Iron Craft #8- Hometown

This week's challenge for Iron Craft- Hometown- threw me for a loop. I was born in Minnesota but my family moved to Florida when I was 10 years old. I grew up a beach loving swimmer and lifeguard on the beaches of Florida's west coast. But, that swimming brought me back north to swim for the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. I have very few memories of when I was young- going to my grandparents cabin "Up North", sledding by our house and the big snowman in our town of North St. Paul. Most of my childhood memories are of Florida- sailing and swimming at the beach, Disney World and college football. In college I meet my husband and we settled here in Minneapolis and started our family.

This week's challenge had me wondering what I considered my hometown- Minneapolis, MN or Dunedin, FL? The other day walking through Joann's looking for inspiration I came across the perfect thing. It is the best of both- Minneapolis, where our house is, school, work and our life but Florida provides me with many warm thoughts. It is where I turn for my college football fix (I still cheer for the Gophers but have you seen us win a lot lately?), I long for spring break in Florida and always feel at home when I am there. So I decided to make a pillow for Thing 2's bed with each side representing where my heart is- HOME.

Even though my Mom was born in northern Minnesota, she lived a good many years in "Delightful Dunedin", Florida. To live in Dunedin, means you become a honorary Scotsman as its heritage is based on its Scotish roots and the sounds of bagpipes are often heard throughout the town. When I was growing up I played the bagpipes in band for 5 years and would be banished outside to practice- I think they were too loud for them inside :) So in honor of her adopted hometown, Grandma has crafted a bagpipe pin (or magnet). She sewed and stuffed the bag, added a flat-top wood screw for the chanter, and wooden skewers topped with beads for the drones. As a former piper, I'd say it is pretty authentic looking!

Thing 2 took the theme literally this week. His hometown is Minneapolis and he did what Minnesotans do- headed " Up North" to the cabin for the weekend. He took off with his best buddy to their cabin in Northwestern Minnesota for a weekend of sledding, ice fishing and fun. Winter in Minnesota means cold and snow. With 14 inches of new snow headed our way they got stuck at the cabin and the only thing that Lucas could do was play in the new white stuff- no time for crafting for him.

Iron Craft #7- Midas Touch

For the Iron Craft challenge this week we were to use the Midas touch or gold in our projects in someway. This really had us stumped for awhile. We finally figured out what we were going to do and set off to do them.

Grandma decided to join us again this week. I knew that she would rise to the challenge and join us most weeks. I think she is more intimidated in the posting part to Flickr than in doing the crafts. I am happy to help with that. She decided to make a card this week using a technique called tea bag folding and gold as the accent.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 did not have ideas until we were walking in JoAnn's the other day and came across some stencils to use on shirts. Since they are boys and bling is not cool around our house we went with silver for their project. They both had a fun time painting the stencil on the shirt and the paint could not dry fast enough for them.

Here they are showing off their handy work although not all of us were happy about the photo taking process.

I spent a lot of time trying to come up with something to do- I found golden cupcakes, gold leaf everything and so much more. Thing 1 is a huge Harry Potter fan and I thought it would be cool to make him a golden snitch. So I started googling ( is that a verb?) how to make a golden snitch. Each search kept coming up with a knitted golden snitch by Kathy. It made me laugh that out of all the things I kept finding it referred to her pattern. So, since I am new to knitting and am trying to learn new things I decided I would try my hand at this. The first snitch I made I was not happy with my decreases and the gaps in my knitting so after looking at it a few days I decided that I needed to try smaller needles and start over. But the amount of time I want to craft does not always fit with the life of a working mom of 2 and a husband out of the country so...as of today, I have the center and part of one wing done but no pictures to show. For me Iron Craft is about trying new things and seeing what I can learn as much as a finished project. So, when I sit at piano class today I will hopefully finish the wings and complete Thing 1's snitch.

As always, looking forward to the next challenge!

Iron Craft #6- Winter Contest

You win some and you lose some- this week we won!!! Our favorite football team- the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl and Thing 1 and 2 cheered them on in style.

Not all of us are participating this week in the winter contest, I had to work more than normal and did not get anything done. Thing 2 also decided not to do it this week. However, Thing 1 and Grandma both have something to add into the mix. Grandma did a beautiful winter table setting with snowflakes she cut out of felt and the use of red and white.

Thing 1 made what he calls Snow Dog- a cute little white paper craft that he had.

All of us here are getting tired of the cold- we plunged down below zero again this week. We are all looking forward to heading down south to visit grandma and grandpa in mid-March. Come on Spring!!!

Iron Craft Challenge 5- Be Mine

We here in the Frozen Tundra loved this week's challenge. We all had our own ideas on what we wanted to do and each is in a different medium.

We had a guest crafter with us this week- my mom. Grandma in Florida thought she would try her hand in making a valentine of her own. Hopefully she will join us a few more times. She is a very crafty person and should be doing this with us each week- HINT HINT!

Thing 1 was back in action this week and the first to complete his Valentine. A while back he was turned on to Cubeecraft by Kathy. When he would spend time at her house he would make these creations.

Another site we download templates from is Nintendo Paper Crafts. This is where he downloaded his Valentine- We call it " Key to My Heart" He won't tell who he is giving it to.

Thing 2 this week set out to make Valentine's for his grandparents. It was great that this project was early as we need to send our Valentine's to Florida and Wisconsin. Thing 2 choose a wooden frame, some paint, and a small heart for his beginnings. I think his Valentine's are great and know his grandparents will love them. Our hope is the next time we see our grandparents we can take a photo of Lucas with them and put it in the frame.

For my valentine, I choose to try my hand at knitting some hearts. Since my valentine will still be over in Saudi Arabia on Valentine's Day I needed to make something that would last until he comes home sometime in March. This project was perfect for me as a new knitter. The hearts were a little fussy as my knitting is not the best. I did have fun doing it and Thing 2 wants me to make more hearts.