Mel Designs

Uncle Sams Trousers

Kids will love making these trousers from recycled cardboard tubes and filling them with treats to celebrate a patriotic holiday.

I used Jacquard paints and cardstock to create this ridiculously simple table favors. Instructions for these and other fun patriotic kids crafts can be found in the August 2011 edition of Crafts n Things, on sale soon at newstands. 

 Hope you are enjoying the Designer Connection Blog Hop today. Remember to use the forward and back buttons to hop to the next spritied post!

We salute you America,

Live Life Creatively,

 

 

 

Easter Treat Bags Using Marvy Uchida

 
Thanks for joining our Designer Blog Hop today!

I think you will enjoy creating these sweet treat bags. When you are ready to move on, use the button on the right sidebar to hop forward or backward.

Using your Marvy Uchida Paper Punches to create these sweet and simple Easter Treat Bags is a snap.

Marvy Uchida's Extra Giga Craft Punch is big. A mean, really big. Think 3 1/2" wide. So, they are large enough to stitch the edges together and make quick as you can say "bunny hop" easter favors.

 
Gather some pastel and eastery looking cardstock. They can be scraps or whole sheets.

 
You will need to punch two shapes, so you have a back and front or each bag.

 
Download some vintage or other easter images from the internet. I purchased these from The Vintage Workshop but there are plenty of options available elsewhere on the internet such as etsy.

 
Use Marvy's Super Jumbo Clever Lever Craft Punch to punch certain parts of the images.

 

Glue the image to the center of one of the shapes.

 
Using a sewing machine, contrasting (I used black) OR matching thread, straight stitch the image about 1/4" from the edges.

 

 
Stack two matching shapes together and, starting at one side, sew together approx 1/4 from edges. Don't fret if your lines seem uneven at the top, we will be covering that up with embellishments! (: Make sure you don't stitch all edges together, you need a 2-3" opening at the top to place goodies inside.

 
Now gather together your flower punches. These are the Marvy Uchida punches I chose.

 
Punch some flowers from various cardstock scraps and patterned paper scraps. Layer and glue together and glue to one side of the favor bag.

 
I glued a flat backed rhinestone in the center of each flower as well.

 
Stamp a sentiment on some scrap paper. I used the margins of a vintage encyclopedia page for its wonderful aged effect.

 
I also glued a pinch of sheet moss to the bottom of the image to add a little more texture.

 
Finally, punch a couple of holes in the sides of the front shape and insert some light gauge wire into the holes to create a hanger.

 
You can see by using your Extra Giga Clever Lever Craft Punches and other minimal supplies, how quick and easy it would be to create these easter treat bags!

 
Live Life Creatively,

 

Camp Roasting Sticks

Welcome! Summer days means long days outside and even backyard camping. 

I have been doing lots of yard work. Having gathered up some old limbs and deciding to burn them in my yard last night, I figured I would kill two birds with one stone and make some smores and roasted hot dogs. I am a little picky, so I usually take the wire hangers back to the dry cleaners once I have put the clothing on my permanent hangers. I just happened to have picked up a batch of cleaning recently so I had the hangers on hand to make some camp roasting sticks. These hangers are uncoated which makes them safe to use for this purpose.

This is a really fun project you can do with your kids and doesn't take a ton of materials or prep time. Make your roasting stick today and be roasting delicious s'mores, hot dogs and marshmallows by tonight!

I used wood dowels that are about 1" in diameter and cut them into pieces about 10" long. Then, we drilled a hole in the center and glued a recycled wire hanger into the hole using Aleenes Liquid Fusion. Of course, we straightened the hanger before insertion. The fun part comes when you let your little ones loose to paint, draw, color designs on the sticks. It may be a bit easier for them to decorate the sticks before you glue the hanger into the drilled hole.

Happy Roasting!

Live Life Creatively

 

 

 
 

Designer Craft Connection- Beach Table Decor

The theme for this month is picnic. I am back on the East coast and couldn't be happier. The ocean inspires me to create. Having visited the Atlantic several times since my arrival back in September, I made these fun napkin rings and table favors that would be perfect for a beach picnic.

I have always been fascinated by looking at treasures behind glass. I made shaker type/shadow box squares that display a beachy mix of shells, micro beads and seed beads. I made them from foam core and backed them with a wood square. I cut a center from the foam and covered the whole thing with a 2 x 2 glass slide. I covered the edges with gaffer tape from 7 Gypsies.

To continue the glass theme, I used recycled baby food jars to make a super quick but fitting favor.

I added white barley to the bottom (it looks like really tiny shells/sand particles) which I mixed with more shells and a few aquamarine swarovski stones for extra sparkle. I painted the lid olive green and dry brushed with a blue.

For one more special but easy special touch, I adhered a pre-formed pearl sticker to the top, followed by a coat of varnish to hold in place and keep the paint from chipping.

Live Life Creatively,