I found those great 9 inch wood letters by Provo Craft and really loved them but just really didn’t know what to do with them so I decided to decorate them and add some black and white photos, something just a little different.  This was a great way to use some of my left over scrapbook supplies. I photo copied some of my grandkids pictures and used the black and white copies.  Please note that if you use photos that you have printed on your own printer, adding anything wet to them will run the ink, so don’t put modge podge on them. Once you have made copies then you can modge podge the photos onto your letters. The rest is just a matter of hot gluing your embellishments on. I cut some pieces of scrap wood for the base and hot glued the wood letters onto the base but you could hang them on the wall.

If you want to use the colored photos just glue them onto the letters instead of ModgePoge, then you won’t worry about them getting wet and the ink running.

(Sorry about that the photos aren’t the best, I am working on my photography skills)

Betty

http://www.chandlercreations.com

Many people don’t even realize it, but Las Vegas is every bit the cultural entertainment and arts mecca that New York is, –except better! Which means of course, that there are plenty of things here that even the most conservative home craft enthusiast can enjoy. In Las Vegas, you’ll find several examples of the thriving Nevada Entertainment & Events industry there, as well as plenty of ways to integrate your crafts into these events.

For example, while checking out the various Las Vegas Special Events, you take pictures of everything, and all the great people you meet, and build your own Las Vegas scrapbook. That way you’ll always have something to remember all the fun you had in Vegas, without necessarily having to adhere to the old saying “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Or you check out all the different crafts festivals, art shows, and other exciting artistic craft events while you’re in Vegas, –that way not only will you just be photographing Vegas, but then you’ll actually be part of the big Vegas scene. Check out information on Las Vegas Arts & Entertainment for more of the details on all the different, exciting times you can have in Nevada.

Many people find that getting elderly family members interested in craftsisn’t very difficult; however, finding crafts for elderly family or tenants with limited mobility isn’t the same. After finding an electric mobility scooter that suits your family member best, many crafts are fun for seniors. Try this one:

What You Need:

2 Pine Cones

Yarn

Shortening

Cornmeal or Oatmeal

Bird Seed

(Optional) Dried Fruit, –raisins, dehydrated fruit.

What To Do:

Step 1. Tie a few feet of yarn to each pine cone, allowing for however low or high you want to hang the bird feeders, and in which tree. You can make a lot of these around Christmas, and the look especially attractive in fir trees.

Step 2. Mix  1 cup of shortening with five cups of cornmeal, or oatmeal, and spread it thick over the pine cones, using a spatula, or spoon.

Step 3. Fill a bowl with dried fruit and bird seeds, and mix well together.

Step 4. Coat each pine cone well in the the seed and fruit mixture, being sure the seeds and fruit are packed well into the shortening mixture.

Step 5. Hang each or many pinecone bird feeders wherever you like, in trees, off the porch, or near windows. Birds love high energy foods like sunflower seeds especially.

Bingo is an addictive hobby; adults often go out to play at special clubs, or pay for bingo every night. Many people play free bingo games online all the time. Kids love bingo too! And with smaller kids, it’s also a great way to teach them to recognize numbers, and improve their basic math skills. So try to tear yourself away from your own online bingo game, and get ready to have some fun teaching your kids to play too!

What You Need:

White & Brown Heavy Construction Paper
Scissors
Pencil
Permanent Marker
Black & White Pom-poms (small)
Glue

1. Fold a piece of construction paper in half. Use a pencil to draw the basic shape of a teddy bear –see picture, on one side of the paper. Outline the bear in marker, and cut out around the shape, with the paper folded. Now you have two! Use the first pair as a stencile to make more, some brown and some white, until you have enough cards for all the players. Use the markers to add faces to your bears, and also, to draw on six random numbers, between one and ten. Space the number apart enough so that six playing pieces will fit easily on the card.

2. Use glue to secure a small circle of paper to each pom-pom. The way they’ll sit flat on the playing cards. Make six game pieces for each player. If you like, you can draw a little face on each. Number each of the playing cards from one to ten.

3. Put your pieces in a small box, or cup, and place your cards in bag. Have the players pull out one card each, while you call out the numbers. To make things a little more interesting, say “brown” or “white” before each number, alternating between the two, while calling numbers aloud.

And then have fun! If you love to play bingo too, browse online for more internet bingo information. This post was inspired by Marie E. Cecchini’s idea, “Bear Bingo”, found at HighlightsKids.com.

I’ve been playing around with color work in crochet lately and I thought I’d share abit about changing colors without that slight 1/2 stitch shift that you get with most crochet work.

The samples in the pictures are all worked in single crochet and, additionally through the back loop of the stitch only, but the technique works as well with straight forward sc, hdc, dc and trbs (us)

Because the whole piece is worked in sc you can assume that every stitch I refer to is a sc.

When changing from yarn A to yarn B DO NOT complete the last stitch of A – pull a loop through the stitch in the row below and then bring the tail of yarn A to the front, yarn over and complete the stitch with color B.

·        bringing the tail of yarn A to the front places it to the back – where you want it – when you work the next row. ALWAYS bring the tail of the color you are leaving behind to the front.

·        Remember that the final yarn over of the stitch actually becomes the “top” of the next stitch – you want those colors to match – hence the yo of the new color in the last stitch of the old.

When returning to color A on the next row remember not to complete the last stitch of color B and to bring the tail of B forward.

When Color A continues past the color change in the row below just carry color B along inside the stitches – as if you were hiding an end. REMEMBER to begin carrying color B inside the stitches ONE STITCH BEFORE the last color change.

The first rules apply when the color changes line up:

·        bringing the tail of yarn A to the front places it to the back – where you want it – when you work the next row. ALWAYS brig the tail of the color you are leaving behind to the front.

When changing colors a considerable distance from the last color change bring a long LOOSE loop over to your stitch with color B and then hide that long incoming tail of color inside the stitches as you work your way across, including the stitch just before the last color change – this one may be tight and a bit difficult but the end result is much tidier that if you leave that bit of loop exposed.

Drop me a comment if anything is unclear and please post links if you use this in a project!

Toots

Sara