Easy, Peasy Thursday Tutorial

So I have this room off of the garage where we keep our freezer and my saw, sander, hand tools.  I also store my excess craft hoard.  It had kinda gotten out of hand so I went out and started sorting and cleaning.  To my amazement, (my attempt at sarcasm here), I found some things I had forgotten I had. Enter this box of glass ornaments.  Okay, I know the box is empty, but it was full.  Trust me....

I also had a bag of white feathers.....

So I simply put one little feather in each of the clear glass ornaments.

I cut 12 pieces of white organza ribbon, each 10" long.  You could use whatever ribbon you want.  I had this on hand.

Then I printed these little angel poems and used my tag punch to cut them out.

I threaded one piece of ribbon through the hole in the tag and then through the top of the ornament hanger.  I tied it into a bow.  The other piece got looped through the same place and knotted for hanging.

What a sweet little ornament!  I sell a ton of these at craft shows.  One tip is to keep them in the box that they came in.  These are breakable and it never fails that one gets broken.  These ornaments are the glass discs.  You could use round ones if you like.  You could use plastic ones or grosgrain ribbon.  You could make the tags round or use a fancy scissors to cut them out.

Here is the short poem that I used:

This is an Angel Feather

Sent from God Above

To Serve as a Reminder

Of His Most Precious Love

I simply put it in a word document.  I used this font: Freehand471 BT, in size 9 text.  You can play around with it to get the size and font that you like best.  Have fun with this!

A Flake in Colorado

I purchased these wooden cutouts from Jean when I got the candles, etc.  This would be a cute craft for you to do with your kids.  You can get these cutouts on line, or from any craft store. 

 

Here's how to make your own!

 

Paint both sides and the edges with white.  Drill a hole to hang.  Coat each side with mod podge or white glue and sprinkle with glitter.  I use an ultrafine polyester glitter.  Be sure you apply them over a container or paper plate to catch all of the excess glitter so that you can reuse.  Do one side and let thoroughly dry before turning over and doing the other side.  While you are waiting for the glue to dry, print out the saying as shown above.  Of course, you will want to use your own state (if you are gifting as a couple you could say 'a couple of flakes in XXXXX loves you')  I used a tag punch, but you could cut out in any shape and then punch a hole in the end.  Use a ribbon, jute, or embroidery thread to string through the hole in the ornament and tag.  I used organza ribbon.  I will sell these at my craft shows and also give as gifts to my family who live out of state. 

 

Have fun with this craft!

Angels, Ornies,

I love Fridays!  Friday is my day to run errands, and lately it is my day to spend with my granddaughter, Skylar.  Skylar is 12 going on 30 and is so very talented in arts, music, and writing.  So, we love to play in the studio. 

I had been working on these new ornies that I saw on Pinterest.  Mine turned out different than the example but I like them just the same.

Okay, now here is the secret.....they are made out of paint sticks.  You know, the ones that you get at Home Depot for free!   So here is what I did:  I gathered my sticks (I have an entire box that I got years ago and didn't know what to do with them)  and I clamped about 5 or 6 together. 

I used a miter saw but you can use any kind that you want.

I cut them into 4 inch pieces.  You will get two out of each stick (this size is for the one gallon size) plus you will get a third piece that has the little indent at the top.  (Save that for a later project)

Once the sticks are cut, sand off any rough edges and drill two tiny holes in each.  I put several together and drilled through all of them.  After you drill your holes, paint them front, back and sides.  I used a dark brown paint but you can use any color that you want.  While they dry, print off the words that you want on your ornaments.  I found a template on TodaysFabulousFinds.com but you can also make your own.  In fact, the ones that I found were a little too big so I had to shrink them down.  I printed them out on white cardstock and then copied them onto a tannish paper.  You could use any kind of scrapbook paper that you want to as well. Skylar and I dry-brushed the edges to make them look aged.

Once the paint is dry and your words are printed, put a thin layer of ModPodge on the painted stick(front side only).  If your print on the stick shines through your paint, use that for your front side.  While the MP is still wet, put your paper words on top and use your fingers to press out any bubbles.  When dry, put another coat or two.  When dry, add your wire hanger, threading the wire back to front.  I used a needle nosed pliers to make little circles on the front side of the hanger.  Then embellish however you want.  Add bells, stars, raffia, glitter, etc.  I have a spiced glitter that I purchased from Sew Many Prims that is glitter that is lightly spiced and is a brownish color.  (smells divine, too!)  I put just a little MP around the edges and gave it just a bit of sparkle.

I also finished up a few of these angels too.  I was in Michael's last week and saw these sweet little wooden angels for a buck ea.  So I had to dress them up a bit and I think they are really sweet.

Simply, paint the body and wings the color of your choice.  I used a light buttermilk color.  Then cover the body with eyelet.  I used a narrow eyelet on the bottom so I could glue it just under the wings.  I used a wider eyelet on top.  I glued some moss on the heads, drew eyes with a marker, and glued on little stars.  For the halos, I painted some silver rings with a brown primer and glued on.  You can make a project like this your own, just use your imagination and get going! 

What cha working on Wednesday????

So, I know I promised to post yesterday, but some things just are outside of my control.  I did take some pictures of some of my holiday decor.  This is my favorite piece of furniture in my whole house, my Hoosier cabinet.
I know that the pic isn't the greatest, but over the years, I have collected nearly 400 Santas, santa ornaments, and decorations referencing Santa.  I always fill my Hoosier with them as well as my curio, my shelves, my window sills, etc.  I will work on better pics for the next post.

Now, for that craft idea.  Many of you know that I love to shop at Dollar Tree.  Well I found these bags of 6 candy canes there.

Next, I tore muslin into strips about 3/4" wide and wrapped it around the cane.  In the opposite direction, I wrapped red ribbon.  You could use green or any other color, or use a check (like I did) stripe, etc.  Be creative.  Then embellish!  I tied on a string or cord hanger too.

As a tradition, I gift each of my children and grandchildren an ornament each year.  My mom used to do it for my kids.  She always said that when your child became an adult and moved out, they would have a memorable start to their own tree.  These little ornaments can do double duty.  I attached a key tag that you can find in any office supply store and wrote the name and year (one on each side) on the tag.  These can be placed on their dinner plate as a place holder as well.

There can be a lot of variations to this simple craft.  You can tea stain the muslin and tag for a more rustic look.  Instead of ribbon, you can use narrow strips of fabric.  You can use a spray adhesive and add glitter (or brush on mod podge).  I just wouldn't place a glitter ornament on a dinner plate.  You can use metallic fabric and ribbons to add a bit of glitz.  You could glue on beads, sequins, etc.  In other words, GET CREATIVE! 

Lastly, I finally got a link from Colorado's Best so if you missed my segment here it is: 

http://www.coloradosbest.tv/videos/