living on love

diy: dream catchers with lace & tulle.

im still loving dream catchers... & finding new ways to interpret them. ive been making some of these for the pop.up shop & wanted to share the diy for all you crafty people out there. you can also make a more traditional dream catcher following this tutorial.

supplies needed:

metal ring... usually found near the leather working supplies at the craft store.

hot glue gun.

a piece lace or tulle that is bigger than the ring

strips of fabric

needle & thread

beads

1. lay out the lace on a flat surface & put the ring on top of it. if there is a certain design in the lace that you want in the center, arrange it now. apply hot glue on the "top" of the circle & wrap the lace around so it sticks in the glue. do the same thing on the "bottom" of the circle, then do the "sides", etc. always glue one side then the opposite to keep an even pull on the lace.

2. tear a strip of fabric the long enough so it will go around the entire metal ring & about 1" wide. fold the fabric around the outside edge of the ring & start stitching, securing the fabric. continue to fold the fabric & stitch all the way around.

3. cut a few more strips of fabric, about 1/2" wide & 12" long. string on beads, tie knots, tie on other scraps of fabric... whatever you wish. sew these onto the bottom of the ring. then cut another piece of fabric to sew onto the top of the ring for a hanger, or you can use a piece of string, twine, etc.

4. decorate the middle of your dreamcatcher. for this one i stitched the word "dream" into the tulle. you could also stitch on beads like i did on the one in the very first picture.

diy: pom.pom flowers.

these little flowers only took about 10 minutes to make & are perfect for spring time or for people with cats who like to eat live plants. i think they look so sweet & dreamy, i smile every time i see them... ran even noticed them without me saying anything.

supplies needed:

sticks or dowels cut to desired length

about 2 yrds of yarn for each flower

a pom pom maker... store bought or homemade

a small length of matching yarn or string

1. start wrapping your yarn around the pom.pom maker. i cut my yarn in two 1 yrd lengths & wrap them at the same time. you can make your own pom pom maker by cutting a circle inside a circle of cardboard. for this size pom pom (approx 1 3/4" diameter) the outside circle of the maker needs to be 1 1/2" in diameter & the circle in the middle is approx 1/2".

2. cut around the outside edge of the pom.pom maker.

3. use a small length of yarn or string to tie around the bundle of yarn.

4. trim any wayward yarn & fluff up the pom.pom so it looks all pretty.

5. slide it onto the end of a stick. you can glue it if you would like or if you dont glue, you can chnage pom.pom colors for seasons or holidays & dont have to worry about breaking the sticks in storage.

stamped fabric ribbon.

on sunday i mention making fabric ribbon & i wanted to share a quick how to on making some. its pretty easy & pretty addicting, so consider yourself warned...

supplies:

fabric... i am finding it a great use for all my scraps.

ink... i used versafine, which does not say its for fabric, but as long as your not washing the ribbon, i think almost any ink would work. if you arent sure test stamp it on a scrap.

stamps

scissors

iron

1. iron your fabric & tear it on all 4 sides. i tore mine down to a 13" x 10" piece... make sure at least one side is the length you need it to be.

2. cut little slits about an inch apart down one side of your fabric... i cut mine on the 10" side because i wanted my ribbon to be 13" long for scrapbooking pages.

3. rip the fabric where you just made all those snips.

4. pull off all the strings & iron the strips flat.

5. stamp your image onto the fabric.

seriously, that easy & i love it on printed fabric...

think of all the possibilities... scrapbooking, cardmaking, tags, gift wrap... personalize with a name, an age, a date (like for a wedding), a favorite quote, or an inside joke...

a "baby" mini book.

 a few days ago i mentioned how our friends had welcomed a baby boy to their lives & i wanted to share a mini book i made for them. it is pretty much as "non.baby" as i could make it... minus a couple details, it really could be used for a variety of photos.

it came together really quickly since the majority of embellishments are cut from the paper i was using... an old love, elsie line. i added a couple pockets, some rub.ons, glitter pen doodles, & was able to whip this little book up in an evening. 

lace + vinyl.

1. find a cool frame you like & 2 pieces of glass that fit the frame. i went to the thrift store & bought 2 frames for every one i was going to make... one frame i would use & the other i would only use the glass.

2. get some lace that you like & cut it to fit the frame. i layed my lace out, put the glass from the frame over the area i liked, & then cut around it.

3. clean the glass really well then layer glass, lace, glass & put in the frame. i used a few drops of glue to glue everything in & then used a staple gun to add a few staples around the edges... just in case.

4. add a vinyl to the front glass, although i think it looks just as pretty without the vinyl.

diy jewelry holder.

upcycling old frames into jewelry holders is a current viral diy. i have seen all sorts of variations on pinterest... using lace, chicken wire, peg board, etc. ive been wanting to make one for a while, but i had to assess my jewelry collection (or lack thereof) & i finally figured out a system that would work for me.

i took apart some clothes pins that i had covered with paper, nailed the back side to the wall, & then re.attatched the front portion the clothes pin. i painted an old frame i had laying around & hung that around the clothes pins. i really like that i can change the frame if i ever get bored with it without having to move all my jewelry & that the rings are super easy to access.

here are a couple tips if you are going to try this out:

practice taking apart & putting back together some clothes pins before you nail them to the wall. 

start hammering the nail into the clothes pin while it is lying on the ground. slow & gentle is better than a few quick smacks with the hammer... it will help prevent the clothes pin from cracking. i got a little impatient, just went for it & ended up cracking some.

happy new year & 2012 planner diy.

happy happy new year to you! i hope everyone had a safe memorable new year & is ready to get 2012 going. i am. lots of planning & goal making going on around our home in recent days which led to the need of a calendar / planner. instead of buying one, i diy-ed it.

diy planner:

1.

download & print out the following pdfs.

january front, february / march front, april / may front, june / july front.

 

2.

now download & print these pdfs, but you need to print these on the back of the pages you just printed out... the pdf titled feb/march back needs to be printed on the back side of feb & march, etc.

january back, february / march back, april / may back, june / july back.

it might take a little work to figure out how to flip your printed-on-one-side-paper so that it prints out correctly on the back. you want it to look like this:

3.

score all the pages in half @ the 5 1/2" mark on the 11" side:

4.

then cut your papers in half @ the 4 1/4" mark on the 8 1/2" side:

5.

now find the big numbers 1-7 & stack them on top of each other in that order, 1 on bottom & 7 on top.

6.

if you want to decorate your planner, i recommend doing so before binding it. it makes it so much easier to stamp on when its a flat piece of paper. i used fun stamps to mark important dates, but left my planners semi plain so i can keep working on them throughout the year. hopefully by the end of 2012 i will have an art journal type of record of my year.

7.

when your done decorating then choose a binding method... you could stitch up the middle:

or you could punch a couple of holes & run ribbon, yarn, or embroidery floss through them, then tie in a knot:

another idea is to cut the planner in half, punch holes, add binder rings, & a chipboard cover... whatever you do, be creative & have fun with it.

are you looking for a simple hang up at home type of calender? i got you covered on that front as well...

jan, feb, march, april, may, june, july, aug, sept, oct, nov, dec.

 

 

up-cycled coffee can.

a few weeks ago i was on a sewing spree, spending late nights stitching away. my studio table is on a shared bedroom wall & i dont want to keep my neighbors up with all crafting, so i set up station in the living room. really not ideal... sewing machine precariously balanced on a stool, kitten little swatting at the fabric as it ran through the machine, scissors slipping in between cushions on the couch, & thread buts all over the floor. after a few nights of this scene ran solved one of my problems when he brought me this & put all my scrap trash in it:

of course! a small table top & portable trash can. it just needed a little decorating:

now it sits on my desk to catch all my trash & i can take it with me where ever i am working... like the living room or the kitchen. it would also be perfect for crops... use it to carry things to & from & while at the crop it can be used as a trash.

how to: leaf prints.

supplies needed:

- an ink pad or two... or three

- paper

- a slightly damp cloth

- freshly gathered leaves... try to pick leaves that have visible veins & stems.

1. with a damp cloth or wet wipe gently wipe down your leaves. the leaves around my house are super dirty... i was actually shocked at how much dirt came off of them & you dont want all that dirt on your ink pad.

2. place your leaf underside down into the ink pad & press with your fingers to transfer ink onto it. if you get ink on your fingers wipe them off. your leaf should look something like this:

3. press your leaf onto your paper evenly pressing down to get a good imprint.

how easy is that?! & pretty cool looking too. 

turn your leaf prints into cards, tags, put in a frame for some fall home decor, punch holes & turn them into a garland... so many ideas. i am pretty addicted to this right now, loving to see how different leaves look when printed, plus it gives me an excuse to take lots of fall nature walks.

(after seeing all these close up photos of my counter i can see that i should really start using a cutting board. ha.)

fall yarn garland.

the girls over at the paper lovin' gals blog posted a new challenge. i think i forgot to mention that with these challanges you can make anything creative... cards, layouts, fiber pieces, altered pieces... whatever you want. this was the inspiration photo:

i was really drawn to the red & blue in the background, but when i started trying to come up with something it was all looking a bit too 4th of july for me & i really wanted a fall element. i ditched all previous ideas, started fresh, & ended up with a fall yarn garland.

you wanna make one? they are really easy... 

1. cut a piece of yarn or string to the length you want you garland.

2. cut a lot of pieces of yarn to about 6-10" in length.

3. tie the smaller lengths of yarn in knots around the long piece.

4. repeat until the knotted yarn runs the length of the longer piece.

i strung some paper feathers / leaves on a seperate piece of string & hung it front of the yarn garland. 

here is a slightly different version...