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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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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How to Work With Somerset Magazines by Stampington

Have I ever mentioned how much I adore working with the folks at Stampington? On a whim, I decided to purchase my first stampington title about 5 years ago. It was Somerset Life. About 5 pages in I was seriously hooked. Eventually I began to consider sending in some of my own art work. It took me a while but I finally figured out how to work with Somerset Magazines. Here are a few tips. 

Tea Towel Apron published in Sew Somerset

How to Work with Somerset Magazines

If you have dreamed of having your original artwork published but don't know how exactly to go about it, I would first recommend that you do your research. Purchase several issues of the same title and look through it several times. Get a sense of what type of projects the editor may be looking for. Magazines like Sew Somerset are both instructional as well as inspirational. Somerset Life on the other hand is more inspirational in nature and contains relatively little instruction. So you wouldn't want to send a project that relies on step by step instructions to Somerset Life as much. You would want to send artwork that reflects the artful lifestyle feel of the magazine. 

 

Dresden Pillow published in Sew Somerset

 

Looking at the examples above, it is probably clear to you that Somerset magazines pride themselves on high-quality photography. For this reason, I highly recommend sending in physical samples in lieu of emailing or mailing photography of the artwork. Only through actually handling the artwork can the editors get an idea of how an item will photograph. Details are very important in artwork for Somerset and the details can often get lost when sending photographs.

Specific instructions on sending in artwork for consideration can be found here. Follow these instructions carefully. It is especially important to label items. You put a lot of effort into making art, not to mention costs associated with purchasing materials, packing and shipping. The last thing you want to happen is for your artwork to get lost in the array of unlabeled items. It was only though a face to face meeting with the editor of Greencraft did I learn this the hard way. I sent in my fan blade wallart and was surprised when the editor did not contact me with an article assignment. When I asked about it she stated that she loved the project but didn't know how to contact as the artwork wasn't labeled. The project went forward in the next issue and I never forgot to label items again. 

 

Fan Blade Wall Art Published in Greencraft

 

 

Another tip for working with Somerset magazines involves the art of patience. I have referred several atrists to Somerset and waiting is the hardest part for them. Although editors work from an editorial calendar, sometime features get moved around or other things that are completely out of your control occur. The editors warn you that it can takes months for them to make a decision regarding whether or not artwork is accepted. For this reason it is important to be patient. No news is generally good news. If you produce atrwork that uses expensive materials and you can't afford to wait for the editors to return it, you may want to send in a smaller sample that represents you as an artist or use alternative materials. 

When your artwork is accepted, the editor will contact you via email most often with an article assignment and a deadline. Often, they will ask you to write an "inspiration based article including basic instructions for technique used and list of materials." When drafting your article, try to think of what inspired you to create your project. My fan blade idea came from a trip to a friends house to help her hang new ceiling fans. When she asked me to throw away the old ones, I decided to try and repurpose them into wall art. Be ready to tell your background story. 

Most magazine editors are keenly aware of current trends and strive to feature them. They are mostly looking for new ways of doing "old" things. This is especially true of Somerset Magazines. Additionally, highly detailed items or three to four samples of the same technique using different colors or materials lend themselves well to several photographs. Consider this when sending in artwork. 

I hope you are encouraged  by the prospect of sending in your artwork for publication. If you have additional questions or would like to comment, I would love to hear from you. Until then, 

Live Life Creatively, 

 

 

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Published in Somerset Studio Magazine

Quilted Wine Bottles

Need to get rid of some of those fabric scraps? Here is a super simple project that anyone can do. Use some decoupage medium, paint and recycled bottles to create these wine bottles inspired by quilt designs. Here is how I made these quilted wine bottles. 

First you will need to start with clean and dry bottles. There are lots of ways to remove the labels and I use a combination of methods. I use a heat gun to soften the adhesive which makes it possible to peel most of the label off. Usually, there is still some layer of the label left, so I use a soft brush and warm water to scrub the remaining adhesive and paper away. Be careful not to let the paper go down the drain, as it can clog pipes. 

Choosing a mix of fabrics from your scrap stash is the fun part. For the patchwork bottle I chose a mix of pinks, aqua and some solid gray and black. When mixing prints there are a few things to remember. Choose one fabric that has large print motifs as is the case in the fabric at the very bottom. Throw in some other fabrics that have smaller printed designs and also color coordinate. Fill in with some solids. Play around with the combination until you find one you like. I usually go with four or five different fabrics at least. If you are completely unconfident in your ability to mix prints here, purchase pre-cuts mixes like jelly rolls or charm packs. The mixing will done for you. 

Make a template from some cardstock and trace it several times on the wrong side of the fabric. It is easier to fold the fabric three or four times before doing the cutting so you can get several shapes with fewer cuts. There are tons of disappearing ink fabric markers available but they seem to dry out fast. So I usually just use a black fine point marker. For dark fabrics, you will need a white pencil. 

Here are my cut shapes for the quarter square triangle "quilted" wine bottle. At this point you can paint begin painting your bottle. (or do it before tracing and cutting so it can dry between coats) I painted my bottles since some of the designs have the neck of the bottle showing and it just looks neater. Also, it makes it easier to decoupage the fabric on. I just used regular acrylic paint and coated it with varnish. But you could use specialty glass paints as well. 

To quilt the bottles, apply decoupage medium to the wrong side of each fabric piece and also the surface of the bottle with a foam brush. For my bottles, I was inspired by (left to right) Clamshells, Strip Quilt, Patchwork and Quarter Square Triangles. These are all popular quilt motifs. Next, I want to try Dresdens, Flying Geese and maybe even Drunkards. (goes well with wine bottles!) 

So this is a no-sew quilted project anyone can do! 

Live Life Creatively, 

 

 

Wine Cork Earring Display

I hope 2014 is proving to be a great year for you! I have just returned from an almost month long trip- including going to California for the CHA Mega Show (Craft and Hobby Association). Add the holidays and a long distance move to the mix and you have the formula for missing a whole lot of blogging. Anyway, today I am sharing my Wine Cork Earring Holder project hoping to inspire you. I used a really cool patchwork fabric technique in this project in an effort to return to my much missed sewing machine.

Wine Cork Earring Holder

Materials and Tools

Walnut Hollow  Basswood Canvas- 8” x 8”

Plaid Folk Art Acrylic Paint Apple Red, Daffodil Yellow, Mod Podge for Fabric

Coordinating fabric scraps

Oriental Trading Bottle Corks or recycled Wine Corks

Beacon Adhesives Premium Tacky Glue, Fast Finisg Decoupage

Sewing machine and thread, iron and pressing surface, paintbrushes, foam brush, sand paper

I was inspired to create this project for two reasons. One,I love the basswood surfaces by Walnut Hollow. Two, I created a Jewelry Holder that uses a chain to hold earrings. Great for earring with hooks attached but not so much for those that require backings. I needed a better solution.

You will need to sand the canvas and wipe it off with a lint free cloth before painting it. Then, basecoat your canvas. I chose the red color for the sides and back of the basswood canvas and yellow for the inside of the canvas. Note that I am using the back of the canvas as the front since I am going to use the insides of the canvas to hold the corks in place.

While rhe coat is drying, grab your fabrics and head to the ironing board. I cut my fabric into strips that are about 2" x 4" and pinned them right sides together, like this. I used four different fabric peices to coordinate with my selection of acrylic paint colors.

Next, sew your fabrics together, patchwork style at the pinned seams, removing the pins as you sew. if you are an experienced sewer, you may not want to pin at all. Just remember to sew a 1/4" seam allowance with the fabrics right sides together.

Use the iron to press the seams open, then cut your pieces into thin strips measuring 1/2" x 4." Note that I am cutting the strips into peices that fit the outside of the canvas. (almost!)

If you like an especially scrappy look, you can use the sewing machine to free form black stitches to the strips as I did here.

If your canvas has been painted with two coats of paint and is dry, it's time to decoupage the strips to the outside edges of the canvas using the medium and foam brush. If you have never decoupaged with fabric before, you are in for a treat. It's much easier than using paper as the fabric does not get air bubbles usually. You may need to overlap some pieces or trim them down to fit the sides of the box.

Finally, to complete your wine cork earring display, arrange the corks inside the box to make sure they fit in an arrangement to your liking. Cork projects are all the rage now. You can use recycled corks that you have saved for this project. Personally, I never seem to remember to save them so I found them available for sale in bulk from Oriental Trading. I really like these as they come in two different sizes and they are also printed in a wine theme, which lends an authentic flavor to them.

 

It's wise to arrange the corks first then use the glue to hold them in place. Now I have a better solution for holding earrings with backings!

I hope this inspires you and gives you a reason to pull out those fabrics scraps and wine corks to create something functional. What have you made with wine corks?

 

Repurposed Tap Shoe Pendant Using the Crystyler Tool

The story about how I came upon a lot of about twenty old shoe taps involves one of my usual thrifting afternoons. I discovered some old metal prescriptions boxes and knew I had to have them, pricey as they were. When I got home and opened one of them, I discovered some old shoe taps. I imagined who would have taken the time to save these? Was it some proud grandparent who had a ton of tap dancing grandkids and saved the metal tap after the shoes fell apart? My mind runs wild with imagination...

I started making things with the shoes taps and one of the things I came up with was a pendant. When some of my pendants were published in GreenCraft magazine, I began getting inquiries from Etsy customers regarding custom orders. One delightful customer comes to mind. She wanted a pendant to give to her child's dance teacher at the end of the year. I thought this was creative gift giving at it's best.

 

About the time I set out to create a new shoe tap pendant, a surprise arrived from one of my favorite craft manufacturers, Walnut Hollow. Inside the package? An innovative tool recently introduced by Norma Rapko, sold exclusively at Michaels stores. (now available). The Crystyler is a crystal loading tool that comes in two different sizes to load two different sizes of crystals in a myriad of colors. The object is to be able to load the cyrstals quickly and set them on your project (coated with glue) with a click of your thumb. 

To see a complete video and tips on using this new tool, check out this link. 

More on how I used this innovative tool when creating my shoe tap pendant a little later...

I painted the shoe tap with DecoArt's Americana Acyrlics in Lamp Black, adding a couple of coats of Duraclear Varnish.

I like the texture of the tap, which the paint covers so I decided to add a light coat of Metallic Lustre in Silver Spark. 

After adding a painted distressed circle to the center of the tap, I used Beacons Glass Metal and More to add a coat of glue around the circle with a toothpick.

Adding the stones to the surface of the pendant was super easy with this tool! My old method involved picking the stones up individually with a toothpick! I can see how an entire surface can be blinged up so quickly and easily with the Cystyler.

 

Moving on, I used silver beading wire to add stones, taking advantage of the pre-drilled holes around the perimeter of the tap.

I finished the whole project by adding the pendant to a pearl string and stamping script text to the center of the pendant.

I have seem some shoe taps being offered for sale on sites like Ebay. Try creating with them, they are really fun and come in all sorts if shapes. I hope you create, I hope you make life beautiful but above all... I hope you dance.

Live Life Creatively,

Melony

 

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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.

I added Fast Finish Decoupage Medium by Beacon Adhesives to apply the fabric to the bottle.

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!

 

 

Live Life Creatively,

Buttoned Embellished Tiny Totes

Who doesn't love a good fabric stash buster/scrap project? I am forever on the lookout for great
projects that will use up my fabric scraps. I also love to create tiny totes. They are very handy for giving small gifts such as gift cards, candies, soaps, art gifts, etc.

I recently had the idea to use some of my larger scraps to create these pillows, exploding with color. I tore strips of fabric in a mix and match color theme and pattern selection.

The way that I assembled the pillow on the right is the same way that I assembled these cute little tiny totes, embellished with buttons.

I simply pinned together two of the strips and used my sewing machine and some black thread to sew the pieces together.

Continue in the same fashion until your strips make one nice sized piece of fabric that can be cut to form the front and back of the little tote. Notice how I used the various stitches found on my machine to join the pieces together, which adds some fun elements to the tote bag. I also used some free form stitching (see the yellow strip) to add a little whimsy. Some of these fabrics were purchased patterns leftover from previous projects and some were strips of hand dyed muslin I use to make my hand dyed and stamped ribbons. The idea is to have fun using up strips from your stash.

I couldn't resist adding a stamped sentiment to some of the strips that were solids. Text type details make things so interesting. I used solvent ink and set it with my iron on a medium setting (no steam).

Determine the desired size of your finished totes and add a 1/2" seam allowance on all sides. So if you want your tote to be, say, 5 1/2" x 7", cut your pieces to 6 1/2" by 8" using a self healing cutting mat and rotary cutter. Join the pieces together, wrong sides out. I was left with an uneven edge on one side since my strips were not exactly evenly torn. I cut off that edge and set it aside so that the edges were even. This makes it much easier to sew even seams.

Once my bag was sewn, I used the iron to steam the seams open and turned it right side out. Note that I used a knife pleated piece of hand dyed ribbon for the top of the tiny tote, which makes a nice embellished finish on the top edge.

Now for the part that's even more fun than putting the strips together. Embellishing it with BUTTONS. I fell in love with these hand dyed buttons by designer Laura Kelly for Buttons Galore and More that I received in my design team package.

I laid out a little "design" and used Beacon Adhesives Fabri-Tac to glue everything in place.

One of my favorite parts of this tiny tote is the button handle created by threading the buttons onto
a piece of wire.

I attached the handle by punching holes with a heavy duty hole punch, punching right through the fabric layers.

I used round nosed beading pliers to curl the sharp edges inward and secure the handle.

Even before joining the design team at Buttons Galore and More, I was fascinated by these little pieces of smooth plastic pieces they call "Start-Ups." They handle ink beautifully. I used chalk ink by ClearSnap to ink the piece in an uneven manner. I did have to use my heat gun to
get the ink to set quickly though. I'm impatient that way.

I stamped a fleur de lis motif in the center with the solvent ink.

I had so much fun making this little button embellished tote that I had to make another one. I mean, I had all these torn fabric strips just laying around, right?

Remember the scrap I cut off of the uneven edge of the joined strip fabric piece?

It didn't go to waste either! It seems scrap fabric projects lead to more scrap fabric projects!

  Live Life Creatively,

Dyed Hemp Wrapped Bottles

Jump to the Crafts n Things Blog where I am a guest designer to discover how I created this eco-friendly craft. Using Rit Dyes and hemp products from Hemptique, these bottles can be personalized with house address numbers, lucky numbers significant dates, etc. Step by step instructions can be found here.

Live Life Creatively,

Indigo Dyed Scrap Fabric Lampshade

Earlier this year I set about playing this Indigo Dye Kit by Jacquard Products. Indigo, which comes from a plant, is one of the oldest dyes used for coloring fabrics and the one still used today to color blue jeans. It has a fascinating history and this natural dye process has long been used in many cultures around the world. The unique characteristics of indigo dyeing make it easy to create wonderful resist patterns on fabric.

It is an easy enough product to work with. It's a little messy, so I would recommend taking advantage of the remaining warm weather days this year and work with it outside. The kit comes with everything you need to dye several yards of fabric. All you need to add is water, a 5 gallon bucket with a lid and a super long stick to stir with. I used a 1" dowel since they can be purchased for very little but a paint stick meant for stirring paint would work too. I had a lot of fun making this interesting pattern using the rubber bands contained in the kit.

I created some additional patterns as well, which I used to create a couple of unique home decor projects including a pillow and a small tote bag that I use as a mail sorter.

Armed with some scraps leftover from these projects, I set about creating a lampshade inspired by one that I saw on the popular social media site, pinterest.

Removing the fabric from an old lamp shade is fairly easy. Just use scissors to cut and tear pieces away from the metal frame. I tied the fabric pieces, which I cut into strips and tied into knots on each ends of the frame until the entire frame was covered. Very Easy!

To further embellish, I used a disappearing fabric pen to draw free form flower shapes on two layers of white muslin and cut them out at the same time so both pieces fit together.

Once I cut out I machine stitched the edges together in a very free form fashion leaving a small opening for stuffing.

  Once I stuffed the flower, I continued and sewed the opening closed. 

To embellish the flower center, I gathered various embellishments including 1 1/2" craft mirrors and some random plastic scrapbook supply letters I had in my stash.

I used Aleene's Fabric Fusion by I Love to Create to attach the flowers to the lampshade along with some glittery silver trim for the flower stems.

I have learned to always keep my fabric scraps as I am constantly coming up with new ways to use them. I had a great time recently creating these fun ribbons from small bits and pieces of scraps.

What kinds of fun projects do you make from your fabric scraps? I would love to hear about them. Leave me a comment and share!

Live Life Creatively,