How to Mend Favorite Birdhouses

Friends have given me wonderful birdhouses over the years. As they wear down, I've found plant markers are handy to make repairs. 

I slip plant markers into broken bottoms, in open sides and to shore up roofs. The markers can withstand weather conditions and still keep birds dry, giving the birdhouses a few more years of use!

Charlotte

How to Draw Ladybugs

Ladybugs are a favorite garden friend and can easily be hand drawn, we add them to our cards and tags all the time.

1. Draw slightly oval red circles with a red marking pen. Start with a size you're comfortable with to practice, then make them smaller or larger, depending on how you want to use them. Regular marking pens are better than thin ones because they more quickly fill in the oval. Allow to dry.
2. Using a thin black marking pen, draw a small circle at one end for the head. Add a black semi-circle down the middle. If you want to draw different angled ladybugs, you can move the semi-circle closer to one side or the other to make the ladybug look like it's moving. Sprinkle with little dots, at least 3 per side. Finish by adding 3 legs on each side. Be careful if you leave the pen on the paper for too long or the leg will end up with a thick stroke.
3. Allow to dry for a few minutes before you slip these into envelopes; they'll need to dry or they'll smudge.

Charlotte

How to Make Homemade Photo Gift Card

Homemade photo gift cards are easy to make and a nice way to customize a gift.

Using a regular sheet of stock paper, print photo 3x5 inches on one side.

Cut the sheet in half; fold and add your salutation.

Add a date and your best wishes inside; photo cards also make great book marks to add to a favorite gift recipe book noting one of your all-time favorite recipes.

Charlotte

Embroider Stains Away

A friend of mine recently asked who was the designer of one of my favorite sweaters and pointed at flowers I had embroidered on it. Not that I don't appreciate good sweaters, but I had to chuckle - the reason I had the flowers on the sweater was to cover a stain!

So if you do any kind of embroidery, don't throw that favorite shirt or sweater out. Add embroidered flowers over the stain, then scatter a few more so that it looks like a deliberate pattern.

My favorite flower is the daisy. It's also one of the easiest embroidery stitches.You can embroider daisies plain, in the same color as the shirt, or make it more fancy by using different embroidery floss colors, adding french knot centers and green leaves out of the same simple daisy embroidery stitch.

As far as the "designer" sweater, I took a tip from a rose pin at the top of the sweater and added three small rosettes over the stain in a Brazilian embroidery style called "rococo."To make the rosette, pull needle half way around the center spot; wrap floss around the needle like a french knot 10-15 times, then pull gently so the thread is not too tight but is forming one of the rose edges. Secure with a stitch over the center of the long french knot. Keep adding rose edges until you have the stain covered. You can add a little green leaf, or group several rosettes in the same area. Use your own embroidery style; ribbon embroidery would work as well. Not only practical but apparently quite the fashion, too!

Do you salvage something creatively with your embroidery?

Charlotte