Watch Me Make Wire Bird Legs

I’m often asked how I make the cute legs for my birds so here is the answer in a video. The wire used is 18 gauge. Thanks for watching!

 

Watch Me Make Wire Bird Legs

I’m often asked how I make the cute legs for my birds so here is the answer in a video.

The wire used is 18 gauge. Thanks for watching!

Posted by 3rd Life on Saturday, February 29, 2020

Birds are looking for new homes from time to time, to see what’s available please check out my shop or ask me on facebook!

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Old leather jacket becomes a new camera bag

My favourite and most challenging project this past year for 3rd Life was making this camera bag out of a leather jacket. I was contacted by a client to see if I would be willing to make a camera bag for her photographer husband using his father’s old leather jacket. The best part was that it would be a Christmas gift and he had no idea! We both knew that I had not made this type of bag before but this kind stranger was brave enough to trust me with this important project. She had been following my work on Instagram and was confident I could work some magic.

Here is the jacket I was given to transform:

Knowing that this jacket had a lot of sentimental value and that I only had one shot to get it right, I set out to master the pattern before tackling this job. I made a practice bag using a leather jacket of a similar weight and I was able to make adjustments to the size and the way it was put together using leather rather than fabric. The extra time it took was well worth it as it really enabled me to make a better bag in the end.

 

I think it turned out wonderfully and I hope the recipient will get a lot of use out of it! This is such a special way for him to carry a memory of his father and I am always honored when I am asked to take on such a meaningful project. I love being able to take a sentimental item and make it into something useful that can be cherished for a long time.

 

 

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A picky Valentine’s gift

 

I was on my way to pick up a last minute Valentine’s Day gift for my kids and when I walked by some cute cacti it hit me – they were not going to get another stuffy or plastic toy this year. I decided to buy them each a cactus. Immediately I started thinking of cactus puns that would be perfect to go with them.

By the time I got home I knew I had to make them even cuter so I got out the googly eyes. If you were wondering, yes, I did get pricked in the process of hot gluing them on, and YES it was worth it. My kids were thrilled to receive these cute Valentines and are looking forward to taking care of their cactus monsters for years to come.

Maybe you would like to make your own Cactus Monster for yourself or for a unique gift, don’t forget the puns!

the freckle

 

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Wendesday Night : Mending Night

Hello again!  I know I know, it’s been a while…  But I have a very good excuse – two actually!  A bright little girl and sweet little boy pretty much occupy 120% of my time and have since 2011.  Has it really been that long since I posted anything?  Eek!

I do lots of projects with my helpers but I must admit, I miss crafting for myself.  So tonight when bedtime went really well and I found my kitchen tidied at a decent hour I thought I would venture down to my makers room to see what kind of state it was in.  If I was EVER going to get into a project I would have to clear off a space to make a mess in!  I must have been very determined because not long after coming into my space I could see the bright gleam of my pine harvest table just begging for some creativity.  Now what?  I stand there, pondering, and as I gaze around my room my eyes fall on my mending pile.  A little project.  Quick.  Productive.  Perfect.

On the top of the pile I find a bright pink one piece pajama covered with minions.  This comfy garment should be worn!  Not stuck in a pile in my basement.  Let’s see what I can do with it.  It’s in great shape except for an unfortunate hole on the sleeve.  It looks like someone’s puppy might have been playing a bit too rough with one of the minions!  This will never do.  No one will wear this super soft pajama with a hole in the sleeve!  I can fix this.  I can make this better.

     

Step 1.  Locate the hole and trim the ‘unsaveable’ fleece.

          

Step 2.  Create a patch worthy of a fuchsia fleece pajama covered in minions.  I decided to go with a felt patch.  It’s super easy to work with and since neither fabric frays I won’t have to fuss with finishing raw edges meaning I can have some fun with the design!  Bring on the minions!

Step 3.  After perfecting the design *very important* I made sure that it would cover the hole with room to spare.  Then I set to work cutting out the parts from coloured felt scraps.  I skipped some of the black details since I was planning on sewing it on with black thread.

Step 4.  Stitch that minion!  Now don’t forget to put on your inner details at this point.  It’s alot easier to maneuver this little guy before he is attached to an awkward garment.

          

Step 5.  Now to patch the hole.  Because the hole was so far down the sleeve I opted to take the seams apart.  It was much easier to machine stitch on a flat surface than hand stitch it into a narrow sleeve.  And besides – then I get to break out my lovely serger to put the sleeve back together.  Once my minion was topstiched to my satisfaction, I flipped it over a hand stitched the inside of the hole to the patch, being careful that my stitches wouldn’t show through to the front of the minion.

     

Step 6.  Present repaired pjs to future wearer and hold breath for squeal of delight and impending hugs.

Done.  Well it was a night well spent!  I was creative, productive, and I made something better.  I can’t wait until my next craft night to see what it will bring.  Until then…

the fern

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“NOTE-worthy” Valentines

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We wanted to make some Valentines cards for our Kindergartners to hand out at school and after finding these little packs of notebooks and pencils at the dollar store we knew we were on the “write” track. The funnest part of this project may have been coming up with silly puns and singing New Kids On The Block. Wait for it…

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh
The right stuff

Right, back on topic now.

Just look at these Valentines! Super cute! Candy free!

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If you want to make your own we have a FREE PRINTABLE with 6 Valentines sayings ready to go. Just print on card stock, cut out the valentines and use an x-acto knife to cut slits where you will insert the pencil and the back of the notebook. We were able to save time by cutting the slits through 5 or 6 valentines at a time. Using the edge of a metal ruler as a guide to cut along and cutting on top of a self healing mat is quite helpful.

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The pencils and notebooks stayed in place surprisingly well and certainly would not fall out on their own. We added a little piece of tape on the bottom of the notebook just to keep the cover from flopping around, this step is not necessary but it keeps it neater, plus who can resist cute tape.

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The girls approved and took to signing, such a big job but they were proud of their work and could not wait to give them out to their classmates!

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Happy Love Day!

lisasigrebsig

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Friday Favourites: granny squares

Crochet Bunting by Little Tea Wagon

 Granny Square Wool Brooch Pin by Grasshopper Handmade

Granny Square Cowl by Sheepish 

Granny Square Pillow Case by Happy In Red

Granny Square Bag by Knitting Cate

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Sweet Dreams Nap Mat

Written by guest blogger Carla, the fern’s sister.

When I sent my toddler off to daycare this past September, my daycare provider asked me to send along a yoga mat for nap time. Now, the rational side of my brain knows that sleeping on a ¼ inch mat for 2 hours a day certainly does not pose any real health risk to my little one. However, the emotional side of my brain cringes at the thought of her sleeping basically on the floor.

So I went on a hunt for a solution and found the Nap Mat. There were so many beautiful
designs and a variety of different patterns but I particularly liked one at sewlikemymom.com,
an awesome site full of amazing ideas. I altered the pattern slightly in a few spots and voila…a
comfy and fashionable place for my little one to get rejuvenated in the middle of the day.

 

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Handmade Harvest craft show :: Holiday 2012

If you are in the area take a drive out to beautiful Almonte for the best craft show around! For sneak peeks of swag bag items and general awesomeness like the Handmade Harvest facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/HandmadeHarvest 

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Big Girl Dreams


‘Dear Hazel,’ by 3rdlife

$18.00

$29.95

$28.00

$38.00

$25.00

$60.00

$24.00

$42.50

$224.00

$25.00

$50.00

$32.00

$10.00

$83.90

$22.00

$14.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

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Tutorial: Homemade Playdough

Written by guest blogger, Kat from You Fancy Thing

You know when you were a kid, and homemade playdough always smelled weird, and was gritty and salty, or slimy, or made your hands sting?

This stuff isn’t any of those things.

I adapted this recipe from here, and it is by far the best homemade playdough I’ve encountered thus far. It’s smooth and elastic, and even though it’s food-based, it tastes gross so no one should actually enjoy eating it (though don’t, like, test this out by serving it to your kids for dinner), it’s reusable (it just needs a good kneading each time you take it out, and voila! it’s as good as new), and it lasts for up to 4 days in the fridge (or more, depending on how often you use it. Ours never lasts past the 4 day mark because generally Innis wants to build playdough elephants and dump trucks and snakes every single day).

UPDATE: I made an extra batch of playdough recently and left it in the fridge until we were ready to use it. It was just as good as new when we eventually opened the tupperware, a week and a half later. So basically, this stuff would outlast even the cockroaches after a nuclear apocalypse.

Here’s what you need (plus some water):

1 cup baking soda

1/2 cup corn starch

3/4 cup water

Food colouring

Sauce pan

Heat resistant spoon or spatula

Measuring cups

Air tight storage container

Step One:

Mix dry ingredients in your sauce pan, set aside. Squeeze some food colouring into the 3/4 cup of water, and then add this water mixture to the soda and corn starch. I didn’t count the drops of food colouring I used, I just squeezed the bottle for about two seconds. A smarter person would have used a clear measuring cup to gauge the colour to water ratio during the actual combining part, but, well.

Blending the food colouring with the water ensures that your playdough will be evenly hued.

Once stirred, your mixture should look like this:

Step Two:

Cook at medium heat, and stir constantly until your playdough gets … playdoughy — the constant stirring is important, but don’t worry, it doesn’t take long. In about a minute and a half, your playdough will get all foamy on top and then pretty much twenty to thirty seconds right after that, you shall reach the pinnacle of desired playdough consistency:

Step Three:

Scoop your playdough out onto a plate to cool, wash out your sauce pan (it’ll have stuff stuck to the bottom, but it’s important to start with a clean pan each time so you can keep your colours nice and crisp), then repeat until your desired number of pretty playdough colours has been reached:

Step Four:

Knead your playdough until it’s nice and smooth (you’ll encounter some dried up bits on the surface, but these will blend in nicely, so don’t worry). If you find that your playdough is a little sticky, just add some more baking soda (just like you would add flour to overly-moist pastry) until it’s the consistency you like:

It’s better to store slightly moister-than-desired playdough rather than the slightly parched variety because it’s inevitable that your playdough will dry out a little bit in the fridge (even if you put it in an airtight container).

I divided each of the colours in half, then cut each of those balls in two so I ended up with four smaller balls of each colour instead of one giant one. This makes sharing easier during play dates, and they also fit better into my tupperware as itty bitty versions of themselves:

Aaaaw, so itty bitty!!

Step Five:

Find a willing toddler (sort-of-sharp pointy plastic tool optional).

Enjoy!

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