An Update to the Wire Family Tree...

Hi Everyone!  I hope you are having a great weekend.  Yesterday's post was the Family Tree I made out of wire which I liked but had been thinking that it wasn't exactly right.  Here's a picture of it.  Check it the post here.

I got a comment from my blog friend Gail at My Repurposed Life.  She said, "If I can be honest, I LOVE the tree (by itself!!!) and I LOVE what you did with the bun, but I don't think I like them together. I even think I might like it better with the styrofoam, but just some moss over the bun. That's my 2 cents, and that's about all it's worth. hahaha"

She actually meant to say she liked it better without the styrofoam, which she discovered after I replied to her.  So taking her advice, this is what I did.

 I removed the styrofoam and cut it down to just the top edge.  It's easier to connect the tree to a bit of styrofoam especially with the screw in the bun still there.

I think it looks much better this way.  Now I'm still trying to decide if it needs something more on the end of the branches.  What do you think?  Would you add a wire leaf or a swirl to the end of the branches?  Well thanks for stopping by.

Family tree with a wire twist...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Saturday!  I hope you are all having a great weekend.  I want to share with you something I started late December 2010 and haven't really touched since.  I made this tree by twisting strands of wire together.  I had this vision in my head, but once I got the tree done (I made two trees) I just wasn't sure what to do with it from there.  Then I saw these mini silver picture frames that are meant to be used as jewelry charms.  They were the perfect size.  So after our Christmas guests left, I ordered the frames and then got to working on it again.

I used a bun foot that I had gotten for a stand but I didn't end up using it.

 I painted the bun antique white, then put an antique glaze on it and gave it a light sanding to bring the grain out.

Next I found a saying that I thought was very appropriate for this and wrote it on with a black pen.  The quote says, "Our family is like the branches of a tree.  We may grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one. 

 I cut a Styrofoam ball in half, then painted it brown (I forgot to take a picture of it).  And then I glued moss onto the ball.

 I sprayed the wire tree with black spray paint so that the black wire doesn't rub off on your skin if you touch it.  Then I add the the little frames to the branches.

 I also added a small wooden plaque where the family name can go since this is a family tree.

Then I wired the tree to the Styrofoam ball and glued the Styrofoam ball to the wooden bun.  And there you have it.

This is a smaller tree than the other one I made.  But I thought I'd start with the small one to see if I liked it.  I'm pretty happy with it, but I think it's missing something.  Some small wire leaves maybe?  Or maybe I could put a wire swirl at the end of the branches...it's a work in progress.  I have more frames that can go on, but that just depends on the size of your family.  I'll keep playing with it and keep you updated. 

I've been thinking a lot about family lately.  And I'm grateful for mine.  I think this is a nice way to honor my family.  I hope you have a great weekend and enjoy your family.  I will be enjoying some time with my parents before they head south to sunny Florida next week.  I will also be finishing the shelf that a client ordered, I'll show you that when I'm done.  Well, thanks for stopping by.

Update:  Thanks to a comment from Gail @ MyRepurposedLife, I made a change to the tree.  It never looked exactly right.  Check on the changes here.  Thanks Gail!

It felt like spring...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Friday!  Yesterday the weather was glorious here.  It was sunny and warm and it felt like Spring!  This has been one crazy winter.  The old farmers have a saying that whatever day the first snow comes on is how many days it will snow.  It snowed first here on the 4th, I think.  So by their call, we should only have four days of snow.  And I think we are at two so far.  No snow in the forecast any time soon.  So with great weather today, I was in the mood for spring, so I made a spring wreath.

 It's bright and cheerful and makes me think of getting out in the garden.  It screams Spring to me!

 I loved this little doll with her garden gate and just had to have her for this wreath.

And of course there had to be a bird on a wreath for spring.

 A cute little watering can was the next thing that just had to be on a spring wreath.

I made these flowers out of small tart pans.  I painted them apple green with a wooden circle painted cream and glued to the center of the tart pan.

 The whole wreath is on a grapevine wreath with a yellow pip berry garland to give it that punch of spring color.  I really like how this turned out.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to put it up for sale rather than hang it on my door.  But then I have time since Spring is not here yet.  So we'll see.  Thanks for stopping by.

Step signs...

Hi Everyone!  I hope you are having a great Thursday.  I wanted to share some signs with you that I made for a client that found me on Etsy.  Susan purchased my Dance yourself silly sign.  She was happy with it and contacted me about making some other signs for her.

I was very happy to help her out.  She gave me the sayings and shared her overall color palette with me but left everything else up to me.  This is what I came up with.

 The signs were for their cottage near the gulf.  I loved this saying.  In case you can't read it too well, it says Today I will be happier than a seagull with a french fry.  The background is painted white with a very thin blue strip.  The lettering is blue with a yellow shadow.

 It's hard to tell in this picture but the blue has a bit of white swirl to it to look a bit like water.

And this one is probably my favorite one.  It's yellow with black lettering except for the word skinniest which is white with a black outline. 

 Susan's idea was to put a sign on the riser of the steps inside the cottage.

What a great idea!  I didn't make all of the signs, but I think she has a nice mix of styles and sayings.

Then she asked me to make several more of the Of you, only God cares more than I signs so she could give them as gifts.  I'm currently working on a sign for the outside of her cottage which is called Bits of Stardust Cottage.

 I painted it a dark blue which I mixed myself.  Then put gold stars on it and swirled gold paint to make it look like dust.  Then I painted the letters. 

I had original put the letters on as A Bit of instead of Bits of so I had to sand it off and redo that part.  I don't know why I did it wrong because I knew the name and had even checked the email but apparently there was a disconnect between my head and hand that day.

So here it is correctly.  I just have to put the clear protective coating on it since it will be hanging outside and then I can ship it to her.  Susan has been patiently waiting for me to get through my craft fair time and the holidays.  Thanks Susan!  So hopefully by this weekend.  Thanks to Susan for the pictures of the stairs and permission to post them!  Thanks for stopping by!

New things...new year...

Hi Everyone!  Happy Wednesday!  I want to share with you some of the new things I got for my business.  I had a good craft fair season this year and my parents were nice enough to give me money for Christmas before Christmas so I could take advantage of the great sales.  As you can see from this picture, I got myself a new computer.  It's an HP laptop with a 17.3" screen.  I've barely been able to use it but that's because I didn't get internet service until yesterday.  I also got a new HP printer/scanner/copy machine.  And a Silhouette.

 I got a new Singer sewing machine.  I've only just gotten it out of the box a couple of days ago and I haven't learned yet how to use it.  I have manuals to read.  It's been a long time since I've sewn anything, Mom always does it for me.  I thought it was time I did it myself.

 I got a new DeWalt Orbital sander. 

 And a Craftsman Router Table and router.

And of course router bits.

While my brother was here for Christmas, he and my Dad put it together for me.  I still have to build the stand for it to be secured to, but I can't wait to use it.  So Merry Christmas to me!  Thanks Mom and Dad!  And I can't wait to use it all in my business!  Thanks for stopping by. 

New Year...

Hi Everyone!  Happy New Year!  I wanted to share with you some new happenings around here.  I have been without Internet service for a while.  A storm took out my modem and my computer was too old to do much about it.  But, today was an exciting day here at Full Circle Creations.  I now have wireless Internet!  The guys were out today installing it.  They had some trouble and are coming back tomorrow because the connection is slower than it should be.

They mounted this on the side of the house and think they might have to move it higher, but it was too windy and cold today so they are coming back tomorrow to work on it.  The weather should be better tomorrow. 

I have line of sight to the grain elevator and also to one other tower, but this is the one they are trying to make work.  It was super slow when they left, but has gotten a bit better tonight, so maybe they found a problem on their end, which was one of the possibilities.  So we'll see what they come up with tomorrow.

You have no idea how difficult it's been to have a blog and to sell things on line without an Internet connection.  So, hopefully this will help make that easier.  Plus I'll be able to catch up on my blog reading!  I can't wait to see what I've been missing.  I will share more tomorrow about a few other "new" things that have happened around here.  Thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year!

Hi Everyone!  Happy New Year!  I can't believe 2011 has come to an end and it's 2012! 

What a year it's been.  I only started this blog in February and that seems like only a few months ago.  I know that I haven't had much new this last month and with the start of the new year I hope to have new projects and hopefully a few more tutorials.

So here's a toast to the New Year!  May 2012 bring you and your family good health, lots of wealth, and all the happiness that you can handle!  Thanks for stopping by!