Still building the fairy garden village. Brought in a third and fourth tier and added a camper and a car (because everyone needs a car!)
Category Archives: Craft Your World
Fairy Garden: Part IV
Fairy Garden: Part III
And of course I needed to add a 2nd tier to the fairy garden…
Fairy Garden: Part II
Once you get started on creating this small world, it’s really hard to stop. Here you see the progression.
The Whimsy of Color
I recently rediscovered the sheer delight and whimsy of coloring. Did you know there is an entire line of coloring books aimed at adults? I have found it to be a calming activity that allows me to explore colors and de-stress from the troubles of life. I highly recommend buying yourself a coloring book and taking a walk down memory lane…..
Coaster Reuse Take 2 – Christmas Ornaments
As the holiday season begins, the onslaught of catalogs also begins. I was thumbing through a “Land of Nod” catalog and came across these cute ornaments.
The inspiration
It made me think about those cardboard coasters that I have lying around. So I set to work assembling Christmas-looking papers and accents. I dug into my button supply (I have thousands of buttons that I have inherited through the years from grandmothers and great aunts). Then I started assembling the ornaments. I used glue to set the papers to each side – one side at a time in order to trim the edges neatly around the coaster. And the embellishments followed. Here are the results:
Assembling the supplies
Painted wooden pieces
One of my 10 button drawers (the metallics)
Setting paper to the first side
First side cut out
Setting the second side
Both sides finished- ready for embellishments
The finished ornaments
Felt art animals
After making the animal frames a few posts ago, I looked at these small wood pieces that I have and wondered if I could do something similar following the animal theme. I decided to investigate making felt animals. By using the scrap wood as the backdrop and frame combined, I thought it could be interesting to play around with different whimsical animals for the centerpiece. It was fun designing the different animal looks and playing with felt and embroidery floss colors. They can be displayed individually or used in a cluster for a cute art piece in a children’s room. I have completed 3 so far and have a few more up my sleeve- maybe a giraffe, or an owl, or a whale……
sketching out ideas and the wood backer blocks
selecting the color palette for the octopus
sewing and stuffing the octopus
octopus with details added and ready to mount onto the wood
Completed octopus
Completed hippo
Completed monkey
Animal Frames
Friends of mine are having a baby very soon. I wanted to make something special for them. I looked through my arsenal of crafty supplies and decided to make some framed artwork. I had a metal giraffe and turtle that I wanted to integrate into the design. Using 2 frames, I selected some wood laminate scraps to use for the backdrop. I painted the frames – the one for the giraffe got a coat of metallic copper and the turtle’s got a coat of dark espresso brown. From there, I selected fabrics from my decorator sample books from SCRAP (still keeping me crafty!). Cutting them into squares, I placed them around the frame and started gluing. I added yarn around some of the pieces on the giraffe frame to accent the colors. After trimming all the excess edges around the frame, I glued the animals in place. I really like how they turned out. I only wish I had a few more animals so I could make some more!
Giraffe and turtle materials ready to go
Painting the frames
Measuring and cutting the fabric squares
Laying out the fabric on frames
Frames complete – ready for their animals
The final products
Recycle Glass In An Artful Way – Part 2
I really enjoyed creating the different looks and combinations for the original yarn bottle projects. There are limitless possibilities that one can achieve by using different yarns and embellishments. I was inspired to see if I could use a combination of yarn and some of the decorator fabric samples I got at SCRAP. I started with a spaghetti sauce jar and used 2 different yarns with 4 different fabrics. I am really happy with the way the flower embellishment pulls it all together in the end.
The material and yarn combination
Setting the fabrics first
Topped with the chunky yarn
Completed the skinny yarn part
The final yarn/fabric wrapped bottle
And just a little flourish to pull it all together
Flower detail – 2 fabrics with 2 braided yarns wrapped in the center
Fancy Frames from Affordable Materials
A friend of mine asked me if I would think about art projects that kids could do, but would look good enough that people would purchase them. Pinterest has a zillion ideas, so I started there. However, one night while trying to sleep, I had an idea about a frame that could potentially fit the bill and was cheap to make. I scribbled my idea in my notebook next to my bed and left it for a rainy day. Yesterday was that rainy day. I had a frame on hand from Michaels that has a heart cutout for the photo. It cost a whopping $1.
It started with a frame and an idea….
I searched through the decorator fabric samples I had on hand and decided on a pattern. Then I accented it with felt and another solid, textured fabric and some variegated yarn.
The materials
I created 3 different sizes of hearts to use as a template and began cutting them out of the materials.
Tracing and cutting out the hearts
In order to avoid any wood show-through on the finished product, I painted the frame a dark blue.
Painting the frame
After it was dry, I used Tacky Glue and began placing the hearts on the frame – placing them in all different directions and overlapping.
Starting to place the hearts
To accent the patterned hearts, I “traced” them in yarn. This makes them pop against the other colors.
“Tracing” the hearts in yarn
I used the yarn to finish off the interior of the heart and outline the outer edge of the frame. I think it looks a lot more expensive than its humble beginnings.
The finished frame
Ode to Pretty In Pink
I have loved the movie “Pretty In Pink” since I first saw it 25+ years ago.
You see as a child, I was in love with fashion design and routinely called my Barbies by the name Andi. So this movie brought together all of my childhood loves. It was meant to be. The only thing about the movie that bothered me was the dress at the end. I watched the movie last night and it continued to disappoint. She had all of those great materials and could use them in any way she wanted. And this is what she decided on? Really?
The Dress
So I thought, what would I have done differently? Here are some ideas I threw together. And remember, it was the 80’s!
The fabric list
3 ideas
two more ideas….
staying truer to her original design- with some slight modifications
Flirting with Creativity 