Eskies in Trouble

For those of you who don't know what an Eskie is, this is an Eskie:

A rather dirty one, at that. Meet Max, my American Eskimo. I just read a horrifying news story about a puppy mill rescue in Kennewick, Washington. There were 371 dogs living in a cess pool of a yard; some kept in shopping carts and other makeshift cages. It took an enormous amount of effort to get volunteers to the site and get the dogs out of there safely. I wish I could individually thank every person involved. It was a herioc effort.

The dogs are in bad condition but will put up for adoption once they are cleaned up and treated. Eskimos are lively and energetic; these rescues could use a happy ending (filled with life outside of a cage) for anyone interesting in adoption. For a list of shelters taking the dogs, check tricityherald.com and The Humane Society of the United States' website at humanesociety. org. Nancy

Here's a sneak peek at my yet-to-be-assembled Kusudama:
The lighter pink paper is standard origami paper measuring 7.5m square. I used K & Company's scrapbooking paper from the Urban Rhapsody collection for the red flowers. The scrapbook paper is a bit more difficult to work with but I really like the pattern.

I should have one completed soon.

Felt Flowers

I was inspired by Teesha Moore’s post Felt Thingies and decided to make my own random felt thingies. Kelly was gone one Saturday and it was dreary outside so it seemed like a good time to play with felt. A couple of years ago I bought a HUGE bag of felt at Nifty Gifty, a tiny local thrift shop. It cost a buck or two for the whole bag; well within my miserly price range. After all, why on earth would you turn down a huge $2 bag of felt even if you have no idea what to do with it? So I carted home about 100 sheets of felt and it’s been sitting in the closet eagerly awaiting inspiration.

Mind you, it’s not wool felt. I’ve discovered there is a huge difference between the cheap craft felt and real wool felt. I purchased the wool stuff to make the ill-fated Hedgehogs . There is no comparison in quality. Wool costs a lot more (about $7 per half yard) but it cuts so much cleaner and is “meatier”. That’s a vague term for heft and weight, which wool felt has in good measure. However, I used the cheap stuff for this project because I have so much in so many colors. Here’s the result:
I’m itching try out different designs – maybe something more geometric and less flowery? I’m not sure what to do with them but I’m willing to take suggestions. Anyone have any ideas?

Kusudama

I'm making these Kusudama right now. I'm having so much fun creating these. I have all the individual flowers lined up on my craft table. I haven't tried putting them together yet, we'll see how that goes.

Here is the Wiki definition of Kusudama:

The Japanese kusudama (薬玉; lit. medicine ball) is a paper model that is usually (although not always) created by sewing multiple identical pyramidal units (usually stylized flowers folded from square paper) together through their points to form a spherical shape. Alternately the individual components may be glued together. Occasionally, a tassel is attached to the bottom for decoration.

I'll be gluing mine, although sewing does sound intriguing (and less messy). The glue I have is a pain to use.

If you are a paper lover please visit Folding Trees (see photo above). They have loads of great tutorials. I wish I could spend all day making paper things. Nancy

Tomato Umbrellas, and other ghetto-fabulous crafts

What happens to people who get impatient and buy their tomato starts early? Then get more impatient and plant them early? They get resourceful, that's what. (By the way, we got a smokin' hot deal on the tomatoes so we don't regret that one bit, no sir.) I give you...Tomato Umbrellas! One part upside-down tomato cage, one part clear trash bag, three parts patriotic upside-down beer can (many thanks to the Pabst Blue Ribbon Brewing Company), and voila! you have your tomatoes guarded against the we-can't-decide-whether-to-get-warm-and/or-ever-stop-raining elements of Southern Oregon. And of course, they go very well with the ghetto-fabulous bird feeder that many of you may remember from a few months ago:
It's still goin' strong! And confounding squirrels to boot. Who says crafts have to look good?