What to do with a bucket

A mini bucket, that is.

There is a restaurant in Wichita called "Logan's Roadhouse" (it's a chain restaurant) that has some of it's desserts served in mini buckets.  I've collected a few but never done anything with them.  Then the other day my boss brought in a couple.  His wife didn't think they should keep them but he thought something could be done with them.  He ended up giving them to me. 

That's when I remembered that Boss's Day was October 16 and I'd missed it.  So guess what I did?

Yep, I gave one of the buckets back to him.  It looked a little different than when I got it, though. 

These little buckets have the restaurant logo on them, which I had to take off.  It used to be a sticker but they paint it on now.  I took some sandpaper to it but didn't get the whole logo off so I ended up painting over it.  I used what paint I had on hand and it needed to co-ordinate with the thread I was going to use.  Originally I had planned to use a red button in the center so I chose green paint instead of red.  After I had painted it I changed my mind.  Oh, well, it still came out looking okay. 

I used Lizbeth #638, Christmas Green in size 20.  There are two layers of tatting, the bottom/outside having silver beads.  I glued a flat-backed diamond gem in the center to brighten it up a bit.  The top looked kind of bare so I put a stand of silver ribbon around it.  I couldn't get a bow to look good so I tatted a ring with lots of beads on it then glued it down with another, smaller, flat-backed gem in the center. 

I also added some candy to it.  It looked pretty cute and the boss liked it, so I would say it was a success. 

I have a couple other of these buckets I think I'll do similarly.  I'm going to try to get the logo off better and use a more contrasting paint for whatever thread I use.  This didn't take me very long to do so will make excellent small gifts with a little candy in the center.  

I met some alpacas at the store the other day....

Yes, alpacas in the store.  Odd Balls, a yarn shop in Newton, Kansas, had an event weekend and brought some alpaca into the store.  

 

Alpaca fiber is used to make yarn and is similar to wool.   They had a display set up showing some of the uses of the fiber. 

It was interesting to see the different natural colors the fiber comes in. 

I didn't have time to stay long as I heard about it just before leaving for work.  The store does this every year, so I guess I'll have a chance to go again next year.  I've done a bit of web surfing since then to learn move about them.  Here's a link to ten fun facts about alpacas if you'd like to know more, too.