Between the Covid safety measures and the wildfires out here, our family is basically stuck inside and at home. The smoke continues to pollute the air and our Air Quality Index has ranged from 175 to 352 (the highest I have seen it) over the last month. (As a point of reference, 0-50 is considered healthy, clean air). In our area, the fire that started this mess began on August 14th. Fortunately, that fire has been dealt with but there are myriad other fires up and down the whole west coast, keeping the air very unhealthy.
Having to stay inside so much gets boring and the three of us get antsy. We have been trying to do projects, read a lot, watch tv and play an occasional card game to pass the time. Over the weekend we got crafty! Want to see what we made?
The first project were these silly mummy jars. Julia and I thought they would be fun to have out for Halloween. The project is so simple and if you have small children, it is perfect for them. You only need a few clean jars, some Mod Podge, cheesecloth, and wiggly eyes.
Cut the cheesecloth into strips approximately 1 1/2″ wide. Maybe two strips per jar? Paint the outside of the jar with a coat of Mod Podge. Wrap the strips around the jar as you might wrap a mummy. Haha – like I would know how to wrap a mummy. Then paint another coat of Mod Podge over the wrapped jar. Let dry. The next day we used a hot glue gun and attached the wiggly eyes. Julia’s boyfriend decided one of our mummies needed to have crazy eyes so he used two different size wiggly eyes.
Moving on, and in keeping with the Mod Podge crafting, Julia and I colored two jars. I really love these!
Another simple project, you only need two clean jars, Mod Podge, and some food coloring. For these jars, pour about 2 tablespoons of Mod Podge into a little bowl. Add the color you want (remembering not to add too much!) and about a teaspoon of water. Mix until the color is distributed – we used a toothpick to mix ours. Pour the colored glue into the jar and start to rotate your jar slowly, letting the glue run over all sides of the jar. Once the inside of the jar is well coated, drain the Mod Podge out. If you are going to make more jars, drain back into your bowl. Since we didn’t want to make more than one each, we drained the jars over the kitchen trash. Hold it upside down for a minute or so to let it drain. Then invert it on to a tray with waxed paper on it. Let the jars stand upside down for an hour. After that hour passes, bake the jars – standing right side up – for an hour at 225 degrees. They dried clear and hard.
I don’t know that I would put water in them as I am uncertain if that would eventually wash out the finish we made. But they look cute with dried flowers.
Moving on Julia wanted to make some soft pumpkins. We had everything we needed though the only appropriate socks we found were from Ray’s drawer. I am not a fan of the darker colored pumpkin. I do like the lighter colors though.
To make these we used a tutorial found at A Well Purposed Woman. I won’t go into the details since we really followed her instructions completely. This was a lot of fun to do together. Julia had the great idea to wrap floral wire around a pencil to make the little curlicue ‘vines’ we glued at the top near the stems. I like the fact that the instructions told us to put 1/4 cup of dry rice in first and then the polyfil stuffing. This weight at the bottom really makes the pumpkins sit nicely. If I were to do this again, and thrift stores were a feasible option, I would look for some socks with better colors or a knit sweater that could be upcycled. However, considering we were only using what we had at home, I call this a success.
One more fun thing to share – my sister, Juanita, is a yoga instructor who lives in Texas. With all of the travel restrictions in place, my family (like yours I am sure) is unable to be together. To allow family members to be able to spend time together, my sister has been teaching a yoga class via Zoom on Sunday afternoons. The link goes out to everyone in the family and whomever is available joins in. I took a screen shot over the weekend to share with you.
This doesn’t even show all of the family that participated. I couldn’t fit everyone on my screen. But it is such a great way to spend an hour together. Do a little yoga and then we all visit for a few minutes. It is just real life connected virtually. During family yoga this past Sunday, my sister in the upper right corner had her 16 month old grand daughter in and out of the room and my niece, bottom row, far left had to stop to help her three year old put her pants back on. It all makes us laugh and we (sort of) get to be together.
It takes some effort and a bit of creativity but I am glad we can find ways to stay connected. I hope you are able to as well!
Hurray for Modge Podge and Zoom! Really cute projects. I especially love the curlicues on the pumpkins. I made something similar to your glass jars several years ago, but I tried to make mine look like colored milk glass. I gave them to Goodwill the other day after enjoying them for 10 years!
Thank you Linda! We had a fun time with all of this over the weekend. Last night I did some hand quilting and she was trying to learn some embroidery stitches. It is like we are living in the Little House on the Prairie days! But that’s ok. Gotta make the best of all of this. We tried running errands today and both Julia and I felt yucky by the time we got home. Even wearing masks the smoke really gets to a person. Hope you are doing well. I would guess you are packing boxes these days? Good luck with the move.
You are making the best of a unfortunate situation. I do hope you soon get rain and an end to all the air quality issues (and fires). So many cute ideas that you have shared. Love those Modge Podge jars; I’ll have to keep that one in mind. I might have to raid my sock drawer and try one of those pumpkins too. Family Zoom Yoga – you are all pretty creative! How fun!
Well, I don’t think rain is coming our way over the next couple of weeks. Dry, dry, dry. Til then, the smoke will hang over us. Julia and I had a few errands to run this morning and by the time we got home her throat hurt, my eyes were all dry and it was time for me to use my inhaler again. To think we are the healthy ones dealing with this. People with pulmonary issues must really be struggling. Tomorrow I will definitely stay inside. It just isn’t worth it.
I do LOVE our family yoga times. The blue and green jars are really pretty. I think you would enjoy those. Give it a try. Maybe with Molly when she comes next?
It’s become the year of crazy like the eyes Of the Cute mummy jars. All your projects are really clever. A good take away from all this ugly mess of 2020 is thinking outside the box to stay connected and feel some sort of normalcy laughing with loved ones. Kudos to restaurants Who try by shifting tables and chairs and adding tents, Or crafting a Food item so they can sell alcoholic beverages, all this makes me appreciate those who can make do with an unfortunate situation and not complain about what they can’t do. Hoping the rains come soon for some relief to you and all those battling fires.
You are so right in that there is a LOT of creativity happening in the world as business owners figure out how to maintain their businesses and serve their customers. It has been really interesting in that regard. This great Mexican restaurant near our neighborhood has gone completely drive up and we LOVE it. Let me just say we order from them way more than we ever did prior to Pandemic times. It is so darn easy to just call them and go pick it up. Hope you are doing well during these absurdly odd times Kathy.
Living in Placerville, we also have extremely unhealthy air, and with a fire not too far away, we’ve put together a few things in case winds shift or another fire pops up & we have to evacuate — many are arson. Other than the absolute minimum to be done outside (watering a couple of plants that aren’t on drip mist & letting dogs in & out), we are inside all day long. I have been reading books like crazy, but now my sewing machine is back from repair, and I can start quilting a top I made for a young friend of mine who’s getting married at the end of the month. Am doubly glad the machine is back as I’m also going to be altering her wedding dress this weekend for her. Then, I’ll be working on MY projects for a while! Thank you for sharing the crafts! It was also a great idea to do yoga via Zoom – get a little exercise in with laughter & visiting thrown in for good measure! I keep reminding myself that ‘this too shall pass’ – that we are very blessed, including time spent together in our homes & good health.
You have a great attitude Deb. I was listening to someone on NPR today and she was explaining that we may have as much as another month of smoke because of living in the foothills and how hard it is to get the air to clear out of here. Sigh. Tomorrow is supposed to be a little bit better because of a breeze coming our way but then it will be smokey again. Such is life, right? We are doing fine and staying healthy. That is what counts. Best to you Deb.
Great ideas! I love family yoga zoom. I also think Julia has the gift for crafting.
Take care
Hey Sue – Julia is quite crafty. She doesn’t like to sew but does lots of other stuff. We have had a good time finding things to make with the odd assortment of items in the ‘craft’ cupboard. Family Yoga is so great. My parents log in just to watch everyone and visit. She does a chair yoga class with them each Saturday and I want to join in with them too. The timing hasn’t worked out just yet. Maybe this weekend? Hope you are well. B.
Your family yoga class looks like so much fun! Love these mummy jars–I think my son might enjoy those. I might even have some cheesecloth. Thanks for the fun idea.
Hi Emily: When I wrote this post, I totally thought of you. I know it would be a fun project for you to do with your little guy. It is so easy and really can’t go wrong. Have fun and if you make them, show me a picture ok?
I love those crafts! I don’t keep modge podge on hand, but I may have to order some online. Please stay safe from both the virus and those horrific fires/smoke.
What fun – family yoga at a distance! I love all the things you and Julia made. It is funny as I was thinking I needed some hodge podge in the house, and now I have a reason or two for some! Great fun to be had…love the bandaged light jars especially!
These are such cute projects! I want to make the mummy tealights and the colored jars. Just need to get some modge podge
Yay! I’m glad you like the ideas. I bet the girls would love to make the mummy jars with you – they are pretty much guaranteed success. Order the Mod Podge on Amazon – they have the best price (of course!). Have fun!!
What fun projects you and Julia have cooked up to pass the time. I especially like the pumpkins and am wondering what I might have around the house to make some. You’ve made the best of a tough time. Pandemic AND smoke. Can we get a do-over of 2020? I hope Julia’s coping okay with her unexpected gap year. Stay safe!