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 ***

The Other Woolworth's

Our April Red Hat brunch gathering  took place at Woolworth's. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking the Five and Dime of days gone by? 

flickrhivemind.net

Well, yes and no. It's in the same location, uses the same name but serves a different purpose.

styleblueprint.com

It describes itself as a Social House. It's a place with a variety of games, food, and drink. A place to socialize. The idea of a Social House brings to mind an English Pub . Though I've never been to England, I do watch a lot of British T.V.😃.

The menu required some discussion and Googling for some of us.

On the menu was:

TOPLESS MADAME

smoked ham, dijon, french pullman loaf, cheese, fried eggs, spinach mornay😐

YOU SAY TORTILLA, I SAY FRITTATA 😡

spanish style baked omelette, sweet potatoes, grilled ciabatta😡, onions, manchego😞, mixed greens

I have to say though that's it's a colorful description and detailed use of adjectives even if I don't know what the food is. But, I'm open to (some) new adventures.

Here we all are smiling for the camera and waiting for our food to arrive.

Some of us had coffee and some of us had other beverages.

After socializing at the Social House we opted not to stick around and partake of the games offered . Tomorrow is Easter with many of the ladies involved with family, church and community duties.

That's it ***

 

The Bracelet Challenge

Just to shake things up at our June Red Hat meeting, there was a Bracelet Challenge.

How many bracelets can you fit on one arm. Rubber bands and strings don't count. 

Our lowest count was 16 and our highest count was 96.
Great meal and great fun. The winner was given a prize.

Alabama Firecrackers (8 photos)

There was food galore as we tailgated at the Georgia Steeplechase. One of the newest in our Red Hat chapter, must own a magic cooking spoon. 

She prepared much of the food and it was ooooh soooo delicious. Her Alabama Firecrackers were a big hit. They had a tart, sweet and just  the right amount of heat flavor. I'd never had them before and asked for the recipe which she freely gave.

I tried out the recipe about 10 days later.

The recipe. I wrote it in the same Steno pad my mama wrote her recipes in. Do they even make Steno pads these days?

Gather the ingredients

Mix the ingredients in the bag  by "smooshing" them.

Add the saltines to the mixture . Zip the bag and gently flip it back and forth a few times so that the mixture can coat the crackers. Allow the bag to sit for an hour. Go back and turn the bag on the opposite end for an hour. I did this one hour flipping 4 times. Finally, I allowed the crackers sit overnight.

I couldn't wait to try them the next day.

HOT!!!!!!!

They looked just fine, but too hot for me. Soooooo...

                        I started over 5 days later after reluctantly throwing the first batch away.

Take 2.

I did the same as above in a reduced amount for two sleeves of crackers, AND, when I got to the pepper flakes I used 1/4 of what the recipe called for. This time they weren't too hot for me. 

I even shared with friends who said they liked them. I plan to make them again. 

There's the magic spoon

and  there's the 

                                                                        

tragic spoon.

                                                    

END***

RED HATTERS

It may have been 97 degrees or higher outside on Saturday, but this didn’t stop the Red and Pink Hatters from dining al fresco at Vulcan Park.






This was my first Red Hat Society event.  Queen T. did a fabulous job of planning the event

The picnic area we were in required going up and down steps a few times but once we got settled the Queen had us do an icebreaker game. We were divided into two teams. There were two paper bags with their tops rolled down. Inside were a pair of garden gloves and peppermint stars. A person from each team had to unroll the bag, put on the gloves, unwrap the cellophane candy and put it in her mouth. Once that was done, she was to remove her gloves, put them back in the bag and roll it back down whereupon the next team member took over. The team to finish first would be winners.  Each member of the winning team was given a small red and white or pink and white flowered tote bag.

Before eating a business meeting was conducted. I have to hand it to the Queen, she had a calendar of events all the way up to February 2013. I just love organization and timeliness.  This particular chapter has only been in existence for a year.

 I’m looking forward to the camaraderie and activities. I guess I’ll be accumulating a lot of red and purple.