Quick and Easy Cut Apart Cards

So I was cruising Pinterest the other day and found this great blog post about cutting 3 sheets of paper into pieces to make 4 cards. I decided to try it. Unfortunately, with all of life's happenings going in it's taken me 2 days to make these cards, but here they are.

I actually ended up cutting 6 pieces of paper to make my stack of card parts- brown, blue, peach, pink, and 2 sheets of white. I used the top part as card bases rather than card fronts.

Review:
It was quick, it was easy and I'm not done with all of the pieces yet. I found the smaller pieces a little awkward, especially in darker colors, so I didn't use them all quite like the sketch, but I love the matted saying and the paper ribbon. I added some dry embossing in a few places and called it done.

I think this would make a great gift for a want-to-be crafter- cut a stack of cardstock and bases, add in a few stamps, and some adhesive and someone can make a whole stack of cards to give away.

Fabric Gift Wrap Challenge

The mountainous pile of gift wrap after Christmas morning was in inspiration for me to make my first fabric gift bag a few years ago. Since then, I’ve made more and more bags and have wrapped about 90% of this year’s gifts in reusable fabric rather than printed plastic. I could go on and on about saving the planet and reuse, but honestly, after the bags are made, wrapping is ridiculously simple- put the gift in the bag and tie a knot. Done. I’m all about making Christmas (and birthdays) easier and simpler.

Here’s my challenge to you:

Make and use 5 fabric gift bags this year. You can use them within your house so you don’t have to make them again next year, or gift them far and wide, hoping to spread the practice of reusable bags. Below is a tutorial on how to make bags along with dimensions for bags that will fit DVDs and DS games, but you can make bags in any size you’d like.

The tutorial:

Materials needed-

• 2/3 yard of fabric to make 5 bags, 2 DVD sized and 3 DS game sized. I use cotton or cotton/polyester blend fabric, usually in dark colors because it’s harder to see though.
• Matching thread
• Sewing machine. We’re only using a straight stitch on a lightweight fabric, so almost any machine will do.
• Cording or ribbon, about 3-4 yards

For the DVD sized bag, cut or tear the material to 12 inches tall by 16 1/2 inches wide (you’ll get 2 from 45 inch wide fabric with a little left over). For the DS game size bag, make the material 9 ½ by 15 inches (you’ll get 3 from a width of fabric).

Fold the fabric right sides together so that the short ends meet. Sew a seam starting about 1 inch from the top to the bottom of the fabric. Finger press the fold at the bottom of the bag. Open up the bag so that the seam meets the finger pressed fold. Press the seam open with an iron. Sew across the bottom of the bag.

At the top of the bag, there’s a part of the seam that you left open. Stitch a “U” down one side, across the seam, and back up the other side. The will help reinforce the fabric for the drawstring and keep the raw edges of the fabric inside the casing.

Fold down the top edge of the fabric about ¼ inch. Fold it down again about ¾ inch. NOTE: If your ribbon is wider than about ½ inch, you may need a larger casing to make it fit. Pin and sew all the way around the top of your bag.

Cut your ribbon or cording to fit through your casing plus a few inches for the knot. That’ll be about 19 inches for the DVD sized bag and 17 inches for the DS game sized bag. Use a bodkin or safety pin to pull the ribbon or cord through the casing. Tie an overhand knot to keep the cord or ribbon from falling out. Turn the bag right side out and you’re done!

Leave me a comment if you have any questions and I'll try to get back to you.

Sea Glass at Alexandra's Battery Park

The other place I found sea glass in Bermuda is just outside of St. George at Alexandra's Battery Park beach. As before, if you click on the map above, it'll take you to a page where you can view or download a .pdf of the map. They're also available on Bermuda where all of the tourist brochures are located.

Since we were staying at the Dockyard, we took a ferry to St. George. *FAIR WARNING* The ferries do not go to St. George as often as to Hamilton and it's a longer ride, so be sure to check your schedule carefully to help plan your day.

From the ferry landing, you can walk or take a taxi. Basic direction: turn right and walk until you get to the Battery. You'll pass houses, more houses, a farm, and more houses before you get to the Battery.

We didn't find as much glass here as I did near the Dockyard, but rumor has it that there's a cave that is much better, but you can only get to it at low tide. Unfortunately, we were there just after high tide. Still, if you're staying in St. George, this is much closer for you than the Dockyard beach and certainly worth a visit.

Glass Beach in Bermuda (Dockyard)

This is a map of Bermuda. You can get one just like this either by clicking the picture and downloading the .pdf file from the tourism website or pick one up in Bermuda.On the back it has insets of the Dockyard, Hamilton, and St. George.

The beach where I got most of my glass is near the Dockyard where our ship docked. I took a bus from the dockyard to the Royal Naval Cemetery (it's shown on the map) about a mile away. When I was ready to go home, I found a blue pole and the bus took me back. Fortunately for me, the buses went on strike a few hours later, but I got my trip into the beach first.

To get to the beach, get off the bus at the cemetery. Turn around and face the turquoise apartments (there are 4 of them). Look to the left. There's a foot path that goes behind the buildings and down some stairs. Take it down to the beach. There's a beach to the left with a little glass, but mostly sand. There's a little dock straight ahead. There's a longer beach with lots of glass to the right. Take your pick!


If it's high tide, you may get wet up to your knees going to the beach on the right. Some of the glass may be sharp so use caution including wearing flip flops or beach shoes.

There are some great threads on Cruise Critic about how to find the beach.
With pictures
Google Maps pictures

Sea Glass Wreath

So starts a string (hopefully) of posts about things I’ve seen and been doing recently. This one’s about a sea glass wreath I just finished making.

So, here’s how I did it:

1. Gather your supplies. I used sea glass gathered from Bermuda, silver plated wire (I used 24 gauge, but 20 might have been better), a wire wreath form, and pliers/wire cutters.




2. Cut your wire to a length that’s comfortable for you to work with. Mine was about 18 inches. Make a hanging loop and attach it to the form. Anchor it to the wreath by folding in half and twisting tight. Wrap around your glass and secure on the back to the form. You’ll probably need to go around each piece 2-3 times.




3. Add another piece, slightly overlapping the pieces, if possible.




4. If you find that the glass is slipping out of place, pass the wire to the back of the form and pull it tight either using your hands or grasping the wire with pliers.




5. When you get to the end of your wire, either twist it to another wire or around the form wires. Tuck loose ends of the wire in to keep from scratching yourself or the wall when it’s hanging. Keep cutting new wire and securing glass to the frame until the whole thing is covered.




6. Tighten the wires to the glass by GENTLY grasping the wire with round nosed pliers and twisting until tight. You can do this on either the front or back (or both).



7. Voila!


This tutorial is for personal use only. Please do not repost it or print it for sale or distribution without prior consent. You are welcome to link to this post if you would like to share this information.

All About Animal Crossing: City Folk

My kids and I love this game. I thought I'd post a little beginner guide. I know there are a lot of guides and walk-throughs out there, but this one should be simpler and tells what I wish I had known at the beginning.

Choose your house carefully. You can't move after you've chosen. You can change the interior of the house, but not it's location!

Do your job for Nook. There's no getting out of it. The tree that you plant will not give fruit (just so you know), but it may give bells or furniture. Keep track of where you plant it so you can shake it daily.

Buy the flowers that Nook has every day. At some point you're probably going to want a Perfect Town, and that requires a lot of flowers. If you don't want to plant them, then store them- in your house either on the floor (although the HRA will take points away) or in your dresser, or just drop them on the ground around the town.

If you chose to plant them, try to keep each of the four types of flowers together (roses with roses, for example) so that they are able to hybridize. Check them each day and water them if they wilt (turn brown). We prefer to plant them along our path through town so that they're easy to see and water.

Be sure not to step on the flowers as it will kill them. Unwilted flowers can easily be moved if you change your mind on where you'd like to plant them. Just press B to pick up flowers and add them to your pocket.

You can even add flowers to your house as decoration!

Write letters to characters in your town. It makes them happy. Rumor has it that if you include the word "fruit" in your letter and add one of your town's fruits as a present, they may send back a foreign fruit. Since my town now has all of the exotic fruits, I usually write a letter something like this:
"Thanks for everything. Here's a present for you."
The engine seems to recognize the words thanks and present. Most of the time, I get some sort of present in return including furniture, wallpaper, rugs, and clothes.

Each person in your town should have a full set of equipment. This includes (at the very least) a watering can, slingshot, net, fishing rod, and shovel. At first, you may need to share until everyone gets a chance to buy their set from Nook's.

Make a golden shovel. Once your town has two shovels, bury one. When you dig it up the next day, it will be golden. The main advantage of using a golden shovel is that fruit you plant is more likely to grow.

Gather fruit, collect shells, catch insects, catch fish and sell them to Nooks to earn bells. Special note: the first insect and fish that you catch of each kind should be donated to the museum.

A little higher up, I mentioned exotic fruit. Let me explain. Native fruit is worth 100 bells when you sell it to Nook (a full load is 1500 bells). Exotic fruit sold to Nook is worth 500 bells (a full load is 7500 bells). The types of fruit are oranges, apples, cherries, peaches, pears, and coconuts. Coconuts wash up on the shore and are exotic in all towns.

When you get an exotic fruit, it's really tempting to sell it to Nook for easy bells, but here's a long term plan:
Use an axe to cut down a non-fruit baring tree. Dig up the stump. WITHOUT MOVING, plant an exotic fruit from your pocket (I think the exact command is bury). Water the sapling. Because you replaced an existing tree, the tree will grow. NOTE: coconut trees will only grow down by the ocean beaches. When your trees start to give fruit (they should fruit every third day), try to plant two and sell one so that you balance your need for income with future growth of the town.

I probably should note here that axes will only cut down 15 trees before they break. I highly suggest that you buy every axe that becomes available at Nook's until your renovations are complete or you are able to get a gold or silver axe (both are unbreakable).

If I was going to start my town over this would be my game plan for trees:

1. Replace the non fruit bearing trees with exotic fruit.
2. Replace native fruit trees with exotic fruit, with the exception or 3 or 4 trees near the front gates (for visitors or going visiting).
3. Plant a row of cedar trees near the top wall (trees need at least one digging square space on each side of them) for shaking and a festive look for Christmas.

Lay down a path for your town. Each town in Animal Crossing has a unique layout. The topography is different, the houses are in different places, the stores are in different places. Make it easy to find your way around town by laying down a pattern to create a path to each store, by the rivers and beaches, and to each player's house. If you can manage to walk only on the path you will minimize the grass (or snow in the winter) wear that happens when you walk or run in your town.