My Sweet Prize & Eye Candy for You

Just look at what I received in the mail.
All the way from Germany
and Sweet Alexandra's Cottage-Dreams blog.
This was the OWOH prize I won.
Get ready for some creative and wonderful cuteness!!

Sweetly wrapped keys and lace.

Little flowers tucked here and there.

A bright and cheery Spring card.

I hear your oooh's and aaah's now.
Isn't she lovely beyond words?
A sweet little lavender sachet.

And lovely old tin types.
I love them all!!
Can it get any better?

Yes, a sweet little box filled with silver charms.

And a beautiful little pillow all trimmed with lace and sweetness.
Are you lovin' it yet?

And here it all is.....
A dream package from a lovely lady across the ocean.

Oh, one more thing.
See the black book in with all those lovely treasures?
It is a German Bible!

And you know how I love Bibles!

and even inscriptions in the front of it.

This was a package full of surprises and sweetness.
Thank you so much Alexandra!!!

If you have not been to her blog, please go visit.
It is filled with beauty and delightful treasures.
(and she has an ETSY site too!)

http://s32.dawandastatic.com/Product/14177/14177541/long/1289757502-421.jpg?20101114171140

blessings to all
barbara jean

nesday

New Treasures for You

Love measuring devices.
Look at the cool cover on this one.

And LOVE that rusty numbered tape.
Now I did not unroll it all to see,
but I'm guessing the WHOLE thing looks like that.
Who would have thought just sitting and looking
at rusty numbers could be so fun. =)

Another nest under a cloche.
(and one outside).

New friends and daughters cards.

New wire cloche. (with a nest of course).

And a bit of new art to remind me where my strength comes from.

Blessings
barbara jean

Google Reader

Hey out there. More questions about Google Reader.
(this picutre has nothing to do with it, just a pretty for you.)

Since my fave blogs list is not working, again,
I have been reading through Google Reader instead.

Are there only blogs on there we have signed up for?
Or is any blog that has Google Reader on that list?

I ask, because there are dozens of blogs on there I
never signed up for, never even heard of.

I've been going to their blogs, and sure enough, there is my name on
their follower list.
Now I know this sounds impossible, but I have never seen these blogs before,
nor are some of them ones I would have signed up to follow.

Any input on this?

Thanks and blessings
barbara jean
PS Thanks Kim, for all your help to understand how to sign up for things too.

Too Many Clocks?

OH NO!
Do we have too many clocks?

My sweet fella and I were talking about a show
about a woman who was a hoarder.
I mentioned that he should be glad I buy for the store,
and not just bring it all home and keep it.
He said, "Is that right?"
He started looking around the room.
I said, "What?"
"Clocks", he said.
How many clocks do we have?

So I began to take pictures, and count.
Above, the keepsake clock.
One my friend made years ago for me.

And the cute iron clock in the dining room.

The clock on the living room wall.
(so we can see time to check TV schedule.)

The clock on the other wall in living room.
(It looks cute from outside.)

The clock in the family room.

One in sewing room.

Old, old clock I painted years ago.
In main bathroom.

One in the study.

And then this one again.
It is in our little bathroom.
That is only 9 clocks!
Not too many.
(of course this does not count the stove clock, and alarm clocks.)

How many clocks do you have in your house?


Blessings
barbara jean

Eye Glasses - Tutorial

Remember this picture from a couple of days ago?
I was showing off the vintage eye glasses I made.
Well here is the tutorial I promised.
Please excuse any blurry pictures.
My helper was not trained in this field. =)

What you will need

Wire- a bit about it:
I used *20 & 22 gauge.
(18 was too hard to work with, 24 might be fine)
I would just experiment with whatever you have on hand.
* the bigger the number, the smaller the wire.
I used both a black wire, and the silver wire in this post.
The kind that comes on larger rolls is best. no kinks.
Wire cutters
pliers
a round object
the size you want your lenses to be.
I used a bottle of nail polish.
a 2 oz bottle of acrylic paint is a good size too.

For the size glasses I made, I cut a 2' piece of wire.

Fold it in the middle to make the nose piece.

Eyepiece.

To make the eyepiece hold the center of the wire in your left hand.
Take the bottle in your right hand,
and place it just to the right of the center with the
wire going over the top of the bottle.
Holding the wire down on the bottle with your right thumb,
roll the wire around the bottle once,
and go past where you started.

close up below.
Do this on both sides.

You should end up with something similar to this.

A bit of work to do on these.
To shape up that left left piece,
just put the bottle back in and pull wire tighter.

Earpieces
You want to make sure they come to about
the same spot on both sides.
Now, with your hand or pliers,
bend each side so it goes back.
You want to gently, but firmly hold on to
your lenses while doing this, lest you bend
your new glasses out of shape. =)
This bending can be done at the top, or middle of the frames.
I ended up liking the middle the best.

Time to cut off extra wire.
Normally, glasses ear pieces are about as long
as the glasses are wide, so use wire
cutters to get rid of any extra now.

Ear pieces can be done several different ways,
just like regular glasses are different.
If you want a curved ear piece, just
fold it around your bottle like you did the frames.

Or you can just leave them straight out the back,
maybe curving them just slightly with your fingers.
(no picture)
Or, this is the newest one:
Fold the ear pieces back so it looks like they are folded up.
Just like we do with our own.
The other thing to be aware of, especially if you
are laying them down like they are in the picture below,

is that your frames need to be even with the nose piece.
You do not want the to rock when you set them down.
Did that make sense?

Tweaking your glasses:

Your glasses will probably have a bit of a gap between the wires.

To fix this, gently push the back wire
slightly through the frames to the front.
Then push them back.
Doing this will usually put them in pretty close.

And here are your glasses!!
They will take some practice to get them just so,
but a very inexpensive and fun project to do.

Now, where did I put my glasses?
Oh, there they are.

Here is another pair.

Can you find them in this picutre?

yep. one of my bears is wearing them.

I even made a pair for my granddaughters doll.

In case you are wondering how I got started doing these,
here is the story.

As always, if you do anything up from my tutorials, or
ideas you see here, please let me know.
I would love to how them off to my friends.

Blessings
barbara jean

I am signing up with some of the wonderful parties on my side bar.
Hope you will go check them out.

"F" is for......

"F" is for
"Funky" old miter box.
I'm loving this!!!
I'll take the metal guide part off and use the rest for a display.
Hmmm, wonder what I can do with those metal parts?

Fabulous sewing machine cabinet....

turned shelf.
The grandpa added shelves to the part
of the cabinet a sewing machine set in.
Creative!!


"F" is for
Fancy........

Coffee grinder.

Another nest home?

How about a little pinkness in the Fun and games department?
First pink flashcards I have ever seen.
And Spill and Spell.
Love those dice with letters on them.

And, "F: is for....new frames.
Thinking I will leave them just as they are.
They will fit great in the new room at the store.
Would you change them? How?

Thanks for coming by

blessings
barbara jean