No Sew Cotton Scarf-Necklace

This scarf - necklace is neat. They are super easy to make and they keep me warm on the semi-cold days of fall. (Excuse the horrible pic - this was done after the kids went to bed - I was tired.) Sometimes the color you want is hard to find - but, if you go to goodwill or garage sales you can find some good colors for cheap!!!!

All you need for this project is a old t-shirt and scissors.

Cut your t-shirt up into strips. I did about 1 inch strips.

Cut your strips one at a time and knot them.

Line up all your knots together the best that you can. Keep one strip aside you are going to use that to wrap it.

Tie a knot with the piece you set aside and then start to wrap that piece over all the knots - to cover them.

It should look something like this.

You are done! Enjoy!

Revamp an Old Lamp - Part Two

This is the second post about revamping one of your old lamps. As I said in my last blog (Revamp an Old Lamp - Part One - The Rosette) this lamp was Samuel's grandmothers. She gave it to us before she passed away so it has sentimental value to us. I did not like looking at it the other way.... so I redid it. =) Anyway, here are your instructions:

This is the "before" picture of the lamp we are revamping.

These are the supplies you will need for this part of the project:
1. An old lamp
2. A cloth (make sure that you wipe down your lamp VERY well - get all the dust and grime off of it!)
3. A QUALITY spray paint primer. I ALWAYS use spray paint at Sherwin Williams. I have never had a problem with their paint chipping or looking dull or just not being the color I thought it was....

4. A QUALITY spray paint. I go for the more expensive one at Sherwin Williams (like $6.45 a can) but, I can get multiple projects out of one can. I revamped eight frames (large and small) out of one can of their spray paint... not bad. =)

In a well ventilated area (or garage), prime the base of your lamp. Make sure to cover everything. Then, let it sit for a while. The can says like 5 min... but, I always let it sit for at least 15, just to be sure it is dry so that I do not get runs.

Don't forget your little topper! (I almost did!)

When your primer is dry, go ahead and spray paint your top coat. My favorite color from Sherwin Williams is the Oil Rubbed Bronze... love that one... anyway, let it dry and if you need a second coat follow the directions on the can... every spray paint is different... I just prefer the Sherwin Williams brand.

This is the next part of your project - take off any decorations or old fabric off of your lamp shade.

Once you have all of the decorations or fabric off you will cut your fabric about the width of your shade. You should have about an inch or inch and a half of overhang on each side.

I used a very thin material because I wanted the "crinkly" look on my lamp - but you can use whatever you want to.

Now you will need your spray adhesive and fabric or tacky glue.

On the seam of your shade put tacky glue and then press your fabric on top of it. This will keep the fabric secure as you wrap the rest of the material around it.

Spray your adhesive on the shade AND on the fabric and then press them together. Be careful! If you are not wanting the crinkle look you will have to do it just a little at a time and smooth it out, otherwise you will have crinkles.

Keep doing that all the way around the shade.

When you get to the seam again, fold the fabric over and stick it down - this way you will get a finished look.

For my lamp I put all of my Rosettes around the seam so that you couldn't see it but, just in case someone does see the seam, it will have a flawless look.

Okay, I am sorry I forget to take a picture of when you fold the excess over the top and bottom of your shade. I will try to explain - if you have questions you can ask me on here or on facebook.... Okay. You will spray your adhesive little by little on the fabric and on the inside of the shade and then press it over the side and onto the inside of the shade. This gets VERY VERY VERY sticky so, your fingers will stick together for a while after you do it.... =D

Then you put all the Rosettes on your shade. Like I said I put them over the seam. =) Okay, you are all done! This project took me about two days to make... (I worked on it at nap times) Thanks for checking it out! =D

Revamp an Old Lamp - Part One - The Rosette

Okay so, bear with me on this project - it has taken me a couple days to do and I am not quite finished with it yet so, I cannot give you the "final look" but, I will post it as soon as I get it done. My husbands grandmother passed away and she gave us a lamp. Now, the look of the lamp was not my taste - I told Samuel that I wanted to revamp it so that we would use it. Plus, it wasn't giving us any light in storage upstairs. The value of the lamp to us was not the LOOK of the lamp but, the sentimental value it held when we looked at it. So, I can now look at it without cringing.....

Step ONE - The Rosette

This is the flower we will be making. It is called a Rosette and I embellish TONS AND TONS of items with these little babies. Please note that the tutorial I am going to give is not my own - I was taught how to make this one by a friend. These are the supplies you will need:
1. Fabric of your choice - a pattern does not matter you won't see it anyway - the color MATTERS
2. Scissors
3. Glue Gun
4. Extra Glue Sticks

Get about two yards of fabric (depending on how large you want your flower) and cut it longways. All the way down.

Fold it in half with a dot of hot glue on it so that it stays in place.

Fold it in half again with a dot of glue to secure it.

With more glue (you are going to use a ton of hot glue on this project just to warn you) roll up the end a few times.

Now start rolling the fabric and gluing it in a circle. Yes, you are going to TWIST the fabric as you go along... You twist a small portion, put a dab of glue to secure it, then twist more, put another dab of glue.... and on and on until it is the size you want it to be.

This is a picture of the dab of glue.... not sure why I though you needed to see that. In my defense I was making this tutorial late in the night....

When you get to the end, decide which side you like of the Rosette you like better....

Then, put a good amount of glue on the back and press your "tail" of fabric onto the glue.

You are finished with the Rosette! Like I said, you can embellish anything with these little (or big) babies! Stay tuned for parts two and three of the lamp project - I will probably upload the pictures later tonight when the kids go to bed.... THANKS!!!

Pure White Carnation Flowers

I love these white carnation fabric flowers. =) A bride ordered them from me for her wedding day. These flowers will be put on shoe clips - but, once again - you can embellish anything with these little beauties!

Okay - here are the supplies we need:
1. Any type of silky fabric
2. Lace - a color that compliments your fabric
3. Thread
4. Needle
5. A circle cut out of the diameter you want - I used a 3 and a half inch - but you can make it whatever size you want it!
6. Fabric glue
7. buttons or beads
8. scissors

You are going to cut out your circles out of the fabric - I usually just fold the fabric and cut multiple circles at the same time... but, you can do it however you want. For this project I cut out 6-8 circles out of each type of fabric.

Now you need to thread your needle, put a knot at the end and have your cut outs ready.

Hold your needle like this in your left hand.

With your right hand you are going to fold your circles in half...

And then fold in half again so you have a cone shape...

This is how you will hold your needle and cones as you put them on the needle.

Now, go ahead and push the cone of fabric onto the needle - do not let it go past the needle onto the thread.

This is what your first piece should look like.

As you keep layering you want the layers to slightly overlap each other - it should start to look like this.

When you go through all of your fabric your layers should look like this on your needle. (You can kind of see the needle popping out of the top of this flower...)

Now you pull the entire flower through onto the string...

Now push the needle through the middle again and put on a extra circle on the back. (To give it a more finished look.) Then keep going through the middle front and back until you are satisfied with it being secure. Then on the back, knot it off.

Your flower should now look something like this.

Put a dab of glue on the button or bead and stick it in the middle! And you are finished! =D Congrats!
If you have any questions or comments or want to know how to make something, feel free to post! Thanks for stopping by!

Thinking of You - door hanger

This will show you how to make a Thinking of You door hanger! We have not seen some friends for a while and I thought they may enjoy some yummies! For all scrapbook lovers out there this is the perfect idea for you! You even get to give someone those delicious goodies you make at home! Perfect!

  These are the supplies you will need:
1. Some colorful scrapbook paper
2. Two pieces of card stock (any color)
3. Scissors 
4. Pencil and Pen
5. A verse, poem, word of encouragement
5. thick string or twine
6. hole punch (i used one that punches a heart)
7. and a baggy of goodies
8. Tape or photo sticky squares
 

Okay - cut your card stock to whatever size you think would be useful - I think I made mine a little big - so yours should be around a 5x7 or a little larger - whatever size baggy you have you have to make it the width of the baggy. Then cut your colorful paper a little larger. And stick the card stock on top of the colorful paper with your tape or photo sticky squares.

 Make sure that you cut your other piece of card stock the size of the colorful paper - This piece of card stock is your backing.

 Now, decorate your card - I used a pencil to sketch my letters and a vellum verse to decorate mine - you can use whatever you want.... I was going to print mine out on the computer and stick it on the front with another piece of card stock but, my printer didn't work - so that is an idea you can do...

This is what mine looked like after I traced over my letters with a pen that I love and erased all the pencil marks...

Okay now you are going to take your bottom piece of card stock and kind of sandwich in your plastic baggy...

See... you have sandwiched in the baggy between the two pieces of card stock/paper...

Okay now, you are going to hole punch around the project... WITH the baggy on there as you can see in the next picture...

See, you make sure that you hole punch two holes at the bottom with the baggy between...

Sorry this pic is sideways - I didn't even realize I took it was sideways until just now when I wanted to upload it... anyway... you are going to want to get your yarn, thick string, or twine our and cut a rather long piece. You need to leave a little at the top like this so that you can hang it on the door knob. Then start to weave it through your holes that you punched along the side.

When you get to the bottom, where your plastic bag is, you are going to put the yarn through the bottom hole, through the plastic bag, and then through the top hole on both sides.

Then in the middle of your card, tie a pretty bow. =) If you need to put a dab of glue, tape or a photo stick thing on the back of the bow so it holds to the card, then do that. (I had to so it didn't look silly).  There you have it! You are all done! Go make someones day special! =D