Beautiful Christmas Rag Wreath Project

Recently, I was looking around for a good craft to make for a Christmas present for my friend, and I saw some pictures of rag wreaths. I thought it would be a fun project and a great gift, so I tried it out and absolutely loved the result! And, it was quick and super easy, yet impressive-looking, as if you spent hours on it.. tee hee. Here is how I made it:

I started out by purchasing two fabrics, 1 1/2 yards of each, as pictured. I wanted a vibrant red and green, as it was to be a Christmas wreath, but you can use any fabric you wish to make a wreath for any time of the year, such as Easter, Halloween, etc. Also, since this project is meant to be a quick, easy, and cheap craft, you can use any fabric you have laying around the house. It does not have to be only two types.

I also purchased a round, styrofoam wreath form, found in the flowers section of JoAnn's, Hobby Lobby, or any other craft store. I also needed very strong glue (I used Amazing Goop craft glue) and some pretty ribbon, both of which are also available at a craft store. The only other item I used was a bamboo skewer, but you could use a screwdriver or something else instead, I would think. I cut the very tip off of the skewer to it wasn't too sharp, so as not to puncture the fabric, although I'm not sure that would even matter.

Next, I cut up the fabric into strips that were roughly 2 inches x 6 inches. I did not measure anything. It is not important to get it measured exactly right, and frayed edges don't matter either.

Then (you're not going to believe how simple this is), I simply popped each piece of fabric into place by stabbing them in the middle and into the styrofoam with the skewer. Make sure the vibrant side of the fabric faces up as you do it. The skewer comes out, but the fabric stays in. I placed each piece of fabric very close to the next to assure a dense placement of the pieces, so the styrofoam wouldn't show at all. I covered the whole front of the wreath, the sides, and the inside. The inside is the hardest part and can be a tiny bit tricky, but all-in-all, this is one of the easiest and prettiest projects I've ever made. It took about one hour, start to finish. In fact, I loved it so much, I turned around and made another the next day :) Don't worry about covering the back, since it will not show at all anyway.

The only other thing to do is simply glue a ribbon on for hanging, and, voila, you're done! If you make this project, I want to see pictures!

Happy Holidays!

Tea Cup Candles

For Mother's Day gifts, I decided I'd use a great "green" idea I saw in a Martha Stewart "


Green Crafts" link. The idea was to use old tea cups and fill them with candles. I started by sifting through old teacups at Goodwill and other thrift stores and ended up with these cups and one adorable teapot.





Then I melted old wax from unused or partially used candles lying around the house, and I also used some new votives that I bought and took the wick out of before melting. I melted the wax within a smaller pan that was submerged in hot water. The directions said to use a wax or candy thermometer but I did not to this, and we will consider that decision in a bit. So, I melted the wax completely and, meanwhile, I set up my teacups. I cut wicking and put them through the small metal wick stabilizers.... all available at any craft store. I used plyers to close the metal hole of the stabilizers onto the wicks. Then I used bamboo skewers to tie the wick onto so that the wick would stay centered within the cup.














Then, just pour the wax in! You'll want to leave a little space at the top so you'll have a wick. Don't fill it all the way to the top. I made sure the wick was centered before leaving it to dry. Most of the candles dried very well, but the ones in the white teacups dried strangely, very bumpy, and I'm wondering if this is because I did not have the wax at the correct temperature. I just figured melted wax is melted wax, ya know?


Here is a finished pic of some of them, for some reason I can't find the pics of the other ones completed. These green ones dried great, but the other ones dried bumpy and I think you can catch a glimpse of that on the above pics.



Needless to say, Grandma, Mom, and Mother-in-Law loved their Mother's Day gifts!

Adventures With Old Jeans

I've been saving the kids' old jeans for awhile, waiting to be inspired to make something with them, and the other day I got it in my head that I was going to cut them into strips and knit with the denim. I didn't know what I was going to make just yet, but once I get it in my head that I'm going to do something, I have to follow through with it right then, which is a bit tricky because I have three kids and I take care of my friend's baby. Don't ask me how I find the time, because I will not have an answer for you.

So I immediately drug out the old jeans and started cutting. I cut them into strips about 1/2 - 1/4 inch wide... varying widths because I just wanted to mix things up a bit. I knotted the strips together and ended up leaving the ends hanging out, thinking that this might make the object look kinda shaggy and unique-looking. Here is a pic of the beginnings of what would turn into a bag/purse. It was a bit tough knitting with the denim strips, especially since they had knots throughout them, but it was fun, nonetheless. I did not know what size needles to use, so I started with 11s, which ended up being way to small. Then I started over with 17s, which ended up being too big. So I ended up with 15s, which were perfect! This project was also a little messy. I'm still finding denim lint and strands everywhere.

So all I did was knit a rectangle and stitch up the sides. I stitched the sides with denim, which was a real pain, again because of the knots, but I didn't want to use yarn or thread, just because I wanted it to be completely made of denim.

For the strap, I just braided three strands of denim together and sewed them to the purse, again with denim.

When I finished with the bag, I found that I could do something useful with the pockets of the jeans, and I had heard about people making "pocket purses" with pockets. So my daughter and I started making a purse for her. She braided some strips like I had done for my purse and we are going to sew a flower onto it with embroidery floss.. I just need to find the time to do that, hopefully today and then I'll add the final picture.

I still have lots of denim scraps, which I plan on using to decorate other crafts, such as some felt things I like to make, like drink coozies and coinpurses. If anyone has further ideas on what to do with old jeans, I'd love to hear them! I did find this link awhile back and found it interesting: 13 things you can do with old jeans: http://www.blisstree.com/thriftymommy/13-things-you-can-make-out-of-your-old-blue-jeans/ I plan on doing some of these projects pronto, but I think I will scavenge some thrift stores for MEN'S jeans instead of kid's jeans :)