Movin' on up.

Smelanie's Stuff has a new home! Here's the address...

http://smelaniesstuff.wordpress.com/

See you fools there!

Tree of Life.

I came across a couple of wooden hoops at Frenchy's for 10 cents a while ago, and immediately decided I'd try using them to make a hanging for the window modeled after hand-made Tree of Life jewelry pendants I've been seeing all over the Internets. So I gave it a whirl today, and ended up with this!

I'm happy with how it turned out, considering I had no frickin clue what I was doing! The wire I used was pretty heavy and hard to twist, so I plan on getting some lighter weight stuff and making some more... maybe I'll get brave and try it on a smaller scale as a pendant. The sky's the limit!

To braid a rug.

I've always wanted to try making a braided rug. So this week, that's exactly what I did. Here it is!

I used 2 pillowcases I picked up at a thrift store for 50 cents a piece, an old pair of brown corduroys, and some fabric from my stash. The entire process was definitely a big learning experience for me... it takes quite a bit of fabric to make one of these puppies! Sewing the braids together is kinda tedious. And it works best if the strips of fabric are at least 2 inches wide... you'll notice my inner braids are foolishly tiny; the outer braids are nice and fat and definitely the way to go next time.


Being a practice run 'n all, I didn't make it very big. For now, it's found a place in my living room, beneath a white wicker stand.


All in all, I'm pretty pleased with this little learning experience of mine, and plan on gathering some rags together and making something larger sometime soon! Yeah!

I was cleaning the bedroom yesterday and came across a little sewing needle I was sure was lost and gone forever. Here's a tip: the bed isn't the best place to do some sewing. The needle had caught on a blanket and flew right out of my hand. A needle isn't really something you want floating around in the bed or on the floor and I searched high and low. Couldn't find it anywhere and boy was I savage.

This happened a month or so ago, and I'd pretty much forgotten all about it. Imagine my surprise yesterday when I finally found the thing all the way across the room underneath the register. How the heck did it get all the way over there?

I picked the little bugger up and thought to myself, I'm gonna make a felt needle book and never search for this needle again!

So this afternoon, I whipped one up.

There. That'll learn 'em.

Penny rug for your thoughts.

Well, wow. Been a while, eh?

Let's see if I can't get back into this thing. We'll start out nice and easy: my latest craft project.

Penny rugs.

What's a penny rug? A penny rug is a decorative mat made from stacked felt circles sewn together with a blanket stitch. They were most popular in the Victorian era as thrifty homemakers would save scraps of wool and create something new. Coins were used as templates, which is where the penny rug gets its name. They were used to adorn tables, stands, and mantles - they never touched the floor.

I learned about penny rugs from a crafty lady while visiting my parents last week. I think they're the bee's knees and immediately set my mind on making one. Here's the result!

And here it is in action on the coffee table!

I had so much fun I decided to make another one this weekend. Haven't decided where it'll end up yet, though!

This is such a great craft project. It's easy, cheap, and fun. What else can a Smelanie ask for?

And there you have it. My latest craftings. I've got lots more stuff from the past few months to share... now to get my butt in gear and actually post them. Stay tuned!

Want more finger puppets?

You've come to the right place!

YAY!!

NOM NOM NOM

B and I spent this past Friday evening in the kitchen, baking cinnamon rolls.

I've attempted cinnamon rolls a time or two already this winter. They turned out okay. Have I mentioned that a kinda suck at baking?

The first batch (my first attempt ever!) didn't look anything like cinnamon rolls. The dough was too soft and the ends squished together when I cut them. So I had to bake them on their side. The icing I made was more like a glaze, and just melted right off. They actually tasted pretty good - they just weren't pretty. Needless to say, I didn't bother with pictures.

Attempt #2 yielded slightly better results, but still far from perfect. Half of the dough was cinnamoned and rolled up and baking in the oven when I realized I forgot the f*ckin egg! F*CK! I ended up baking the eggless rolls, and mixing an egg into the second half of the dough. They looked pretty enough, but didn't taste as good as the uglies I baked up the first time. And I messed up the icing again. D'oh!

Typing it all out, I guess up until Friday night this whole baking cinnamon rolls thing has been quite the racket. Well it's a good thing I'm not one to give up easily. Attempt #3 was a whole 'nother story. The rolls turned out great. Better than great. They were mind-blowingly, earth-shatteringly, pants-shittingly delicious!

Luckily for me, I've married a man who can bake.

See? DELICIOUS.

We had heaps of fun, and both decided we need to bake goodies together more often. I'll be sure to post the results!

*drools*

DELICIOUS CINNAMON ROLLS
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
3 1/4 cups of flour

Mix in order given. Roll out on floured board. Spread with butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar. Roll up like a jelly roll, slice and bake. Bake in 350F oven until golden brown, about 20 mins.

ICING
3 tbsp butter or margarine
2 cups icing sugar
1/8 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

Beat butter, 1 cup icing sugar, and salt together thoroughly until light and fluffy. Use mixer at medium speed or beat by hand. Add remaining cup of sugar and milk alternately, beating until very smooth. Add vanilla. Drop by tbsp on top of cinnamon rolls while still warm.

Frankenfinger.

ARRRGHHRAH!

I'm done with Winter. Finished. Screw the snow. To hell with the freezing cold.

It's official.

I'm ready for Spring.

Sadly, this Winter thing will surely hang on for another month or two at least... What the hell is up with that, anyway? Stupid winter.


Now that that's out of the way, let's get down to business. May I present to you my latest Salvation Army Thrift Store find:

Hell yeah!

I certainly didn't need another basket - I've managed to amass an impressive pile over the past while - but I just couldn't leave this one behind. There's something about it that reminds me very much of an old square basket my parents had when I was a kid. It's a little strange, but I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's made from the same material. Looks like corn plant leaves to me.

So anyway, I love it. I got it home and decided it would be the perfect spot for the embroidery floss and felt I purchased at Michael's craft store last weekend. Much better than the Michael's bag I had been storing it in up until today!

It's perfect. I'm so pleased!

So I might as well explain the felt and embroidery floss. It has been what's got me occupied on the crafting front for the last little bit, after all.

I decided to go into Michael's over the weekend, and look around at what they have. I love that store. It's one of my favourites. I ended up waltzing out with a bunch of felt sheets and a huge pack of embroidery floss. Why? I don't know. I don't even know how to sew. I mean, I know the very basics... I can sew on a button. I can sew a straight line. But that, friends, is about the extent of it.

Since I had all of this felt and embroidery floss, I figured it was time I learned a few different stitches. I figured a simple, easy, fun way to do it would be to make crazy-looking finger puppets. So that's what I've been doing!

It's been a lot of fun!

Smelanie and the Beanstalk.

Remember the bean I planted in a jar of dirt a few weeks ago just for fun? The thing has been sitting on the window sill in the kitchen and is still (miraculously) alive and well. In fact, feast your eyes on what I noticed just yesterday...

A little baby bean! I almost shit my pants!!

There's a dryer in our living room.

It's pushed back into a corner, kind of out of the way. But it's still in the living room, and it's a little bit foolish.

Now don't get me wrong... I love having our very own washer and dryer. For the first time in 10 years we don't have to pay to wash our clothes, and it is a fucking luxury and I love it.

So I totally accept the location. I mean honestly, I'd rather have to sleep on top of the damn thing every night than have to go to a laundromat. No lie!

When we moved in, I hung a picture up on a nail above the dryer. It's a weird charcoal sketch we got at a garage sale years ago for a couple bucks.

What with all the "nest feathering" I've been doing lately, it was only a matter of time before I got thinking I wanted something different above the dryer. Maybe something with more colour. I picked up a canvas for really cheap at a discount store, and got busy this past weekend.

Here's what I ended up with...

I do like the red, but all in all I think it's a bit of a miss! I want something bigger. Maybe even a shelf? I'm not quite sure yet. It's definitely going to take some more thought...

I like how it turned out, but I think it's more appropriate for the bedroom wall actually. I'm thinking that's probably where it will end up. Here's a close-up...

I wanted to try something a little different, so I ripped up and painted some sheet music and glued it to the canvas. Ta da.

If I come up with something I like better for the space above the dryer, I'll be sure to post 'er up. So relax. And stay tuned!

So have you heard...

... that I love thrift stores? Jebus. It's all I've been writing about lately! And so it continues. I went to Value Village earlier today and found quite the gem.

It's been a long-assed time since I went to Value Village. Not since the summer. I'm not sure why, really... I just never think of it. Well, I thought of it last night, for whatever reason, and decided I'd take a run in today and look around at their shit. I've been having really good luck at the Salvation Army Thrift Store lately, so I figured what the hell.

It must have been fate. I struck gold, my friends... in the shape of a gloriously ugly, HUGE, macrame owl!

Allow me to introduce you.

Surely you're all as excited about this as I am.

He makes it official. I collect macrame owls.

I had found 2 owls more than a year ago, on separate occasions, at my dearly beloved charity garage sale. But two isn't really a collection, is it? A third of anything is key. I've been watching out for that crucial third for months and months. Nothing. I really wanted to boast a macrame owl collection, and I was starting to think it would never happen...

So here we are. Thanks, Value Village. I have a macrame owl collection! Boo yeah!

Here's a pic of the three stooges in action...

:)

Speaking of nice finds...

I recently decided that I was fed-up with the cushions that came with our love seat. They were huge and misshapen and ugly as sin- and not in the good way, either. I decided I needed to spice things up a little bit. With a WalMart gift card I got for Christmas in tow, I headed out on the hunt.

Well, I was pretty much horrified at the price of cushions there. The very cheapest ones they had were 10 bucks. Which doesn't sound like much at all, sure. But you have to keep in mind just how cheap I am. I am one cheap bastard. Though I prefer to call it "thrify"...

I am one thrify bastard. It wasn't even that the money would be coming out of my own pocket. I had a gift card, man!

But see, I didn't like any of the cushions they had there all that much anyway. They were bland and boring and totally not what I had in mind. It simply wasn't meant to be. I ended up picking up a wine-coloured throw for the couch instead. But I still needed some cushions.

Looked like a job for... you guessed it... the Salvation Army Thrift Store! So off I went.

And look at what I found.

99 cents baby. 99 glorious cents.

I went back a week later and found another one for the same price!

Look at those tassels! Gotta love 'em!

So... it looks like I've started a new collection of funky, ugly (in the good way) couch cushions. I'll be keeping my eyes pealed for more great finds...


Action shot!!


:)

New found appreciation.

I've really come to appreciate my local Salvation Army Thrift Store as of late. Good thing too, what with the demise of my favourite charity garage sale. It's definitely looking like the next best thing.

I picked up a couple of picture frames last night. So I promptly had to come up with something to put in them. Naturally! It's looking like the re-decorated wall is a work-in-progress...


I took a piece of black felt and glued a dried flower onto it. Easy as pie.


This one should look familiar...


Nice finds, huh? The Salvation Army Thrift Store: Gotta love it!!

Whipped this up yesterday.

We decided to re-arrange our living room furniture a couple of weekends ago. We'd had the same basic set-up in here since we moved in. The room is VERY small and I wasn't particularly crazy about the layout we had settled on in the first place. It was time for a change.

I don't really have a good "before" shot. Rest assured, it's friggin' different. I like it. It opened up the space quite a little bit... as well as an entire wall, which suddenly needed re-decorating.

Here's what the wall looked like after we re-arranged the furniture, very poorly lit...

And here's what it looks like now, also poorly lit!

That's "Three's Company" on tv, btw. :)

What I really like about this little project, is that I whipped it up in about an hour, with stuff I already had. I'm happy with what I ended up with. What's not to like about that?!

Here's a slightly better lit close-up, highlighting just how badly the walls need to be re-painted...

I've had the three largest framed pictures hanging separately in other locations for quite a while. I got the two smaller frames at thrift stores months ago, but couldn't think of anything to do with them. Until I decided to whip this up yesterday.

This one didn't have a back or glass. It was just a frame. So I made backing out of a piece of cardboard, and covered it with some wine-coloured fabric . Then I stuck on some dried flowers with Modge Podge. Love that Modge Podge!!

For this one, I cut out a sunset from the calender I had up in the kitchen last year (I save everything, people!), and glued on some dried leaves. Simple has that.


The End.

Banana bread!

Have I mentioned that I kinda suck at baking?

Well, I kinda suck at baking... particularly baking from scratch.

I guess it's probably because it's just something I've never done a whole pile of. And practice does make perfect, after all.

So imagine my surprise when I decided to bake a loaf of banana bread yesterday and it actually turned out GREAT! My first time trying! I'm really proud!!


So yummy. Whoda thunk banana bread is such a snap to whip up? Here's the recipe... (thanks Mum!!)


AWESOME BANANA BREAD ANY IDIOT CAN MAKE

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups mashed, ripe bananas

HERE'S WHAT YOU DO:

• Preheat oven to 350°
• Grease a 9X5X3" pan
• In a large bowl, sift together dry ingredients
• In a separate bowl, mix together wet ingredients
  
• Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix for 1 min until uniform. Batter will be lumpy
• Put in a pan and bake for 65-70 mins until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean

Easy as shit, huh?! Enjoy!! :D

Some math.

Empty olive oil bottle + Dollarama acrylic paints + a little imagination =


Hoorah! :)

Xmas gifts for the siblings.

I kinda got off-track with posting the gifts I crafted for Christmas this year, didn't I?

Along with a purchased African mask wall hanging, I gave my brother a journal I modified...

I won't bother explaining the meaning... surely it still won't make a lick of sense to anyone outside of the immediate family. It's just an inside joke from when we were kids.

I bought a notebook from the Dollar Store, and painted the cover. I printed off a black-and-white Popeye, transferred the outline to a piece of light cardboard, and painted it. Glued him on. Printed off the words, and glued them on too. I covered the whole thing with packing tape to protect it.

I made a pocket out of scrap paper on the inside cover too.

I'm happy with how it turned out. It really made my brother giggle. Besides the Dollar Store journal, I used materials I already had for this gift.... gotta love that!


Now. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of the tree ornaments I made for my sister and her partner. A real shame. Remember the Beetlejuice animated series? I made Christmas tree ornaments out of various materials and painted Beetlejuice and Lydia on them. They are kinda neat.

I also painted them a picture on a big canvas I've had lying around forever.

Yep, that's an electrical tape frame. I decided to try something a little different. They really liked it!

Woo hoo!!

I kill house plants.

It's sad, but true. I kill house plants. The poor things never seem to last more than a few months. It's a desperate state of affairs, really.

What's my problem? I'd love to know, too. I always feel really iffy about the watering situation... when to water, how much to water, how often... that kinda stuff. Maybe I water them too much? I don't fuckin' know.

Remember this post from a couple of months ago? Yeah. Except for the African Violet (bless its little heart), all of those plants are dead now.

I may kill house plants, but dammit, I'm determined too. I love having plants around and I'll get this house planting thing down pat sooner or later! I guess it's just gonna take some practice...

Allow me to introduce you to my current crop:

Remember my first Aloe Vera? I over watered it long ago, and the roots rotted off. So this is take two. Bruce gave it to me for my birthday, and to be honest I'm surprised the thing is still alive at all. It's a monster, and top heavy, and it's been knocked over about a million times already. Hopefully it will end up beating the odds anyway... I love Aloe Vera plants!!

A Spider Plant! Isn't it a beauty? My Mum gave it to me when I was home visiting for Christmas. I love this plant, and I hope I don't kill it. I've watered it once since I had it home, and made a note of the watering on the calender. I'm serious this time, boys.

There's the African Violet too, but I wont bother posting a picture of that. It's kinda sad looking. Clinging desperately to life, really...

And oh! I planted a bean in a jar a couple weeks ago. Just for fun. :)


So that's my current greenery. How long will they last? Stay tuned! (and wish me luck!!)

2 days, 2 necklaces. Score.

Well, I replaced the clasp on my sea shell necklace and made it a little longer. Done. Since I had all my beads and stuff out, I decided to whip another little something up...

Hemp!! I'm VERY new to this. It's actually the first piece of hemp jewelry I've completed. My younger brother gave me a roll of hemp twine and some wooden beads for Christmas. And taught me how to work it. Awesome gift!

I'm pretty happy with the result. This is certainly the kind of thing I'll get better at the more I craft and experiment. I see many more pieces of hemp jewelry in my near future...

Mandatory modeling shot:

Woohoo! :)

Some bad news.

I got some bad news earlier today. Brace yourself.

My dearly beloved charity garage sale is shutting down for good in a couple of weeks.

Shutting down for good.

Ack!!! The faithful reader just might understand how utterly devastated I am by this news. I love that garage sale. I've picked up all kinds of wonderful gems there over the past year and a half. I... I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do without it!

So upon hearing this bad news earlier today I decided I need a little cheering up. I decided to craft myself a new necklace.

I've been wanting to make this sea shell I picked up off the beach last summer into a necklace since, well, I picked it up off the beach last summer!

Yep. It came that way, little hole 'n all. How perfect is that?!

Here's what I ended up with.

Wheeee! There it is alright! I'm pleased with the result. After modeling it for the photo I realized that the clasp has a space so I'll be replacing it in a bit. I think I'll be making the necklace a little bit longer when I do...

But anyway, yeah. I got the job done. I soon forgot about my poor, beloved charity garage sale destined to end all too soon. 'Course now I'm thinking about it again... sniffles...

We'll DEFINITELY be taking a trip in there this weekend to look around. I'll post any findings!