Just about there...

I'm hoping that a couple hours tomorrow will finish this. I never have the nerve to take pictures of my workroom at its worst so even if I showed you how it looks now, you probably wouldn't think there had been much improvement. Other than immediate family, my friend Joanne is the only person who ever gets to see it "as is".

I do have one small indicator of how much work has been done in one area at least. While I've put away a lot of tools, supplies and mini furniture, probably the most time-consuming part has been bagging, sorting and hanging all manner of accessories (and some items with possibilities for accessories in the future).

To give you some idea of how much I've accomplished in that regard:

I started with this overflowing box of pushpins:

And these are left:

I was totally blown away myself when I realized just how many pieces that represented - well over 100, I'm sure.

Today was simply spent sorting and putting away but I did play with one thing. VBG...You know I can't resist!

I came across a piece that at first glance looked like a button. It was some quilling paper that I had wound and wound into a flat piece about 5/8" -  3/4" across. Sorry, it never occurred to me to take a picture of it in that state.

Anyway, I pushed down on the centre of it and shaped it into a bowl. Then gave it several coats of clear nail polish (1) to hold the shape and (2) give it a gloss finish.

HELP! Please!

I've tried everything I can think of, including putting this over a domed form to shape it but I cannot get a smooth finish on the bowl.

It's not the end of the world...these bowls look pretty good in a cupboard or on a counter...and if you fill them with cookie dough - who cares?!

Well, darn it, I do! There has to be a way...and I really want to know what it is...Please!

Another interesting thing:

I found 9 copies of a book I made a long time ago.

It's a book of 20 inspirational pages including these :

"Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow"

"You don't stop laughing because you grow old: you grow old because you stop laughing."

If you'd like a copy of this, I'll mail a book to the first five followers who send me their snail mail addresses to mheucher@shaw.ca 

Trash to Treasure: Dishpans/large bowls, plant pots, small bowls

I heated up a batch of President's Choice Mini Quiche for a neighbour and, like most PC appetizers, they come in a plastic tray.

My first thought was that these could be cut up into large bowls or small dishpans. I should take one of them, fill it with the white air dry clay I bought last week, cover it with a dish towel, and have rising bread on the kitchen counter.

This is 1 3/4" across the top, 1 3/16" across the bottom and 1/2" deep.

Then, as I was cutting out a bowl, I had an AHA moment. The pieces between the 'bowls' could also be cut out and used as plant pots.

The tall ones could be used at plant pots and the lower ones could be used as low pots for cacti - or serving dishes.

The tall one is 11/16" square at the top, 1/4" square at the bottom and 5/8" tall. The short one is 5/8" square at the top, 7/16" at the bottom and 1/4" tall.