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.