Mel Designs

Sizzix Fresh Vintage Blog hop- Fringed Flower Wool Felt Blouse

 
Once again, I am honored excited to be a part of the Sizzix Blog Hop featuring Eileen Hull's line of beautiful dies called Fresh Vintage.

Here is how the hop works: Over the next six weeks, you will be able to enjoy the creations of 60 designers, a little at a time. How do you get from blog to blog? Just find the badge on my top right sidebar with the Fresh Vintage Logo, click forward or backward to see the creations of the other designers who created with the Fringed Flower die!

Along the with Fringed Flower Die, I received a great set of acrylic stamps from Stephanie Bernard's line called "The Stamps of Life."

I immediately recognized the versatility of this set entitled "your2kind."

With my stamps and ink, amazing colors of wool felt by National Nonwovens....

By Sizzix BigShot and Fringed Flower die, I was all set to go.  

Designers sometimes go through phases and right now by current passion is taking existing clothing and accessories and altering them somehow to make a statement. This was a nice enough shirt before.

So, using my Sizzix BigShot Machine, I set about cutting several flowers from the turquoise shades of felt, orange and white. I have noticed turquoise more and more as the new fall shade. I love to cut wool felt with the BigShot because you can layer several pieces together and cut them at the same time.

I took an instinctual leap of faith and cut the collar off the blouse, replacing it with a knife pleated muslin strip dyed to match the top with a sewing machine.

To stamp my fun words from the stamp set on the shirt, I used StazOn solvent ink and stamped the words randomly all over the surface of the shirt.

To give the background more dimension, I used both vertical and horizontal placements of the stamps.

I used an iron on low to heat set the ink.

Creating the layered fringed flowers was simple. I simply layered colors together and sewed a button the center. Before knotting off, I sewed the entire flower to the collar.

As a finishing touch, I had to add some bling and wool felt die cut leaves.  

This blouse will be perfect worn in layers for the entire Fall season here in South Georgia and I had a blast playing and creating with the die.

If you want purchase the Fringed Flower Die and other dies from this amazing new release, visit Scrapbook.com .

For a chance to win a die from the Fresh Vintage Line, visit Oh My Crafts!

Now- go to the fresh vintage widget and hop forward or back to see a few more fabulous creations using this die,

Live Life Creatively,

 

 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

Halloween Craft ideas for Kids

About this time every year, my nephew starts getting really pumped up about October 31st. He starts carefully planning his costume and trying to figure out what additional decorations we can add to the outdoor decor. So, in an effort to keep him occupied until the end of October, we start doing Halloween crafts. I try to teach my niece and nephew the value of using items that commonly be found around the house, adding very basic supplies from the local grocery store or discount department store. We live in a small town so popping into a Joann's or Michael's isn't as easy as it used to be for me. 
 

I love creating favor pouches from short recycled cardboard tubes. This kid version is very easy and fun for kids to do. Paint the tubes DecoArt acrylic paint first. Once the paint is dry, glue the bottom shut with the tacky glue so the treats cannot fall out of the bottom. Do this by squeezing the bottom shut and gluing. Next, use a foam brush to spread Aleenes Original Tacky Glue over the entire painted surface. Working from the bottom up, wrap coordinating colors of yarn around the tube, creating a soft friendly Halloween character. On the Frankenstein tube, I used DMC's Color Infusions Memory Thread to create features such as a nose and spider legs. Craft foam or felt will be perfect for creating the remaining features, not forgetting the wiggle eyes!  
 
 
Painted wood shapes make excellent cat ears or pumpkin stem leaves. This would make a fun classroom group project. Let kids think of other Halloween friends they may want to make. A spider, a witch or a ghost would make great options. Provide plenty of yard and acrylic paints so kids can personalize their own pouches. Prepping in advance by pre-gluing the ends would be a great idea. Use paper clips to hold the ends in place while gluing. When kids are finished with their creations, surprise them by filling with candy!  
 
Finally, use a sparkly chenille stem to create a hanger through punched holes.

 
Save your recycled plastic bottles to create these fun and easy mummy luminaries. Wrapped with strips of gauze, muslin or cheesecloth these are so easy and inexpensive to create, you can make several for an adorable indoor or outdoor display.

 Finally, these paper plate pouches make adorable treat totes and the options for kids make them a great group project.

Using DecoArt's acrylic paints, paint a plain white paper plate in the color of the kid's choice. Fold in half, and glue the top third of the sides together. Leave an opening at the top large enough to insert treats such as wrapped candies, popcorn or other treats. Embellish the front of the pouch with decorated wood shapes. 
 
For the handles, use scalloped shapes punches or die cuts and cut a hole in the center of each. Glue on the inside front and one in the inside back.  

Or, use office supply brads to attach the handles, along with a tag.  

Do you have a unique Halloween craft to share using recycled products? I would love to hear about it. Leave me a comment and share! I love to read your comments, they really inspire me,

Live Life Creatively,

 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

Upcycled Halloween Luminaries

It's amazing what you can do with commonly tossed items such as recycled tin soup cans. Follow along with me as I show you how I turned these cans into upcycled Halloween luminaries.

Measure and cut canvas sheets or material purchased in the fabric section to the length and width of the cans you are using.  
 
Using Jacquard Product's Lumiere and Neopaque paints, dry brush the cut canvas sheets while lying flat.

I chose to use Neopaque Black first, making wide brush strokes using a 1" flat brush, brushing both horizontally and vertically on the canvas.  
 
 When the black paint is dry, paint strokes using Lumiere in Metallic Copper. Finish with Metallic Silver, and Neopaque White.
 

To attach the sheets to the recycled cans, apply strong tacky glue to the back and wrap around the cans. If needed, use rubber bands to hold the canvas in place on the can while the glue sets.

While cleaning out some old jewelry, I came across some interesting brooches to give the luminaries an upcycled, sophisticated look. Attach the brooches by punching some holes with a heavy duty hole punch and pressing the parts of the brooch that hold the pin bar into the punched holes. Additionally, use some heavy duty glue to hold the brooch in place. In other posts, I have ranted and raved about the We R Memory Keepers - Crop-A-Dile II Big Bite. I discovered that it is currently on sale at Scrapbook.com. It is one of those craft supplies that makes you wonder how you ever did without it once you get one.

    Create some Halloween sentiments by stamping on Jacquard's cotton percale. Of course, this product is also inkjet printer friendly so you can create your sentiments using a fun font and printer.

 
Scalloped edged cardstock, dry brushed with Neopaque black makes a pretty edged accent.  
 
This handle, made by 7 Gypsies, was attached by punching addtional holes at the top of the can and inserting the wire of the handle into the punched holes. I painted it first with Neopaque Black and dry brushed it with Metallic Silver.

Light up your Upcycled Halloween Luminary using a waxed votive or a battery operated tea light.

Both Lumiere and Neopaque paints can be purchased from Dick Blick.

Need more Halloween Decorating ideas? See this post on decorating the outside of your home using your existing features.

Live Life Creatively,

 
 

 


 
 

10 Ideas for Using Patterned Paper and Cardstock Scraps- Part One

For some reason, I can't break my addiction to patterned paper. I know that if I visit a store that carries it, I will walk away with what seems to amount to another ream of paper. That means lots of scraps. I do keep my scraps, but I prefer that the edges be cut neatly in straight lines, no random punched holes, tears, etc. I still haven't come up with a good way to organize my scraps, but I have come up with some nifty ways to use them. I made the above puzzle piece ornaments using large puzzle pieces glued to the wrong side of the patterned paper, then I used an x-acto knife to cut around the rounded edges, sanding the edges smooth. I decorated the ornaments with bits and baubles from my also ever growing embellishment stash.

If you have a lot of cardstock to use up, make some of these cute origami cup folded treat totes in a Halloween or Christmas theme. I used a simple circle punch to make the characters and paper punches for the handles. For a tutorial on making origami folded cups, see my post here.For the cup part, you will need a 8" square of double sided paper that gives easily, such as origami paper, or even contruction paper. Raid your cardstock stash for different colors of cardstock that will make up a penquin, polar bear, santa, snowman, etc.  

Use your patterned paper scraps by pairing them with your recycled items and create some elegant tube favors. Paint the tubes inside and out, close one end and machine sew shut. Cut a piece a patterned paper to the length and width of the tube and wrap around. Embellish with pretty crochet flowers, a stamped sentiment, self adhesive gem stones, etc.  Cut the top with scalloped edged scissors. Wire makes cute handles for these patterned paper scraps favor tubes.

Another idea for using your patterned paper and cardstock scraps is to create decoupaged jewelry. Here, I used tiny flower punches, wood shapes and coordinating beads to create a turquoise and copper jewlery set. 

The beauty of this idea, is that you can vary your paints and beads to match whatever colors of patterned papers you might have an hand.

Another great gift idea that involves using your patterned paper and cardstock scraps is to create "custom flowers" to give to a friend who enjoys paper crafting, cardmaking and/or scrapbooking. Punch or die cut flowers from scraps and give them away in an embellished recycled jar.

Like the idea of creating custom embellishments with materials you already have on  hand? How about punching out tiny motifs to glue to buttons, then lining the images with stickles?

How do use your patterned paper and cardstock scraps? Leave me comment and tell me. Stayed tuned for part two of this article coming soon!

Live Life Creatively,

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 
 

Little Rock Fork and Talk- Sponsored by Craft Gossip and EK Success

This is the best way to spend a Saturday, a fantastic lunch, a group of creative women bloggers and all sorts of fun and crafty goodness.

There are four Craft Gossip editors who reside in and near the Little Rock, AR area. So- the first Craft Gossip Fork and Talk event was held with these four editors taking the reins and lining up a terrific sponsor, EK Success. Since I live in the nearby Memphis area, I inquired as to whether or not I could attend and drive the short 2 hours to take place in all this fun. For some crafty conversation on the drive to and from, I recuited my good friend and fellow CHA Designer, Candice Windham.

Lunch was held at the fabulous Trio's. I would highly recommend it if you are ever in the area!

Of course, with twenty creative women in the room, you can expect that there will be plenty of crafty goings-on. We had a fun contest, where each table teamed together to make a 15 minute crafty hat.

Next, we got to play with some REALLY fun kits from EK Success called Laliberi. Laliberi is a variety of kits, jewelry components and ready-to-wear accessories so you can make your own styled jewelry cuffs, flower pins, hair accessories, etc. I was 100% impressed how EK Success put these items together in a kit without it feeling a little too "kit-ish." I loved playing with this kit and as an added twist, decided to peel the rooster motif off of the wine bottle and sew him to my flower.

All in all, it was an amazing day with plenty of laughter, tip sharing, meeting inspiring bloggers and - oh- did I mention the AMAZING array of goodies given to us by EK Success?

 
I know that there are some Laliberi kits in them, so you will hearing more from me on these! Thank you Craft Gossip and EK Success for an Amazing time in Little Rock, AR.

Live Life Creatively,

 
 
 
 

 

 

 
 
 


 
 

Embellished Leather Boots

I am in the midst of getting ready for a long distance move come next week so I am on a purge rage. What's the rule- if you haven't worn or used it in a year- it's gone. So these boots almost got hauled away to my local Goodwill. That's when I remembered my recent love affair with painting on leather with Jacquard paints, namely Lumiere and Neopaque.

Here are the boots before- just basic black. But very comfortable. When I modeled them after I could not believe how I had decided to get rid of them- the leather is so soft!

I had a lot of Jacquard Textile Colors leftover from previous project, so I started with that.

I decided that I was not quite getting the opaque coverage I needed, so I started in with Neopaque in white.

I just kept layering different colors of Neopaque and Lumiere, letting each coat dry before moving on to the next.

When I finally had several layers of color swatches, I decided to switch gears and start some random layering of rubber and foam stamps. I used stazOn in black.

I had not had a chance to use these great foam stamps from Claudine Hellmuth's Studio, so I used Neopaque in Black to stamp random shapes all over the boots.

Last but not least, I reached for these inspirational stamps called "Youare2kind" from Stephanie Bernards stamp line, the stamps of life.

At this point, I decide that I need to dry brush some Neopaque Black on...

Of course, plenty of bling was added. I used a super tacky glue like e-6000 to add misc stones and gems. I also used Neopaque in white to create the circles.

 
So now, bring on Fall! I am ready to wear these fun embellished leather boots. And the moral of the story is- think twice about what COULD become before discarding it for what it is!

Both Lumiere and Neopaque paints can be purchased from Dick Blick. Studio by Claudine Hellmuth - Creative Layers - Foam Stamp Set - Bloom can be purchased from Scrapbook.com.

Live Life Creatively,

 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Vintage Ruler Bookmarks- We have a winner

Comment #1, Holly C. who said "My daughter, who is expecting and has been on complete bed rest since May (and isn't due until late October) spends a lot of time reading books to pass the time. I think one of these lovely bookmarks would make her smile each time she reaches for her book.

Congrats Holly! I hope things are going well for your daughter on bedrest and she is reading lots of books.

Live Life Creatively,

 

 

Embellished Tap Shoes

If you have followed some of my recent posts here, you may remember that I scored some old shoe taps at a recent estate sale. Apparently, the person who had the estate, was an avid collector of the somewhat eclectic, like old shoe taps.  

I recently discovered that I LOVE using Jacquard's Neopaque paints with leather! So, I set out on a mission to transform these basic (boring) shoes into something that would make a little more of an artistic statement.

If you have a similar pair of shoes at home, you can do this along me easily with some basic supplies. As far as the taps go, search for "shoe taps" on a site like ebay. You should be able to find some for little expense. I paid .$50 each for mine. I purchased several so I plan to create some pendants with them as well.

  Start by dry brushing the shoes with Neopaque in White.

 
 Let that coat dry, and dry brush over the white with Neopaque in Black. This will create an interesting background for your shoes. When dry brushing, swipe the brush up and down as well as side to side, this will create a more natural dry brushed effect.

Let the black coat dry, and use a black medium point Tee Juice marker to create some simple patterns such as large and small dots.

 
 

Tee juice markers need to be heat set so I carefully heat set the dots with a heat tool. This way, if I get caught in the rain, my dots will not wash away.

Next, use StazOn ink to stamp a sentiment on Inkjet Cotton Percale. I chose a fitting sentiment like "just dance" to go along with the tap theme. Since Inkjet Cotton Percale sheets are created for inkjet printers, you can skip the ink and print a sentiment in the font of your choice.

Cut the sentiment out and use decoupage medium and a foam brush to decoupage to the front of the shoe. Make sure you use three to four coats and let each coat dry between applications. This will ensure your sentiment stays in tact.

I also decoupaged a vintage image, cut from the pages of one of my vintage text books, to embellish the tap. When doing this, make sure you do not cover up any of the holes on the tap.

To further embellish, I used Stickles in clear to outline the image and a "little sparkler" from Websters Pages. Both of these supplies can be purchased at Scrapbook.com. Use some very strong tacky adhesive, such as E-6000, to glue the sparkler to the bottom of the tap.

 Now for the tricky part, getting the tap attached to the top of the shoe. Position the tap on the shoe like you want it to appear when it is attached. Use the Tee Juice Marker to outline the tap and mark above the position of two pairs of the top holes.

Remove the tap and use a heavy duty punch, such as the Big Bite by WR Memory Keepers to punch the holes. If you don't have one of these tools, I would highly suggest you consider investing in one. I think it is one of the best tools I have purchased. It punches through metal, fabric layers and all kinds of things I used to have to get the drill out for! I LOVE it!

To securing attach the embellished tap to the shoe, I used a combination of wire and tacky glue. Cut four lengths of wire to 4" with wire nips.

Thread the wire through one pair of the punched holes, going from the inside as shown, so the ends of the wire are sticking out of the holes.

Now thread the wire through two of the closely positioned holes on the tap. Repeat for the other side. Use some round nose jewelry pliers to curl the ends of the wire together, securing positioning the tap to the top of the shoe and making sure the ends of the wire curl under for safety.

Lastly, use the tee juice marker to fill in where the drawn line is and make it thicker. Also, place some super tacky glue under the tap to further secure it to the shoe. Neopaque paints, Tee Juice Markers and Inkjet Cotton Percale sheets can be purchased from Dick Blick.

And there you have them! Shoes with the taps on the top instead of the bottom!

I have several taps left in my stash. What would you use them for? I would love to hear your ideas!

Live Life Creatively,

 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 

 

 

Message in a Bottle Halloween Party Invites or Favors

Happy Labor Day! The "un-official" end of Summer makes us think of what's ahead. Falling leaves, cooler weather, lots of football games and then before you know it- HALLOWEEN. My most FAVORITE holiday in the world. Today, the designers participating in the Designer Crafts Connection (see logo at right of page to hop forward and back) are bringing you various ideas for party favors OR anything else they want to.

I thought these small wine bottles (recycled, emptied, thoroughly cleaned out and labels removed) would make the perfect Halloween party favors. Filled with small treats, they would be the perfect spooky addition to your bash or just to make for those special neighboorhood friends or co-workers. Fill with seasonally colored m&Ms, skittles, jelly beans etc.

I simply covered the bottle with scraps of patterned paper, added some layered punches and a stamped motif and a pretty/coordinating piece of beaded bling and fabric scraps. For the lid, I painted the lid with white acrylic paint, varnish and Krylon webbing spray to give the Halloweeen Party Favors  that special touch.

 These bottle would also be PERFECT for housing a Halloween party invite, message in a bottle style. Here is how to do that easily.

 Use an invite stamp to stamp some info with StazOn ink.

Use a black permanent marker to fill in the scary details.

Roll up, tie with black string and make sure the rolled tube shape fits into the opening of the bottle easily.

Insert a glue dot or a small piece of double sided adhesive tape to the inside of the lid. Tape the end of the string to the tape. This will allow your recipient to remove the Halloween party invitation once they unscrew and remove the lid.

Replace the lid and allow your invite to dangle inside.

To mail, and inexpensively I might add, purchase a plain white bubble mailer and spray with the webbing spray. I purchased my mailer from Office Depot for about $1.75 and it can be mailed with the bottle inside for under $2.00. Make sure you use clear packing tape to secure the mailing and return address.   

To see more clever ideas hop around on the blog hop today. You will pick up some great inspiration! If you would like to see another idea for a Halloween Party invitation, see this post on cadboard tube owls.

Julie McGuffee, who hosts this blog group, has something special this month

 - a set of Scrapbook Soup, Series 100 DVDs!

Scrapbook Soup is now airing on your local PBS TV channel.

Check your local listings and if it isn't listed,

call the station and request it!

Program managers always like to hear

from their viewers and what they want to watch.

To enter to win,

list the names of the

Designer Crafts Connection blogs

where you see the Scrapbook Soup logo

To see all the blogs,

click on the "hop forward" or "hop backward"

button wherever you see the blue

DCC logo in the sidebar

(mine is located on the left side).

Keep on hopping and you will end up back

where you started....then go to Julie McGufee's blog to

add your comment.

The winner will be announced on September 15th.

Live Life Creatively,

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 

Fractured Doll Themed Guest Bath Box

If you have guest coming for the not so distant future holiday season, there is no better time than NOW to get your guest bathroom in order. Having ordered and received these adorable Fractured Doll Embellishments from the Tim Holtz Ideaology line from Scrapbook.com, I decided to use them in this recycled cigar box, made guest room pretty.

Start by recycling a small bottle that might be a good size to put scented bath salts in, such as a small wine bottle or coffee drink bottle. Find an old vintage text book page (can be found at thrift shops), and tear out one of the pages. Measure the bottle and cut the page to fit the measurements. Wrap around the bottle securing with paper adhesive or double sided tape.

 Make the bottle look more shabby chic by dry brushing the edges with black acrylic paint.

Embellish your fractured doll with pretty organza ribbon and a beaded embellishment of choice (this is one I handmade from bubble stickers, stickles and beads). Glue your embellishments to the doll using a strong adhesive such as e-6000 or Aleenes Liquid Fusion.

To secure your doll to the bottle, use some thin wire and strong adhesive.

Paint the lid a coordinating color and add other embellishments such as a small tag. Use a funnel to pour in bath salts.  
 
I tucked my bath salts along with some guest bath soaps and this vintage doll head into a recycled cigar box. You can paint and embellish the box further with a smaller fractured doll and a nice stamped sentiment.

Your guests will LOVE your thoughtfulnes and beautiful touches!

Live Life Creatively,