Purse charms/Key rings/ Lanyard

 G. J. and I were in charge of our April Red Hat event. The chapter  usually has a "lovely parting gift" for each person that attends. I told my  event buddy that I'd been working on these, showed  her a sample and we both decided that they would be fine as a gift.

At first it was going to be a pendant on a gold or silver chain. Then I realized some are sensitive to various metals. I didn't want to use ribbon or cord so I had to rethink the project.

💡

A purse charm would be away from the body and it would be less prone to cause sensitivity.

     I painted one side of wooden circles purple for Red Hatters and pink for Pink Hatters. Let it dry. I drilled a hole at the top of each one.

 I painted the back side some form of gold or silver. A  fellow crafter had given me strands of pearls and strands of gold beads which were perfect for this project.  With the beads being on a strand it was much easier to wrap them around the glass bubble picture of each one and slowly pull the string after the beads were in place. I used E-6000 glue for all adherences. 

Pearls in place, Gold beads in place, names on the back, etc. Let it dry.

Now it was time to  do individual beading to make the dangly, thingies that would hang off of the purse charm.
Yep, you're seeing it right. I used an empty egg crate to separate my beads. 

The danglies were then attached to the blank key chains which I purchased from Amazon. 

SIDEBAR: I noticed that some of the key chains had a straight piece of wire in between the groove where the keys go.  Not knowing what it was, I inquired and discovered that it was there to help separate the clip so that the keys could slide on easier. BTW- A staple remover works well also when separating to add keys. No more ruined manicures.

You'll see the results of the dangly, thingies here and below.

The fronts and backs were all finished with at least three coats of Triple Thick. This product gives a glassy, glossy appearance to projects and helps protect them.

They needed some type of packaging and personalization so  I used card stock and personalized everyone's name on their individual purse charm.

This was a fun project and turned out just the way I wanted it to.

That's it ***

B-Uniq Sophisticated Ladies 7th Anniversary

March 1, 2019 was the Seventh Anniversary of B-Uniq Sophisticated Ladies (BUSL)  The Uniq is intentionally spelled that way to make it Unique.
BUSL Queen, Queen T.  assigned pairs of us to decorate a table. Regalia colors of red and purple for Red Hatters and pink and lavender for Pink Hatters were to be used. Gold, silver, pearls, rhinestones and any other bling could be used at will. That's a large part of being a Hatter- blinging it up.

The tables would be judged by visiting Queens who'd be attending the anniversary. There would be a first, second and third place winner.  Below are the tables. A wide array of items were used making each table unique.

I can't remember who won, but whoever it was deserved it. All of the ladies worked hard.

In addition to this stand out feature, there was a program which included, impersonators of The Supremes, Ike & Tina Turner,  an illusionist and a true singer of an Aretha Franklin song. Each year we have Mr. M. our fantastic DJ  jamming out the tunes. There was a silent auction, door prizes, vendors, lunch, dancing, and all sorts of gaiety. 

Several of the BUSL hatters husbands are always champs in helping out with the heavy lifting, driving and just wherever they can help out. I've jokingly said that we should call them Red Cappers and get them red caps since most men seem to prefer a cap to a hat.

There were about 140 ladies who attended the Seventh Anniversary.  It was great seeing many who'd come in from out of town and who I'd made friends with at other hoots.

 After such a grand and joyous affair, I slept like a log that night.  ZZZZ

END ***

Squash and Celery Slaw

 Fresh vegetables  are good for you but it's not good to leave them  too long.

This all began when I was baffled as to what to do with leftover celery and squash. Once again, stalking the NET, I came across celery slaw. Since I didn't follow their recipe exactly, I won't put a link to it. I'm  not sure what defines a dish as slaw or salad but I'm  guessing the slaw is shredded.

Sure I could look it up but I'd rather fly by the seat of my pants.
I washed and  scooped out the seeds of  four squash.

Seeded raw squash



Pulp/seeds from squash that I'll use in something else.
 HEY! I had to pay for it. Nothing's going to waste.



Here I've julienned the squash into fine slices.

The Loosely Pulled Together Recipe

Combined  about two cups of  julienned squash with one cup of chopped celery.

Mixed in  two tablespoons of  dried cranberries and two tablespoons of sour cream, salt and pepper to taste. 

NOTE: Since I failed to take a photo of celery and squash slaw, this photo is of  one I did without the celery.

All in all it was refreshing, different and tasty.

But Wait---There's More...

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Celery for Fun

I'd read  somewhere that celery could be regrown from  it's base by putting it in water and then soil, allowing it to resprout from the center into a new stalk.