Snow Day

There's something magical about waking up to the sound of the wind gusting outside the window, hearing the pings of hail hitting the skylight, and slowly opening the bedroom curtains to expose a world turned white.  I feel like a kid again, ready to yell, "Snow Day!"

As a kid, that meant getting out our ice skates and and heading to "the Pond".  Now, although my choices are a little less physically challenging, I still love that gift of unexpected, unplanned time.

Time to  . . . 

          Work on the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle.

Sew buttons on the two cardigan sweaters my friend Margaret just completed. Margaret is my knitting "mentor". In exchange for her help with my simple projects, I sew the buttons on her more complicated ones.

                    Margaret's sweaters are always colorful; just what I need to work on on this gray day.

Yesterday, Margaret showed me how to interpret the directions for this hat project which I got at Fiber College. I love the hand-dyed yarn. I promised to allow myself some time to start this project today. We'll see. Snow Days have an uncanny way of flying by!

And, every Snow Day should include some time for a good book, right? 

Here's my current stash!

In addition to everything else, DH and I spent an hour of our snow day working on travel plans. We're headed to Portugal (a magical place!) and Spain in October. I finally hit "Purchase" and booked the airline tickets today: Boston to Lisbon, Portugal and then  home to Boston from Barcelona, Spain, Can't wait!

                  And finally, this unplanned Snow Day is providing time to catch up on my little blog.

So much to do at Applegate Lane.

Happy Snow Day!

This post is linked to:

Sundays at Home Party at Little Farmstead

Happiness Is Homemade Link Party #254 at Bluesky at Home

Amaze Me Monday #298 at Dwellings

485th Inspire Me Tuesday at A Stroll Through Life

How To Make a Driftwood Mirror

I've been searching for a driftwood mirror for my guestroom.

Something like this.

(Ah . . . advertising images. Don't you wish mirrors came out of the sea just like this? We could just walk the beach and collect them, already done!)

The driftwood mirrors I've looked at have been expensive. Pottery Barn has one, but the sale price is $423.00. This one is available at Amazon for $180.00 + $22.00 shipping. Not too bad.  

But I like a bargain. So I decided to make my own.

I'm lucky to live in Maine . . . 

 where it's easy to find driftwood on the beach.

I found a very heavy old mirror at Goodwill for $2.00. The maple frame was scratched but sturdy.

Aside from that, all that is needed is a glue gun.

I did burn my fingers quite a bit completing this project. Since  then, I went online and discovered these for $5.98 on Amazon. I haven't used them yet but have heard from other bloggers that they work, so I'm anxious to try them.

I looked for pieces of driftwood with interesting shapes, colors and textures.

And just hot-glued them to the old mirror frame.

That's it!

Total cost:  $2.00 plus a few glue sticks.

I love how the mirror came out!

It would be just as easy to do this project on a round mirror frame if that works better in your room.  Something like this .

If you don't have access to driftwood where you live, you could do a similar project with clothespins.
I love using them for projects with a farmhouse look.

Kirsty's Clothespin wreath, below (click link for tutorial) , could be made around a mirror. She used Washi tape on the clothespins. If they're old ones, I'd might just use them just as they are.

 A few years ago, I used my trusty glue gun to make a Button mirror . .  no beach required! This one was a little more time consuming but vintage buttons are fun. They're available everywhere, in shiny metals, unusual shapes and vintage colors. 

So, there you have it.  A simple project you can complete in an afternoon.  Or in an evening with a friend and glass of wine . . .

In which case, if all else fails, you can gather up your corks and make this!

Happy gluing!

This post is linked to:

Salvaged Junk Projects 421 at Funky Junk Interiors

Spring & Easter Blogger Link Party at Common Ground

Farmhouse Friday Link Party at The Painted Hinge

Flaunt It Friday at Chic On a Shoestring

Nifty Thrifty Sunday #328 at Nifty Thrifty Things

Happiness Is Homemade Link Party at The Painted Hinge

Craftastic Link Party at Sew Can Do

Making Ceramic Buttons

As a sewer, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to learn to make ceramic buttons with potter Conni Whittaker from Fryeburg Pottery at Fiber College of Maine. What fun!

Conni had lots of small "cookie cutters" to use for cutting the button shapes out of terra-cotta clay. Once they were cut out, we used a variety of stamps to make impressions in the clay.



I love how Connie used found objects (like a butterfly-shaped earring her husband found on the ground at the Common Ground Fair) to make her stamps. She attached each object to the "head" of an old-fashioned clothespin . . .

Which provided the "handle" of the stamp. She even had steampunk clothespin-stamps made from old gears and watch parts.


Potter Conni Whittaker (right) teaches a Rolling Class at Fiber College 2015

After our buttons were cut out and stamped, we applied two coats of glaze to the edges and both sides of each button.

 

Faces of Fiber College, Part 1

I've been away from the blog enjoying camping on Penobscot Bay at beautiful Searsport Shores, the home of Fiber College of Maine. One of the best things about Fiber College is the chance to make new friends from different backgrounds and cultures. Here are some of their faces . . .


Waiting patiently while Mom & Grandma cook our Somali feast

"Fiber College of Maine is an annual fiber festival whose sole reason for being is to celebrate the fiber arts in all forms. Maine is particularly blessed with artistic energy and inspiration from the flow of the tides, the rolling hills of the blueberry fields and the stars in the night sky."
 ~Fiber College website


Phoenix making a ceramic button

At the beach bonfire, I met three very funny women who had come to Fiber College together from Massachusetts. Somehow we started talking about the book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and our tendencies to hoard materials for whatever our fiber passion is. (Somehow, that seemed hilarious at the time.) After we parted, I worried that I never find my new friends again. . . we'd been talking and laughing in the dark!


Hula Hoops on the Beach

But, the next day, they found me. 

And here they are, the self-proclaimed "Three Hoarders"!