THE CRAFT KNIFE!

DEER ANTLER HANDLE KNIFE





My son was  searching for a new hobby 
to do. A friend of his gave him a deer antler.  "I asked what was he going to do with that?"  He wasn't sure yet.  He did research on the web and found a site that used the animal antlers for  knife handles.  He also watched some YouTube videos. He felt like he could make a simple knife. I went to Thrift Stores and bought several butter knives.  

He began cutting the antlers and sharpening the butter knife blades 
and his first knife was crafted! 
Beautiful exotic wood and forged blades are the materials he uses now.  He has
almost perfected his knife making skills now.  He has even sold knives to my friends and local businesses.

He has shown me with practice and patience, learning interesting hobbies 
are possible.  
 
Here are the links to his web pages which
features his knives:

 outthereedge.com

https://m.ebay.com/sch/i.html?isRefine=true&sid=chenbanks

WEEK -END BETTA PROJECT!

I used to have a huge 75 gallon fish tank, The maintenance was too much for me.
I also got tired of replacing finicky breeds of fish every two or three months. 
 
I discovered the betta fish on one of my visits to replace one of my tetra fish.
The betta fish were too cute. I couldn't understand how one fish could be happy
in the  plastic jars at the pet store! I didn't believe the store clerk's betta story. 
I had  been misinformed many times by young store clerks. The online research 
revealed that the bettas started out in the rice patties in Asia.  They come in brilliant 
colors now due to special breeding. The betta fish are so territorial that it's best
to keep each one in it's own container! Yes, I said container. A lady told me her 
son kept his betta in a mason for 5 years! They don't require a pump and other
tank accessories. They can be housed in  pretty jars or fish bowls. The pet stores have an array of small cutesy betta houses.  I was told to avoid water from your home faucet. I buy gallons of purified water for my bettas. I bought 
one betta 5 years ago and he is are still striving!  I lost two of my bettas due my 
own careless mistakes.

I drained my 75 gallon  tank and cleaned the  gravel . I refilled the tank with the
clean gravel and added 4 cylinder shaped jars on the bottom of the aquarium.
Each jar has colored glass pebbles to match the color of each of my bettas. 
I get may compliments  on my aquarium design.  Sometimes,  I add a cutting
of Pothos plant or stalk lucky bamboo to the betta jars. I cover my jars with colorful circle foam sheets so my bettas cannot jump out. I cut a small whole in the foam circle to allow my bettas to breathe.

Here are images of betta jars I bought
from thrift stores:

 
15 OZ  CYLINDER JAR

2 QUART PICKLE JAR

 FOAM CIRCLES:

Here are some betta home design ideas:

HERE ARE SOME OF THE BETTA HOMES AT PET STORES & ONLINE SITES:

WEEKEND CRAFT, OKRA ANGELS

My husband and I grew okra in our garden every year.

We joked with each other and made a bet. Who could

prevent the most okra from getting too big? Our

okra  plant was a slow grower in the beginning. As soon

the plant got tall and grew flowers, we couldn't contain it!

We swore the plant grew over night. Some of the okra

could be 2 inches at 5 pm and become 5 inches long by

8 am the next morning!

I was discarding the long okra because they didn't

taste good when I cooked them. Then one year,

I received some painted okra ornaments! They

were decorated to look like Santa.  I was horrified

when I recalled how many long okra went in my trash.

I thought what a terrific idea! This year I was smart.

I saved my long dried okra pods in a plastic baggie.

I've been a crafter for years. I looked forward to

making ornaments out of my dried okra pods this

year. I looked at okra ornaments on the web for

inspiration. 

I rummaged through my left over items from 

other crafts. I found a bag of assorted gems,

loose ribbons, and bottles of acrylic paints.

I painted my okra pods white and beige. The

faces were painted olive brown. I added mini

gems to the front. I made loops out of ribbon so

the okra angels could be hung from my Christmas

tree.

 Here is a image  of my okra angel ornaments:

WEEK-END CRAFTS, CHRISTMAS TREES

http://wayfair.com

I have recently seen beautiful theme Christmas trees. They can be done economically if you adjust the amount

of embellishments you use.

I saw a red cardinal tree that I fell in love with.My mom love cardinal birds. I had to search high and low for these cardinals. The  prices online for packages of cardinals were ridiculous.  I found cardinals in some stores but they were sold individually and had clips on them.  When did this trend start? Some of these clip on birds weren't well made and looked cheap. I was about

to give up, when I checked my local dollar store again. Thank God, they had them

two cardinal birds as a set or single clip 

on type.

Here is my cardinal tree inspiration:

I am also adding images of other theme Christmas trees I found online that were lovely:

This is a good tabletop tree for beach

lovers. All sky blue bulbs could be used.

A sea shell garland could be added.

 

http://www.pier1.com

http://cf.u-createcrafts

This is so pretty! You always use smaller candy canes and plain red bulbs.

This is lovely! A smaller tree could to used to cut cost. Dollar stores have plenty of snow flakes and icicles that would also look nice.

http://smallhouselife.com

This is a nice idea. The doves can

also be made from template on 

iridescent white scrapbook paper!

An angel tree is not a new idea!

But there are so many angel designs

available. There are endless craft

possibilities. Angels don't have

to be bought. Angels made from

doilies, coffee filters, and scrapbook

paper look nice on a Christmas tree.

www.cedargrovegardens.com 

This is an expensive Christmas elf 
tree! I had a Christmas elf tree last
year. I did find a way to cut the cost
for my tree. I found a Christmas elf
craft in an old Christmas magazine. 
I started making the elves in October. 
They were very cute! I used red & green felt for the hat and clothes. I used flesh tone felt for the face. The facial features

were drawn on with a black Sharpie pen.

Here are two simple elf templates that might be helpful:

http://www.sawyoo.com