Tutorial Tuesday

Hello, my peeps.  Hope your weekend was great.  Well, its back to the grindstone today.  We spent the weekend with our home improvement list, and I could hardly wait to get back in the studio.....and to get it cleaned up.  I bought 10 packages of the ping pong balls for the snowmen (prior post) and some other goodies from the dollar store.  So here is my latest creation:

And can you guess what this little sweetie is made from????

These disposable champange glasses have that great bell shape for a skirt.  You get 6 in a package for a dollar.  For the dress, I tore a piece of homespun(use whatever pattern or fabric suits your fancy) 5" x 10".  I ran a loose gathering stitch about a half inch from one of the long ends and pulled it tight.  Knot off your thread.  Then place atop the stem of the inverted glass.  Of course, you will remove the plastic base.  Hot glue into place.  I also placed just a dot of glue on the back to hold the skirt together.  Hot glue the head in place.  For the heads, I simply paint 1" wooden balls in a flesh tone.  I do several of these at a time and like to use the ones with a flat side. (hint:  Put a piece of masking tape sticky side up on your painting surface.  This will hold the balls in place while you paint.)  Paint on eyes or use a marker.  Blush the cheeks.  I tied a piece of jute over the stitching line and glued on a rusty bell.  I tore another piece of matching homespun 5" long and about an inch and a half wide and glued to the back.  I glued a tiny flesh painted ball to the area where the ends meet to simulate hands.  For the wings, I took some strands of raffia, tied it in a bow and glued it on the back.  Glue on some moss for hair.  I used rusty wire for a tiny halo.  I can see alot of uses for these.  How about a name tag where the ball (hand) is?  They are light weight enough to use as an ornament or a topper on a small tree.  Let your imagination run wild!

Ping Pong Snowmen

What????  Two posts in one day???  Could it be true????  Well, I have had a busy day today.  Besides the normal household chores, I also planted potatoes, watered the plants, finished up some gift card holders and snowball buckets and made these adorable snowmen:

These were so easy that I amazed myself!  When I was at the dollar store a couple of weeks ago, I saw these ping pong balls in the toy department:

Eight for $1....what a deal.  And whenever I see round white balls, I think SNOWMEN!!!  I simply dug out some little screw-in eyelets:

I had these on hand, but you can get them anywhere.  Simply screw them into the balls (I added a little hot glue just to stabilize), paint on faces, and add a ribbon.  I tried marker instead of paint, but the marker just didn't show up very well.  I used ribbon, but you could use jute, wire, yarn, or fishing line.  I made the faces a bit different and added a powder blush when the paint was dry. 

The possibilities are endless with these.  You could leave off the hook, and pile them in a glass vase or compote for a great centerpiece.  Tie them on a package, or personalize and use as a place setting.  I know one thing, I am going back to the dollar store and buy all that they have on hand.  These will be a great seller at my shows!

Ugly pendant lights

Our new house is a rental, so we are kind of stuck with some of the fixtures we have.  One of the things that I absolutely HATE are these pendant lights that hang between the living room/dining area and the kitchen.  The lamp globes were dark and ugly and were reminiscent of a 1970's bar..not fitting with my prim design.  So I got some quart canning jars, some rusty lids and voila!

OLD......yuck

New......I love these!

Now the room is much lighter, they look great, and are easy to clean....

Gift Card Holders

I got a new pattern from Country Whims to make these really cute snowman gift card holders.  I made ten of them to start....

Aren't they adorable?  The gift card pocket is a bit snug, so I will make them a bit bigger on the next go around. 

Since the weather has finally started to warm up a bit, I have been spending more time outside, gardening, cleaning up the yard, etc.  And even though I have vowed to declutter, I did stop at a couple of yard sales on Friday.  The only thing I purchased was a box of fabric......yikes!

Oh, well, there are some really nice decorator fabrics in the box, great for pillows and pumpkins and dolls and.....can you tell I am rationalizing???  Well, it was only $10 so I am happy with my purchase.    

Well, on to more snowmen...

Working on ornies

As I have been unpacking, I have found loads of things that I bought and never did anything with.  These items were just hanging around. 

I got several packages of these tiny little buckets at the dollar store.  They are for wedding favors and each package contains three tiny white buckets, three short pieces of ribbon, and three thank you stickers.  What to do???What to do???

So I had this red wine colored spray paint in my stash and took the little buckets outside and sprayed them.

Next, again, still trying to use from my stash, I found these little wooden balls and painted them white.  Then I covered them with mod podge and rolled them in glitter.

Now to assemble:  I tore homespun and glued it to the perimeter of the bucket.  Then I covered it with raffia and glued a small rusty star to it.  I put some fiberfill in the buckets and glued in five of the balls.  I added a small sign made of card stock.  They turned out really cute, huh?

You could change these up a bit for your own tastes.  You could paint the buckets a rust, or a black, or a more festive, brighter color.  You don't have to paint the inside since you will fill it.  You can make your balls out of styrofoam.  I ran out, so I will buy some for my next batch.  and you could trim your buckets with ribbon, rick-rack, bells, etc.  These make a cute ornament and are bound to be a good seller. 

I also made a big batch of salt shaker angels.  Again, they are made from dollar store shakers....2 for $1.  I used wooden hearts, painted white and covered front and back with glitter, for the wings.  Wooden balls, painted flesh have eyes drawn with sharpies and some blush.  I used moss (also purchased at the dollar store) for the hair, and put little gold toned halos on their heads.  The dresses were made from scraps of lace. 

The shaker is filled with that artificial snow that you get over the holidays for villages.  ( I bought a bunch of this after Christmas)  You could fill with salt or glitter but that can get a little expensive.  I sold quite a few of these at a spring show, so I think they will do well this fall.  The little ribbon bow is from the bucket kit. 
Well, on to more crafts......Have a great day.

New Ornies

Had to finish up a few of Frosty's hats.  I think they came out so cute!  Gonna make a bunch of these!

The hats seem to go with today's weather:

Are you kidding me?????
Have a great May Day, my friends......