It's Not All About Earrings

 As I said, I do other crafty things besides the earrings. I’ve made some additions to the book which hopefully I’ll share soon. But since it’s almost Halloween I thought I’d share with you what I did last week. Click on any of the links to see Neil's blog about our last three Halloweens.

2014 and 2015 on top, 2016 (2) on bottom

I have to admit, I don’t know if I ever made a Jack O’Lantern before I met Neil. But once we were together I had to make sure he got to experience EVERY holiday. This year though is a little different. Usually we make our Jack (or Jacks – last year we made two) together. But Neil wore himself out yesterday and didn’t feel like helping.

I spent a few hours one day picking out the template, I wanted a fiery Jack this year. I also wanted a big one so we purchased a “giant” pumpkin. So I downloaded the picture of the Jack I wanted, then held a piece of paper up to the screen of my laptop and traced the eyes and mouth. I freehanded the top of the pumpkin, I went for an open top Jack this year, and I have a surprise for Neil later (hint: it will be fiery).

 

On Friday I made Jack. First I cut around the outline on the top. Only about a quarter of the way around I noticed that the knife was starting to bend. Last year we purchased a (tiny) Jack O’Lantern carving kit from the grocery store after Halloween for about 5p. It has 2 knives, two punchers and a scooper. After I carved the top out I scooped out the seeds. This year I left the flesh inside. I usually cut it out and use the flesh to make soup or pancakes, but the flesh is actually rather tasteless so I left it in the pumpkin.

 

Then I taped the trace to the pumpkin and punched holes around the outline so that the outline would be perforated on the pumpkin.  Then using the knives from the kit (with occasional help from our regular knife) I cut out the face.

Now I said that the knife from the kit started to bend before I cut out the design of the top. Here you can see how the knife should look, how it looked after cutting the top out and how it looks now. From straight to a twisted ninety degree angle.

And here you can see Jack in all of his horror.

Hopefully he will frighten the spirits away this Samhain!

 

Long Time No Hear From ...

 

 

I know, I know; it’s been a long time. I usually let you know if I’m taking some time off but this time I don't know what happened. At first I was too busy to make anything, then I think I was too tired to.

I think I mentioned before that I was taking driving lessons. They started once a week back in May. My test was originally set for the end of July but I had to reschedule because I wasn’t ready. I rescheduled it for September 13^th, my grandfather’s birthday – I knew it would be a good omen. My grandfather was the family driver. I spent the first 6 years of my life riding in the car with him. He seemed to love to drive, and family members would ask him to drive when they took trips; New York, DC, Baltimore. He even drove to North Carolina twice to take me and pick me up from college my freshman year.

The closer it got to September 13^th the more frequent my lessons became including three lessons the week before the test. Why? Because I took a mock exam and failed miserably. I started having panic attacks, took another mock exam and passed. So I had a week of trying not to stress myself to the point of another panic attack. Chamomile tea, valerian root and lots of comedy.

Test day came and I was stressed but it was manageable. The examiner had me drive around lots of tiny streets where I drove slowly and had to pull over a lot. We returned to the test center and he told me I passed. What a relief! My instructor told me I could breathe again.

Besides the driving I can’t remember what I’ve been doing; life seems a bit of a blur right now. I visit my neighbor two doors down twice a week. We’ve been going to appointments, plus the usual grocery shopping. And I’ve been to London a few times to meet a friend. I’ve also been trying to get caught up on cleaning. I was given a large flat screen TV (which has since broken) and I rearranged our bedroom to accommodate it. I got some under bed storage totes and organized my seasonal clothes. I’m trying to crack down in the creepy crawlies that come with living out in the country; vacuuming, making peppermint sprays and spraying around the house to deter the outdoors from coming in.

A while ago though I was visiting my neighbor, she gets lots of catalogs delivered and told me to look through one and I saw something amazing. A book to store earrings in. I have been looking for a way to store the finished earrings that I have in stock. I saw the book and thought it was a brilliant idea. But why pay £30 for a tiny book that only hold a few pair? I looked at the book and said I can make a large one!

We went to Tescos for our weekly shop, just before school started binders were on sale for 70p. Okay, the binders were hot pink, but what the heck. Then I ordered some fabric online for £6.00. Thread, hemming ribbon and double sided tape I already had.

I had a few ideas for how I would make this work. When you buy factory made books they used specific fabric, like the kind you find at jewelry stores. Unfortunately felt, microfiber and suede, i.e. all the fabric similar to that is expensive. After one try I got it to work, but it doesn’t look like exactly how I want it to look.  I had more fabric so I tried it a different way. I made two different panels one longer and one wider. They still haven't come out the way I planned, so I may try a totally different approach now. I have some more ideas I can try out; different materials and fabrics. I may need to get a wider binder but this isn’t a bad start.