Warm Winter Wishes from the Farmhouse OFG

The OFG team, (Old Farmhouse Gathering) is kicking off it's Warm Winter Wishes Celebration today!  Wonderful things made by wonderful people!

If you swing by Etsy and put WWHOFG in the search box , you will see all the wonderful things made especially for this celebration.  Bring something wonderful to your home for the season!

The Great State of Minnesota

I got this cutie in an email today....I'm afraid that I cannot honor the original writer, but it's too cute not to share!  If anyone does know the author, I'd be more than happy to share that knowledge with everyone :o)

Just in case ya didn't know...

Minnesota became the 32nd state on May 11, 1858 and was originally settled by a lost tribe of Norwegians seeking refuge from the searing heat of Wisconsin 's winters.

 

Minnesota gets it's name from the Sioux Indian word "mah-nee-soo-tah," meaning, "No, really...  They eat fish soaked in lye."

 

The state song of Minnesota is "Someday the Vikings will...  Aw, never mind."

 

The Mall of America in Bloomington , Minnesota covers 9.5 million square feet and has enough space to hold 185,000 idiot teenagers yapping away on cell phones.

 

Madison, Minnesota is known as "the lutefisk capital of the world." Avoid this city at all costs.

 

"The Mary Tyler Moore Show"  was set in Minneapolis , Minnesota , and was Mary's first real acting job since leaving the "Dick van Dyke Show.  The show about a single woman's struggle to find happiness in the big city was originally titled "Life Without Dick," but that was changed for some reason.

 

Downtown Minneapolis has an enclosed skyway system covering 52 blocks, allowing people to live, work, eat, and sleep without ever going outside.  The only downside to this is that a Norwegian occasionally turns up missing.

 

Cartoonist Charles M. Shultz was born in Minneapolis , Minnesota and grew up in St.  Paul.  He was the only artist to accurately depict the perfectly circular heads of Minnesota natives.

 

The Hormel Company of Austin , Minnesota produces 6 million cans of Spam a year, even though no one actually eats it.  Spam is a prized food in Japan & Hawaii--Spam sushi!!

 

 

Frank C. Mars, founder of the Mars Candy Co. was born in Newport, Minnesota . His 3 Musketeers candy bar originally contained three bars in one wrapper, each filled with a different flavor of nougat -chocolate, Spam and lutefisk.

 

Tonka trucks continue to be manufactured in Minnetonka, Minnesota, despite the thousands of GI Joe dolls killed by them annually in rollover accidents.  No airbags, no seat belts.  These things are deathtraps, I tell ya!

 

Author Laura Ingalls Wilder was raised at Walnut Grove, Minnesota, and was famous for writing the "Little House" series of books, as well as inventing the "Spam diet" which consists of looking at a plate of Spam until you lose your appetite.  Much like the "lutefisk diet"

 

The snowmobile was invented in Roseau , Minnesota so as to allow families a means of attending 4th of July picnics

 

Minnesotans are almost indistinguishable from Wisconsinites.  The only way to tell them apart is to ask if they voted for Mondale in '84.

 

 

Cold is a relative thing ya know....

 

At 65 degrees, Arizonans turn on the heat. People in Minnesota plant gardens. 
At 60, Californians shiver uncontrollably. People in Minnesota sunbathe. 
At 50, Italian & English cars won't start. People in Minnesota drive with the windows down.. 
At 40, Georgians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats. People in Minnesota throw on a flannel shirt. 
At 35, New York landlords finally turn up the heat. People in Minnesota have the last cookout before it gets cold. 
At 20, People in Miami all die. Minnesotans close their windows. 
At 0, Californians fly away to Mexico . People in Minnesota get out their winter coats. 
At 10 below zero, Hollywood disintegrates. The Girl Scouts in Minnesota are selling cookies door to door. 
At 20 below, Washington DC runs out of hot air. (Ya think? Nah.). People in Minnesota let their dogs sleep indoors. 
At 30 below, Santa Claus abandons the North Pole. Minnesotans get upset because they can't start the snowmobile. 
At 40 below, ALL atomic motion stops. People in Minnesota start saying..."Cold enough for ya, eh?" 
At 50 below, hell freezes over. Minnesota public schools will open 2 hours late.

                                                            

Studio: Inspiration?

Getting ready to take some product shots, and had to stop and smile at my little studio friends!!  Aren't they sweet?  The darling little black cat on the end is my Ralphy...a gift from the talented Theresia of StrawberriesandCream on Etsy.  

Hello!  This is a bit of a wider shot of what I look at when I sit on the craft side of my studio (the other side is for sewing, but it's so piled up with STUFF right now that I can't even look at it! lol)  I'm always inspired by all the little goodies in those drawers and containers.

~~ Imagine ~~

Lately I've been inspired by some wonderful old magazines and catalogs that I found while cleaning my studio (well, some might call it cleaning, or attempting to clean ...we'll just leave it at that! )!  I usually start cleaning and then find something cool and have to stop and create something with it!  You know, strike while the  iron is HOT!  (it's my excuse and I'm sticking with it).  Like this great line drawing of two people dancing that I found in an old 1914 issue of Modern Priscilla magazine and this scalloped chipboard.  Pretty cute, don't you think?

1914 Pattern for Girl's Frocks

AND these wonderful pattern illustrations were also found in that same magazine!!  OH MY GOSH I love these!   I mounted this to a black matboard and added some pretty punched sheet music borders.

Well, I guess I had better go and finish "cleaning".  *big silly grin*
Have fun with your crafting....be inspired ♥♥♥

Tipsy Tuesday

I had a request to share my Freezer Paper tips again...so here ya go!

Today I want to talk to you about one of my favorite craft room friends...freezer paper--which I will refer to as FP in this post (just cuz' I'm lazy!).

I use it A LOT in my crafting adventures and wanted to make sure that you all were aware of it's many charms!

What is it? It's a nice weight white paper that is coated with a thin layer of plastic on one side. Not to be confused with wax paper, which has wax on both sides. Sometimes it's a bit hard to find...but just go to your plastic wrap/tinfoil section and check the very bottom shelf and the uppermost top shelf...that's where I usually find it.

What is nice about the plastic side is that you can iron it onto many surfaces, and it just peels right off, slick as can be, when you are done using it! Another great thing is that it can be usually be used several times before the plastic wears off--so it's economical too!

Here are a few ways I use it in my everyday crafting:

1) Making templates

Just draw your pattern on the paper side of your FP (which you have traced or copied from another source..see tip #6) and iron it onto a piece of medium weight cardboard (cereal boxes work great for this)--cut out, and there you have a wonderful, reuseable template. Easy as pie.

You can also cut your freezer paper into regular sheet paper size and run it through your printer (making sure the printing is going to the paper side, not the shiny side) and this will enable you to get patterns from online into your hot little hands. It just saves a lot of tracing and re-drawing and gluing of patterns.

I haven't tried this yet, but you can also iron the FP to a piece of fabric that is cut into paper size and run it through the printer to print on fabric. I would think you would have to iron very carefully (no air bubbles) and make sure you don't have any loose threads.

2) Cutting things from FELT!

I think we all know how difficult it is to cut things from felt...trying to mark the patterns without distortion and even then to have to try and remove the markings when we are done cutting them out--this is perfect for this! Just draw all your patterns to the paper side of the FP and iron it onto your felt--cut out --and peel off the paper! You are left with perfect little pieces..Yeah!

Of course this would work well with fabric too--if you don't mind having raw edges on your project or if you will be satin stitching the edges...but this leads me to my next tip......

3) Making fabric appliques

Make FP pattern piece and iron it onto your applique fabric, cut out ***making sure to add a seam allowance all around for turning under***. Make little snips all around the seam allowance area of the applique (for turning curves and valleys) and turn your seam allowance to the back. I like to spray on some heavy starch before beginning this, as it helps to hold the fold nice and firm. When you are done turning under your seam allowance, just peel off your paper and you are ready to stitch your applique to your project!!

4) Freezer Paper Stencils
So, what if you don't want an applique, but want to paint or ink your design onto say, a t-shirt for example?? Well, FP works wonderfully for that too! Just trace your stencil onto the FP and cut out ---

AND here's a bonus tip for ya! I like to use an exacto knife to do this for smoother cutting lines, as working on interior cuts with scissors is a bit tricky, and this little gadget from Fiskars is the BOMB! It fits over your finger and you can really have great control over your cutting--Love it!
Then you just take your FP stencil and iron it onto your t-shirt or fabric or whatever and go ahead and apply your paint or ink--remove the paper and WaHLaH! Cute.

5) Stitching lines
I can't tell you how many little wallets I made with crooked flaps before I figured this one out! Make a template from FP of your projects stitching line and iron it onto your project--then just stitch along the line for perfect seams allowances! This is a great way to stitch smaller items and things that have to be perfectly even. And, like I said before, you can re-use these FP templates several times before they won't iron on any more--so this is actually a pretty economical material in the long run.

6) Tracing patterns!

This one is worth it's weight in gold. Really! Any pattern you trace can then be ironed onto your project. No more ruined fabric from mis-marking! You can also embroider or machine stitch right through the paper and remove it after you are done (Yeah, another bonus tip--dampen the paper with a damp washcloth before trying to remove it and it won't pull your stitches out of place!)

Oh, and how do you like my little light box?? I looked at so many expensive light boxes in the art stores and couldn't afford one. One day, while Christmas shopping for the kids, I ran across this Nickelodean one in the children's art section for a whopping $10! LOL And it works like a charm!

OK--that's it for today. I hope I was helpful to you and that you will give the freezer paper a shot, it's really a great help.

I would love to hear any helpful hints or tips you might have too. If you blog them or leave them here in a comment, I will share them next Tuesday.

Have a great day!

People say the nicest things.....

Julie of OakLeaf Hollow Primitives, the sweet gal who won my little birdy magnet giveaway, did up the nicest blogpost about her prize!! Stop by her blog and see! Then, make sure you click on over to her Etsy shop--she is a VERY talented painter and makes the cutest prim/country little painted items!!  She also has a very sweet VINTAGE shop...you may want to check that out as well, some really cute things in there!!

Thanks again, Julie, for that wonderful write--up...you really made my day!  ♥♥♥

Share the Love Tuesday Feature

Every Tuesday the On Fire for Handmade group features a fabulous artist on a little round of blogs--isn't that wonderful?!   This week features Seb Surer--absolutely gorgeous, you're gonna love it!

This weeks' Featured Artisan is Seb - Knit and Crochet Touches by Seb!

Beautiful and Delicate fashions for you! A Must have for every ladies closet!

You can find SebSurer on:

Etsy

Facebook

Blog

Twitter

Are you On Fire for Handmade?
http://www.onfireforhandmade.com

July goes out with a Cottage Bang!

Hi Friends!  Can't believe that July is almost over!  The Etsy Cottage Style group is having a Cottage Colors party and they asked us to share our Red, White, and Blue things as a good-bye to July!!  

Sounded like fun to me....so .... Here are some of mine:    

This is a little pincushion I made using a sweet old silver sugar pot.

Pretty Floral Quilted Table runner made with a vintage hanky, some real vintage feedsack, some repro vintage fabrics and some actual vintage fabrics...and, of course, some rick rack!!  

This a is a pretty birds bagkeeper (for keeping those plastic grocery bags) made from a really wonderful vintage linen calendar.  It was never used or washed so the colors are scrumptious!  

This little guy I call Retro Baby Blue.  He is a small little guy in size, but big in personality!!  

Sometimes the blues at the cottage tend to lean a little to the aqua side!!  Here's a sweet little drawstring bag with a cute bird and some....wait for it.....RICK RACK! 

Well, that's enough!  Thanks for looking, stop by my shop and see what's "new" and what's "old"  and what's "new from old"!

OH!!  and I have some exciting news, I'm actually in the process of cleaning my studio (someone get the smelling salts!)  lol and I've opened a new shop on Etsy to sell off some of the goodies I'm running across!  They are Extra and they are Good-they're ExtraGoods!  

Who Gets the Birdy??

Well, drumroll please!   Time to draw for the little magnet--I know it's not a big deal, but they look cute on your fridge and they're made with love ♥♥♥




The randomizer has picked #5 -- wait here a minute while I go and see who that is!

....and the winner is.....

Oakleaf Hollow Primitives said...

They are ALL lovely, Karen! If I must pick one, it'd be the sweet little aqua one in the middle. Your birdies are awesome!
Thanks!
~julie~

Congrats to you Julie!!  I'll send along that little aqua one in the middle, hope it makes you smile!

Thanks to all who played along, it's always such fun to have these little drawings.  Just for you special friends, I am offering a coupon for FREE SHIPPING in my shop---just use the coupon code  THANKSABUNCH at checkout and it will magically erase the shipping costs for you!  Hugs and smoooshes!  

A Giveaway! Which Do You Like?

Which Do You Like?, a photo by misseskwittys on Flickr.

I did up a series of these little original art collage magnets and thought it would be fun to give one away---it's been a while since I had a giveaway and I always enjoy them so much!

All you have to do is tell me which of these is your favorite and I'll throw your name in the hat!

I'll pick a name on July 15th, in the evening some time, and the winner will get a magnet. If I still have the one you pick, I'll send that one, if not, it will have to be a different one.

These are for sale in my shop, so if you see one you just have to have, well--you know what to do! lol

Good luck!!

Busy Times in Life

I've decided to stop apologizing every time I finally get around to posting here!  LOL  (sorry)  Life is busy---it's that way for most everyone. 

We have another high school graduate in our family, Linds graduated and we are in the process of trying to get the house and yard straightened up for the "big Grad party"!  OMGosh, I have totally let things slide while dealing with my health junk over the last couple years and this is no small feat. 

 My darling sis-in-law's--Anita and Micki--have come to my rescue and are giving my yard a makeover.  I cannot believe the magic they are working out there.  I'm so grateful!!!  I'll share pictures once they are finished. 

Joe started college at the beginning of June.  The college he is going to is only a couple miles away from our home, so we still have him here (I'm so glad!).

I haven't done a whole lot of crafting lately, but have managed to make a few cute things! 

This is a pretty collaged key safe---there are 10 hooks inside for keeping all those extra keys organized. 


And this is just a sweet little greeting card.

Totally annoying how the picture management on these blogs are now---what a pain in the rump!  Is there a trick to this that I haven't figured out yet?  It's really taking all the fun out of blogging.

Summer Cottage Garden

Got some pretty new papers in beautiful summery cottage garden prints....Yummy!   I decided to dress up this mail rack that I've had sitting around here for a long time (yes, still in the box!).  I think it went from boring plain wood to cottage home decor FABULOUS!

Had to make some little birds from the extra paper---sweet !!  I'm pretty certain these would bring a smile!

The Look of Love

I have a dear online friend who is an angel for cats who are down on their luck.

the look of love, a photo by beeblecat - (working) on Flickr.

This photo sure does speak a thousand words!!  Here's the caption from this sweet picture that I "borrowed" from Beeblecat's Flickr stream (with her permission of course)featuring a little kitten and Beeblecat's hubby:

"This meezer kitten showed up in our driveway Sat. She was very hard to catch but I finally caught her by the tail. After bandaging my finger and cleaning up the blood (mine), I went next door to see if she might belong to the neighbors. They told me they'd seen her hanging around for couple of days but couldn't catch her. Jim fixed her up with a cardboard box in one of our mobile cages and she hid for the better part of the day. Finally after a lot of coaxing she began to purr loudly and came out of the box. She was covered with fleas and her little ear had tiny seed ticks all over it. She's very sweet and loves to play.
We really need to find her a home. We have too many cats and can't afford a kitten."

*****I'd just like to add that, judging from the rest of her Flickr stream, they did in fact keep her, named her Olivia, and are loving her up!! Lucky kitty!*******

I have a dear online friend who is an angel for cats who are down on their luck. Her online name is Beeblecat, and she and her husband run a cat sanctuary. They could use some help with funding, as expenses come from their own pockets, so Beeblecat sells little ACEOs and magnets in her Etsy shop to help cover costs. They are so cute and really reasonably priced, and for such a good cause.

                                                                      Little Olivia
All I'm asking is that you to stop by her shop and see if any of her cute pictures melt your heart like they did mine. It really revives your faith in human beings when you know some who are so self-less and do such wonderful things. God bless you guys!!

Sissy

FABULOUS Giveaway!

The Old Farmhouse Gathering team is having an unbelievable giveaway---you MUST check out the Slideshow--one winner will get ALL of the prizes shown!!  Wow.  Just Wow.

RUN---don't walk (lol) over to the OFG Blog and get your name in the hat!! 

....and the Winner Is.....

Time to announce the winner of my drawing for the Pretty Points bag.....

***drumroll please***

We had 38 entries, but the Sweet Junie Moon just wanted to celebrate my hair, and not be included in the drawing.  The lucky number is # 14 ...which means..... Mimi's darlins is the winner!! 

"mimi'sdarlins said...
Oh, this little bag is just so sweet, you always make the most charming things....and it looks like it belongs in my sewing room! These are the kinds of things I love to collect.
I'm so happy that you're getting your eyebrows and lashes back... and your beautiful hair.
You can reach me by Flickr mail, of course :-)"


So, I'm off to Flickr to let her know! 

Many thanks to all who entered and those who left their sweet, funny, encouraging messages, I appreciate them all!!

Oh, p.s.  I made up an extra bag that is listed in my shop, in case you really wanted one!  :o)

Go Fly A Kite!

Found these fellas sitting down on my workbench this morning just waiting for me to find them something to do!!......

What??, a photo by misseskwittys on Flickr.

I told them to  Go Fly a Kite!!

Eyes on You

Have you ever been working on your crafts and then suddenly felt like someone was looking at you??

Lol.  A little fun down in the studio!

Pretty Points Bag Giveaway Reminder

Pretty Points Bag a photo by misseskwittys on Flickr.

Just a reminder that the GIVEAWAY for this bag is still going on....sign up on the posting HERE.

Pretty Prims from the SECOFG

In honor of the Spring/Easter Celebration of the Old Farmhouse Gathering (SECOFG) I've done up a couple of wonderful treasuries over on Etsy.  Here is my latest one featuring Pretty Prims for Spring.

'Pretty Prims for Spring' by misseskwittys

Fresh and pretty prims -- by the creative hands and hearts of the OFG team.

Blackened Beeswax B... TeresasPrimTre... $21.95	Bloom Where You are... PunkinSeedProd... $30.00	Hand Stitched Easte... valleyprimitiv... $9.50
Spring Farmhouse Ea... SweetLibertyPr... $8.00	Primitive Country R... primitiveseaso... $12.00	Lil' Bunny YorkiesPrimiti... $5.00
Hand Stitched "... harvestmoonpri... $24.95	Felt Spring Embroid... primitiveseaso... $4.50	Primitive Country E... KeepsakeKorner $24.95
Primitive Grungy Pa... VintageKeepsak... $25.00	Girly Floral Door H... primitiveseaso... $3.00	Primitive Easter St... wvluckygirl $13.49
Handcrafted Sign VI... oldecountrycup... $21.00	Handpainted Terra C... oldecountrycup... $10.00	Bird's Nest, Fr... HandmadeByBett... $17.50
HerMan anD PeTuNia ... catnapinnprimi... $24.95

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com A/B image testing.

Clicking the pictures will take you there!

Don't forget to scroll down to my Giveaway post (written on March 8th) and get in the drawing for a pretty handmade bag!!