CRAFT: "Lady in Hat" Pin

Bits and Scraps become a lovely pin

The thing I love about this home crafted pin is that it took very little time to make and cost next to nothing...I could have used a little more "expensive" technique, but this was just an experiment.   
I am always looking at things around the house to see if they can be repurposed to something else.  If you break this piece down to it's parts, this is what you need:

• A plastic base...by using the side of a pink plastic bottle, I cut out the shape and made good use of the curve already in the plastic.  Why pay for plastic blanks when you can use plastic bottles to make the base for bracelets, pins, hair ornaments, magnets, etc.?

• decorative netting...I had found an old hat at the thrift store that was pretty far gone, but it had this netting, and some great feathers, that I rescued for art projects.

• feathers...again, these were rescued from the old hat, and there were quite a few.

• image of lady in hat...this was the most fun part of the pin.  I had gone to a swap meet and found an old catalog...it wasn't even complete!  It had many interesting (mostly) black and white images; very few in color.  I already knew how to easily "colorize" the images the way I wanted them...all I had to do was to photocopy them on some heavy paper and use watercolor pencils to color them.  I added the circular highlights on my own.  If you are a talented artist, you could draw your own image.  You can also take advantage of the many copyright free image books and discs available, like those from DOVER BOOKS. (check out the free samples subscription on the left hand side of the page!) I buy those from thrift stores and used bookstores as well.  [IMPORTANT COPYRIGHT NOTE:  I did have to pay to do a search at the copyright office to make sure they were copyright free, which they now were. The copyright had expired.  That wasn't exactly cheap...but since they were no longer under copyright protection, I was free to use them as I wished--and there were quite a few.]  After I had colored the lady in the hat with the water color pencils, and used water to enhance the color, I let it dry.  

• paper backing...if I were doing this over, I would use some type of cloth and sew the pin back to the cloth first, before gluing.

• pin back...since I prefer stick pins, I probably would have used a stick pin instead, but as I said, this was just an experiment.  I attached it with a bit of hot glue)

• Elmer's or Aleen's Glue...there are many really nice glues to try...this was just several coats of plain old white glue. 

Using the plastic blank I had cut from the pink plastic bottle, I took the netting and cut a piece that would fit over the blank, and used glue overall.  After that dried, I applied the feathers.  Apply several coats of glue to the colorized image.  Affix the image (after it is dried and trimmed of any excess dried glue) over the feathers.  Glue the paper (or cloth backing) to the back, and hot glue (or sew) the pinback.  So, keep your eyes open...look at those plastic bottles before you toss them!  

Home: Is Honesty Always the Best Policy?

I am the type of person who will check out my receipts, no matter where I am shopping.  If I find a mistake (whether to my favor or not) I stand in line (isn't there always a line??) at customer service and right the situation.

Who would think this would be the center of my dilema?

Here is a case in point.  I was shopping at a local thrift store when I stumbled upon several items I was very thrilled to find.  One happened to be a plastic bag stuffed with figural glass ornaments from West Germany in shapes I had not come across before.  They were in the bag with some regular nondescript glass balls...and several of the figural balls were already broken.  I was trying to get them to the front without any more damage when I stumbled upon an item of cookware I was very interested in.  It happened to be a Le Creuset dutch oven in light blue AND it was in decent condition.  Upon checking the price I found the lid  priced at $2 and the pot itself had a price tag reading $7.  I scarfed that off the shelf in a hurry!! I didn't have a cart or a basket and I still had the ornaments and a few other items in my arms, but I wasn't done shopping.  I headed to the cashier deciding I would pay for the items I had found already, take them to the car, and return to my shopping.  I knew that the cashiers often were not careful with ornaments and I was concentrating on trying to keep them out of her reach, but she grabbed the bag and another one of the good ones broke...grrrrrrr!  (It was still a great deal even if only one survived.)  I really wasn't paying attention to the total  since I was consumed with protecting the ornaments.   When I looked at the receipt there was an item listed for what I thought was the pot...but, as it turned out--the cashiers are urged to subtotal frequently so buyers won't be surprised at the final total.  It was not the item, it was a SUBTOTAL.   I realized that I hadn't been charged for the pot, after all, but the lid only.  

Here is where I was wondering what I should do.  I knew I had done nothing wrong, but how does one prove that.  I also knew that the store had plenty of surveillance cameras, but no sound.  I wasn't sure if the tape would make it look like I was trying to distract the cashier away from the pot and that they might feel that I had tried to get away with something and then felt guilty about it.  I went back to the store, trying to catch one of the managers I had dealt with in the past who sort of knew me.  I missed him three times.  Finally, I was able to track him down and explained that I had purchased something, but had not been charged the correct price, and that I was more than willing to pay the full amount.  

He immediately asked my permission to take the receipt and check the video from that transaction.  I told him I had no problem whatsoever with that.  (But secretly, I did have a little problem...I was seemingly overly concerned about the ornaments and that could be misconstrued as distracting the cashier.)  

I had a sudden wash of fear come over me...thinking that the manager might call the police in on this.  He was gone a long time, and I was really beginning to doubt whether I had made the right decision.  When he returned he stated that it didn't appear to him that I had done anything wrong, and that the cashier was new and did not know that some pots and lids are priced separately and some are priced together.  He told me I was fine to leave if I wanted to.  He thanked me for my honesty, told me I had renewed his faith in mankind and that I should consider the error a Christmas present.  I still felt like he was trying to entrap me...so I insisted on paying the money I owed. 

Instead of feeling good about it, I felt like I had opened myself for ridicule.  I knew, though, that every time I wanted to make a nice soup or stew in my fabulous light blue dutch oven, I would feel like I had stolen it--even if it is was not my intention and not my fault.

 
Most people I have related this story to have said that I shouldn't have bothered with it at all, and others have said when it was offered for me not to pay the full amount, they would have taken that deal and left.  How would you have handled it??

CRAFT: Recycle Magnets!

Recycle Magnets from junk mail or your shower curtain!!

 How many of us have photos and business cards, and kids drawings, etc. on our fridges?  

In less than 5 minutes, you and your kids can craft some interesting magnets with stuff you are probably throwing away without thinking!

I use magnets from the bottom of shower curtain liners...and I have a cat who likes to shred the liner on occasion.  Instead of throwing away the magnets, I punch them out and save them for craft use.  While I already have plenty of buttons around the house, I happened across these "star" shaped buttons that I really liked at one of my oft-shopped thrift stores for only 75 cents!  

 While I did have to clip the shank off, that was easily done with a razor knife...would have been even easier with a flat clipper. (Save that for an adult...duh!)

 I used the white school glue just because it would be "kid friendly", but a glue gun or any other glue would have worked just as well.

 Left to dry...ready to go in about 5 minutes.

While you're at it...look around the house and you may find a few more sources for "free" magnets to craft with.  I pull off the flat magnets on the backs of the shopping lists, and from advertising magnets on telephone yellow pages...I pull them off and recycle the phone books.  
I keep them in my recycled craft supplies and have them to use when the mood strikes.  By the way...thrift stores are great places to look for things to stock your home craft center.   I find high quality needles (some from England) for pennies, lots of unopened needlecrafts, yarns, threads, ribbons, scissors, papers, fabrics, patterns...it's a section of the thrift store I make a habit of checking out!  If you think you might like to try a new craft...look at several thrift stores to see what's available...you may be able to try something new, for a lot less!