Another attempt at fire starters

I have decided to give fire starters another try!! I have coated some toilet paper rolls with wax and have set them aside.  In the meantime I have been experimenting with how to best add some combustible materials to the inside before I wrap them in paper.  

With a bit of experimenting in the fire pit I have come up with a plan.  The wrapping paper needs to be not wrapped too tight so I think just overlapping with a staple in each end should work fine.  The inside needs to have a space for the air to travel in so I have made up some waxed rectangles of corrugated cardboard t

that just fit on the inside in the middle.  I will stuff a little bit of newspaper in the other side.  With both ends lit up the air can quickly start going through and will keep the flames burning until the kindling has started burning.  I will post photos of the finished fire starters once I have a few made up.    Therese
 

All occasion card featuring inchies, decorative paper strips and faux stitching

I was inspired to make this card after using inchies in one of my cards which will be showing up later.  I trimmed a piece of decorative paper to length for my large card and then trimmed it into three - all different widths.  Magically, the space that was left was just the perfect size for housing inchies.  I dug them from the little baggie and chose the ones that worked best with this colour scheme.  After gluing them all into place the rest of the card needed "something" so after a bit of brainstorming I decided to add some faux stitching with a dark brown pen.  I started added faux stitching all the way around each of the rectangles.  Next, I added one line from the middle left to the bottom right hand corner staying within the borders.  I was using a steel ruler so I did the other side as well.  I moved the ruler around and kept adding stitches.  After adding two lines closer together I decided it was finished!!  I like it!!!  This one is going into my card stash.  Therese
 

A new line of prayer flags are now up!!

I have been working on a new set of prayer flags for more than a year now as they other set was losing pieces as they faded with the sun and wind.  I had some black fabric that was not stable so I decided to sew small scraps to each side to make some colourful flags!!  I stitched a strip of scraps to one side and flipped the rectangle of black fabric over and stitched another line of scraps over the first seam.  I moved up the flag and added another two rows and repeated this process until I had covered both sides of the black fabric.  That was one flag.  I made forty of them.  They are substantially heavier than the last set but very colourful!!!  I did add fabric strips on both ends.  

As previous I left about 5 feet at the leading edge at the house and then overlapped the top edge over the paracord and stitched each one into place with a wavy line leaving about 6" between them.  I used line green polyester embroidery thread.  The ones from 2021 were still well attached at the top though the covering on the paracord was completely gone leaving only the strands inside.  They were still holding very well.  

We put the new set up yesterday.  They were pretty well as long as the last set. 

We set out the new set, undid the old set at the house and I climbed the neighbour's tree (I did get permission) and cut down the old set.   I was surprised that the tree had started growing over part of the cord in the four years since we put up the last set.  After cutting the cord I removed as much as I could so the tree could go on growing as it needed to.  So this time we secured the new set using a tie down straps with grommets on both ends instead of tying it directly to the tree.  That will allow the tree to grow and still secure the flags sufficiently!!

The final adjustment was made on the house end setting the flags high enough not to be in the way and still with some slack so they would move nicely with the wind.  

Love them!!!    Therese

 

All occasion card featuring washi tape, ribbon, brad and embossed feather

While in the cardmaking mood I made this card!!  I started with a black card and trimmed out a background from a scrap of scrapbooking paper.  I added three strips of washi tape  - blue, feathers and gray.  It took a little to get some of the older tapes to come off the roll in one piece.  I stamped and embossed the feather on a scrap of cardstock and then watercoloured it to coordinate with my background.  I trimmed a blue layer and added black ink to the edge and then used my distressing tool to distress the edges of both layers.  I like the way the black edge is softened by the distressing.  I added a star brad and a short piece of ribbon to this focal element before adding it to my card using 3D foam tape.  I like how it turned out.  Therese