Starting something new

On By CarynIn Craft

I bought a felt sewing kit two years ago, and just found it again while I was looking for something else. Since I have a dozen works in progress, what is one more? I really did try to put in back in the storage space, but it called to me. The first step was reading through the instructions (yes, I’m one of those), then prepping the materials and finding a project bag. I used bobbins cut from waste plastic to sort and hold the embroidery thread, and a small pill holder for the sequins and beads. The instructions suggest a plate, but I know myself and at the first distracted moment I would bump the plate and send seed beads all over the room. So I keep them on lock down. Yes, it takes a little longer to open the case, get out a bauble, then close the case, but it is better than picking them up off the floor and separating out the cat hair.

Photo description: “Holiday Housecats” felt kit with embroidery thread on bobbins, sequins and beads in a pill box, and a project bag with the needles threaded into the hem

Now to see how long it holds my attention and how long it takes to finish.

I’m looking over…

On By CarynIn Flora

A five leaf clover. Five leaves. Five.

Photo description: five leaf clover held in my fingers

I was doing my usual scan for four-leaf clover in a clover patch in my front yard, and spotted something new. I thought maybe it was a couple of separate clovers intertwined, but no, the patch produced a five-leaf clover. As this is my first sighting, and the specimen was pristine, I did pick it from the patch and put it in a press for posterity.

Five!

Thank you to all our veterans for your service and sacrifice for our freedom and country. What you did and are doing matters. Thank you.

Decommissioned

On By CarynIn chickens, Coop

When we added two chickens to the flock and had them separated, I put a hanging feeder in with them. When I integrated the flock I kept the hanging feeder full because I wasn’t sure the new hens would be able to use the Grandpa’s Feeder my original flock used. Turns out that all the hens preferred the hanging feeder. The advantage of the “Grandpa’s Feeder” is the wild birds and rats aren’t heavy enough to activate the lever and open the food bin. The disadvantage is that bugs can still get in. When checking feed I discovered that the entire bin was full of food riddled with holes.

Photo description: chicken feed in a Grandpa’s Feeder riddled with insect holes

One of the other advertised advantages of the Grandpa’s Feeder is that the metal grid and high sides keep the chickens from wasting food because they can’t fling it out of the container. A hanging feeder has this same advantage, so I emptied out the Grandpa’s feeder and decommissioned it, since I was only feeding bugs.

Photo description: hanging feeder filled with chicken feed

Another advantage of the hanging feeder is that I can see the food level from a distance. A disadvantage is that it is open on the top and if we get a heavy rain storm I loose a batch of feed to the wet. I’ve moved the feeder farther inside the porch area of the coop to see if that fixed the weather problem. Overall, the hens prefer the hanging feeder, and the hanging feeder is a fraction of the cost of a Grandpa’s Feeder.

Now it is mine

On By CarynIn art

I needed to upgrade my phone, which I hate doing and always wait until the end of updates looms. I do all the protective things for the new phone, and this time I purchased a clear case, and found a PopSocket with green, a cat, and dragonflies. Finding a design that had cats, dragonflies, trees, music, and fiber arts was a big ask, so I designed my own and cut shapes from removable vinyl with my Cricut cutter and stuck them to the inside of the clear case.

Photo description: back of my black phone, with a clear case and vinyl cutouts of my business logo showing tree branches and roots, the words “Sing Harmony”, a drop spindle, a treadle spinning wheel, and the Zelda triforce symbol

Now I feel that there is no mistaking the phone for anyone’s but mine.

Sprucing up signs

On By CarynIn art, Craft, Life Hack

My chorus had a couple old signs in storage that had old versions of logos and were in need of some TLC. The flexible vinyl sign had been stored folded and had some tape residue.

Photo description: tape residue on a vinyl sign
Photo description: sticky residue removed with Goo Gone

Goo gone removed the glue spots and some time with a hot hair dryer smoothed out some of the creases. We are now going to store it rolled up, rather than folded.

Photo description: masking tape outlining a star shape inside the existing star

We updated our main logo recently to add a white star inside the two gray stars, which gives it a nice pop. My Cricut cutter can’t cut quite big enough to make a white sticker star, so I masked off the star and painted it with four layers of white acrylic paint. My cutter could do the new Sweet Adelines International logo and our website address.

Photo description: vinyl sign updated with web site address, SAI logo, and white center star

We also had a rigid plastic sign that had an old SAI logo and slogan. I used white adhesive vinyl to go over the whole top of the sign, and used my Cricut cutter to cut out the new version of the logo.

Photo description: old plastic corrugated board sign
Photo description: large plastic corrugated board sign with updated SAI logo and white center star