Month of Macro: Crochet projects

For a while now, I've been crocheting hats to donate to a good cause.

The other day I wanted to count up how many I had crocheted so far...

And once they were all unpacked from the various places I had stored them, I decided to snap a few photos with my macro lens.

It was so interesting seeing what the hats looked like up-close.

Even though I used the same stitch for all the hats...

Since I used different yarns...

Each one looked so different up-close!

See what I mean?

I especially like this shot, because it makes my stitches look really even (even though they usually aren't)!

And this one shows the braided tassels on a snowboarder-type hat!

Of course, I'm always in the midst of a new project...

So I took some photos of that as well. From the hook...

To the yarn...

I think it looks pretty cool- and I can't wait to see the finished product!

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you had a great weekend!

Shutter surprise!

The other day, I received a slew of Nikon items. My co-workers parents know that I love taking photographs, so when they wanted to get rid of their old film cameras, they gave them to me!

The stash included a camera from the 1970s...

Another from the mid-1990's...

A flash and an additional lens!

As you can imagine, I was beyond thrilled to receive all of these fun "toys!"

After such a wonderful treat, I wanted to make sure that I thanked my co-workers parents appropriately. I think a personalized thank-you note is the best way to convey appreciation when someone gives a thoughtful gift like this. So I put my thinking cap on, used just the materials I had in my craft stash, and created this accordion thank-you note.

I started with some of the most interesting/diverse black and white photos I've taken in the last 6 months. I thought a thank-you note referencing my love of photography would be appropriate in this situation, right?

Then I got to planning. I wanted to use a bunch of photos, but I also didn't want to spend a mint on printing specialty sizes. So I based my "design" on the idea that I'd crop (by hand) each of my 4x6 photos down to a 4x4 square. I also limited my plan to the 8.5x11" black card stock that I had in my stash... and in the end, here's what I came up with:

(I don't always plan out my projects on paper, but when I do I'm reminded how nice it is to not waste my materials on foolish ideas or mis-measured photos.)

And since this project needed to really say "thanks," I made little vellum letters for each photo in the accordion. Having worked at a scrapbook store in college, I'm pretty particular when it comes to using vellum, and I really don't like it when you can see the adhesive through the vellum (and I think even the special vellum adhesive is visible sometimes). So I thought I'd use folded pieces of vellum; that way, the folded piece of vellum could be adhered behind the photo without compromising the vellum. Of course I didn't have any sheets of vellum in my craft stash, so I just used a vellum envelope I had lying around. I used a 1" square craft punch and carefully punched my squares along the edge of the envelope to create little tents. Then I used a large calligraphy pen to spell the phrase "thank you" onto the vellum pieces.

Once the vellum had dried, I glued each piece to the back of the photos and adhered the photos to the black paper accordion I had created.

And in a few minutes, my card was practically finished!

I took the extra step of gluing a piece of ribbon on the back of the card (as a pretty closure)...

And added a special note of "thanks" scribbled over the last photo in the accordion.

I think this special card was the perfect way to thank my co-workers parents for my new (yet old) cameras! I especially think the accordion design would be fun for all sorts of projects, and I can't wait to try it again!

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!

Memorial Day Mats

Memorial Day weekend is just around the corner- yay for a day off from work! And to celebrate the upcoming holiday, I decided to make place mats for the occasion.

That's right- I made vintage American flag place mats! Want to see how I did it?

I started with bamboo place mats that I found for 99 cents.

I then raided my painting stash and got to work.

I started by taping the American flag onto my place mats with painter's tape.

Since I wanted these mats to look extra rustic, I ripped both sides of the tape which meant that there weren't any straight lines on the mat (not to mention that I had quite a ball of unusable tape pieces by the time I was done).

I then chose a rusty-red paint color, and mixed it with some water. You see, I wanted the paint to be a little runny so it would seep under portions of the tape. In addition, the watery-paint also ensured that some of the bamboo striations would show through.

After I had painted the red portions of the flag...

I mixed up some blue paint...

And slathered it onto the upper-left corner of each mat. (FYI: I chose to forgo the white stars in my rustic/vintage design approach.)

When the paint had dried, I peeled off the tape to reveal the white lines of the flag. And while it looked okay, I wasn't finished with it yet! (PS: don't you just love the look of the red and blue paint that snuck under the tape edges?)

So I squirted a bit of brown paint into a dish and mixed it with a generous amount of water to create a stain.

Then I painted the stain onto the mat before removing the excess with a paper towel. Here's a view of the mat halfway through the process- see how the left side of the flag looks a little richer? That's my faux-stain!

Once I'd applied the stain to the entire flag, I waited for the mat to dry.

And in a few minutes, I had a finished mat ready to adorn my dinner table.

I must say, for 99 cents it is a nice addition to my holiday table this weekend!

Plus, I can use it again on Fourth of July, which makes this already frugal project even better!

Thanks for stopping by- I hope you have a great day!!

Gorgeous glass!

For my birthday a while ago, I received some very special gifts!

You see, my brother gave me this mug and this bowl.

But do you know what makes them so special? He made them!

That's right, he's taking a glass blowing class and fired these pieces himself!

I'll admit, when I opened the present I could hardly believe he had blown and fashioned these pieces after only a couple of classes!

Aren't they lovely?

I wanted to use these pieces immediately, so I grabbed some flowers from the grocer...

And plunked them into the mug- what a perfect little arrangement!

I couldn't stop playing with the flowers and my brother's artwork...

It was so fun!

Someday soon I'll use these pretty pieces for food...

But in the meantime, they're great for flowers!

Thank you, SBV, for the beautiful presents!!

I hope you had a great weekend- thanks for stopping by!!