A miniature carpet beater tutorial.

Hello and Happy Easter and Passover Holidays to all my dear readers.

This very simple and easy tutorial will be, dear readers and followers, a holidays
gift to you.

An original carpet beater is made from three wicker strips.  A miniature beater
looks better if it's done with two strips. But, if you are able to get
very thin strips you can do it with three, just follow the steps in the photos.

For demonstration only I'll be using two strands of bendable miniature
flower stems.

A.  Bend carefully the center of the length into a round loop.

B.  With the right end of the strips enter the top loop and make another round circle.

C.  Do the same with the left end and make an opposite loop.  Now you
      have three loops with one end coming from under a loop and the second
      from over a loop.

D.   Twist the two ends together leaving an oval opening.  (this is the point to
        bind the ends of wicker with raffia).

E.   Twist until you reach a length of 2.5"  (10cm) and bind again with raffia.)

Materials:

Wicker strips
a strand of raffia
Cutter of scissors

1.  Cut two 30 cm (12") lengths from the wicker twines and
     soak them in hot water for about 15 minutes until they are completely     bendable. It is very important to keep them wet
     and pliable all the time.

2.  Bend the two strips together as seen in the A to E demonstrations.
 
You can see the end results when done with wicker strips.

Happy beating dollies!

Giveaway winner

Hello dear reads

This is a list of participants for my giveaway, in order of comments:

1.  Carmen.  2.  Sheila.  3.  Isabel.  4.  Marian.  5.  Pilar.  6.  De.  7  Blanca.
8.  Megan.  9.  Fabiola.  10.  Susanna.  11.  Alexandra.  12.  Karen.
13.  Rosa Maria.  14.  Ayla.  15.  Paloma.  16.  Birgit.  17.  Teresa.
18.  Eloisa.  19.  Arantxa.

Congratulations De! Please send your address to drorahed@gmail.com.

Happy Easter and Passover to all.  Blessings!

Spring cleaning

Dear readers,

As the weather allows it, people, including myself, are busy giving their home a thorough cleaning, preparing for the holidays. It reminds me that I still keep an almost antique, before vacuum cleaners, cleaning accessory, a carpet beater.  It's quite a pretty wicker thing which at its time caused many quarrels between neighbors. Imagine the wrath of one housewife after laboring hard to finish cleaning her home when the neighbors above beat their rugs and carpets and the dust enters right into her clean apartment.

I was asked to show the ladies at the nursing home how I make a miniature carpet beater. Made
several for their Bingo.

These R/L one and the miniatures are made from wicker. 

For showing how it's done, I'll use thin plastic coated wires.

Happy cleaning and blessings 

Date of 444,444 giveaway draw

Dear readers,

I forgot to mention, the date of the draw for the 444,444 giveaway. It will be on 14 April.
I'll use the random number generator to pick up the winner.

Hugs and good wishes to all.

444,444 pageviews Giveaway

Dear readers,

You probably noticed that I changed my profile photo.  My photo, for an unknown reason, disappeared. With the help of my dear friend Birgit, I managed to install a
new photo. The reason you don't see my old face anymore is that I cannot find the
photo. rest assured that the mystery house looks far better than I do.

About three weeks ago, the number of 444,444 page-views appeared on my blog. This is
a good reason to celebrate the occasion by offering a giveaway.

You only have to be a follower of this blog and comment hereunder if you like what is
offered and want to participate in the draw.

Officially, it's spring but today is cold, dark and fulltime raining here.  Anyway, my
giveaway is about spring whenever it decides to be here.  Everything is hand
made by me except the bunny.

 

Have a wonderful, creative week to come with blessings.

Hello dear readers,

First of all, thanks for your get well wishes.  It helped, my fingers are already
much better.

While I'll be preparing something for my promised giveaway, I've made, with
the help of young Dana, a very simple "Honey, I shrunk the candies" tutorial
to share with you.

We cut the candy's cellophane wrapping into small pieces, put a little colored
seed bead inside and twisted both sides around it.

To make this long-legged candy bowl you need a goggle-eye blister and a
transparent push-pin.  Hold the push-pin metal part over candlelight and
with a player slide it out. Glue the two together.  If necessary, sand smoothly
the rim of the blister.

A warm welcome and thanks to my new followers!
Happy crafting and lovely spring to all with blessings.

Hello dear readers,

The winters here in Israel are usually mild ones.  This year we are having days of
beautiful sunshine  and then a few days of unusually cold and rainy, in turns.
The rain and snow were welcome but personally, I'm not used to it and although my
home is airconditioned and I 'm wearing warm clothes and gloves when I go outdoors,
I got chilblains on all fingers and toes.  The result is that my fingers are swollen and
blue, making it difficult to work on miniatures.

But this doesn't mean  I forgot a giveaway to celebrate number 444,444 pageview
which happened 3 days ago.  By now the number has gone up although my blog
was silent for the past 3 weeks.  Shall let you know as soon as it's ready.
 

I wish you all a lovely weekend with blessings.