Gettin' My Craft On!: 2016

Jacket Pillow

We met the sweetest lady in Spearfish this year. We became fast friends and learned that she'd lost her husband of nearly 59 years earlier this year. As we became crafting buddies, we talked about making some keepsakes out of some of his clothes. So, when we left Spearfish in September, I took a few of his shirts and his UK jacket. She said he wore this jacket often because he was a huge UK fan. Their son Steve attended college there.

In October I made some aprons out of the shirts and a couple of pillows out of the jacket. She stuffed them when I mailed them to her. One when to her son and one will stay with her. This was my first try to make pillows out of a jacket. The fabric was a little thick for my machine, but it worked out fine. I didn't do a perfect job sewing the "UK" patches on. They kept slipping and sliding. But once she stuffed them, they seemed to straighten out somewhat.

Very thankful for our friendship with Marie and thankful she allowed me to try this on one of Richard's fave jackets!!

Floral Saddle for Graves

floral saddle

Did some grave decorating this month while in Texarkana. Edith's first husband, John, doesn't have a vase on his headstone, but usually we can get a little vase stuck in the ground. However, the ground was so hard this time that I decided I needed to try something else. So I went to Michael's and got a "floral saddle". They had some fall flowers 80% off. With that sale and my coupon I spent less than $10 on the whole thing. I was happy with how it turned out.

We shall see if it withstands the elements. If so, I'll prob get another and just change them out when I come through town.

March 2019: Above is a spring saddle I put together. Love the yellow and white!

2022: Below are some I made for Edith's and for Mamaw Goff's graves.

April 2023:

Wire Wrapped Jewelry

Niece, Lacey, has gotten into making some lovely necklaces out of jewelry wire and stones. So while I was in Wichita in October I picked up some tumbled rocks at a flea market and some non-tumbled rocks at the Great Plains Nature Center.

Pam, Lacey, and me

Laci, Pam, Lacey, me

Lacey and Meleah adding some final touches

When the family got together for Thanksgiving, she tried to teach us how to make a few things.

mine

We had a great time!! I can see that I'll have to work on this a little more to get the hang of wrapping it securely and simply. Took me too many wraps to make it stay. Lacey's have a very elegant simplicity to them. She said it took her several tries to get that hang of it, too.

Meleah also used some Fool's Gold from GPNC & she added a little charm

We also quickly found out that the tumbled stones were way to slick for us rookies. That'll take a little practice. So we went to the stones from the nature center.

Lacey tried her first ring from some GPNC amethyst

Thanks, Lacey!! Can't wait to play with this some more when I get to AZ. Want to do some key rings, too.

Kid Mitts

Found a great fingerless mitt (texting mitts) pattern for kids that is adjustable in size.

Some of the great nephews in the fam will get these for Christmas '16.

Necktie Owls

When I made the necktie necklaces, most of the fat end of the ties were left over. I saw online that they make wonderful little owls. So I sent them to niece, Laci, because she's a teacher. I knew that she or some of her colleagues would find a use for them.

She also let her son Ethan create his own kind of owl with them! He loves a good art project!

Generational Photo

I saw this fun idea on Pinterest a year or so ago.

October 2016: So when we were in Wichita in October, we got it done with our 4 generations of McClintock's fellas.

Knotted Up Bracelet

When Pam and I were browsing a gift shop in Lead, SD in September, I spotted this bracelet and thought, that should be easy enough to make. Sure enough.

I just used strands of leather, pearls, chains, and rope that I'd bought for the Hanky Bracelets. Tied them in a knot together and glued the end caps on. I think I'd try to make it smaller next time.

Necktie Necklace

Another fun Pinterest idea!

Brooke helped me pick out some fun ties at Goodwill

so she got this one for her birthday!

1. After washing and drying, take a man's tie that has design on the skinny part of the tie. Cut the skinny part off up near where it starts getting fat.
2. Carefully remove the stitches from the back
3. Remove the white batting and throw away
4. I kinda squared off the unevenness of the tie
5. Iron
6. Stitch the long ends together. Silk is tricky to sew with, so I googled the best way to do that. Basically, use the smallest stitches your machine has. And I went over it twice.
7. You will now have a tube, so turn the tube right-side out
8. Tie or safety pin one end of the tie. Place wooden beads in side the tube. Place as follows: 5 small, 3 medium, 1-3 large, 3 medium, and 5 small. Center them in the tube.
9. Take embroidery thread, or regular or metalic thread, and wind around and through each bead.

Sew up short ends and tie in bow. You can also put necklace end caps, etc if you prefer. I just tied in a bow.

My thing now is that I'd love to find some Razorback ties. Wouldn't that be fun to wear on game day?

I also looked for Christmas ties but now luck. But I found some that were kinda Christmas colors and I just added some Christmas ribbon to them. My Benton Fitbit peeps (who are also educators) love to do the Ugly Christmas Sweater thing. Thought that might go good with one. Maybe after Christmas I'll find some for next year.