OT wondering what you all do when you can't get out in the gardens.
I hope you will share some of your hobbies . I myself have worked in metal for a number of years making ornaments and orbs but this year I decided to try my hand at paperclay. My paper clay is made from ground up egg cartons , flour , cornstarch, Joint compound , glue, water and hand lotion . Here are a couple of the several projects I have on the go.
I hope everyone will share their hobbies .......show us some pics!
A friend was over and I was busy making a snail , when she saw it she asked me If I would be able to make her daughter a hedgehog . So I did . Once I gave it away I decided I needed a hedgehog for me . So here it is . His body is made from aluminum foil covered in paper clay .
Here is the snail. He still needs to be painted and sealed
but all the body work is done . The snail is made from a margarine container filled with sand ,and body shaped from aluminum foil and then covered in paper clay
This is the body of my dragonfly. I still have to paint him and add some wings . Legs are made from coat hanger hook part , the body ( inside ) is an old fly swatter handle . The rest is paper clay . It is a good way to recycle used but clean aluminum foil, old containers and bits and pieces of things normally thrown out. And it is fun .
Comments (39)
Related Discussions
What do you do when you run out of space?
Comments (32)Now, view1ny, I'm not saying you should go hog wild or anything...but...I'm trying to do my part to bolster the flagging rose nurseries and economy, lol! Vettin, we got the little greenhouse at ACO Hardware but I also know it's available at Spray-n-grow's web site and other places. I don't know what you mean by a shady overhang. There is a standard overhang along our wall but it does get full sun (what little there is in winter here) all day. I do dig out under performers and pot them up to see if they'll improve and replace them with newer or stronger ones. I'm terrible at shovel pruning. I figure if they manage to live through the winter who am I to toss them out. I have a soft heart. But if something is still a dog after going in a pot, out it goes. BTW, I have written a couple papers on how I do all the rose pots and winterizing. If anyone is interested in either of them I can email them to you....See MoreWhat do you do when you like too many styles & can't decide?
Comments (15)Thanks all; sounds like I'm not the only one that has trouble deciding from time to time. I agree with the difference between liking pictures in a book or online versus living in it. I remember about 4 years ago, maybe 5, I loved the shabby chic pink look. I just knew I wanted it. I did two rooms in all white - one has lots of light blue accents, the other pinks and lavenders. They looked really good - straight out a magazine. I hated both of them. Even though I liked the look, I couldn't stand being in the rooms. One was redone in rich reds and gold and black, the other in, uh, gold, and rich reds. Hmmmm .... I'm sensing a pattern here. Thankfully (at least I *think* it's a good thing) I uncovered a new element - something that's going to restrict my choices a bit and therefore hopefully make the decision less stressful. When I was ripping up the various kitchen flooring layers .... carpet on top of pad on top of old vinyl on top of underlayment ... I accidentally ripped up a piece of the underlayment. I didn't mean too, was planning on putting the new floor (hadn't decided yet, was waiting on updated budget figures) and guess what I found? Yup, the kitchen had hardwood under there too! Hallelujah! It, however, is different than in the rest of the house. It's a wider plank, wider spacing, a MUCH more casual look and a more porus wood - meaning if I use the same stain it will not look the same and will likely look funny where they join. That led me to choose a contrasting stain choice so that it looked purposeful. I was torn between ebony (with cream cabinets), weathered / distressed barnwood (with either cream, black or barn red cabinets) and whitewash (with black cabinetry). Today when I started sanding, it became clear that I was likely not going to get it sanded white enough (without sanding down so deep I hurt it) to do a whitewash. The floor has gaps and grooves and the stain color fills those low spots. Trying to sand down that deep will leave me with a paper thin floor. That takes that color out of the options....See MoreEver feel like you can't do it all ...
Comments (9)I can identify with the too much to do in too little time stress situations and I also can identify with the there is too much to do and not enough time to do it and I don't know where to start so I don't do anything syndrome. In my case, it now takes me and hour and a half to drive home from work due to the traffic problems every day that seem to get worse. I usually don't leave work until after 5:00 PM, have to get to the other side of the river which means I have to go through or near downtown Nashville and there is always some function going on there where traffic does not move. By the time I get home it is 7:00 PM, I have to change clothes, feed the horses, cats, dogs, grab something for me. By then it's 8:30 or 9:00 PM. And by then I'm too tired to do much else because I get up at 4:00 AM and start the routine in reverse all over again. Saturdays it's almost the same. Got to get all of my trash together and haul it to the collection site, go to the feed mill, co-op, grocery shopping, maybe the vet and a dozen other things. I get home around 4:00 PM and try to mow the yard. At almost dark, I'm out feeding all the animals again. Sundays I am so tired that I don't want to do anything but I have to get my clothes ready for the next week at work, do what housework that I can get by with doing and try to have some time to just do nothing. People are always telling me to "get rid of my animals", I don't want to get rid of my animals and the only way I could get rid of them is to condem them to certain death. Nobody wants the cats or dogs and my horses are untrained and old. I don't think there is any way they would even load in a truck or trailer and survive the experience. I just want time to be able to enjoy my land and my animals, and, I am hoping that is in the near future. I hope to be able to retire at the end of June....See MoreWhat do you do when you can't bare to be around your Step Son
Comments (9)@ justmetoo----His now 21 year old son assaulted me, not the one that lives with us now. His mother does feed him stories and has for years let them in on the finances and done everything in her power to cause trouble and discontent. To be honest, in my opinion, this all went off the rails with this particular child when WE bought him a car. After my husband and I did this he kept the ca for about 2 months and decided that he didn't want it anymore. I had a truck that we were not using so SS came to me and said he wanted to buy it because, a. he wanted a truck, b. it would teach him what it was like to have financial responsibility. I should have seen through that right there, because I don't know many kids that would say that. I was honestly against it because I saw nothing but trouble, but after all the hounding I got from my husband and SS, I gave in just to shut them up. I stipulated that there would be rules, the vehicle would not be his until he paid it in full, it could not be driven out of the local area further than 50 miles, and since it was in my name and under my insurance he was not to haul all his friends around and he had to let us know where he was going. Keep in mind at the time he was 16, so I don't think I was being to unreasonable. That was fine for about 2 months and suddenly he stopped paying (payments were $50/month), breaking curfew, rude, sassy, etc. He wants to put the vehicle under his mothers insurance, because she doesn't have to know where he goes. Then he decides he doesn't want this vehicle and he wants to sell it and buy something else. Now I have no way of knowing what my husband and his son discussed or concocted, and they are famous for making little deals and leaving me out of the loop. (That's another issue) So, I agreed to allow him to sell it with the stipulation that he only keep what was leftover from what he owed us because I just wanted to be rid of the situation.. Well you would have thought I was asking for his first born, because suddenly he doesn't understand why he has to pay for something that had been given to me in the first place and why did I not just give him the vehicle. So he sells it and when my husband does not turn over the full amount to him, he says, "Mom told me you would not give me what you owed me!" HAHA BINGO! So I told my husband, BM is obviously planting seeds in his head, which you can't reason with this woman she is a nut job, we have tried. He gets a new car with his mother and adds it to his insurance and in even more attitude, he came over one night to fight with my husband about this entire transaction. Do I know if my husband has lied to him? No, I do not, however that is no excuse to talk to your father that way. In my opinion, bottom line SS is mad because he did not get what he wanted from us. This is the same child that asked his Dad to change the custody agreement so that he could stay with us more because he did not like living at his mothers house because everyone fights there all the time, per him. My husband even gave him $400 to register his new car that he got with his BM with the understanding that he would pay it back because he is working. This was 6 months ago and the boy has yet to make any attempt to give us anything, in fact he told his Dad in the past few weeks, "I don't have any F*&^ing money, so why would I give you any? I'm not paying you back." NICE! My husband left his son OVER $300 for lunch, food, etc whilst he has been away, gives him money to eat when the SS is at work, school, to go out with his friends....but the boy has a job, he is already in college. I feel that we have done so much for him and all he does in expect more and disrespect more. He will walk right past me in my home and look right through me and not say a word. I feel that I have done more for him in the 5 years I have been married than his own mother does for him. Its just a mess and it makes me very sad because it was NOT always like this. We used to do things as a family, have dinner together, go on trips and now I can't stand the sight of him....See Moresignet_gw(6b)
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoNancy, you are probably your own worst critic. I know when I am doing something , I fiddle and fiddle and fiddle with it trying to get it " just right" and sometimes I do fiddle way too much and end up ruining a project . But I learn from every mistake and take that on with me to the next project . For example , that snail , that is not the first incarnation . As a matter of fact I tore his head off 3 times before I got what I thought looked like a snail .LOL!
Same goes for the hedgehog. I had to give the one I made for my friend to her asap or I would have continued to fiddle with it . I did learn how to make homemade flocking though on that project which I used on the base. As you can see in my friends picture my first hedgehog was a fair bit bigger . Of course I had no idea if I could even make one that looked like a hedgehog so I was pleased when it came out looking somewhat hedgehoggie. My second one above is about half the size of this one .
Brad . I love to read too , but that gets saved for bedtime here for me . I just discovered a website called www.manybooks.net . All kinds of books to read for free either online or for download. I have my work cut out for me LOL !signet_gw(6b)
5 years ago
lilykate7a
5 years agoVery creative, Signet. Love the recycling. And I am not an artist-that was my mother. But I like to channel her in my own way. Good? No. Fun and therapeutic? Oh yes!
signet_gw(6b) thanked lilykate7asignet_gw(6b)
5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
Nancy 6b
5 years agolilykate7a
5 years agoOh those are mine. My mother painted ornaments and shipped them worldwide. I just dabble and give to family and friends. I am sure you are tons more talented, Nancy. As Signet said, something to do while waiting on spring. And easy gifts!! Thank you for your kind comments.
Waiting to be wrapped!
signet_gw(6b)
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoHere are some images of the ornaments I make .....Winter is sooooo long and boring .......one needs something to occupy the time .
The top two images are ornaments made from the tops and bottoms of pop cans. I use the side metal of the pop can metal to make my daylily tags and was throwing out the rest . I thought that was pretty wasteful so decided to try to make ornaments from the left overs. Size of the later ornaments grew to the size of the regular pop cans ,. Then I discovered larger cans so that was where I went next ( larger ornaments) This morphed several times over the next 2 winters and ultimately I was making ornaments made from part pop can part chicken egg. It is amazing what boredom can do . Ornaments went from this ..........
To this ..............
Then I moved on to try my hand at another medium .The bottom 4 are made from carved chicken eggs that have had the contents removed and the eggs cleaned
and this bottom one was made from the sides of a large ice tea can and ribbon the center is the bottom of a pop can .
Then I had had enough ornaments to choke a horse so I moved onto making orbs for the gardens out of metal made from old metal banding used to keep stuff on pallets .
This one is a bird feeder . Hard to get a good picture of it though. That is the story of my winter crafting till this winter when I tried my hand at the paper clay.
Now, Mantis,oooh I am so jealous ........ that is something I would love to be able to do . I never had the opportunity to learn to play piano and would love to have had that ability. I did self teach myself guitar years ago but it got put aside when I had my children I have a guitar sitting in my bedroom ........hasn]t been touched for a number of years now . Once kids came along it went on the back burner in order to work to raise the rugrats.
Celeste , those are such great paintings , so much detail ! and wow so much work ( but no doubt you love it ) .......I LOVE them all but the waterfall !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! has got to be my favourite.You know , I knew when I asked this question, that people who can see the beauty in the daylilies have souls that sing in many different ways .
signet_gw(6b)
5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
sherrygirl zone5 N il
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agosignet_gw(6b) thanked sherrygirl zone5 N ilsignet_gw(6b)
5 years agosignet_gw(6b)
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agosignet_gw(6b)
5 years agolast modified: 5 years ago
organic_kitten
5 years agoFirst picture I have been able to put up in forever! Hooray! I will try to give you a shot of the top when I was making it for a quit which I apparenty did not take a phot of on the phone...It won't upload my camera photos, but may the phone ones...
The book titles were either textbooks (nursing school) or authors or subjects she liked.
kay
signet_gw(6b) thanked organic_kittensignet_gw(6b)
5 years ago
organic_kitten