When I recieved Laura Kelly and Jen Goode's blog hop naterials package. I was immediately excited. The outside of the package promised to deliver some really fun goodies!
These two talented designers went way out to ensure that the participant had a ball creating with all the fun crafting materials inside!
They even included candy (coordinating colors of course) in the box!
It was apparent that the obvious star of the blog hop was Laura's new patriotic fabric.It is available in Joann's Stores nationwide.
Cute huh? Various sewing materials including matching spool threads and 6 strand embroidery floss got me very excited, being the avid sewer (albeit simple) sewer I am. So flash forward about three weeks and guess what? My sewing machine died. Its sitting in the back of my car waiting for me to find the time to make the hour and a half drive to have it serviced.
Although I really wanted to create a unique sewing project with the fabric, I was determined not to give up. I decided to decoupage some of the fabric onto a recycled wine bottle and save the rest for later.
Laura and Jen included a bottle of navy blue paint in the materials so I grabbed that and a brush and painted the outside of the bottle with several coats of the acrylic paint.
To prevent the bottle from chipping, I coated it with Duraclear Varnish in a gloss finish from DecoArt.
The simple addition of buttons designed by Laura Kelly for Buttons Galore and More finished this simple project. Since you will be gluing butttons all around the top and bottom borders of the bottle, I highly recommend Beacon Adhesives Quick Grip since it dries to quickly and is super strong.
So even though I didn't get to do a sewing project, like I wanted to, I now have a festive vase perfect for the upcoming Summer patriotic holidays!
In an effort to scale down my fabric scrap stash so I will not feel guilty about buying more, I have been creating lots of fabric scrap projects. I got the idea for this pillow after seeing a similar one being sold for $100 from a pricey boutique.
I immediately knew I had all the materials I needed to make a similar one, including a cloudy and rainy but open Sunday afternoon that would allow me the time I needed to make the pillow from start to finish.
I started by deciding how large my circles needed to be, then making some card stock patterns that I could use over and over again to trace the circles from the fabric and felt. This part is easy, either grab some food cans, use the bottom of cups and glasses from your kitchen, etc. and trace them on card stock with a pencil. If you are more technical by nature, use your computer to draw circles to your exact needed size and then print them out on card stock. Trim them out with a pair of scissors.
Trace the circles on your felt and fabric scraps with a pencil and a fabric marking pen. I opted for felt for my larger circles and fabric for the center of each felt circle since felt has finished edges.
I like to use wool felt by National Nonwovens. For this project I used whatever bright cheerful felt scraps I had leftover from previous projects. Peel off the paper backing from the fused fabric scraps, and use the iron to fuse the fabric to the felt circle.
As you can see, I opted for a cheerful colorful palette, but you can change up the scraps you use and match your own individual taste and decor. I had a blast using my sewing machine to free form stitch the felt and fabric scrap circles. There are several stitch options I have not tried before on my machine. Experimenting with the different types of stitches was fun.
If your machine is more basic, as my last one previously was, a straight stitch and zigzag used alternately will still produce a fun look.
Next, use a rotary cutter and self healing cutting pad to cut two pieces of felt for the pillow front and back. To do this, add a 1/2" seam allowance to the dimensions of your pillow. So, I used Fairfield Processing Corporation's Home Elegance pillow form in a 12" x 16" size. I cut my two 13"x 17" felt rectangles, using National Nonwovens "Haybale" colored felt.
I considered using a fabric glue to attach the sewn buttoned circles to the pillow front but decided to take the extra time and sew them on using a hand sewing needle and black sewing thread. Arrange your felt and fabric scrap circles to the pillow cover first, noting how many rows will cover the pillow from left to right, then top to bottom. (remember your 1/2" seam allowance). I needed about eight circles across and five circles down for mine.
This pillow was so much fun to make, I am going to make one for Mother's Day and another for my neices birthday to match her room.
It's hard not to be inspired by birds in Spring. The cheerful singing and constant presence of birds this time of year cannot be ignored. I create almost daily next to a large window. Almost every five minutes or so I am startled by a cardinal who thumps the window almost violently. This occurrence has been going on for a few weeks now. After searching the web, I found out that cardinals are notorious for fighting their own reflections in an effort for territorial rights. With the constant thumping and sweet site of my cardinal, I once again became inspired to create a bird themed project.
It was by pure chance that I ran into these really cute wood boxes at my local craft store recently. I thought they were really different. I also snagged these super cute laser cut wood bird shapes. Super tiny and perfect for jewelry projects.
The boxes are different. They have a glass top and a wood slat that is removable so that you can display components of your choice, shadowbox style.
Here is a look at most of the supplies I used for this project, give or take a few.
Instead of painting the boxes, I decided to use Rit Dyes to stain them. I love this process because its fun, fast and easy. I simply used a teaspoon of dye to about 1/4 cup hot water to mix a dye bath. (Remember to wear rubber or latex gloves when using dyes)
I used a paintbrush to "paint" the dye to the top of the box.
For a two toned stained effect, I added some water to the dye and painted the bottom of the box a lighter shade of Rit Dye's Aquamarine. I also dropped the shapes into the cup that I used for the dye bath and let them sit for five minutes or so.
For the second box, I used Cocoa Brown. Here is a shot of all the pieces dyed drying on paper towels.
So, with my bird theme, what to display under the top glass but a sweet little wired bird nest? I used Artistic Wire to create a simple spiraled nest.
These are super easy to create, just keep wrapping the wire in a circular motion until you have a nice full "nest." Use wire nippers to cut off a few small piece of wire and use them to wire the spirals together. Twist them tight with round nose jewelry pliers.
Don't worry too much about what your nest look like at this point. After you feel them with eggs in the center, any little "imperfections" will be invisible.
I used Premo by Sculpey to shape little tiny eggs. A pea sized piece will make perfectly sized eggs for these nests.
I bake the eggs, right in the nest, in the oven at about 225 degrees for about 25 minutes on a clay dedicated baking sheet. Then I brushed the eggs with Silver PearlEx by Jacquard Products.
To embellish the box, I added a stamped oval, some fabric washi tape from Stampington and some self adhesive gem stone rows.
To make the pendant, I glued the bird to the center of the dyed circle and added some rhinestone chain to the the edges with Beacon's Glass Metal and More. I also attached a super sparkly brooch to the piece. To create a brooch, I added a pin back.
This little brooch turned out to be the perfect addition for the boxes.
And my cardinal is stil outside my window, thumping away and reminding me that birds are so artfully inspirational.
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