From Ugly to Uglier!

What's a gal to do when she has an ugly sweater party to attend, and doesn't want to wear the same sweater as last year?   

I love wearing costumes and ugly Christmas sweaters are no exception. This year we had two different "Ugly Sweater Parties" to attend. Not wanting to wear the same sweater to both parties, I decided to do a bit of a "make-uglier" to a thrift store find. The vest I found had good "bones," the wool fabric and  colors worked for Christmas and I thought I could carry through the eclectic button look with my design . Plus there was a lot of empty space to create on. 

Grabbing some embroidery floss, I went to work. I decided my theme would be "duck the halls" (bah-dum-dum-ching!) I started by adding the wording to the right side of the vest. 

I decided to embroider "free hand" because the houndstooth provided guidelines in a sense for me to follow. I simply counted checks to get my lettering right.

I then concentrated on the tree. I wanted my little duck friend to help decorate the tree. Cutting out three triangles of wool felt, I  layered them, appliquéing them with a simple basic stitch to hold in place. I then added the trimmings. For garland, I used an upholstery trim, I loved the gold and felt the loops on the trim gave it more of a "garland-y" feel. 

To continue on with the button theme, the sweater already had going for it, I grabbed some buttons from my vintage button jar, to add as ornaments. The star on top was a purchase from "Dress it up." To finish it off, I took apart, a blinking light necklace. Starting at one end I tacked it down towards the bottom, then looping around by the ducks mouth, I continued on over the tree, stitching it into place, to hide the battery pack, I cut a hole into the wool near the top of the tree, stitching it into place. To give the battery pack some extra support I used a safety pin. By pinning it vs. stitching the battery pack, it allows me easier "spinning"  to untwist the casing when it comes time to change the batteries. 

My sis-in-law, helped me put my hair up into a french twist that I then adorned with curly-q's of ribbon tied to bobby pins. (The up-do was more for the fact I was going to be serving food and didn't want my long hair to cause problems. I added the ribbon to make it more festive.) I finished off the look with a holly covered turtle neck. After all you want to "Duck the Halls" with "arms of holly" ;)  (I quack myself up sometimes! ) ...Merry Christmas!

All that Glitters!

For the past couple of years I have been collecting old jewelry. Pieces from thrift stores and garage sales, antique stores and things given to me by family, have all found their way into my collection. The goal of the collection was to make a wall hanging out of the jewelry.

This project has been sitting in bits and pieces on my desk for about 2 years, and since I had some extra time the last few days so I  decided to finish it and just in time for Christmas!

After cleaning the pieces, I removed the pin backs and post if necessary, some of the pieces came to broken, so a little E-6000 was used to replace the gems. 

Try to remove pins and backings as close to the piece as possible, this will help the jewelry to adhere flat to the fabric.

Using a piece of black velvet for the background, I outlined a basic shape with masking tape on the velvet. I also used masking tape to secure the fabric to my cutting mat, because the fabric was slippery this just helped keep things in place. After figuring out the basic placement, I used hot glue to attach the jewelry to the fabric. 

Looking at all the pieces is like a game of "i-spy" 

The fabric was then attached to a board. I originally wanted to add lights to the piece, tucking them in from behind, but due to my Facebook opinion poll, decided against it. (26 to 11 in favor of no lights and three suggestions of gallery lights and one vote for a disco ball from my daughter. )  After the fabric was attached I used glazier points from MD Hobby and Craft to secure the wood into the frame. 

Insert the points parallel to the piece using a flathead screwdriver to wiggle into place, if you are having trouble a slight tap with the hammer helps. 

Because of the weight of not only the jewelry but the wood I attached the fabric too, I didn't want the frame to carry all the weight, so I attached a simple wood support frame to the decorative frame. 

You can see the holes originally drilled for lighting.

I love the finished project!

 I do agree it needs light to bounce off the jewelry to give it some added sparkle, but am glad I didn't embed lights as I think it might detract from the beauty of the jewelry itself. I still might add some type of gallery light but probably not the disco ball my daughter had in mind ;)

I pray all of you have a wonderful holiday season, and a very Merry Christmas!!!

Supplies used: Vintage jewelry, Velvet fabric, wood,  E-6000, MD Hobby and Craft Glaizer Points, Screwdriver, Hammer, Drill, Screws, AdTech multi temp glue gun, pliers, cutters, button shank remover

Christmas Tree Photo Holder

I love Christmas, even more so I love crafting with kids at Christmas, the look on their faces not to mention the pride they show as they create decorations or presents for friends and family is priceless. This year I had the privilege to work with Thrive Homeschool Group to create a photo holder Christmas Trees, they are super easy and kids and parents alike love them!

Supplies:

Large Craft Sticks (found at Dollar Tree)
1" x 1 1/2" wood block (I used scrap wood)
1 wood clothespin
1 wood star (if desired)
Assorted Paint I used Folk Art by Plaid Crafts
Paint Brushes
Paper Plate for Pallet
Hot Glue Gun
Saw or Heavy Duty Scissors (to cut the craft sticks)
Plastic or newspaper to protect painting surface


Directions-for one tree:

Prepare 4 craft sticks to paint, leave the first stick alone, the second stick snip off the rounded ends, cut the third stick into two pieces so that one is 1/3 third of the stick the other one is 2/3s of the stick. Cut the final stick in half. You will only use one of the halves.

Paint all pieces as desired. Start with a base coat, allow to dry and then add decorations. Older children are normally fine but might need a bit of guidance. Younger children use their finger prints to add "ornaments" to their trees for a special keepsakes (Be sure to add the year!)

Once the paint is dry, glue pieces together to the base. The uncut stick is the trunk, and arrange the rest of the pieces above the present largest to smallest to form the tree. You can either glue them straight, or for a more whimsical look tilt them. Glue the clothespin to the back of the tree and the star to the top.

The kids did a great job! 

Thanks to Plaid Crafts for generously supplying the paints and brushes! 

Finger Knit Headband-the next generation!

This past Saturday, we celebrated Christmas with my husbands side of the family. In the midst of the family celebration there sat my daughter and niece working on knitting and crocheting projects. My 13 year old niece is an avid knitter/crocheter and even sells some of her creations to family and friends. My 13 year old daughter, while enjoying crafting in general, never mastered the skill of knitting and was getting pointers from my niece. It was exciting to see "the next generation" pick up needles and enjoy the satisfaction of handmade.

Never being one to pass up an opportunity to make something, I grabbed a couple of skeins of yarn they were not using and proceeded to create my "Fast Finger Knit Head Band" in between helping with dinner dishes and opening presents. My niece was fascinated with the technique and actually put down her piece to learn how to finger knit.

This project is a favorite because from start to finish it takes less than an hour and turns out cute, so perfect for a young teen to create while waiting patiently for the adults to finally say "it's present time" ;)  I typically use one skein of heavier weight yarn to create this project, but since that wasn't available, we used two skeins simultaneously to get the bulk/weight for the headband. I loved the way it turned out.

It did need a little something though. I wanted to create a flower for it, but didn't have my trusty Crochet Dude Flower Loom with me. They say necessity is the mother of invention, and so I got creative. Grabbing a corner of a gift box, I cut a square about 3" x 3". Then I notched the sides and cut a hole out of the middle, in essence creating my own loom. The notches were for making the petals, the hole in the center was for tying off the flower.

Starting at one corner I wrapped diagonally across the form, moving over one notch with each wrap. When I got back to my starting point, I started tying off the center through the hole I created in the cardboard. When I was finished tying off, I had to figure out how to get the flower off the loom. Since folding down the tabs and releasing the petals didn't work, I ended up having to cut/tear the cardboard away but I was quite pleased with the results.

I ended up giving the headband to my niece, we decided it needed a button in the center, and so she was going to take it home to finish it up.  Her headband turned out fabulous as well!

If you would like my pattern for the Fast Finger Knit Headband, you can find it in a free ebook published by "Fave Crafts" Best Blogger Crafts