Display dome

These plastic tubes are generally found on the ends of individual roses.

Here you can see how I've used Leg blocks to hold the tube in place in my mitre box in preparation for a straight cut.

 The cut dome

 I found a wooden button in my stash that fit perfectly as a base.

 Not the best example of what to put inside it. VBG But it was the handiest thing available when I was taking the pictures. I actually have some Royal Doulton type ladies that would be perfect in it.

Knives from turned toothpicks

Full toothpick, cut to knife length, one side shaved, both sides shaved, rough tip ready for shaping with emery board.

The blades are shaped roughtly with an X-Acto knife just shaving the uncarved part of the toothpick (after it's been cut to desired blade length) down bit by bit on either side until it's as thin as possible then finishing the shaping with emory boards. Then the blades are painted silver with my pilot pen and the handles stained with a Minwax stain marker or painted with nail polish.

(Step 1) Cut the round part of the toothpick off about 5/8" from the edge of the   carved part. Rest the 5/8" part on the edge of a table or book or something and hold on to the carved part. 

(Step 2) Using a new x-acto blade, shave about four thin strips of wood as     evenly as you can make them off the top of that piece (or until you've shaved away about 1/3 of the thickness of the toothpick). Don't try to take off too thick a layer at once. 

(Step 3) Flip the piece over, lay the flat side against the table and do the 

same thing on the other side.

(Step 4) When you have it down to about 1/3 (or less) of its original 

thickness, you can take your x-acto blade and cut off the end of the "blade"at an angle to begin shaping the tip.

Once that's done, you can again rest the "blade" flat side down and sand it smooth with an emery board. When both sides are smooth, take your emery board and sand across the blade one side at a time at an angle until you have an "edge" to your blade.

The "blades" are actually pretty sturdy and I've yet to break one but I have (more times than I care to think about) taken off way too much when I've 

been shaving the wood off. In which case I simply make a paring knife 

instead of a carving knife. LOL

Once you get going, you can make any length and shape blade you want.

Finishing:

1. Once carved, paint or stain the handle first. (I just finished a batch and 

used red nail polish to paint the handles. This way I get the colour and 

sheen at the same time. I've also used permanent marker to colour the 

handles and then J.W. etc. gloss varnish. Or Minwax stain markers for the wood effect. I don’t advise using acrylic paint as it will raise the grain of the wood and you’ll get straggly ends and it’s pretty difficult to sand them 

away.) Then stick the knife (knives) into floral oasis by the blade and let sit overnight until the handle's totally dry.

2. Once dry, you can hold it by the handle while you use the silver Pilot pen to colour the blade. Then you can just put the whole thing on a sheet of 

wax paper until the blade is dry.

T2T

TIN CANS: The metal piece that holds the eraser on a wooden pencil makes a very realistic tin can in the garbage.

TOMATOES: The red peppers in whole mixed peppers are great little cherry tomatoes. Tiny snippets of red fun foam can represent tomatoes in a tossed salad.

TOWEL RACKS: The first towel rack is made from a bead cap and a jump ring. The second is made from two bead caps and a piece of wire.

TOWELS:   Baby wash cloths from the Dollar Store work well for this. To keep the fabric from fraying, you can use Fray Stop (from the fabric store) or a thin line of white glue diluted slightly with water. 

Fireplace

FIREPLACE:  Cut a hole in the front of a box as shown for the firebox of your fireplace. Fold the two sides back. Cut a piece of cardstock and glue against the top and back of the folded-back pieces to complete the firebox. Cover the front and sides of the fireplace with spackle. You can texture the spackle and let it dry for one look. Or you can cover the wet spackle with model train or aquarium gravel for a stone look. Add a wooden mantle (stained or painted). Paint the firebox with a wash of black paint (paint mixed with water) to give it a used look.

more T2T

nuts:  Sesame seeds for almonds; mustard seeds for filberts; whole allspice for walnuts; apple seeds for Brazil nuts.

ONIONS: White drinking straws can be cut in small pieces for onions in a salad.

  

outdoor planter: Use a wooden napkin ring, cover one open end with a piece of cardstock, fill with dirt made of dried used coffee grounds mixed with some glue and add your plants.

quilt

As I mentioned, I needed something easy and portable to work on at the hospital. I remembered that I had this quilted-look cleaning cloth from the dollar store in my stash. So I cut it to fit the canopy bed for the bedroom roombox. Day before yesterday, I edged it with blanket stitch using gold metallic thread and went along a couple of the inner lines with a very small running stitch. Wasn't wild about how that looked so yesterday I tried a chain stitch and like it much better.

I have some scraps left over to possibly make pillows from too.

New work space

Finally got to Canadian Tire yesterday and picked up the desk that I had the rain check for. At this point I have it put together but without the corner pieces that connect the two work surfaces. Now I just have to find the time to move it into my workroom.

It's been two weeks yesterday since Vern went into the hospital and no idea when he'll be home. Hope to know more tomorrow. Leanne doesn't start her new job until next Monday so for the time being we've going to each spend half a day with him so we will have some time at our homes and catch up on things there.

It's hard to find something small and portable enough to work on at the hospital. I did make some books earlier in the week and yesterday I started work on a quilt for the bedroom roombox. Hopefully I'll have a picture of that tomorrow.