SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

OOPS! This crafter forgot to blog after, so the blog sat on a log................

Apologies to our followers...what a busy month we've had. 5 gatherings, organizing our second craft fair, working on personal sale items AND three oil paintings for a 80th birthday surpise have had me over busy. Not to mention that Martha Darling has gotten me so addicted to Swedish Weaving that I'm on my second project already. Thanks Martha!

Kudos to all the crafters that now can call themselves vendors after their premiere at the second craft show at the Buckhead Ridge Moose. Everyone did extremely well -- first prize goes to Darlene Brown - she sold 15 crocheted ribbon necklaces that will be taken to Germany as gifts. Go Darlene!!!!!!!!!

A personal thanks to all that donated toward baskets for the community Easter Egg Hunt that the Moose Lodge 2417 hosts. This is our second community participation in just three months of existence. Crafters are generous people.

Welcome to our newest friends, if you aren't one yet, come and stay awhile.

See you in the fall to Darlene as she travels to Missouri and Martha Darling who had to leave us for the summer. We will miss you both!

Speaking of Martha, look at the pattern she created for this Swedish Weave lap blanket:



THANKS FOR TEACHING US (me), your a Darling


CarolAnn one our newest members brought this blanket that she is working on....................

see the quilt below that she is handstitching with specialized needlework.

The Group: When you walk into our gatherings you never know what you will find. The only constant is busy, happy people.

CarolAnn's quilt

Beaded necklaces are a big hit. Steve Grant is learning to make some beautiful pieces..............but once in awhile he plays 5200 pickup.

My cat painted my craft room floor last week, it happens to all of us. What can we make out of the oops? LAUGHTER

CRAFT FAIR - MARCH 20, 2010

Nancy Stout -

Jewelry Designer

Sandoone & Mike's Pot People

For my father-in-law's 80th birthday photographs of the mountain home he built and his summer home in North Carolina were reproduced on a rock (from Hendersonville, NC) and one of his used saw blades.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

March is National Craft Month!

We will be following the national trend this month at our second BHR Moose Craft Fair hosted by the W.O.T.M. on March 20, 2010 from 8 - 4. This promises to be even bigger and better than the first one in December. Pass the word to local friends and family to come out and see what the locals have created. Still have a few spaces available, but they are going fast.

If you have a link that you would like posted on the blog, feel free to add it. You can publish your own post, or add to the comments. Posting will be seen sooner I'm sure. Time to add your pics as a follower, and suggest to friends that they join as a follower of the blog. Would love to see that our follower list is growing!

Personally wish that "blogging" was as easy as some of my craft projects!

SUPPLIES: THANKS to members who have made shopping trips to the coast for supplies, found new stores and bring back patterns and information. Word is that there is an awesome JoAnn Fabrics and craft store (as well as 6 Michael's) in the Kissimmee area, with the mega Jo Ann's on Hwy 192. Anyone interested in a caravan to Kissimmee?

Reminder that next week we will have both a Tuesday evening gathering (March 9th) and the usual Wednesday afternoon. See note below to see who is going to help us on Wednesday. Our groups are interested because there is usually more than two subjects being worked on at once. This week the focus was Swedish weaving, however there was............

Jewelry making too! Our resident Nellie (Nell) Stanley who does lampwork glass beads for her jewelry (http://www.firedancerbeads.etsy.com/.com/) and Steve and Karen Grant busy discussing their beads and jewelry methods. Steve is new at wire-wrapping and Karen has just discovered the technique of polymer clay caning to make beads. Their work will be for sale at the craft fair on March 20th from 8 - 4 at the Buckhead Ridge Moose Lodge.

Clever seamstress, Maureen Bradley creates jewelry carrier.

Apolgies for these less than perfect pictures (photographer I'm not). Maureen Bradley made this jewelry carrier for Nellie. It is a red velvet holder with beautiful handles, velcro holders and an extra pouch for a really special piece. Nellie will use this to carry and display her beautiful lampwork bead pieces. Great job Maureen!!

Swedish Weaving Class - March 3, 2010

A simple, but beautiful craft. The white throw with rainbow colors was done in one evening!

The white and pastel placemat was a first, and the maroon sample placemat the one that this group was there to learn. You can learn too, just ask us how!

Swedish Weaving lesson given by Martha Darling. Thanks Martha, we really enjoyed it!

Look at these two items that members finished on their own. Everyone is learning new things and already are saying that they have too many projects to finish. That's the life of a crafter!!

Life is good!

BENEFIT February 28, 2010, Okeechobee Moose Lodge 1753. Thank you to all the artists and crafters that donated items to help raise money for a member in need. We were greatly represented and your donations were most appreciated.

March 9th, is the monthly Tuesday evening group, as well as Wednesday afternoon the 10th.

Ernie Granberg and tools will be available to learn scroll saw, jigsaw and dremel uses. Bring scrap wood if you are interested.

Until next time, Happy Crafting!

KEEPING UP TO DATE

Over the next few weeks we have some important things coming up:

This Sunday, February 28 is when our group will be hosting a table to sell crafts as a fundraiser for Mr. Don Hadley at the Okeechobee Moose at 1:00, and participate in the auction to follow.
As said before, Nancy Bartholomew has donated a quilt. Please give me any articles that you are willing to donate for the cause.

Swedish Weaving Class - March 3rd. Martha Darling will teach us this skill with Maureen Bradley's help.........see post titled SWEDISH WEAVING CLASS.

The Buckhead Ridge Craft Fair will be held on March 20th. Space is selling fast, so please let me know if you still need a space.

POSTS/COMMENTS

Be sure to check out the comments following posts. Nellie posted a link to chrocet using plastic bags under last week's blog. To post something your self just "sign in", you will go to "dashboard" and simply fill out your post. By posting your own links, others will see your infor quicker. If you need help, let me know.

See you soon, until then, Happy Crafting

A Man in the Midst!

Wednesday, February 17th brought back Dee Grover to our group. These are samples of pine needle weaving trivets. If you look close you will see that the one on the left is leather art that she did as the center. She demonstrated how to begin these trivets and amazed us with sliced walnuts as the center. A man in Canada slices these for her.




Sew What? Sew anything we want to. Patterns, fabrics and ideas were flying as we prepare for the March 20th craft fair at the Buckhead Ridge Moose Lodge.

A BIG WELCOME to Steve Grant. Steve does wire wrapping on stones for jewelry making, completing some of his own jewelry designs. Interest in his art was apparent. We are looking forward to his wife joining us with her polymer clay pieces.

Our Missourian, Darlene painted this flower pot and added seashells for a cheery pot.

Dorothy came with many seashells to share and wood to make frames or wreaths. This is the one she completed. Look at all these organized shells.

She also finished her new holiday mailbox cover just in time for St. Patrick's Day.

Hanging flamingo and redbird are made from foam board and cd discs.

I'm having some difficulty learning how to place pics in this blog, so continue to bear with me until I master it.

Happy Crafting!

SWEDISH WEAVING CLASS SCHEDULED

Several people wanted to learn this special weaving so we have scheduled Wednesday, March 3rd to learn from Martha Darling. I'm sure Maureen will help out too. The two pictures of this weaving are samples from both Martha and Maureen.

Supplies needed: A large eye needle (used sometimes for plastic canvas). Martha suggests a plastic one if you can get it. Two of our group are shopping now to try and pick up extras from the coast. Martha will provide the woven material and yarns, expect to reimburse her approximately $5.00.

In order to have enough supplies for everyone though, please let me know if you will be attending this group.

Beautiful.............................

Growing Creatively

We are growing in size and creativity! February brought us the second evening group on Tuesday, February 9th. Those who can't attend our Wednesday gatherings had a good time finally having a chance to join us. Before I bring you up to date on this night and the next day let me tell some exciting feedback I received on Monday, February 15th. Members from the Stuart Moose Lodge reported that at a Moose District meeting held on Sunday in Ft. Pierce that people were talking about our group! They said there was alot of buzz and interest with people looking forward to seeing some of our things at the benefit being held February 28th at the Okeechobee Moose Lodge. In six weeks we have captured the interest of people outside of Buckhead Ridge. Way to go crafters, I love that we can create inspiration ..... pass it on.....

Sandoone learned how to crochet (a scrubby) from Maureen

Cathy began working on her first counted cross stitch entitled "Thumbs Up". THUMBS UP to Cathy.............looking good

Nellie used a caning technique with polymer clay and a toaster oven (first time we ever tried this oven). The "mistake" of overbaking resulted in these beautiful pieces.... now we are looking for a creative way to use them. She taught some people how to crochet seed bead bracelets too, but I missed getting a picture. So Sorry

Maureen handpainted this lovely purse which she made. Her first attempt at freehand fabric painting. Great job - many more beautiful ones to come I'm sure.

Dorothy who has been painting for years demonstrated some techniques to those interested. See her leprechaun mailbox cover below.

New friends joined us on Wednesday.....then had so much fun that they went back and told their friends. I was invited to meet some of them Wednesday evening and look forward to having them join us this week. One gentleman who does wire wrap jewelry is going to join us as well as another gentleman who is an artisit with drawings and paintings.

The following pictures are of projects in process, and finished samples provided by various members of the group. Everyone is willing to share and teach any of these items if you want to know how to make them.

I will be posting another blog regarding the Swedish Weaving, until then....

Happy Crafting!

Hearts & Flowers from our Crafters

Last Wednesday was testament to the interest of this group in learning new techniques and sharing new experiences.

Only our fourth gathering and in they came with purpose. It was evident that no one was concerned about what they should do or had a question as to what they wanted to do. Armed with supplies and ideas they plunged right in - and knew who to ask for assistance with new areas of learning. Thanks to Dorothy we all had name tags - hearts and fabric made up into personalized tags that can be used and reused. For newer members (or those of us forgetful) they sure helped to learn new names. Great idea! Our masking tape name tags were tacky!

Like a mother hen, I once realized that the "kids" were all quiet............"I guess the food is good, no one is talking", brought a round of laughter as they all chimed in that they were too engrossed in their personal projects to talk. How inspiring!


New friendships are forming, two women have gotten their talents together and are already planning a partnership in creating, making and selling items at the March craft fair. One of their "products" will be a take off of a similar sample they saw the week before..... looking forward to the end results.



Ann Niner brought in clear vinyl with the purpose of making a tablecloth cover for one of the Moose Lodge bathrooms.....................well inspire us ----------look what we did as a finishing touch.........

Some of the new experiences are so contagious that people are getting together at other times of the week in their homes to continue crafting. Fabric painting has been a great success and participants are learning that the painting can flow over into so many other areas........ and what is fabric painting without fabric? Just look at this purse that Nancy B. made - allowing us to let our minds wander toward possibilities...................someone else embellished it, what do you think?

A big thank you to Nancy B. who brought in finished quilts for donation purposes with one set aside for a benefit at the Okeechobee Moose Lodge on February 28th. Thanks so much!

Nancy will be attending a basket weaving class this week and unable to join us, but promises she will learn well and come back to teach us.

This week there are two gatherings, Tuesday evening February 9th 6:30 p.m. and Wednesday afternoon 12:00. I've made sample items of simple polymer clay - can't show you yet, have to paint tonight. One will be a magnet and one will be a brooch. Bring your ideas this week, I will bring my toaster oven and clay. With all our beaders around, maybe some would like to try making their own beads. Let's create.

Can't wait to show the group my two new pieces of wood cut outs. I tried a giraffe and a rooster. Don't tell them what they are, I want to see if they know.............................

Happy Crafting!