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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DIY Mounted Fish

I adore all of the wonderful DIY I am seeing created with plastic animals. I even knocked the idea off for my office! 

Looking to put a slightly different spin on the trend, I decided to create some DIY mounted fish plaques. 

I found the perfect sized plastic fish over at Oriental Trading. I purchased some wood plaques, very inexpensively at a craft store. To mount them on the wood plaques, I cut off a fin or two so that they would be flush with the plaque. 

I used an Adtech Adhesives Glue Hi Temp Glue Gun and glue sticks to assemble the plaques. 

The plaques were then given several coats of spray paint with Krylon indoor/outdoor spray paint in a pink and orange shade. 

You will need to use several coats to cover the fish colors. Of course, every mounted "trophy" fish needs a commemorative plaque, so I painted a couple of wood shapes in acrylic brush on paint and stamped labels on them. Using the glue gun, I embellished them with rhinestones. 

Finally, I glued the labels on the plaque using the glue gun. Cute decor to coordinate with the jars in my office! 

Live Life Creatively, 

Melony 

“This review is based strictly on my opinion. Others may have a different opinion or experience with the product listed above. I was provided the sample free of charge by the company or PR agency and I provided my honest opinion. No other type of compensation was received for this review.”

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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Patchwork Pumpkins

 

 

Happy Fall! Don't you just love this amazing season? Thanks for joining me today. To celebrate Autumn, i am going to show you how I made these simple patchwork pumpkins to help usher in Fall. 

Patchwork Pumpkins

• Fabric of Choice in Fall colors 
• Scrap of wool felt, tulle scraps
• Fairfield Processing Corp. Crafters Choice Poly-fil
• Wood pieces- spools, dowels, tags
• Black, Orange acrylic paint 
• Embellishments of choice
• Alphabet stamps and ink
• Sewing machine and thread
• Paintbrushes 
• Adtech hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Rotary cutter and self healing mat, scissors 

I used a rotary cutter to cut my fabric into jelly roll sized strips (2 1/2"). They are about 14" in length. then I placed two of them right sides together and sewed one long edge using a 1/4" seam allowance. 

 

I continued until I had one piece that measured about 14" x 12." I doubled the fabric over and used a rotary cutter to cut a round shape from the doubled over for the pumpkin front and back. 

 

I cut a pumpkin stem from the black wool felt and pinned it to the inside of the pieces before I started sewing them together. I sewed the pieces together, leaving the edges raw but left a 4" opening at the bottom for stuffing. 

 I sewed the bottom together but left a 1/2" opening for the insertion of the dowel. The wood pieces were painted black and embellished with gem stone rows. I used the glue gun and glue sticks to join the pieces together and to keep the dowel in place inside the stuffed patchwork pumpkins. 

I used alphabet stamps to stamp seaonal sentiments on the wood tags, which were painted orange. I also added some sparkly embellishments and tulle scraps. 

The leaves were made from handmade text fabric. 

What are you making to celebrate Fall? 

Live Life Creatively, 

Melony

 

Hand Dyed Gift Tags

 

Its getting to be that time of year when my Etsy shop gets busy, horray! It's will soon be gift giving season and I've noticed increased activity and orders already. Lots of artists who sell on Etsy know the value of unique packaging. Packaging should reflect your brand and the overall look and feel of your shop. I keep mine very simple. I use plain wax paper and hand dyed gift tags that can be purchased at any office supply store. The other day I took a couple of hours to refresh my supply of hand dyed gift tags so they will be ready and waiting as orders come in.

Materials for Hand Dyed Gift Tags:

Round Metal rimmed shipping tags

Rit Dye in Cocoa Brown

Beige or other light colored cardstock

Self adhesive cork sheet (12" x 12") from Recollections (Michael's stores)

Tiny alphabet stamps and ink

Hemp

Beacon Adhesives Zip Dry Paper Glue

Metal rimmed jewel brads

Self Adhesive gem stone rows

Scissors

Small glass bowl, measuring spoons, measuring cup, tongs, latex gloves, stirring spoon, tongs, paper towels

  To get started making your hand dyed gift tags, put on the latex gloves and create a dye bath using a small glass bowl, 2 tablespoons of Cocoa Brown dye and 1 cup hot water. If you want your tags to be lighter in color, use half as much dye.

Place the tags into the dye mixture and let them sit for about 5 minutes. Remove the tags with the tongs and let them sit on a layer of paper towels to dry. The drying process will take a couple of hours. Make sure you flip them over after an hour so they dry on both sides. Once the hand dyed tags are dry, you can embellish them with whatever you have in your stash. For this project I chose cork sheets and self adhesive gem stone rows.

Stamp sentiments on cardstock with ink and alphabet stamps. I like "merci" "for you" and "enjoy" as they seem to be perfect for most ocassions. Stamp assembly style and then cut out sentiments with the scissors.

Use the paper glue to adhere the sentiments to the tags.

Embellish the tags with the remainder of the supplies. It will be easy to create several tags in a couple of hours.

These tags, tied up with hemp, make my packaging special, yet simple.

If you sell on Etsy or any other online outlet that requires packaging, I would love to see how you package your wares! Share with me in the comments section.

Live Life Creatively,

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Dyed Wood Jewelry with Simple Shapes

I love creating projects using unexpected materials. I have been using these simple shapes from Forster called Woodsies for years. I have used them for countless projects published by various magazines, mostly for kid's crafts.

Rit Dye is another I LOVE! I have dyed many things using their low water immersion process. Everything from fabric, hemp and rope, beads, buttons, feathers and now wood. Using Kelly Green and Fuschia, I dyed some simple wood shapes and some cute laser cut birds I found at Michaels.

After I dyed the wood shapes and let them dry on a layer of paper towels, I stamped the teardrop shapes using black pigment ink.

Bits and pieces such as jewelry findings, flat backed crystals and rhinestone chain were used to complete this necklace and earring set.

Attach the rhinestone chain to the edges of the large teardrop wood shape with a strong adhesive like Beacon's Glass Metal and More.

I added the birds to the center of this wood shape along with a tiny wood cut piece I stamped with the letter "i."

 
This knotting tool from Beadalon  proved to come in handy for carefully piercing holes for the insertion of jump rings. It is intended for stringing beads on knotted strands but I was happy to find another use for it!

Once I had my shapes embellished with all my bling and dyed wood, I attached them to this chain using chain nose pliers and jump rings.

I like this simple toogle clasp from Cousin Corp because it is really easy to handle since the pieces are larger than lobster style clasps. 

I also used their super tiny crystals to embellish the birds and outline the smaller wood teardrop shapes.

 

 

Project completed! Have you been looking for jewelry with specific colors to match that perfect outfit? Use liquid dyes and simple wood shapes to customize your own DIY jewelry pieces. Mix dye colors together to create up to 500 colors! Formulas for mixing dyes can be found on the Rit Dye website. 

Happy dying!

Live Life Creatively,

Melony

 

Bird Nest Shadowbox Jewelry Boxes and Brooches

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.

Live Life Creatively,

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Sewn Damasked Burlap Office Supplies; Handmade organization

When I visit my local Joann's or Michaels Crafts Stores, I take the time to scour each department. You would be amazed at what materials you might find in the most unlikely departments. As manufacturer's strive to offer unique materials to scrapbook artists, beaders and sewing enthusiasts, you find more and more cross promotion of materials than ever before.

When I ran into this 12 x 12 sheet of "paper," in the scrapbooking materials section. I was amazed to discover that it was not in fact paper at all, but burlap, printed with a damask motif. I was immediately inspired and bought not one but two sheets. Wondering what to do with it, I decided to cover a favorite hard bound journal that looked a little worse for wear.

I determined the size I needed and trimmed the sheet with a rotary cutter and self healing cutting mat. I pressed 1/2" seams with my iron and pinned them in place before sewing them down with my sewing machine. To keep the burlap from unraveling. I sewed a zig zag stitch all along the edges of the sheet.

The fun part? Coming up with a design for the cover. I decided that this damask journal cover would be perfect for applique. I doubled the cover and drew a 4" circle on the front, which I cut out with scissors.

I fused some black canvas to my favorite fusible webbing, lite steam and seam and die cut the motif out using my Sizzix Bigshot die cutting machine and die.

I then sewed a 5" square of natural canvas to the back inside of the journal cover to create a sort of reverse applique.

To embellish the cover, I decided to embroider the flower and details by adding this silver braided thread from Kreniek.

I used sewing thread to couch down the embroidery thread.

I continued until I was satisfied with the design.

Here is the sewn damask journal cover in progress.

I added a vintage brooch from Melissa Francis which I purchased at Scrapbook.com. I also added some stamped sentiments and these buttons by Buttons Galore and More from The Haberdashery Collection.

The perfect companion to my burlap damask journal cover. A pencil case with embellished pencils.

I used a fabric marking pencil to measure a 2" x 8" strip from the natural canvas. I doubled the fabric and cut the strip out.

I then cut 1 1/2" squares from the burlap damask and black canvas and sewed them to one side of the strip.Before sewing together, I added The Haberdashery buttons to the top.

I sewed the strip together with the right sides in on the left, bottom and right, leaving the top open for turning and insertion of the pencils.

I painted the pencils black and added buttons tied with hemp to each of them.

I stamped sentiments to regular typing paper cut them out and decoupaged them to the pencils.

These pencils are the perfect companions to my my sewn damask burlap office journal cover.

While I was drafting this post, I ran into this project from The Dairy of A Natural Girl. She also found the same printed damask burlap and made these super cool candles with the material.

And the morale of the story, the next time you are in your favorite craft store, don't just pass up on the beading section just because your not a beader. Look around, you might find something that inspires you to use in new and different ways!

Live Life Creatively,

 

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