it's not going to fit around a lot of people's wrists but it does fit around mine .. so I'm good with rejects ;o)  Actually quite a quick project and fun to learn!  Think I better try another with with the sailor bracelet string .. and maybe add some bling .. where is the bling department .. (sigh)

NOW - my phone is fixed .. ;o)  All is good ;o)))

There's A New Store in Town ~ O'Fallon IL ~ Goodies Galore

New Store?  Goodies Galore?  How Can I NOT Go?

OK, so it's the online newspapers that are causing me to go ~ they found it and had to put it in a spot where I could find it!  Said there are all kinds of things to see .. nothing consignment .. easy to find .. and actually I'm really glad to see another store in O'Fallon ~ beats the heck out of empty storefronts!  BUT REALLY .. does it have to have Goodies .. and not just goodies .. but Goodies Galore?  LOL .. ok .. it's my fault .. I saw the write up yesterday and went there right after work .. did I bother to read that they are closed on Monday .. NOPE .. did I peek in the windows .. YEP!

Soooooooooo, today after work I headed straight there - and wandered around looking at all the neat 'stuff' .. lots of things really thought they needed to come home with me - but I had to behave .. a strange concept I know ..

Hmmm .. what did I see .. furniture, jewelry, toys, children's things, clothing, tools, knick knacks, shoes, purses, luggage, books, dvd's, vhs movies etc. etc.,  (not doing justice here) and .. I had to laugh .. BEANIES!!!  Attic Treasures!!  Back in the day this store would be flooded with people snatching the beanies!  Gotta admit I didn't really check prices except on things that I thought for sure would follow me home - and everything seemed reasonably priced! 

Best of all was meeting Annette - very nice and fun to chat with.  (Not that I'd babble .. nope, not me)  I hope this store starts blogging so I can see what they get in as things start to go out!  And ............ tada ............. needed to get myself motivated to blog more ... such a slacker .. but the weather is really nice, this was a great adventure .. and really hope the success fairy helps this store along the way ...

Should have gotten more pics .. argh!  Ok .. so now to practice my mystery braiding ... or should I go get ice cream ..

Is this Ladder Stitch .. Stretch Magic .. ?

Well here I went again .. wanted to try doing 'ladder stitch' and create something fun .. but didn't want to use anything expensive to practice on .. so hmmm . let's see .. find some purty beads .. and Stretch Magic .. not sure what size either the beads or the stretch magic is .. but another adventure!

Seemed easy, other than puzzling out how to do the clasps .. added some earrings .. and VOILA!  Still don't know if this is a 'real' ladder stitch or if it's just something I made up .. but it works!! 

Memory Wire - Where Have I Been?

Where in the world have I been?  How come nobody told me that this stuff existed and all the potential for neat and interesting creations?  Thanks once again to April .. Three Sisters Crafts .. and her generous (to a fault, yep .. to a fault) outpouring of support to the local community .. I attended her most recent gala last weekend!  She not only raised beaucoup money toward stomping out Breast Cancer (all donation!!) but she even managed to serve up some make and take adventures to all of the stragglers (that would be me) who popped in.

After seeing the opportunities .. free beads .. free card making .. free entertainment .. free food and yes, FREE COOKIES .. where do you spose I spent the day ;o)

Ok, so bracelet size memory wire .. never tried it .. and PINK beads everywhere .. all sizes from seed beads to some pretty wild, large beads ... and I'm told it couldn't be simpler .. guess what .. it is simple!!  This is my very first bracelet using no rhyme or reason to create .. just stringing along and listening to varied conversations all around me as other ladies played too ;o)

The ease of completing this still astounds me .. even though the wire is brutal tuff stuff it's that way on purpose to maintain the shape .. so once the end loops are done the beads can't escape .. almost looks like a pretty slinky ;o)

 Well .. I couldn't believe how quickly this one went!  C'mon .. ask me if I want to try another project .. LOL .. yep .. I sure did!  How bout I pass on making the card .. and try making the 'other' kind of bracelet using the 'stretchy stuff' .. another project I've never tried! 

 This was fun too!  I think I made it too big and still I"m ok with it because I see the way it's done from start to finish as well as tying it of .. gotta get some of that GS Hypo Cement .. note to self!!

 Now this one was my "all by myself" trial .. using tiny green and blue beads alternating with blue and irridescent teardrop beads .. I love the color combination .. gotta get busy and make some earrings to match!

 Ho Hum .. why stop at the bracelet size .. Hey April .. do you have any of this stuff in ring size?  Yep, of course she does!!  Yeehah!  Soooooooooooooo .. although I don't have the slightest idea how or what possessed me to try a ring .. here it is anyway!  I didn't do a very good job of wire wrapping, and the size of the loop is almost big enough for both thumbs at the same time .. I still had fun attempting this and will have to kind of regroup on size .. or find someone who has extremely large toes or something to test it out for durability.

Close up of ring ~ still haven't tried the necklace/choker size .. but I'm sure I will!


Thanks April for all your generosity - I know the tremendous effort you put into all the adventures you do and can't wait for the next 'play day' .. pencil it in, ok?

Instamorph & Friendly Plastic - Adventures in Melting and Creating

Friendly Plastic - a retro craft that I never tried but one day in Hobby Lobby I saw some of the neatest colors .. and of course they jumped in my basket .. then home to see what kind of videos are out there - and it seems like there aren't really a lot - but enough to get me started.  I bought some pellets from Amazon called 'Insta Morph' and with the help of a very friendly Instamorph guru (Brian) (http://www.instamorph.com/) I decided to play with both these products together.

The Friendly Plastic is really fun - and I can see lots more projects in my future .. the Instamorph is great too!  I found the friendly plastic too 'thin' for making pendants and used the white Instamorph pellets .. they melt totally clear .. to create a very stable backing for what I wanted.  I'm hooked - have to find more time to play!

Different selections of Friendly Plastic melted over thin layer of Instamorph / then applied to bamboo piece and wire wrapped for pendant.



Friendly Plastic leftovers in many colors melted together and sprinkled with tiny glass beads, mounted on thin metal backing and wire wrapped.

 

Friendly Plastic melted over Instamorph / shaped with small cookie cutter

The other thing I tried was really fun .. took a heart shaped cookie cutter and melted Instamorph .. then used an irridescent white slab of Friendly Plastic as a top cover ~ that part came out extremely well.  My thought was to use the shape 'upside down' and make a bunny .. problem is I can't draw and the face didn't come out the way I wanted it to .. PLUS how will I do the ears .. ho hum .. this is a blooper //


Bunny Flop .. melting was fine .. shape perfect .. but can't draw .. seems like the ink 'ran' using black Sharpie

The next two are mixing products again - and what I really love about these is the variations that are possible by accident or on purpose if I'm lucky enough ;o)

Mini Cookie Cutter shape with Instamorph layer / covered with scraps for color .. wrapped with lightweight metal sheet / black color .. edges punched with paper punch.

Very mixed 'media' on this one and I love it!  Melted Instamorph then 'painted' with random colors of nail polish.  Remelted and added in scraps of Friendly Plastic around the edges .. still need to finish these pieces and either wire wrap or add to the back for hanging pendant.

This is a great craft!!!  Would love to see more information, postings, ideas, feedback!!  Let's play!!!!!