Faking It

Fake Flowers that is!  I celebrated Mothers Day yesterday with a whole gang of ladies and had so much fun at Spa Castle!  Seriously, if you are anywhere near Queens NY, you must go there.  Amazing! 

Since we would be out all day, I thought that fresh flowers would be a waste, as we'd have no where to stash them with water.  So, I made some fake ones myself out of fabric scraps, and leftover plastic stems from this craft.  Waste not, want not! 

I made these last year too, based on a tutorial from made.  Seriously, watch out for that glue gun, its deadly!  I worked with the glue gun in droplets and small sections, rather than going the length of the fabric all at once - that was too unwieldy, not to mention painful!  Also, the glue dries up at the end by the time I got there, which was a waste.  I wrapped the bases with ribbon to finish it off. 

The ladies liked them, I think!  They can take them home looking fresh as a daisy - and they will stay that way! 

This is a fun, cheap craft you can make for free, basically, using scraps and leftover materials. 

A good way to get your mind off of whatever is on it too! 

Silly Little Can

Here is a fun craft that will only take you a few short minutes!  Its pretty self explanatory but I will share. 

I needed some little containers to store various accouterments in my bathroom.  I wanted them to be cute since I'd look at them every day, but neutral so as not to look clutters.  Also, I am cheap and didn't want to buy them. 

Then, my epiphany - I could make some myself!  One empty can of Spaghettios later, and I was ready to roll.  I cut some burlap I had on hand a littler larger than the height of the can (after washing, of course), and made the fabric a little bit longer than I'd need to wrap around, for overlap.  I peeled off the label and glued the fabric to the can.  (I used plain Elmer's glue, since I couldn't quite lay my hands on my glue gun at that moment, but that would work too.)  I wrapped two rubber bands around it while it dried to keep it in place. 

Once it dried, I trimmed the burlap a little, then picked out a nice brown ribbon and cut two sections of it, each long enough to wrap around the can, plus about a half an inch.  I glued those to the top and bottom rims of the can and after a little drying it was done!  After I get a few more cans I might make more - stay tuned!

You don't have to use burlap of course - any scrap fabric would work.  You could use wrapping paper or ribbon or whatever you'd like!  Fun and free storage - yay! 

Scrappy Crafting

I love when I can make a cool craft using stuff I already have, and especially when it would have been destined for the dumpster too! 

My retractable tape measure ceased to retract, which led to a messy sewing box.  No worries; I had a backup (or 10) but I didn't want to toss it because...well, I don't know, but I hung on to it nevertheless.  Then I got an idea! 

Inspired by this tutorial from How About Orange, I made it into a little bow by cutting it up and stapling little loops. (You could glue them too - the skinny tape measure was a little unweildy with a full sized stapler. I hot glued them together into the bow shape. 

But WAIT!  That's not all! 

Too cute just to grace a package (although you could do that too, by affixing some double sided tape to the bottom), I glued on a little scrap of fleece and a pin I had.  Yay!  Now I can show my passion for sewing on my sleeve...or shirt, or bag, or wherever I want. 

Birthday Picnic

I always wished my birthday was in June. I got stuck with December, so no pool parties, backyard bday bbqs or the like for me.

Brian's mom's birthday is today though! (Happy Birthday!) I put together these picnic ready place mats for her. The place mats have a little pouch on the side for flatware, and I made matching cloth napkins that tuck in too. Perfect for a birthday picnic, I think!

Here is a close up of the little pouch. The pattern/idea is from one of my favorite craft books, One Yard Wonders. (If you haven't already you should check it out - TONS of amazing sewing projects, great clear instructions, and as the title says, they all only use 1 yard of fabric!)

You could use these place mats at the dinner table too, I think. But if you need them to travel, I whipped up a little drawstring bag for them - just roll and go! I hope she enjoys them.

And yes, I know I've used the red fabric for a billion projects I've shared here - with this one I've finished up the last of it! Which is why the bag doesn't match, of course.

Flower Power

Hello friends! Here is another girly craft I tried out - no sew fabric flowers from Made! A very cool blog that has done a whole series on celebrating mom/women - check it out if you haven't already.

This little bouquet was made using fabric scraps and chopsticks so it was basically free. I did burn the crap out of my fingers with the glue gun, so if you try it be careful!

This was my last one, and my favorite - I was able to make them fluffier by sort of folding back the fabric every so often instead of just wrapping it around. I will make more, I'm sure, but by the time I finished this one my poor digits couldn't take any more. Why must I suffer for my art?

One more!

I found another stellar idea to add to the post below! How About Orange has a great idea for making bows out of magazine pages! The perfect way to jazz up your package - doesn't it look sophisticated, with the plain newspaper wrapping and the bright bow? Love it!

Check out the post, and the blog while you're there! Its one of my favs.

Wrapping Paper Rant

I love Christmas and birthdays and holidays as much as anyone, and a beautifully wrapped package just for you is a special sight. What I don't like is oodles of garbage bags full of tossed tissue and glittery wrappings crumbled in a ball Christmas morning.

No need to worry this season though! I've got some great ideas to lessen your impact on the environment, and be stylish to boot.

Wrapping paper is designed to be thrown away. Sure, I'll save a pretty piece, but it eventually finds its way to the garbage, and even faster if your a rip and tear type gifter. Some alternatives:

Check out this post from Creature Comfort and the picture above. Using celery as a stamp looks awesome! You could use paintbrushes or finger paint or whatever you'd like also. And you could definitely use newspaper or paper grocery bags for your base. This would be a fun project for the little kiddies, too!

Here is another cool idea from Creature Comfort to add a clever package topper - a bow made out of a plastic grocery bag! It looks cute and you definitely have one (or 100) of those crammed in your cupboards.

The old newspaper wrapping trick is a good one but it can look a little drab. Be on the lookout for pages with comics, colored ads or pictures too add some pizazz to your paper. Small packages can be done in magazine pages too - always a source of lovely color. Another fun idea from Merriment Design: phonebook wrapping paper! I like the concept of selecting pages that match your gift - child care for a new baby, home improvement pages for a housewarming, etc. (This works for the newspaper idea too - why not use the wedding announcements for a bridal shower?)

Gift bags have always been great - easy to use even if you're in a rush or were fired from the charity gift wrapping counter at the mall. Plus they can be used again and again. You can pick them up very cheaply at the dollar store and add some flare to make it your own - or you can just make your own with my tutorial! (You thought I'd forget?)

You can jazz up any of the ideas here with some ribbons - why not do the same with one of the many reusable grocery bags out there now too? Your recipient will have an extra tote for their next trip to Trader Joe's!

This holiday season I'm vowing to help the earth by making my own wrappings. Join me!

Have some great ideas for gift wrapping of your own? Let me know!

Trash/Treasure

Look what I found!

As the saying goes, one man's trash is another man's treasure...or, in this case, one woman's tag sale leftovers are another chic's deal of the day!

So, I got up early this morning en route to a stellar walking food tour of the Lower East Side (more on that later) and saw a stoop sale (as they call it in BK) setting up. I made a mental note to check it out on my way back later that afternoon.

By the time I returned, around 4pm, the sale was over, but the remnants were boxed by the curb free for the taking - and I snagged a sweet square pan (which I needed), a cute little french mug, some valentines treat holders, several yards of fabric from former window treatments (I think), and a slew of new ribbon!

I've washed it all, don't fret. It was all very carefully sorted and packaged in individual ziploc bags so I think I'll be safe from leprosy, etc.

It all stays out of the garbage this way, and I took home some delightful treats! Win/win!

This brings me to a good tip -if you see something you MUST have, snag it right away, but if you're in a more whimsical mood, swing by stoop/garage/yard/rummage/tag sales towards the end and you may get some sweet stuff for free/way cheap - after sitting outside all day, the seller most likely doesn't want to haul it inside/toss it.

So what do you think, kids? Is this gross, or great?

My first tutorial! Make your own gift bag box!

Doot doo dooo DOOOT!

(That is my trumpet noise.)

I decided to show you how to make a craft of your own! Its my first attempt at a tutorial so bear with me - and if anything is confusing or you have any suggestions, please do let me know so I can fix it and make future ones tip top!

I like to make crafts, I like reusing/repurposing/recycling, and I like free stuff, so if I can do incorporate all of these things into one new thing, its AWESOME! Not only does it keep the original ingredients out of the garbage, it prevents you from having to purchase new gift bags or wrapping paper, keeping that out of the landfill of the future! I know that trying to change the future is a risky endeavor - I've seen Terminator 1,2, and 3 - but I think this one is for the good of the planet so I think its ok.

This craft uses stuff you have, so its pretty much free, unless you've run out of glue or something, but they you can use it again so its really not too bad.

These directions are pretty loose - you can customize it based on whatever decorative materials you have, so this is just a basic outline, but feel free to go crazy and make it your own!

EMMA'S GIFT BAG-BOX TUTORIAL!

Materials:

• Empty paperboard box (like a cereal box or similar, depending on the size of the item you are packaging)
• Glue - (I use a combo of rubber cement, mod podge, and a hot glue gun, but you can work with what you have/like)
• Paper - leftover construction paper, magazines, wrapping paper, or whatever you like!
• Ribbon or a long strip of fabric
• Embellishments: glitter, buttons, sequins, fabric, photos, paper, paint, etc! Check this out for inspiration, or to print out and add to your creation!
• Single hole punch
• Scissors
• Pinking schears, if you are using fabric (optional)

Here we go!

Clip the tabs off the open end of your box with your scissors. If you want to make it shorter, you can cut down some of the top too.

The hardest part: decide what you want your bag to look like.

I choose a focal point or color scheme and go from there. If you are painting your box, go for it. If you want to make a collage from magazines, gather your cuttings and trim them to your liking. If you'll have a larger item like a photo or picture, trim it down to size. I like to cut it a little longer than the box so I can tuck the ends inside, but you can use a raw edge or decorative scissors to make it funky too. If its a cool box you can reveal parts of it too if you would like.

Select how you'd like to decorate your background and do that first. Paint it, or glue down one or more pieces of paper, followed by any larger flat decorations. Let the glue dry. If you need to hold the paper in place while it dries, use paper clips.

I like to mod podge the outside to seal everything in - this makes the final product last longer, so it can be used again, and it smooths down any edges that might stick up if you've attached multiple pieces of paper to your box. Its not mandatory though.

(Oh, I did try to mod podge a box after painting it with tempera paint, and then attaching clippings on top - not a good move. The paint leaked through the paper, onto the ribbon I'd attached, and everything. Don't do this.)
Let everything dry. I'm always impatient and try to move ahead before its done, but the end result will be so much nicer if you just give it time. You can add another coat of mod podge if you like, and let that dry too.

If you want, you can trim the top of the box in a zig zag or wavy design with your scissors. If you do, make sure the skinny ends are relatively even for the next step.

Punch one hole on each skinny side of the box. Measure a length of ribbon or a long strip of fabric to the length you'd like the handle to be, add a couple of inches, and cut. (If you're using fabric you can cut with pinking shears so it doesn't fray). Knot one end of the ribbon (or fabric) and feed the unknotted end through the hole, from the inside of the box to the outside, right side up (if there is a difference). Pull gently until the knot hits the inside of the box.

Slip the unknotted end of the ribbon through the other hole from the outside of the box to the inside, making sure your ribbon isn't twisted, and pull it most of the way through. Knot the end that is now inside the box, and pull the ribbon until both knots are against the inside of the box.
Tuck this handle inside your box to keep it out of the way for the next bit.

Now, we can add some 3-D embellishments! I use a hot glue gun and add ribbon around the box, but you could also glue on fabric, buttons, sequins, glitter or any other light decorative element that sparks your fancy. Let it dry, and you're gift bag is ready to be filled with fun! What a great way to give your handmade crafts the presentation they deserve.

There are a million ways you could adapt this for to any occasion - it would be fun to have kids decorate their own for a goody bag for a birthday party, or make something special for Halloween trick or treating. You could make up a bunch of smaller ones for a baby or bridal shower using mini cereal boxes - the options are endless! Have fun and happy crafting.