May Flowers

Time to recycle. Time to renew. Time to plant some seeds to watch flowers grow.

My neighbor has an awesome garden. She is always on top of the planting times, fertilizers, etc. I often go there and gaze longingly at her bounty. Then I come home and make my own flower garden.

No fertilizer, no dirt, no planting, no weeding. Just get a colorful soda can and a pair of scissors and watch a flower bloom.

Today's project is:

Aluminum can flower clip

you will need
a can (the more colorful the better)
scissors
E600 glue
hair clip
embellishment
emery board

The more colorful can you can get the better (Arizona Ice Tea has really good ones). Rinse out the can and let dry.
Take your scissors and cut off the top and bottom of the can. Be careful not to cut yourself at this stage. So now you have a semi flat area to work with. Cut 3 or 4 layers of big petal flowers freehand or you can use a paper punch if you have it.
Cut each one getting smaller in size, so you can layer them.
You may a couple of cans, if you are making a large clip.

File the edges with the emery board so they are not sharp.
You can use a charm or button or some embellishment for the center, or just cut a little circle to use.

Using the E600, glue each layer on top of each other. Weigh it down with something heavy and let set overnight. Then glue the clip (or pin back) to the bottom of the flower.  Make sure you put some wax paper or small crumpled up tin foil into the middle of the clip so it is open (or you will glue the two parts of the clip shut along with gluing it onto the flower. Let set several hours.

Now you can use this in your hair, or on your scarf, or lapel, etc.  Very cute, very recycled, very unique.
These make great gifts for teenagers. Recycled and colorful, you can't go wrong.

Happy Spring!

tip of the day...
We are going to think ahead for a future project and take any small flower blossoms and press them.
Take a sheet of wax paper and fold it in half. Take flower petals and put them on one side of this. Fold the other side over enclosing the petals. Place this in a phone book, or under heavy books. The petals will dry flat and then we can use them for a project in the future. Just don't forget where you put them. :)

That's all for this week.
:D

Red leather Yellow leather

I was an art teacher for 15 years. 11 of those years was at a Christian School. Which translates into "we have no budget for art, so do the best you can"...
So this played into my natural inclination for 'saving' things.  Since I was a kid, my mom was always 'saving' stuff.

She was the original recycler...she reused Saran Wrap, tin foil, old clothes, etc.
We spent many days at rummage sales. She could turn an old XXL dress into a cute blouse. She was crafty, and creative and a war survivor. This woman knew how to get by on nothing. And it was always fun hunting for things to recycle.

So when I had to come up with supplies for my K-8 art classes, I was always scrounging around for stuff. Many students' parents donated things from their businesses: yarn and fabric, cardboard, vinyl material (from a boat upholstery shop), and lots more.  You give me "30" of something, I'll make a project out of it.  (I DID get too many empty paper towel rolls to use up, ha ha. But everything else was utilized)

So when I get a nice supply of something, I stash it away until the creative juices start flowing. When my sister (who is an awesome artist and crafter herself) gave my daugher a box of leather samples years ago, I told her I would store it until she needed them. Well, as my kids have small houses, they have no extra room to keep stuff, so I end up with many of their old goodies. Btw...Dana when you picking up your cat? No, just kidding, we can't give her up now after 9 years.

I found this little box the other day when I was cleaning out my fabric closet and came up with this idea...

Today's project is:

Leather Flower Pins

You need:
pin backs
leather or suede scraps
E600 glue

If you don't have an old leather hat or coat to cut up, you can go to the thrift shop. Or fabric store and see what they have. Shopping online is always a possiblity too. There may be some leather manufacturers who have scraps for sale for cheap.

Usually the underside of leather is nice soft suede. So you can have two different looks and textures from one piece. I cut a flower shape from one scrap, then a smaller flower shape, and finally a third smaller shape.
Then I flipped the middle shape (so it was the leather side) so it stood out from the suede sides. When the light hits it, the different surface textures really show up.

Using E600 glue, I layered these pieces together to form a flower. I had a piece of fused glass for the center. But you can use a button, bottle cap, charm, etc. for this part. Put a glob of glue in the middle and plop the embellishment down.

Glue a pin back to the back, vertically. Take a small square of leather and glue over the pin base (with the sharp open) to reinforce the pin.

If you want to wear this as a pendant, pull a cord through the pin top and let it hang down as a necklace.
If you use a hairclip instead of a pin, this can be an awesome hair adornment.

tip of the week:
The title of this post is Red leather Yellow leather. And you may be thinking why...
Well, when my kids were in high school, they had some friends who played a little tongue twister game. Try saying R.L.Y.L. as many times as you can. The one who can say it the longest wins.
Try it, it's silly but fun!

That's all for now...
:D

Easter Bunny

Hey,
     I had a great Easter, and hope you did too.
I became a Godmother, to my neighbor's little girl. I'm soooo thrilled. It was a nice baptism on a very special day. My own daughters were christened on Easter Sunday. So this was a special day.
I am a Godmother to 3 girls now, and each one is very special to me!
     We had an awesome brunch at our friend's house, and I think the whole neighborhood came. The weather was great and the food and company was fantastic. The weather cleared up and was bright and sunny and warm. A nice respite from the cold and rain we have been having. There was an Easter egg hunt outside and the kids sure had a great time.
     The night before, the Easter Bunny (me) visited a couple of homes and left 'footprints'.
I made a stencil from butcher paper of paw prints and using a flour sifter and flour I left bunny prints for the little ones to find in the morning.
     I did this with my own little darlings down the hall of our house when they were small. The looks on their faces was priceless.
     Hope some of you tried out the egg decorating tips I posted last week. They were a hit this year as always. :)

tip of the day:
You can use your hard boiled eggs in lots of ways. Add them to salads, make egg salad (chop up and add mayo, chopped up pickles), egg salad and potato salad together make an awesome side dish. Peel the eggs, and put them in a jar with the juice of pickled beets. (either eat the beets right away, or put them in another container). After a week or so, the eggs will have a wonderful pickled flavored, AND be purple around the edges when you cut them up. Pretty!

That's all for this week...
Dee
  

Easy Easter Eggs

      Every April Fool's Day my mom would always call me up and try to 'fool' me. This usually involved some kind of unlikely pregnancy or unexpected marriage of someone we knew.
Needless to say, I usually was NOT fooled. But we carry on this silly tradition, with my girls, and friends and husband.  Every new year is a challenge, because my daughters are pretty saavy about this day.
     But, I got EVERYONE this time. hee hee... I guess that makes the Queen of the April Fools (not sure I like that title) but it was fun anyway.
     ...But onto our project for today. Easter is only 2 days away, so get your eggs ready...

Today's project is:    EASY colored EASTER eggs

You will need:
scarves or ties that are 100% silk
    (look in thrift shops)
onion skins (dry)
     save throughout the year, if you can
eggs (not boiled yet)
thin material (like old cotton pillowcases),
or nylon stockings
twist ties (or string)

Now there are two projects of eggs. The traditional eggs I've always made since childhood was a project I did with my mom every year. You start saving the onion skins throughout the year. I always wondered what that paper bag under the kitchen sink held, til one day I peeked and found the skins.

Then of course, she saved her knee high nylons, or old cotton pillowcases for this project, too. She was my original "recycler".

You take an egg, wrap the onion skins around it (the best you can) and slip it into the toe of the nylon stocking, or into the center of a cotton rag. Then you twist tie it shut. If you are using a stocking, you can stack several into one. see photo ->

Then you boil them as usual for 10 minutes (I put them into a pot of water, then get it boiling and start timing. I don't like to drop them into boiling water, because they tend to crack). Unwrap when cool, and you will find wonderfully marbelized brownish colored eggs. (I tried using red onion skins hoping for pink or red eggs, but no, they just are powerful enough to dye).

Now the second Easy Easter Egg dying project is using silk ties or scarves.
If you wrap the egg tightly against the fabric, twist tie it and boil for 10 min.  When you unwrap these eggs, you will be amazed that the pattern on the silk scarf or tie comes off onto the eggs.

When ever I make and give these as gifts, people are so amazed and totally confounded about how I got the color onto them. But it's soooo easy, I hate to tell them that, so I just smile and say "it's my secret".

tip of the day:
Today's tip is more of a suggestion of yet again, one of our Easter traditions.
We would have 'egg wars' on Easter morning. It was usually before we went to church, so we would have a little something to eat to hold us over until the big Easter brunch later.
Everyone would select an egg from our collection, and holding it in your fist with only the end showing, we would clunk them against each other. Then we would turn it over and hit the other end. The one whose egg did not crack was the winner! (of course this all a matter of where the air bubble is when you boil the egg, but it's fun and a nice tradition to pass on)

That's all for this week... HAPPY EASTER!!
:D

Purse revamp: book it

I was visiting a cool gallery in Wisconsin last year, the FLYING PIG, and  found these "intellectual" purses. I "booked" a ride on this craft trip, and "read" up on sewing techniques. This project might "turn a page" on your recycling urges.

You'll need:
an old book, with a cloth cover (hunt them out in thrift shops, or even your own library)
glue gun
fabric
scissors
handles (bamboo or fabric or chain)
D rings or split rings (used for key rings)
needle and thread

Now this is my idea of how this might work...

This is the view from the front. As you can see the artist used an book with a cloth cover and then a added a bamboo handle attached to the book with metal rings.

I'm thinking they used wire or key rings to attach the handles to the bag. But we can use whatever we want, as far as handles.

If you pull out all the pages and left the cover you will get the base for this purse. You would have to use a glue gun and fabric to add to the inside of this purse.
Remember, if you mess up, it's only an old book. Use a less desirable one to practice on. Then graduate up to a vintage book with a cool title or color.

This is the end view of the purse. So all you creative peeps check it out and see how you can figure this out.  This is NOT for the novice, but perhaps for the creative, "let's give it a try" and see what I CAN do crafters.
I know the shape, when the purse is open is wider at the top, to allow you to get into the purse easier.

 I, myself, could not tell you how to do this, because I have not tried. But I'm dying to. So perhaps in a future blog, I may get this down to a science.

I totally adore the idea that you can take a cigar box, or book or whatever and make it into a purse/bag. Cuz I LOVE those.  I will be searching for fun stuff to make totes and fun stuff make bags in a way we didn't expect!!!!

tip of the day:

I picked up some great veggies at the grocery the other day. But I think I might have gotten tooooo many. So to keep them the freshest I can, I placed a couple of brand new sponges into the vegetable bin to absorb the excess moisture. Be sure to check these every couple of days, and wring them out. You'll be surprised to see how much moisture is absorbed by these that would have made your food soggy.

That's all for this week...
:D

April Showers

This has been a wet, dry, cool, warm, let's just say a ~crazy winter. The 20th of March was the first day of Spring. And it tends to be pretty rainy around here. So I needed a bag that was waterproof, fast and easy to make, and recycled.

So when I changed my shower curtain liner, I had to perfect material for this tote bag.

Today's Project is:

shower curtain bag

The top of the shower curtain was perfectly clean (we won't disuss the bottom part, ugh) so I cut off about 18" from the top. And cut the width big enough to get two grommets on either side (for the handles).

I had some cotton cord (that I think came off a gift bag) that made perfect handles.

I folded up the curtain (side to side) and sewed up the one side and bottom. The vinyl material was a bit hard to shove through the sewing machine, but I did it slowly and it seemed to work okay.

Then to make the bottom flat, I laid out the bag with the side seam up. I folded up the corner inward (forming a triangle) and used duct tape to fasten it down. I did the same thing on the other side. Now it stands up on its own. I used camophlage duct tape (just because I had it). I didn't think I would be able to sew through so many layers of this heavy vinyl, thus the duct tape.

Turn the bag right side out, thread the cord through the grommets and make a knot. This will keep the cord from coming out.

I have a book by: Jodi Kahn (simply sublime bags) that talks about making a similar bag, but she used staples and duct tape. So it would be a no-sew bag. She stapled the seams, instead of sewing, and then covered up those staples with duct tape.  So for those of you without a sewing machine, go for it!  YOU too can make cool stuff! And you can find duct tape in all kinds of cool designs. That would add lots of fun to this bag.

I have used this bag as an "emergency snow/rain bag" in my car. I have my snow boots, rain poncho, hat, scarf, socks, gloves, umbrella, and granola bar (I get hungry putting on those chains on my tires) I will use this tote for a beach bag when summer comes (I'm already dreaming about the hot weather :) ahhhh

You can use a cloth shower curtain also, the grommets are the things that make this bag easy. It wouldn't be waterproof, but water resistant at any rate. And nice strong material.

I know the Dollar Store sells liners (for $1) so it's a cheap way to start. And you'll have the rest of the plastic left over for lots of other stuff.  More ideas to follow...:)

tip of the day:

Don't let the winter doldrums get you down.  Spice up it up a bit... Let your loved one know you are thinking of them by using a bar of soap and writing a sexy, fun message on the mirror. So when they get up they get a little surprise...hey...it couldn't hurt!!!! And you can wash it off easily, and add something new later....Keep smiling~

That's all for this week...

:D



hearts to clovers

February has Valentine's Day, and March has St. Patrick's Day.
This project can be used for both.
Cuz you see, I'm always trying to figure out themes for 'get-togethers', cards, gifts, etc.  Because...that's just the way I am! :)

And I hope that's the way you are too. Because it's fun to make things, and I think most people really appreciate handmade items.
Hope you are planning on some fun events this year. And I hope I can help jazz up your celebrations.
Today we are folding paper, which in Japanese is called Origami. And a little bit of cutting paper, which is called Kirigami.

today's project is:

Origami folded card

You will need:
paper (cut into squares), scissors, glue, ribbon

1. Fold the paper point to point (diagonally). Then flip it over and fold edge to edge. And then rotate and fold it edge to edge again.

2. Then gently guiding it with your fingers, close it so that you will have the (unfolded) square shape on the outside of it.
3. You will make four of these.

4. With the folded corners on the bottom, you will cut a heart shape out of the 'open' top side. Then you will trace this shape on to the rest of the folded papers, so your hearts are all the same shape.
5. Trace this heart shape onto 2 other papers. I used a different color of green, and the paper is stiffer card stock. This will be the outside covers.
6. Stack two hearts and glue together.  Continue stacking and gluing until you have all four shapes glued together.
7. Tape one end of a ribbon onto the last side, put glue on it, and glue the lighter green card stock heart onto this. Do with the other end also.
8. Now you can fold up the hearts, tie the ribbon and it is flat (for mailing or putting in an envelope). When the recipient gets it, they will untie the ribbon, open up and re-tie.

If you want to make a necklace out of this, cut a ribbon (long enough to get over your head). You will need a pony bead large enough to thread through both ends of the necklace. Then glue the ribbon ends onto the hearts, as shown in red ------>
I glued little words from a magazine, but you can write messages inside, too.
Instead of tying the ribbon, now you will slide the bead to fasten the folded shape.

tip of the day:
you can take one of these clover shapes, cut a small X with an exacto knive in the center, and push a straw through it, and use for your next party for sippin' in style.

That's all for this week!
:D




The paper I used to demonstrate is purple on one side, and orange on the other. To make seeing the folds easier. But I used green paper for the final project.