DIY Jewelry: Washers and Colorful Thread

 

 

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.

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.

                                     

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.

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.

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!

DIY: Night Light Refrigerator Magnets

 

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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)

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.

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…

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

Have fun!

 

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

Magnets and Car Scent Holders: DIY

                             
I’m coming up with all kinds of ways to market my art.  One attempt I came up with lately is to shrink them down, print them out and either sew or decoupage them onto these mini canvas’.  It’s a lot of fun.  I thought you might like to try it.

Do you have a favorite picture?  If so, put it on your computer and shrink it down to approximately a 2” x 2”, that would be one of the smallest settings for printing out.  If you don’t have a favorite picture, you could just grab one from a magazine anywhere that you like, flowers,butterflies, an illustrated quote, a soup can label would even do, if that’s your thing.

I found these mini canvas’ at Wal-Mart for 97 cents.  I also got a 10’ long roll of magnetic tape for less than $4 there.  The little easels are 97 cents too, if you’d rather display your masterpiece as a painting.

Here’s what you’ll need:

magnets (if you are making a refrigerator decoration)
paint (optional)
picture or fabric with the section you like cut out
needle, thread and glue

Step one:  Prep your canvas.

     You can either leave the canvas white or brush on some acrylic paint.  Here’s an example of both ways and the initial canvas is covered with lace and then painted. 



You can even cover them with material as I have done here.  Just wrap the material around to the back sides of the canvas and glue to the wood.




Step Two:  Sew on your fabric cut out or decoupage’ your picture on to the covered canvas.

Step Three:  Once the glue has dried turn the mini canvas over and glue on your magnets.




Here is a line up of the different one’s I made.



 Painted canvas with lace decoupage’ over top.


                                                       

                                   Lace covered canvas, painted, with decoupage’ fabric cutout.
                           



Fabric covered canvas with fabric cut out sewn on.


                                                   
                                        Painted, distressed canvas, material cut out sewn on.


Car Scent Holder:
Cut your design out of your fabric, hand sew lace onto the back side slipping a ribbon or sturdy sting into the seam at the center top of your scent holder, being sure to catch it as you sew across it.

Make another one exactly like it or slightly different if you like, attaching the opposite end of your ribbon or cord.  I tied a knot in mine and sewed through it also for extra security.

Clip a small hole in the back of the lace piece, spray a cotton ball with your favorite scent and then place the cotton ball through the hole.  Your done!  Hang it in your car on your rearview mirror on a doorknob inside the house.



I hope you enjoy this craft.  If you’d like to use the apple scene or the beautiful heart you can get it on fabric by visiting my shop at Spoonflower, you can click here.

If you like the verse and the art you can get a poster just go to my store at southern sky reverie.



Here’s one of the small canvas' on the easel:  Paint your easel any way you like.

DIY Craft: A Few of my Favorite Things

 

 

After a very involved painting, I still wanted to use what time I had left to create something else.  Still had that itch, you know, but didn’t have the time to get too involved.  I like those involved pieces, but sometimes, “simple” is nice.

This took less than an hour and I think I’ll just keep it for myself.

2 pieces of barn wood

2 mending plates

White acrylic paint

Tropical Blue acrylic paint

Paper doily from  a wedding or cake baking isle

Paper butterfly stencil

copper nails

2 wood strips (paint sticks will do fine)

If you’d like to construct this yourself, here’s how---

Lay the boards together, the sides that fit the best.  Turn them over and nail the wood strips to each side to keep them together.

Turn the boards over and lay the paper doily on top of the boards, positioning it where you like.  Dabbing your brush in the white acrylic paint, stencil on the doily pattern.

Using the tropical blue paint, watered down a bit, paint the inside circle of the doily.  You might rather use another color depending on your preferences.  Then paint the mending plates with a light coat of this color too, preferably not watered down.

Lay the butterfly doily inside the doily circle you just painted and stencil the butterfly on with the white paint.

Nail the mending plates on, one toward the top and one at the bottom connecting the two boards.

With the copper nails, nail around the inside circle of the doily.

I wanted to put more nails and more butterflies, but I tend to over work things.  I was trying to keep this project simple and light.

Don’t forget to put a hanger on the back.  I knew I’d have to stress about something and I can’t decide if I want a burlap bow or just a wire.  So there you go.  If you have no problems making those types of decisions then just hang it and enjoy.

Happy crafting!

DIY Craft: Small Center Piece Crate

I wanted to share with you how to make this amazing little crate.  It’s really very simple and you can use it for a lot of different things.  I’m going to use mine for a centerpiece, but you could also put a handle made of ribbon on it and use it for an Easter basket.  It will also hold your favorite CD’s and many other things.  Paint it any color you like.  It’s made from paint sticks, paper rush, glue and nails.  That’s all the supplies you need to make this except for the tools. 
What you will need:
15 ----- 12” long paint sticks
Paper rush
40 small nails
Tropical Blue Acrylic Craft Paint
glue
wire clipper
hand saw

1.  Begin by building the four panels:


Take three of your paint sticks and cut them in half.


You will end up with six sticks 3”long.


Take two of the sticks, one with the handle of the stick at the top and one without the handle to be the bottom of your panel.  Place a dot of glue at each edge.


Place two sticks with handle cutouts on each side.  Put a dot of glue at each top and bottom edge.


Next put two more straight sticks on top.  Even up the edges to make it square.


Build four, these will make your crate.



Once your glue is dry, tack the four corners of each panel with the small nails.






Put in paper rush:


Make marks with a pencil at 1 7/8”, at 3”, and again at 4 1/8” along the top and bottom sticks of  your panel.  These marks are for keeping the paper rush straight.


Run the paper rush between the opening of the front side and back side of the top and bottom sticks.



Line up the paper rush with the pencil marks and tack with a small nail, top and bottom.  Then with a wire clipper, clip the paper rush even with the edge of the paint sticks.


Do this to all four of your panels.  Before moving on to the next step, be sure to clip all sharp ends of the small nails that came through the layers of sticks with your wire clippers.

2.  Put your four panels together:


Put a generous amount of glue on both edges of the top and bottom sticks of the panels.



Stand them up and add the other two panels, then tape to help keep them tight until the glue dries.

3.  Weave:


Once the glue dries, begin at the bottom edge placing the end of the paper rush between the side sticks at the corner.


Run the paper rush over the top of the paint stick and then under and over the paper rush that runs vertically and then again over the paint sticks at the corner.  Go all the way around the crate until you reach where you began.  Clip the paper rush and put through the opening at the corner where you began.  Glue.  Run as many strands of paper rush as you desire around your crate.  I used four as you can see.  My experience with this paper rush is as you add more it gets tighter and could end up warping the wood. 

Put in the bottom:


Cut six paint sticks to approximately 5 1/4”  long.  You can do this with three sticks.  Run a line of glue along the top edge of the bottom inside paint stick, then lay the sticks along the inside edge of the bottom paint sticks.  You may have to gently raise the bottom strand of paper rush to get the stick exactly where it’s suppose to be.  Just push the strand back down when you get the stick in place.
You have a small crate!

Paint:


Paint with whatever color you desire with a watered down acrylic craft paint.
Now you can decorate your crate or leave it as it is.  It will be pretty and practical whatever you do.
If you build this crate I’d love to see it.  I’d like to see some of the ways you decorate it.

Happy Crafting!

DIY Easy and Inexpensive Crate

This little crate will hold quite a few light weight items.  You can fill them and stack them, you can hang them on the wall and use as shelves and you can even use them in place of those expensive baskets to sit on shelves for organization.  I’m itching to decorate them, but I was anxious to see what everybody thought of them first.  I’ll decorate one later.

You will be surprised that all you need for this crafty crate is paint sticks and hemp.  The time it takes for the glue to dry is the longest process of all.  But necessary.

Supplies needed:
35--- 12” paint sticks  (get your paint sticks here)  
4--- 96” long strands of hemp (384”)
glue
hand saw
masking tape

Painting your crate is optional, but if you do, I used acrylic craft paint.
This will take some time between each step to let the glue dry, but it is still very easy to make.

Let’s get started:

1.  Mark one paint stick at 6”.  Stack 4 sticks together with the marked one on top and saw into.  You will end up with eight 6” sticks to build the corners and sides of the crate.

Mark and saw…………
                                


2.  Lay out the 6” corner pieces by two’s, 12” apart from each outside edge.




3.  Position one 12” stick at the top of the two 6” corner pieces making sure the top and side edges are flush, glue in place.  Position another 12” stick at the bottom of the 6” corner pieces also making sure the bottom edges and side edges are flush, then glue in place.  In the picture below the first one is done demonstrating this step.  Lay out the remaining 6” pieces, to build the rest of them at the same time.  This is also helpful when you begin step #4.



4.  When the glue from step #3 is dry you will be able to move the frames a bit to get them all lined up evenly.  Once you have that accomplished, position two more 12” sticks onto each section.  Since you have them all lined up together, you will be able to make sure that all your tiers will match when we put these pieces together. Build four total.



It is very important that you let this glue dry completely because we will be picking them up and putting them together next, so we need them to remain in tact.

5.  Once the glue has completely dried from step #4, pick up two of the sides.  Run a line of glue along the very side edge of one of the sides you built.  Then attach it to the very inside edge of the next side panel.

                    

Using masking tape, tape each stick to the other at the outside corners to keep them tight while the glue dries.

Go ahead and put all four sides together and tape tightly.  Remember, the side panel that is on the outside of the adjoining panel,  should be on the outside of the next panel you join it to.

Retighten and adjust any seams after all four panels are together.



6.  Look down into the four sides and eye it to make sure it looks square.  If not adjust.  Then lay three 12” paint sticks on top of the bottom tier of two of the side panels.  They will lay just on top of two of the bottom tiers.  One way they will be too short and the other way they will fit.  Lay two of them as close to the corner as you can get and lay the third one in the middle.  Put a line of glue on the bottom at each edge and glue in place.

                    

(No need to wait on this glue to dry before continuing on to step #7)

7.  Next put a dot of glue on each of the three 12” pieces you just glued on and place another 12” piece on top of these fitting it snug into the corners  We are making the bottom of the crate.  Do this on the other side too, being sure to fit the piece snug into the corner.

                             

Once you have the two corner pieces in place continue on building the bottom.  Draw a line of glue all the way across the three pieces that are resting on the bottom tier of your side panel and lay the 12” sticks beside each other until you have the bottom complete.  It won’t be solid, you will use 10 pieces to complete the bottom from corner to corner.  Lay something flat and heavy inside the crate and wait for the glue to dry completely before continuing on to step #8.

8.  Once the glue is dry, you will be able to pick up the crate to see how sturdy it is.  But to add to the stability we are going to wrap the corners with hemp before we paint it.  Cut four strands of hemp 96” long.  You will use one strand per corner.  Start by looking down into the inside of the crate and threading the strand through the opening between the corner piece and the inside bottom of the crate.  Pull the strand through, turn the crate upside down, tape the strand of hemp to the stick that we begin building the bottom of the crate with. (Remember there were three that sat just on the edge of the bottom tier of the side panel.)


         

Begin wrapping each corner between the sticks that make up the sides, when you have one section wrapped,  angle the strand upward inside the crate and wrap the next spot and continue on like this until the top corner spot is wrapped.  Then angle down crisscrossing inside the crate til you get back to the bottom.

         

  Slip the strand through the same hole where we started, holding it tightly. Turn the crate upside down again, pull up the tape underneath the crate, dab glue and tape both strands down tightly.



Continue on to wrap all four corners this way.

9.  Once all four corners are wrapped, snip the excess hemp just past the taped edge.  Dot glue on the top of the tape and hemp, lay one 12” paint stick across the strands, this should also glue the strands at the opposite corner.

          
                                                   

Lay the flat heavy object you used earlier on top of these two sticks until the glue is dry.  Once the glue is dry your crate is complete.  Painting is optional of course, but if you do choose to paint it, I used a watered down acrylic paint.  It takes a while to paint it, there are a lot of little nooks and crannies to get to.  But I really liked mine painted.

I used black with a little pale green here and there on one and turquoise on the other.  I hope you enjoyed making this crate.  If the instructions are confusing to you, you are welcome to email me or go to my facebook page and holler at me.  I would be glad to help in any way I can.

Hang them on the wall or stack them on top of each other, there are lots of useful things you can do with these crates.  They are great for organizing things and getting some clutter up off the tables and out of the corners.  Well, I'm sure you know what I mean.

         

Happy crafting!