Fabric Scrap and Ric Rac Roses

A couple weeks ago I made some gifts for a friends daughter. It was her second birthday and I decided to jazz up some accessories with  fabric roses. 

Try as I may, I just can't bring myself to do crafty things and not take pictures, so I'm here to share a tutorial with y'all.

 I had first attempted these when I made my guest bedroom frame wall...

I looked up  a few tutorials online, but none of them worked out quite the way I hoped they would. So I scraped the tutorials and just went with it. Here is the method I came up with. It's super simple...in fact, you can probably stop reading right now if you just remember these three words - Wrap, twist, glue... repeat. Okay, so four words. 

If your the type that likes specific directions though, then your gonna love this...

1. Cut out a scrap piece of fabric. Size doesn't really matter, but for reference this one is about two inches wide and two feet long.

 2. Fold in half, mainly just the first six inches or so.

 3. Trim it down to make the first few inches narrower, like so....

 4. Roll it up and glue into place. I used hot glue this time, last time I used needle and thread. Hot glue is WAY easier, as you might imagine. Also fabric glue takes way to long to dry, I tried that and it didn't work.

 5. When you get to the end  of your trimmed part, twist it once and keep wrapping. 

 6. Keep wrapping and twisting, gluing as you go. Please DO NOT over think this, whatever way you do it will turn out pretty darn good. It doesn't really matter how much you twist, or if it's folded in half, or not, or a little or both. Just go with it.

7. When you come to the end of your fabric, glue the end underneath the rose. Done. You should probably not be like me and pick off any hot glue that is showing. I was in a bit of a hurry because I procrastinated making these until about an hour before we had to leave for the party. Taking pictures along the way slowed me down a bit too, but I still had to do it!

The ric rac roses are seriously easy too, this is the first time I've made them. Here is what I did...
1. Take your ric rac and cut two pieces that are equal in length. Then wrap them around each other and sew them together. (I'm sure gluing would work as well).

Here is an example of what I mean - the one on the left I just placed together like a puzzle and sewed,  and the one on the right is wrapped - kinda or like braiding with two pieces. I made successful roses out of both, but I liked the wrapped on better.

2. Here where it gets complicated, so pay attention. 

Roll it up and glue as you go.

 That's it. 

 To prove to you just how easy this is...

See this rose below? My husband made that one. It's actually better than mine...beginners luck is the only sensible explanation.

 Now you add them to whatever you want! I put mine on a little toddler purse...

and a headband...

...and various other things that I didn't have time to take pictures of.

But seriously, you can put them on anything - pillows, lampshades, frames, jewelry - it's all fair game.Happy Crafting!
Linked to:Thrifty Decor Chick, Addicted 2 Decorating, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Savvy Southern Style, The Shabby Creek Cottage, The Shabby Nest, Tatertots & Jello, Under the Table and Dreaming, Someday Crafts, Chic on a Shoestring, Miss Mustard Seed, Southern Hospitality, Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Junkie, The Thrifty Home,  Beyond the Picket Fence, Oops I Craft My Pants, Between Naps on the Porch, Not Just A Housewife, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, I Heart Nap Time, Serenity Now, French Country Cottage, Remodelaholic, Creations By Kara, Homework, The 36th Avenue, Freckled Laundry, Coastal Charm, Handy Man Crafty Woman, Keeping It Simple,  Blue Cricket Design, Be Colorful, Craft O Maniac, Skip to my Lou, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Dittle Dattle, Polly Want A Crafter?, Whipperberry, Sassy Sites, DIY By Design, The Girl Creative, It's Overflowing, A Girl ans a Glue Gun, Delightful Order, Fireflies & Jellybeans, Southern Lovely, Sew Much Ado, Young & Crafty, Homemaker on a Dime, Be Different Act Normal, Primitive & Proper, Lolly Jane, DIY Home Sweet Home, Lines Across My Face, Making the World Cuter, Fun to Craft, Nifty Thrifty Things, The Crafty Nest, Running with Glitter, Designer Garden, Cherished Bliss, CRAFT, Lil Luna, All Thingz Related, House of Hepworths, Oopsy Daisy, Domestically Speaking, Ginger Snap Crafts, Home Stories A to Z, Vintage Wanna Bee, The CSI Project, Crafty Texas Girls

Brought To You By The Letter M

See this letter M?

It's been bugging me for awhile now, it just seems so dark and dreary. I originally made it out of a clearance letter M and some scraps from our first apartment's curtains, but it was time for a change up. (I of course took pictures for y'all along the way, because I seem to have this problem now where I can't do even the simplest DIY task without taking pictures of the process.).
 So here is what I did, it literally took me 10 minutes to do this and is the same process I used the first time.

Here is a close-up of the M before.

I ripped off the fabric and this is what we had. When I originally bought it was green and white zebra striped. I felt judged by the cashier for buying it and I didn't blame her...it was that kinda ugly. I painted it white before I Mod Podged it last time, but you can still kinda see the zebra stripes.

I wanted to brighten it up, so in true No Spend style I used what I had - which in this case was leftover curtain fabric (again). I wanted to use a fabric that was already in the room since we're getting a little  patterny in there. According to my husband at least, except that he called it "frou-frou". Don't feel bad for him, there IS a giant manly snakeskin on our wall that I'm sure you've noticed.

Anyway, I had juuuust enough left.

I traced the letter onto the fabric...

Then cut it out..

Mod Podged the letter...

Then I carefully placed the cutout on the glue and brushed more over top (to keep the frays in check).

Done. Easy Peasy.

Here it is before and after so you can see how the new fabric brightens up the shelf.

Funny how such a small change can balance out a whole display. I'm always moving things around on there so a few other things changed too...I feel like my before and after should be in a Highlights magazine. Does anyone else remember those, with the "spot five things that are different" photo games?

Linked to:Thrifty Decor Chick, Addicted 2 Decorating, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Savvy Southern Style, The Shabby Creek Cottage, The Shabby Nest, Tatertots & Jello, Under the Table and Dreaming, Someday Crafts, Chic on a Shoestring, Miss Mustard Seed, Southern Hospitality, Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Junkie, The Thrifty Home,  Beyond the Picket Fence, Oops I Craft My Pants, Between Naps on the Porch, Not Just A Housewife, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, I Heart Nap Time, Serenity Now, French Country Cottage, Remodelaholic, Creations By Kara, Homework, The 36th Avenue, Freckled Laundry, Coastal Charm, Handy Man Crafty Woman, Keeping It Simple,  Blue Cricket Design, Be Colorful, Craft O Maniac, Skip to my Lou, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Dittle Dattle, Polly Want A Crafter?, Whipperberry, Sassy Sites, DIY By Design, The Girl Creative, It's Overflowing, A Girl ans a Glue Gun, Delightful Order, Fireflies & Jellybeans, Southern Lovely, Sew Much Ado, Young & Crafty, Homemaker on a Dime, Be Different Act Normal, Primitive & Proper, Lolly Jane, DIY Home Sweet Home, Lines Across My Face, Making the World Cuter, Fun to Craft, Nifty Thrifty Things, The Crafty Nest, Running with Glitter, Designer Garden, Cherished Bliss, CRAFT, Lil Luna, All Thingz Related, House of Hepworths, Oopsy Daisy, Domestically Speaking, Ginger Snap Crafts, Home Stories A to Z, Vintage Wanna Bee,

Glazed Frame - Learning By Doing

Have you ever noticed that the pricing of frames at Goodwill seems a little off? Old broken Wal-Mart frame with a 59 cent clearance sticker on it - $2.99. Awesome, chunky, carved oval frame - $2.99.  So when I spotted this lil' lady lying amongst the heaps of crappy gold frames, I snached it up and felt like a won the (very tiny) frame lottery. 

Now I know what your thinking - that it would be a crime paint a hand carved wooden frame. I agree, but  rest assured... it's not real wood. It may look like it, but I'm pretty sure real wood doesn't peel apart in paper-like flakes to reveal a black mystery material underneath. So...out came the spray paint.

I thought it looked pretty good like that, but I wanted to try my glaze and this is the perfect piece. Remember when I wanted to glaze my crappy $5 table but couldn't because I bought the wrong glaze?

As it turns out I didn't buy the wrong glaze, your just supposed to mix it with paint. A reader pointed that out to me...and sure enough it says it right there on the back of the can. So Tim the Tool Man Taylor of me to not read the directions. 

So I went to mix up my glaze and realized that I don't own any black paint. I also don't own any brown or grey paint...closest thing I had was the blue/grey that I used for the kitchen cabinets. I figured that was good enough and threw an unknown amount of paint into an unknown amount of glaze. Measure...who measures? Measurings for losers ...or people that have more than a few scared minutes of naptime to work with.

I mixed it up and rubbed it into all the nooks and crannies. BTW, I didn't read any tutorials on this process...I'm just winging it. Like I said, naptime is too short to spend it reading tutorials.

Anyway, I had to put it on pretty thick to get it all up in there. 

Then I got my rag and started wiping it off, till it looked like this...

I was feeling like the contrast was a little much, so I had the brilliant idea to just put on a layer of plain glaze to dull it down a bit.

 It was working great until it dried and looked the exact same. You know, cause the glaze is clear and all. Whatever, it was worth a shot.

 I needed the instant gratification of putting a photo in it, so I went on the hunt for an 8X10 I already had. Then I spotted this...

That white envelope (on my super messy bedroom bookshelf) is a family photo from our church directly. It's been sitting there for about six months or so - which is a long time, though not as long as that container of bubbles has been sitting there.

So there we have it...two birds with one stone. Family photo off the shelf- check. Teach myself how to glaze by trial and error - check.

Funny story about that photo...Elijah and I had a bad day where he didn't nap at all (I think he was about 16 months in this picture). On the car ride to the church he passed out and we could NOT wake him up. He would open his eyes for a second, then they would roll back into his head and he would crash on Adams chest. So we went with it and I think the final product turned out pretty sweet & hilarious. 

Linked to:Thrifty Decor Chick, Addicted 2 Decorating, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Savvy Southern Style, The Shabby Creek Cottage, The Shabby Nest, Tatertots & Jello, Under the Table and Dreaming, Someday Crafts, Chic on a Shoestring, Miss Mustard Seed, Southern Hospitality, Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Junkie, The Thrifty Home,  Beyond the Picket Fence, Oops I Craft My Pants, Between Naps on the Porch, Not Just A Housewife, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, I Heart Nap Time, Serenity Now, French Country Cottage, Remodelaholic, Creations By Kara, Homework, The 36th Avenue, Freckled Laundry, Coastal Charm, Handy Man Crafty Woman, Keeping It Simple,  Blue Cricket Design, Be Colorful, Craft O Maniac, Skip to my Lou, Fingerprints on the Fridge, Dittle Dattle, Polly Want A Crafter?, Whipperberry, Sassy Sites, DIY By Design, The Girl Creative, It's Overflowing, A Girl ans a Glue Gun, Delightful Order, Fireflies & Jellybeans, Southern Lovely, Sew Much Ado, Young & Crafty, Homemaker on a Dime, Be Different Act Normal, Primitive & Proper, Lolly Jane, DIY Home Sweet Home, Lines Across My Face, Making the World Cuter, Fun to Craft, Nifty Thrifty Things, The Crafty Nest, Running with Glitter, Designer Garden, Cherished Bliss, CRAFT, Lil Luna, All Thingz Related, House of Hepworths, Oopsy Daisy, Domestically Speaking, Ginger Snap Crafts, Home Stories A to Z, Vintage Wanna Bee, The CSI Project

Ruffle Tree Forest

I've been loving all the cute little Christmas trees that are all over blogland this year, so I had to make some of my own. Most of the tutorials you find involve sewing (like at Tatertots & Jello and Shanty 2 Chic), but for whatever reason I've been feeling very anti sewing lately. Also, I don't have ruffler foot for my machine, so I would have to sew by hand....blah. I was however feeling very pro glue gun, so here is my hot glue ruffle tree forest!

I had a whole picture tutorial set up for you guys, but somehow my brand new camera (lost my other one at the zoo last month) and my pretty new laptop (other one took a dump a few months ago) have teamed up against me and started deleting random photos in the transfer process. So here are some pictures, and I'll just have to fill in the blanks with words. Shouldn't be too hard, the whole process is very simple.

First step is to gather your supplies. I used styrofoam cones, wooden finals, and mini wooden candlesticks for  the bases (all found at Hobby Lobby).  You will also need something to make the tree out of, I used leftover fabric, ribbon and some gold rope. My favorite is the ribbon, it was the easiest to do and I think turned out the prettiest.

For the fabric trees, I first cut some fabric strips (about 2 inches wide or so), ironed them in half, then added a  bit of fabric glue to hold it together. 

Actually, right after I took this picture I ran out of fabric glue (used it all for my lampshades), so i just used hot glue. 

To make the tree, all you do is start wrapping it around the cone, gluing as you go. About every inch or so, fold it back over its self ( to form the ruffle) and keep going, like so...

This takes a bit, fortunately Elijah was pretty content playing with the glue sticks and bases.

I wanted a different look for the other fabric trees, so I cut a strip using my pinking shears and glued it on just like that, no folding or ironing required.

When we were decorating our Christmas tree I found a random piece of gold rope in the ornament box, so naturally I decided to make a tree out of it...

Your probably wondering if my toddler was still happily playing with glue sticks. Well no, no he wasn't....

However, Levi (seven weeks) was behaving himself very well. He's my favorite, lol.

I wanted the bases to be different heights, so I made some cuts and glued the pieces to each other (using hot glue! If only hot glue would clean my house...)

Then I painted those suckas white, glued them and the finals to the trees and suddenly it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

(if your wondering about that epic baby picture, you can read about it here)

I love them! I want to make like twenty more for all the other tables and shelves that are feeling unchristmasy.    Perhaps that would be overkill, lol.


Linked to:My Crazy Beautiful Life, Cherished Bliss, Coastal Charm, Sassy Sites, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Sugar Bee Crafts, Tip Junkie, Strictly Homemade, A Bowl Full of Lemons, Oops I Craft My Pants, The Stuff Of Success, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, Eisy Morgan, Ginger Snap Crafts, My Girlish Whims, Sew Much Ado, Blue Cricket Design, Handy Man Crafty Woman, Passionately Artistic, Someday Crafts, Southern Lovely, House of Hepworths, The Artsy Girl Connection, The 36th Avenue, Yesterday on Tuesday, Beyond the Picket fence, Saved By Love, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Katie's Nesting Spot, Delightful Order, Momnivore's Delimma, Kissed by a Frog, Happy Hour Projects, French Country Cottage, While He Was Napping, 504 Main, Whipperberry, Freckled Laundry, The Shabby Nest, Fun to Craft, Chic on a Shoestring, A little Knick Knack, Sassy Sites, Simply Designing, The Crafty Nest, Serenity Now, 30 Days, Fingerprints on the Fridge, delicateCONSTRUCTION, Junk in their Trunk, Bacon Time, Addicted 2 Decorating, Tatertots and Jello, Blissful and Domestic, Rustic Crafts, Lolly Jane, Be Different Act Normal, I Heart Naptime, Nifty Thrifty Things, craft, Singing Three Little Birds, My 1929 Charmer, Lines Across My Face, Homemaker on a Dime, Dittle Dattle, Craft-O-Maniac, Savvy Homemade, DIY Home Sweet Home, Under the Table and Dreaming, Between Naps on the Porch, Keeping It Simple, The Girl Creative, Making the World Cuter, The Southern Institute, Sumos Sweet Stuff, Be Colorful, Mad In Crafts