Blue Poppy Feltworks: Key Fobs: The day I glued my fingers together

Happy Memorial Day weekend! Yeah!, summer is about to begin along with the rush to get crafts done for my first summer craft show in a couple of weeks.

This morning before the adventures of tree trimming and barn roof fixing begins at the farm I am working on making cotton webbing key fobs. sounds easy huh? For the most part it really is. I am using two types of glue, Beacons 3-in-1 to glue down ribbon and other embellishments and Aleene's Jewelry/Metal glue to hold the metal key piece in place.
Beacons, although it is permanent, dries fairly quickly and slides off the skin like rubber cement.
The Aleene's though is a different story.This stuff and I do like using it, is like thick clumpy super glue( squeeze tube SLOWLY, it has a mind of its own and will continue to come out even after you stop squeezing), if you get it on you , clean up immediately with nail polish remover, other wise you can very easily glue your fingers together. :( I really thought I cleaned it up well, I guess not.. as I was pinching my key piece in place, my thumb and forefinger began stick to the metal.Ouch, is the word. I quickly, one handily unstuck my fingers before it became a permanent fixture to my fingers. Ah craftiness, you gotta love the dilemmas that occasionally happen.

Anyway, as you can see I did become unstuck.and continued to make these cute fobs.
They are really easy to make.
1. Cut your cotton webbing to about 10",

2. Using a lighter carefully burn the edges to keep webbing from fraying, you could use fray block, but since this edge is hidden under metal finding I chose to burn it.

3. Sew on (which I recommend)or glue ribbon or trim down center. On the camo ones I chose to leave these blank without embellishment.

4. Fold webbing in half and add a small line of Beacons 3-in-1 glue to the edge of cut line, pinch together or clamp for a few seconds to set.

5. Once set, add a small amount of Aleene's to the inside V of metal finding (above bar prongs in picture below). Place cut edge of webbing inside and hold for about 10 seconds to set. I then set aside for about 10 minutes to let that glue dry well BEFORE I clamp it down.
6. If you have jewelry pliers with the plastic or soft vises use these. I don't, so I used regular pliers with a scrap piece of wool wrapped around my metal finding and squeeze gently, swapping sides until finding is closed . If you clamp from the side I find this easier and it will not bend the U part of the finding. (top of picture, this part hold your key ring)
7. Once done set aside once more to finish drying all the way. Once you get it the pattern down you can make one in about 10 minutes or less, gluing and sewing takes the most time.

Easy Peasy, right? I purchased my metal finding and webbing from an Etsy supplier out of Mankato, MN
www.agraffsupplies.etsy.com .
This would be a very easy project for girl or boy scouts or any kid friendly event.

Gardening on Bedrock
Two weeks ago we planted our garden, this year we decided to pot all our veggies since our back yard is about 3 inches of dirt set upon bedrock. raised beds are the only way to go. Tennessee has loads of caves and we set on a fault line.So we don't dig deep in our back yard. We save that for the farm.
Anyway, here is a few pictures of our potted garden.
Oh, how my little garden grows...