I'm Fall-ing for Ace

I have a secret love. It's a love that few people who know me would suspect. I just can't help myself-- Ace can give me what I didn't even know I needed, that something that's been missing from my life. Ace fulfills me in ways no other can.

No other hardware store, that is.

The Westlake Ace Hardware on Basswood Blvd just east of North Beach street is one of my favorite places to shop. They have EVERYTHING there. The hubby and I have, countless times, been on a search for some household item, looking in numerous big box hardware stores and discount stores, only to come up empty handed. However, when we turn to Ace, we nearly always find what we are looking for. Now it's the first place we go to when we are looking for something, and it's a place where we sometimes go just to browse (and we are not typically browsers). If you are in the Ft.Worth/Keller/Watauga area, you should check it out. They'll even give you popcorn to munch on while you shop!

Here's a picture of what today's trip to Ace yielded me:

This is a dog bed, a roasting rack for Thanksgiving, chalk board paint (for an upcoming Christmas project), magnetic tape (which I didn't even know existed till the friendly Ace guy told me), and pumpkins and fancy gourds for the front stoop. That's quite a medley of stuff. Now, on to our show.

If you're looking for Thanksgiving-themed crafts this week, I've got a pair of projects for you. The first project was super easy and would be a great one to work on with a kiddo. The second one requires a little more dexterity and a hot glue gun, so we'll call it PG-13. If you curse as much as I did when I made it, bump that rating up to R.

Project 1: Thanksgiving Trivets
https://picasaweb.google.com/107274384649999210248/TheAmbivalentCrafter?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ7n0-DRgq6XmgE#5669455998505628978

Project 2: Fall Wreath
https://picasaweb.google.com/107274384649999210248/TheAmbivalentCrafter?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ7n0-DRgq6XmgE#5669464151956076210

With these two projects, you are well on your way to making people feel welcome for your Thanksgiving festivities. Getting them to leave is something you'll have to figure out on your own.

Grateful,
Jenny

The Fall Classic

First off, let me apologize for taking so long for a new posting. The Rangers post season is seriously cutting into my time (and money, and Weight Watchers points, and booze supply). So many games to watch and have massive anxiety over. Tonight is game 4, and they are down by 1 game. Hopefully they remember that they are a team filled with home run hitters and they start scoring some runs.

 

I mentioned previously that I  L♥O♥V♥E Halloween. I've been pretty slackass about it this year (see aforementioned Texas Rangers time suckage), but I did manage to make some Halloween cards. If you are throwing a Halloween bash and need to send out invitations (this is how we invited people to parties in the old days before evites), these cards make great invitations. Or if you need to send a gift card to your favorite beastie or ghoul, surely they would also appreciate the beauty of a handcrafted, lovingly made card nearly as much as the treat tucked inside it.

 

One of my favorite cards I made this year is this simple yet blingy card.

Here are the loose instructions:

1. Cut a sheet of 8.5"x11" black cardstock into 2 8.5"x5.5" pieces, putting one aside to use for another card.
2. Fold the remaining sheet in half to be left with a 4.25"x5.5" folded card (standard A2 size).
3. Cut a piece of poison green glitter paper to 4"x5.25" and glue it onto the front of the card. (I used Scotch ATG Gold adhesive, but you can use whatever you prefer. The adhesive should be a permanent bond, because this glitter paper is a little heavy). If a different color of glitter paper works for you, then pick a different color.
4. Cut a piece of Halloween patterned scrapbook paper to 3.75"x5" and glue it onto the green glitter paper. Note: If you don't have any Halloween patterned paper, plain black textured cardstock works nicely. When using Halloween paper, select a paper that has a mostly black background and a small, repeating pattern. The paper I used is Catatonic from the Echo Park Apothecary Emporium collection, available at the Little Blue House in Keller, TX.
5. Cut a piece of scrap cardstock or chipboard into a triangle with a base 2" wide and a height of 2.5". Trim the corners to round them. This will be your candy corn form, so think happy candy corn thoughts when you are cutting it. This will help you achieve the perfect candy corn shape.
6. Cut 3 strips of textured cardstock in candy corn colors of orange, yellow, and white. The orange strip and the white strip should be around 1" tall. The orange strip should be about 2.5" wide and the white should be about 1.75" wide. The yellow strip will be approximately .75" tall and 2.25" wide.
7. Glue the orange strip to the bottom of the candy corn cut out and the white strip to the top. These strips will go beyond the edges of the candy corn cut out. That's what you want.
8. Ink the edges of the yellow strip and glue it to the candy corn cut out in the middle, over the top of the orange strip and the bottom of the white strip.
9. Use your scissors to trim the excess orange, yellow, and white paper from the candy corn cut out. Ink the edge of the candy corn, then glue it down to the card. You can either glue it down flat or use pop dots to pop it up.
10. Pick your favorite Cricut cartridge font and use it to cut out the word "treat" on the green glitter paper. I used the Cricut Classic font at 1".
11. Glue down the letters below the candy corn. I did them in a straight line, but you could paste them on crooked to make them look a little more whimsical.
12. Cut a piece of white cardstock to 4"x5.25" and glue it to the inside of the card as a card liner. Now you are ready to use this card!

Here are a few more of the candy corn cards I made. No instructions, but feel free to use them for inspiration.

Hoping some treats make it your way today, especially if you are a fellow Rangers fans looking for a win. Crafting while watching makes it a little less stressful. so try doing a little cross-stitching or knitting during the game. Wine also helps, so pop open a nice prosecco (the bubbliness is pleasant for crafting, even when not quelling World Series anxiety) and enjoy your day!

Jenny

Creep Show

October is a glorious month. There’s no one’s birthday for me to miss or send gifts late for, the weather finally gets reasonable, and every where you look on TV there are great old scary movies and TV shows. There’s nothing better than scary shows for background noise while I’m working on lots of interesting goodies for Christmas.   One of the creepiest shows I’ve seen in a long time is on the Food Network. It’s called "Sweet Genius" and stars renowned pastry chef Ron Ben-Israel as the judge and executioner. If you haven’t seen this, the concept is that 3 pastry chefs show up to compete against each other making desserts. The twist is that they get surprise ingredients to use, much like "Chopped." Unlike "Chopped," they get additional mandatory surprise ingredients partway through. They are also given something to use as their inspiration for the dish (for example, a cat could be the inspiration). I’m not finding the show so interesting, because it just has too much going on, and when I’m trying to craft, I don’t want to have to keep hitting the go back button to figure out what I just missed. What I find oddly compelling, though, is the host. This dude totally creeps me out. He’s like the love child of Martha Stewart and the creature in the basket in Basket Case. He’s prissy and bitchy and lumpy and authoritative. A former Israeli soldier and ballet dancer, I can’t imagine having this guy hovering over me while trying to compete. That's a combination that sounds like something Tarentino would come up with. I recommend watching it at least once if you are in the mood for a slight fright.   Other inspirational scary shows for your crafty background noise this month are: Halloween – The original, starring a pre-boob job, non-yogurt eating Jamie Lee Curtis Rosemary’s Baby – Mia Farrow rocks one of the best horror movie hairstyles. Okay to skip this one if you are boycotting pedophile Roman Polanski The Exorcist – Watch it while you’re whipping up a batch of pea soup A Nightmare on Elm Street – Great to watch while working on wood-burning projects Final Destination – I saw this movie for the first time about a month ago and now everywhere I look I see things that could be used by the Grim Reaper to kill me in some weird and ironic way. Death by paper trimmer? It could happen Whatever Happened to Baby Jane – Anyone with a sister can appreciate this one   One last scary thing to consider: the movie “Flawless” starring Demi Moore is playing a lot lately. No one would ever confuse her for being a great actress, but the scary thing she does in this movie? Picture it: Demi Moore attempting a British accent. Brrrr. Chills, guv’nur. I'll be back next week with a project for you. Till then, enjoy your crafting with some of your favorite frightening films. Jenny