Easter Tie On Wreaths

In the past I have made fabric holiday wreaths using scrap fabrics and fat quarters. The wreath below I made for BOO Day and it is called a Pillow Wreath:

Rummaging through my sewing room I came across Easter fabric that I did not have a lot of but enough for a couple of wreaths. I bought some fat quarters and a yard and a half of a print at Hobby Lobby and I made two fabric wreaths for Easter. This first one I took the photo with the bow laying on it and it is not attached yet and I had not finished decorating it but the photo shows how the fabric strips are tied onto the green wire wreath form from Mikes:

Easy wreath to put together once all the fabric strips are cut to size. This wreath is also quite flat so if you have a front door with a storm door and not much space between them this flatter style would work. I used the Bowdabra for my bow -- which needs to be fluffed up once the wreath was done.

This next fabric wreath uses many of the same fabric strips as the one wreath above but these strips are tied in a knot onto a green wire wreath form from Mikes. I also tied on sparkly tulle after every row of fabric strips were tied on and that gives the wreath some sparkle and glitter:

Again I used the Bowdabra for my checkered bow and that ribbon is from Mikes. This wreath is very full and it took longer to make since you are tying each strip onto the wreath form. Once all the strips were on I made the bow. I attached that using the Bowdabra wire. Using a glue gun I added various glittered styrofoam eggs from Mikes here and there. The "Happy Easter" egg shaped sign is from Hobby Lobby and that was on sale. Between the fullness of the wreath and the bow this wreath is very "thick" and much fuller than the first tied wreath. Of course this is my favorite but I do like the flat look of the other wreath as well.  Soon enough it will be Easter so glad I finished both wreaths before the holiday.

Here is a photo to show the strips on each wreath:

and this photo shows the sparkly tulle and the fabric strips on the fuller wreath:

For the strips you can tear your fabric or use pinking sheers but I just cut my strips using a rotary tool and ruler. It is a personal preference of how you want your strips to look.  YouTube has lots of videos showing these fabric wreaths and many people call them "rag wreaths" as well. TFL

Midnight Madness . . .

Hate to wake up in the middle of the night for a bathroom run . . .  but then when a new idea pops in your head.... good luck getting right back to sleep . . .

Have been working in the craft room and decided I want to move things around and want new storage for some items.. .   Idea started there and stopped there as well . . .  Until the bathroom run... DH has scrap wood in the garage from his many projects and I figured he would have some wood left from the pallet projects he had made last year - - beginning with a quilt pattern piece he made for the guest room wall:

Projects using wood pallets began with this and went onto this:

This is a half "barn door" that covers an odd sized window in the guest room and it helps to keep the sunlight out. Next project he did I asked for as I wanted a door for the laundry room off the back of the kitchen but I wanted that door to be really rustic looking and not have such a polished finish look:

A couple of years ago DH made shelves for my kitchen using plumbing parts and oak wood shelves:

So the pallet door goes with the shelves in the kitchen .... last night I thought the best storage would be to use clear jars for the craft room storage but I did not just want to line jars up in a row or something so I thought I would ask DH if he had any left over wood from his pallets.... and if he would  make me two holders for my jars?  I have a box of various mason jars that are empty so I figured I would see what sizes I had.

This morning I pulled out the largest mason jars to show DH their size and told him what I wanted and asked if he could make two of these holders/bins for me?  I want three of these jars in each holder/bin and I also wanted them to look very rustic. I did not want him to use oak wood or anything but the free wood from the pallets. I did not want to have to paint or stain these holders/bins but to leave them rustic looking with whatever the pallet wood was covered with. Out to the garage we went and he pulled out various pallet scraps and I picked the ones I liked. For the ends we had to use the width of the scrap wood he had in his scrap bin.

He measured my three jars together and made his pattern to the size he was going to use. He cut all the pieces to the size he needed and I did a light sanding and he used wood glue and a nail gun to assemble them. Once they were assembled he did a final sanding on them and here they are:

He used scrap lumber on the two ends and one of these holders/bins has ends covered in white paint and the other is plain:

Once they were assembled and sanded I washed the jars and lids and will put them in the craft room. Will probably tie twine or thin rope around them at the top and maybe cover the lids with card stock or fabric scraps or something but for now I am happy to have these to add to my craft room and storage. A big thanks to DH who made these for me and in less than an hour what I told him about was assembled and ready for use!! These will be good additions to the craft room for sure -- or the "Warehouse" as he calls it.....

Embellishment Pouches

Had recently seen this video by "Crafty Crafts by Deanna" on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpeaefBeg9A

I followed her video and pattern and made my first embellishment pouch:

This is a very easy project to put together and I knew once I had the first one done for Easter die cuts and flowers that I would want to make one for my favorite holiday -- BOO Day. But.... here is a photo of my finished BOO Day embellishment pouch but . . .

I decided I would change a few things -- First I will show photos of my BOO Day pouch in progress. The pattern is for an 8 1/2 x 10 piece of solid card stock for the base of the pouch. I used black card stock for mine and I scored it following her pattern with the 8 1/2 side at the top of the scoreboard:
1/4, 1/2, 3/4 then at 7 3/4, 8, 8 1/4. Turn and score at:  3 1/4, 3 1/2 then at 7 3/4, and 8.

Here is a photo of my scored card stock:

Once scored I trimmed the piece as she shows in her video:

and I discarded the cut off pieces. For the prints for my pouch I cut my printed card stocks slightly larger than her pattern. For my top two flap pieces (black polka dot pieces) I cut those at 6 /78 x 1 7/8. For the back of the pouch piece (chevron piece) I cut that at 6 7/8 x 3 1/8. The front lower pocket piece is cut at: 6 7/8 x 4 1/8. Here is a photo of my printed pieces:

As she had suggested I used a corner rounder punch for my front flap piece and the two black polka dot prints I will put the on the front flap piece. The first pouch I made the brad rings as she suggested but I knew my BOO Day pouch would get lots of use so I doubled up on my brad rings by punching out two 1/2 circles for each brad piece and I glued the two circles together both for thickness and durability. I marked the center with a pencil and punched that out with a small circle punch for the brad to go through. Also on this pouch I measured where I wanted my brad rings to be so they would be evenly spaced on my pouch.

With the brad rings put together I used the ATM and put all the printed card stocks on my black pouch base - for both my pouches I used a directional print for the pocket front so be sure if you also use a directional print that when your pouch is closed your print will not be upside down. With the prints all added to the pouch base I added the brads to the piece. With that done now I used my teflon bone folder and creased all the scored lines.

To closed the pocket I did as she suggests in her video - I used tear and tape on the edges and also used liquid glue to make it stronger. I will be using my BOO Day pouch for lots of die cut pieces so this will help with wear and tear. Once I closed the pocket I put clothespins on the sides of it until my liquid glue dried - it did not take long - but the clothespins will keep it in place for drying:

These pouches are simple to put together and you can use scrap printed card stocks and each pouch can be made from one 8 1/2 x 11 card stock so it is economical to make. When using lots of die cut pieces for projects these pouches will help keep me organized - esp when I do not have a lot of time in the craft room but only enough time to cut some die cut pieces for later projects.

Thanks to Deanna for sharing her Embellishment Pouch pattern and for the inspiration!!  Here is a photo of the two pouches I made this morning:

6x6 Easter

Working on Easter projects in the craft room and have enough projects finished to make a blog post. First I had made the wood block bunnies for Easter last year and I just finished a second set for this year:

I asked DH for any random scraps of wood he would have that I could use for the bunny family. He brought in a few pieces and he offered to sand them down for me so I could paint them. I painted them all with white acrylic craft paint from the craft store. I put two coats on each block. Once dried I added washi tapes to the bottom of the blocks. Used a 1/4" circle punch on scrap card stock and punched out two circles next to each other for the pattern/spacing for the eyes. Used a pencil to make the eye circles. Painted those using glossy black acrylic paint so they would have some shine. Used a dauber and light acrylic pink paint for the cheeks. The pink heart noses are small wooden hearts that I picked up on my last trip to AC Moore before they close. Painted those pink using the same pink for the cheeks. Used a ruler and a pencil for the mouth line behind the heart nose. Went over that line using a black sharpie.

For the ears I used a roll of light weight burlap from HobLob that I cut out using scissors and a pattern I drew onto copy paper. Cut the two ears out as one piece and tied the center using brown string twine. Used the pink acrylic pain to add the pink to the ears. Set the ears aside to dry. For the bows I used ribbon from HobLob (from the stash) and I trimmed that to size and made the three bows. Used a light weight wire wrapped around a pencil for the whiskers. Put a large glue dot in the center of the face cheeks and I pressed the wire whiskers into the glue dot. Used foam tape and hot glue to put the pink heart nose over the whiskers.  To add the ears to the bunny tops I used hot glue and also used that to add the bow by the ears:

Also used hot glue to add a cotton ball to the back of the bunny blocks:

For the treat holders - first I started with a bunny die that I picked up at the stamp show in Columbia, SC in February. It is from Amuse and here is a photo of this Hershey nugget holder from their display:

I made my bunny treat holder out of white/GP scrap card stock and I used a bunny face stamp from Jaded Blossoms:

Used a pink marker for the ears and for the bunny nose. Added a glittered pink bow that I used a bow punch from HobLob for. Wrapped the nugget candy in scrap printed card stock and used tear and tape to put the candy in the holder so it will stay in place. Easy holder to put together. Used a medium glue dot and added a small white pom pom to the back of the bunny holder for her tail.

Also - another 6x6 card stock treat holder:

"Pootles" on YouTube made a video years back for this chocolate egg treat holder but hers is quite long. I wanted to make a holder that only held 4 of the Hershey chocolate eggs so I used the 6x6 card stock. Trimmed it to 6 x 3 1/2. Scored it lengthwise at 3/4, 1 1/2, 2 1/4, and again at 3. Turn and score it at 3/4 and 5 1/4. Trimmed this piece with scissors and made two small circle punch holds for the twine to go through to close this box. Here is a photo of the pattern I made:

Used a punch for the window in this holder and I used clear plastic packaging for the "window" on the box so the candies could not fall out of -- I cut that piece of clear plastic using scissors and that measures 2 1/2 x 5/8. Put this on the inside of my treat holder using 1/8 tear and tape. Put the box together using 1/4 tear and tape and filled it up with four of the chocolate eggs. Used a small bunny die from my stash for the bunny on the box front. I had printed "Happy Easter" onto white/GP card stock on the computer and then die cut out the bunny:

Used a pink marker for the ears and used a small bow punch for the bow and that is a punch from HobLob. Easy box to put together using the pattern piece as a guide. Also nice that this treat holder is free standing as well.

This next treat holder holds a square Ghirardelli candy bar. I have not bought those yet but will for Easter treats. Here is my holder:

The white insert is what you adhere the candy to and you pull that out to get to the candy:

Used a butterfly punch from M Stewart and scrap printed card stock for that. Added a blue crystal to the butterfly and pinched the wings together. This idea is from a video by Dee Slater on YouTube. Thanks to her for sharing her idea for another treat holder for the Ghirardelli candies.

Hershey has Dark Chocolate Fun Sized candy bars so I bought a package of those and made a treat holder using the envelope punch board:

The white bunny on the front of this holder is from Lil Inker Designs. Used scraps of printed card stock to make the belly band for the treat holder. Used glittered yellow card stock for the bow on the bunny.

These baskets -- too cute and very easy to put together. I do not know who I had seen on YouTube make these baskets but she said she had seen this idea on a video by "MayMay Made It" on YouTube. So thanks to both ladies for their inspiration:

Very easy baskets to put together but finding this tassel trim at HobLob was no easy task. Earlier this year I went to three HobLob stores looking for this trim and finally decided to order it off their online store - they were offering free shipping at the time so that saved some $$. Again less than a 6x6 printed card stock made this basket. Used burlap for the handle and hot glue to add the tassel trim to the basket. For the pink flower on the front I had some organdy ribbon flowers in my stash so I hot glued one of those to the front of the basket:

These little baskets are perfect for a little chocolate treat or chocolate eggs or even a small chocolate bunny and peeps. Free standing and cute with the fringe trim.

Still working on other Easter items but for now these are some of the treat holders I have been working on.  Be safe, stay healthy, and keep crafting!  TFL

Working on Easter projects . . .

Currently working on lots of Easter projects but nothing ready to post just yet -- for now since I am working on making an Easter wreath my rotary cutter mats came into play.  Have been busy working in the sewing room and organizing and moving things around and yada, yada and so it goes. You start working on one thing and before you know it you have two more projects started. . . ;0)

Not all mats are the same - some have a hole so you can hang your mat for storage but not all mats have this hole. I have a larger mat and a few of the smaller mats. Had the mats with the holes hanging but then had a second place for the other mats . . .  this idea worked until it didn't.  Since I was moving things around and needed a mat for the wreath I am working on I decided I had to figure out another storage idea.

Back to the craft room -- awhile back I bought a Guillotine trimmer for heavy items that needed trimming. Problem was the handle on the trimmer would not fit where I kept my other trimmer that I use for plastic or light weight card board, etc.. I decided to make a trip to Walmart to pick up a rack that is used in the kitchen to hold lids to pans upright so they are not all over the cabinet with the pots and pans they go with. Rather than picking up one of these racks I picked up two not knowing at the time what I would use the second one for but you never know. . .   Here is a photo of the first rack I bought to hold the trimmers and a Scor-Pal scoreboard:

Have it tucked away in the corner by the washi tape holders on the counter.  When I was putting away all the Valentine washi tapes the DSD picked up for me at Mikes recently I remembered I had this second rack and thought maybe I would try it for storage for my rotary mats in the sewing room.

Fast forward to this week with me still working on the Easter wreath and now I had to put the mat away that I was using for that and that started the moving things around and reorganizing in the sewing area. . .   always a good idea but as things snowball, maybe not...   but happy to say I finished moving everything around and now found a new home for the mats -- here is a photo of the second rack I bought that now is home for some of my mats/clear rulers:

I have the mats on top of one of the Alex units I have stacked in there. To keep things from moving around on the Alex unit I used a heavy duty drawer liner and trimmed that to the size I would need to fit under my rack. I also have a smaller square ruler, too small for the rack, laying under it on the drawer liner piece. I have a couple of other smaller mats I will add to the rack but I wanted to take a photo first before I filled it up. My largest mat is next to this drawer unit between it and the wall to keep it flat. But everything is centralized now so that will help will future projects for sure. Here is a side photo of this rack:

I like that I can see the size mats/rulers I have at a glance for projects I need them for. Happy now that I had picked up two of the racks when I bought the one for the craft room.

Back to finishing the wreath so I can get that photo posted later this week. . . First day of March so it will not be long until Spring and Easter arrive!!!  TFL