Archives for November 2011

Thrifty Thursday Week 51







It is a handmade frenzy up in here.  There are so many things I want to make that I am actually dizzy.  Not only that, but Thrifty Thursday will be one next week, and I launched a new website, Printable Decor.  Stop by and check it out if printables  and free are your things.  You can also submit your own printables to be featured.

Ok.  Nuff about me.  I want to know what you are making these days.  Thanks for being here and spreading the inspiration.

How it Works: No giveaways, shops or links to your main blog, please. That way we know when we come to Thrifty Thursday, we will only encounter DIY projects and not end up sifting through a bunch of other links. Entries not related, or to main blog pages/shops/giveaways will be deleted.
Other stuff:
*Please add a text link or my button to your post!
*I will choose 2 participants to feature the following Thursday, Please drop by and love on the features! Their links are in the post where their projects are featured.
*Please visit the at least the 2 blogs above you and shower them with comment love.
*Leave me a comment and let me know you were here. I love hearing from you.
*Have fun and be inspired!
*Stop by and say hello to my crafty friend Nikki and link up to her thrifty party too…
thrifty decorating 019 button 3 Thrifty Thursday Week 50

Featured Projects:

 

  • What I love about this Joy canvas from aka design is that… um it is so cool.  Simple and beautiful.

embellished-joy-canvas

Scripture art

Bring on the handmade:

 

Recycled T-shirt Christmas Tree

Handmade Christmas Decorations
Do you just love all the ways to decorate foam cones into Christmas tree decorations?  I have had this tall foam cone just sitting on my mantel for a couple of weeks, waiting for inspiration to set me into action.  I was rooting around in my stash, when I ran across this pile of t-shirt strips I had left over from the recycled shirt wreath I showed you a couple of weeks back…

T shirt Crafts

Pretty simple project.  I just started at the top of the cone, stuck a tack in, and wound around to the bottom.  I had to add new strips a couple of times… tacks.  Easiest decoration ever.  And it is fitting right in with my white, silver and red thing I have going on here.

Home made Christmas Ornaments

Recycled T-shirt Crafts

Christmas decorating ideas

T shirt Crafts

DIY Canvas and Burlap Stockings

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Sew Stockings Burlap[pinit]

These Christmas stockings are made from canvas tea towels from Target, the same towels I used to make this stenciled pillow a few posts ago.   Two of the towels made all seven.  If you are looking for a quick, easy, inexpensive sewing machine project for your stockings this year, you are in luck.

Supplies:

  • Tea towels or canvas drop cloth
  • Fabric Scissors
  • Stocking Template (click here for the one I used)
  • Pencil for marking fabric
  • Straight Pins
  • Jute or twine
  • Embellishments of your choice

Burlap Christmas Stocking Pattern

Instructions:

  • Print stocking on to heavy paper and cut out
  • Iron fabric and trace stocking onto towel folded in half.  I used the seams already in the towels as the top of my stockings.  Cut shape from front and back halves at same time.

Christmas Stockings Pattern

Christmas Stockings tutorial

  • With right sides together, pin in place.  Loop a 2 inch piece of jute on the top at the heel side for hanging your stocking and pin in place.  Double back over the twine while sewing to make it extra sturdy.

DIY burlap stockings

  • Turn stockings right side out and embellish as desired.  I printed on burlap for the text, pieces of scrap towel and lace on mine.

Christmas Stockings Pattern

Handmade Christmas Decorations

Christmas Stocking Pattern

Christmas Wall Art Trio

Free Christmas Printable Subway Art

Huh?  It says trio, but there are only two prints.  What is up with that, lady?  To see the third, download them yourself… free…  and hear how I got all three prints in 11×14 for a total of $0.64, visit my recently launched site, Printable Decor.  I would love to know what you think about it.  My vision is that it become a well organized spot for all things printable, lovely and free.  Don’t forget to like PD on Facebook while you are there!

Got free printables?  Submit them to Printable Decor and you could be featured.

Christmas Printable

Chevron Polymer Clay Pendant Tutorial

 

Chevron Clay Pendant
*ORIGNALLY POSTED AT MOD PODGE ROCKS*
Today, I will be showing you how to make a polymer clay chevron pendant (yes, the Target Missoni line has everything to do with the inspiration behind this project).  If you have never touched polymer clay, it is ok.  You can do this.  It is super easy, fast, and cheap, so let’s go…Chevron Clay Pendant

Supplies:

  • Polymer clay in a light enough color to make your transfer visible.  White clay shows the image the most true to color, but you can get interesting effects by using lightly colored clays as well.  Here, and in general I use FIMO soft.  It is easiest to work with, in my opinion.
  • Pasta machine, or acrylic roller or drinking glass to roll clay into uniform sheet
  • Small tile to bake clay
  • Mod Podge Dimensional Magic
  • Mister bottle with water
  • Pendant Bezel for the square pendant, Pendant bail for the round pendant
  • Cookie cutter in desired pendant shape
  • Craft knife or clay blade
  • Armor-All
  • Bake-able clay adhesive
  • Chevron images, here.  For this technique, the images must be using a laser jet.  A portion of these chevron prints are courtesy of Annie Howe.  Find more of her chevron designs in her Etsy shop!

Chevron Clay Pendant

Instructions:

  • Condition clay:  Polymer clay is composed of a bunch of particles that need to be “conditioned” before using, which is a fancy way of saying squished and rolled until they are mixed together evenly.  I roll the clay around in my hands, pulling twisting and mashing it together until it is soft enough to flatten using my clay dedicated pasta machine.  This is handy because it has 9 different numbered thicknesses, and for serious clayers, sometimes exact thickness is important.  For this project, just warm the clay up by kneading it in your hands for a couple of minutes, and roll into a thin sheet using an acrylic roller or drinking glass.
  • Working on a ceramic tile (these are great for clay because you can work right on them and they are safe to bake your clay on, so you don’t have to handle the raw piece anymore than necessary), lay your conditioned clay sheet flat and place your image face down on the clay.  Here I am using patty paper underneath the clay, which is also bake able.  I do this when I am baking several pieces on a big cookie sheet so I can just move the patty paper instead of touching the raw clay with my fingers.  Fingerprints have ruined one to many finished works, which is also the reason for the rubber gloves.  Burnish the image to get rid of any air bubbles between the image and the clay.

Chevron Clay Pendant

Chevron Clay Pendant

  • Spray a few squirts of water on the back of the image…

Polymer Clay Tutorial

  • Lightly run finger across wet image to remove paper backing.  You may want to re wet the paper to get it to roll off.  Water will not remove the ink, but too much pressure may do so and ruin the image.

Polymer Clay Image Transfer

Polymer Clay Image Transfer

  • For the bezel setting pendant, spray the bezel with Armor All.  This is a release agent, preventing the clay from sticking to the bezel.  Line the bezel up with the image and place it face down, pressing the back to create a impression in the clay.

Polymer Clay Image Transfer

Polymer Clay Image Transfer

  • Carefully lift the bezel, and cut along the square impression using a craft knife or clay blade.

Polymer Clay Image Transfer

  • Next, you can bake the square as is (275° for 20 min), remove from oven, let cool for 5 min, then glue it into the bezel using E6000 or you favorite strong hold craft glue.  I chose instead to bake the clay in the pendant bezel. It is metal, and withstands the low temp required to bake the clay, no problem.   This way, I know for sure it fits perfectly.  I use a dab of bake-able polymer clay adhesive to adhere the clay to the metal bezel.  If you don’t have this, and you still want to bake the clay in the bezel, you can do that.  Just pop the piece out of the bezel after it is baked and put a dab of E6000, or super glue, on the bezel before replacing the clay piece.

Polymer Clay Image TransferPolymer Clay Image Transfer

  • For the round pendant with no bezel, I folded the clay sheet in half to double its thickness, then cut out my image with a circle cookie cutter (don’t forget to spray the cutter with armor all so it won’t stick to the clay).  Bake the clay per package instructions.  You will have to glue a pendant bail to the finished piece to attach it to a necklace, or you could poke a hole through the pendant for wiring, like I show here.

Polymer Clay Pendant Tutorial

  • After Baking the round piece, I sanded the edges with 2000 grit wet to dry sandpaper to smooth it out, then inked around the chevron image with color box chalk ink to get the blue color you see in the finished pendant.  I love chalk inks with polymer clay!  They are so vibrant, and blend-able.

Polymer Clay Pendant Tutorial

 

  • FINISHING:  You can touch up any areas the image transfer didn’t take using a permanent marker before sealing with Mod Podge.  I use a baby wipe to get rid of any stray paper backing, then cover with Mod Podge dimensional magic.  Several thin coats are best, drying an hour or so in between.  Add to your favorite chain and that is it.  Here is another bezel setting piece I made using the printable provided…

Polymer Clay Chevron Pendant

Polymer Clay Chevron Pendant

This is a great project to keep in mind for handmade holiday gifting.  You can use family photos, pets, custom text, anything you can print on a laser jet. Thank you for reading.  I hope you enjoy.

Tea Towel to Stenciled Pillow

DIY tea towel pillow

It is my first ever sewn pillow!!  I am proud, being that I have used a sewing machine very little.  This is made from a tea towel I picked up at Target, along with a 14 inch pillow form.  I created a LOVE JOY PEACE text in Photoshop and cut it from vinyl with my cricut.  I wish I had taken pics of the process, but I was totally winging it, and had little faith that I was going to end up with anything I would want to share!  I will describe as best I can…

This towel was the perfect size for the 14 in pillow form, so I lucked out.  I decided to have a slot to make the pillow form removable, so I folded over a flap for the back, ironed where my seams would be, and sewed a straight stitch using my machine with the pillow inside out.  Here is the back (the image was already on the towel):

Tea towel pillow DIY

Since that photo, I have put velcro strips to close the flap.  Thought about buttons, but that was just way to advanced!

Before inserting the pillow form, I used Martha Stewart craft paint in black and a stencil brush to create the text.  I love this stuff cause you can use it on every surface!

Tea towel pillow DIY

 

Click here to download the stencil file.

Free Love Stencil

 

Stenciled Pillow DIY

What do you think?  Any easy easy easy sewing project you want to recommend to a newbie?

Shabby Apple Pendant Winner

Shabby Apple Giveaway WInner

 

Shabby Apple Winner

Congratulations to Cheryl Atkerson!  Thanks to all who entered, and to Shabby Apple for sponsoring this giveaway.

Thrifty Thursday Week 50






HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

I am grateful for each and every one of you.  No features this week.  It was all I could do to get this posted.  Enjoy yourself and your loved ones today.  Mmmm, pumpkin pie.

How it Works: No giveaways, shops or links to your main blog, please. That way we know when we come to Thrifty Thursday, we will only encounter DIY projects and not end up sifting through a bunch of other links. Entries not related, or to main blog pages/shops/giveaways will be deleted.
Other stuff:

*Stop by my new Facebook page and Like it, if you like it – Click here.
*Please add a text link or my button to your post!
*I will choose 2 participants to feature the following Thursday, Please drop by and love on the features! Their links are in the post where their projects are featured.
*Please visit the at least the 2 blogs above you and shower them with comment love.
*Leave me a comment and let me know you were here. I love hearing from you.
*Have fun and be inspired!
*Stop by and say hello to my crafty friend Nikki and link up to her thrifty party too…
thrifty decorating 019 button 3 Thrifty Thursday Week 49

Paper Christmas Tree Earrings

Paper Christmas Tree Earrings

 

Today I will detail how I made these Christmas tree earrings using a shopping bag.  Yep, a shopping bag.  These are the perfect Christmas gift for someone on your list, or accessory to wear for your next holiday get together.

Paper Christmas Tree Earrings

Supplies:

  • Paper
  • Toothpick
  • Straight edge
  • Glue stick
  • Mod podge or other sealant
  • Jewelry findings to back earrings
  • Round nose and flat nose pliers
  • Wire cutters
  • Beads of your choice to accent your tree
  • Craft Knife

Instructions:

Making Paper Beads

  • Cut the 2 side edges of the shopping bag to lay it out so that you have a single layer, long piece of paper.  To form the shape needed for the earrings, your strip of paper needs to be at least 24 inches long.  Here it is 31.5 inches.  You can glue together 2 magazine pages at the edges to get a long enough piece, or use giftwrap.

Making Paper Beads

Making Paper Beads

  • On your cutting surface, mark the 3 points of your triangle; the base I used was one inch, and the point should be half way between the base points at the opposite end.

Making Paper Beads

  • If you make lines on your paper, they will show up in the bead, so I like to line up my straight edge (bought this at Wal Mart awhile back for $5 in tools), and cut with my craft knife.

Making Paper Beads

Making Paper Beads

  • Here is my long, skinny triangle:

Making Paper Beads

  • Starting at the base of the triangle, begin rolling the paper around a toothpick.

How to make paper beads

Making Paper Beads

  • When you get to the last few inches of the triangle, run your glue stick along it and continue rolling, adhering the tip to keep the bead in place.

Making Paper Beads

Making Paper Beads

  • Carefully slide the bead off of the toothpick

How to make paper beads

  • With your thumb and index finger, grab the bead at the center and put the toothpick at one end.  Pull the middle of the bead towards the toothpick to form the cone (tree) shape.

How to make paper beads

  • Seal the bead while it is still on the toothpick.  I used Martha Stewart’s decoupage sealant here.  Mod podge, diamond glaze, or polycrylic are other good choices.  Some people use clear nail polish with good effect.  Stick the toothpick into styrofoam to dry. Apply at least 2 coats of sealant, 3 is ideal.  After the last coat, remember to remove the bead from the tree from the toothpick after about a half hour or so. Leaving it on too long can cause it to stick to the wood, which is just not cool.

How to make paper beads

How to make paper beads

  • Place your beads on the headpin, starting at the bottom of the tree, so that the end bead is against the flat disk of the headpin.

headpin

How to make paper beads

  • Using your needle nose pliers, bend the wire to a 90° angle, as close to the top bead as you can get

How to make paper beads

  • Grab the wire at about 1/4 inch from the bead as shown:

How to make paper beads

  • Using your free hand grab the end of the wire and wrap it around the round nose pliers to form a loop as shown:

How to make paper beads

  • Wrap wire around a couple of times then cut off excess with wire cutter.  Attach to earring findings and that is it!

How to make paper beads

Here is a pair I made from the shopping bag and embellished with red and silver fingernail polish before sealing.

Paper Bead Earrings

Here is a pair made with giftwrap.  I love how the red and green stripes.

How to make paper beadsI hope you enjoy making your own.  Warning: making paper beads is quite addictive.  For more paper bead jewelry, polymer clay, recycled paper projects, and all kinds of other crafty DIY, visit my tutorials page or connect with SBLC on facebook.

Christmas Bunting With Template

Christmas Bunting

I am soooo excited about this project because I dusted off the sewing machine and stitched ribbon and paper triangles together for this Christmas bunting.  I got a lovely Martha Stewart Crafts delivery yesterday, and couldn’t wait to make something out of this gorgeous holiday patterned paper.

DIY Christmas Bunting

Using my cricut, and this template, I cut triangles from 12×12 double sided scrapbook paper, and sewed red ribbon across the top to make the bunting.  Super easy.  I am so very proud, because I don’t sew.  My husband took it upon himself to create a perfect place for my machine while I was away on a girls weekend.  That is a whole other post.

The mirror was a garage sale score that I spray painted white.  I love the double sided scrapbook paper against the mirror.  You can’t really see the effect to well in these pics.  It was dark out.  Flash… yuck.  Anyway, it is twice the fun, as you can imagine.

If you don’t want to sew, you can create a hole near each top points of the triangle, and string your ribbon or jute through, like I showed you here.

Handmade Christmas Decor

That is my story.  What do you think?  Bunting… yes or no?

 

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