Project #1 (June 2014)

Project Number 1

Getting started on anything is never easy.  Inspiration is required. So, I went on the web (Pinterest, duh) and searched high and low for something to make.  I may have looked like this...

 

Once the idea popped into my noggin', I found the designs needed and off I headed to my favorite new store!  I began by purchasing the items: perler beads, perler bead board, tweezers, wax paper, magnet roll, super glue & iron.

All the colors made me so happy. No, I wasn't high. 

Then, got to work...

 

Money shot!

After all the beads were in place, I got out my trusty iron, let it get good and hot, and placed it over the completed piece - with wax paper between hot metal and plastic beads!

I circled around the beaded area for about 10-20 seconds and checked periodically.  I wanted the beads just melted enough to bond together but not too melted that it reduced the height of the project.  (Also, watch out for parts more melted than other parts - this will result in an un-leveled piece.)

And then: let cool, flip over and...as if by magic...

...project complete!

(Note: for items like the question mark, make backwards.)

I also added a magnet strip to the back for fridge display.  Off in the mail it goes!  I hope she likes it!

Wide World of Crafts

Do you know what's amazing?  Discovering new things.  I'm sure Edison was OVER the moon when he figured out that whole electricity mumbo jumbo and got that little light bulb to shine like a diamond.  Imagine being in the room when good ole Alex Bell made the first phone call?! (You know he totally made a prank call to one of his other long bearded fellas across town.) My point is this: I discovered a new craft store in town recently, and I'm sure the euphoric feelings running through my veins were identical to theirs.

My dear friend is in the heart of middle America, where the Cheeseburger came to life, where a game called Cornhole is a past time and not a naughty joke, and where bourbon is swallowed down by the barrel full. It is also a location to a fine craft store called Hobby Lobby.  She has regaled me with tales of its massive size and its large collection of "things."  Apparently, according to her, anything I could possibly imagine is located within its walls.

As I was not privy to the access of this business establishment, I deleted her words from my memory just as quickly as I had heard them.  But then...

 

As I strolled down the tiled floor with my mouth agape, my mind went blank.  What do I make?  Where do I start?  I passed by spools of ribbon, towering rows of fabric, walls of colored paper that must have taken forests of trees to equate! There was wrought iron house decor, smelly candles, party supplies, baking supplies, yarnpillowsframesbeadscardsandsomuchmore...aaahhh!!

It was the Willy Wonka Factory of textiles - and I was in lurve.

So I contacted Middle America Friend (my MAF) and together we brainstormed a crafting project: each month we would make each other a little something from the heart.  Something tasteful and something non-stinky (no perfumes, no candles, no soap, no innocence - no shirt, no service).
And because I so enjoy adding salt to wound - I'm going to blog about my projects!

The fun starts soon!