Monday, April 20, 2015

DIY Jewelry: Washers and Colorful Thread

 

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I’m not a jewelry maker, but when I found these washers they just screamed at me to do something with them.  I have just experimented so far and thought this idea would be one a jewelry maker/designer would really enjoy.

These washers come in different sizes.  I’ll be looking for some larger ones to play around with.

Take the washer and wrap it with your choice of embroidery thread.  I tied a knot in the end of the thread and ran the needle between the strands after looping around the washer.

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Start at one spot on the washer and go directly down, then back up to the next spot on the washer till you have gone all the way around.

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When you get to the last open spot on the washer don’t go down and loop over the washer again, go directly down and loop over the opening in the thread.

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Next bring the needle back up through the area where all the thread crisscross.

Immediately start going over and under the threads catching the threads in the back.  Continue in a circular pattern until you have the coverage you are happy with.

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When you go over the last strand you will cover, slip the needle through some of the threads on the back side and secure with a knot or two, cut thread as close as you can to design.  Since this will be being worn, a touch of glue might be beneficial.

I hope you can create some beautiful jewelry with this idea.  If you do, I’d love to see what you do.  Please join me on facebook and upload a picture of what you create.

Happy crafting!

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

DIY: Night Light Refrigerator Magnets

 

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Had a blast coming up with this sweet little craft project.  It doesn’t cost much and doesn’t take much time.  You’ll like this one.

Supplies:

Paper mache’ box, one & a half inches deep (they have to be 1 & 1/2” deep, because the tea lights are 1” tall) My box is 3” x 3” x 1 1/2”.

One battery powered tea light (definitely not a candle!)

Glue

Brown paper bag

Butterfly stencil (optional, you can use a heart or a flower, whatever you prefer)

Screen wire (cheesecloth will also work for this and even lace would be beautiful) this is also optional if your design doesn’t have large open areas.

Two way tape

Magnets

Let’s make a refrigerator magnet night light!

Making the top:

1.  Cut a square of the brown paper bag where it will completely cover the top of the box.

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2.  Trace your stencil on to the square brown paper.

3.  Using an xacto knife, cut the parts out of the drawn design that you want light to show through.

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4.  Take the top of the box and cut out a square hole in it leaving just enough to glue the square brown paper cut out onto.

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5.  Glue the brown paper onto what remains of the top of the box.  (I used a piece of two way tape to hold it in place while I glued to keep the paper in place, then glued right over the top of the tape to finish it off).

6.  When that is dry, turn the top upside down and glue the screen wire into the bottom.  (remember this is an optional step)

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We are done with the top, unless you want to paint it.

 

Making the bottom:

1.  Turn the bottom of the box over and glue on the magnets.  I used two strips cut large to be sure it would hold the weight of the tea light and the box.  (I really wanted smaller boxes, but this is all I could find that the tea lights would fit in.

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That’s it!  We are done.  When everything is dry, turn your tea light on, put it in the box, put the top on it and put it on the fridge!

I thought this was a sweet project.  I played around with my wood burner to see how it would look and I think I like it better.  If you try this method you won’t need the brown paper bag cut out.  I just burnt the top of the box.   Here’s a pic…

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But I did almost catch it on fire!  So I really did light up my refrigerator magnet!

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Have fun!

 

If you like this craft tune in to my face book page to see other stuff.  Thanks!