diy: snail garland

 

I have had the idea for this snail garland for a few years now, and what better time to make it than for a fellow snail fan and swap partner? I used vintage neckties, wood dowels, bendy wire, and beads to complete the whole shebang. LOVE! 

crocus & bumpass potting shelf

 

The jonquils, daffodils, and crocus have come up pretty early this year. They add such a lovely pop of color to the garden. With all the rain we have been having, everything is super saturated and lush,  but mostly green, not a lot of color, so these beauties are a welcome bit of sunshine.

The a-go-gos are not grill people, sure, we love a bbq but we just don't do the bbqs. This was the sister a-go-g's old grill and we tried offering it up for free on both Craigslist, and the local Buy Nothing group with no takers. I guess grillers tend to want their grills to look pretty? There are no holes and the inside totally works. Oh well, their loss is my new potting shelf. We store the potting spoil and tools inside, and use the grill shelf to the left as a potting bench. Works for me, and the spiders LOVE it! 

wool flowers: visual diy

diy upcycled holiday garland

I have been meaning to make this garland for more than five years! I'm not sure why I never got around to it as it is silly easy to do and super sweet to look at. It's a happy little bit of a memory boost as well since I made it from the holiday cards friends and family sent last year. Every year happy holiday cards arrive in the mail and once the holiday is over I fret over what to do with them. My cloudy middle-aged memory brings up a wee me creating a placemat with my dear Aunt Kathy using mod podge and happy hippy cards from the 70s and well who needs more place mats? One day as I was taking the cards down from the door of the tiny casa I thought, I should turn these into a happy garland to use to decorate next year! So I saved said cards only to not be able to find them the following year and then that year I saved those cards only to misplace them as well, and so on and so on. Of course, now that I had saved last year's cards in a place where I could find them (with the decorations, of course) I seem to have fallen of a great number of holiday mailing lists. But still, in a burst of creative energy, ridiculously stoked to find the sewing machine not only plugged in but also all threaded up with room on the craft table I got to it!

Here's what ya do...gather up your holiday cards and separate the fronts from the backs. Most cards do not print on the back so all you need is the happy printed front. Use an assortment of paper punches or one circle punch to punch out happy bits of color. If you have a stockpile of photo cards, punch out those smiling faces, if you have cards with embellishments on them, remove the embellishment in lieu of a circle (see the owl?). Gather up your punched pieces into a bowl, basket, or tray and bring 'em to your sewing machine. Set your stitch length to the longest there is and keep it on a straight stitch. Place your first shape under the foot of your machine and stitch a little forward and back to lock it in. Continue stitching at a slow enough pace to feed your other shapes under the foot with a little space between them. Don't let too much space happen unless you are all scientific-like and know how/why to adjust your tension (I am not and do not) or else your thread might jump and get all tangled causing you to abandon your project in search of a cup of hot tea or a pinterest perusal before you realize the light is fading and you should finish your project now before you abandon it for another year. Ahem. Stitch out a back and forth on your last circle and liberate from your machine!

 

Hang in a happy place perhaps over (or under) the mantel or on your tree. Another nifty idea would be to use one card per garland and use that garland to wrap up a gift for the person who sent you the card in the first place. This would be especially fun for those photo cards! Drats! Now I wish I did that! Sigh. There's always next year!

**the painted and stitched newspaper garland is also easy to make. I wrote up a diy for you back in 2010 and we still bring it out each Holiday season! 

paperbag art

I just realized I never posted about the art of the month that went with the november bed. I also realized that I did not take pics along the way so I will simply talk you through it.

I used one paper bag from Trader Joe's and cut out the bottom and along one side to open it up. I then cut the large sheet into three pieces of varying widths. 

Next, I used a straight edge to create a series of slits along the length of each strip of paper. Some of the slits traveled the entire length while others did not. I had no specific plan and just cut away.

I keep all my paper scraps in two vintage suitcases and so I dug one of the cases out of the lcoset and rifled through it for some paper scraps in happy colors. Those scraps were cut itno strips about an inch or so wide and piled together into a smile.

I then hunkered down on the living room floor and began weaving my scraps in and out of the slits I cut into the paper bags. Again, with no plan other than to make something. Once I finished, I flipped over each panel and got kooky with the masking tape and taped all my paper strips into place. 

A few loops of tape on the back and a couple of happy washi pieces at the outside corners and ta-da! Easy peasy paperbag art for the november bed! 

make a last minute trivet

Okay, this project was much prettier in the noggin but I am certain that if I had had more time the prettiness would have matched what was inside my tired brain. 

This easy trivet diy can be whipped up with a sewing machine in less than thrity minutes. Ten if yer quick and fearless. All you need is two scraps of denim and one or two equal-sized scraps of wool. My wool came from two thrifted sweaters.

Create a pattern by tracing around a small plate on a piece of scrap paper. Cut out your pattern and pin to four layers of fabric scraps. Bring to your sewing machine and stitch al lthe way around with a straight-stitch.

Trim your new circle with scissors and pop it all back into the mahcine and quilt it up however you like. Travel-around the entire edge of the trivet with your machine, using a zi-zag stitch. Snip threads and put it to us! 

You can also use your trivet as a potholder! Make a handful, some round and some square for a more cohesive look. If you have more time, you can totally patchwork up your denim to make it snazzier! Have fun! 

upcrafting at craftzine.com

this one is perfect for those of you who have just finished with summer...check it out at craftzine.com.

home sweet home for CRAFT

have you seen my latest post over on craftzine.com? i'm super happy with this and am so glad i did it. it has been kicking around in my head for a few years now and craft gave me the opportunity to share it! check it out!

dilly doily bag tutorial

Earlier this summer I whipped up a quick produce bag for my friend SoMany out of a dishtowel. I was planning on adding them to the shop using vintage towels and tablecloths and wanted to make a tester. We had cucumbers and rosemary to share so I went for it. She loved the idea so much that she took it to another level by adding her delightful art. They are quite nifty and I now have my very own made by her. Not wanting to ease in on her parade (a delightful parade!). I thought I would once again try to make some produce bags out of something I had at home. The two things I played with were tulle and doilies. I liked the idea of something somewhat see-thru so that a grocery store clerk could read the code if you were at a supermarket. Since tulle is not my friend I leaned more towards the vintage doilies. After a few tries and takes and takes and tries, here is what I have come up with. I'm not sure if I got pics of every step but here ya go.. Have fun!All ya need is one fun and nifty doily, a smidge of fabric (a fat quarter may work), sewing machine, scissors, pins, thread and ribbon, oooh, and a safety pin.Let's talk about doilies. They come in so many shapes and sizes so there are many ways one could approach this.** I'm going to share with you the easiest way but feel free to play with your supplies. The doily I used was somewhat rectangular with circles appearing twice in the design. I folded it in half to see how it would look and was pleased so carried on.

Lay out your doily and trim your fabric so that its width matched that of the doily. Trim as much as you want off the top for your bag depth preference.

Fold over a hem on the top of your fabric and press with a hot iron. For newbies, make sure your fold goes towards the "wrong" side of the fabric. This will be the casing for your ribbon/drawstring. Stitch it flat and get back to that doily!Place your fabric down on a flat surface with the "right" side facing up and your sewn edge at the top. Place your doily over the fabric at the bottom. Allow for a one to two inch overlap.Pin into place.Make sure your machine is on a zigzag stitch. Not too big and not too small. I had my machine turnedd to stitch size 3.Place your pinned pieces into the machine and stitch away. The doily is slippery, tricky and a little deceitful, so even if you pin there will be some slippage. Make adjustments as you go. If you are brave and feeling it, go for the contour of the doily. If not, stitch straight across. Admire your work!Remove pins and fold the whole she-bang in half with your hemmed casing at the top and rights sides together. Pin into place.Stitch the bottom of the bag first using your zigzag and then curve to the side or use a right angle if ya want. As long as you are stitching on the doily, use a zigzag stitch. Once you get to your fabric, switch to a running stitch. Make sure your needle is in the up position before you do so. Stop stitching just before you reach your casing, back up your stitches so they remain. Remove from machine.

Remove your pins, trim your edges if you need to and turn the whole thing right side out. All you need to do now is find yourself a safety pin to help guide your ribbon through the casing. I cut three times the length as one side of the bag. Knot the ends or add beads and admire your work! Don't forget to take it with you when you hit the grocery store or farmer's market!

**The bag with the yellow bottom was trimmed of its curves on the sides then fold in half like a taco. I then stitched a panel at the top of each side, folded that into a bag shape and stitched up the two sides. Another one, not pictured (but take a peek just below this.) was simply folded in half, taco-wise with a front and back panel added before stitching up the sides. For that one, I stitched along the curves of the doily. It made for a larger bag that sits a bit wonky but looks lovely when full of fruity fun. So go ahead, play!