Miniature Sewing Machine Drawers

 Hello Mini Friends!  This is a really simple little project made to look like an old sewing machine drawer filled with sewing goodies!  Made with a popsicle stick, old fabrics, and whatever you would like to fill them with.  I made a few tiny pin cushion tomatoes from clay, some spools of thread from a cut up Q-tip, buttons from tiny sequins, and a faux pair of scissors from bra hooks.  They were so fun to make!

I measured and cut the popsicle sticks at 1 3/4 inch pieces - three of those.  I tried to cut the smaller end pieces from the stick, but my scissors kept busting the piece.  So, I wound up using a scrap piece of balsa wood and cut two pieces at 1/2 inch for the ends.

I used my trusty Elmer's wood glue.

I did file the ends down using a fingernail file.

These are pieces of an old bracelet, an eye hook and a sewing pin for a drawer pulls.

I did paint the light blue pin tip with a darker color to match.

The bra hooks - "scissors" I simply straightened out the hook part with my small plyers.

And these are the tomatoes before I painted them (the green leaves are not glued on yet).  The button cards are just cardstock and gel pen.  Gathering the contents was fun!

I dampened each piece of fabric with watered down mod podge and placed them.  After they dried I used a tiny bit of wood glue on the side of the box to hold the pieces in place.

Such a simple and fun winter project!

Thanks for stopping by!  Feel free to share the link in my pictures to Pinterest!

XOXO ~Laurie

Afternoon Crafting

It is amazing what one can do sitting on the porch on a warm spring afternoon... besides doze off.  I am loving my church pew being on the porch.  I cannot wait to sit on it to shell peas, break beans, chat with friends and spit watermelon seeds over the porch rail.  Today I decided that I needed a couple of pillows for the pew.  I dug around in my fabric stash and found a piece of vintage scenic fabric and some velvety upholstery stuff and got to work.  I only had one bag of stuffing and one of the pillows was going to be fairly big.  So I cut up a bed pillow that no one really uses anyway and used the stuffing from it for all three of the pillows.  Then I started working on my other pillows.

 

My Uncle from Florida gave me a bunch of shot bags on their last visit here.  They are too cool.  I have made a pillow or two out of shot bags in the past for our rocking chairs on the back porch.  They are super simple if you know anything about using a needle and thread.  If you don't, I made a few to sell in my Etsy shop, ShotgunsAngel.  So I used some of the bag of stuffing to stuff these little cuties.  They really add a bit of character to the seat and they aren't very big but will offer good support to you lower back.  I think all church pews should have them!  I have sat many a time in church with my arm or a hymn book behind my lower back.  Those sermons can get long!

 

If you want one of my pillows and are local, give me a holler and we could probably do something about the shipping charge... the shot shell pillows... not the other ones... sorry.  I know they are going to be in hot demand too. 

 

 

Starting Seeds

Gardening is one of those things that can yield fantastic rewards. From beginning to end, delight to worry, raw ground to water, the whole experience begins with a single plant. Have you ever thought of starting your garden from seed? I'm going to help you learn how. I have yet to build our entire garden from seed because during spring and early summer I turn into some sort of plant buying nut! I can't resist the beauty in greenhouses and possibilities of what the plants may produce for me someday. Starting plants from seed, purchased seed or seed that was saved from you garden last year, has a different kind of reward. To walk down the rows of veggies and think " knew you when you were just a seedling" feels great. Today let's go over starting tomato seeds.

Now, you're going to need seeds which are available at any hardware store and even at the dollar store this time of year. To prepare the seeds, take one section of paper towel and fold it in half several times. Run the paper towel under water to soak. Place seeds on one end of the paper towel and make one last fold over to cover seeds. Allow seeds to germinate in the wet paper towel for at least 24 hours. Keep the paper towel moist at all times.

Next, you're going to need pots and dirt. You pots can be peat pots, egg shell cartons, re-used six packs and flats from last year. I prefer newspaper pots. They are cheap, a new use for old newspaper and you can plant them right in to the ground. It just makes more sense to me. To make a newspaper pot tear a folded sheet or newspaper down the middle then across the middle. That means that one big folded piece of newspaper would make four pots. Take one of the small sections and fold it long-ways twice. Using a juice glass, roll the newspaper around the glass, fold under the bottom of the glass and, sitting the glass upright, press on a table to make the bottom. Or you can buy a paper pot maker here.



Place dirt in pots leaving 1/2 inch at the top. Place one or two seeds in each pot and cover with 1/4 inch or potting soil. Stores have special "tomato dirt" available, I've not used this before. I find good ole potting soil does the trick just fine. Place the paper pots on a pan with a lip, something that will hold water. Pour water into the pan just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Within 10 minutes or so the pots and dirt will absorb the water. Cover the pots on the pan with saran wrap and place your pan of pots in a warm location such as on top of the refrigerator until seedlings appear. Water the pots twice a day, morning and evening. Like anything else, if the soil is dry.. water is needed... if it is really moist don't water. You don't want to soak the poor things to death.

Once seedlings appear, and they probably won't all at the same time, place the tray in a sunny window. Keep watering as needed and just baby the heck out of them until they are big enough to go outdoors which would be after the danger of frost. In our area, Middle Tennessee, now is the prime time to begin your seeds. We usually plant our garden on May 15th. Mainly because Shaun's Granddaddy said so. We figure he's done it more times than we have so he probably knew best.


You can begin just about any seeds this way. Be careful to read directions on the packets that you buy. Some herbs need to be planted on top of the soil, some more shallow in dirt than others. Some are just too small to need the paper towel soaking and can be started right in the pots.


Isn't this tine parsley precious?

Small greenhouses can be used inside. Last year I used a bench in our spare bedroom with a heating vent underneath it and draped a thin quilt over the bench to hold in a little heat. It was definitely a make shift green house attempt. This year Santa brought me a small green house to start seeds in. I have it in the basement and have a heater rigged up on the bottom shelf that comes in intermittently keeping it at a tropical temperature between 85-95 degrees.

It has worked great so far and when the seedlings are ready to spend a little quality time in the sun, a little at a time at first, they can do so in this green house, tied down!, without fear of wind or rain abusing them before they are strong enough to handle it. I encourage you to give it a try.
I will offer up a packet of Black Cherry Tomato seeds for free if anyone is interested. Just leave a comment with you email and I'll get in touch with you.

Show Your Love

Hiya folks! Here's a fun little sewing project that you can do for Valentine's Day so you can "show your love." What you need is a sheet of felt, a sheet of paper, sequins, seed beads, thread, a needle and a safety pin.

First, cut heart shape out of the piece of paper. If you aren't real good at drawing hearts you can trace one from a cookie cutter or whatever else you have. Next trace the heart onto your felt. You want to cut out 2 hearts. Next, you want to begin sewing sequins and beads onto the top side of one of the hearts. Once you have the entire heart covered you'll need to whip stitch the other heart on to the back of the sequined heart to both hide and protect your stitching. When you are finished stitching around the outside of your heart be sure and run your needle into the back to bury the final thread after you knot it. And last, thread your safety pin in to the back of your heart and apply to whatever you wish!

I found the safety pin that is shown at a local craft store in the jewelry supply department. If you are using a regular safety pin you can stitch it on to the back heart before sewing the two hearts together.

I hope you enjoy showing your love!!