Mel Designs

Recycled Tin Ornaments

Creating something fun and useful from recycled materials has always been a favorite craft of mine. I was inspired to create these ornaments when my friend was complaining about her growing stash of cardboard boxes. I offered to take some very large ones off her hands and immediately started thinking about ways to use them. That's when I decided to create these recycled tin ornaments. 

Materials for Recycled Tin Ornaments

• Recycled Cardboard
• Recycled Tins (I used Altoids Tins) 
• Misc Wood Shapes 
• Adtech Adhesives Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks 
• DecoArt Americana Acrylics- Tuscan Red, Baby Pink, Pumpkin Orange, Lamp Black, Snow White
• Rubber stamped sentiments and pigment ink
• Assorted embellishments 
• Ribbon scraps
• Cardstock scrap

Instructions for Recycled Tin Ornaments

I started by removing the lid of the mint tin. 

I cut the cardboard box into smaller pieces- each measuring about 12" square. Then I peeled one layer of the smooth cardboard off to expose the corrugated center. I used the tin as a template to trace a shape on the back of the corrugated cardboard. 

 Then I cut the shape out with scissors and glued it to the inside bottom of the tin. 

Then I cut some 1" strips from the cardboard and glued them to the insides and outsides of the tins. 

If you have a chance to try and make these, the real fun begins when it's time to add the elements to the inside. I opted for a heart theme on one. I painted the heart red, then added a pieced of stamped cardstock with glue. I added gemstone rows and a couple more bits of sparkle. 

For the other tin, I decided on a snowman theme. I assembled the snowman from three wood beads hot glued together and painted them white. 

 

Extra tips for making Recycled Tin Ornaments:

1. The hot glue gun and glue sticks makes creating these ornaments fun and super easy.

2. Dig through your stash to see what trinkets you can use to create your own fun little themes. Some other suggested themes include winter birds and Christmas trees.  

3. Use the hot glue gun to adhere the ribbon hanger directly to the top of the ornaments. Since the cardboard is extremely pourous and sturdy, there is no need to drill or punch holes in the tin. 

Life Life Creatively, 

 

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Fabric Scrap Bookmarks

In my never ending quest to deplete my fabric stash, I was inspired to create these Fabric Scrap Bookmarks. I guess one of the best things about using your fabric scraps is that you don't feel quite as guilty about buying even more fabric! 

Materials for Fabric Scrap Bookmarks

• Assorted coordinating fabric scraps
• Smooth Fusible Fabric Foundation
• Stick Fusible Fabric Foundation (fusible webbing)
• Crafter's Choice Poly-fil Polyester Fiberfill
• Beacon Adhesives Fabri-Tac
• White wool felt 
• Cotton muslin scraps 
• Tiny alphabet rubber stamps and black pigment ink
• Black cording
• Embellishments of choice
• Sewing machine and thread
• Rotary cutter and self healing cutting mat
• Scissors
• Sewing machine and thread

 First of all, gather up your fabrics, 

 

 Then, start sewing thes fabric scraps together patchwork style, uisng a 1/4" seam allowance. Use an iron and pressing surface to steam the seams open on the wrong side. I chose to patchwork my fabic scraps together at an angle. 

 Keep going until you have a piece of fabric that is large enough to cut several 2 1/4" x 7 1/2" bookmarks from. I cut four bookmarks from a piece of 14" x 12" patchworked fabrics. 

Use the rotary cutter and mat to cut strips of Smooth and white wool felt into 2 1/4" x 7 1/2" strips.  

 

Now it's time to make the heart "charm." To make the stuffed heart, trace a heart shape on the wrong side of the fabric. Double the fabric over and cut two shapes out at once. Sew the shapes together with the sewing machine and thread leaving a 1/2" open for stuffing. Lightly stuff the heart with polyfil and sew the heart shape closed.  

 Use a needle and thread to sew a 5" piece of black cord to the center. Use the fabric glue to adhere an embellishment to the center "front" of the heart. 

 Fuse a 5" square of muslin to the Stick fusible webbing. Cut out into 2" sqaures. Use the alphabet stamps and ink to stamp sentiments to each square. Use the iron and pressing surface to adhere the sqaure to the bookmark.This will also heat set the ink. Now it's time to assemble the bookmark. First, sew the edges of the stamped square to the bookmark to secure. Sandwhich the Smooth in between the fabric strip and wool felt. Sew the edges together.  Then, sew the end of the cord to the bookmark as shown with several stitches. 

 

These bookmarks can be used a great small gifts for neighbors, friends. co-workers, teachers. Use them for quilt guild swaps or anytime you need a great creative gift! 

I hope I inspired you to try to create them! 

Live Life Creatively, 

 

 

Treat Cups Made From Recycled Cardboard

Here is a fun Green craft for you to try using materials you already have at home plus some fun cool embellishments. These are recycled treat cups created fom cardboard tubes and corrugated cardboard from shipping boxes. 

Materials for Recycled Treat Cups

 

• Recycled cardboard tubes (I used tube from the center of a scot towel roll cut into smaller lengths)
• Shipping box or other corrugated cardboard
• Adtech hot glue gun and sticks, hot glue gun pad
• Adtech Permanant Glue Runner Crafter's Tape
• DecoArt Americana Acrylic Paint- Sour Apple
• Assorted embellishments of choice, light green rick rack
• Rubber stamps of choice and Staz-On pigment ink
• Scissors, paintbrush, ruler

First of all, cut off one side of the cardboard box and peel off the paper to expose the corrugated box. 

Now trace a 5" circle on the smooth side of the cardboard and cut out with scissors. Measure 2" circles and cut out. Paint all circles Sour Apple. 

While the coats of paint dry, measure the length and the width of the tubes and cut the cardboard to fit around the tubes. For the bottom of the tubes, measure and cut a circle that is 1" larger than the bottom of the tube. 

Use the Glue Runner to adhere the cardboard on the tube by placing several strips of glue on the smooth side of the exposed cardboard. 

Use the hot glue gun the adhere the circle to the bottom of the tube. 

 

Refer to the photo and use the glue gun and glue sticks to assemble the remainder of the treat cups. 

 

Use the rubber stamps and ink to stamp sentiments, motifs, etc. onto the green circles. Embellish the circles to suit your taste. 

Deciding on what to fill these recycled treat cups with is the fun part! Here are some ideas for you

• Trail mix for a brownie, eagle, girl or cub scout meeting. Make it rich in nuts and seeds and use the opportunity to talk about how important it is to respect the earth as it has so much to offer. 
• Fill them with gourmet bird seed and give them away to avid bird watchers along with the instructions for making bird seed cakes. I like this recipe. 
• For a fun art gift for a creative friend, assemble embellishments such as ribbons, vintage jewelry, ephemera in green hues and fill the tubes with them. 

 

I hope you find many cool uses for making and using these recycled treat cups! 

Live Life Creatively, 

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Fat Quarter Stuffed Trees

It's the most wonderful time of the year- ALMOST. Why not celebrate by making a fat quarter friendly project? I am participating in a Fat Quarter challenge sponsoring by Fairfield World and Robert Kaufman. I got a great fat quarter bundle of Robert Kaufman's Winter's Grandeur Fabrics in a black and gold colorway. There so many great prints to choose from. I couldn't decidebetween them. The answer- patchwork!!

Materials for Fat Quarter Stuffed Trees

Robert Kaufman's Winter's Grandeur Fabrics

Fairfield World- Crafter's Choice Poly-fil stuffing

Wood pieces- 1" dowel, wood circles

DecoArt Americana Acrylics Paints- Lamp Black, Golden Straw

Embellishments of choice

Recycled glass jars

Small glass ornaments, ribbons

Glue gun and glue sticks

Paint brushes, rotary cutter and self healing mat

Sewing machine and thread 

I started by cutting the fat quarters into jelly roll sized strips (2 1/2") uisng the rotary cutter and mat. 

 I love using selvages so I cut them out and sewed them to the centers of some of the strips. 

Then I  sewed the strips together patchwork style until I had two rectangles measuring 14" x 16." 

Then I cut two tree shapes for the back and the front of the stuffies. I sewed them together, leaving about 5" open for stuffing. 

Insert a painted dowel and adorn your trees with wood shapes. As a base, I inserted my dowel in a recycled glass jar filled with glass ornaments and ribbons.

This project is part of a challenge I'm participating in as a member of Fairfield World's Design Team.

Check out the other entries below, and vote for *your* favorite project!  You can also enter to win your own Robert Kaufman fabric!  Vote by clicking on the heart in the corner of your favorite project, and enter to win by leaving a comment at FairField World's blog.

THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO ENTER THE ROBERT KAUFMAN & FAIRFIELD CONTEST:

1. Click on the little heart in the top right hand corner of your 2 favorite projects below.

2. Jump over to the Fairfield World Blog and leave a comment about what you would make if you won. (Two randomly selected winners will receive a Fat Quarter Bundle and choice of a bag of Poly-fil batting or Poly-fil Fiberfill)

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for stopping by!

Live Life Creatively, 

 

Shabby Chic Gift Packages

A plain brown paper bag can be the perfect packaging for smaller gifts. When giving a handmade gift, consider dressing one up with paints and embellishments to coordinate with your gift. I did this recently when I created some shabby chic door hangers. I grabbed some supplies and brown paper bags to create these shabby chic gift packages. 

Supplies for Shabby Chic Gift Packages

Brown paper bags

Adtech Adhesives Cool Tool 

Adtech Adhesives Cool Temp Gluesticks 

Hemp, bakers twine 

Washi tape, self adhesive gem stone rows 

Wood tags 

DecoArt Americana Acrylics- Baby Pink, Bahama Blue, Snow White, Espresso 

Staz-on ink in black and tiny alphabet stamps 

Hole punch, scissors 

Not long ago, I created these shabby chic door hangers as gifts for an upcoming baby shower, a wedding gift and a housewarming gift. I loved the results and knew that the packaging had to be as special as the gift inside. So I decided to create some coordinating gift packaging from brown paper bags. 

I love the simple look of brown paper bags. So I dry brushed them with paint, allowing some of the bag to show through. 

Then I created some hemp embellishments using a low temperature glue gun. Believe me, you will want to use a low temperature glue gun for creating these spiraled embellishments as your fingers will be touching the hemp a lot and you want to minimize finger burns! 

 

 

I hot glued the embellishments to the front of the bag and added washi tape, gems and a painted wood tag. 

Now I have gift packages that coordinate perfectly with the gift inside! 

Live Life Creatively,

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Handmade Vintage Brooch Embellishments

I love the vintage jewelry look. I have used my grandmothers broken bits and pieces she passed on to me in several projects. I have scoured flea markets and thrift stores in hopes of finding charming jewelry pieces I can deconstruct and use to embellish my projects, many of which are fabric pieces I love to add hard embellishments to. I was recently inspired to grab my glue gun and try to recreate the look of vintage jewelry. I used some easy to find materials to create these handmade vintage brooch embellishments. 

Materials for Handmade Vintage Brooch Embellishments

Plastic pearls - I purchased a bulk assortment of these in various sizes ands shapes from Joann's. 

Adtech Adhesives Cool Tool Glue Gun  

Adtech Adhesives Cool Tool Lo Temp Glue Sticks

Adtech Adhesives Glue Gun Pad  

Clear rhinestones- glass or acrylic 

Hard embellishments of choice- I used flower centers found in the scrapbooking embellishment section of Joann's and Michael's 

Trim scraps- I used tulle and hand dyed ribbons

When using plastics and hot glue, it is important to use a low temp glue gun since the higher temperatures of regular glue guns can melt and warp plastics. Plus you will be working with your fingers and tiny stones and beads and you will appreciate the lower temp! 

I also find working on a glue gun pad to be helpful. You don't have to worry about getting hot glue on your surfaces and the pad is very easy to clean and remove hot glue. 

These handmade vintage brooch embellishments are super easy. Just use the glue gun to create a base for the brooch. 

 

Then continue by building layers which the following images will show. 

 

 

 

Finally, I glued bits of tulle and various hand dyed ribbons to the back of each embellishment. 

Create lots of these charming vintage knock offs and keep them on hand as pretty embellishments for your projects! 

Life Life Creatively, 

 

 

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Shabby Door Hangers

 

Although my taste has evolved a bit, I am still a fan of the shabby chic look and I always will be probably. I have a couple of co-worker/friends with upcoming wedding and baby showers so I decided to create them a custom shabby door hanger. 

Materials for Shabby Door Hangers

• Woodsies Wood Slats 
• Hemptique Hemp
• Adtech Lo Temp Glue Gun and Cool Temp Glue Sticks 
• DecoArt Americana Acrylic Paints- Snow White, Khaki Tan, Bubblegum, Indian Turquoise 
• Embellisments of choice 
• Wool felt 
• Alphabet stamps and ink 
• Sanding block, scissors, paintbrushes, drill and drill bit, sewing machine and thread    

Lightly sand and paint the wood slats. I used two coats each for the front and back. I drybrushed each slat with white. 

Create the hemp flowers using the glue gun and glue sticks. Create coils and apply a small amount off glue to hold the hemp in place. I highly recommend using a low temp glue gun as you will be touching the hemp in places where the glue has been applied! 

I used sparkly embellishments as the flower centers. 

 

To create the leaves, freehand cut the wool felt into leaf shapes. Use the sewing machine and thread to freeform sew leaf details. 

Assemble the door hanger peices and hot glue in place.

Use stamps and ink to stamp sentiments on the door hanger. I decided on "do not disturb" (wedding), "guest room" and "baby dreaming." 

Finally, drill some holes in the top corners, insert some hemp and you have a sweet shabby door hanger. 

 

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Decoden Napkin Rings

I love Japenese inspired DIY techniques. Decoden is yet another cool tacky trend that fascinates me. What is decoden? The term “deco” is short for decorated and “den” is short for “denwa” meaning “phone” in Japanese. Lately, the decoden trend is venturing far outside of just phone cases. That's what inspired me to create these Decoden Napkin Rings. 

Altough decoden paste can be bought or homemade, I found as easier way to attach my tiny objects to the napkin rings. I used Adtech Adhesive's Lo Temp Cool Tool and glitter glue sticks to make my Decoden Napkin Rings. Depending on the objects used, it might be important to use a lo temp glue gun since it will not melt plastic objects. 

I had a blast going through my stash, mixing and matching odds and ends and deciding what to use. This is a great stash buster. 

I used wood castor cups normally used to keep furniture legs in place. The center has a groove that makes a perfect embellishing surface. They can be purchased inexpensively in packs of four from a home improvement store such as Lowes. 

I painted my wood pieces black first. Then I created a pool of glitter glue inside the caster cup and started placing my pieces inside the caster cup. 

When each of my caster cups were completed, I glued them to a wood napkin ring, painted black as well.  Hot glue is perfect for this technique since it dries fast! Finally a sprayed a sealer on the completed napkin rings. 

So, with glitter glue sticks, a glue gun, some trinkets and trash and caster cups I made these sophisticated yet delightfully tacky Decoden Napkin Rings. I cant wait to try this technique on other surfaces. I am thinking a frame for my office or even a wood jewelry box. I may even stretch this trend a little and try to decoden something with recycled objects such as soda tabs, bottle caps, bits of broken china, etc. 

I hope you are inspired to try your own decoden! 

Live Life Creatively, 

Melony 

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PatchWork Advent Calendar

If you like to sew or quilt, you will love making this Christmas in July Advent Calendar. Grab your fabric scrap stash, embellishments and poly-fil and join me in this fun tutorial. You are on your way to making your own Patchwork Advent Calendar.

How to Make a Patchwork Advent Calendar

First you will need to select your fabrics. This is the fun part for me. For this version I chose non-traditional prints and threw in a little white muslin and red solids. It’s a good idea to use solids along with prints so the prints don’t get overwhelmingly busy. But other than that, the sky is the limit when choosing your fabrics.

I tore my fabric into strips that measured about 2 ½” x 10-12.” So pre cut’s like jelly rolls could be used for this. I know a lot of you like jelly rolls since some of you do not feel comfortable mixing prints. Also, they are convenient since they have been cut for you.

Next, sew all of the strips together. Now if you are not an experienced sewer or quilter, this step can be tricky. Start by placing two of the strips together with right sides facing and sew the long edges of the wrong sides together leaving a ½” seam allowance. Steam the seams open. Repeat this until all of your strips have been sewn together. This is what your fabric will look like on the other side.

When I was done sewing my strips together, I used Staz-on ink and some rubber stamps to stamp sentiments with on the white muslin. You can heat set this with an iron to prevent smudges.

I ended up with a piece of fabric that was about 14” x 20.” This was large enough for me to cut 25 3” and 2 ½” squares from which is the next step. Use a fabric marker and template to trace the squares. I traced twelve 3” square shapes and thirteen 2 ½” squares from the sewn fabrics for the pockets.

So here are my cut squares of fabric. You can see that I used the sewing machine and black thread to free form stitch across the squares and around the edges.

I used wool felt in green to cut tiny Christmas tree shapes from. I sewed the trees to a few of the larger squares leaving a 1 1/2 opening. I then stuffed the trees with poly-fil and continued sewing to create some dimensional applique.

And if you want, you can decorate your little trees with tiny crystals.

Ok, so now its time to add numbers. I used a Sizzix Die Cutting machine and number dies with some black canvas to make mine. I first fused webbing to one side of my black canvas (felt would work nicely here too) and then cut numbers with the canvas paper side up so that the numbers would be in the correct orientation once they were fused to the squares. Cut a set of number 1-25. Lay the squares out onto the surface of whatever you will be using as a backing. I used a white flour sack towel, purchased in a pack of three for about $3.50. This step is so that you can decide which numbers to fuse to which squares. I didn’t use numbers for the squares with the poly-fil trees.

Once your numbers are fused. Use the sewing machine to secure the numbers to the fabric. Place them on the flour sack again and use straight pins to hold them in place this time. Now you can sew them to the towel, leaving the top open to create little pockets. Finally its time to embellish your little heart away! I used bling (of course) and a few other trinkets and treasures from my stash.

Perfect! And there you have it- your very own patchwork advent calendar!

Live Life Creatively,

Melony

Beaded and Sewn Christmas Ornaments

My tree is up, adorned with lights and ornaments. After the Christmas table celebration, I often find myself more in the Christmas spirit than ever and itching to create something that captures that feeling with my hands. So this year I decided to make these beaded and sewn Christmas ornaments to give away as gifts for next year.

Beaded and Sewn Christmas Ornaments

I started out selecting fabrics and wool felt for my project. The fabric is from Fabric.com (see ad on sidebar) and the wool felt is from National Nonwovens.

To create my beaded and sewn Christmas ornaments, I started out by cutting two 3" squares for each ornament (front and back) and some simple motifs- a snowman, a stocking and a tree. I ironed a 1/4" seam allowance on all four sides of the fabric, which was cut into a 3" square.

I used three strands of black embroidery floss and a blanket stitch to sew the fabric to the wool felt.

Then I blanket stitched the stocking on, leaving the top open so that I could stuff it with goodies! I used a blanket stitch for this as well, but sewed 6/0 red pebble beads to the stocking before attaching it to the squares. Then I cut the borders of both felt squares with scalloped edged scissors and sewed beads to the borders.

I left the top open so I could stuff it with poly-fil fiber. I added a jute hanger with a little glue to the top.

Creating these fun sewn and beaded ornaments over the Christmas holidays will keep my hand busy while we watch "A Christmas Story" for 24 hours! I will be happy thinking that I am getting a good start for Christmas 2014.

What will you be creating this Christmas once the packages are opened and dinner is served?

Live Life Creatively,

 

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