Scrapbook paper star garland

I saw these stars in an ad recently and thought they would make a fun garland. Here’s what I made.

There are 9 stars, each with a different pattern paper. I added “stitching” along the edges to emphasize the sewing theme. Since it has buttons, thread, and “stitching” I think I will hang it on the window above my sewing machine.

Here’s a close up of a star.

Scrapbook paper on the front, crochet cotton ties and buttons from my stash.

To make the star sturdy enough to support the buttons, I used left over red poster board for the backing.

The stars were all drawn freehand and I like how different they all are. This was a very satisfying project.

Christmas Words Frame

Chrismas crafting goes on year round here. Here’s one that I made last May. The frame was a Goodwill find and very inexpensive as one corner was damaged. It made a good place to glue a large jungle bell.

Fun with fonts

Christmas Ornament Tags

I like small things and these are a good example. The images on the tags were originally vintage postcards. I cleaned them up and printed them trading card size. Choosing the right image for each person, then embelishing the cards was the fun part.

Shrunk & embelished vintage postcards

Button Tree

Okay, so I am way behind, posting Christmas items on Valentine’s Day.  Still, I liked this tree a lot and hope you do too. This is another foam cone tree, a button one.

Wrapped in seam binding & rickrack and stuck with pins and buttons

I liked how the rickrack reminded me of branches. See what refusing to use a paintbrush results in?

Turkey Earrings

Each Thanksgiving a friend has complained that she can’t find any turkey earrings. Finally, I made a pair for her. Lightweight, comfortable and silly!

Laminated clip art turkeys with duck feathers for the tail

Spooky CDs

Another recycled CD project. These were made with CDs, paper, and whatever I had in my stash.  I made two of them. This one has a bead garland as the cord and is hung in the computer lab at school. The other uses black paper twist (remember that stuff from the 80s?) and has black bats hanging between the CDs and the end of the garland.

Pipe cleaners, jingle bells, and orange spider rings finish both garlands.

I found the letters on another blog.

http://cottagemagpie.com/holidays/halloween/indoor-decorating/halloween-boo-garland/

Her garland is very cool and she has great directions. I did use the BOO letters for another garland but that will have to wait until my birthday, when I hope to get a new camera.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Halloween Shoes

I am in trouble—my 6 year old digital camera died.  For a few days, I was able to use a borrowed camera. Now, a digital camera is #1 on my birthday wish list.

Since I don’t have any new Halloween pictures to post, I thought I would post some older ones.

Here are my soon-to-be-retired Halloween shoes. After 6 months of wear over 6 years, these shoes are wearing out. Leaks, tears, and worn soles tell me that I will be making a new pair for next year. These photos were taken in 2005, a few years after I made them.

A “witchy” sign for your Halloween kitchen

This is another Harry Potter idea. (Madam Pomfrey is the school nurse.) I keep this one posted year-round inside a kitchen cupboard door, near the sink and cleaning supplies.

The Hogwarts school nurse reminds you to wash your cauldron.

The Nightmare before Christmas and a floppy disk

Here’s what I did with a layered picture that a friend sent. (Thanks again, Tami!) It was fun to make and I even made another for a friend. I’m sorry that the picture is not as clear as I would like. The layers on Jack really don’t show up. My camera died and I’m using a loaner.

I used an old floppy disk (1989!) floppy disk as the frame and this will go well in my computer lab next month. The students love my paper craft, even if they don’t recognize the floppy disk!

Layered on an old floppy

Back view

Happy 4th of July Banner

Banner made using CDs and wallpaper . Click on it for a  bigger picture

How I spent the 4th of July—making this banner!

Fun, easy, and way too time consuming. Well, the first one often is. Here’s what I did.

1. Printed the letters on scrap paper. Taped them to the wallpaper and cut them out. Next time, I think I will try printing them (reversed!) on the back side of cut-to-fit pieces of wallpaper.
2. Edged the letters with black permanent marker.
3. Used MS Word to create the background paper. The text is from the Declaration of Independence. I also used Word to draw circles on top of the text so I knew where to cut.
4. Cut out the paper circles with paper edgers and glue on the letters.
5. Glue the circles to the CDs.
6. Cut the big (6.5″) circles from more wallpaper. Attach the CDs with E6000. I positioned the CD slightly low on the circle to leave room for the hanging cord.
7. Punched two holes to thread the cord.
8. Finally, I attached the hanging cord. In this case, I used raffia, knotting lengths together to get what I needed. More knots were used to hold the pieces in place. I also used packing tape on the back to re-enforce both the holes and cords.

What took so long

• Making the letters. I started by using a stencil but decided they were both too big and too thin. Next I experimented with getting the right size fonts. I needed different sizes for the 4, th, and of.
• Choosing wallpaper designs for both the letters and the background. I finally settled on these from a book of Victorian style wallpapers.
• Looking for the right material to hang the pieces. I was sure I had some 1 1/2 inch maroon ribbon but it wasn’t in any of my ribbon stashes. I almost decided on using wide bias tape but couldn’t find a color I liked.
• Remembering AFTER THE FACT that wallpaper is fragile—it’s designed to be held up by a wall. That’s why I used the packing tape. Once I take it down, I may attach another, non-visible layer to strengthen the wallpaper. Last time I made a banner with wallpaper, I cut up old Tyvek envelopes and attached them to the last layer. It made for a very strong, yet flexible backing.

I also thought about putting a bead of glitter on the wallpaper around the CD. What do you think?

Should there be a line of glitter around the CD? Click on it for a bigger picture