july 4th diy: paint resist american flag

This is my third year of flag making for the july bed! I really like how this one turned out. The picture in my head before I began was exactly this! Yay for total crafty success (give or take a few oops moments)!

 

materials:

*painters tape (wide would be best)

*foam core or canvas

*acrylic paint

*star shaped paper punch

*white card stock

*expired gift card or other plastic card or scraper

*rag for wiping paint off card as you go

I used foam core purchased form the dollar store for this practice because I thought the size was good, it was sturdy, and well...cheap. That said, when removing the tape from the board there was some lifting and tearing of both the top paper of the board and the paint. So maybe canvas would be better. Use your painter's tape to map out your flag. My tape was also purchased from the dollar store. and was more narrow than I would have liked so I used two rows of tape per stripe. I figured the low tack of the cheaper tape would work better but I thought wrong.

 

Squirt, splatter, and dribble your paint colors all over your board. It is okay for the paint to sit a moment before scraping. It allows the colors to set where they are creating more happy layers as you scrape.

 

Use your plastic card for scraping the paint much like we did for our father's day candy bar wrappers. I used a very old and expired calling card for my scraper. Make sure to have a cloth or rag nearby to wipe paint off of your card. A little paint goes a long way. If doing this with kiddos, make sure to have a lot of rags handy as kiddos love to squirt paint! When you scrape away, make sure to mix up the direction you are scraping in. Curve it up, swirl it around and have fun with it.

this is after I fixed the star box

Once you get all the super blobby bits of paint off your board and you have finished scraping the paint all over the place. Very carefully peel the tape off. My tape managed to pull up quite a bit of the foam core and even the top layer of paint on one of my stripes. To fix it, I let the paint dry then added another line of tape and repainted and scrape it a little bit. for the parts that were curling up and peeling like crazy, I smoothed them down with some matte mod podge and while when the light hits it a certain way you can see it, it is otherwise unnoticeable.

When the paint is peeled you may notice your box where the stars are going to go is much smaller than you anticipated. Pull out the tape and expand the box by adding tape along the stripe lines...kinda like extending the box to the lines to blend it all in a better. I did not take photos of this.

 

While your paint is drying, punch out your stars from sturdy card stock. I repurposed a picture one of my preschoolers gifted me and decided to use the arted up side of the stars on my flag.

you can see the repaired surface here

Once the flag is dry, the paint removed, and the torn parts prettied up, add your stars using a drop of glue. My flag has 33 stars on it.

 

 

So, there ya go! An easy, kid-friendly flag you can paint up in a day. Check out my denim flag here and my necktie flag here. Happy 4th, friends!

make a 4th of july garland with popcorn bags

 

Happy almost-july friends! This garland is 8 ft long! I used four different styles of popcorn bags. The classic red and white stripes bag came from The Dollar Tree and the white bag with red and blue stripes came from Cost Plus. The other two bags were etsy finds.

I used my sewing machine to zig-zag stitch the paper bags to a wide grosgrain ribbon. I quite like the differences in their sizes. Since the bags are paper, you could easily use a fold and glue method to create your own garland.

Have fun!

deconstruct a doily

I picked up a pack of gold paper doilies to use as props for sweet november. Of course, in the middle of setting up a photo I ended up deconstructing one of the doilies into a pile of pretty. I then took the pretty to the sewing machine and whipped up this happy garland. 

All you need is one large paper doily, a pair of scissors and a sewing machine. YOu can also weave a length of embroidery floss or yarn through the doily pieces instead. 

 Tis the season! 

sweet november: squash and succulents

Welcome to Day 4 of sweet november! I have to admit that I have a thing for pumpkins. I love them! All the different shapes and sizes make me swoon with fall happy. Here is a simple project you can do in a day that can pretty up your holiday table and/or act as sweet take home gifts for friends, family and neighbors. 

I used mini pumpkins from a local pumpkin farm. You can use any small gourd or squash as well. If you wish to decorate the outside of the pumpkin by etching a design, letter or word, do so before removing the top and seeds. 

A small cookie cutter gently hammered into the flesh of the pumpkin creates an easy outline to follow for carving a simple shape. A curved carving tool will do to remove a shallow top layer of the squash. to create the initial, i used a pencil to sketch out the letter then carved it out with the carving tool.

 Use a serrated knife to cut out the top of each mini pumpkin. If the top proves to be too stubborn to remove, you can use a spoon to scoop it off. Use the same spoon to scrape out the smaller seeds and save for roasting or your compost pile. 

 

Spoon in a small mixture of damp potting soil before adding your succulent. My succulents were a smidge root bound so I gently removed a good portion of the potting soil by squeezing my hand around the roots. After removing a bit of the potting soil from the pumpkins I was able to replant my succulents into their new (temporary) homes.

While quite pretty, these mini pumpkin planters will not last much longer than three days. If you give these as gifts please include a small note regarding replanting. I picked up my plants form a local garden store, purchasing a small pack for less than $5. Bought separately, these plants were $4 each and up. I now have a happy garden of succulents planted into vintage pottery, jars and tins. Happy November! 

day of the dead: newspaper calavera garland

Things are pretty Day of the Dead here in the tiny casa. I've been working on bits and pieces here and there as my plate is a tad bit crowded these days. Here is a simple painted newspaper garland that I made not too long ago.

Paint up a large full-sized sheet of newspaper with white paint and set aside to dry. Once dry, cut out a six inch tall strip from one end to the other and accordion fold into a final piece that is about four inches across. You may need to trim any excess paper off. Draw a skull shape atop your top sheet making sure your cheek parts and part of the skull touch the edges. Carefully cut with scissor and unfold to see your magic.

 Use sharpies, paint pens and/or acrylic paint to decorate using hearts, swirls and flower shapes. Affix to your wall surface of choice with a bit of happy washi tape and you are good to party! Note, the tape may stick to your paper so make sure you want it there before affixin'. Happy almost Day of the Dead!

diy: denim American {inspired} flag

 I made a flag! The best part is that it came out just as pretty as I imagined it in the noggin. Here are the steps I took to make it, if yer a fancy-pants stitcher you'll have it all figured out and probably more orderly. If yer not, follow along as I am wonky at best!

I am a lazy stitcher. I don't measure, I just make. I cut and snip and snip and stitch until something clicks and the end product is finished. I have been collecting denim for a while to make this flag in time for July. It was inspired by a photo I saw either on a blog or pinterest. I don't think I pinned it or maybe I did and I am too lazy to search for it right now. Either way, my flag in now way looks like the image I saw but it did give me the idea to repurpose my denim pile (plus a few added pieces thrifted for variety).

materials

*1-2 pairs of jeans (more if you want more variety)

*1-2 pieces cut from a man's button down 

*sewing machine

*thread

*pins

*scissors

*old pillowcase or piece of scrap muslin or fabric

Cut out yer backing piece to the size you want. A pillowcase is a good size to use. I used a piece of faux linen that was already floating about the tiny casa.

 

Snip and tear away at yer denim pile (tearing gives you nice raggedy edges) until you assemble a pile of scraps that will cover yer base piece. Use long lengths to emulate the stripes of the American flag but make sure to think outside the norms and include seam and pockets, etc.

Layer away until you are happy with your design. I snapped this picture then went back and move the long plaid strips to create my star-box area. I also added a few contrasting bits for variety.

 

 

After I layered it all down, I pinned it all into place but found it too bulky to work with. So I took a picture then removed the tops bits keeping them arranged as I layered them and added them bit by bit. I would however, recommend pinning down your longest lengths and stitching them along one edge to keep them in place. 

 

 Oh wait, before you go about unpinning it all, flip the whole thing over and trim excess edges to square it all up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Bring the happy jumbled mess to your machine and stitch with a contrasting color. I first stitched along the right side of the soon-to-be flag, anchoring  down the long strips. Then I pinned the next layer and stitched and so on. Mix up your stitches for variety.

 Don't forget to put all yer pins back in the pincushion as you unpin. I have a bad habit of not doing that and my bare feet have paid the price dearly. I originally wanted to use some of my vintage costume jewelry pieces for the stars but have no idea where I tucked those away. Instead, I cut up the trimmed scraps into smaller bits. bunched them up, and stitched those on using one long continuous stitch. I wasn't able to get 50 little bits on but 35 made the cut and it still inspires one to think flag! (at least, I hope it does).

 

Next up, I made a casing so that the flag could go on a pole (like a real flag). To make the casing, I tore a long strip from the leg of a pair of jeans and folded it in half lengthwise. I pinned it so that it would not unfold then I pinned it to the left side of my soon-to-be-flag. Brought it all back to the machine and stitched away, including closing off the top so that the pole would stop and not go al lthe way through the tube. 

After snipping away some of the loose threads I sat back with a sigh and admired my handy work. So cool! **click here to see me waving my {freak} flag.