on the 2nd day of joyfulness...

dottie angel shared with me

happy hangers of joyfulness

(skill level : easy peasy lemon squeezy)

ah yes, there will be quite a lot of dingly dangly and clustering going on over the next few days, for i do like myself some dingly dangly clustery goodness. this little 'how-to' is as easy peasy as 1,2,3, yes sometimes those are the besty type of all

i do think 'small beings' would greatly enjoy making them. especially if they have taken time to make their own handmade decorations, this would be the perfect way to display their 'joyful' handiwork, perhaps pinned above their beds so they may gaze upon their happy hanger before falling asleep.

ingredients:

* a wooden hanger

(or one who happens to have a coat of crochet)

* fabric strips in happy colours

* bit of lace

* mod podge or needle and thread

* dingly dangly ornaments from your gleeful box

(or handmade lovelies made by 'small beings')

recipe:

1. take your wooden hanger and with strips of fabric start wrapping around the wood. you can keep things in place by using a bit of mod podge on the ends of your strips, or you can use a needle and thread to do a few quick stitches. add a bit of lace to the proceedings, if you so feel inclined.

 if your wooden hanger has a coat of crochet already, you may wish to wrap a bit of fabric around its metal hook, this is easily secured with a knot around the base of the hook

2. start dingly danglying ornaments from your box of glee, you may have to think about balance here, no good hanging a very giant dingly dangly on one side unless you have another to balance it out. this way your hanger will stay straight and things won't fall off one end the moment you hang it up.

3. once your hanger is filled with joyful ornaments, take a look around your nest for a lonely bit of wall, put a pin in it and hang your little hanger of joy, step back, decide if it needs a friend, if so keep on making more.

and voila! easy peasy lemon squeezy

inspiration : 

from a love of covered wooden hangers and needing an excuse to pin them to the wall

day 3 of joyfulness coming monday ~ Tif 

on the 1st day of joyfulness...

dottie angel shared with me

a 'terribly nice' table runner

(skill level : medium peasy plus a little bit)

gosh how i love the english language, how can something be terribly nice ?! it is the same as saying 'horribly lovely', however it is most fitting for our 1st day of joyfulness, for 'terribly nice' sounds so proper and there is nothing quite so proper than a table runner. i did not think i was the table runner sort, however an old english church pew has come to live with us and i do not think one can have a church pew without having a table runner. 

(slippery slope Tif, slippery slope)

now before we begin may i just say several things. 

first thing: 

i forgot some ingredients yesterday, please add to your list * cushion pad * yarn * decorative stickers ... it is highly likely i have forgotten other bits and bobs but it will surely be in your boxes of glee and stashes of crafty goodness. also i forgot to mention in the course of the '12 days of joyfulness' you may indeed see some dodgy artificial lite photos, even a bit of blurriness here and there. (gasp, shock and a bit of horror) yes indeedy, due to the time of year and the time of day (or night) i have been beavering away, i have left my fretting ways behind and relied upon artificial lighting, and by doing so, it all became far more joyful to work on.

second thing: 

today's 'how-to' is the most tricky dicky one of all, the rest i promise will not take as long nor require quite so much thought. i have offered this for day one not to make you fret and pack up your box of glee, muttering and weeping, but because i wish you to have more time to work on it. also more to the point, it is the getting started bit that takes the longest, once you are on the right track and know where you are going it will become most joyful i assure you

third thing:

my table runner is tres lacey, i do understand lace is not every ones cup of tea, so before you think about this not being for you and your craftiness, think about swapping out the lace for pieces of fabric which would be most spiffy me thinks

so with all that being said, here we go...

ingredients:

* several old lace table runners, an old net curtain or a length of linen if you prefer

* embroidery floss

* old napkins and other embroidered pieces which can be cut up

* lengths of narrow lace, ribbon or ric rac (trimmings basically)

* a trusty sewing machine and thread in different colours

* pins and scissors 

* a joyful disposition

recipe:

* start by figuring out the rough length you wish your 'terribly nice' runner to be. you may wish to make it so long it drapes over the edges of your table, you may wish to make it so wide it runs all the way to the sides. if this is the case, really i think you are now working on a 'terribly nice' table cloth, which is 'a-okay' with me, but may take you till next gleeful season to finish. 

* once you have figured the size out, you are going to make your bottom layer (a bit wider than the size you wish for), by laying out overlapping lengths old lace table runners, pieces of a net curtain, and wide strips of lace or indeed just one piece of linen. do not be fretting about 'even ends' to your table runner nor fraying edges. once happy, pin in place and with the help of your trusty sewing machine stitch the pieces together with self coloured thread

* now the base of your table runner has been constructed we are going to be applying some nice layers of patched pieces 'a top'. this is where you will have to be brave and just start chopping and seeing where it leads you. place your chopped pieces down on your bottom layer and rearrange into a pleasing order and pin. stand back and ponder, if you are happy then start stitching them down with your trusty machine, this time you may wish to use some coloured thread. you may also wish to add some more layers of lace on this layer.

* the next layer is the detail layer, you may wish to add little doilies or embroidered pieces to certain sparse areas, also lengths of lace, embroidered ribbon or ric rac even. just keep on patching and piecing, always stepping back to ponder and see the 'whole picture'. continue stitching in place and layering as and where you please (remember it is about what you like and not worrying about what others may think). do not get caught up in trying to make everything straight and even, if you step back and see you stitched something down and no longer like it, then patch over it with something you do like.

* now to the 'cherry on the cake' bit. taking some happy coloured embroidery thread add a bit of hand stitched detailing. perhaps a row of cross stitching, a little bit of running stitch or even our beloved french knots. does not have to be fancy, just a bit of decoration 'tis all.

* if you wish to make this more suited to the season than mine, i would suggest appliqueing some appropriate wording like 'JOY' or 'PEACE' to your 'terribly nice' table runner, if not then hoppity skip this step

* the final step is to fold under the two longest sides of your runner and pin. then add a length of trimming or lace along the shorter ends (once again pin in place). with your trusty sewing machine, stitch around the whole outside edge of the runner. by the time you have done this and with all the layers built up and stitched in place, your spiffy 'terribly nice' table runner will have a 'quilted' effect

* place your table runner upon your table. perhaps add a few tea lights to its spiffiness, for that added bit of sparkliness. wait for admiring comments from your clan, do not tolerate those that push it aside so their laptop will fit better on the table. then again perhaps you should... better pushed aside, than find a laptop upon those peachy french knots

inspiration:

a church pew

(a slippery slope)

she'll be back with the 2nd day of joyfulness on sunday ~ Tif 

crafty joyful gleeful mojo...

every year the gleeful season comes around and i am gripped... 

gripped by my love of this season and gripped by the fear of having lost my crafty joyful gleeful mojo.

i like to think i am not alone in this gripping state i find myself in. once the mixed feeling of love and fear has got me in its grip i spend several days in a blur, a blur of blankness, where my crafty cogs won't turn and my crafty senses all but abandon me. upon which i climb the ladder to our attic space, bring down my box of gleeful goodness and usually within the piles of joy, i find my crafty joyful gleeful mojo waiting patiently for me.

however this year, upon opening up my little gleeful box, and doing a bit of a frantic dig around, i could not find my little mojo. alas and alack, i had misplaced him, for he was nowhere to be found. i wandered aimlessly from shed room to shed room, mourning my lost gleeful mojo. 

"oh where for art thou little mojo of gleefulness?" i weeped.

i shared my woefulness with my lads of three, who stared back blankly at me. 

i shared my fretfulness with Used Dog (in her cone of shame) and Little Olive, 

who did not stare back blankly but offered some very practical and sound advice as only critters can do. they told me to not fret at the missing mojo, to do what one can only do at such times as these. to pull up my joyful gleeful crafty knee socks, to rustle around in the kitchen drawer of ever growing piles of crappity crap for my little elf cap and to embrace my inner glee!

oh such wise wise critters, indeed such is their wisdom, i am thinking of offering up Used Dog (in her cone of shame) and Little Olive to our local 'living nativity' which must be starting some time soon. i am quite sure they would qualify for the three wise men roles. although obviously there is only two of them, so maybe they could take a friend along. i am now racking my brains for another wise critter within our shed. i think i would pick Linus the cat. for he is wise and has nice whiskers. however Used Dog would have to stand between Linus and Little Olive to avoid any 'argie bargie' which might go on between them. i am also thinking they may have trouble carrying their incense, myrrh and gold, so i would have to rustle up a little something to carry their gifts around their necks. 

gosh, do you know, having just asked Linus the cat who is sitting on my lap as i tippity type this ramble about whether he felt this was a role he would like to play. he has stumped me with his wiseness. he tells me that although we say there were three wise men, apparently it does not say that in the bible. it just says 'wise men' who bought three gifts. therefore we assume there were three wise men, one for each gift. in fact according to wise Linus the cat. there could have been more wise men or less, and therefore he is going with less and says because of that, there is no need for him to go along and stand near Little Olive. well that seems fair enough, so now i am back to just two wise critters to offer up to our local city 'living nativity' upon the wisdom, our cat Linus has to offer.

i fear i have gotten off the crafty joyful gleeful track, but do not fear, i am back on it! and with knee socks pulled up good and proper, elf cap securely pinned on with nice looking bobby pins in turquoise no less, found in old blighty this past summer and with it, my crafty cogs have turned...

yes indeedy! starting tomorrow, i have '12 days of joyfulness' here on my shiny place, you can call me crazy, you can call me nutso, you can call me Al, but that's what one has to do when a mojo is lost, fly by the seat of one's crafty pants.

here's a list of ingredients required for the coming 12 days:

fabric (vintage or new) * embroidery thread * lace * wooden clothes hanger * strips of old fabric scraps * gleeful ornaments, whatever is in your own box of glee will be fine, perhaps some with a bit of sparkle too * old jam jars * sticks, twigs and a branch from the yard * an old stool with a flat wooden top * sticky back plastic (oh yes indeedy!) * mod podge * vintage decals or stickers * household paint in white * paper coasters or paper doilies (itty bitty ones) * old book pages * linen napkin (creamy white sort) * cream cotton embroidery thread * a trusty sewing machine (not necessary but would greatly speed things up if one were used) * and last but not least, a doily or two

each day i will be sure to least the ingredients necessary to complete the project. do not fret, most things can be made from what you may have already lying around your sheds or indeed within your box of glee. you can change out things to your own liking, own colour choices and indeed improvise if you do not have the exact ingredient i list. yes, after my fretting of late (breaking my new years resolution of 'fret less' for about the 50th time so far this year) i am now banning all fretting for the next 12 days. yes, no fretting allowed.

most things will be easy peasy, a few i would put at medium peasy. some things i think small beings and little critters could easily do themselves (although where knots are required it might be tricky for little fingers and paws). where i have been inspired by someone or something i will be sure to point out and that is that!

hurrah hooray, 12 days of joyfulness starts tomorrow

she is delighted to say, Used Dog is feeling most perky and we have high hopes for the results next week ~ Tif