Cabin Fever

This post was actually written last Thursday....I was going to post it but I wanted to put the pictures in it and my internet was not behaving. So...you'll have to bear with me so I don't have to go back through this and fix all the tenses and such:

I don't know about you all, but I have cabin fever! I have been in or less than a mile away from my house (as in taking a walk) since Sunday early afternoon when I got back from church. I've taken a walk or gone outside to see the snow almost every day. But today I just stayed inside because it's been about 1 degree or cooler all day. I didn't feel like getting layered up and going out even though it might not have been as bad as I thought it might be. Even though I'm tired of being inside, I've been trying to get somewhat crafty for the last couple of days. Last night I made some rosettes out of an old wool coat that my mother had been using for fabric scraps. I'd never made these rosettes before but I was pleased with how they turned out. I've made one completed necklace and the rosettes for a second necklace (but it isn't attached to a chain or ribbon yet to make it a necklace). There is a really good tutorial on how to make the rosettes and necklace, here. Like I said, I used fabric from a wool coat on the first set of rosettes and I actually used felt for the second set. I think they both turned out nicely.

The red one is felt, the brown is the wool

Today my craft was to decorate a platter. I purchased some oil-based Sharpie paint pens a month or two ago online to start decorating my own mugs with. I decorated two mugs when I first got the pens in the mail but I hadn't set the paint yet (by baking them). This afternoon I started working on the platter and the items are presently still in the oven (they're cooling now from being baked). I stole the idea from someone on Pinterest. I bought a package of colorful (red, black, yellow, blue) fine-point paint pens on eBay and some medium point metallic colored pens from Walmart (here is a link to a large package of some that Walmart sells to show you exactly what I used). A friend gave me the platter. Here are some pictures of the stages of my work. In case you are interested, after using the markers, you let your design dry for at least an hour. Then you preheat your oven to 400 degrees, and bake your item(s) for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, you turn the oven off and let the items cool completely before taking them out. I have used regular Sharpies to draw on ceramic items before and bake them, but some of the colors fade and the design will still wash off after being baked..which is why I looked into the oil-based Sharpies which are made to last on glass and other surfaces. I'm crossing my fingers the designs do last with these paint pens. If you'd like to see where I got my idea for the design, go here to see hers.

1. I cut out letters from a sheet of "Print & Stick" project paper

2. I stuck them on the platter and make Sharpie dots all over it.
(This took much longer than expected).
3. I let it dry, peeled the stickers off and baked it. I couldn't get the final picture on here though

Snow Days are so good for crafting! 
The Farmer's Daughter