October 21, 2013

Crafternoon

I love bestiest, crafts, and Sunday afternoons. My absolute favorite, all three combined!


This weekend I had a Skype craft date with Stephanie. She worked on hand painting Christmas ornaments and I worked on making polymer clay rose jewelry I originally saw on Pinterest.

For this craft I purchased one package of emerald FIMO polymer clay, one package of gold earring posts and backs, and one package of gold jump rings. I began by breaking little pieces of clay off the larger block, warming it in my hands, and rolling it into petals. Then I molded the petals together forming a rose and cut the excess clay off the bottom of the flower.




I was amazed at how many items I was able to make from one package of clay! I made eight small roses and seven large roses. After the flowers were made I attached the jump rings to the back of the large roses to turn them into necklace pendants. Then I baked them up quickly and they turned out beautiful, although a little bit darker than they appeared before they were baked.




The final step after baking the roses was to the glue earring posts onto the back of the smaller roses and slide my large rose pendants onto a necklace chain.



I enjoyed this craft and loved how the final product turned out! It can be as quick and easy as you make it, I was a bit of a perfectionist and took a few hours to perfectly form my roses. 

The most difficult part of this project was attaching the jump rings to the back of the large roses without smashing the flowers. My fingers turned a nice shade of green and I couldn't keep my fingerprints out of the clay, but I would definitely do this project again!

October 18, 2013

Magnetic Covered Buttons


I was thrilled when I recently found this piece of material in the salvage section at JoAnn!


I made this scarf with the material I found. Love it? It's listed in my Etsy shop!


I love the material too, so I decided to use the scraps to make covered button magnets! I have made covered buttons before and was familiar with the process, but it is very simple and the packaging includes instructions if this is something you would like to try.


First I traced around the guide (included in the package), making flower or leaf patterns center when possible, and cut out the circular shapes.


Next I placed the material face down in the mold (also included in the package), put the button shell on top, and pushed both down into the mold.


Then, I pushed the excess material down into the cavern and cover with the button back. I chose the back without a button shank (the package I purchased had both options) because I would soon be gluing a magnet to the back.


Finally I used the blue pusher tool (included in the package), to firmly push the back down into the shell of the button, with the excess material sandwiched in between.


Ta-Da, buttons covered! The last thing I needed to do to complete my covered button magnets was glue circular magnets on the back.


Be careful not to use too much glue. I used Elmer's Glue-All Max and found that some had bubbled over the following day.




I used my magnets on a framed piece of metal above my desk (another craft for another day!) I love showcasing some of my favorite things here!



October 15, 2013

Scarf Sporting

My gal pals at 2 Girls in 2 Cities were recently caught sporting Sew Help Me by Marissa scarves! Check out my Etsy shop to get these looks for yourself.

 See Jennie's post here.

See Amanda's post here.

October 11, 2013

Cute Lil' Pumpkin


Well aren't these little guys cute?


This is a nice economical craft for any age. These pumpkins are really made of a fat quarter of fabric, some raffia, a scrap of green fabric or a silk leave and a piece of twisted paper bag or a stick from the yard, (and here is the trick)a roll of toilet paper.
Start by gathering your supplies. Any fabric will work. I think realistic pumpkin colors are most pleasing. The cheaper rolls of toilet paper fit the fat quarter of fabric better. Set the fabric in the center of the fabric, and tuck the fabric into the center of the roll of paper. I like to manipulate the fabric a little to eliminate clumps. When that is accomplished you insert your raffia, stick/twisted piece of bag and a silk leaf or a scrap of green fabric. I was recently able to apply this same principal to a gift wrap situation here.

This pumpkin still needs a little attention to the fabric distribution to look its best.
This is a great decoration for someone that doesn't have room to store seasonal decorations. We also found that it was a nice little decoration for a hospital room while our father was there for a lengthy stay. I hope you will get crafty and try this seasonal craft yourself.

October 7, 2013

Inexpensive Makeup Basics


MAYBELLINE Are You Red-dy/Nicole by O.P.I. Heavenly Angels/Sally Hansen Almost Almond/MAYBELLINE Coral Gleam

I was ecstatic when I recently found these nail polishes and lipsticks on clearance at my local supermarket for about $3.00 each! Each of these is a classic makeup "wardrobe" builder, if you will, and I was happy to expand my current collection to include these basics.

What is the best makeup deal you've ever gotten? Have you recently added any new pieces to your collection?

October 6, 2013

Crafty Wrapping

Sometimes we put one thing off for a while because we have other things screaming for attention at that moment, and then the first thing also becomes a crisis. YIKES!! Well recently I accepted an invitation to a surprise 70th birthday party. I was looking forward to it and put it on the calendar, then life took over. On the day of the party I decided that an appropriate gift should be acquired THAT day at some point prior to the party. Good idea, hunh? Well the gift was for a recent widower that is still working as a over the road truck driver. I decided that a tub-o-peanuts was what we would give him. Well just exactly how do you wrap that? Then I thought of an old trick that I have used before. (story for another day) So I gathered my supplies and set to work. Can you guess what I did?


                 

I gathered some orange fabric, floral tape, a random silk leaf, and some paper shred.




I set the jar of peanuts in the center of the fabric and pulled it up around the jar. I secured the ends of the fabric with the floral tape, to make it look like a stem. Then I added the piece of paper shred to mimic a tendril from the pumpkin vine and finished by pinning the leaf near the stem and was ready to head out the door with a nicely wrapped gift in hand. Well that didn't turn out so bad for NO pre-planning, and the birthday party really did turn out to be a surprise.

October 5, 2013

Crafty Mama



My mama is so crafty! She upscaled this logoed magnet/clip with only some scrapbooking paper, stickers, and ribbon. Now my fridge is decoratively adorned instead of advertising for a company!

October 1, 2013

Cross Stitch Owl


This simple owl was one of my first cross stitch projects. My mother helped me frame it and I received a blue ribbon at the fair for my uniform stitches.

My Auntie LOVED owls, a symbol of knowledge, and decorated her home with them. I gave my cross stitch owl to her as a gift. She recently passed away and I was given the cross stitch owl back. I love decorating with it and it always reminds me of her.