9.30.2011

Big Top Love Mini Banner DIY Project

Those little chipboard flags had been sitting around in my craft drawer forever.  They would cry out to me every time I rooted around in there for something.  My kids have been home because of the teacher strike, and we had decided on craft time to keep busy for a couple hours.  They painted magical deer habitats and created 3-D drawings.  I made this.

Big Top Love Mini Banner

You'll Need:

4 Chipboard flags
2 coordinating shades of acrylic paint (I used a metallic pearl finish paint)
Black glossy acrylic paint
3 small foam paintbrushes
Brown stamp ink pad
Scrap of textured fabric (I used a scrap of courdory.  Flannel works good too!)
Hot glue
Yard of coordinating ribbon
Small letter stencils

Paint the flags with a few coats of paint - two green, two pink.  For a more finished look, paint the backs as well.  Acrylic craft paint dries pretty fast, thank goodness!  Let dry.


Bunch up your fabric scrap and press into the ink pad a few times.  Gently rub and blot ink around the flag.  Rub onto the edges and corners to give it an antiqued finish.  Let dry.

Use stencils to paint a letter from the word LOVE onto each flag (L&V one color, O&E another) by dabbing with black paint.  Be careful not to overload the brush or the letters will look muddled!  Blot before painting. 

Using the alternate color, carefully dab little bits of paint with the corner of the foam brush.  Again, be sure not to overload the brush - blot it before dabbing onto the flags.  The goal here is for it to look like flecks of paint, chips, scrapes.  Let dry.



Heat up a glue gun and glue letters to a length of ribbon leaving about 2 inches between letters.  Make a line of glue on the front of the letters and press the back of the ribbon into the glue - it's hot and bonds quickly, so make sure you're careful!


If you like, you can antique the ribbon with the stamp ink using the same method as for the flags.  Trim to desired length and hang!


Use whatever colors/words you like.  Hang with twine instead of ribbon!  Add glitter if you're feeling nutty.  Have fun!

9.28.2011

Halloween-mas is coming...

Is it just me or has Halloween become bigger than Christmas?  It's certainly become more commercial than I remember it being when I was a kid.  Every magazine has Halloween decor all over it.  Martha (or should I say Moth-a) Stewart has a specialty magazine DEVOTED to it, as well as "Halloween Central" on her website.  I am reluctant to call "it" a holiday or profess that I celebrate it, but I do enjoy Halloween and some of the amazing, creative ways people decorate for this darkest of days.  Especially love anything with a vintage flair.  What are your Halloween favorites?

MarthaStewart.com

CountryLiving.com
MarthaStewart.com
Instant Cemetery Display, Crafterella on Etsy, $50
MarthaStewart.com
CountryLiving.com  

9.26.2011

Paint & Glitter

I'm not a glitter junkie, but most everything can use a little sparkle as far as I'm concerned.  I found this little fuzzy figurine (three of them actually) at the thrift store last year. 

My daughter created a habitat for it on our craft day, complete with 3-D tree made of sparkly pipe cleaners (now why didn't I take a picture of that?!?!  Pure genius she is.)  It was looking a bit sad and smudgy.  I had some paint left over from a project you'll see later this week (preview here!) and I thought, why not jazz it up with some paint and glitter?

It was fairly easy.  I covered most of it with aqua paint using a foam brush, and got in the cracks and curves very carefully with a small paint paint brush.  While still wet, I sprinkled the whole thing with clear glitter. 


When it was dry I tapped the beasts gently on the table and used a small dry brush to remove any excess.

Pretty cute.  But here's what I learned:

I would do a second and maybe a third coat of paint so it looks more finished.

I'd probably choose a lighter color of paint.

While I do like the glittered effect, I might use mica flakes (blitzed in the blender to make the flakes smaller) next time.

The holidays are soon upon us!  What do you like to make with glitter and paint?

9.25.2011

Two Day Sale - Free Shipping!

So you know that item you've been wanting from my Etsy shop but maybe don't want to pay the extra shipping for?  Yeah, that one.  I have some exciting news for you - you can get FREE SHIPPING for the next two days with the coupon code TWODAYSALE!

Maybe you need a special gift for a friend:
Feather Fascinator with Vintage Button, $12

Or a new pair of earrings for yourself:
White Button Earrings, $10

Or maybe a one of a kind handmade veil for your special day:
Cream Vintage Honeycomb Birdcage Veil with Satin Bow, $70

The choice is yours!  I need to make room for new items in the shop, so get these goodies while you can!  Remember to add TWODAYSALE at checkout for free shipping!  Sale lasts until Tuesday 9/27 and excludes custom orders.

9.24.2011

Now available in white and ivory - tulle shoe clips!

Next to the classic birdcage veil, the lemon yellow shoe clips have been a hot seller.  Now I'm offering them in white and ivory for blushing brides!


The perfect way to add a little whimsy to your wedding day.  These look great with colored shoes!!!

What's cuter than a bride all in white (or ivory!) with a little pop of color on her feet?  It jazzes up the whole look!  Don't you think?  Handmade by me, for you.  Only $14!

9.22.2011

Grown Up DIY Yarn Wreath Project

Yarn wreaths are one of those vintage gems that when I come across in the thrift store, I'm immediately transported back to the days of bubble lights and tinsel covered trees.  Typically covered in a cheap sheen of red, green and white, to this day there's something about the look and feel of acrylic yarn that reminds me of childhood Christmases and happy times.

One of the things I love about this "nostalgia movement" amongst crafters is that folks are taking the old and sentimental, giving it a swift kick in the pants, and creating handmade items that are relevant to today's style with nicer materials, cool colors and often times and unexpected artistic flair.

So when I started seeing yarn wreaths all over Etsy, Pinterest, magazines, blogs, etc.  I wasn't surprised, I was excited!  What a great nod to my childhood.  And not just for holidays!  I thought "this, THIS I CAN DO!"  And now you can too.  I'll show you how easy it is.*

*This project does takes a couple/few hours so be ready with a pot of tea and some Desperate Housewives reruns queued up...  :)

Grown Up DIY Yarn Wreath



You'll need:
Foam wreath blank in size of choice
2-3 skeins of yarn in weight of choice (I used acrylic/wool blend in worsted weight)
yarn pom poms
3 foot length of coordinating yarn for stripes
lace scraps
vintage buttons
ribbon scraps
Coordinating rick rack (I used large width)
Hot glue gun & glue

Fire up the glue gun and glue the end of your chosen yarn to the top back of the wreath (you choose where the top should be.)  Wait for the glue to dry a bit so the yarn with hold steady while you wrap.  Begin wrapping by holding the ball of yarn firmly and circling around the wreath tube 5 or 6 times, keeping the yarn somewhat taught while you wrap.  Maintain tension while you slide the loops toward the center, keeping them from overlapping, but pressed close together.



(Here is where you want to get comfortable and press play on Netflix.)

Keep wrapping and wrapping and wrapping and sliding the loops together in this same manner.  If you need to take a break, use a straight pin to hold the yarn in place and maintain tension.  make sure your loops don't overlap - smooth them out as you go, making sure they stay tight together.

If/when you reach the end of a skein, hot glue the end on the BACK side of the wreath.  Make sure all your loops look uniform (smooth out any overlaps, slide loops closer together if needed) before you glue!  Start another skein by gluing the new yarn end right where you left off.

If you come across any knots in the yarn, trim the yarn before the knot so that you can glue the end to the back of the wreath.  Cut away the knot, glue the fresh end and start wrapping again.

When you have wrapped to cover the entire wreath, glue end to the back next to where you started.  Be sure to pat yourself on the back!  That took forever...

Take the length of coordinating yarn (I used a gray wool yarn scrap) and glue to the top back again.  When dried a bit, wrap around in a large diagonal loop keeping even space between loops.  These can be as far apart or as close together as you like!  Glue end to secure at the top back when finished wrapping.  You can wrap around again if you like to create an X effect, just go the opposite direction!

Now onto the pom poms.  I happened to have three fuzzy poms on hand left over from a project last year.  Google "yarn pom poms" if you need a pattern, they are fairly easy to make, or you can find pom pom makers at the craft store in the yarn section.  Glue the pom poms to the front with the glue gun, tight together in a group of three.

Lace scraps can be bunched into a flower shape, or you can sew a running stitch on one side and pull to create a flower.  I made a bunchy flower with a cotton lace doily simply by gluing it into a flower shape (careful here - the glue is hot!!!) right onto the wreath and glued the sewn lace flower right below it.  Vintage buttons were glued to their centers, and a few scraps of rick rack and ribbon were glued behind the flowers to hang down a bit as an accent.

Rick rack was used as a wreath hanger by looping both end through the top of the wreath and trimming to desired length.  I made a little bow with the leftovers and glued it to the top of the loop on the wreath.

Ideas:

Use different shades of yarn to "color block" a wreath!
Use two strands together (advanced maneuver!) to create more texture
Use felt balls, felt flowers, knitted/crocheted flowers, leaves, twigs, birds nests, etc. instead of pom poms!  I bet you could think up some amazing seasonal themes...

Have fun!

UndertheTableandDreaming

9.21.2011

Very Pintersting...

I'm obsessed.  It's official.  Pinterest has kept me rapt with attention for hours this week.  Every night I get a chance to sit down and take in all the gorgeous eye candy, I find myself refreshed and inspired!

What I've gathered so far:

  • You post favorite/inspiring/lovely photos of items/ideas/projects to let the world know about how incredible these things are.  These are called "Pins."
  • You categorize them in your Pin "Boards"
  •  People can follow you and what you pin - everything you pin or just certain boards they find inspiring.
  • You follow other people's Pins and Boards so you can see what they upload/post every day.
  • You can re-pin other people's Pins, leave a comment on their Pin or "heart" their Pin.  They can do the same for you.
  • You can visit the original post (where the eye candy was originally found) by clicking on the Pin.  A great way to find new blogs, sellers, items and to network your own goodness!

Pinterest is like visual Twitter.  I love reading blogs, (especially eye candy blogs) but I don't always have the time to go through and read every post, link, etc.  Pinterest gives me the goods and lets me visually decide what I want to go read about.  Super inspiring.

Here are some of my favorite Pins!  I made my first collage in Picnik to share without posting four separate photos (still deciding if I like it or not.  Do you make collages?) 


Clockwise from top left:
The Cross Design
Love Print by The Wheatfield
Country Living
Bluebird Vintage

Who do you follow on Pinterest?

9.20.2011

New Vintage Button Earrings in the shop...






Find these adorable vintage button earrings in a variety of colors for only $10 in my Etsy shop!  Crafted from upcycled vintage buttons, faded to pastel perfection.  Set in antiqued brass lever back settings that are nickel free and very comfortable to wear.  Hand crafted by Parisienne Girl for Deeds & Petunia.

Part of my new jewelry line.  More to come.  I'll be sure to share soon!