scrumdilly diy: 4th of july pom pom wreath

Like I have mentioned before I'm think in the frenzy of pom pom making. I'm having too much fun and am making quite the mess. I decided to turn my compulsion into something pretty for July and thus the pom pom wreath was born.

 

I used a particle-board type base found in the floral department at my local Michael's. It was larger, sturdier and less expensive than an embroidery hoop or foam form of the same size. I also like it because it is flat and has hole drilled in it. It's multi-useful! A couple of coats of white paint on my wreath form just in case any part if it shows through and I was ready to go.

 

 

I created a happy pile of independence day-festive poms and popped them into an egg carton for storage.

 

 

 

I began by wrapping red yarn around the wreath-to-be in the style of weaving a dream-catcher. When I was happy with the wrapping, I flipped over the form and added a blob of glue and a clothespin anchor to keep it all in place. To ensure the yarn remained where I wrapped it, I added additional blobs of glue for good measure.

 

To anchor the poms to the form, I used healthy amounts of tacky glue. I find that yarn needs a bit more glue to stick to things and I never have good luck with hot melt glue (my poor poor army of love lost a few troops). My poms were on the larger, shaggier side so needed a bit more glue than usual otherwise the weight of the poms would dangle from the form instead of staying put.

I entertained the idea of layering more poms on one side to whimsy it up a bit, or maybe even adding a bow but I really liked the simplicity of using just poms and red yarn.

Here it is haging on our front door...

and here over the bed...

scrumdilly diy: yarn wall medallions

This month's making the bed art was super fun and easy to do. My first three medallions were made from cardboard and when I realized I needed some more I used up a paper sack as I was out of cardboard. Paper bags are much easier to work with as is creating your circle without outlines. Here ya go!

Materials:

*yarn in a variety of colors

*tacky glue 

*sponge brush (optional)

*recycled paper bags or other sturdy paper

*scissors

 My jumping off point for this project involved this chunky neon red yarn. I like working with chunky yarn for this because a little goes a long way. I could not find other neon colors of the chunky kind so I rounded out my medallions with a combo platter of colors.

Cut open you paper bag and lay on a flat surface (sorry the pics are from the cardboard). I used the floor. Apply a large dollop of tacky glue and spread across the paper using your sponge brush or fingers. You could probably use white glue but Tacky Glue is thicker and more pliable.

Cut a length of yarn at least six inches to start and press one end down into the glue and gently wrap it around itself creating a spiral circle.

Continue applying glue as needed and  wrapping yarn around the circle until you get the diameter you like. Set aside to dry.

I made a few on my bag and cut them out after they were dry. If you are making a grouping, use the same colors in different combos so that they play well together without being too matchy-matchy.

 

Another plus for using paper instead of cardboard is that the paper does not curl nearly as much as the cardboard. It's also easier to hang. Add a loop of two of packing tape to the back and get to decorating.

 

Have a medallion party, serve round food, decorate with balloons, spin some records, and have fun!

make a beaded pom-pom garland

 Not really a photo diy but I think you'll get the gist of it. I've been on a pom-pom kick lately. I have a small pile of yarn but completely lack any fiber arts skills so I mostly use the yarn for gift wrapping. Over the spring break, the nephew and I were watching this episode of Doctor Who when I spotted a nifty garland hanging in the children's room. It reminded me of the elephant garlands that Cost Plus carries and how I keep meaning to make my own version and even have all the fabric sitting here, cut and ironed and waiting for me to DO something with it already. I had planned on doing a Valentine's Day version (see how long my piles hang around) and well...that did not happen...not yet at least.

 

The end of the month was fast approaching and I still had not thought of what I wanted to make for the april bed. The garland was perfect and so I set to work making pom-poms. I do not have a fancy pom-pom maker nor do I have the energy to make one from cardboard. I had a glimmer of a memory of my mamos teaching me how to make them using just my hands and so I did a quick internet search to refresh my memory and discovered this nifty video by Ez of Creature Comforts and I think I have linked up to it before. I prepped my supplies and popped 'em onto a large tray and worked on turning out pom-poms whilst watching various programs on the computer.

After I had a happy pile, I gathered up some embroidery floss, a large eyed needle, and a pile of smaller store bought pom-poms. Oh wait...that isn't true, I forgot I had had another idea for the bed and did some neon paint splattering to a pile of white pom-poms a few weeks earlier. I gathered those up along with the other store bought poms and did a rifle through my metal drawers to see if I could wrestle up some more beads.

Back to the sofa to work on stringing it all together. The best way to do this is while watching a program or movie so that you aren't really paying any attention to your stringing. You want it to be varied and not a direct pattern. Just knot your end, add some beads or a pom or a couple poms and then a bead and a homemade pom and so on until you reach the almost-end. 

 

 Loop the end and knot and you are ready to hang it all up. It will be a bit heavier than you thought it would be but you will probably be most pleased and develop a slight addiction to making pom-poms and more garlands. I know I did...

 

 

Here is another one I made for a birthday gift for one of the sisters-a-go-go. I went with purples and blues for her...see how customizable these garlands can be? Pony beads work great and the little jeweled beads at a bit of pretty to the whole thing. A darning needle will work just fine and easily pierce the pom-poms. The pony beads I used for the top garland glow in the dark which I had no idea until I went to bed that night. Have fun and get to wrapping that yarn!

sticks and stones

 I am not a knitter. Nor do I pretend to have any skill with a crochet hook. It is what it is and I have had friends gleefully chuckle at my ineptness yet that doesn’t stop me from buying yarn. I seem to lean towards grey and more grey and I have no idea why I continue to peruse the yarn aisle when I get the chance. Since I have a small mountain elevating in my very craft-cluttered living room I felt it was time to do something with all that happy (though not fancy) fiber. After sitting on our old sofa that is in desperate need of covering with my eyes darting from one pile to another I spied a small bundle of sticks (yup, sticks) which immediately made me get up to see if I had my beach rocks within sight.

Thinking back to making friendship bracelets and the happy calm that comes with knotting  knot after knot, I scooped up some yarn, sticks and stones, grabbed a pair of scissors, popped an episode of Wonderfalls on and began knotting and knotting and knotting some more.

Here is the wonder I came up with:

 You might be thinking this is simply a rock with yarn wrapped around it but you are wrong. It is a rock, yes and there is yarn, yes but the yarn is not simply wrapped, it is knotted and if you look closely you will see a tiny pattern running across the surface of my flat happy beach stone. Instead of simply wrapping, I whipped out the magic of the friendship bracelet knot. You can do this as well, it’s really easy, all you need is a palm-sized flat rock or larger. Grab a length of yarn and tie it around your stone and begin wrapping as you would a friendship bracelet, replacing the rock with the center thread.

 

 

 As you knot, always pull in the same direction to create that happy bumpy dance across the surface. Add another color if you like or, switch it up and knot around a twig or stick. To create more patterns, thread a large eyed needle with embroidery thread or yarn and weave it in and out across the surface of your yarn wrapped stone. Keep all untidy knots to the bottom or use shorter lengths of yarn and knot on new lengths and keep them visible for a folksy look. You can use your rocks as desk decorations or paperweights. Glue two or three atop each other for added oomph or simply use them as building blocks.

 So what are you waiting for? Toss on a sweater and a pair of comfy sneakers and hit some nature for a rock hunt, don’t forget the sticks!

Holiday Countdown: loverly wrapped bottles

Dance on over to the 'do to see how! Happy Holidays!