- I didn’t even know this kind of fabric paint existed. Definitely want to try a project with it.
- As a papercrafter, I’m probably going to make my own version of this, but their ideas are great and would make a great gift even if you didn’t want to DIY.
- Sitting hunched over a keyboard all day isn’t that great for your body. Take a few minutes and undo some of that damage.
Stick & Twig Letters
I’ve seen this craft quite a bit, most recently an old post from hellolittlehouse.com surfaced somewhere in my line of sight (maybe Pinterest?), and I realized I really wanted to try it.
The weather last week has been unusually warm, so I wanted to stay outside for a bit. A nature craft fit my needs perfectly.
Our house is in a older neighborhood, and while that does have it’s downsides (older house = lots of things to fix, most of them expensive), it also means we have huge towering oak and gum trees in the yard. Not those spindly trees you see in the new subdivisions. Oh, their doors probably open and close correctly, and they probably don’t have any cracks in their walls or ceilings, but they simply do not have game when it comes to sticks and leaves for crafts.
The basics of this craft are cut out a letter shape, fill with cut-down-to-size sticks.
Coonhound Caviar
A good bit of my kitchen repertoire is based on dump and run recipes. You know the technique – a couple of cans of easy to acquire ingredients, combined with a few fresh ones, some time in the fridge or on the stove, and voila!
This one is extremely loosely based on a dish a co-worker brought to a potluck. Known as Texas Caviar or Cowboy Caviar, there are literally hundreds of recipes out there. It’s usually presented as a side salad or a dip for Fritos or those bowl shaped Tostitos.
The problem with all of them is they are loaded with a lot of fat, salt and high carb items. A few years ago, we radically changed our food plan because we were dealing with the carb counting challenge that a Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis brings. (BIG DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor or a nutritionist. Consult one or both for best management of a major health condition).
Show and Tell: Winter Letters
The test letters came out great. The final version for the actual craft? Not so much.
I really love 3D paper art, and I’ve been wanting to do something cool with letters for a while. I saw this craft post that looked like a good starting point. It’s on a craft supply website, so naturally they are using pre-made letters. Not my thing. I sourced around and found a few options for using my Silhouette Cameo 3 
I test cut and assembled an “S” (for Susan, naturally) and a “P” for my better half. They went together pretty well (a few glitches in my pattern but I fixed them).
I even found a green bottle brush on super reduced after Christmas sale, so I figured I’d be set.
Home is where the heart is
I had an old framed cross stitch that no longer suited my style. The frame has a heart shaped mat, and I have saved it for several years, always thinking it would be good for something.
We also have several road atlases, from back in the day before GPS existed. Yes, there was a time when the passive-agressive voice saying “Re-calculating” was more a frantic voice in my head saying “Oh no. That was my exit.”
This craft puts both the old maps and the old frame with mat to good use.
I’ve use the maps to highlight the four cities Mr. SuzerSpace and I have lived in for a very personalized wall decoration.
Click the red arrow below to see how I made it.
