Memorial Purse

Today is Memorial Day. If you don’t live in the United States, this probably doesn’t mean that much to you. For Americans, it’s a time to honor our soldiers who have served our country.

Both my Dad and my Grandfather served in the military. My dad was in the Air Force and my Grandfather was in the Army. My Dad is not especially fond of his military service. It was torture for his rebellious soul to be ordered around and told what to do. In fact, I’m pretty sure the only salute he’s given to the Air Force since his release was the kind that doesn’t involve the use of every finger.

 My Grandpa never really talked about his time in the service, except for after his dementia set in. Then he told me this amazing story of this “battle” he fought in. I didn’t realize the story wasn’t true for about 4 years. Turns out, it was all the dementia talking. He never went to Europe, let alone stormed any hills to free captured prisoners. My Grandpa had a great imagination.

True story: When my Grandpa died, he received a military funeral. I was so impressed with solemnity of the soldiers as they folded the flag with such precision and care. When they handed it to my Dad and thanked him for Grandpa’s service, I was deeply moved.

I was less impressed when they crossed the road to do the 21 gun salute. They raised their guns, pointed them right at us mourners and pulled the triggers. I grabbed my brother and nearly pulled him to the ground, trying to find cover. Scared the living daylights out of me.

 

If you are a regular follower of my blog, you know that my nephew, Kale, was killed this past year in a drunk driving accident. Kale was a Specialist in the Army and served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was getting ready to deploy to Afghanistan.

My sister, Nancy, sent me Kale’s jacket, probably the one he’s wearing in this picture, and asked if I’d make a purse for her out of his jacket. She’d seen the idea on the Website, Hero On My Arm, but felt it would have more meaning to her if I made the purse for her.

She sent me Kale’s coat and I got to work. I removed all the pockets and insignia from the jacket.

Then I cut the jacket apart at the seams to get the most use out of each piece.

I used a purse I had as a very rough template. Using an old sheet, I created a pattern and then did a pin test to see how I’d like it. It was a very rough idea of what I was going to do.

I would show you the steps to create this bag, but I didn’t really take pictures. I made this up as I went along. It involved a lot of seam ripping. I made the piping by cutting bias strips and sewing them over a heavy cotton yarn I had on hand.

Kale was fun and happy and just always quick to make you laugh. I wanted a bag that was fun and playful to match his personality.

Here’s the basic bag before I put on the handle.

I’d bought this silver purse at the Goodwill store for about $3. I was going to use it in another project but ended up not needing it. I loved the chains and rings so I harvested them for Kale’s purse.

I must like to do things the hard way. It would have been so much easier to do this bag without all the piping. I really love the punch of color, though, and the way it ties in the red from the American flag that’s on the side.

I wanted to put a tribute on the bag to show who it was honoring. I used some heat transfer material and my Silhouette and put this on the side of the bag.

I used the pen holder pocket from his sleeve, and another sleeve pocket on the inside. I sewed a third of the way over on the sleeve pocket, so she’ll have room to put her sunglasses.

I love the bag and would totally use this on a regular basis. I hope Nancy loves it, too. She hasn’t seen it yet, but when I told her she could send it back to me if she doesn’t like it, she assured me I’d have to pry it out of her cold, dead fingers first! Sheesh. She’s so dramatic, that one.

(I love you, Sister)!

My sister’s birthday is tomorrow (Happy Birthday, Nancy!), so I’m hoping it arrives in time for her day. Before I sent it out, I asked my cute, pregnant neighbor, Kristy, to model the bag for me.

I refuse to put a cost breakdown on this project. While it cost very little money, the sad reality is a cost that is more than any family ever wants to pay.

I’m so proud of Kale and his service to our country. His life was far too short, but he is lovingly remembered by family, friends and fellow soldiers.

The men and women who serve our country deserve our deepest respect and praise for the sacrifices they make, and their families make for our freedoms.

Have a safe, and happy Memorial Day and please take a moment to remember and honor our service men and women.

Above all, please, PLEASE, do not EVER drink and drive.

Suesan

Very Verdigris

I found this funny little vase at Goodwill the other day.

It didn’t have a price on it, but I held onto it, in spite of the ominous messages they played in the store about “items not having a price tag will need to be taken to a manager. Sales clerks are not authorized to set prices.” What.Ever.

I’m still recovering from foot surgery and I was already near the front when I heard the message. I wasn’t about to hobble around the store to track down a sales manager. I decided to take my chances.

Sure enough, the sales clerk came up with a price all on her own. $.50!

I certainly wasn’t going to complain.

The little vase is a funky clay type material. I’m not sure how to describe it, except “gritty.

My boys/man call it my Aztec vase, although there are clearly flowers all over it. I gave this vase my Verdigris treatment.

I spray painted the vase in my hammered copper spray paint.

I actually used a couple of paints for this treatment.

The Americana “Indian Turquoise” is has a bit of green to the color, but the Folk Art “Deep Ocean Blue” is more of a true blue/aqua color.

I started with the Folk Art paint and covered the vase with paint.

Make sure to get into all the grooves and to give the paint a few minutes to dry. I then take a damp cloth and wipe off the paint. I like to use an old sheet for this process. If you use a cloth with a nap to it, you’ll remove too much paint out of the grooves. The old sheet is smooth and helps you remove the paint from the high points.

Let the paint dry for a few minutes and do it again. I kept alternating between the two colors and then occasionally hit it with a layer of Valspar’s Antiquing glaze to tone things down just a bit.

Towards the end, I just dry brushed on the “Indian Turquoise” to hit the high points. The layering of the colors is what gives this technique it’s dimension.

As you wipe it down between layers, you can get the shine of the spray paint to come through, or you can leave it slightly covered by the paint. There’s no wrong way to do this. Since I like the shine, I wiped things down a bit.

Cost Breakdown:

• Vase – $.50
• Spray Paint – Stash on Hand
• Acrylic Paints – Stash on Hand

Total Project Cost – $.50

Total Project Time – About 30 minutes, not including drying time for spray paint

Do you have a favorite faux metal treatment?

Suesan

Map Butterflies

When I held my Freschetta Simply Inspired Giveaway, I told ya’ll that I’d make a little something extra for the winner.

Cassie was the winner and after some debating and procrastination on my part, I came up with a fitting project for her. I asked Cassie to give me 4 places that meant something special to her and her family. I originally planned to do a knock-off version of this butterfly art that I found on Pinterest.

Maps + Butterflies = Genius in my mind.

I had to give this a try. I used my Silhouette for cutting the images and I’ll do another post to show you how to do that. Today, I’ll show you how I did my project.

I started with this shadow box I found at the local Goodwill for $2.92. I was so excited to get started, that I’d already removed the glass and ugly picture in it before I remembered to take a photo.

I whipped out my can of Oil-Rubbed Bronze and got to work. After a couple of coats of paint, I took my Krylon Silver Leafing Pen and colored the top of the frame with silver.

I was only going to do the rounded section with the silver and the inner edge, but my coloring skills need work. So the whole top became silver. I aged it with a bit of Antiquing Glaze.

For the back, use foam core board. I used a scrap I had on hand. I covered the board with some spray adhesive and some leftover drop cloth from my map settee and my cane back chairs.

Cassie told me that Washington, DC; Simi Valley, CA; Moab, UT; and the Salt Lake Temple in UT were places that had meaning to her family. Originally, I planned to create four butterflies for this frame. After playing with the images, though, I felt like the frame was better suited for 2 butterflies.

I will spare you all the mental deliberations I went through. Let me sum up by saying that I finally settled upon a picture of Delicate Arch near Moab, Utah and a map of the same spot. You may have to play around with several pictures to get one that you like.

Insert your picture into the Silhouette software and place the butterfly outline over it until you like how it looks. Mine involved a lot of repositioning and resizing of the picture to get it just right.

Print a test run in black and white and cut it out to see how it looks before printing in color. I don’t know about you, but I hoard my usage of the color printer. That ink is ridiculously pricey. Good thing I got the printer for free!

Once you have a successful test run, do a final print and cut. I used the print and cut feature on the Silhouette to make sure the butterfly cut out in the right location. All I can say is “Wowsers!” If you haven’t used that feature yet, it’s AWESOME!

Using some straight pins, pin the butterflies into place. I pushed the pins into the foam core. They naturally stop at the after they get through the foam part. It made the pins nice and level.

Place the back into the frame and shoot a few staples into the sides to hold it in place.

Make sure when you do this step that the butterflies are not in upside-down before you do the staples. It might save you a step or two. I’m just saying.

I created a label and put it on the back, too.

The part that thrills me the most about this project…that I actually got it wrapped up and shipped out today!

You don’t even know how much little tasks like that set me back sometimes. I count my day complete today that I got this mailed out and Miss Cassie will have her new art (and cutting board and free pizza) by the end of the week.

I hope she likes it. I definitely plan to do more of these in the future. I’m already gathering images and maps from favorite places.

Cost Breakdown

• Shadow Box Frame – $2.92
• Spray paint, leafing pen, canvas, foam core, print paper, pens – Stock on Hand

Total Project Cost – $2.92

Total Project Time – About 6 hours. Don’t judge. There was a huge learning curve here and my brain is still slow these days.

I’ll be detailing my steps for creating the butterfly shapes for Silhouette for you soon so your project may only take you an hour or two.

Suesan

Be sure to check out the parties on my sidebar!

Knock-Off Pier 1 Letter Balls

Several months back I found these “decorative spheres” at Pier 1. (Pier 1 likes to call them “spheres,” I just call them balls).

 

I immediately liked them, but seeing as I don’t have any J’s, Q’s or X’s in any of my names, I was having trouble finding the letters I wanted. Plus, at $2/each, even if I could find all the letters I wanted, I would have burned up a good portion of the $30 gift card I was hoping to use.

 

Fast forward a few months when I was scrambling to come up with a game for my Seminary students to play. I ended up with a bunch of ping pong balls after the game and it didn’t take long for me to start seeing those balls in a new light.

 

See, ping pong balls are pretty much the same size as the “decorative spheres” that Pier 1 sells. They were perfect for me to try my hand at my own letter balls.

 

I improvised a holder for the balls so I could paint them.

 

I put some duct tape on a box with the sticky side up. Then I placed the balls far enough apart so I could spray all sides.

 

I busted out my Heirloom White and started spraying the balls.

 

Next, I used my Silhouette machine to cut out some letters for the balls. I used a font called Rough Typewriter for the letters. I made the letters all 1” tall and cut 6 letters/numbers for each ball.

 

I found it was easiest to hold the ball on the top and bottom of the ball and place the letter in the center section facing me. Next, I rotated the ball 90 degrees and put the next letter on. It helped to keep the spacing even, but you may find an easier way. I repositioned several letters and numbers to get them evenly spaced.

 

Once I had the vinyl on, I sprayed on a glossy clear coat. The Pier 1 “spheres” are very shiny and I wanted that same look on mine.

 

If I were to do it again, I would have put the clear coat on before the letters. The vinyl held well for the most part, but it did curl up in a couple of places. I was able to stick it back down, though.

 

In my anxiousness to complete a project, I ignored the high humidity levels of the day and sprayed the balls with the clear coat. Most of them did just fine, but the 8-balls rebelled against such treatment.

 

I have extra ping pong balls so I could make more, but truth be told, I probably won’t. I have other projects on my plate and you can’t really tell once the balls are in the cloche.

 

Plus, the cracks give the balls a vintage look. Yeah. That’s it. I like their aged look!

 

I have all the letters of our last name, plus the numbers for the year we were married. They work better in the smaller embossed cloche that I knocked-off from Allison at House of Hepworths.

 

Here it is on my console tables. Yes, I need to redo this table. I’ve only had it for 8 years now. It has not looked this rough for all 8 years, but the three moves in that time have taken their toll. It’s moving up the project list.

 

Since a 2 mega-pixel cell phone camera only captures so much detail at a distance, here’s a closer view of some of the items on the table.

 

The old crock and the vintage croquet balls came from Hub’s parent’s house. They are authentically aged to perfection. They are so aged, it’s hard to tell their colors any more. I guess no one ever liked the brown because that one is in the best shape. The red one spent a winter under our lilac bush in Idaho. Oops.  I also have the mallets and the metal holder for the set. I’m trying to find a fun way to use them.

 

The Chinese checkers board was made by Hubs a few years ago. He always played Chinese checkers whenever he visited his grandmother in Kansas. When we inherited a boat load of marbles, Hubs decided to make a board for us. I want to paint the board and give it a vintage treatment but Hubs won’t hear of it. The real checker board below was made by Hub’s grandfather.

 

That’s a picture of Kiddo wearing his Daddy’s shoes in Troy, Ohio. There’s also a picture of Hubs, taken by one of the kids in Yreka, California. The foot picture was taken by a friend of mine in Meridian, Idaho. I love it, but Hubs…not so much.

When Hubs started working for newspapers, he have to shoot pictures for the paper, as well as every other job on the paper. He’d roll his own film and develop it, so whenever he needed to develop the roll, he’d burn off the rest of the roll by shooting pictures of the kids.

 

That’s baby girl in a dandelion field in Quincy, Washington. Baby Girl and I are kissing as I push her on a swing in George, Washington. Man Child and Baby Girl are holding hands and walking with fishing poles in Hermiston, Oregon.

 

Again, sorry for the crappy photo. But, hey, I’m getting a new cell phone and it has an 8 mega-pixel camera on it! Woot. I’m moving up in the world.

 

The chairs, lamp, pillow, cloche and plant holder all have their own posts. If you’re interested in finding out more about them, be sure to check out my Projects Page.

 

Cost Breakdown

• Ping Pong Balls – Stash on hand ($1.46/6 at Wal-Mart)
• Spray Paint, Vinyl – Stash on Hand
• Glossy Clear Coat – $3.98

Total Project Cost – $3.98

Total Project Time – 2 hours, give or take for paint drying time.

 

Suesan

Be sure to check out the party links on my sidebar!

I’m also Partying @ Homebody

Whining and Winning

Is it Summer yet? Can we stick a fork in Spring already or whatever this is that’s trying to pass for Spring? I don’t know about you, but I’m sick of this weather.

I did a little calculating, because I’m an intellectual bad@$$ nerdy like that. Here’s the what I’ve discovered. Since January 1, we’ve only had 31 days of sunshine in my neck of the woods.

That’s one month out of the last 4.5 MONTHS that we’ve seen the sky.

We’ve had record rainfall here, too. We’ve had over 10 inches of rain since April 1. I’m about to break out the power tools and start building an ark. I know I’m not the only one who’s starting to grow gills. Who’s with me? Anyone?

In all seriousness, I do know how truly devastated some people are throughout the country because of the weather this year. Floods, tornados and the like have ravaged homes and families. I hope we can all find ways to help out.

Okay, I’m done whining. I’m walking again – sort of. I’m a few days away from losing the boot and I can drive again. Life is starting to pick up around here. Hopefully, I’ll soon be able to get back to my regularly scheduled program of projects and crafts and such as.

In other happy news, Cassie Lytle, you are the winner of a free pizza and cutting board and a little something from moi! Aren’t you a lucky girl? I’ll be contacting you soon to find out where I can mail your package.

I’m wishing us all sunny days ahead. Unless you live someplace like Arizona, like my sisters. In which case I propose a playdate for my rain to come visit you.

Suesan

Freschetta Saves the Day & A Giveaway

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of FRESCHETTA® for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you've been following along, you know that I've been laid up since early April and recovering from foot surgery. Let me tell you, life is not easily negotiated on one foot and four wheels. Don't get me wrong. I'm very thankful for my knee walker that helps me get around, but some things are just very challenging.

One thing that is especially difficult is cooking dinner for my family. My kitchen is big enough for my scooter, but I have to employ a 7-point maneuver to turn around. Consequently, I've been stocking up on frozen foods that the boys can make for themselves.

When I got the chance to review FRESCHETTA® Simply…Inspired™ frozen pizza, I couldn't accept fast enough. Burritos, lasagna and egg rolls lose their appeal rather quickly.

One of the things that first impressed me about this pizza is how good it looks right out of the package.  Freshetta has developed FRESCH-TASTE SEAL™ Packing.

Here's what it looks like when you open the package.

Notice how you can tell what the individual ingredients are? I also liked that I didn't have to wrestle a shrink-wrapped piece of plastic off the pizza. Due to my dominant klutz gene, that type of of packaging has resulted in more than one pizza fail at my house.

I think Freshetta may be onto something. Not only is there 30% less packaging material, but  the FRESCH-TASTE SEAL™ lived up to its name. The individual flavors of the pizza really popped. It didn't taste like a standard frozen pizza.

My manly men were not too excited about the thin and crispy crust which is really thin and really crispy, but I liked it. My boys also didn't like the "vegetables" on their pizza, but they loved the flavor of the pizza. While Freschetta offers 8 flavors and varieties of pizza, I think their flavors are for a more mature palate (read: not teenage boys who only want meat on their pizza).