Today is not necessarily a crafty blog, but do want to get a thank you out to those of you who have left comments. I have gone through them all and would like to hear from those of you who have craft sites or resources that you'd like to refer to others. My thought is to compile a page of craft site links and resources for all who do some sort of handcraft. It doesn't matter what state you live in as theres plenty of us crafters out there that travel and would like to know all the good spots, so we can check them out if we happen to be in any particular area. I know for me I'd love to know all the good spots in Indiana as eventually we will be moving there. Would also like to know all the good craft haunts between here in Maine and Indiana. So come on all and lets compile a great list for everyone to use as one more crafty resource. I'd like to have a good start on the list by the end of July and it can be added to as other folk send in their favorite craft haunt. I will be updating my crafty web site for the next couple weeks www.geocities.com/onelovnhart so please feel free to check it out. It will be mostly wood projects that I add to it but also some of my youngest daughter's jewerly will be added in as well. If anyone is interested in anything please feel free to email me at Lovnhart@aol.com . Sister Pam is getting ready for an antique show this weekend for those of you who are into antiques. They are a craft of their own. You can check out Pam's site at www.picturetrail.com/thecrowsnest she has also updated her site and has lots of neat things. I want to put in another request to everyone here. If anyone has mohair they want to get rid of or has a piece of furniture that has mohair but is no longer useable please email me. If its within our area we can come pick it up or if you just have the mohair material it can be shipped. Fear not, your mohair will become a teddy bear for a little girl or boy. This is a great example of recycling and resources of the most odd kind. If your a true crafter NOTHING goes wasted on anything if it can be used for something else.
These are a couple of Pam's teddy bears. I have one as well she made for me that is a dark blue. This is truely a great handcraft and something to treasure for years to come
Hello all! We are slowly catching up, and getting ready for wha
 ts ahead. With spring here and almost summer I was getting my gardens ready and done up with all my usual garden novelties and decor. My oldest daughter is down with us for awhile and she was helping me get some small wood projects done, one of which was gecko's in different poses. After my sawing out a doz. of them and Sam painting them we took a break and was working out in the gardens.....Sam came up with a brainstorm of making the gecko's bigger and putting them on my tree above the flowers. Needless to say I did just that. I enlarged my original pattern to the max (to fit 8.5 x 11) and drew the pattern out on my wood. After cutting it out Sam painted them up. We only did a couple to see how they would look and turn out, which turned out to be pretty neat looking. We  used moveable eyes on the small gecko's, and for an added decore we used some "gem" shapes, such as leaves and dragonflies. Several coats of poly for indoor and out projects and its good to go. The eyes on the larger gecko's are painted but you could use larger moveable eyes to help give it a bit of depth and dimension. Also I addded in a little bit of fine sand glitter along the length of the gecko. I only did this on one of the two, as these were idea test projects. One gecko was painted in two shades of green and this is the one I added the glitter to. Fine sand glitter comes in several colors and I used pastel green for this one and it gave it that "final" touch it needed. You can use this same idea with any design you choose, and if your scanner/copier doesn't enlarge it big enough Staples is a good place to go and is inexpensive.
Hello Spring time.!! Its been a bit since I last posted a blog but family priorities took over. Needless to say I have lots of catching up to do. During these last few months in amongst everything else I have been working on my beaded curtain for the bathroom, we're slowly getting there with it but find I'm substituting beads along the way. This is a great lesson for other beaders or crafters, if your like me, you get in over your head with a project idea, then end up changing your designs or blending designs, which can turn out quite well sometimes, but can be costly as well. In planning a project double check to make sure you have everything you need for it first. Also make sure you have a little more then what you need, you never know when something will break or not work right. Along with my curtain, I have been playing with my beads making earrings and matching bracelets, my two youngest girls are also still playing with their beads when their not working or getting other things done. My other projects are in wood. I've gotten 3 card baskets made, one I kept, the other two were gifts,and most recently I have cut out some mini chairs and table from a square block of wood. Needless to say this was a new technique for me but after reading my magazine for instructions it seemed way easier to do. After making two chairs then attempting a table, I've decided I need a bit more practise on them but my first "roughcuts" didn't come out so bad. Their kinda cute and gave me a sense of accomplishment once they were done. To think something that looks hard turned out to be easy and lots of fun to do. Now that I have the hang of sawing things out of blocks I'm off to try my hand at making some strawberries in the same fashion. As with alot of crafts theres always new techniques to be learned and working with wood is no different. I know this blog is kinda short today but with a very active 3yr. old in the house these days our routines have changed a bit....but we are back to blogging again and haven't forgotten all of you who do read my blogs. In the next few weeks I will have some new ideas and a few old ones made new again...so keep an eye out and until we blog again Happy Crafting.
Happy New Year everyone! Its been a busy one to say the least but then thats nothing new around here. I'm still finishing up gifts to get mailed out, and getting ready to gear up for the spring Ultimate Yardsale. In our trip to Indianna in Nov 2008, we had gone to the antique mall where Pam has a space she sells some of her antiques ect at. One thing I noticed was how everyone had their particular space set up, everything was eyecatching. The imagination of some was really great and didn't cost a dime. Some had taken old picket fences to put around their space and added in a handmade bird house on a post to the end of it making it a homey space. Another had taken old windows and with a little bit of hardware made a show case for the smaller items the mall was selling, the shelves were also old window glass. I will be taking some of these ideas to dress up my space at the yardsale and any other fairs ect. I might do. Being creatively crafty doesn't cover just handmade items you make but extends way beyond to creating an eyecatching space that will bring people in to see and buy your products, this is something I'm still learning even after all the fairs ect. I have done. Creating an eyecatching space really isn't hard to do. Figure out what you have around your house, garage, and barn that you can use and easily take apart to make it mobile if necessary. Old wooden picket fences was a super idea as they were to old to use for around a yard but still had some life in them for a more simpler less weather beating job. With a little bit of fake greenery, flowers, or a simple bird house added to the fence it gives it a bit of a country feel, which in turn gives your space the same feel/atmosphere. In one of my earlier posts I mentioned a shelf unit a friend of ours brought over that I used to create a mobile wall to hang some of my wood projects on. I took a piece of peg board and zip tied it to the shelf unit and as quick as that, I have a mobile wall unit that shows off my hanging wood projects way better then having them laid out on a table. My next "wall" will be a light weight glass or plexiglass door in which I can hang up my stain glass projects to show off in their true enviroment. If a light weight door can't be found a wooden frame with a piece of acrylic set in it will do just as well. To cut down on expense hit up your local furniture stores that make their own stuff and see if they have wood scrap boxes you can pick through. We have Pineland furniture up here that makes their own stuff and am always raiding the scrap boxes for good wood they throw out. I hope these ideas help out on creating an eye catching space, and if anyone has any other ideas, we'd love to hear them. Please feel free to leave a comment and share your ideas. Heres to another great year of new creative ideas.
 Hello all ! I'm back from our trip to Indianna
over the Thanksgiving holiday.
We spent a week with family down there and got to see a few sights as well. We had a great time and I got to see the extent of the "Family crafters". Sister Pam works around antiques and husband Dave does wood carving as does Dad Eddy. Mom Eddy does hook rug and has many rugs she's done on her wall. I even got a crash course on how to do the hook rug which is different then the latch hook rug kits we can get in the stores. It's actually easier to do I think and you can be sure I will be attempting to do a hook rug and let you all know how it goes. One thing I learned is that since 100% wool is expensive you can go into the good will stores, and other second hand clothing stores and find good 100% wool skirts that you can get for a way cheaper price. You then go home wash the wool, dye it if you need to change the color, and once dried cut into strips and your good to go. You can get good backing at your local fabric store/dept.. The next thing I learned was a bit more about antiques, what to look for, what to refinsh and not refinish, I even got ideas on space setups for craft fairs ect. We went to the Vinton house where Pam has a space with hers and Dave's items to sell, so got to look around at all the other spaces as well as Pam's. There was alot to take in but was very educational as well as enjoyable. Pam has a web site of her own you can check out at www.picturetrail.com/thecrowsnest . One last craft to boast about is the wood carving. I found this to be really neat, the things that can be hand carved, and is a trade that is passed down through the families in years gone by. Dad Eddy had some neat looking carved stuff he called whimsies. Each project being carved out of one piece of wood. This definately intriqued me as to how everything was carved out. Dave also does wood carving and has some of his projects on the website with wife Pam. Dave does some awesome carving, to the point I had to touch a wooden pumpkin to see if it was real or not.
All in all we had a super trip, we learned alot and came back with lots of ideas. Heres to a very crafty family and more new handcrafts to try out and see where it goes. One thing with handcrafts is that its a job you can't really ever get board with because there are way to many different things to make out there. Some antiqued, some modern but always handmade, original, and unique in their own way.
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