Designers Craft Connection - Thank You Gift

Welcome to the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop for the month of November. This month's theme is a "Thank You Gift". I am especially thankful that Dear Handyman and his son-in-law both like to cook and barbeque so we will have a feast on Thanksgiving. Since I enjoy crafting more than cooking, my Thank You Gift is a Thanksgiving Table Runner.

The fun part about this felt table runner is that everything is thrifted. I began with a stack of felt that I found at an estate sale two years ago. There was only a small handful of felt scraps left after I cut everything that I needed.

Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop September - Vacation Memories

Welcome to the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop for the month of September. The theme this month is to display vacation memories and often these include souvenirs that are too bulky to fit inside a  scrapbook. I created a solution to hold all of the little things that make up vacation memories.

I love little drawers and I especially love when they are bright and colorful. I made these drawers using the Sizzix Box, Candy Drawer die by Eileen Hull. This works best using board stock but I wanted to use lots of my two-sided card stock in my stash. It worked well because I attached all of the boxes to each other so they have added stability. Plus I love the Summery colors of the papers.

I began by digging through all of my stash then die cutting and folding all of the pieces needed to make nine drawers. Once I decided how I liked the order of the boxes to appear I glued the adjacent sides and tops to form a stack of three boxes across by three boxes high. I used a 1/2" circle punch to create the finger hole on each drawer front.

I filled the drawers with little items that I've collected from various vacations over the years. I have squished pennies from lots of tourist locations, tiny sea shells from different beaches and stamps from around the world {mostly dream vacation spots}. I also included some items that I've collected while thrifting on vacations.

I used some small items as drawer pulls to highlight what is inside the drawers. A tiny sea shell and button add interest to the front of the drawers.

You can create a set of these drawers or keep adding to this group of drawers every season. This is such a fun way to organize little items. They hold fond memories of Summer vacations.

Please use the DCC blog hop button on the right to continue to get inspired by the many creative designers of the Designers Craft Connection blog hop.

This is linked to:
Lamberts Lately

Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop - December

Welcome to the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop for the month of December. This month's theme is "Handmade for the Holidays".

I am excited about this month's theme because; 1) I love making things, 2) I love the holidays and 3) I had a perfect idea for a dual-purpose project.

My sister and I exchange handmade ornaments every year. This year our theme was "Something Made of Paper". So combining the themes I created a "Tim Holtz Cuckoo Clock" ornament.

I began by covering a small box with old sheet music. This happened to be from The Nutcracker Suite in case anyone happens to notice. Before I sealed up the box I punched two small holes in the bottom of the box and ran a small chain through it leaving both ends hanging out of the bottom. I sealed up the box and used Distress inks to age the paper edges.

Using all Sizzix dies, I die cut two Tattered Pinecone pieces and followed Tim Holtz's video to create the pinecones hanging beneath the clock. I added some snowy glitter using white glue.

I cut out a House, 3-D and used the Woodgrain Texture Fade for added dimension to the sides. Again, using Distress inks I highlighted the raised texture. I cut an opening near the top arch and attached a small die cut Cardinal {more festive than a Cuckoo Bird}. 

I die cut the Weathered Clock and first applied Tea Dye Distress ink as a background color. Next, I used Perfect Medium with an all-over pattern stamp and applied Perfect Pearls in Heirloom Gold. This created a random, worn metallic look to the clock face. Before assembling the clock/house I laid the clock face on the front and determined where the clock hands would be attached. I used a small brad to attach the hands then removed the clock face while I worked on the next steps. 

I assembled the clock/house and decided that it needed a roof. I folded a piece of brown cardstock and ran both sides through my Vagabond die cutting machine using the Snowflurries Texture Fade. I sanded the raised surface to give it more texture. I also added a small piece of die cut Vintage Lace along the front edge of the roof. It is cut from more old sheet music and left over from a previous project. It gave the house a gingerbread roof line. I used a large needle to punch two holes in the roof and top of the house. I glued the roof to the house then strung a piece of vintage ribbon through the holes.

I used hot glue to attach the house to the bottom box. I glued the clock face to both the house and the base. On the left side of the clock I added a small bottlebrush tree. On the right, I glued a small die cut Reindeer.

I hope you enjoyed my Handmade for the Holidays project. Please use the DCC Blog Hop button on the right to visit all of the talented designers and see their creative projects.

This is linked to:
Beyond the Picket Fence, Coastal Charm, Elizabeth and Co., Making the World Cuter, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Savvy Southern Style, Sew Can Do, Sew Much Ado, Someday Crafts, Sugar Bee Crafts, The Shabby Creek Cottage, The Thrifty Home, The Trendy Treehouse, Topsy Turvy and Twin Dragonfly Designs

Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop - October

Welcome to the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop for the month of October. This month's theme is  Hallowed Homes {Decorating the home for Halloween}.

Living in Southern California, there isn't a big seasonal change in the weather so it is hard to think of Autumn festivities when it is 94 degrees outside. But thanks to this blog hop I threw myself into the Autumn decorating spirit so here is my Halloween cupboard reveal.

I began by covering the back of my antique cupboard with old atlas pages, dictionary pages and music sheets. I did this to give everything a lighter background.

On the top shelf I have my favorite vignette with an old antler and pharmacy bottle.

On the second shelf I have two portraits that I bought several years ago. These were some of the first lenticular haunted portraits I had ever seen. More closeup photos to follow. I also have my paper mache pumpkin displayed with some old laboratory bottles.

The bottom shelf has my glove molds, another laboratory bottle, skeleton keys, vintage plastic pumpkins and my black cat teapot.

Here are closer images of the haunted portraits. They "decompose" right before your eyes. They are the scariest part of my Halloween display.

I hope you enjoyed my Halloween inspired cupboard. Please continue forward or backwards through the blog hop using the blue DCC button on the right column. There are so many inspiring ideas from the many creative designers in this group. 

Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop - September

Welcome to the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop for September. "Vintage Showcase" is the theme this month with the idea to create something that celebrates all things vintage. Normally I would select something vintage and create something from it or repurpose it into something else. But I thought I would do something totally different this time.

I created a purse {above} that was inspired by an old radiator water bag I found at a garage sale. Below is the inspiration piece.

Designer Craft Connection - August

Welcome to the Designer Craft Connection Blog Hop for August. This month's theme is designing with school supplies. This was an exciting challenge because I happened to have a lot of vintage school supplies gathered from my thrifting adventures.

My favorite school supply that I collect are old wooden rulers. They look so lovely as they age and are quite varied in their appearance. I began with the idea of covering a lamp shade with rulers but with a bit of luck at my local Goodwill my project became more unique. I began with 24 vintage rulers and a boxy, pink polka dotted lamp {sorry there are no "before" photos} then using hot glue, I attached the rulers to the sides.

Designer Crafts Connection Blog Hop - Father's Day

Welcome to the Designer Crafts Connection Blog Hop for the month of June. This month's theme is either Picnic or Father's Day. My project is a Father's Day picnic.

I've been spending a lot of time at race tracks lately so I decided to design a race-themed picnic which works well as a Father's Day picnic. I began by rethinking the typical picnic basket and used a toolbox {new and clean} instead. I filled it with all kinds of picnic goodies.

Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop – May

Welcome to the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop. This month's theme was either Jewelry or Flowers. I had an idea combining the two but ran into a bit of a time crunch at the last minute with some additional freelance work. So I moved on to plan B which is technically my plan A since I have been meaning to do this project for some time.

I have been slowly decorating my work area in the office. It is a typical "cubicle" with dull gray fabric partitions and boring office supplies. My first project was purchasing a painter's dropcloth from the hardware store to cover the dull gray fabric walls. I bought the lightest weight dropcloth, 8oz. and 4 ft x 15 ft worked for the size that I needed.

I trimmed the dropcloth and hemmed the edges. I didn't want to attach the material permanently to the cubicle walls so I used the odd clips that they supply to hold things to these walls. But these clips looked horrible so this is where my Flower project came in.

Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop - My Favorite Technique

Welcome to the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop for the month of August. This month's theme is "Your Favorite Craft Technique". I enjoy so many different techniques but I had to choose only one.

I finally chose a sewing project using thrifted threads. I had thrifted so many plastic spools of thread and didn't want to waste them. I created a reusable cup holder using only thread and felt.

This project uses a lot of thread and a lot of patience. The colors I chose created a sunset sky look when I started creating stripes of colors. You can keep sewing until you cannot see any felt background. 

To begin, I used a cup holder from the local coffee house as a template. I opened it flat and cut a piece of felt to match. I later discovered that the sewing tends to shrink the felt. My suggestion would be to cut a piece that was about twice as long as the finished size. 

Next, I started sewing back and forth. I started with a medium color (in this case, orange) as a background. The medium color would end up being covered but it created an overall background. Adding light and dark colors later created the visual color bands.

Feel free to experiment. You can sew vertical as well as horizontal rows to create unique patterns. I sewed in a wave pattern. You can also use zigzag stitches. And you don't have to make a cup holder. Sew squares together to make a purse or use a strip as a headband. Remember that the inside of the cupholder will also be seen so sew on both sides of the piece with a variety of colors. This is a celebration of color and upcycling.

Please use the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop button on the right column to continue through the hop. Aren't you curious to see what favorite techniques other designers enjoy?

I am honored to be featured at:

Sew Can Do

This is linked to:
All Thingz Related, Between Naps on the Porch, Cherished Treasures, FaveCrafts, Homemaker on a Dime, I'm Topsy Turvy, It's a Very Cherry World, Keeping It Simple, Making the World Cuter, Marvelously Messy, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Rook No. 17, Running With Glitter, Sew Can Do, Singing Three Little Birds, Skip to My Lou, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project,  The DIY Showoff, The Girl Creative and The Trendy Treehouse

Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop - Travel

Welcome to the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop for the month of July. This month's theme is Travel or Vacation. I chose to highlight the fact that every day is part of a journey that we travel.

So I'm a little late posting because my Travel project was set up at the office. It is a vignette to welcome someone who always encourages crafters to "Enjoy the Journey".

I used an old suitcase and filled it with vintage items one might use on their travels. There is an old camera, binoculars, alarm clock, maps and postcards.

Along the back of the suitcase I created a bunting design using the Paper Rosette die and old, tea dyed seam binding.

In front of the suitcase, I used a page from an old atlas and printed directly onto the page. I adhered it to a piece of Grunge Paper and then die cut the word "Journey". To hold this, I used an old floral frog.

Because this was a "Welcome" display, I added vintage alphabet blocks and used silver sugar bowl lids (see example here) to hold letters of our guest's name. I used alcohol inks and Tissue Tape to embellish the clear acetate letters.

Besides having so much fun designing this display, I had an absolutely fabulous day learning new techniques from our guest, Tim Holtz.

Thank you for sharing the journey Tim!

Please use the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop button to the right to see what other projects the wonderful designers have created.

I am honored to be featured at:

The Southern Institute

This is linked to:
504 Main, All Thingz Related, Between Naps on the Porch, Brambleberry Cottage, Cherished Treasures, Chic on a Shoestring, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, Finding Fabulous, French Country Cottage, Frugalicious Me, Homemaker on a Dime, I'm Topsy Turvy, Inspiring Creations, It's a Very Cherry World, Just a Girl, Keeping it Simple, Life Made Lovely, Lovely Crafty Home, Making the World Cuter, Marvelously Messy, My Romantic Home, Passionately Artistic, Rook No. 17, Running With Glitter, Savvy Southern Style, Simply Designing, Skip to My Lou, Sugar Bee Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Tales from Bloggeritaville, Tatertots & Jello, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, The DIY Showoff, The Girl Creative, The Shabby Nest, The Southern Institute, Truly Lovely, Type A and What Allie's Making Now

Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop - Patriotic

Welcome to the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop for the month of June. This month's theme is Patriotic (our next Blog Hop is on July 7 which will be too late to highlight a Fourth of July theme).

I chose to decorate for a patriotic, Fourth of July, outdoor party. Many of the items used in these projects have been thrifted.

I created several projects for this table setting. The first project is a variation of the old fashioned bunting (banners that were hung from buildings). I created a small version using the Sizzix Paper Rosette die. Instead of gluing the ends together to create a circle, I glued each end to a thin strip of paper and created the half-circle bunting shape. I attached these to the edge of a tiered display. (Sorry, cupcakes are store-bought. I didn't have time to actually bake anything.)

On some of the rosettes I glued a strip of contrasting blue along the edge. The tutorial on how to do this is here. As a final detail, I glued a vintage button in the center of each rosette.

I created party favors to look like firecrackers using the Candy-Shaped Box die. I tied red tinsel on the ends to give it a firecracker sparkle.

And any outdoor summer party needs pinwheels. I used the pinwheel die and attached them to dowels using flat thumb tacks.

The last project is for drink coasters made out of recycled magazine pages. Here's how the final project looked followed by a short tutorial.

To begin, tear out 8 pages from the same magazine so that they are all the same size. Since this is a red, white and blue theme, I chose pages with those prominent colors.

Step 1. Fold each page in half lengthwise.
Step 2. Unfold and fold each long edge towards the center using the first fold as a center guide.
Step 3. Fold each long edge towards the center again so that you have a long, narrow strip (approximately 1" wide)

After you have 8 of these strips you can begin to weave them together starting from the center. Use four strips as the horizontal and four strips as the vertical. You should end up with something that looks like the image below (without the numbers). Keep tightening the weave as you work. 

Select which surface will be the top and fold back the ends as you weave them into the back side of your coaster. The image below shows the order to follow. In this case you would begin by folding edge #1 back and weave the end behind piece #12. Remember to tighten the weave as you work your way around the edges.

Hope you enjoyed these decorating ideas for a Patriotic Party. Please be sure and continue through the Designers Craft Connection Blog Hop clicking Forward or Back in the DCC Blog Hop button on the right. And be sure and check out the Blog Hop Giveaway here.

I am honored to be featured at:

The DIY Home Sweet Home Project

Passionately Artist

This is linked to:
A Little Knick Knack, All Thingz Related, Between Naps on the Porch, Beyond the Picket Fence, Blue Cricket Designs, Brambleberry Cottage, Bugaboo Mini Mr & Me, Cherished Treasures, Chic on a Shoestring, Coastal Charm, Common Ground, Craft Envy, Creative Everyday, Designer Garden, FaveCrafts, Homemaker on a Dime, I {heart} Naptime, Inspiring Creations, It's a Very Cherry World, Itsy Bitsy Paper, Just a Girl, Keeping it Simple, Lovely Crafty Home, Making the World Cuter, Marvelously Messy, My Romantic Home, Paisley Passions, Passionately Artistic, Rook No. 17, Running With Glitter, Savvy Southern Style, Sew Can Do, Sew Much Ado, Simply Designing, Singing Three Little Birds, Someday Crafts, Somewhat Simple, Southern Institute for Domestic Arts and Crafts, Sumo's Sweet Stuff, Sunburnt Cow, Tater Tots and Jello, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, The DIY Showoff, The Girl Creative, The Shabby Chic Cottage, The Shabby Nest, The Trendy Treehouse, Thirty Sixth Avenue, Thrifty Decorating, Truly Lovely, Twin Dragonfly Designs, Type A, Under the Table and Dreaming, Very Merry Vintage Style and What Allie's Making Now

Designer Crafts Connection Blog Hop - Mother's Day

Welcome to the Designer Crafts Connection Blog Hop for the month of May. This month we are celebrating Mother's Day (or Birthdays.)

My mother was an excellent seamstress and taught me to sew at a young age. Thank you mom! So to celebrate Mother's Day, my project is a wreath made up of various, vintage sewing notions.

On this wreath are vintage button cards, spools, tomato pincushions, strawberry needle cleaners, snaps, sewing needle cards and two measuring tapes. Everything used to create this wreath has been thrifted. Here are some detailed images.

If you looked real closely you might have noticed that the filler material between all of the vintage notions is actually die cut pieces of a sewing pattern. The following is a tutorial to make the basic wreath.

To make the wreath, I used the Sizzix Frame, Circle Scallop die and cut scallop circles out of a sewing pattern. 

Using thrifted straight pins, I pinned scallop circles around the wreath form.

I used about 1 1/2 sewing patterns to create enough scallop circles to cover this wreath. Once the basic wreath is created then you can decorate it any way you like. Some other decorating ideas might be large buttons, lace or ribbon. If you want to make the wreath permanent then I suggest hot gluing all of the parts. I chose to pin my vintage pieces onto the wreath.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the wonderful moms out there. Please continue to hop through the Designer Crafts Connection Blog Hop using the button on the right.

Proud to be Featured at:

Maybe Matilda's

Cherished Treasures

SNAP!

                                                            

All Thumbs Crafts/Sunburnt Cow

Marvelously Messy

Rook #17

                                                    

A Girl and a Glue Gun

The 36th Avenue

This is linked to:

4Rs, A Little Knick Knack, All Thingz Related, Between Naps on the Porch, Blue Creek Home, Blue Cricket Designs, Brambleberry Cottage, Cherished Treasures, Chic on a Shoestring Decorating, Coastal Charm,  Common Ground, Craft Envy, Creating a House of Grace, FaveCrafts, Finding Fabulous,  French Country Cottage, Homemaker on a Dime,  I {heart} Naptime,  Inspiring Creations, It's a Very Cherry World,  Keeping It Simple, Krafty Kat,  LollyJane, Lovely Crafty Home, Making the World Cuter, Marvelously Messy,  My Romantic Home, My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Paisley Passions, Passionately Artistic, Rook No. 17, Running With Glitter, Savvy Southern Style, Sew Can Do, Simply Designing,  Singing Three Little Birds, Skip to My Lou, Someday Crafts, Somewhat Simple, Sunburnt Cow, Tales from Bloggeritaville, Tatertots and Jello, The Colorado Lady, The DIY Home Sweet Home Project, The Girl Creative,  The Shabby Chic Cottage, The Shabby Nest, The Thrifty Groove, The Thrifty Home, The Trendy Treehouse, Thirty Sixth Avenue, Truly Lovely, Under the Table and Dreaming, What Allie's Making Now and Wildflowers and Whimsy