Rag Rose Necklace

I learned to make fabric roses... and then I made a million of them. I couldn't stop. I had a compulsion to glue roses together. I ordered more of that fabulous Moon Ragg Yarn, made from recycled sari fabric. I arranged the roses and attached them to a felt backing and then attached the necklace. I think they look super cool. I'm not sure exactly who will wear them but I hope someone appreciates fun colors as much as I do. 

It's a Bird!

Dusting this badboy off... Sorry for the neglect, friend. Life takes over and before you know it you have no energy left for blogging. I did get a little crafting in last week. The wifey and I got invited to two(!) white elephant parties. I saw this Flamingo on Pinterest and being a person who loves to glue things to things, I knew I had to try it. So simple. I ordered a 2-pack of flamingos on amazon.com. I'm going to do a charity craft sale this spring and I saw Walmart and Lowes have whole flocks of flamingos for pretty cheap so that may be the best way to go. Without further ado, I present my bird.

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Whimsical Seussical Mantel

 

At last! Well, almost. I have one more piece to put together. It may be a little overwhelming but you can't possibly overwhelm an 8 year old with Christmas decorations. It melted my heart when she said, "Kort, you're the best at Christmas Spirit." Exactly what I was going for. But then she went on to tell me that the outside of a house is more important than decorating the inside...my measly strand of lights isn't cutting it.

Very Grinchy Christmas

 This was a crazy idea... it might work as a whole. I traced a picture of the Grinch on plain white paper then tore tiny pieces of paper, tissue paper, and cotton balls to cover it. I made a frame using an old cardboard box and covered it in green duct tape. I need a little work on my scissor skills. lol Must fix that straight edge, now!

Seuss Felt Stockings

Okay, so I didn't recycle these. But they only cost .60 each. That's fair, right? We are celebrating Christmas at my inlaws so we are taking our massive tree with us. (Whew!) Does anyone else start to feel a little claustrophobic with a huge tree in the house? This year we are putting up a few small trees and keeping it simple. We couldn't have maroon stockings to go with our theme so I whipped up some quick felt stockings, and by quick, I mean quick. I hot-glued these. :X Is that a sin? It should be. I've been known to hot glue costumes together while wearing them.  I traced some stocking printables and cut the shapes out and made another piece for the backing. I think they are kinda cute.

Recycled Reindeer

I saw this Reindeer on BHG and fell in love...only I needed mine to be on drugs or something. I feel really bad when I buy new decorations because I have...so...much...stuff. But making them from items I already have is totally acceptable. The tutorial is on BHG.com so I won't reinvent the wheel. It's perfect. Cut, decorate, glue.

 

I cut too many of the U shaped pieces (only need one).

A little scrapbook paper and modge podge. 

The original:

Copper Garden Ball

Disclaimer: This isn't a tutorial, more like a what not to do entry.  I've wanted to make one of these for a long long time, and really how hard can gluing some pennies to a bowling ball be? I almost lost my mind! First of all, finding bowling balls isn't as easy as one would expect but I did hit the jackpot at Savers...for $9.99 each. This better be good! I got $5 worth of pennies at the bank and some gorilla glue...which doesn't dry clear. In fact, it goes on clear but then becomes 3x its size and turns white. I covered 1/5 of the ball with pennies glued in this before it dried and I realized what I had done. The other thing I should mention is, before the pennies dry they really want to slide off of this spherical surface. I don't have an answer to this. After the first pennies dried, I was able to start adding and the first pennies became a boundary so nothing could slide past them. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but if you make this ball, you'll quickly understand what I mean. Also, you will note from the photos below that at one point during this process I wore gloves. Am I the only person out there who can't use their hands at all when wearing gloves??! Needless to say, I might get cancer from carcinogenic adhesives. OH, the glue that I found and loved is 9001. I got it at Hobby Lobby and I can't tell you the price because my lazy (but kind) cashier just picked one out of her head when it didn't have a sticker on it. What did I do with the white glue catastrophe, you ask? I did what anyone else would do and I Sharpied it! I'm attaching a photo/link at the bottom of my inspiration ball. When the ball sits in the rain it will patina and look super cool. This ball is for my father in law's 70th birthday. What else to get a rich old Jewish man? Money!

 

* Inspiration ball from Beth Evans Ramos

Moroccan Theme Party Invitations

 

Hey guys. I know it says age 29 over there but it won't be that way for long. 22 days till the big Three-Oh! Let's breathe together. ;) The only thing keeping me sane right now is birthday party planning. What kind of party you ask? Oh, it's a Bollywood Murder Mystery party. I couldn't settle on a theme. I wanted a theme party with costumes and I especially wanted one where I can wear something crazy fun and...my favorite game is Clue and I saw a Living Social for a murder mystery party so I bought it. Of course the party was "Murder in Hollywood" and now it's "Murder in Bollywood." All names changed to protect the innocent. I'm having so much fun planning this party, I've got so many projects in the works and I'll be sure to post them here. First, my invitations...

 I used two gold foil doilies of different sizes for the medallion and made a bellyband with a gold ribbon to wrap around the invitation.

DIY Lace Cuff Bracelet

 

 I can't remember where I first saw this idea. I love anything with lace so a simple lace cuff bracelet is a must have. I first started making these last fall for a craft swap that I hosted among Facebook friends. I needed a quick craft that cost under $5.00 to make for 16 people. I was able to make plenty of these in no time at all. I used a 2" lace and cut each strip to fit the diameter of my wrist. To make this bracelet, apply Fabric Stiffener like a paint on both sides and then wrap the lace around something round to dry. I ended up putting some on beer bottles and wrapping a rubber band around them for drying. 

Fall Yarn Letters

 

 I'm almost too embarrassed to post these on here because they were so simple (and free!). Everyone has those wooden letters from craft stores and you could spend a small fortune buying up the alphabet. It dawned on me one day that I can make my own. I have yarn out the wahzoo (Did I spell that right? Is it even a word?) I cut letters out of amazon boxes at 12" tall and covered one side with glue. Then I wrapped yarn back and forth until the entire letter was covered. To keep the yarn in place while drying, I attached a paper clip. And that's it! Next time I'll aim for cutting straighter lines. ;) I consider these to be very abstract or freeform.

Fall Fun Frame

Pardon the dorky alliteration... I just couldn't resist. My daughter and I had a great time making these acorn photo frames, inspired by the BHG acorn frame. We are fortunate (ha!) to live on a street lined with oak trees so there were many acorn caps to choose from.

You will need: Elmer's glue, acorn caps in various sizes, and a frame (We got ours at the Dollar Store)