Having a Hoot of a Time

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day! Mine was nice and relaxing and of course, full of love.  This past week here has been very cold (-40C) and snowy. This has made for lots of knitting time.  In honour of St. Valentine and my daughters love for owls I made these cuties to brighten their day.  They are similar to the green guy I made last year.  These guys are much larger as they are made with chunky yarn but the same construction.  For you knitters, they are like a little hat turned upside down, stuffed and sewn closed across the top.  The eyes are crocheted circles and the beak is just a little yarn stitched over.  Pretty simple and fun to make.  If there is interest I will work on an instruction sheet.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

MY NEW WREATH

My New Paper Rose Wreath

I am so pleased with how my wreath turned out! For my first one I think it is awesome. I should have been more patient and added a few more roses but I don't think anyone will notice. I have finally taken down the holiday wreath that has been hanging on the mirror since December. This wreath looks gorgeous in our entryway and makes me happy to look at it hanging there. 

For how to make the roses click here and for how I made the wreath click here.

How To Make A Wreath With Paper Book Pages

HOW TO MAKE A BOOK PAGE ROSE WREATH

First you need to make the roses. For the how to click here.   The size of your wreath will determine how many roses you will need. It is always better to estimate higher than you think. My wreath is a 14 inch compressed foam wreath. I used 116 roses but would have liked a few more. I estimated that I would need 130 roses but got tired and impatient. If you're like me, consider making a smaller wreath.

The wreath form was a bright green colour.  I didn't want this to show through so I gave it a quick coat of paint. I used some trim paint that was left over from painting Rebekah's room. To see her room click here.   I painted both sides as I know I will be hanging it on a mirror.

Using a glue gun, start glueing the roses on the inside of the wreath. Try to keep them evenly spaced.

Next to the same for the outside.

Now start to fill in around the front. Here you will want to place them closer together so that the form doesn't show through.

Continue filling in the wreath until you go all the way around.

Then step back and look for holes and glue strings. You may have to add roses if you have missed a spot.  If you are having problems getting rid of all the glue strings, get your hair dryer out and melt them away.  I like to hang my wreaths on a ribbon so no hook is required. If you need a hook you can add a piece of wire to the back and secure with hot glue.

Enjoy your work of art!

How To Make Paper Page Roses

HOW TO MAKE PAPER PAGE ROSES

First you will need some old books. If you don't already have some you can find them at yard sales, library sales (discards),  used book stores or from friends and relatives that wish to part with some books. I found mine at the local Value Village store for 3.99 each. Each rose takes three pages so it will depend on what you wish to make on how many books you will need.

When you have your books start by removing the cover. This will make it easier to unbind the pages. If the pages are sewn together cut the thread and pull the pages apart. If you are making a large project keep in mind the type of pages in your book. You will want the thickness and colour of the pages to be similar.

In order to give my roses some durability, I use three layers of pages at a time. You may wish to adjust this as necessary.  I have encountered heavy pages were two are plenty.  Now that you have all your pages, you will need a round object that fits on your page.  I use a lid from a peanut butter jar. Whatever you have handy will be fine. Using a pencil trace the circle and cut it out.

Because I like to make a bunch of roses at a time, I do this for the whole book remembering to cut three pages at a time. This will give you a nice stack of circles. You can recycle the remainder of the pages or I like to punch shapes out of them to make paper garlands.

I have drawn with a marker to show you how to cut a spiral. Start anywhere on the edge and cut trying to keep the spacing even, continue until you have a small circle in the middle. This will be the base of the flower. Below is the spiral I have cut. I don't draw the spirals on, just cut away.

Taking the spiral by the centre circle, you will now glue all the layers together.  This is necessary to make sure that the flower doesn't come apart and that you have a nice firm base. I like to use tacky glue for the flowers. If you like, you could use hot glue instead. I like the tacky glue as I am prone to burning myself with the hot glue. So tacky is safer and it gives you a bit more time to shape your flower. I find this extra time comes in handy.

With the centres glued together, find the beginning or outer edge of the spiral.

From here you will roll the paper up tightly. If it gets away from you, just start again. Roll it all up until you get to the centre circle.

Now you have a tight roll. You will see there is a bit of a hole in the centre. Fill it with glue and put a generous amount on the base. You will need lots of glue to make sure your flower petals stick.

Using your work surface, turn the flower over. Push the flower into the glue on the base.

Hold firmly to the centre of the flower.  You don't want the centre to unravel.  Push down and twist clockwise so that the outer rolls loosen. (Please note that I am left handed so if you roll your flowers the opposite way, you will need to twist then in the other direction.) Twist until you think you have a pleasing flower. Remember don't take your hand off of the centre. If you do the middle of your flower will unravel and you will have to roll it again.

Continue to press down on the middle and make sure that all the petals are in the glue. After firmly pressing for 5 to 10 seconds, let go.  You now have a beautiful paper page rose. Let dry completely on wax paper. Once dry it can be used in many craft projects. Enjoy!

Rebekah's New Pink Room

It has taken quite a while but my daughter's room is now pretty and pink. The upper part and ceiling are Pink Bean and the main walls are Pinto Bean both Sico colours. 

For now a few pics from my phone will have to do.  There is still some organizing to do and the closet to paint. It's good to have her out of the guest room though and back happily in her own room. 

I replaced the large pink cabinet with a much needed workspace. The desk is an old plywood one that was given to us a while back. I gave it a fresh coat of paint and made a shelf using another piece of plywood. I painted the shelf and secured mason jar lids to the underside ends. I took our shell collection and placed them in the jars. With the jars in place I then added decorative craft tape around the edges. A perfect spot for all those Warrior books she loves so much.  Above I hung a magnet board that we livened up with a few stickers.

Removing the large cabinet meant loosing storage space. To make up for this I repurposed some old drawers by attaching wheels to the bottom and adding a new coat of paint. One of the drawers didn't have a handle space so a decorative knob was added.

It has been a lot of work but well worth it.  I wasn't sure of the light pink at first, thinking it was to bright and babyish but it looks great.  I'm very happy with it and Rebekah loves it so it's a job well done. I will post more detailed pictures once the closet is done. 

For now I have a renewed passion for old books. I made the mobile above the bed and have been interested ever since. The creative wheels are turning, watch out!

Update

Just a quick update to say that I haven't forgotten about this blogging thing. I think about things to write all the time but don't actually write them. . . hmmm . . . I'll have to try harder.

So know I haven't finished my projects but I have been working on them. I've been a little sidetracked by cooking meals for my family. Not that I haven't done this before but I'm trying to be more mindful of the things I make and try to make them from scratch. I'm happy to report that the number of boxes of processed food in the pantry is shrinking. Yay!

So I took a few cookbooks out of the local library to help with this. One that has caught my interest is Quinoa Cuisine by Jessica Harlan & Kelley Sparwasser.

This book has opened my eyes to things like quinoa flour and flakes. I had no idea! So I checked out my local grocery store and there it is quinoa flour, just sitting on the self! Of course I bought some to try it out.

I love baking . . . because I love deserts. How else does one develop a fondness for sugar? So of course the first thing I decide to make from the cookbook is the Maple Cake on page 163. It has a bit of a nutty flavour but as long as you don't talk about it, the kids love it!

When I make this again I'm going to try using my bunt pan as the centre of this cake sank a bit after I touched it to see if it was done. Not an issue though as it still tastes good. It's a very moist cake and we liked it when it was still warm even though the recipe says to wait until it is completely cooled. I see no harm in having it warm with some vanilla ice cream. Yummy!

Also, I've been distracted by a parcel that arrived yesterday. It's some lovely yarn from a local alpaca farm, Prairie Wind Alpacas. I've been searching patterns trying to decide what to make from these lovely yarns. I just got a few balls to try it out so I'm thinking hat, mittens, cowl, something small. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Projects

Have you ever misplaced something? You know that you had it not long ago but can't seem to find it no matter how hard or how many places you look?

This was me. Our family has a vacation booked for the end of February that will require us all to have our passports. Yesterday was the girls first day back to school so I thought it was a good time to look for my passport. I hadn't seen it for a while but I knew it couldn't be too far. Although in the back of my mind over the holidays I had wondered where it had gotten off to.

So I tried all the usual places that I put things, all the places that I had seen it before, even started to look to my husband's things thinking that maybe I had given it to him. I didn't know where his passport was either so thought that maybe they were hanging out together. No such luck. I looked through everything but eventually had to turn my attention to making dinner. It wasn't until after dinner when I was doing the dishes that I remembered my earlier anxiety. I told the family that the vacation might not happen if I couldn't find the passports. My husband did a quick look while I cleaned up the kitchen. No passports but he said not to worry, 'they'll turn up."

Feeling good about having made a good meal for the family and a good cleaning of the kitchen, I decided to start again to look for the passports (I'm looking for my husbands now as well). I started back in the office and what do you know, found them both all cozy in a drawer. Sure they were hidden under lots of junk but they were there. Oh so happy!

So today I'm having a hard time getting started on my projects. I should have lots of energy giving the relief of finding the passports but alias, that's not the case.  I think part of the problem is that I have too many things that need to get done. So I'm going to focus on one (or two) things at a time. Take things slow and report on my progress here.

So first up is my daughter's bedroom. This room is in need of a new paint job and a bit of decorating. My daughter wanted a purple room but we have had a hard time of it trying to find the perfect colour. Before the holidays I suggested that she have a pink room instead. I even bought a litre and tried it on the wall. She didn't like it at first but has come around to the pink.

This is the room that is to become pink.

Next up is to make a laptop case from an old wool sweater. I received a new laptop for Christmas (well my first one) and it needs a protective case.  I've had the idea for a while but just need to get off my butt and do it.

I will report back with any progress.