YAY!! I've Had Some Successes!!!

I've worked on a few things this week, and I'm happy to report they worked out pretty well!! :-D

First, remember the weed/flowers I picked a few weeks ago, around the yard?  I hung them up to dry and posted a picture on October 14 of them drying out.  Well, they did totally dry out, and they got "fuzzy", which was a problem because the fuzz would brush off whenever I moved them!
So I looked up what people do about drying plants, and someone said to spray them with adhesive spray (which I don't have, and is too expensive) OR....hairspray!  I don't have that either, but I grabbed a little can at the Dollar Store and tried it......

......it really WORKED!!  I was amazed, because you can see how delicate the fuzz looks on these bunches, but after spraying them a few times, they didn't lose anymore fuzz!  WOW, right?!  (You can see Puppy checking them out!)  Now I am hanging them in different spots around the house, to find the right place for them!  So COOL -- free "drieds"!! :-D

Ok, now you are going to LOVE the next one.....remember the twine candy canes from my "Inspiration" post a little while ago?......

Here they are!

Well, I made my own yesterday!!!! :-D  And they came out great......

I wish I angled them a little more, like in the first picture, but I'll be able to do that with the next one I make!
I'll also be able to take better pictures, because I was fumbling around SO much while trying to wrap the candy canes with the twine, I couldn't get any pictures of it in progress - and also, my fingers were sticky with glue!
I took the plastic wrapping off the candy canes, but I don't know if that's really important....I didn't want to worry about the plastic poking through the bottom of the twine!  Then, I put a little line of Gorilla Glue along each side of the cane, about half-way up, and I started wrapping, keeping it tight.  I tried to wrap over the end and then around, to cover it, but it didn't work well with the glue, so I just left it for after!
Once I was up to where the glue stopped, I put a line of glue on each side the rest of the way up and over, and kept wrapping.  Going over the top curve was tricky, because the twine separated and I had to go over it again to keep it completely covered.  Once I was at the top, I used loose metal clamps to hold the end twine in place while the glue dried......

As I worked on the second one, my fingers were really getting sticky with the glue!  And then as I was wrapping the top half, I guess I was holding it too tight, because it snapped!!  GRRRR!!!  It had the twine on it already, and now that was unraveling, too!
So I had to twist it back to the right way, and I used the glue to stick the broken pieces back together, and clamped it!  (can you see the little deformed part on the one on the left? LOL)
At this point, I don't know if you have ever used Gorilla Glue, but as it dries, it puffs out a little and turns white....so you don't want to use too much!  And I could see some of the white poking through the twine as it dried!  Clearly, I needed another plan....!!
That's when I remembered my glue gun - Oh Yeah!  Well, that made the rest of everything go so much better -- less messy, immediate dry time, strong -- that's what I will use from now on!
So once they were both done, I used the glue gun to attach them together....

Then I ripped a strip off of some really nice red and brown plaid fabric I have, and tied it in a bow around them, and tied on some rusty bells!
VOILA!!

I tied on a little hanger with thread, and hung it on my new cabinet....it won't stay here, but I wanted to hang it up for the picture.  Isn't it great?!!!  I can't wait to make another one! :-D  It will be SO much easier with the glue gun, and I'll take some pictures of me wrapping it, too, just in case anyone wants to see it step-by-step!

So my last real success this week was my FELT!  Remember the wool jackets I got from the thrift store for about $1.50 each?  Well, after two nights of ripping out seams, I got most of the pieces and washed them in hot water and dried them on High, and......

They actually felted!!!  They got smaller and thicker, and stopped unraveling -- AMAZING!!

(See little Minnie trying to sniff what I've got on the table? :-D)  Look at how thick it got!  I ironed out all these smaller pieces that curled up, so they would be nice and flat for use later on something, and I had my stack!......

Here's a before/after picture, can you see the difference? :-D

Today, I went to another thrift store and saw this wool sweater, which I bought so I could felt it too.....

But I am actually thinking I might like it to wear it, instead....!  Oh, but I want the blue felt too!!! LOL

So I'm having some fun around here! :-D
I also want to show you guys this meatball casserole that my kids and Brian loved SO MUCH, they told me to put it on here (usually, my kids make fun of me putting food pictures on my blog! LOL)

Here is the link to the recipe --  http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Baked-Simple-Meatball-Stroganoff

Here's the one I made.....

That is in my large pan - 11x17 - and both my boys and Brian had seconds, so this was gone after I got this picture!!
I made it a little differently than the recipe, I used the bread, and the cream cheese-mayo mix spread on top, then I used almost 2 cups of grated mozzarella over that (most of an 8oz. bag), then I used pre-made frozen meatballs that I had thawed, and I used my homemade spaghetti sauce that I had in my freezer, and I used another 8oz bag of Italian blend grated cheese on top, and baked it like it said -- QUICK and Yummy!!!

Everyone has been asking me when I'm going to make this again, so I'll probably have it on my list for next week -- I'm telling you, there is something special about that cream cheese-mayo mix that makes it really good!  You can taste it in every bite!!

I hope everyone else is enjoying their week, too, and having many successes with their projects!!  I just want to throw out a few words of encouragement for Barb -- I can't wait to hear where you are with the whole painting project!  Try NOT to get discouraged, and I hope it all turns out the way you want it to.....all you have to do is look back a few months in my blog and see how many troubles I've run into and how many times I have felt like giving up, throwing everything away and going to live in our workshop! :-P  It might take a while, but you will get there!! ^-^