Dundurn.

Posted by Christy Miller on Tuesday 29 May 2012. Filed under: ,
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If you like weird stuff, I suggest you take a trip to Dundurn, Saskatchewan.

Susan and I ventured out for the Blackstrap Art Studio Tour this past weekend and in addition to the works by the artists themselves, the most memorable things we saw were at the Dundurn Wilson Museum. 

How's this for a fancy frock:

This is a cape made of chicken feathers (12,000 of them to be exact), each one hand sewn over a period of four years. Each side is flanked by three chicken heads that are looking up at the wearer. This thing is freak-ay and gives whole new meaning to "put a bird on it!"

Round the corner and we walk straight into this:


A two-headed calf that was born in 1989, died shortly thereafter and was promptly stuffed and placed in the museum (aka circus sideshow) for all to see (but why??) I'm not going to lie, we screamed when we saw this fella. And my burger later in the day didn't taste so tasty.

My favourite stop was the quilts displayed in the elementary school; especially the old school patchwork quilts. Quilting is on my bucket list and I'm planning to take a class this fall.


Susan and I enjoyed our afternoon in the country, driving down the Old Highway (thanks for the soundtrack, Good Lovelies!), saw some wonderful works and learned some important life lessons:


 But sorry artisans, but you simply can't compete with a two-headed calf.

Flowers for Moms.

Posted by Christy Miller on Sunday 27 May 2012. Filed under: , , , , ,
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It's not sewing yet, but craftiness is still very much on the agenda, most recently with these canvas photo transfers that I made for my mom on Mother's Day.

This is an awesome and easy project that the good folks at Flock and Gather brought to craft night back in February. The instructions come care of an awesome blog: A Beautiful Mess.

Essentially, you:
  1. Print a picture on a laser printer (i.e., your office printer) on regular paper (not photo paper!)
  2. Apply gel medium to a blank canvas (you can pick this up at any art supply store, including Michael's)
  3. Place your photo, image side down, on the wet gel medium and let it dry overnight
  4. Using a bottle filled with water, spray the back of the image and work with your fingers to remove as much of the paper as you can. This might take a few passes: I worked at the canvases over a few days until I was satisfied that I'd removed enough of the paper.
  5. I also sanded the edges a bit to give them a distressed look
You'll be left with an interesting effect like an old picture. The only thing I wouldn't recommend is a photo with someone's face in it, as you can't guarantee that you won't take an eye out as you work the paper off of the back!

I chose pictures of hollyhocks because of a story that my Mom told me about the summer that my grandma's hollyhocks grew in her garden.  I couldn't decide between the two pictures, so lucky Mom gets to figure out what to do with both!
 


Work at the paper using plain 'ol water.

And because I tell Susan just about everything, she also decided to make a photo canvas for her mom as well, featuring her mom's favourite flower. Susan's canvas also turned out fantastic and I love it when other people have crafting success!


Fun with food.

Posted by Christy Miller on Thursday 10 May 2012. Filed under: , ,
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I am not much of a baker, but I've been exploring my creative side with food over these past couple weeks with some delicious results!

I bought a huge bag of yeast a few months ago to make pizza dough from scratch and became very intrigued by the stuff! I attribute this to the fact that I never took chemistry in high school and am in awe of the reaction between yeast and flour when given some time to work together. It's very satisfying to see your dough double in size!

First I braved caramel pecan sticky buns.  I honestly never knew that cinnamon buns looked like this before they were baked:

Aren't they cute?
And when something turns out looking just like the magazine photo, it is even better:


We crushed these pretty fast around our house, so I am glad that I decided to give half away before we could eat all dozen of them.

I also put aside my usual hesitation to make anything that calls for two types of sugar and both butter and margarine and made some sweet (peanut butter free) monster cookies. I halved this recipe and it still made about 6 dozen cookies.

I'm glad the people I love aren't picky about my baking, because I've had to get rid of a lot of it!

But it is time to dust off my scissors and sewing machine and get back at some projects for upcoming birthdays and other gifting occasions. But before I do, I have some Mother's Day crafting to work on...

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