Craft-cation

Last week was spent in Ellsworth MN, it was a 'craft-cation'.......crafting nearly non stop.....

Deb picked me up at few minutes after 9AM on Sunday and we were off. 

About 10:15 I took over the driving, we stopped near Berlin to pick up another Debbie. (It was one of her friends who coined the craftcation).

The east/west roads in south/central WI are not the best. But once I got past Tomah we got onto a 4 lane high-way and zoom.............all the way to the west side of MN, nearly to Sioux Falls, SD. After several much needed rest stops we arrived at Judy's house about 7:30PM. We were the last to arrive, they waited for us to have dinner with them. I had briefly met 3 of the other women so it was like being with strangers who love all crafts and are good at them. I stick mainly to papercrafts so it was an adventure.....adventures are good. It was so good to meet them and get to know the women who adopted me into their craft group.

Six women and one man were guests at Judy & Bruce's home. 

Martha and Bill had their lovely motor home parked in the back yard, the rest of us bunked in the house.

one day I wore my wig to show them that I can look like a normal person

found this pic online of some of the islands in the Mississippi River, it's beautiful

Judy, me (I am so use to being the tallest so I am not in the right place), Debbie, Linda Wendy, Martha, Debbie

I am going to TRY to show you what we did:

We painted on tiles (the woman whose project it was told us what we were going to do, but she has an accent and I thought she said towels.....she had these tiny 'towels' for us to paint on. I was wondering where in the world she found 1-1/2" towels. I was relieved to see they were tiles. 

Mine is on the lower left. Many of of us had the other women sign their name on a small tile and are attaching them to a larger tile (for a memento). 

We made cards.

Wine glass charms

Book marks

My pair and a coaster, we applied tacky glue (I did not use my fingers - I don't like getting dirty) and wrapped twine around a light bulb for the pear. 

No sew fabric bowls, one of my favorite projects.

We wrapped 50' clothesline ropes with fabric scraps ripped to 1" wide and used hot glue to attach the fabric every so often and then attach the ropes together. I watched at you tube video and got the idea for the 'fancy' way to end the bowl. 

Bells made from wine or beer bottle tops. I like this project, except for the painting part. 

I am NOT a painter. We used a glass bead for the clacker and then strung other beads all the way along the fishing line to the top. 

 We painted designs on the bottoms of the bottles and will attach solar lights to the top.

 Felties, they're about 3" tall, pretty cute.

We made photo transfers onto canvas using a laser print. I liked it, but it is time consuming. I do plan to make some more. 

  Adorable paper ornaments.

 CD hangers

This was my project: bottle cap ornaments. I wish I would have taken individual photos, they are so darn cute!

Windsocks made with ribbon. 

 Necklace made with paracord, it's suppose to be a heart. 

bracelets, it took a while, but I finally got it!

Deb made a really cute red & purple one. I'd like one for Red Hats too.

She gave me the pink one she made. 

There are probably more projects that I haven't unpacked yet. 

There was a LOT of talking going on, some wine drinking, even eating. 

I'm a quiet person and am better talking one on one than in a group. A couple of times I took a break to sit on the deck and get some fresh air, or just snuck away for some time alone, I also hate being cooped up inside all day.

On the way home I wanted to stop at the SPAM museum in Austin MN, it wasn't out of our way so we made it our lunch stop. NO, we did not have spam burgers for lunch, we walked to a nearby restaurant. 

We didn't spend much time there, I wish I could have. I think it would have been interesting, it's a unique product that seems to be standing the test of time. I counted 15 varieties, not including meals, single servings, or spread. Hormel produces 44,000 cans per hour.

We left friday morning shortly after 9 and arrived home after 8PM. I'm not sure how many miles the trip is, but we drove from the east coast of WI to within 40 miles of the western border of MN. We made one meal stop and several bathroom stops along the way. I drove all the way home and didn't mind one bit.....well highway 21 isn't the best road, but it got us there.

It was a fun week, but I am glad to be home.

Thanks for stopping by!

Now I have to head over to Deb's blog and read her take on the week. If we blog about the same thing I never read hers before I write mine so I am not influenced, in fact I didn't know that we have the same title....oh well.....GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE, right???