Pinterest Challenge: Scrappy Flower Wreath

I have to confess:  I don't get Pinterest.  I know it's all the rage, and let's be real- inspiration boards full of crafty ideas is right up my ally.  But I'm not on board yet.  For one: I can't figure out how to get very much out of those pictures.  Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but clicking on one (even one that says "free pattern," or "tutorial") doesn't seem to get me anywhere useful.  I can't see the website or blog it came from, all I can see is the pinner's pinboard.  And I really don't need one more way to stalk everything someone else does.  That's what Facebook is for.   Secondly, I really don't need another thing that I become obsessive about, and waste my time with.  Again... I have Facebook for that. Thirdly, I tend to hate obnoxious, unnecessary emails, which seems to be all I get from Pinterest.

Someone. Please.  Fill me in, if I'm missing something.

BUT... I do blog.  And read blogs.  (And realize that blogging is just another way to stalk people I don't know, and waste my time on the computer.) But I love it.  I love reading people's stories, and seeing their crafts, and THE PROCESS OF THE CRAFT!  Unlike Pinterest, I can actually find out how someone did something creative, instead of taking a wild guess based on a picture.

Two of the (many) blogs I follow, are Delia Creates, and Young House Love (thanks D and B).  And today, those two blogs come together as inspiration for my blog. 

Young House Love is a blog written by a couple about home improvement jobs they do around the house. And this week they are hosting a challenge.  The Pinterest Challenge, is basically motivation to actually make something you've pinned, instead of just pinning away like crazy.  I don't pin, but for this I did.  Because if there is one thing I love, it's a challenge.

So I pinned this Spring Wreath that Delia made, and that I've been dreaming about. 

Isn't it lovely?  And made entirely from scrap fabrics and an old frame. 

I knew mine would be a little different.  I didn't have any extra frames, and I didn't want to buy one.   But I did have left over bamboo from this project... and later this one!

I figured I would make mine in more of a pentagon shape, just for fun.  

This turned out to be quite a challenge, because of weird angles, but I used some tape to hold it all in place while I was using twine to attach it.

Then I made flowers. 

 Lots of flowers.

I used two blue shirts that didn't fit Alan any more.  (I wanted more colours, but that guy pretty much only owns blue.)  

 

I also used scraps of fabric left over from Baby Evan's quilt.  

And I used these little blossoms from some lacy stuff I bought a long time ago, but never found a use for.

 

 Some flowers (like the ones above) are multiple circles (or other shapes) folded in quarters and then bunched together and sewed with a needle and thread. 

 These were made by fan folding a square of fabric, and tying around it with embroidery floss. 

 The blue blossoms were made with long strips of fabric, twisted around and around itself, and sewed together on the underside.  

 Some (above and below) are just stacked flowers.  Stack shapes smallest to largest, and sew on with a button.

This one is a larger square of fabric fan folded, wrapped around the bamboo, and tied with twine. 

I cheated, and didn't make this one.   It's from a headband that I never loved. Now it's on a wreath that I do love. 

After gluing all of the flowers onto the bamboo...

I attached a purple ribbon from my stash-o-scraps...

And tied it to the door! 

Welcome Spring!

Bamboo: Take 2

Remember a few weeks ago, when I found a bunch of bamboo on the beach, and had visions of all the super easy and free crafts I could make with it?  Remember how I was sure that bamboo would be as easy to cut as butter, even though Nay-Saying-Alan wasn't so sure? Remember how I was dead wrong? If you don't know what I'm talking about, click here. Otherwise you won't have any idea how I worked out the butter knife problem...

So... I started with bamboo that looked like this...

  I didn't like how dirty it looked.  Also, I had some pieces that looked really old, and other pieces that looked super fresh, and I didn't like how un-uniform they looked. (For future reference, older dryer bamboo is so much easier to cut that new fresh bamboo.)

Anyway, I picked up some beige coloured spray paint to freshen it up.

 

Much better, don't you think?

Although, don't look too close, because I got tired of the spray-from-a-foot-away, coat-lightly-a-million-times method.  Cus that's exhausting, and I'm not a rule follower. Unfortunately, when I decided to spray from a few inches away, and heavily coat, the pain puddled under the bamboo, and looked terrible on the underside. 

Can you spy the one I didn't follow the rules on?

 

In my earlier post I cut all the bamboo.  Painstakingly. I cut a bunch of short ones, medium ones and long ones, with a rectangular crate dancing around my mind's eye. 

  

 But also, I'm lazy when it comes to perfect cutting.  Good thing I'm not a perfectionist, because I used all the bamboo, whether it had puddle paint, wasn't exactly the right length, or had big broken ends.  It's all good.  I'm an inclusion-ist.

 

Once all the bamboo was cut, and painted, I started tying it together with twine. 

I didn't actually look up any sailor knots, I just aimed at making lovely 'x' shapes.  Maybe I should have though, because a lot fell out, and I had to tear others out because they looked funny. 

I made a rectangle shape first, and then added some... support?... cross bars?... see them.  I don't know what to call them. (I LOVE that wavy one.)

Then I turned it, and added more cross bars, to make a grid. This was to be the base of my crate. 

The crate that never was.  For a few reasons.

1. Tying knots in corners was SUPER CHALLENGING. 
2. Tying knots while trying to hold something in a standing position was A PAIN.
3. Even after STRUGGLING through attaching a side to the base, it was really wobbly.
4. I WAS OVER IT. 

So I shoved it into the corner and glared at it for a few days.  I considered hanging it parallel to the ground, and attaching... something... to it to make a wind chime... but I didn't like that idea.  

Stupid Bamboo. 

Then Sonya suggested I use the left over bamboo to make picture frames. Loved it. 

So I did.  And here they are. 

 No backing, no glass, just pictures taped straight to the wall and bamboo to frame them. 

I had to invent a new knot (then again, I didn't look up any knots, so maybe someone else actually invented it). 

 

 I would try and explain how I tied them, but I have no idea. Sorry.

 I wanted to do pictures of Alan and me on our different trips around the world...

 Side, Turkey. (The story of our trip here.)

 Prague's version of the Eiffel tower. (Prague trip here.)

 

 Pamukkale, Turkey. (Link here.)

 Alanya, Turkey. 

Not impressed by variety? Me neither.  In the past two years we also took WEEK LONG trips to Switzerland, The Netherlands and Hungary. Trips where we took HUNDREDS of pictures.  And have NO frame-able pictures of us in front of something special. New goal: take at least one good picture of us on EVERY trip. 

Crafts Above the Couch

And what ever became of this?

I hung it above the table. 

Not sure how I feel about it.  But I'm less annoyed than I was when it was sitting in the floor. 

And now I have a place to hang greeting cards. Yeah!

 

Do you think this counts as wood working?

Week 6: Bamboo... Oh the Possibilities

 What do you get when beach clean up meets craft-of-the-week meets a girl-who-is-trying-to-not-spend-money-on-ANYTHING?  

I know. I know.  Trick question.  There could be millions of possible answers.  But go ahead and guess. 

We must have a bamboo farm up stream from our beach, because every time we have a big storm our beach is covered in it. 

On Sunday I started excitedly collecting bamboo on our beach trip.  

Alan: "What are you going to do with all that?"

Me: "Bamboo? The possibilities are ENDLESS!"

Alan:  "No really.  Because these are covered in sand and spiders' nests.  Do you really have a plan?"

Me: "I'm not sure why you aren't as excited about this as I am.  We could learn woodworking. And knot tying."

Alan: "What does knot tying have to do with this?"

Me:  "How else do you expect me to connect the bamboo.  I need to learn some fancy sailor knots."

Alan: "Do you know how hard it is to cut bamboo?"

Me: (all sassy like) "Yea." But in my head I'm thinking "I'll just snap them over my knee.  Isn't that what bamboo is famous for?  Or is it the growing really fast thing?  Or the thing about being panda food?  Is bamboo famous? Either way.  Can't be that hard."

Alan: Sigh

So we made a deal.  I have to complete, or make significant progress on my craft by the end of the week, or I will throw out all this bamboo.  And until it's finished it will live on the deck.  'Cus of spiders' nests.    

I have a confession.  Actually a few, but let's focus.  I'm not what one might call "tooly." I own a few tools, (I think) but I definitely don't have a spinny saw thing, or even a not-spinny-saw.  And I improvised a saw-horse by laying a towel over our dinner table.  Good enough.  So I set to work with the "tools" I thought would help me score the bamboo before snapping it over my knee. 

My tools- Round 1: hammer, kitchen sheers, butter knife, and knee

Well... I'm not ALWAYS right. As it turns out, butter knives are not great at cutting bamboo, neither are kitchen sheers, and I had no real plan for the hammer.  It made it into the photo shoot to make me look a tad more credible.

Also, snapping bamboo over my knee made a really jagged and splintered end, that usually broke no where near where I wanted it to.  And it hurt.

So back to the drawing board.  I went to find all of Alan's tools.  He's only slightly more "tooly."

What's in this fancy little tool pouch?

Sharp pincher-y things.  Not great...

And tweezers, and nose hair clippers?! Sigh.

The rest of the tools in here were... I have no idea.  Maybe drill bits for our non-existent drill? Maybe they're just small screw drivers.  I couldn't tell.  I but I could see that nothing in here would be helpful.

At this point I started furiously sawing with the butter knife.  Maybe I didn't give it a serious try.  Maybe speed of motion will do something magical.  Mostly, I just didn't want to admit how hard cutting bamboo is.  Stupid Alan.  Always right.

"Cutting bamboo is hard." I whimper almost inaudibly.
He's so lovely.  He didn't even say "Nanner-nanner."  This time.  "Go find my Leatherman, it might have something better in it."

HE. WAS. RIGHT. AGAIN!
And this time, I was so happy about it.

Doesn't look that cool, huh?
Just wait...

 

BAM!  Check out those razor sharp, Great White Shark like teeth!

Or should we say "Panda like"?  You know? 'Cus pandas can rip right through bamboo! 

Here I am in action.

And here I am sawing so fast that my hand looks blurry.

Confession number 2: Sometimes, or maybe always, I tend to underestimate the difficulty of any given project.  Usually I imagine flying through the steps in the span of an episode of my favorite show.  Usually it takes 10 times that long.  At least. I like to think I'm optimistic. Alan calls it unrealistic. 

Here I am thinking "Even with a saw, cutting bamboo is HARD!"

I had to stop for the night.  My arm was sore.  My wrist was getting tendonitis. My fingers were developing blisters.  But I'll finish.  I'm sure of it.  It can't be that hard right?
 
PS:  The last picture is Day 6 in a month long photo-a-day project Alan is doing on his blog: Sharpening a Fuzzy Concept.