TOTE BAG TUTORIAL



CUTE. . . . SMART



I use cardboard from cereal boxes to make my pattern, always jotting reminder notes to myself.
This bag, when finished, will have the following dimensions: bottom panel 10" X 7", end panels 10"X 7" side panels 10" X10"




The bag is lined with a variety of pockets on all four panels.
I cut, label and assemble all pieces for the lining first.

 


The outside of the bag will have pockets on the end panels only.
Here I have cut, labeled and assembled all pieces as well as the strips for the straps and the decorative bow.




I have added a grommet to one of the inside pockets for a convenient place to keep keys. I have also sewn a patch on with the name of my bags, Heritage Woods Totes. 




Here is the seam side out of the lining of the bag. Each side and end panel is sewn to the bottom panel the sides are then are sewn together. I usually like to reinforce the bottom panel by using two pieces of fabric and then sewing them together every 1/4 " back and forth. This gives a stronger, stiffer form to your bag.





This pictures the inside lining of your bag. You will notice how I love having plenty of pockets. They quickly become filled with an assortment of chapstick, hand lotion, coupons, receits, calendar, calculator, gloves, passport, wallet, camera, phone, tissue, crayons, cookies. . you get the idea.

 


Next sew together the outside panels of your bag with the seams facing in. You will now simply place the lining inside the outside shell. The two will mold together nicely with a little encouragement.





Sew your bow or your choice of decoration, and your "clasp" elastic on the ouside shell before sewing the lining and outside shell together. This will prevent the anchor stitching from showing on your lining. I sew my fabric into a strip about 33" long, make the bow and then cut it back to the desired length. If your strip of fabric is too short it is very difficult to work with.

 


Also sew you button on the other side panel, Your elastic band will loop over this button to allow some closure of your bag. I use covered pony tail elastics.




All around the top of your bag fold the raw edges together pinning them in place.




As you come to each corner insert at least an inch of the ends of the straps, pinning them into place. I made my straps about 33" long and adjusted them to the desired length by gathering the strap to make a bow.




About 4 to 5 hours later. . . :)



ROCKETS

CARDBOARD TUBE ROCKETS

My Grandsons glued/taped the nose cones and  the fins to the cardboard tube before painting and adding stickers. The rocket on the right has ignited and flames are coming from the base. We used several coats of tempra paints, allowing each coat to dry before applying the next. These rockets are 33 inches high and almost 2 inches in diameter.



ROCKETS THAT LAUNCH
This rocket can be launched. . .for real!

To build your rocket you need: two 2liter pop/soda bottles,
tape, cork stopper and cardboard for fins and funnel.

 With bottle #1, cut 1/4 of the top off to form the cone tip of the rocket. Fit the bottom of bottle #2 the into the #1 bottle. Tape the two bottles together with clear packing tape. Cut three fins from sturdy cardboard and tape to the bottle. Paint the end of your cork stopper with brightly colored paint. When your rocket takes off it can be difficult to find your cork. It never lands in the same place twice.

To Launch: Remove the cork stopper. Holding your rocket upside down pour about 1/2 to 1 cup of vinegar into your rocket, quickly followed by about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of baking soda through the funnel. Working quickly replace the cork stopper, give a quick couple of shakes, set your rocket upright balanced on its fins and stand back. Within only a few seconds the pressure will build up in your rocket forcing the cork out and the rocket upwards. We have had great sucess with some flights reaching about 50 feet in the air.

You may have to do some tweeking with the cork. If it is too lose not enough pressure is able to build before the cork comes out. Your rocket will not reach a desirable height. If your cork is too tight, any amount of pressure will not dislodge it. If this happens simply reach over and pull down on the cork to help it out and your rocket will take off.  

The rocket pictured above has had many flights and is in need of mantainence.



LITTLE BOY MADE AND POWERED

LOLLIPOP TREE

JANUARY LOLLIPOP TREE

Lollipop trees first came to my mind when, as kids, my older brother and I had finished our very tasty red lollipops and started daydreaming. We discussed how great it would be if one could just plant a lollipop stick and have an actual lollipop tree sprout up. Deciding to give it a try we selected a spot down in the lower pasture underneath a clump of young birch next to an outcrop of  stone ledge. We carefully planted our sticks and checked for days then weeks and months. Nothing ever materialized from that tenderly cared for little garden but future generations have had a harvest of lollipops.

 When my children were just little girls I suggested  they try planting their lollipop sticks to see what might happen. The next morning delicious sweet fruit appeared on the small tree in our front yard. Another time my younger siblings, who were only a little older than my own children, were invited to try their hand at this particular type of farming. They too found an abundance of colorful lollipops taped to numerous branches, sprouting up overnight. My oldest grandson had a very successful lollipop tree several years ago but became suspicious when he noticed the tape.

This January my youngest grandson, now five, blessed Gram with the greatest excitement ever displayed upon finding a full lollipop tree. He had planted his stick the week before and was waiting quite patiently. When he came to my house for a visit I told him that the lollipop tree had finally grown and was full of lollipops. He could hardly contain himself. He quickly put his winter clothes back on, raced into the back yard yelling at the top of his lungs for his brother to come and share in the fun. As he was picking the lollipops he exclaimed, "they even come with their own tape and wrappers!!!"

       Oh the wonderment often found only in childhood . . .though I must say that as an adult I have checked on more than one occasion underneath that little cluster of birch next to the stone ledge. . just maybe after all these years . . .

CHRISTMAS WREATH TUTORIAL

WELCOME

I had just bemoaned the fact, to my husband, that I would not be able to make a big wreath for my front door this year when a terrific wind storm came up overnight. Making a nice full wreath takes a lot of boughs, too expensive to purchase the trunkful needed. One year my daughter noted a gardner pruning a large fir on the campus of a local college. She asked if she might have a few branches and he offered her a whole truck load and delivered it to her door as well!  We made wreaths, swags, center pieces, baskets and boxes of fresh boughs, and gave armloads to our friends and neighbours. That doesn't happen every year. This year looked grim and I thought I might get a few free boughs from the tree farm where we get our tree. The ground is usually littered with tips from the trimming process which gives the trees their perfect shape. After the wind storm I gathered two trunkfuls and had boughs for wreaths, baskets and  some to share with friends.

After aquiring your pile of fresh boughs, spruce, fir or pine, you'll need a comfortable stool and a warm place to work. I bought my wire frame a couple years ago from a florist. I always go to the trouble of disassembling my wreath to save the frame and the roll of wire. I  wear rubber gloves as working the boughs and wire is hard on your hands. You may need scissors or clippers if your boughs don't snap easily to the length you want.

First secure your wire to the frame. Your wreath will be made up of many handfuls of small bunches such as is pictured here. The foundation of each bunch may be made up of boughs which are missing their tips as pictured.

Each foundation will be covered with 4 to 6 nicely tipped pieces. Now you have a nice tight bouquet of boughs approxametly 6 to 8 inches long. Wire the bouquet onto the frame at the base making sure each twig is held in place by the wire. I generally wrap it 2 to 3 times per bunch. Your next prepared bunch or "bouquet" will go on top of the previous one, though an inch or so further along the wire frame. This is repeated until you have completely filled in your frame. The tighter your bunches are together the fuller your wreath will be.

The back of your wreath should look like the picture below, very little green, but many tightly wired stems.







COME AGAIN!



1---2---3 CHRISTMAS TREE STAND TUTORIAL

 Several years ago my husband and I decided to have a fresh oversized Christmas tree and skip the 4 foot artificial one we had been using.
    We have made a family tradition of going out to a tree farm and cutting our own ever since. I make up goodie bags and hot chocolate for the kids and play their favorite Christmas carols. After much hunting for the perfect tree they coach Grampie as he lays on the ground to saw down the chosen tree.     We discovered an easy and efficient way to put our tree up:
                                                        1-2-3
  This year we have a modest 8 foot tree. Last year I convinced my husband that we needed a huge 14 footer. Well our tree stand does not work for that height as we found after much trial and error. Eleven feet would seem to be the best working option. Sadly we had to cut 3 feet from the bottom of the 14 footer. I did however gain a good supply of boughs from those 3 feet, enough to make swags and to share with my neighbors.

First trim the lower branches to allow the trunk to fit well into the container,

Measure and cut out a piece of plywood to fit the bottom of your container.

Nail the plywood to the trunk with several good size nails.

Once inside choose your location for the tree. Two people is all that is required to hoist the tree into the container. While one holds the tree steady the other starts fitting rocks into the container all around the trunk. As you can see we are using fist sized and slightly larger rocks to hold the tree in place. It does not move! Before all the rocks are in place we take turns eyeballing the tree, from several angles, to make sure it is straight. Once your rocks are in, water the tree and start decorating. I always place a plastic drop cloth or table cloth under the container just in case it develops a leak. I also line the container with a couple of garbage bags to keep the water where I want it and not on my floor.
    Just reverse the order when it is time to take the tree down.

CHRISTMAS CANDY & POPCORN

My Grandsons love getting their hands into the peanut butter and confectionars' sugar to make dozens of "PEANUT   BUTTER     BALLS" These little treats are good for any occassion and you can add to them most any dried fruit or nut. I add chocolate chunks, raisins, coconut and sometimes a marshmallow center as a fun surprise. My measuring cups and spoons are set aside when I'm making these and I go with the feel of the ball. I want it to be fairly dry which you can adjust by the amount of confectioners' sugar used. It does however need  to be moist enough to form into a ball. Once we have all the balls formed we dip them into our waiting melted chocolate which has been in a warm oven around 150 to 170 degrees. I use a BBQ skewer inserted into the ball then dip it into the bowl of melted chocolate, encourage the excess chocolate to drip off the ball then placing it on a sheet of wax paper to cool using another skewer to help release the inserted skewer if necessary. If you want to add sprinkles to the top it must be done before the ball begins to cool and harden. If however, you want to add an additional color like white chocolate you must wait until after the ball has hardened to dip a second time to get a white top.
Needed: Peanut Butter      confectioners' sugar     melted chocolate

MOLASSES   POPCORN        

Using a skillet add brown sugar, butter and molasses with a pinch of salt, bring to a boil stirring to prevent it from boiling over until it reaches the forms the soft ball stage. My Mom, many decades ago, in the 1950s taught me to test this by dropping a small amout of the candy from a spoon into a cold glass of water and with your finges try forming it into a ball. If sucessful you know your candy is ready to remove from the heat. At this time you can pour your hot mixture over the popcorn. I have my popcorn ready in a large roasting pan with the bottom and sides greased to prevent the candy from sticking. The kids can get in on this part using a wooden spoon to mix the candy with the popcorn. The candy is very hot until it has been mixed with the popcorn and I would suggest adults only for heating and pouring the candy molasses mixture.  Again I leave my measuring cups aside and use approxametly equal portions of molasses, butter and brown sugar.                                                                                                                  

HOME   MADE   MARSHMALLOWS
   My boys love their hot chocolate and marshmallow and have discovered their fondness for these marshmallow treats which I often include in their after school snacks. The kids can get involved once the cooking portion is complete and the marshmallow is ready to be cut. The cookie cutters come out and they get to make all their favorite shapes. The treats pictured here I have dipped in melted chocolate followed by  sprinkles.
DIRECTIONS:
About 1 cup confectioners' sugar
3 &1/2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold water divided
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup of light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon vanilla
Oil bottom and sides of a 13 X 2 inch pan and dust well with confectioners' sugar. In a large bowl sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup of cold water, and let stand to soften. In a heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, second 1/2 cup of cold water and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until sugar is dissolved. Slowly increase heat to bring mixture to a boil, no longer stirring, until it reaches 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. (about 12 minutes) Pour over gelatin and water mixture that have been standing, stir until mixed. Using an electric mixer beat for about 6 to 10 minutes until it is white, thick and nearly tripled in volume. Pour into your oiled and dusted pan, dust top of marshmallow with confectioners' sugar and let stand until set. Mine is usually set with in an hour though some directions say to wait several hours or overnight. Once set turn out on a surface dusted with confectioners' sugar and start to cut the shapes you want. Dust all cut edges well with confectioners' sugar to prevent from sticking.

ANTIQUING PAPER

My Grandsons and I had fun making Christmas decorations by antiquing paper song sheets which we thank;

raidensgrammie21's photostream  

for allowing us to print all these wonderful old Christmas Carols. We have aranged them on the mantle. You could also print them out to a smaller size, attach a ribbon to the top and use them for tree ornaments. We so enjoyed making these that it inspired us to have an old fashioned Christmas theme for this year. Many of our decorations are boughs, baneberries, rose hips, gingerbread men and candy canes.

After printing off the size sheets and songs that we wanted we taped the full sheet to the counter.


The boys dipped their paint brushes into a cold cup of coffee and started painting being careful not to be too even. 

 A second or third uneven coat adds to the old and worn look. Careful not to over work the paper as it could cause it to tear.

We used a hair blower to help speed up the drying process in between coats of coffee

We very sparingly coloured small areas of the pictures on the song sheets with fine tipped markers. We used a little yellow on a candle flame or lighted window or a touch of red and green on  holly or a tree.

After gluing our songsheets onto cardboard we used an ink pad to give the edges a used look with first a bit of black followed by a hint of gold. Both colors are applied unevenly. We generally get a medium weight cardboard paper from super markets where they use large sheets of it to separate rolls of T.P. or paper towels set out on pallets. They don't charge for this paper which has many good uses for all kinds of craft projects.

 

 The glued paper tends to curl but flattens out nicely if placed underneath some heavy books for a few hours.

Our final addition is a wedge shape piece of the cardboard glued and taped to the back of each finished song sheet to allow it to stand by itself.