Kanzashi for My Purse

On recommendation of my friend to make the button bigger on my new purse, I thought I'd create something. I used a piece of the lining fabric to make a Kanzashi flower to match, added a vintage brown button to the middle, hot glued it all together and put it on an old fashioned pin back. That way I can pin it in place over the button, and if I decide I want it on the strap instead, I can just move it over! I think it makes my purse *POP* and I LOVE it. Thanks for the recommendation, Laura!

Silver Chain

I really like the asymmetrical look of necklaces these days and I was inspired by a piece of chain left over from a belt from the 80's. Remember those belts made of ropes and metal that were adjustable and had a big length of chain in the back that hung down? Well the biggest chain below, the one with all the circles, came from one that we had. (I say we, because I can't remember now if it was mine or my sister's). I added a few other chains and things that I had kept to add to just this kind of thing! Here is the finished product:

I love that I can take old, broken, short chains and just put them all together and have a fun new necklace!

New Purse

I have been wanting a new purse. My old one is getting worn and is not as cool as I thought it once was....Though it was very easy to put together and amazingly functional! I knew I wanted another one that would have a strap that I could put over my chest to my other shoulder because it's so functional and doesn't fall off when I'm holding little hands. I saw a bunch of fabric in my stash this week that my mother in law handed down to me and knew I wanted it, so I went to work. I used a McCalls pattern to cut the shape for the purse front/back and then put the pattern away because I knew I wanted it a little differently. I cut a strip and sewed it down the front and back and put pockets on the liner pieces, and used hardware from my stash that I've been keeping around for just this reason. This is my finished product. I will admit it's a little larger than I thought it would be, but know that I will love that when I can stick a notebook in there and have my hands free! I took another photo closer up so you could see the hardware and the button closure. I figure with the button, I could just reach in for the little stuff and only unbutton for the bigger things. I made the strap adjustable for when I want to wear it on one shoulder, because as practical as it is, it's just not attractive for dressing up to have a purse across your chest!

And here is a shot of the inside. I like lots of pockets for organizing so I put 5. Yep. FIVE. One for the iPod. One for the phone. One for the Kleenex. One for the wallet. One for something extra.....I don't know yet.

Screen Door 2

I knew I wanted to do this, but when I put the screen door on the wall, I felt like I needed to! So, I had the kiddos stand for photos, printed them out with terrible quality in black & white, and cut around them to create a silhouette of them. Then I used it as a template to make a blue silhouette and put them on white paper and in these frames that I spraypainted silver.

I also finished off the "T". I got a glass cut for the frame and bought a mat. The silhouettes look a little funny to me, so I'm planning to change the hanging of them. I've already put them on ribbons. Maybe I'll post another shot once I've finished them off. I was thinking of fabric flowers on the top of the ribbons......

Game Room Wall & Twister Clock

On a trip I took with a friend last weekend, we scoured antique stores for games to use in this room. I came home and used industrial strength velcro to attach those games and some we already had to the wall above our shuffleboard table (so we could still take them down to play). I also hung a few on the other walls in this room, but this gives you a good idea of the 'look' of the space.





Today I got out Twister to show my kiddos how to play and the 3 year old said he wanted to "spin the clock." My wheels immediately started turning and with my hubbies help, I'd created this within a couple hours:





The hands are just black cardstock stuck to fancier clock hands on the movement I already had to give me a feel for how it looks until I get to buy the hands I really want. What do you think? I originally wanted to add the numbers (12,3,6,9) on the black lines, but when I put it on there we weren't sure if it would take away from the game board. Any suggestions before I finish it off with new hands?

Jeans to Skirt

There are a bunch of tutorials out there on how to take an old pair of jeans and make a skirt. I had a pair that was a little too short, but fit pretty well otherwise, so I decided to try it. I put it together in just a couple hours. First, I ripped the seams along the inside. Then I cut off the legs to the length that I wanted. I pinned it all in place at top, then took the legs and placed them in the upside down "V" at the bottom that was missing fabric. I sewed it all together with an orangish thread to match the thread on the original seams and sewed down the original seams to make it seem weathered in the right spots. Then I sewed a double seam on the bottom and unraveled the bottom edge. I think the bottom will look better after it's washed, but I am not patient enough and had to wear the thing today! Here it is:

Screen Door Wall Hanging

On a girl's antique shopping weekend I found an old screen door (without screens) and knew I wanted it for my wall.

I'd hung some plates here before, but they seemed to small for this big, blue wall. The door gives presence and a finished look that I had long been wanting. I am not totally finished with the decorating here, the monogram is not actually matted/finished, and there are a couple other things I want to do for the bottom right section....but I'm too impatient to wait to show you this great find!

Car Trash Bag

I have been wanting a garbage container for the van and though my husband's idea of just putting a little trash can in there was very practical, I hoped to create something a little more pretty. I found this idea this morning:

http://spoonfullofsugargirls.blogspot.com/2009/09/quick-fathers-day-gift.html

I liked how the bag was made from things that were sitting in my closet anyway, because I didn't have to buy oilcloth or something. The outer fabric is an old shirt, the inner lining fabric is from a suit jacket my hubby had that the sleeves were cut off of (don't know why!) and the sour cream container and grocery bag were headed for recycling anyway! And I really liked how the thing is 'lined' with a disposable grocery bag! That makes cleanup really easy later!

Now I just have to get the family to use it! :)

T

This was an idea I saw in a book from the library (decorating with papercraft by Clare Youngs). I thought it would be a great addition to our sunroom, which I dream about decorating with maps and stuff. I cut a "T" with my Cricut, and used it as a template to cut two T's from cardboard. Then I used strips about 1.5 inches wide to space the two T's apart. I used masking tape to hold it all together.

Then I took maps from a stash I have had for ages, and tore them apart and Modge Podge-d them all on. I covered it with a clear coat of acrylic spray and put it right on top of the TV cabinet.

Now to get some fun maps for the walls, so it will match something! Maybe on my upcoming vacation where I'll brouse through antique stores for days.....ahhhhh.......

Manger Magnets

I had an idea I couldn't help but get to doing today! I took one of those magnets from off the front of phone books and removed all the paper off the front. To do it, I peeled off the original picture and was left with a bunch of white. Then I wet it and scraped it off with one of those Pampered Chef brown square plastic scraper-things.

Once I got it down to black, I cut the stable, manger and star out and put it on the fridge and here it is!

I am glad I practiced up on my paper cutting earlier in the year, or I don't think I would have attempted this project. It was quick and easy though with an exacto blade and a cutting mat. These magnets are really thin and easy to work with.

My plan for this magnet set is to put it on my mailbox (which is also white) and I think if it can survive the wind & cold out there, that is just where it will stay! I love the look of the black sillouette and the simplicity of it, and had been wanting to decorate up the mailbox for Christmas. But if it won't stay put out there on the mailbox, it's coming back in for the fridge! :)

5 Minute Snowballs

I made a few of these 5-minute ornaments today.

I found this frilly, white yarn, some crochet cotton, and a bow-maker in my craft closet.

Then I made a pom-pom. For those who don't know how that works, I took a photo. I used my bow-maker to hold the yarn. Wrapped it around 50 times, and then tied a doubled over piece of crochet thread tightly around the center (I left the loop on the crochet thread long and used it to hang it on the branch). Then I cut the ends, so there weren't any loops on the frilly yarn, fluffed (I recommend doing this outside, it was really messy!)

They show up so well on the tree and were so easy and my little girly-girl loves it!

Wooden Turkey

I found my inspiration for this project here:

http://wmcraftgoodies.blogspot.com/2010/11/todays-day.html

I used her example, but did things a little differently - mostly to save time/effort. I used a yard timber to give my turkey a little thicker and rounded belly. I STAMPED my sticks instead of adhering paper to them. I also dyed the nose and red-hangy-thingy (which I cut on the band saw from another tongue depressor) with my stamping ink. It took me less than 2 hours (if you don't count the glue drying time!) She explains things so well in her tutorial, I don't think you'll need any more info from me!

Give Thanks Banner

I have been wanting to make one of these for a long time, but as we don't have a mantle, I didn't think I'd have a place for it. The thought occurred to me this week that I could put it on the piano. So I got to work. This was a fairly quick project. I cut the "flags" in 3x4 rectangles and used my brayer and brown ink to distress them. Then I glued white die cut letters onto bluish circles and patterned cardstock scalloped circles. I thought they needed a little more pop, so I glued a white scalloped circle the same size under the patterned one so you could just see the scallops. Then glued these to a brown rectangle and onto the tag. To dress up the top a little, I put a 1/2" circle where I wanted to punch the holes and then punched them. I strung this on twine (can I just say that I am VERY excited that twine was on many of the crafts I looked at this week! I love the earthy look and it reminds me of my parents!) I tied little pony beads on the end of the twine to keep it under the piano top and stuck the ends in there. Once I got the spacing right, I thought it needed a little more umph, so I added ribbons, tied on to the twine randomly, between the flags. I took a close-up so you could see the specifics better. Now maybe I can resist a little longer taking down the fall decorations to put up the tree!!

What do you think? Do you think they need something else?

ASK Sign

I have been wanting to have a long sign to hang in my photo area in the living room to offset the small frames. I decided to use the opportunity of my hubby being out of town to make one myself! It started out like this:

I wanted to try Modge Podge (My new favorite craft item!! Why have I never used this before??) with letters that I cut out of paper using my Big Shot Die Cut system. So, I got to work. I cut all the letters from white cardstock.

And I needed a background. A blue one. Then it hit me, I had this shirt I'd been saving for a project....So, I cut the fabric from the back of the shirt to match the board that I found, already a good size, in my hubby's shop (Here's to hoping he didn't already have a plan for this board!)

I put on the fabric, then put on the letters, then realized I had NO IDEA what to do with the empty space. So I set it aside for a while. I came back to it when I realized I had flower die cuts too! So I cut out a bunch of flowers, and this was almost what I ended up with:

Then I emailed back and forth with my patient husband to get an opinion - I can't craft without someone else's opinion - which some of you know already! And on his suggestions I made a few changes. I modified some of the flowers with scissors for more variety - like the burst looking one was the same as the one on the upper right before my scissors got to it! And I added curlies and dots and stuff. Then we were pretty happy with it. So, I gave it a coat or two of Modge Podge, painted the edges the same color as my accent wall in the living room and added hangers. Yeah, I know you can't get the full effect with the frames turned around, but I'm not about to put my whole family on this blog! :)

My First Quilt

My husband took the kids for a couple days so I could concentrate. So they played and shopped and I locked myself into the sunroom to sew. I got the inspiration for this quilt from a blog that I follow called Home Joys. I gathered denim from all the grandparents and cut these squares months ago, but was waiting for a time to sew them, and my hubby allowed me to concentrate on it this weekend. First, I set all the squares out in a random pattern that I liked.





















Then I layered the top square, a square of an old sheet and another denim square for the back. I sewed it to the next square (layered) with the seam exposed on the top. My sister had given me a tip ages ago to sew a line together, then another line together, then sew the lines to each other. This is what I did.























When finished, I put it in the dryer to unravel. Unfortunately, it did not do as I would have liked, so I'm hand-unraveling it. Me and my ripper will be boosom buddies before this job is finished! I anticipate that I'll just go and unravel a few rows when I have time. I am so glad to give him this quilt of heritage and warmth! I hope he grows to love it and it's meaning!