Pushing limits

On By CarynIn Craft

I took my Cricut cutter to extremes to cut a photo mat. The material is a little thicker than recommended. I used the deep cut blade, a 12×24 inch mat, more pressure, and a setting that traced the pattern twice. It didn’t quite get all the way through the mat board, so I used a safety razor blade to finish the cut.

Photo description: using a safety razor blade to finish cuts in mat board, the matboard cover lifted a bit when removed from the Cricut mat, but it is on the back

The resulting mat has spaces for 16 2×3 inch photos for my youngest’s school photos. All the commercially available mats only had 13 spaces, kindergarten through 12th. I needed spaces for preschool too. I bought mats larger than the frame, which allowed me to trim down the outside with my paper cutter and make sure the Cricut cut rectangles were centered.

Photo description: finished mat over the original 13 space backing to show the new divisions, my paper cutter and my Cricut on the floor because that is the only space that can accommodate a 24 inch cutting mat (not pictured)

Tangled web

On By CarynIn Wildlife

My front door grape vine experiment with hot glued glass pebbles and thin draping strands of hot glue caught a spider.

Photo description: Spotted Orb Weaver spider caught on strands of hot glue

I saw the spider as I was leaving the house and thought it odd that it was sitting there exposed. I pulled on some of the glue threads and it moved, so I gently pulled the threads away. It turns out the spider was tangled in the thin strands of plastic. When I pulled away enough of the elastic string, the spider mobilized and moved to a more protected area. I finished taking all the hot glue strands off the sculpture. I had no idea they were capable of entrapment.

Plant shots

On By CarynIn Garden

Today I present some photos of plants around the house, inside and outside, and the reason they are unusual enough to warrant a picture.

Photo description: the hibiscus managed a few blooms this year, despite being choked out by the Gregg’s Mistflower. The Mistflower did not stay under 12 inches, but got leggy and tall because there isn’t quite enough light in the front bed. Mistflower does not respond well to being trimmed. The plan is to take out the whole bed and put it in the meadow, where there is more sunlight. Being a native plant we hope the Mistflower will do better there. For the hibiscus, maybe I can find it a new home.
Photo description: inside the house we have a jewel orchid living almost its best life. This is a closeup of a new leaf opening up in a spiral. I have the orchid in a bed of live moss with a tall clear cover to keep in the moisture. I don’t have to water it very often as the moss releases and reabsorbs the moisture in the closed environment. I don’t know why the leaves slightly curl the other way once fully open.
Photo description: this is a succulent in my terrarium and it seems to have produced flower-like leaves. The leaves on the left are white tinged with pink edges, rather than the striped green. I’m not sure if this is normal, or a sign of poor conditions, but they are pretty.

Tube stand

On By CarynIn Life Hack

I needed a stand for poster boards with lyrics printed for my chorus. We are changing a few lyrics of standard songs for a Halloween show, and we don’t need to commit them to memory. I love making frames from PVC pipe because they are light, easy to assemble and disassemble, and relatively inexpensive. I was out of PVC elbows at home, but I did have a ladder ball game, full of elbows, connectors, and tubes.

Photo description: stand made from plastic tubes from a ladder ball game

The stand has two positions, a vertical display, or turned 90 degrees, a slanted surface. It is just smaller than the poster board, so the edges of the signs are supported. To hang the poster board, I punched two holes at the top and used book rings to connect several sheets. One sheet always has to be on the back as counterweight, then the assembly hangs over the top bar of the stand.

Inside vs Outside

On By CarynIn Craft

In April I gathered some iris leaves and let them dry inside on a drying rack.

Photo description: freshly picked iris leaves on a mesh drying rack
Photo description: same iris leaves after five months
Photo description: dried iris leaves gathered from outside in September

I was surprised at the color difference between iris leaves dried inside, and those left to dry outside. The inside leaves are so much darker, but the color is more uniform. The outside dried leaves are more golden, but with streaks of black. What isn’t surprising is the grasshopper bites on the leaves left outside on the plant. There isn’t much grasshopper activity in April, but as the summer rolls through, and most of the other greenery turns brown, the grasshoppers go after the iris.

The next step is to see if there are any differences in how the leaves weave up.