Tool Time Tuesday...Framed Pincushion

Happy Tuesday again everyone! Tool Time is a day we make something useful out of something we aren't using, something from the recycle bin, something from the hardware store or from some other crazy place.

This Tuesday is a pincushion from an old frame!

How many old frames do we have tucked away? A lot! If you find one that you like, but it's not the right color...don't forget to paint it to match!

For this project, make sure the frames have the easel on the back so it stands up next to your sewing machine.

You will need...

• frame with glass removed, but keep the cardboard or cut one to fit
• piece of batting or stuffing
• scrap fabric
• hot glue or duct tape

You may have to trim the card board piece just a little to make room for the fabric folding over to the back side.

Cut batting to fit the size of your cardboard. I folded my batting over three times.

Stack fabric right side down, batting or stuffing and then cardboard. Fabric is about an inch larger than the cardboard all the way around.

Wrap fabric to the back and hot glue in place. You can also use duct tape too. You won't see this part at all.

All wrapped up!

Pop into frame, puffy side going towards the front.

Snap in the backing.

All set for your pins!!

Perfect next to your sewing machine for a pretty little addition.

I was thinking for the frames with several cubbies in them (like the one towards the back of the picture)...they would be great for

• a different pincushion for different kids of pins
• a different pincushion for all the different sized needles you have for hand sewing

I have lots of other pincushion tutorials too...click the name below to go to each post

• Knee Pincushion
• Sponge Selvage Pincushion
• Tea Ball Pincushion
• Canning Jar Pincushion
• Bottle Cap Pincushion...for your finger or machine

These would make great little gifts for sewing friends, guild meetings or sewing bee groups!!

Looks like I'm on a mission to find a million ways to make a pincushion...we'll see what's next!!

Have a great Tuesday,
~Karen~

ps...if you missed yesterday's post take a peek here and join "The Nester Club"

Join The Nester Club...Empty or Not So Much

I had so many responses and emails to a post I did last week about our 2 daughters going back to college. Click HERE if you'd like to read that post.

An "empty nest" doesn't necessarily mean that your kids have gone off to college. They may have moved out permanently and started a life of their own or you may be the only person at home for unforeseen circumstances, etc. An empty nest is still an empty nest.

For my husband and myself, with the girls being gone for 9 months of the year, there is a flood of mixed emotions being "Empty Nesters"...

• we miss them like crazy...they still like to hang out with us, so it's a big change for us
• are they safe and sound
• they have a car there, so that's an issue to worry about too
• cooking for a few instead of a flock of friends
• I won't miss the mess
• makeup all over the bathroom sink
• clothes all over the floor...I gave up on that
• running the dishwasher 2 times a day
• did I say we missed them like crazy

There's a hitch in my "empty nest". Our side of the house is "empty", but my 87 year old dad lives in an in-law apartment just down the hall. I think we're called "semi empty nesters" which brings another whole set of issues...

• hubby and I now have the freedom to go anywhere, but not quite...we have to find someone to stay with dad.
• worrying about whether he'll burn our house down when he leaves the stove on cooking
• or if the house will float down the street from another flood he caused (5 and counting)

Here's where the "Nester Club" starts. Are you a...

NESTER~~~kids leaving in a few years and you're getting emotionally ready
EMPTY NESTER~~~children are gone and your house is truly empty
SEMI NESTER~~~children are gone, but a parent or parents live with you or your grown children are back with you again

HOW TO JOIN THE CLUB...

• leave a comment on this post
• grab the button code on the right side bar and link back here, so we have more "Nesters"
• make sure your email is not a "No Reply". Click HERE to find out if you are
• if you don't have a blog, leave your email address in the comment so others can connect with you

Each week or so I will write a post on a "Nester" topic and we can all talk about it through the comments. I think all us "old birds" need a place to chirp...don't you!

Hope you can join,
~Karen~

Sew Darn Crafty Party...Week 30

Happy Sunday everyone! Hope this day finds you well. Our house is slowly getting back to normal. After packing up the 2 girls to go off to college, there is still "stuff" every where. Their rooms are still pulled apart and the basement where all the boxes and supplies were stored still needs to be organized again.

It's Labor Day weekend here in the states, so we have Monday off from work. Today, I will catch up emails and hopefully get some sewing and crafting in too. Hope you can get a chance to sneak something fun in there too.

I'm adding a little something to Sew Darn Crafty. The linking service I use keeps track of how many clicks each linking picture gets. On Saturdays, I will have a new segment that will showcase the top 3!!

If you're new to Sew Darn Crafty, then grab a cup of something tasty, sit back and join in on the fun (starts Sunday and lasts all week long at Sew Many Ways).

WHAT IS SEW DARN CRAFTY...

• "Sew" for anything to do with sewing,


• "Darn" for anything to do with knitting. I always think of darning to do with knitting, but in my case "darn" usually is similar to the word I say when I mess up crafting!!


• Let's not forget the word "crafty"...that can mean just about anything we do to create.

WHAT IS A LINKING PARTY...

So now we all know what Sew Darn Crafty means, let's explain a linking party again. I subscribe to a linking service, which provides the ability to link thumbnail pictures on my blog. The picture is a link that other bloggers provide to share their projects.

Two things can happen at a linking party...looking and/or linking

• you can be greatly inspired by wonderful projects, ideas or vacation pictures (looking) and/or


• you can share what you've been up to (linking)

If you want to be inspired by all the great ideas...just click on a picture and it will take you to that post from a wonderful blogger willing to share her thoughts and ideas.

HOW AND WHAT TO LINK TO THE PARTY...


Sew Darn Crafty is all about YOU!! Show off your projects, share a tutorial, show us your vacation pictures, share a family favorite recipe...share anything. Not only does linking inspire us all, it also brings lots of new people to your blog for a visit. Click here for past parties and lots of inspiration

Easy steps to join in on the fun...

• link up to the specific project post, not your whole blog. Makes it easier to link right to that post and not  search through all your entire blog. To find the http address to a specific post, just click on the Title of your post.


• link as many projects as you'd like...old or new


• anything goes...cooking, sewing, knitting, crafts, organizing, remodeling projects, vacations, parties etc...


• visit other links to share some blogging love! You know we all love comments!


• grab a Sew Darn Crafty button for your blog (on my right side bar) or just link to the party in your post.


• the more we share, the more people will join and then there's more inspiration to look at!


• linking is open til Saturday night, so plenty of time to join in


• just click the "click here to enter" button and follow the easy steps

Have fun linking up! Don't forget to come back and take a look at all the great projects during the week,

~Karen~

Thoughts on Thursday...

Yesterday was move in day at the girls university...4 days late due to the hurricane. They just restored power there.

3 car loads full of girlie stuff, 2 dorms with 2 full flights of stairs in each and 1 hubby who had his first day back at school, so he couldn't come until later in the evening.

My legs hurt, my back hurts, my arms hurt, but most of all...

my heart hurts...I miss them already.

I hate an empty nest :(

Hug your kids today!

Have a great Thursday,
~Karen~

ps...we need to start that empty nest club, Natalie!!

Tool Time Tuesday...Recycled Cap Game

Happy Tuesday! I'm writing this Monday night with Internet and cable restored after a long weekend with hurricane Irene visiting. Thank you again for all your prayers for the east coast. So many areas are still without power and were devastated by water damage. Our 2 daughters were due to move into their university this past Sunday, but the school is still without power. No telling when it will be restored.

Today's Tool Time is a recycling project. An old fashion game in honor of roughing it with no technology or electronics this weekend... a matching cap game!!

I used caps from water bottles. Try to save the same kind or color for the game. Save something that you use a lot of...milk caps, soda bottle caps, juice bottles etc.

Here's the top and the inside of the caps...

For the matching game, measure the inside of the cap...usually inside the lip of the lid. You can also find a coin that fits in there to use as a stencil.

Now for the matching part of the game. You can use anything, but make sure you have 2 of each picture.

• letters


• shapes


• food


• animals


• numbers


• colors

You can get them from the...

• computer


• magazines


• fabric with shapes on them (I Spy fabric)


• old books


• scrap book paper


• paint chips from the hardware store

I used the alphabet. You can just print the alphabet or numbers and cut out the circle.

Towards the end of the post, I show you how to make the circles on the computer.

Cut out the shape...

and glue inside.

After you fill in all the caps with 2 of each letter or what ever item you chose, the game is all set to go.

Game instructions...

The kids can turn over all the caps to hide all the letters. Slide them around to mix them up. Then they each take turns turning over 2 caps trying to match 2 of the same item. They need to memorize where the items are to match them again on another turn.

The one with the most matches at the end of the game wins!!

Remember you can use a coin to trace the shape too, but here is the computer version for a circle.

Microsoft word...click Insert (circled in black) Click the pictures to enlarge to see it better.

Then click "Shapes"

Drop down selection you will click oval, but that makes a circle too.

Over to the far right is a measuring box. My caps were .75 of an inch across. When you put your measurements in, the circle forms in that shape.

Double click on the circle and then to the far left click the button to insert text in the circle.

Don't forget to print 2 of each one!! I didn't do the whole alphabet yet, just wanted to show you the basics.



This is not only a great game for kids to learn their letters, numbers, colors etc...it's also great for their memory.

Store the game in a little bag and it travels easily too! Perfect to keep the kids busy while waiting at appointments.

Have fun making this game with them and then playing it!!

Have a great Tuesday,

~Karen~

Blog Buddy...Flipped Pictures In A Post

Hi everyone! Just a little side note before I start. If this post goes through and isn't finished or looks weird...I'm trying to write it before the power goes out on Sunday morning of the hurricane. It's scheduled to post on Monday, so we'll see! Lol !!

Have you every loaded pictures onto a post and they look straight when you have them on your computer, but when you load them to your blog they're flipped?

Well, I am no computer expert and there may be a simple explanation for it, but here's how I fixed this problem for me a couple years ago.

Where ever you store your photos on your computer do these few simple steps first...

• highlight all the photos in that group (left click and drag your mouse until all pictures are blue...well mine are blue when they are high lighted)


• right click and scroll down the drop down bar and click "Rotate Clockwise"


• once it's finished, right click again and click "Rotate Counter Clockwise"


• that's it...that fixes it for me!! They always show up straight after that.

Here are a few pictures to help.

Photos store in computer.

High lighted.

Rotate Clockwise

Pictures all sideways.

Now Rotate Counter Clockwise to get them straight again.

Quick and easy fix. Maybe the new blogger has helped with this problem, but every once in a while if I forget to do this a picture sneaks in the crooked.

Have a great Monday,
~Karen~

Sew Darn Crafty Party...Week 29

Hello everyone! A great big THANK YOU for all your thoughts and prayers for all of us on the east coast. Irene is here and she's a doosey! This is a very quick post, because our power just flickered 3 times while writing this post this morning.

Hope everyone stays safe for the remainder of all of this.

If you'd like to join in the linking party today, it would be great to see what everyone has been up to! Thanks so much for always linking up such great projects.

Take care,
~Karen~

If you're new to Sew Darn Crafty, then grab a cup of something tasty, sit back and join in on the fun (starts Sunday and lasts all week long at Sew Many Ways).

• "Sew" for anything to do with sewing,


• "Darn" for anything to do with knitting. I always think of darning to do with knitting, but in my case "darn" usually is similar to the word I say when I mess up crafting!!


• Let's not forget the word "crafty"...that can mean just about anything we do to create.

So now we all know what Sew Darn Crafty means, let's explain a linking party again. I subscribe to a linking service, which provides the ability to link thumbnail pictures on my blog. The picture is a link that other bloggers provide to share their projects.

Two things can happen at a linking party...looking and/or linking

• you can be greatly inspired by wonderful projects, ideas or vacation pictures (looking) and/or


• you can share what you've been up to (linking)

If you want to be inspired by all the great ideas...just click on a picture and it will take you to that post from a wonderful blogger willing to share her thoughts and ideas.

If you want to link to the party...see the directions below.

So let's get going...

Sew Darn Crafty is all about YOU!! Show off your projects, share a tutorial, show us your vacation pictures, share a family favorite recipe...share anything. Not only does linking inspire us all, it also brings lots of new people to your blog for a visit. Click here for past parties and lots of inspiration

Easy steps to join in on the fun...

• link up to the specific project post, not your whole blog. Makes it easier to link right to that post and not  search through all your entire blog. To find the http address to a specific post, just click on the Title of your post.


• link as many projects as you'd like...old or new


• anything goes...cooking, sewing, knitting, crafts, organizing, remodeling projects, vacations, parties etc...


• visit other links to share some blogging love! You know we all love comments!


• grab a Sew Darn Crafty button for your blog (on my right side bar) or just link to the party in your post.


• the more we share, the more people will join and then there's more inspiration to look at!


• linking is open til Saturday night, so plenty of time to join in


• just click the "click here to enter" button and follow the easy steps

Have fun linking up! Don't forget to come back and take a look at all the great projects during the week,

~Karen~