And for today...

[dreamflower]

Here's my evening post! I ran some errands this morning and then came home and had lunch, did a little more polymer clay, and then cleaned house some more. I wanted everything done before the weekend, since we have plans for Saturday, and I work Sunday.

More pics behind the cut:


OK, this is my cane before reducing. I took a lot of pics as I was making it, in hopes of writing up a tutorial if it came out successfully.



Here is the cane after reducing:



Now for the fun part! What I made first!

I covered an AltoidsTM box!

I used a bit of blue/white Skinner blend for the sky, green for the background, and several slices of some old leaf and flower canes I had handy.



I covered the bottom and sides with blue (that did not come out as smooth as I'd have liked, though. I added a white border around the edges, and little white legs. I then painted it with a sealer.



Here it is slightly open.




This is just my first one. I'm going to do another, and take pics of the process. I think it will turn out better, and I may do a tutorial of that as well.

Something I didn't mention in my post yesterday: I lost the keys to my freezer! When I couldn't find them, I called the butcher from whom we bought it to see if he had a spare he could lend me just long enough to get it open. He didn't, as he no longer sells freezers. But he suggested I call a local furniture/appliance place. We've bought several items from them, so I thought I'd give it a try. They couldn't LEND me the key, instead one of their delivery guys came right out to the house with keys and had it open within twenty minutes! Now that's service!

We have an errand early in Tulsa tomorrow. So much for sleeping in on my day off.

Comments

[ysilme]

The cane is awesome, and the box really lovely!

But why does your freezer have keys?

[dreamflower]

Freezers just do, at least here in the US. I never bothered with locking a freezer before, but since we moved here, there's no room inside the house, so we have kept it outside--first on our front porch, and then when we got our new A/C we had to move it into the garage, as the A/C had to go in the window under which the freezer stood.

I am guessing that may be the reason freezers lock, because many people do end up keeping them on porches or in garages when there's no room indoors!

I am hoping to write up a tutorial for the cane and perhaps for the box if my second one comes out better.

[ysilme]

Ah, that makes sense about the keys. I haven never seen freezers with keys, but then also nobody would ever think of keeping a freezer outside the house, as it would be very inefficient if it gets hot.
But then, we usually don't have such monster fridges you have in the U.S. (although some people have U.S. style fridges nowadays), and most people have a combination of fridge and freezer if they don't have a basement to place it.
This was what I had when we still lived in a flat: fridge-freezer-combination; the three bottom drawers are the freezer unit, the upper part is the fridge. The upper part is considerd average-sized, but amply sufficient for four people. We don't have ice-cube makers or ice-water dispensers or so, and you can't buy any liquids in galleons in German supermarkets, and so on.
Today, I have the super luxury of a room-high fridge with three 0°C-drawers to store dairy, meat (in theory ;o) ) and vegetables for longer than usual: (this is even exactly my model). I use most of the biofrehs drawers for veggies, since my basemet isn't cool enough to keep there onions or cabbage or so. I also have a freezer of the same size, with drawers, in my utility room; but it's only such a tall one because of the kitty-raw feeding, and because I freeze a lot of veggies from the garden.
Both are about 24 inches long on one side, which is the average size of kitchen applicances in Germany; you don't usually have space for anything larger.
How fascinating these different customs are! :o)

[dreamflower]

We have a good sized fridge/freezer combination as well. But the freezer section is not all that big. We don't have a water dispenser in this one, and since this is an old house, we'd have to have a lot of expensive plumbing done to hook iup the ice maker.I usually just buy a bag of ice once a week.

When we lived in Mississippi we had a huge full sized upright freezer in our utility room/pantry. We had a key for it but never locked it except if there was a hurricane warning (since it would help if there was a power outage).

But there's no room here in this smaller house in Oklahoma, so my smaller chest type freezer has to live in the garage.

[ysilme]

The piping would be a problem for fridges with ice makers here, too; as far as I know the models sold here have a water tank or so since it's not usually available.
What do you use the ice cubes for, by the way? Nobody I know ever uses any, so I feel rather clueless. *g*

[shirebound]

I adore those little legs! What a joy to know that you're making time for such wonderful creativity.

[dreamflower]

I'm really enjoying getting to do things like this again.

[mews1945.livejournal.com]

That box is adorable.

I wondered why you lock your freezer?

[dreamflower]

Because we don't keep it inside the house--no room.

I'm glad you like my little box!

[febobe.livejournal.com]

Oh, goodness! Glad that they opened the freezer? Will you have to have a new key made, or do you just have to leave it unlocked?

And all those little crafty things are so adorable!!! :D So beautiful. :)

*hugs*

The only thing I made today? A recipe chapter of a longer fic, and a start on my bangers and mash and onion gravy recipe fic. :)

*snugs*

[dreamflower]

WHOO-HOO! *bounce-bounce* Recipe!fic from Febobe!

I figure the key will turn up. It's here somewhere, but of course I had to get it unlocked in order to make supper, LOL! We will have to keep it unlocked until then.

I'm glad you like what I'm making. *grin*

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

It's lovely. Freezers don't have keys here.Hope you find it.

[dreamflower]

Thank you!

I suppose it is because so many Americans have to keep their freezers in places where they might be easily accessed by others--like we did with this one, on our front porch and now in our garage. Some rural families even keep their freezers in separate outbuildings. Freezers are large items here, and not every kitchen is built to accommodate them.

I'm certain it will turn up. I once lost my wedding ring for nearly a month and a half (it literally flew off my hand when I was folding a sheet), only to come home one day and find it smack in the center of the hall. I suspect it had originally rolled under a piece of furniture, and then Miss Bella found it and played with it, and then left it there when she got bored, LOL!

[debriswoman]

Fascinated...not seen this sort of craft work before:-)

[talullahred.livejournal.com]

The door turned out so well! And I really like the way you did the box. Very nice.

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Now that is service.

The box is lovely - and the door looks pretty good too.

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

I love what you did with the altoid box!!!

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

The cane is so cool. I really love the texture on the one before reduction. The altoid box Bag End is so cute!