$5 Garland + Lampshade Leftovers = Wreath

I wish I had taken a photo of the process with my $5 wreath - I wasn't sure it would look decent when I began so I didn't think about documenting the process with photos.

But alas, I can describe it.

When we destroyed dismantled a lamp shade last year, I saved the big metal ring from the bottom with the full intent to turn it into a wreath. We then bought a $5 9-foot garland at Canadian Tire. We wrapped it around the metal ring and squished it until the garland was completely wound around the wire frame. It took two of us to wrangle the wire around the ring and we got little plastic pine needles all over the kitchen. It wasn't the most pleasant activity (repeatedly grabbing wire garlands with poky bits hurts your hands after a while).

I then found a bunch of loose decorations floating around the bottom of our Christmas Boxes and attached them with decoration hooks. I don't want the baubles and ornaments to be permanent because I may want to switch them around next year.

The strands of silver are Mardi Gras Beads left over from a NYE party we went to last year. I just looped them all together, making sure the knots are at the back. Again, nothing here is permanent so if I ever want to reclaim some of the materials, it will just be a case of dismantling the wreath.

I realize that all the materials for this wreath amount to greater than $5, but as far as recent spending habits go, I am quite pleased with my creation.

Paper Mache Mini Christmas House

This is a mini Christmas house I made recently using paper mache and fimo. I wasn't up for paying ridiculous prices for a tiny house - I've seen some crappy cardboard ones for $8 at a local big box store - not cool. So took it upon myself to improvise. The only thing I paid for was the fimo (years ago) and the spray snow for the roof (dollar store). Everything else was fished out of the recycling bin or my craft desk.

The snowman was made using three cotton balls speared onto a toothpick, then covered in spray snow (which has since clumped - should have done a few more layers of it). His stick arms are twigs, his nose is a piece of foam and his eyes and buttons are puffy paint.

I had never used spray snow before and didn't realize how MESSY it was. It goes everywhere. Molly even got hit with some. After the first few sprays, I stopped and built a little cardboard box shelter/frame, then took it outside to finish.

I didn't realize it at the time, but the fimo decorations took ages to make. I was watching a movie while I made each little leaf for the wreath, but I think it was worth it.
I also wanted to make a few little pine trees, but got bored with the project so gave up.

Has anyone else attempted a mini house this holiday season? If so, I'd love to see!

Dollar Store Nutcracker Makeover

So I have been on the hunt for a turquoise nutcracker lately, but didn't want to pay $20+. I was all set to make one with paper mache when I found a little one at the dollar store. The only problem was the colour.

Easy fix though - I ripped off all the fuzzy bits and anything that moved and gave him a few layers of paint and glitter glue. I then reattached everything. It's a pity I didn't pick one with even rosy cheeks (didn't notice until I got home) but for only $1.25, I can hardly complain.

I'm quite pleased with his makeover and even more pleased with the price I paid. Now if only I could find a full sized one for the same price...

Decorating Cans with Scrapbooking Embellishments

I recently made a few updates to my craft supply containers and thought I'd share, as a follow up to my Decorating Mason Jars post.

I had saved some leftover cans with pull-top lids from the recycling. I love these types of cans because I don't have to use a can opener and (best of all) it means I can REUSE them and not worry about jagged edges around the top lip. I

We also finished a tin of cocoa and although the "tins" are cardboard, they also have clean edges and they wash out well enough to be reused for craft storage purposes.

Now, I am not into scrap booking - I don't have the money, space or patience for that kind of hobby. But I do love paper crafts and some of the cute things made for scrap booking... such as this adhesive turquoise scrap booking edging found on a trip to the dollar store.

I spray painted the cans white and used some leftover wall paint for the cocoa tin (Benjamin Moore's Waterfall).
The scrap booking edging was very easy to apply to the two small cans. Then I used the white non-stick backing from it to decorate the cocoa tin, which was a tad trickier; I stuck it down with Mod Podge.

While I had the paintbrush out to paint the cocoa tin, I also grabbed a few glass items I had lying around. I did a coat on the inside, then a coat of Mod Podge to seal it.

I also recently bought a big paper cutter which I used to make some craft supply labels. Note particularly fancy, but I love it.

So those are my recent, though meager, craft attempts. Lately we have been spending a LOT of time planning our kitchen renovations, which hasn't left much time for anything else!

Happy crafting!

Bunting Wrapping Idea

My MIL is coming to visit next weekend and to save on postage in May for Mother's Day, I have her pressie all ready to give her.

I am a big fan of bunting at the moment and this was the best I could come up with in 5 minutes :)

Happy crafting!

Pillow Case Box

I ditched school work today in favour of some crafting :)

Here is my creation; A fabric box made using an old pillow case and some cardboard!

I started with a plain white pillow case from the thrift store. We live in a tourist town, so lots of plain white hotel linens end up at the thrift store. Woo-hoo!

I trimmed off the band at the open end of the pillow case and later used it as a handle on the box.

I then sat the pillow case on the counter to create a flat base. I rolled down the top part so that I could see the corners. It's exactly how I made the tiny fabric box in this post.

I then marked straight lines across the corners...

Difficult to see the pencil marks, but they're there!

Then I sewed along the pencil lines.

The triangular flaps were long enough to sew together, so I did :)

Here you can see the box standing up, but it has no support.

Inside of the box...

(note: this is a great time to attach a handle to the box. The band I cut off at the beginning worked well - but I forgot to take photos of this step! I also should have ironed it, but didn't realize how crinkled the finished box would look.)

To give it some support, I used some cardboard I had lying around.

I made a box shape using the cardboard...

 

... Then stretched the pillow case around it...

... Then shoved the base to the bottom and hid all the rough edges.

I glued the excess pillow case (the raw edge from taking off the band) back up inside the box. I then glued the base of the box around the bottom edge to keep everything in place.

Here it is looking tidy-ish:

Ta-da!

The bottom of the box:

Inside the box:

I saw some similar boxes at Home Hardware for $7 each, but this one took me 25 minutes to make and cost me $1.50.

And because it is plain white, it's a blank canvas to decorate. Flowers, accent fabrics, labels... the possibilities are endless. How would you decorate it?

Happy crafting!

Shamrock Accessories

Apologies for the long delay between posts - I am officially back at school, doing my Master of Education degree (part-time and externally) but still working full time. All spare "crafting" time has simply disappeared from my schedule... a small compromise for a better education, I suppose.

But, given that I still work with children in a creative environment, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do something for St Patrick's Day.

Here are my 5-minute Shamrock Accessories :)

I used:
Green string
A tiny scrap of fabric
A safety pin
A headband
My glue gun

I wrapped the yarn around two fingers to form two diagonally opposite leaves then tied them in the middle.

I repeated the same to create the other two leaves and bound them to the other leaves.

The loose ends were tied together.

I wish I had photos to demonstrate, but my fingers were (literally) tied up.

I used hot glue to attach a safety pin to the back and covered it with a tiny scrap of fabric so the glue had something to attach to.

For the headband, I just tied the loose ends around the band. No glue necessary.

And there you have my St Paddy's Day accessories. I wore the headband and attached the pin to my green sweater. It took me a total of 5 minutes and fully intend to use them again next year :)

Happy crafting!

Decorate Mason Jars and Coffee Cans Different Ways

Thought I'd share a few of the different jar/coffee cans I have on display in my craft desk. Seeing as the cupboards above my desk have glass doors, it's vital that my craft supplies are stored in a pretty and chic way.

So, from L-R these are my suggestions:

1. Put the right items at the front. My mini glitter glue collection looked crazy with all the colours showing, until I realized I just had to shove the blue/green colours to the front to match my craft desk decor.

2. Re-purpose an old sweater. See this previous blog post.

3. Put pretty items in. I am not going to decorate this tiny glass mason jar because it's holding shells and they are pretty enough on their own.

4. Wrapping paper. Enough said.

5. Stickers and Frosted Glass Spray Paint. I would love to pick the stickers off to leave little circles of clear glass, but I had another jar go horribly wrong when I tried it, so the white stickers are staying on for now.

6. Paint Chips on a coffee can. See this previous blog post.

So there you have it! I never throw away a glass jar or a coffee can, so keep posted to see if I come up with any other ideas :)

Repurposed Sweater & Glass Jar

I love jars. I cannot remember the last time we threw one out, because I love decorating and reusing them. We recently finished a jar of Costco olives, which yielded me a HUGE jar to play with. Hooray!

I have also been looking for a use for this old sweater. Perfect opportunity to up-cycle both items!

I shoved the jar into the sleeve with the jar opening at the cuff end of the sleeve.

I then tied off the sleeve with a piece of string.

Next, I chopped off just beyond the string.

I then sewed around the bottom of the jar.

Next I chopped off the string, leaving a gathered circle underneath the jar. Then I Mod Podgedthe raw edges to stop them from fraying.

Then I slapped on an circular scrap of fabric to cover up the ugliness.

If I had more patience, I would have liked to sew something on the front. Instead, I finished by wrapping the jar opening with some rope and finishing it with a pretty bow in the middle. So for now, I am rocking the nautical look but it can easily be changed :)