Showing posts with label Tutorial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tutorial. Show all posts

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Cleaning and Reusing Candle Holders

We love to recycle and reuse every chance we get, so naturally I'm certainly not going to throw away a nice heavy candle holder when I can re-purpose it for other things.  I was in love with the Glade winter selection they had out around Christmas time, especially the Frosted Berry Kiss scent! Yum!  So I have many jars left over that I needed to clean up.
I use an old trick I learned a very long time ago to get them all clean and ready for another use again.  You will need a flat head screw driver, Dawn dish soap, a small amount of water, your microwave and a paper towel to get your candle holders sparkling clean again.
This is what is normally left over after the candle won't burn anymore.  You'll need to scrape out as much wax and the little metal wick holder that's stuck in the bottom of the jar.
Don't skip this step because your microwave will not like it if you put metal inside her!  Use your flat head screw driver to scrape out the wax and then very carefully lift out the metal wick holder.  It is stuck with glue to the bottom of the jar, so sometimes removing the metal piece is harder than others.
Drop in a few drops of soap and then fill your jar about half full with water.  Add water and soap mixture filled jars to your microwave.  Since all microwaves are different, start with small time increments and work your way up until the water is bubbling hot.  I have a 30 second button on mine and it normally takes a few times to get the water hot.  If you don't have a microwave, you can use boiling water instead.
Carefully remove the jar using an oven mitt or towel (they are HOT) and pour the water/soap mixture out.  Using a paper towel, wipe out the hot wax.  It usually all comes out with the first wipe like you see above.
Now, after you have all the wax removed, its time to finish cleaning the little jars for their next use.
Add another few drops of soap and warm water and clean up with your (old) scrubber sponge and then polish with paper towels until they are like new again .  NOTE: In case you missed last week's post when I shared with you my secret on how to make your stainless sink shiny, look HERE and see how.
Tah Dah! All clean and clear and ready to use around your house in some other fun project.  Or maybe you just want to add another votive candle to it and use it as a candle holder again.
I may use these three for my Valentine decorating or maybe to hold Valentine candies.  Hmm? The possibilities are endless!

I'm Linking to:
These lovely and FUN parties!
Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home

read more

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Old Book Page Heart - How to Make Paper Roses

Sometimes when I have an idea or a vision for a project I want to create, it actually turns out better than I expected. This was one of those times!
You probably know what I'm going to say next...I got my idea from Pinterest!  First I saw THIS and then I saw THIS and I combined the two ideas....sort of. LOL!  I always try and make the projects I see and recreate, "my own".  Let me share with you what I did.

You will need the following items to recreate my framed heart:

Old book pages
8 x 8 piece of scrap wood
Hot glue gun and glue
Scissors
Acrylic Paint (red)
Crackle Paint (cream)
Small paint brush
Old fence pickets
Sandpaper
First, you'll need to make lots of book page roses. LOTS...about 40 or so varying in all different sizes.  Cut your pages into 1 1/2" to 2" wide strips.  Crumple the paper long ways to make it look like the above.
Add a drop of glue to one end and then start rolling, twisting and gluing as you go.  The longer your strip of paper the bigger the rose will be.  To make larger roses, I glue two strips end to end after I crumpled them.
Keep rolling and twisting and gluing until you get to the end of your strip of paper then glue the end flat.  This is very time consuming.  NOTE: My hands were tired and my fingers were sore after making all these roses. So worth it though!  I'd certainly do it again!
Make several roses in each of the sizes.  I think I ended up with about 3 or 4 different sizes.  You'll need smaller ones to fill in blank spaces.
This was my test run.  I drew a heart on the board with pencil and tried to fill it in with my roses.  I didn't like it.  So I cut out a heart from one of the book pages and laid it down for my guide.  To hide the paper cut out, I made sure to glue the roses over the edge of the paper.  You can see it peeking out in the picture below.
Before I glued down all the roses, I painted the board.  First coat was with the crackle paint.  My crackle paint is several years old and didn't really work the way it should have, but its ok.  Next I painted the red coat of paint and let it dry really good. Next, lay down your heart shape, arrange your roses until you like how it looks, then start hot gluing your roses in place one at a time.
The crackle paint worked a tiny bit, but it wasn't enough of a distressed look so I took the sand paper to it to really scuff it up.  I can't leave anything alone! LOL!
Here it is what it looked like when I thought I was done.  Then I changed my mind and wanted to add more to it!  My honey helped me with the next step.
That's better!  He made a frame for me using some more of our old fence pickets.  I always love when we can use the pickets in one of our projects.  They are so rustic, which I love!
After my honey put together the frame, he used his nail gun to attach the heart board to the frame.  You could probably use hot glue as well, but since he was at it, he just went ahead and nailed it together.  Lastly, I added a hanger to the back and hung it in the dining room.....I changed my mind AGAIN and now its perched on the mantel with a few other little Valentine items. So cute!

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:
Sunday
Under the Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn

The Self Sufficient Home Acre 
The Chicken Chick,  Sew Can Do
Monday
Craft-O-Maniac, 

Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home
Keeping it  Simple 
The Dedicated House
Skip to my Lou
Home Coming
Tuesday
Not Just a Housewife

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Sugar Bee Crafts 
New Nostalgia 
It's your Life
BeBetsy
Fluster Buster   
Confessions of a Plate Addict
A Stroll Thru Life
Wednesday
Clean and Scentsible

Lady Behind the Curtain
Family Home and Life
Ducks n a Row
VMG206
Herrban Momma 
Family Home & Life
Oh My! Creative
Thursday  
Bloom
The Taylor House
52 Mantels
Domesblissity
4 You With Love
Sweet Haute
Artsy Fartsy Mama
From My Front Porch To Yours
Friday 
Lil’ Luna
Tatertots and Jello
Five Simple Things
Craftionary
Diana Rambles
I Heart Nap Time
Crafts a la mode
Saturday 
Angels Homestead
Positively Splendid,
Or So She Says
Your Homebased Mom
What's Cooking with Ruthie
Made From Pinterest

read more

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Yarn and Felt Valentine Wreath with Loopy Felt Flower How-tos

I've been wanting to make one of these yarn wreaths ever since I first saw them on Pinterest.  I finally decided to make one for Valentine's Day.
These kind of wreaths are very time consuming (wrapping the yarn), but I think it was worth it because I love how it turned out!
These are my supplies.  I ended up not using the larger heart, white yarn or the red felt. I change my mind.....a lot!  I'll find another project for those!

To recreate my wreath, you will need.

16 inch foam wreath
6 inch foam heart
1 skein of red yarn (it doesn't take the whole skein)
2 squares of white craft felt (the softer the better)
3 Loopy Felt Flowers (directions below)
3 crocheted hearts (or any other embellishment you want)
1 small piece of tape
Hot glue gun
Use a small piece of tape to hold the end of your yarn while you wrap.  I tried holding it and it just kept unwrapping and getting tangled, so make it easy on yourself and grab a piece of tape.
Wrap the yarn until your arms fall off!  Just kidding!  It does take some time for this step though.  I grabbed a cup of coffee and turned on the DIY channel while I wrapped my foam wreaths.  I'm weird and had to wrap mine neatly, some people just wrap until you no longer see the wreath base.  It's up to you!
This is how they will look when you're done.  The hearts are a bit more tricky than the circle.  The pointy parts are very hard to cover....just sayin!
Now I'll show you how to make your Loopy Felt Flowers.  I've made a few other projects with these flowers HERE.   They are fun and you'll want to keep making them!

To make the Loopy Felt Flower, you will need:

Felt of your choice (I used white this time)
Sewing machine
Sharp scissors
Hot glue gun (use the low setting)
Cut your felt into strips that measure: 2" x 8", 1 1/2" x 4" and 1" x 3" and then a circle of about 1 1/2".
Fold your strips long ways in half and stitch very close to the open edge like this. Repeat for all three strips.
Using your sharp scissors, snip to the stitching being sure NOT to snip the stitching.  If you cut small sections, you will get a fuller flower, larger sections, not so full.  I prefer the smaller sections.
Starting with the longest strip, take your felt circle and lay down some hot glue on the very outter edge.  Glue the strip to the circle like shown above.
Keep adding your strips using the medium lengthed one next and then the shortest one until you've reach the center.
This is what it will look like when you have all three strips glued to the circle.
Now add your crocheted heart (or other embellishment) to the center to cover the empty space.  I got my hearts on Etsy HERE.
Here's what they look like all together.  I love those hearts and I've just about used all mine up! They are the perfect touch!
Next, I glued my Loopy Felt Flowers to my wreath with hot glue.  The wreath looked too plain at this point so I also cut out some leaves and stems (freehand) from the white felt and added that to each end of my flowers.
Again, it still needed something, so I cut (10) strips of white felt about 1/4 inch wide and made the criss-crosses around the empty space on the right.  I just hot glued the ends to the back to hold them in place.

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:
Sunday
Under the Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn

The Self Sufficient Home Acre 
The Chicken Chick,  Sew Can Do
Monday
Craft-O-Maniac, 

Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home
Keeping it  Simple 
The Dedicated House
Skip to my Lou
Home Coming
Tuesday
Not Just a Housewife

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Sugar Bee Crafts 
New Nostalgia 
It's your Life
BeBetsy
Fluster Buster   
Confessions of a Plate Addict
A Stroll Thru Life
Wednesday
Clean and Scentsible

Lady Behind the Curtain
Family Home and Life
Ducks n a Row
VMG206
Herrban Momma 
Family Home & Life
Oh My! Creative
Thursday  
Bloom
The Taylor House
52 Mantels
Domesblissity
4 You With Love
Sweet Haute
Artsy Fartsy Mama
From My Front Porch To Yours
Friday 
Lil’ Luna
Tatertots and Jello
Five Simple Things
Craftionary
Diana Rambles
I Heart Nap Time
Crafts a la mode
Saturday 
Angels Homestead
Positively Splendid,
Or So She Says
Your Homebased Mom
What's Cooking with Ruthie
Made From Pinterest

read more

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Christmas Shutter Decor

I wanted a new decoration for the front door this year, so I came up with this little lovely.  Very easy to put together and also easy to take apart in case you want to use your shutter again for something else.
I found and pinned THIS idea on Pinterest (Thanks Linda!) and went from there with my idea.  I decided not to paint my shutter.  Mainly because I made this during our recent Texas ice storm and I really didn't think painting was an option!
To recreate my shutter decor, you will need:

1 old shutter
A few Christmas tree trimmings or greenery of some type
Nippers to trim your greenery
Light weight wire
Pliers or wire cutters
Pine cones
Twine
Ribbon for a bow
Miscellaneous decorations (I used some glittery twigs)
Hot Glue Gun
Arrange your greenery and secure with wire.  Add as much or as little as you like until it looks good to you.
Next, glue the twine lengths to your pine cones, make your bow and then tie everything together and hot glue it to your greenery.
Lastly, make a hook with your wire and attach it on the backside of the shutter for hanging.  Not too shabby for a craft made in 20 degree weather!

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:
Sunday
Under the Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn

The Self Sufficient Home Acre 
The Chicken Chick,  Sew Can Do
Monday
Craft-O-Maniac, 

Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home
Keeping it  Simple 
The Dedicated House
Skip to my Lou
Home Coming
Tuesday
Not Just a Housewife

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Sugar Bee Crafts 
New Nostalgia 
It's your Life
BeBetsy
Fluster Buster   
Confessions of a Plate Addict
A Stroll Thru Life
Wednesday
Clean and Scentsible

Lady Behind the Curtain
Family Home and Life
Ducks n a Row
VMG206
Herrban Momma 
Family Home & Life
Oh My! Creative
Thursday  
Bloom
The Taylor House
52 Mantels
Domesblissity
4 You With Love
Sweet Haute
Artsy Fartsy Mama
From My Front Porch To Yours
Friday 
Lil’ Luna
Tatertots and Jello
Five Simple Things
Craftionary
Diana Rambles
I Heart Nap Time
Crafts a la mode
Saturday 
Angels Homestead
Positively Splendid,
Or So She Says
Your Homebased Mom
What's Cooking with Ruthie
Made From Pinterest

read more

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Clothespin Christmas Tree

Do you decorate your laundry room for Christmas? Well, I don't' either...normally!  But this year I did because I came across THIS cute tree (thanks Brandi!) and I had to make one for ME too!
It really brightens up the little space!  It keeps me company while I fold and hang our laundry!  So adorable!

To re-create my tree, you will need the following items:
One empty paper towel roll
Clothespins (I used 64)
Hot glue gun
Spanish moss
Red Burlap ribbon (about 36")
First, disassemble your clothespins.  Next, using your hot glue gun on the low setting, start gluing your pins to the paper towel roll like so.  Place the glue on the little flat slanted area of the pin and then hold it against the roll until its stuck.
There is no exact gluing directions, just glue them on until you like the way it looks.  If I ever make another one, I will do this bottom part differently.  I think its spaced too far apart along about the third row of pins, but that just me and my weirdness!
After I got all the pins glued on, I added some Spanish moss in the bare spots for filler.  Next I used a few of the springs for ornaments on my tree!
It's so sweet in all its clothespin cuteness!  It matches our Clothespin Chandelier too!  I'm thinking about making some clothespin snowflakes that I thought may look cute on the walls too.  Oh Pinterest, I'm so addicted to YOU!
I wonder how I can decorate it for each holiday so I can leave it out all the time?  Is that too much? Yeah, maybe!  Hmmm?
Oh dear! I'm already thinking of what other decor I can design with clothespins!  Leave me a comment if you decorate your laundry room for the holidays too.  I'd love to pop over and see it!

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:
Sunday
Under the Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn

The Self Sufficient Home Acre 
The Chicken Chick,  Sew Can Do
Monday
Craft-O-Maniac, 

Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home
Keeping it  Simple 
The Dedicated House
Skip to my Lou
Home Coming
Tuesday
Not Just a Housewife

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Sugar Bee Crafts 
New Nostalgia 
It's your Life
BeBetsy
Fluster Buster   
Confessions of a Plate Addict
A Stroll Thru Life
Wednesday
Clean and Scentsible

Lady Behind the Curtain
Family Home and Life
Ducks n a Row
VMG206
Herrban Momma 
Family Home & Life
Oh My! Creative
Thursday  
Bloom
The Taylor House
52 Mantels
Domesblissity
4 You With Love
Sweet Haute
Artsy Fartsy Mama
From My Front Porch To Yours
Friday 
Lil’ Luna
Tatertots and Jello
Five Simple Things
Craftionary
Diana Rambles
I Heart Nap Time
Crafts a la mode
Saturday 
Angels Homestead
Positively Splendid,
Or So She Says
Your Homebased Mom
What's Cooking with Ruthie
Made From Pinterest

read more

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Our Burlap Forest

Normally at Christmas time there are snow people everywhere in our home.  This year I decided on something a little different...just for a change.  Oh and by the way.....we still have a few snowmen here and there.
We both love old and rustic stuff, so that was my theme this year.  On a recent trip to Hobby Lobby I gathered up a few supplies to make some burlap trees for the mantel.
I made 4 different trees.  The first one was the tallest and it was already a cardboard form.  I simply wrapped it with burlap ribbon.
Nothing hard are too much to tell, just grab the glue gun set on the lowest setting and glue the beginning of the ribbon to the form.  Continue wrapping and gluing all the way to the end.
The smaller trees were Styrofoam forms, not so easy to just wrap and glue.  I had to cover them with Kraft cards stock paper first.
Do a test run by just wrapping the paper on the form until you get it the way you need it to cover the form completely.
Again, using the glue gun on the lowest setting, glue the paper to the form.  Make sure you get all the edges glued for a smooth base.
Finally, trim the paper down to the size of your form.  Save the leftover paper as filler for your larger forms.  The 8 1/2 x 11 paper doesn't quite fit the larger forms.
Now that they are all three wrapped, I can get to gluing the ribbon on.  NOTE: I know I keep repeating myself about the glue gun and using the lowest setting, but burlap has holes in it and it WILL get on your fingers.  The lower setting is safer but still be very careful!  Ok, I'm done harping! LOL!
For the smallest tree I used a thin woven ribbon with fringe on both edges.  This does not have to be perfect, just wrap and glue as you go.  Tuck in and glue as you need to.  No two trees will look the same.
For the largest of the smaller trees, I used a wider ribbon with fringe on both sides.  This is the same ribbon I used for the really tall tree.  I cut little sections about 2 1/2" long and started gluing them on slightly overlapping them as I went along.
Ok, here's the first two all done.  Looking so cute!  I decided to use some more of my burlap feed sack to make the medium tree.
I just cut up some strips, no certain size, just cut strips, long and short.  I started at the bottom and moved my way up to the top overlapping and layering as I went.
Here are the 3 smaller trees.  I think they turned out really cute!  I was having so much fun that I was kind of sad when I was done with the last one.
Here they all are up on the mantel hanging out with our ruler star we just picked up at an antique mall recently.  So cute! I love them!

It doesn't have to be done all at once.  It is a slow process in the works! C-ya next time!

I'm Linking to:
Sunday
Under the Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn

The Self Sufficient Home Acre 
The Chicken Chick,  Sew Can Do
Monday
Craft-O-Maniac, 

Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Home Sweet Home
Keeping it  Simple 
The Dedicated House
Skip to my Lou
Home Coming
Tuesday
Not Just a Housewife

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia
Sugar Bee Crafts 
New Nostalgia 
It's your Life
BeBetsy
Fluster Buster   
Confessions of a Plate Addict
A Stroll Thru Life
Wednesday
Clean and Scentsible

Lady Behind the Curtain
Family Home and Life
Ducks n a Row
VMG206
Herrban Momma 
Family Home & Life
Oh My! Creative
Thursday  
Bloom
The Taylor House
52 Mantels
Domesblissity
4 You With Love
Sweet Haute
Artsy Fartsy Mama
From My Front Porch To Yours
Friday 
Lil’ Luna
Tatertots and Jello
Five Simple Things
Craftionary
Diana Rambles
I Heart Nap Time
Crafts a la mode
Saturday 
Angels Homestead
Positively Splendid,
Or So She Says
Your Homebased Mom
What's Cooking with Ruthie
Made From Pinterest

read more