Button and Pearl Bead Bracelet Tutorial

Good morning! I've been busy with Christmas preparations, so I haven't had much time to craft lately. I have been in a jewelry making mood, so I thought that I would show you the button and pearl bracelet that I recently finished:

This is actually a really simple project, and comes together pretty quickly, so if you need a last minute stocking stuffer or two, this would fit the bill nicely!

Let's get started! You'll need the following items for your bracelet:

• several buttons that you like
• jump rings
• pearl beads
• a lobster clasp 
• jewelers pliers
• fabric tape measure

Measure your wrist and then lay out the buttons that you've chosen so that they will be a little longer than your wrist. Carefully open a jump ring and add a button to each side, (I used a pink button and a blue flower button). Before closing the jump ring, add two pearl beads and then carefully close the jump ring.

Continue the process until you have a string of buttons, pearl beads and jump rings long enough to wrap around your wrist, ending with a jump ring on each end of the bracelet.

Add a lobster clasp to one of the end jump rings as shown:

That's it!! Now your bracelet is ready to wear or give as a gift! This would be a fun present to make using various heirloom buttons from a grandmother...a lovely treasure to place in a Christmas stocking!

Have a wonderful week! We're on the final countdown to Christmas day! :)

Blessings,

Christmas Card Display Board

Good evening! Christmas will be here before we know it, so I spent most of the weekend in the kitchen making apple butter and Christmas jam to give to friends, family and neighbors. (Click HERE and HERE for those recipes.)

I did work on another little project this weekend as well:

It's a little framed chicken wire display board to showcase a few of the Christmas cards that I receive each day. I started out with a wood frame and then painted it red. My hubby stapled chicken wire to the backside of the frame and then he helped me out by spray painting several wood clothespins with white paint. He simplified this process by clipping each of the clothespins onto a piece of cardboard before giving them a couple of coats of paint. (He is such a smarty!)

Once the clothes pins were dry, I drew on little snowman faces and then tore scraps of gingham and homespun fabrics to tie on as scarves:

I'll also be adding some of these snowman clips to bags of baked goods and other gifts! (A magnet could be attached to each clip as well, so that they could be attached to a filing cabinet or fridge.)

These would be a fun project for kiddos to make, once a parent spray painted the clips. :)

Have a WONDERFUL week!

Blessings,

Seek and Ye Shall Find Framed Art Tutorial

Good evening, friends! This post is going up later than I had originally planned because I got busy and didn't get everything typed up until now.

A while back while rummaging through the clearance stuff at Hobby Lobby, I came across a cool antique-reproduction door knob plate marked down to just $1.00. It was missing the glass knob part, but I knew that I could end up making something neat with it, so I bought it. Hobby Lobby sells glass knobs too, so I used my 40% off coupon and got it for about $4.00.

Here's what I ended up making with it:

I think it turned out so pretty, and it looks great in my guest room! Here's how I put it all together:

Start off by gathering all of your supplies. I purchased the plain wood frame at 50% off at Hobby Lobby as well, so it ended up being $2.00. I had some paper flowers, lace, scrapbook paper and other embellishments on hand, so I laid those out to see what I liked best:

I ended up changing my mind about the original flowers that I had pulled out of my stash to use, and ended up going with 3 burlap flowers that I had bought at Hobby Lobby on sale for 50% off as well:

Begin by tracing the shape of the frame onto scrapbook paper and cut it out:

Glue the paper onto the wooden frame using a 2-way glue pen or Mod Podge, and allow to dry. Once dry, carefully sand the edges with an emery board and sponge brown ink over the paper to give it an aged/antique look:

Using a scrap of coordinating lace, tie a pretty bow and glue it to the upper right-hand corner:

I cut the burlap leaves off of the flowers and then glued them to the lower right-hand corner of the frame. I used the wire picks that I cut off the back of the flowers to make curly stems. (Just wrap the stems around a wooden pick and carefully slide off; shaping how you like and then gluing to the frame around the flowers.)

Because the door knob and plate were SO HEAVY, I ended up having to use some of my husband's JB-Weld to attach it to the frame so that it would stay adhered. (It took 24 hours for the JB-Weld to dry, but that's okay because that baby is on there to stay now - LOL!) Although you don't see it in this photo, I also attached an antique skeleton key to the lower part of the plate using large Glue Dots that I carefully shaped to the edges of the key.

I found and printed the inspirational Bible verse, (Matthew 7:7), from the internet, and cut it out to fit into the hole of the frame. So, this pretty project cost me about $10.00 to make! Here's another look at my finished project, showing the skeleton key that I attached:

Thanks so very much for dropping by my blog today! Have a FANTASTIC Friday and a WONDERFUL weekend!!

A Simple Little Monogrammed Jewelry Dish...

Good morning! With the holiday season right around the corner, I've been thinking about gift giving. Although I've got my Christmas shopping pretty much done, (and wrapped too!), I've got some birthdays coming up, so I've been thinking about the gifts that I'll need for those.

A while back I saw some cute little monogrammed bowls for holding jewelry on a dresser, which gave me an idea on how I could make something similar for gifts. Here's the dish that I created, using a mini cupcake stand, to display on my dresser. (I think it turned out much cuter than the regular little bowls that I saw for sale - lol!)

I purchased the sweet little porcelain cupcake stands for this project at Marshall's. They came 4 in a pack for only $7.99:

I also bought some letter decals at Hobby Lobby. You can get different colors like pink, green, etc., but I liked the basic black letters for this project:

I washed off each of the cupcake dishes with mild soapy water, and then hand dried them before applying the decal. That's it! SOOOOO simple!! Here's another photo of my dish...I'll be making more of these to give with some pretty jewelry to friends and family with upcoming birthdays. :)

Thanks for dropping by today! Wishing you a TERRIFIC week ahead!

Blessings,

Country-Style Towel Holder

Happy Monday, friends! This weekend I worked on a project for my pal Robbi R., and it turned out so cute that I just had to share it with you!

A while back Robbi purchased a rustic, country towel holder that was made from an old cutting board and a pastry blender. She showed it to me and told me that she was planning on giving it to her oldest daughter for Christmas. I mentioned to her that I thought it would be really cute to attach a handwritten recipe card to the upper portion of the cutting board, and that using one of her mom's handwritten recipes would be a nice touch! She agreed, and I offered to add this embellishment to the gift for her.

First off I scanned the original recipe card, printed it onto cardstock and cut it out. I then used a fun, vintage looking piece of scrapbook paper and coordinating cardstock to mat the recipe onto:

Using Mod Podge, I carefully adhered each layer of the mats and recipe card to one another:

I then used Mod Podge to attach the matted recipe card to the cutting board. I really love how cute this turned out, and now I am on the lookout for an old cutting board an pastry blender so that I can make one of these for myself!

Thanks for dropping by my blog today! Wishing you a SUPER week ahead!

Blessings,

From Picket Fence Scraps to Shabby Chic Photo Frames

Hello!! I promise that I had every good intention to get this post up on Monday, but time got away from me and I'm just now able to sit down with my laptop to show you a trash-to-treasure project that I've been working on:

A while back my hubby was working on a fence project, and had several scrap pieces of the fence lumber left over. He was tossing them into the trash, (silly man!!), and I rescued the pieces because I knew that I would eventually create something with the scraps. I ended up using a few of them to create a cute, shabby-chic photo frames, so I thought you'd like to see how I made them.

I started out with several scraps of fencing, some Elmer's school glue, acrylic paint and a couple of sponge brushes:

I wanted to give the paint a crackle finish, so to do that inexpensively I first applied a coat of Elmer's glue to the wood, using a sponge brush to coat the glue evenly across the wood:





I let the glue set for about 5 minutes, then I applied a quick coat of acrylic paint with another sponge brush. It's important to only put a quick coat of paint over the glue; don't keep painting over the glue or you won't get the desired crackle finish that you're wanting. The paint application doesn't have to be perfect...after all, you're wanting an aged/distressed finish in the end. :)

 

As the paint dries, you'll begin to see the crackling finish appear. (Note: if you want more crackle in your paint, once everything is completely dry, repeat the steps above until you've achieved the finish that you like.)

While the paint is drying, I painted a paint stir stick in the same color. It will be used as a base on the photo display:

Here's a photo of the crackle finish on a couple of the wood scraps...I just love how amazingly simple this technique is and how fantastic the results are!

Now to decorate and assemble the frame display...

I purchased several little burlap flowers at Hobby Lobby, which just so happened to be on sale for 50% off. I thought they were a pretty good deal at just $1.00 each. I cut the wire stem off of the back. (Don't throw those away yet, though, as you'll see how I used the stems in this project...)

I wrapped and tied some jute twine around the base of each of the painted wood pieces, using a little dab of glue on the backside to keep it in place:

Next up, using some E6000 I attached the burlap flower to one corner and a small, painted clothes pin to the other corner. I set these aside until they were completely dry:

Once the embellishments were completely dry, I laid the painted stir stick at the base of the lined up fence pieces, and marked off with pencil on the stir stick exactly where I wanted each fence piece to go. Using more E6000 on the bottoms of the fence pieces, I attached them to the stir stick and then allowed everything to dry thoroughly. Here's another photo of the finished product:

Oh! I almost forgot! The wire pieces that I cut off of the bottoms of the burlap flowers have now become curly-vine accents to the flowers. I twisted the pieces around a toothpick; then carefully slid them off and used a dot of glue to attach them. I also added some pearl-head corsage pins for a little extra detail.

Here's a photo of the display with pictures of my great niece Kayle and 2 of my great nephews, Jack and Ian. (Aren't they just so cute??)

I then got a little more creative and decided to make a few more of these photo display frames...

This one is for a single photo and uses a little metal clip, instead of a clothes pin, to hold a photo in place. I also added a couple of old wooden spools, buttons and tiny silk flowers as embellishment on the outer edge of a paint stick that was cut in half for the base. (Once again, I used E6000 adhesive to hold everything in place.)

I also made one using a tiny little bird nest with artificial eggs as an embellishment:

I REALLY LOVE how cute these turned out! I've got several more wood scraps from Mike's fence project, so I'll be making some more fun projects like this one, for sure!

Thanks so much for dropping by my blog today to check out what I've been up to. Wishing you a wonderful week ahead!

Blessings,

From Spaghetti Sauce Jar to Shabby-Chic Vase...

I am a big believer in "nice matters". I think that a little bit of niceness goes a long way in today's harsh and self-centered/self-indulgent society. I love to share the crafty things that I make, yummy things that I bake and produce/flowers from my garden with my friends, so I decided to made these flower arrangements to brighten the desks of the three girls that I work with:

Most people think that you have to spend money to do something nice for someone, but in all honesty, that's just not the case at all. Sadly, most kiddos today think that unless money is spent on them, rather than time, then they aren't "loved". I think that society is failing children by allowing them to believe that money and things equate love. I am very fortunate to have grown up with parents and grandparents who valued time above money, and I have such fond memories of the time and activities that we did together. I am blessed to have been able to pass these values on to my son, and I hope someday to have grandchildren to share these same values with.

Now on to an inexpensive, trash-to-treasure project for you to share with someone in your life!! I think that the vases that I made from washed out spaghetti sauce jars turned out so cute, so I thought that I'd show you how I made them. These come together really fast...the part that takes the longest is waiting for the glue to completely dry. (But if you live in the south like me, pour yourself a nice glass of sweet iced tea and grab a magazine to thumb through while the glue dries - problem solved - lol!)

Begin with empty and clean spaghetti sauce jars. Cut a piece of burlap to fit around the circumference of the jar:

Put a large piece of paper or newspaper down to protect your surface from glue. Squeeze Elmer's glue around the outside of the jar:



Wrap the pieces of burlap around the glue covered areas of the jars, so that the ends slightly overlap. Be sure to secure the overlapped ends with a fine bead of glue, then set jars aside to allow the glue to dry:

While the glue is drying you can make the paper doily flowers to embellish your vases. Begin with a small paper doily as shown:

Fold the doily in half:

Unfold the doily, and fold it in half again in the opposite direction to make an "X" in the center:

Now start scrunching up the doily; folding, creasing, twisting until you've created a flower shape that you're happy with. Remember...there is no right or wrong way to do this, and I think the more scrunchy and wrinkled the flower is, the better it looks!

Use a dot of Elmer's glue to hold down the center of the flower so that it keeps it keeps it shape. Add a nice sized dot of glue to the burlap seam on your jar, and then place your paper doily flower on the glue:

Gather up some fun buttons for the flower centers and some twine to make a fluffy bow for the flower center as well:

You can click HERE to go to the post where I did a tutorial on how to create these simple, fluffy bows. (In the tutorial I used narrow satin ribbon, but you can apply this method to just about any kind of ribbon or twine.)

Once you've created your bows, squirt a good sized glop of glue onto the center of the doily and place the center of the twine bow into the glue:

The buttons that I used had shanks on the back, so using some wire cutters I nipped those off so that my buttons would lie flat. I squirted a large glop of glue onto the knot of the twine bow, and then nestled the button into the glue to create the center of the flower:

Once the glue had completely dried, I put water in the vases and then added cut flowers from my garden. I love the shabby-chic look of these, and I think they would make lovely, low cost table decorations for bridal showers, weddings, receptions, birthdays, or just to give to friends like I did. :)

Take a minute today to do something unexpectedly nice for someone...and remember, nice really does matter!!

Blessings,