I loveddddd creating this gnome! I reproduced this from another craft site because I thought it was so cute and creative! The supplies can be altered to fit other items but here is what I used for mine! Supplies:
1. Since the block of wood is being pretty much covered up by everything else, you don't need to do anything to it! I started with making the hat. I cut a 10x10 section off the leg of a mans size pair of jeans and then cut it down the center to open it up to be roughly 20x10. I then took multiple tries to form a cone shape by rolling the piece of jean in a diagonal direction, being sure that the bottom opening would fit the width of the wood board. 2. You end up with an oblong piece for the hat. You can either just cut off the piece hanging out of the cone shape, or, like me, fold it up and form it into a "cuff" around the bottom of the hat. 3. Be sure to actually secure these pieces with a bit of hot glue. I added some at the point, under the overlap, and under the cuff as well. 5. Secure one end of the white fabric to the wood board, starting about 4in down from the top. I wrapped it around multiple times so that the beard would look more full and secured it every once in a while with hot glue.
8. The next step is adding all your "junk". I made a feather out of scrap book pages by cutting out a basic shape and "fringing" the sides of it like a feather. I then glued on other do-dads and he was already for a night on the town!
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This whole project started with Halloween first of course, then I wanted to use up supplies I already had (also "of course). A library patron who I have mentioned here before donated these boxes for us to use and I thought this would be a great way to use them up! There are many ways to make this type of box! You can do whatever you’d like using so many different supplies and random pieces and parts you have at home. The below steps are how I made the box above but feel free to use it as a general example for your creative ideas. I really don't know if there's a "point" to this box... but... I don't care... it's pretty! So enjoy, and in the perfect amount of just 13 steps :) Supplies:
1. To start with, I found a cool old postcard online that of course had a Halloween theme! I printed it off and glued it onto the box with Mod Podge (Just use a thin layer of glue and secure corners).
11. Now for the lid! Paint the walls of the inside of the lid black and glue your other scrapbook paper down on the inside as well. I distressed it a little by adding a little paint! 12. Add other embellishments to wherever you would like! 13. Lastly, add your gold paint for the perfect finishing touch by again very very lightly brushing over raised areas! Finish up by adding whatever else you’d like!
I have always, always loved butterflies. I became particularly attached to them when my elderly babysitter passed away when I was little. I remember.. or at least this is the story that's in my head.. that when she passed I made a wish for her to come back to me as a butterfly. And, lo and behold, the next day I was outside playing and a butterfly landed right next to me. Now, do I think it was quite a coincidence with it being spring and all that a butterfly would be flying around on a bright, sunny, April day, maybe. But to my little eyes and heart, it was her. I was looking for a simple craft that booklovers would (hopefully) love to make and came up with this sweet craft involving book pages, butterflies, and bright fabric scraps. Below are my step by step instructions to make it, enjoy! Supplies:
1. Lay out all your supplies to get organized 😊 I made a template for both the pennant and the butterflies so that they'd all be the same size. Trace your book page banner shapes and the butterflies. Then cut them all out. 2. Glue your banner book pages onto the twine by first folding the top over for a crease. Then, lay a line of glue (I used a glue stick) across the crease. While holding the twine in place, fold over the smaller top piece and press it into the glue. 4. Lastly, add your scrap fabric, ribbon, etc. in between each banner. You can tie it with a loop or a regular knot. That’s it 😊 Look how cute!
1. Wash and dry your tea towel. (At first I thought "nahhh, I don't need to do that but boy am I glad I did! It was soooo linty! My dryer vent was pure white fluff!) 2. Put something underneath where you will be work so that the paint doesn't go through the towel onto something important! I used newspaper for this. (You can also iron your towel first to make it flatter but.. who wants to do that?!) 3. Slice up your apple into quarters. You can do a slice for every color you want to use but I was lazy and reused the same slice each time, I kind of liked the red-green haze of colors. Paint your slice with the desired color fabric paint and plop it down wherever you want to stamp, make sure you apply pressure if you want a heavier print. If you want it more distressed, press it on lightly. 4. Keep printing as much as you'd like. Then add little "seeds" in the center of each slice with the black paint. I also painted a stem and a leaf on some of them but not all. 5. The fabric paint I used said to allow the paint to dry for 24 hours and then heat set it with an iron. To do this, cover the prints with a scrap piece of fabric and place a heated iron with no steam on the design. Make sure to go across the whole thing. That's it! I think this is a fun craft for pretty much any age! And would also be fun to make as gifts too!
Supplies:
When I saw posts on Pinterest regarding these rocks I thought they were adorable and felt like I had to do them for a program at work, which here I am, prepping to do just that! My goal was to travel around to local parks and search for the perfect "strawberry-shaped" rocks to use, however, doing them for a public program meant that I needed about 110 of these rare diamonds and lets be real... that did not happen. I love using up supplies from previous projects and a coworker of mine had left over "mexican river rocks" from a rock-painting program, so, this is what I ended up using, cool. Taking a quick look at project photos on Pinterest, I saw that some showed that the rocks were painted white first. "Nah, I don't need to do that" I thought to myself peering at the 110 rocks waiting on my cart. So I went ahead and painted the first couple with red... "huh... this doesn't look too good" I quickly realized. "Do I seriously have to paint these white?" I begrudgingly thought to myself. So, I took a shot at the next one with a nice single coat of white acrylic paint. After it dried, I put the first coat of red over it and WOW, what a difference! You can see in the below photo the ones I painted first laying in the background on newspaper vs. the new beautifully vibrant rock in my hand. Thankfully, we have people who work with us who are often looking for "odd" jobs to do in down time.... well.... I think painting 110 rocks white is the perfect job to do for that! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I thought 5 rocks would be a good amount for this project which ended up working well for dry times as you make your way through each rock and each layer of paint. So, paint all rocks white, then paint all rocks red. I put 2 coats of red on top so it's a nice even layer.
After my dark green dried, I went over it in a smaller reflection with light green. Then, I added a dot of the dark green in the center to represent where the stem would technically be. I'm not gonna lie... I hated this... still hate it. I do not like the way this came out but got even more stressed out the more I tried to "fix" it. I found it best to just leave it as is and move on full steam ahead! Next, will be your act of patience. Using a tiny pointy brush, paint "raindrop" shaped black "dots" all over your rocks to represent the strawberry seeds. And do this with every... single... rock! Now, go over every... single... dot.... on every... single... rock... with a tiny white "raindrop"/"dot". You could also change this up and be more realistic by making the seeds a golden yellow or changing the look of some so they're not all exactly the same. But I didn't have time for that and was shooting for a simple, easy project for my participants! Lastly, put them in a cute bowl, basket, container, whatever! I found farmer market style containers at our local craft store. They came in a pack of six so were super affordable! I also put a piece of fabric in to drape over the sides before I put the rocks in and wa-la, Adorable summer decor!
It feels like it has been ages since I have last posted! But it has not quite been 2 months yet so I think I'm still in the clear. The reason for my absence was mostly due to the fact that I was in charge of throwing my parents a surprise 40th anniversary party! And it's no simple feat - especially when you want to do it up like me (Momma taught me best!). Planning a party of any type has so many components! It starts with when to have it, where to have it, and rolls into the confusing guest list of who and who not to invite - hoy, so many decisions! Luckily, a wonderful aunt offered to host the party for us, which means... no cost! (I tried to give her money guys, I swear). Once you decide on a guest list, you can make/order invites. So much fun! ![]() We put a twist on the party since it was for my parents anniversary and made it a 1970's party to honor 1979. I love having a theme. It makes it more fun in my opinion! But, I also think just doing a general color scheme is fun too! So, once you get those invites out you can start thinking about the details: food, decorations, etc. Luckily, my parents have amazing friends, everyone offered to bring something. My aunt and I provided the main dishes and everyone else brought sides and desserts. Someone else even offered to get the cake for us - thank you, thank you! I was left to decorate, which I love more than anything. Since we went with the 1970s, I tried to stick with the beautiful hues of that era - yellow, olive green, peach, brown, etc. and it was beautifully vintage when it all came together.
To see how to make the fabric garland, read my post here: https://www.the-art-escape.com/blog/scrap-fabric-garland I put together a small photo collage (didn't want it to be too overwhelming) to show the progression of our family over the last 40 years and also put their 1970 style photos in frames to use as decorations on the tables - and conversation starters of course! ![]() I used mason jars for center pieces, filled them with stones so they wouldn't blow over, and put a simple mixture of fake flowers with pin wheels or "40" stakes in them. I purchased the pin wheels for dirt cheep at a craft store and made the "40" stakes myself by cutting out "40" on glitter paper with the CriCut, gluing them to a white background, and taping them to the stakes. I trimmed everything down to fit into the glasses at varying heights. My aunt also had tree slices left from previous parties that we used under the mason jars! This provides some extra pazaz to the table for sure! To be completely honest, I didn't really know how many tables we would have. I also didn't know where I would be hanging all the stuff I was making but I just kept making away! Everything was able to be used and it all came together perfectly!
Although it was supposed to be a surprise party... my parents totally knew! They said no one talked to them all week and people were being too weird - woops! That's ok - it was a perfect 70's bash none-the-less. Now, for one thing that was not so perfect.... there always seems to be something that happens at events: strange family drama, weird occurrences, something doesn't work, something breaks, you forget the cake, etc.... this particular event resulted in my aunt (yes the same aunt who hosted) acquiring a broken leg!!!! It was awful, there's just no other way to put it. I felt/feel absolutely terrible that it happened because, in my mind, if I wouldn't have had it there, she wouldn't have broken her leg! Now she will be laid up in a cast for weeks and weeks, right in the middle of summer (she's a camper, this is a big deal people!) and right before her grandbaby is due! Terrible, terrible, terrible! It happened while we were setting up for the party, we tried to make her sit the rest of the day/night but the woman wants to move, move, move! Thankfully, she had a boot from when she broke her other leg another time and wore it all night... but, the next day, x-rays revealed it was most certainly broken. Picture below to prove how amazing my aunt is for sticking around the whole night! So, in conclusion, there are so many different pieces and parts for planning a party. You can go in so many different directions and do just about anything, making it personal for whoever the guest-of-honor is!
Need ideas for planning your next party?? Just ask me, I'd love to help! I created this quick craft project to tie into a book discussion at work. But this so easy, anyone can do it and it's very quick as long as you are making a smaller size. I also think this would be awesome in an extra large size as well! Supplies:
1. Gather your supplies all in one space so you are ready to go! a. If you are using fabric, I would cut your strips at this time as well 2. Use blue pieces to represent the blue star part of the flag (I saw some online that used white beads throughout to represent the stars!) and alternate your red and white for the stripes. 3. Tie your strips on using the Larkshead Knot technique below. This is a great way to add your elements because you get two components out of one. a. You can also tie them however you wish. Try tying little pieces together of different types/textures to give your flag more variety. 4. Create a piece for hanging. I did this by wrapping 3 pieces of twine around the one end, braiding it, and tying it off on the other side.
5. That's it! Feel free to add whatever types of elements you have lying around! Perfect decoration for the most rustic folks you know! Do you have a bunch of scrap fabric that you don't know what to do with? This is the perfect craft to use 'em up! Supplies Needed:
1. Cut 8 3"x3" pieces out of your fabric (or various fabrics) 2. Fold each piece in half and then in half again... 3. While holding the fold of each piece, cut the corner into a rough looking heart shape (I went ahead and did all 8 pieces so they were ready for me and I felt like that really sped the process along!)
8. As you let go of the corners, you'll see how all of the pieces are now together, but... it needs a little help becoming a flower. Begin "fluffing" up your pieces and spreading them outward. Oooo look at that flower grow! And just like that, your flower is formed and ready for whatever you wish to use it for! (Side note: the fabric I used are actually pieces of my Papaw's flannel shirts - he passed a couple of years ago. I plan to use my flowers for wedding decorations/bouquets whenever that happens... cough, cough! ...That way he'll be with us on our special day.)
Here's a quick project for some easy decor/accent piece for just about any part of your life: window valance, curtain, overlay skirt, bohemian accent, holiday garland, the list could go on and on. I don't know what the official name of this is but let's call it "scrap-fabric garland" for the purpose of the blog! Supplies:
1. Gather your fabric. Do not waste your money by going to the fabric store and buying new fabric, yuck! Hit up the thrift store, garage sales, or your closet instead. You can use just about anything: sheets, curtains, bed spreads, shirts, skirts, tablecloths, etc. As long as you can cut it, you can use it. The best items to find are ones that have more than one color involved. For example, I got a layered skirt for the garland in the first finished image. The underside layer was a mauve-y grey and the top layer was a pink floral - 2 for the price of one! 2. Cut long strips of the fabric. We will be doubling the strands so make it double what you need in length. The fabric will most-likely shed allllll over the place! That's just how it goes unless you want to use pinking shears. 3. Cut a length of strong rope/string to use to tie your pieces onto. It's better to cut extra and trim it down later. You may think that you don't need anything hefty but trust me you do. Once all that fabric gets tied on there, it is much heavier than you think! I strung up my string and even tied the ends up so that it is nice and taught for you to tie the strands right on the string without any headache. 4. Begin tying fabric pieces onto the rope using the larks head knot technique. This is the best because you will get two strands for the price of one and will make the garland look super full and fluffy. 5. Literally just keep tying... and tying... and tying... oh yea, and tying. And then you are done! You can now hang it wherever you wish or wear for a spunky costume, anything your heart desires! Here are my 2 examples below: My second garland is a MEGA garland! It's heavy but it's so worth it. I use it to decorate my craft show booth whenever I have one outside. It's so pretty blowing in the wind and I get so many compliments on it!
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Rebecca MyersHey there, I'm Becca, or Rebecca, but not Becky, never Becky, unless you're my family from down south! I'm a simply modern librarian by day and an artist by night. My pursuit is for a simple, happy, healthy, and more fulfilling life! I hope I inspire you to get crafty! Archives
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