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!)
Tag Archives: crafty
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.
Fairy Garden: The Start
I’ve been wanting to build a fairy garden for some time. So with lots of time on my hands in quarantine I started the project. I looked to Pinterest for some inspiration and took it from there.
Completed house in the garden and added a fence
Lots more to create…more to come
Back to Craftiness…
Since my travel wings have been clipped, I’ve been getting back to my crafty roots. I was inspired by the many painted rock ideas I saw on Pinterest so I thought I would get back into it after letting my project sit for a year. My goal was to complete enough rocks to decorate my front garden. I’m a few rocks shy of completion but I placed them all outside to see how the finished products look. Overall I say not too shabby. I used paint pens for the art which allowed for better control. I finished up by spraying them with Modge Podge acrylic sealer so they will weather the elements. Hope you are inspired to try painting some yourself!
Next up: DIY Fairy Garden
A Cactus for Christmas
The Christmas season always inspires me to dip into my craftiness arsenal in order to make gifts for family and friends. Pinterest is where I go first to look through my endless list of DIY ideas. I was particularly drawn to a link for mason jar terrariums. I decided to do my own take on the project and now have three nice gifts I can share with some friends.
List of items needed:
- Clear glass jars (size according to the plant you are putting inside)
- plants
- Decorative rocks or sand
- Long handled tongs
- Piece of paper or magazine page
I put some base rocks into the bottom of the jar. I kept the cactus in the plastic pot it came in to contain the dirt and help retain water. Using the long handled tongs, I positioned the plant in the center of the jar. Then I used the magazine page to create a tube around the plant. This prevents the rocks from piling onto the plant.
Then simply add the different rocks or sand as you desire to get a layered effect. When using smaller rocks or sand, you may get some pieces falling into the other layers, but overall I like the finished products. Happy crafting friends!
Paper Flowers
I finally got a chance to get back to some Pinterest-inspired projects. Today I decided to tackle making decorative paper flowers. The link on Pinterest made it look very simple. Items needed – magazine pages in various colors, shredding scissors, bamboo skewers, tape, floral tape. First challenge – no shredding scissors and couldn’t find them anywhere in Nuremberg (not exactly a crafty place I’ve learned). So I improvised and used a short pair of scissors and made the many cuts by hand. I also did not have bamboo skewers and could not find them in the market, so I used paper straws instead. The process of rolling the cut paper around the straws proved to be challenging. I had many failures and I’ve posted a few below. Once I finally got the hang of it, I think they turned out pretty nice. Now I have a decorative piece for the bedroom and one for the living area. These would make a lovely centerpiece for a bridal or baby shower – or simply a nice way to add a little color in your life!
Original Pin
Gathering the magazine pages
Folding and cutting the paper
Failed attempts
Success
Flowers for the bedroom
Flowers for the living area
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
And the lesson is….drink more wine!
While wine tasting in the Dundee area, my friend Dana and I noticed these candles made from cut wine bottles. I figured there must be an easy DIY approach to the project, so I set out to peruse Pinterest. I pinned a link for DIY bottle cutting that used simple things from home – yarn, nail polish remover, and a candle. After many, many, many unsuccessful tries using this method, we gave up and took to the internet to find a solution. That solution was the Generation Green Bottle cutter. With a few clicks on Amazon, we ordered the bottle cutter and set out on a different path. After reading the reviews, we knew that there would be some failures and it would take some practice, but we moved forward optimistically. The process starts with scoring the bottle and then alternately dunking it into boiling water and ice water until the bottle breaks along the score. We triumphantly cut the first test bottle and set forth with the actual wine bottles. We had success with 3 wine bottles and then it was downhill from there. We suspect that the thickness of the bottles may have had an effect on the success rate. After 9 subsequent failures, we decided to move on to candle making. We bought a block of wax because it was a good value. However this created a lot of work for us because we had to break it up into smaller pieces. Using a hammer, we took turns smacking the block of wax until we had small enough pieces to melt. Once the hard work was complete, the act of melting wax, adding scent, and pouring was a snap. Lessons learned – 1. use jars that are already the size you want (you can always decorate them) 2. Purchase wax that is already chipped into smaller pieces 3. And finally, DRINK MORE WINE! If you are going to cut your own bottles, you will need a lot of them with a failure rate of 75%!
Bottles ready to go
Yarn soaking in nail polish remover and string/candle ready to go
The Generation Green Bottle Cutter
First bottle scored
The boiling water/ ice water dunking set-up
Successful break along the score
Unsuccessful break of one of the thicker bottles
Setting and prepping the wicks
Melting the wax to the exact temperature
First pour of the hot wax
Wax setting
The finished candles
So drink more wine! Cheers!
Flirting with Creativity 