I LOVE GOURDS!

About 6 or 7 years ago after a successful season at my church's pumpkin patch, there were an abundance of left over gourds.  Bill, our youth minister at the time, suggested that because I was "somewhat crafty," (still not entirely sure what he meant by that!), I should bring them  home and find some use for them.  Little did I know at the time, that bringing home those gourds would begin a love affair for me!  For as I confessed in the title of this posting... I LOVE GOURDS!

A gourd is defined as "a hard shelled fruit of any of various plants, whose dried shell is used for bowls and other utensils, or ornamentally.  The gourds I "adopted" were green swan gourds.

I brought them home and begin to think about what in the world I could do with them.  Pretty soon the gourds began to turn brown and moldy. Many people think that this means the gourds are beginning to rot and throw them away at that point.  DON'T MAKE THAT MISTAKE!!!!  This is just part of the drying out process that in the end makes the gourd a beautiful, one of a kind medium!

Once this drying process is complete the real fun begins!  Cleaning the gourd (inside and out) takes a bit of patience and elbow grease, but the end result is worth the effort!  After many different attemps at cleaning the outside of a gourd, I'd like to share my "wisdom" (ha!) on the subject.  A combination of helpful hints gleened from many sources seems to be the most effective for me.  Follow these steps and your gourd will be clean as a whistle in no time, and ready to be "decorated" any way you see fit! I'll discuss cleaning the inside of a gourd in a later post.

First, your gourd must be soaked for a couple of hours.  This helps to loosen the icky outer layer.  I soak my gourds in my kitchen sink (much to my husband's chagrin!).  Fill the sink about 1/2 full with water.  Add about an 1/8th cup of bleach.  This helps to kill the mold and is extremely helpful if you suffer from allergies, as I do!  As soon as you add the gourd to the water you'll see that  yes, the gourd floats!  I have found that the best way to deal with the buoyancy issue  is to take an old hand towel, soak up some of your bleach water, and drape the towel over the gourd.  This not only helps hold the gourd down in the water, it also keeps the exposed side of the gourd wet.  Now....find something else to do for a couple of hours....and don't worry about soaking the gourd for too long.

 

Wow!  Did those hours fly by or what??? Now you're ready to scrub!  I have found that my best friend for scrubbing gourds is one of those metal scouring pads (not Brillo, the kind you'll see in the following picture - and NO my hands are REALLY not that big!!!) and a little bit of elbow grease.  This will pretty much remove all of the "gunk" from the gourd, but if it doesn't, soak it a little bit longer, and try again.  Occasionally I find it necessary to do a little scraping.  I have an old paring knife that I like to use, you may find that you prefer some other utensil.

Once you are satisfied with the cleaness of your gourd, rinse it thoroughly and set it aside to dry.  I don't recommend putting them out in the sun to dry or drying them in the oven.  Rapid drying can cause your gourd to crack.  Just set them aside, and usually withink 24 hours they are completely dry.

Now that your gourd is clean and dry, the sky's the limit! Gourds can be decorated in countless ways.  Holes can be drilled to make gourd birdhouses.  Dyes, paints and stains all make interesting affects on gourds.  I also enjoy using woodburning (pyrography) tools to enhance the designs of my gourds.   Experiment!  Gourds are an incredible medium to work with!  But I offer you this warning....they are addictive! 





Christmas in July!

Welcome to my blog! I'm new at this so bear with me as I become acclimated to life in this century!!

Like it or not, the year is more than half over! Before you know it school will be in session again and then it's just a hop, skip, and jump until that magical time of year!  I keep hearing the phrase "Christmas in July" so I thought a craft with that in mind might be a good way to begin my blog!    

Even if you've never crafted before, this cute little snowman pin is a quick and easy project that will give you a chance to whet your creative appetite!  I tore it out of a magazine and stuck it in a file YEARS before the dawn of Pinterest!  It was first created by a lady named, Paula Bales.  Unfortunately....I have no way of knowing what craft magazine I found it in.  Let's get crafting!

Supplies:

white fun foam                                                   thin paintbrush

think line black sharpie marker                            black acrylic paint

white acrylic paint                                              red or black acrylic paint

orange acrylic paint                                            scissors or pinking shears

scrap of material                                                small stencil brush -foam works great!

glue



Trace the pattern onto the fun foam.  The side that the pencil marks are on will be the BACK of your pin. (I tried uploading a .pdf file of the pattern to no avail!, but I can email one to you if you don't feel like trying to make one on your own).

 

                       

    

Cut out the snowman.  When working with fun foam it's best to make as much of a continuous cut as possible.  Don't worry about being 100% accurate with your cuts.  Once you flip the snowman over, the pencil marks will be out of sight!

With a thin sharpie marker, mark around the edge of your snowman.  I like to mimic a blanket type stitch with my marking.

Now we are ready for his face!  I keep this very simple, but be as elaborate as you like!  Using my thin paintbrush I dip it into the the black paint.  Get enough paint on the brush for a thick dot for each eye.  Wash your brush with a little soap and water and dry it with a paper towel.   For his cheeks I use the smallest stencil brush I can find.  Dip the brush into your red/pink paint.  On a paper towel, or scrap sheet of paper, pounce the brush up and down several times.  There should be very little paint on the brush when you add the cheeks.  Now, just as you did on the paper towel, pounce the brush onto the fun foam to create the snowman's cheeks.  

Next dip the brush into the orange paint and make a small triangular nose. 

Using the sharpie give him some eyebrows and as a final touch put 1 small dot of white in each eye. 

Cut a 1" x 7" piece of cloth from your fabric scrap.  If possible, fray the ends or make scissor snips at both ends of the strip to mimic fringe.  Tie this around your snowman's neck.  A dot of glue wil help hold the scarf in place.

Glue a pin back onto the back of your creation and VOILA'! 

You've got a cute little snowman pin.  He measures about 2 1/2" tall.  This would be a great gift for teachers, or a thoughtful gift for just about anyone, just to let them know you're thinking of them!

I hope this project works well for you!  If you have any questions, leave me a message! I also welcome any comments you might have!  Check my blog again soon!  The crafting continues!