Madame Theresa’s Handy Craft & Recycle Tips

I apologize for being a lazy blogateer.  Madame Theresa got caught up in the end of winter and beginning of spring, it seems…  it’s not like The Madame fell off the wagon and played RipVanWinkle someplace…LOL!!!! It’s more like a scene from Poltergeist:

“Carol Anne…. I’m in HERE, Carol Anne…”

None the less, I am here now.  And here’s what I have been busy working on.

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An update from the last post eons ago:

Georgie won the blog candy drawing; the 2 precious li’l peat pot buckets.   As I remember, we were going to post pictures on here, and never did learn how…..now that I have a couple new  websites, I’m sure I will be buying a camera and learning to post pics soon. 

 Georgie requested that we donate them to a nursing home or other good cause where they would be appreciated locally, so that’s what we did.  We discussed having a blog auction and donating the procedes to the animal shelter- maybe that’s what we’ll do next time!  Anyway, thanks Georgie, for your suggestion.

There are several new and exciting things to tell you about. I am now a dealer in paper art supplies- everything you could possibly want for your scrapbook, cardmaking, rubberatamping, or other paper hobbies is now available, by mail, through me!  I am an independant demonstrator for Stampin’ Up.  See our online catalog (through my link on the right hand sidebar.) Online ordering is coming soon, but meanwhile, look at the online catty and contact me if you’d like to order.  Or, if you’d like to order a real life catalog, they are $10.00 and come with a cardstock sample ring of all the 54+ colors we sell. 

I also have several paper art supply items not sold through Stampin’Up, that I sell when I teach bookmaking and 3D paper art projects. That list consists of:

Paper coasters, blank, ivory, 4″ square, in 3 thicknesses

Baker’s twine on tag cards,15 yards each of all 4 colors

Antique wooden bobbins from old textile mills, aprox. 10″long, 1/2″dia. with a 1″ head on them, to be used to creativly store ribbon odds and ends on. Looks cool in a basket.

Dusting brushes- similar to the ones Judikins sells, but these have green plastic handles.  Cheap enough to have 1 for each ink family.

Blank carnival tickets- these are COOL! Print up or rubberstamp your own carnival tickets, fortune cookie sayings or anything on these vintage treasures!  Colors: hot pink, denim blue, stenopad green, orange (think Halloween here) yellow, and white.  These are all single tickets, not double. Complete rolls of aprox 1,500-2,000 on a roll.

Blank white CD literature folders used to make 5″ X 5″ pocketed memory scrapbooks.

Soon we will be adding button jars- perfect to use in crafts or sewing projects, they are sweet little decorated jars of beautiful buttons in color families!

Call or email me for more info on the above misc. art items I sell privately, if you want more information. These are unique paper art supplies that I have on hand, ready for cash n carry 7 days a week.

My second independent demonstrator-ship is for Homemade Gourmet, a dry mix food company specializing in hosting gatherings where making 4 Meals in 4 Minutes is demonstrated.

The ability to make tasty appetizers, entrees and deserts , and make them FAST, is now possible with the aid of these wonderful food pantry staples. 

Gatherings where we make 4 Meals in 4 Minutes, and taste these fabulous dishes, is just a phone call away!  If the thought of HOMEMADE food appeals to you and having a “gathering” isn’t quite your style, I have workshops where 4-6 people come out, and using our food pantry products, make 8 family-sized main dish entrees for themselves to take home and keep in the freezer.  Most  entrees serve 6 or 8 people easily.  All pantry products and groceries and baking pans or cook-in bags are included in the low price.  This is the same concept that the “Gourmet to Go” stores in the larger city malls use-  “it’s their kitchen-their mess” …. LOL!    Come mess up MY kitchen.  Call me for details. 

  Or click on the link to the right.  You can browse the catalog and order from my website if you wish. There’s even a preferred customer feature where you can enroll for free in our home delivery subscription to get monthly bundles delivered to your door at 20% off retail,  and you pay by credit card! Or you can opt for just 4 times a year if you want. See the website for details.

That about wraps it up- now that it appears that I might have all the eggs in one basket, maybe updates won’t be so hard to keep up with.

Until later,  chow.

YOU know the kind! The ones with the rotten, splitting, UGLY as SIN webbing that you hide from Aunt Agnes (and possibly Becs… LOL) when they come visit????

I am flat gonna have to learn how to take pictures AND post them, pretty soon.  This is one of those “recycle projects” that you’re gonna have to close your eyes to “see” it, but take my word, they are so dang cute!!!

You do need a basic knowledge of weaving, or how to weave, though.  If you are unsure or unable to fully understand these directions, do not attempt this project.  It is a simple over-under (in and out, left to right, etc)  procedure, but this level of recycling may not be your bag.  If it is not something you want to do, save your junky lawn chairs for me, please!  LOL!  I just ask that you please, drive up to the house before you chunk ‘em out in the yard… I don’t do “ditch trash” because of my dislike of things that slither when its 65+ outside…. LOL!!!

Prepare:

Strip all the old webbing/weaving straps  off the chair frame. If the old webbing was held to the frame with screws, save back 8 or so, screws, and chuck the extra  screws and washers into your recycled screw jar for another project another day. Wash and dry your metal frame, and use aluminum polish on it if you want the frame to shine like brand new again. 

Construct:

Next, you want to get about 5 -6 yard length of a  pretty, miniature print, fabric.  I like old chintz dishes, so I lean toward tiny floral patterns on a white or light yellow background… something that looks shabby chic.  The famous EVILY box store, IF you are lucky to have one with a fabric department still in it,  will have the perfect fabric for this project on their $1.00 a yard table.  You do NOT need expensive fabric like quilt fabric, because you are going to rip the fabric into 1″ wide strips   and connect end to end, making a slit like a buttonhole in each end of the first strip,  and one in each end of the second strip, and connecting them ( like you would loop together rubber bands when you were a kid, making  a rubberband chain).  Do this end to end with a little over half your strips. (28-30 strips) roll into a ball that we will call “ball A”.  Do the same with the remaining strips that we will call “ball B”, and put that one to the side for now.

You now have a ball of fabric in one continous 1″ wide strip.  Do not worry about the frayed strips, it adds to the charm of the look.  starting at the top of the metal chair, tie on to one of the top corners of the frame.  Bring the fabric strip straight down to the back seat piece of metal frame. wind the fabric around the back bar and then procede forward, toward you, to the front seat frame piece. Wrap the fabric strip around the frame and head to the back seat bar, and again, wrap around, the up to the top bar, wrap, etc and do this until you have a frame FULL of up and down strips on the frame , in an EVEN number of strips, anywhere from 30 to 40.  Tie off the fabric strip at the top bar edge.

Now you are ready for the left/right ~  right/left weaving. depends if you are left or right handed I guess…LOL!

Starting at either the left or right hand side of the top back of your chair frame, tie on again with your “B” ball of fabric strip material.  It may be difficult to get the ball in and out of the strips, going sideways, so if you want to unwind part of the ball and take it apart at one of the joinings and just join more strips as you need them, feel free to work like that with the shorter strips.  weave over and under, in a downward fashion, till you get clear to the bottom  where the back set frame piece is.  You can tie off on the same side you tied onto at, after completing the back of your lawn chair.

Now it is time to weave the seat. tie on at the frame at the back, and weave over and under until you get clear to the front of your seat.  I forgot to tell you, when you get close to the end of the seat back and now the seat bottom, you might want to make yourself a weaving needle out of a large 2″ office paper clip. (You tie the end of the fabric to the clip and use it like a needle.)  Tie off when you reach the front end of the bottom seat. 

The screws you retained from stripping off the old webbing, can be used, if you desire, to attatch the knots you began and ended with, to the frame and can be inserted in the same holes in the frame if you so desire.  Its not neccessary, but you can use them again if you want to. 

Using plain fabric on lawn chairs like this gives a charming “garden” look to your patio or porch.  However, the  fabric from any regular fabric store  is NOT “UV safe”.  This means that the sunlight can fade and rot the fabric pretty fast in the summer sun. So, store the chairs inside or in the garage until you need or use them.   There are fabrics that ARE UV safe, available where awning and patio furniture  is recovered or made or you can buy it on the internet.  But it is expensive,  and you’d be better off buying new chairs if that were the case.   This is a fun, cheap way to recycle the old chair frames with a neat “cottage look”.  And it’s a look that looks cool enough to use indoors as extra seating if you need it!  

If this is your first attempt to weave a chair, practice the weave technique with an old sheet you tear into strips, before you invest any real money into fabric at the store. 

If you know how to crochet, with intermediate/advanced skills,  you can even crochet the strips of fabric onto the frame  for a neat look too!

Happy weaving from the merry recycler. Hope your team won the bowl!