Country Christmas Table Decor

Hello there,

There’s quite a bit to unpack in this post. I loved my primitive digital stamps and decided to make some felt ginger prims out of some of them. Dried orange slices have always appealed to me, and then I found these primitive candy canes. Plus, you know I’ve made soap and salves in the past - - so now I am trying to make my own toxic-free cleaner. 

Believe it or not, out of all that came my table top Christmas decor. 

If you’d like the link to my Ginger Prims above, they were made from my digital stamps here. Just click on the image, and print from the new page. The Primitive Star Snowman is here. 

The orange slices were super easy to do. I don’t have any photos of the process because it’s so simple. Cut the ends off an orange, cut a bunch of quarter inch to half inch slices and put them on a cookie tray. I used foil under them, I believe. Turn your oven to 200 degrees Fahrenheit and turn them over every 45 min or so. I think they were in there for at least 3 hours. I just kept checking on them.

Just note that if you do leave them in the oven too long, or cut some too thin, as the slice in the back, they will turn a bit brown on you. 

I’m happy with these though. 

The candy cane idea was a Pinterest find. I picked up some plastic candy canes from the dollar store, took a bunch of leftover quilt batting and twisted it around the cane starting at the crook, hot glueing it here and there as I went along. The start and end are a bit tricky, but doable. Then I took a strip of fabric and twisted it around my fat little cane in much the same way. There are YouTube videos of the process here, and the chunky ones here. 

You may be wondering about the cleaner, as I mentioned above. We have a large spruce tree out back, so my husband cut some branches off for me. However, I was convinced I needed pine branches, so off he went into the woods to find pine trees and he came back with a bag of branches for me. Sweet, right? 

In the end, the spruce branches had a better scent, imo, but I decided to do both. In addition I added orange peels to another mason jar as well. Once the jars were stuffed full of branches and orange peels, I added white vinegar. Also from the dollar store, since it’s just for a cleaner. Will it end up being too vinegary? Perhaps, but vinegar is a good cleaner and dissipates once dry. Plus I can add pine or orange essential oils if I decide the vinegar is overpowering. You do need to be aware of what you don’t want to use this cleaner for - - - like wood for instance, but it’ll make a great kitchen and bathroom cleaner. 

Then came the fun part. Sprucing up the jars with different elements. The rusty bells and rusty stars I got off Temu. The strings were in my stash. Oh, and the little berry wreath on top of the large mason jar was a dollar store purchase. As was the berry wreath on the table.  Notice I added some fabric strips and some cinnamon sticks as well.  

I may still add something on top of the lids, or I may leave them. I haven’t decided. 

I love my little Ginger prim man and woman. 

And of course my primitive star snowman. 

Here it is in all its primitive country glory. I guess it’s fair to say I’ve been keeping busy. I love this little set up. It’s different and welcoming. All I need now are some primitive looking place settings. 

Thanks for stopping by,

Carmen

The Best Sofa Station

Hello,

Whenever I’m sewing I usually have other people in mind, but my last project was all about me. 

Since I’ve been making the Peek-a-Boo Dolls, I’ve found myself doing a lot of the hand stitching in my comfy chair. As a result my little side table would get clogged up with pins, embroidery thread, felt pieces, scissors, etc., leaving barely enough room for my coffee or tea. This wasn’t working for me, so I found a lovely pattern from ArabesqueScissors for a Sofa Station. 

This is not a beginners pattern in my view, and although it isn’t difficult, in hind-sight, I found it difficult because of the variety of options in the pattern itself, making for a lot of little pieces to navigate. It comes with differing pockets and flaps, and it’s your choice as to which to make. 

Ultimately, considering that, I believe it was well written and I’m not sure there was an easier way to present it. In addition she provided videos on how to do each part, including making your own bias tape and clarity on how to use the magnets. I found these to be extremely helpful. 

This is mine:

The unique thing about the Sofa Station is that it fits over the arm of your chair. So I’ve shown you each side separately to start with.

This side has a place for scissors, pens, seam rippers, stitch markers, clips, rulers or whatever. 

 The other side has a large open pocket for patterns or pattern pieces, and a second pocket for my crochet hooks. I do enjoy crocheting now and then, so I decided this could come in handy for me. 

One of the very unique features of this pattern is that both the basket and the needle minder are magnetic. There are also options to make a magnetic pin cushion or thread catcher. I opted for the basket and the needle minder, but they’re all interchangeable, so you can make them all. 

I haven’t made a video in a long time and I just used my iPad, but wanted to show you the magnetic needle minder. I love this feature as I’m often putting my needle down and then losing it. Maybe it’s just me this happens to, idk, but I love this. 

In addition, there’s a little needle keeper made of wool felt,

I’ve draped it over my kitchen chair to give you an idea of how it will look on a sofa.

Overall, I’m happy with it. The next one will be easier. These will make great gifts as well, if you’re wondering what to get someone who loves to cross stitch, hand sew, knit or crochet. 

For unique items made by me, have a look at my Etsy Shop.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Carmen

Primitive Ginger Bowl Fillers

Hello there, 😃

Do you remember these from my digital stamp days? 

I thought I would turn them into ornaments, or bowl fillers. 

The first time I make most things, I always seem to do something wrong, but that’s part of the process. After sizing and printing these off, the second stage is cutting them out for a pattern and then (3) cutting them out of felt. The fourth stage is adding all the eyes and the yummy little extras. I decided not to use buttons on these because I didn’t have any small enough and these are my test patterns anyway (Maybe sometime in the future). Finally comes the stitching and lastly the stuffing. 

These are intentionally lightly stuffed. I may keep future ones without the stuffing, I don’t know yet.  They’d be great as a garland with felt balls or round felt cookies in between them. 

I showed these two to my husband, who said “their heads are a little small aren’t they?” Remember these are primitive gingers, not your typical gingerbread men. 

Well, that was fun. Hope you enjoyed them.

Have a great day,

Blessings,

I made a little booklet today…

Hi there,

One of my granddaughters is having a birthday rather soon - - she will be one year old. Her little cousin is almost three and they both live in the frozen north (Fort McMurray, Alberta). Since I’m making some peek a boo dolls, I decided to make a couple for the one year old for her birthday, but didn’t want to leave the three year old with nothing (since they’re often at my sons place together.)

(Peek a boo dolls. Some are available in my Etsy shop, carmensplace.)

So - - - 

I made a little book. 

This was made with one piece of 12 x 12 cardstock, and filled with various papers. I included a bunch of stickers I just bought online, and a few other things. 

That’s the front- kind of plain but it’s for a three year old so best not to 

put a bunch of stuff on there she could potentially choke on. 

The stickers went into a ziploc bag and into the front pocket. 

The digital image behind the paper can be traced onto the tracing paper. 

Then she can color the actual image if she wants to. 

So these two pages flip out. I used washi tape to do this. 

This is the same idea as the tracing paper, except now it’s texture I’m featuring. 

She can take a crayon and color over it to get the grid to show through. 

I didn’t photograph them all, but there are various stickers throughout the journal,

And I’ve included some other papers as well. Plus she can stick her other stickers into the booklet. 

This is the back pocket where I’ve just added a tag and some colored pages. 

It’s really just a little thing, but hopefully she likes it. It’s just so she gets something in the parcel too. 

I usually add a little snack too. 

I completely forgot to take a photo of the spine, but I got the idea from this YouTube video by Treasure Books. These are mostly journals for adults, but I downsized it for little hands. 

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for the visit!

Blessings,

Carmen

“The blessing of the Lord enriches, and He adds no sorrow with it” Proverbs 10:22

Quick Cards and September Musings

Whenever I need some quick cards, AI art is my go to. It’s so quick and easy! But don’t worry, I still like to make up my own. 

This one I embellished with a few metal pieces out of my stash. See if you can find them.

As I mentioned before, August was a busy month, but we never did get a baby. He showed up 12 days later on September 5th. He’s a cute little guy and looks just like my son. My poor DIL went through the mill, but both mom and baby are fine. 

I made this card as well, but didn’t like it for the person I made it for, so it’s in my stash for now, it’s shinier than it looks…both of these are. 

Today I went to Fabricland to look for some backing fabric for my 50’s quilt and some binding fabric for a Sofa Station I want to make. I came out of there with both. I was very happy with my incredible deals. So now I can complete the quilt and start on the sofa station, since I’m doing so much hand sewing lately. 

The last set of cards. Not a great picture. I took it after the cards were put in to the plastic sleeves because I was in a hurry that day. I’m also showing you the inside of these. The nice thing about the AI images is that you can adjust the size. 

I have made a couple of other peek a boo dolls. I’m thinking of opening up my Etsy shop again to sell some felt projects. First I have to make them though. I have more blended wool felt on order. So I’ll be busy the next while and won’t be posting as much. 

Well, that’s it for today. I hope you’re having a good weekend. 

Blessings,

Carmen

Little Projects for Kids

Hello friends,

September is here and I’m starting to feel like sewing again. I know I’ve been quilting all year in the midst of card making, but I love me some small projects. Especially cute little things for kids. I love making these super cute felt dolls.

What I find so adorable about these little dolls is the removeable hats. 

Absolutely darling!

You can find these at Gingermelon on Etsy.

Another project I made was this little tiger pouch. 

This is another project I love too. I’ve made this one before, then altered it to make 

a unicorn pouch and a lamb pouch. I haven’t made the lamb pouch yet. Maybe soon. 

This one is from Stubbornly Crafty on Etsy. 

Next on my list is a Smart Sofa Station. It is made to drape over the arm of a couch. Everything you may need is handy, depending on what craft you’re doing. They have needle covers, pouches for patterns, scissors, thread or anything else you may want to keep with you. If you’re a crocheter, they can be made to hold crochet hooks. There’s also a magnetic pin holder and a little thread basket, if you want one. It’s an extremely versatile pattern from ArabesqueScissors on Etsy. 

But, you never know what I’ll do next. I’m eyeing up a few ideas. 

Hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Blessings,

Carmen

Birthday Celebrations with Mugs and Gemstones!

Good morning,

August was a busy time for us, and one event we celebrated was my husbands 65th birthday! Two of our boys are in town, so we all went out for dinner with them and their families. We had such a wonderful time. 

Two of our younger grandkids made us each a mug. I just love these - I’m pretty sure they make our coffee taste even better! 

I also made a birthday card for my husband. He’s a gemstone faceter now - a hobby he picked up before retirement, but that he’s perfected over the last three years. I’ll share some of his stones with you too. In addition, he’s become interested in old pocket watches. When his uncle was still alive, he gave him all his watch making tools. That was my reason for this particular card. 

To be fair, he looks much younger than this bearded fellow, but that’s the image I had. 

These are some stones he’s faceted. He goes by bcstonecutter on Instagram if you’d like to look at some of his other work. 

This owl design is named “Notolla” by Marco Voltolini

The stone is Titanium Sapphire

Faceted by Graham Gamble

The cut is a “Round Honeycomb” design by Michiko Huynh

The stone is a Lab Czochralski Pulled Pink Sapphire.

Faceted by Graham Gamble

Design is “Heart and Soul” by Michael Edgett

Titanium Sapphire

Faceted by Graham Gamble

Design is “Radiant Eye of Zul” by Arya Ahkavan

Bicolor teal and purple Flame Fusion Sapphire

Faceted by Graham Gamble

A modified rendering of “Spellbound”

Lab Flame Fusion green Sapphire

Faceted by Graham Gamble

He cuts both man-made and real gems. If you’re interested, please check out his Instagram listed above.

I was going to share same smaller cards I made recently, but I’ll leave those for another post. 

Thanks for visiting,

Carmen