Renaissance Fair Feathered Hand Fan

A couple of weekends ago my husband and I took our niece to the Texas Renaissance Festival.  It was very fun.  We camped on the grounds and I made up costumes or "garb" for us to wear.  I knew it would be warm, but didn't factor in the humidity.

I would take 100 degrees in dry heat over humidity any day of the week.  You just feel like you are melting.  I should have gone as a witch.  I'm sure my husband thought I was one.

Upon entering the gates of the festival I had a panic attack.  It never occurred to me that I suffered from such attacks but thinking back I obviously do.  The combination of dozens of people surrounding me and being extremely hot at 9 o'clock in the morning had me in a quiet fit.  I ended up cutting in line.  I mean, it was more like a swarm than a line, but I am sure people noticed me shamelessly squeezing my way to the front.  I didn't care.  I just needed to sit down for a second so I could breathe and cool off. 

Once I got in the gates I immediately found a place to sit as my husband and niece ran off to get me something cold to drink.  If you follow my videos on Youtube ( www.youtube.com/projecthousewife)
you can see a clip in my Renaissance video of just watching people come into the fair.  I figured while I calmed down I could make use of the time. 

Once I was back up and walking around, I made it my mission to find a hand fan.  While we cruised around the shops looking at various swords and costumes, and other fantastic items that one can only find at a ren fest, I saw several people fanning themselves.  I finally found a pirate shop selling fans, which now as I sit here typing, I can't remember where I put. 

One thing I noticed was several people fanning themselves with fans made of feathers.  It looked so awesome.  I loved the idea.  I knew if I found one at a shop it would cost much more than I was willing to spend.  So I decided that when I got home I would set out to make one of my own.

I figured I would share with all you fine people out on the web as well, because my motto is, "If I can make it myself, then I'm gonna".

I generally just wing it when I make things.  I went to Hobby Lobby and grabbed a bunch of stuff that I thought could work and just went nuts.

We are going to another Renaissance Festival in February and I decided to make a hot pink and black outfit to where.  I realize that it is hardly historically accurate, but neither are the fairies and other mythical creatures that I see at the fair.  Plus, Pink is my FAVORITE color.

Things you will need:

Sheet of felt
Hot glue gun with plenty of sticks (DON'T BURN YOURSELF - CAUTION)
Feathers
Floral wire
some meshy paper rope (I don't know what it's called)

First thing you are going to do is take the floral wire and create a basic shape.  I shaped the fan part very simply, and it doesn't have to be too big because it's just a base.  I then worked the wire into a stem and then at the end is just a loop. This will make it easy to tie to a belt when I take it to a festival.

I then took the meshy paper rope stuff, and unwound it, so that it was more like ribbon than rope and just basically wrapped it around the wire.  This helped hide the wire but it also helped when it came to gluing on the feathers.

Next you glue on the feathers.  I chose feathers that had a natural curve to them and didn't look eaten up because several feathers didn't look good.  I glued the feathers so that they curved in on the fan and weren't straying everywhere.

I had three colors, black, light pink, and hot pink so I layered the colors.  You can display yours however you like though.

On one side of the fan I cut out a piece of felt to lay over the feathers to hide all the little end parts, and to solidify their place on the fan.  On the other side, which I consider the front, I placed a pre-made feathered felt piece. 



And here is the finished piece.

This fan works really well and I really love it.  The only thing I would add to this is a stiff stick to connect the fan part to the stem underneath the paper.  The wire bends when I fan and I have to hold it a certain way.  I don't think this will last more than one weekend of fanning without it. 

Never again will I go to a festival and be hot!  Huzzah!

Check out my website at www.projecthousewife.com for more cool stuff.

You've Been Boo'ed!

Happy Tuesday everyone!  It's Kris here at Project Housewife and I am going to give a quick tutorial on a favorite Halloween tradition typically known as You've Been Boo'ed.

I first learned about this when I worked in a large office.  It was quite fun walking up to your desk and finding a treat and not knowing who it was from.  Of course, once you have been boo'ed then you get to be the sneaky one and boo someone else. Even though I experienced this fun little tradition in an office, you can, and I think, should, experience this in your neighborhood.  I think that is where the tradition started anyways.  I think it's a good way to interact with your neighbors and have a little neighborhood fun.

You can be as creative as you want with this. 

First, go to this website - http://www.beenbooed.com/ and print out the sheet they have available.

Then gather everything together that you are going to use to boo a neighbor. 

The packaging can be whatever you want.  I found this ghost canister at Walmart for $2.50.  I always have spare cloth and ribbon lying around so I will be using that as well.  You can easily use goody bags or tissue paper.

I took the clothe and cut off about a third of it to place inside the canister, just for looks.  I gathered up the four corners and then the four folded corners.  I turned it upside down and placed it in the canister. 

Now it looks like soft green cushioning.

Next. if you have some tall pieces to put in the canister, start with those first, and put them towards the back. 

If you want to put some candy in there, I would do that next.  I am stalking up on candy because last year we had a lot more trick or treaters than anticipated.  I got three bags at the dollar store and just used a few of those pieces for this.

Go ahead and put whatever you have left on top of the candy and in front of the taller pieces. 

Next place your filled canister in the center of your cloth or tissue paper.  Place the lid next to it, if you are unable to put it on top.

Gather up the four corner's, and then the four folded corner's, and tie it up with a rubber band.

Add some ribbon and you're Boo'ed poem and it's ready to go.



I think, in total, this cost me about $9.00.  You can easily go cheaper, and remember, you are only going to be doing this for one or two neighbor's.  There's no reason to go broke on this!  HAHA

When you are able, sneak over and place this on your neighbor's front porch.

I really hope you enjoyed this tutorial and had fun with it.

Remember to be safe this Halloween!!

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Love you Daddy

Well, amidst all the things going on in my life right now, I have to stop and reflect today.  Four years ago my beloved Dad passed away.  He had Lewy Body Dementia and it was horrible.  Just horrible.  But I try not to dwell on that horrible short period of his life and think of all the good things about my Daddy.

I met him when I was in fourth grade.  He began dating my mom at that point and so we got to know his biological daughter.  We had a lot of fun growing up.  We are all very feisty females so we of course fought a lot, but we would defend each other to the death from anyone else if it came to it.

My dad was great.  He accepted four girls as his own daughter's when he didn't have to.  He knew we needed a dad after the first one abandoned us.  He made sure we felt loved and that not every man out there is going to abandon his kids. 

He was very funny and always wanted to see us smile.  He loved his grandchildren very much.  I got into some serious arguments about how he refused to get rid of the old kids toys in his house.  He wanted to make sure the kids had plenty to play with.

He was so great to my husband.  He was proud of who my husband was becoming despite his past.

I love my Dad so much and sometimes I listen to the tape recorder that still has his voice on it.  He used it to remind himself of things, but all he managed to ever record was "testing testing" and a couple more sentences. 

I know my Dad is looking down on us from Heaven and he is so proud of all of us. 

Thank you for being our dad Robert.  ***Love you***


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It's October!

It's finally October!  I can't tell you how long I have been waiting for it.  At least since June.  I'm trying to have fun with it this year.

Halloween is one of my husband's favorite holidays.  Mine is Christmas, so my decorating focus has always been on that.  Now I am starting to add more to the Halloween/Fall decor.  It's a slow but sure process.

I like to hit the various dollar stores.  A lot of things look cheap but on occasion, I find something good.

I am more prone to cheerful and playful Halloween decorations.  I don't like scary Halloween decor.  It might have to do with the mixed feelings I have always had with this holiday.  My protestant/Christian upbringing has always made me feel like having anything to do with Halloween is wrong.  But, I find it hard to believc having cute decorations and handing candy out to kiddos is in some way evil.

So welcome to October everyone!  I hope you have a great month!



***Check out my website at www.projecthousewife.com for links to all my other cool stuff!***