pamgarrison

making upcylcled ornaments

As you may know already, crafting is my favorite form of procrastination. The last two nights I've been indulging my desire to check out of my mental loop of a to-do list and craft. The simplest things bring me so much pleasure. 

I went to my favorite cardboard source- the Studio Calico boxes my monthly kit comes in. The graphics on the box make such a great backside for hanging things (meaning things that might twist when hanging, like galands etc). 

Some sturdy scissors, acrylic paint, sometimes touches of a paint or chalk pen, and a hole punch were my supplies. No templates or references, just imagination and freehand fun. Would be a great holiday craft for the kiddos too. 

If I were a perfectionist, I might take some sandpaper to the edges, but let's be honest, if I were a perfectionist I wouldn't be making ornaments out of cardboard in the dark of the night. These are perfectly imperfect which is all I'm going for. 

The ideas for using these are multiplying, I'd love to make so many more. For now, I'm going to pack them up (excellent that they are light as air) for a trip over the holidays- decorations to go...and maybe some gift tags too...

and now it's time to stop indulging myself and crack the whip a little over here! I can always make more if I get my to-dos done, right?!?

It wouldn't be the holidays for me without some holiday crafting. You too?  Have you made any holiday crafts this season? Those of us addicted to making want to know! 

 

fall felt wreath

I couldn't resist a little fall fun with felt. It's becoming a yearly tradition. (like previously here and here) I only had a little bit of time, so was wanting a craft that was pretty quick and easy. A wreath...bingo! 

Here's how I made it:

I cute fabric into 1.5" ish strips and wrapped it around a styrofoam wreath form bought at a craft store. 

Every so often I would put a pin in to keep it in place. 

Next I started going through my felt. I found that polka dot felt above on sale at JoAnn's in the clearance isle. its very easy to pull out the polka dots and it's nice thick wool. I have collected felt for as long as I can remember, especially wool felt or wool blends. I've found it at antique stores, thrift stores, flea markets, and friends have even found it for me (thanks Holly!). I have found bolts of it at a fabric store and bought a yard of each color. Heather Bailey sells a blend on her website and Benzie Design too. 

Once the felt palette was selected, I just went to town cutting leaves. 

I cut these tiny leaves out of the scraps. I'm going to use them for something else. 

Then I just started pinning groups of leaves into the wreath form with dress pins. 

 

 

See the pin? 

Now you don't, well, not totally- if you try you can see it. But layering is the trick to hiding it. 

I thought about leaving some open spaces and letting the fabric show, but as per my usual, I went for abundance instead:

Abundance and color, two of my favorites, felt puts it over the top!

And that's all there is to it!!!  

Hmmm...would be pretty in paper too....

  

giant jenga = summer fun

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, the colors! I love this summer project for those alone. 

My daughter came home for summer and asked if she could host a summer solstice party. She loves to cook and entertain. It's so fun having her home, full of her own ideas and spirit; the whole house (and it's inhabitants) come alive when she's here. ;)

She had ideas for her party to celebrate the start of summer, one being lots of outdoor games. Then she showed me this pin, of the home made giant Jenga Game DIY by the abeautifulmess team, and I was all in. 

I'm the type of mom that jumps at the request to "make something". We bought some 2x4's and cut them at home into 72 10.5" pieces. It was a real team effort; while my daughter measured and marked the wood, I cut it, and my son and his friend power sanded the cut edges. Then my daughter and I painted those edges and we were in business! So simple and such big impact. 

It was fun instantly, and a hit at the party. The only change we made from the first tryout here, was placing it on a lower (coffee table height) table. Since the game height increases with each round, the longer, heavier pieces of wood are better low down (so you can reach the top and don't have to wear a helmet for when it topples, ha!)

 

Giant Jenga = summer fun over here for sure!

 

teeny tiny pom poms too

While I was having fun making yarn pom poms by the strand, I couldn't resist making some itty bitty embroidery floss pom poms too. Super simple because the floss is already wrapped neatly together.

Pretty obvious how to make them, the main tip I have is to leave the two paper wraps on the floss as you tie your segments, pushing it down out of your way as you go...

Aren't they the cutest little things? Perfect size for a  jewelry box. Just to give you perspective, the yarn pom pom is about an inch around:

Probably not used as often as the yarn pom poms of all sizes, but so simple I'll be trying to come up with a use or two. Let me know if an idea comes to mind!

 

yarn pom poms by the strand DIY

Who doesn't love yarn pom poms, right? Making them is simple and easy. Making yarn pom poms by the strand even easier, and much more efficient. Here's a little tutorial in case you've got some DIY time this weekend:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

supplies needed:

•yarn  •scissors  •thread (I switched to embroidery floss for this, but yarn cut in 20" lengths would be even better) • a table or stool with sturdy legs

Step 1:

Turn your table over and tie a knot around one leg to keep your yarn in place. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 2: 

Begin to wrap your yarn from one leg around another, pulling taught.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 3:

Continue wrapping many strands around the legs, keeping taught. I found it easiest to hold the yarn with my left hand while wrapping the yarn with my right. 

Step 4:

Once you have as many yarns wrapped as you want (I chose to wrap around approximately 25 times. Amount depends on size of yarn (mine was 4) and how full you want your pom poms to be. As you make them, you'll see how varying these options changes things up.) Cut your yarn with enough extra length to tie it to your starting yarn knot.

Step 5:

Tie on strips of yarn (I used embroidery floss so that it would disappear, but next time will choose to use long lengths of matching yarn so that I will have more options when it comes to using the pom poms (like tying onto packages etc.). I spaced my ties approximately 1" apart. You want to tie it as tight as possible. Tie these pieces along the entire length of your yarn. 

Step 6:

Remove the taught yarn from the table legs...this should be a little tricky due to the taughtness of your yarn. (Also, I chose to remove it before tying the last bit of length for ease of removing, knowing I could tie another segment afterwards. 

Step 7:

Tie that last segment and cut off that first knot that held the starting yarn to the table leg .

The number of pom poms will equal the number of times you tied the strands of thread.         (8 in the above strand)

Step 8:

Cut the yarn in the center between the tied portions.

Step 9:

To keep your cuts even all the way around (the ends of your pom poms), use your non cutting hand to rotate the strand as you cut.

Step 10:

Fluff your cut pom poms! It's that easy. now you can better see why I wish I would have used long strips of yarn to tie my pom poms. Not a problem, before cutting and fluffing it'd be very easy to tie yarn on and cut the floss. 

And there you have it! Pom pom making in strands, in 10 easy steps! Are you going to make some too? We want to see, leave a comment with link if you do! 

 

and another anthro inspired felt garland

If you've read this blog for nearly any length of time, you know I love garlands, and felt, and Anthro, (remember this one from a few years ago?)...and when they all come together in a new craft diy, I can't help but share. It may be a little late for this holiday season, I'm putting mine away today, but hey, you can get a major head start on next year's holiday season! Of course, depending on the colors you choose, it could be appropriate all throughout the year too. Here's how I made my version of this Anthropologie garland:

I grabbed my pile of felt scraps to begin. I have always loved felt, especially wool felt, and  have bought it through the years at flea markets, thrift stores and fabric stores. I also bought some wool blend from Heather Bailey and love it, her colors are really great. I started cutting it by hand, but soon realized that was going to be a long, arduous process, so I switched to a new plan:

 

Out came my rotary cutter and self healing matt and a ruler that has my little brother's name scrawled in 8 year old penmanship on the back (I treasure it). 

As you can see, the pieces cut are imperfect, and about 1/2 and inch wide and a little over 2 inches tall. I cut the tails on some but didn't end up using them for this garland. 

I wish I could tell you how many I cut, but I truly, have no idea. I just used scraps and small pieces and called it good. You can always cut and add more to your garland at any point. 

I used an embroidery needle and some DMC "coton perle" to stitch the garland together. I decided to pinch the strip of felt together with my fingers and went through the felt in 2 points that way. 

It looks like this after the first go through.

I then went back through, going close to, but not through the first stitch, and going the opposite direction as the first stitch was made. 

That way, when you pull it taught, you get a nice pinched effect. 

Now, at this point, if you wanted to, you could come back up from the center of the pinched piece, but I didn't, I wanted the sort of off-centered, gathered look, so instead: 

I just pulled the thread up from the side where it came out after the second pass through, and started with a new piece:

After doing that about 500 times (really, I have no idea how many, but the thought did come to me that if I was able to find one at Anthro after the holiday on sale, it might be a better use of time, haha), I had a sweet garland. 

When I asked my daughter to hold it for a photo today, she couldn't resist using it as a boa...it does remind me of that...

But we're going to stick with it as a garland around here. Elise had a different diy inspired by the same Anthro garland, you can see hers here. Let me know if you make one, I'd love to see! Happy end to the holidays!!! 

slow down december!

Well hello there! I can.not.believe that it's the 18th of December! Can you?!?! I must be getting older, because with each passing day the calendar pages seem to be flying off with increasing speed. That shot above was taken while on a plane heading from San Fransisco to Oregon last week. Can you see the Golden Gate bridge? I was assisting Heather on one of her styling assignments. It's always fun to lend a helping hand, and see fabulous houses up close and personal, but leaving home in December is hard for me, I get back and feel behind behind behind! I took some shots of what's going on around here today to get back on the blogging bandwagon:

Late last night I made some of Rachel's  Himmeli ornaments using straws I bought at Target. Rachel is such a cutie and her DIYs are excellent, this one is no exception. 

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I'm working on a tutorial myself for this Anthro inspired garland. Should have it up in the next day or so for those of you that love to craft over the holidays like I do. There are two other craft ideas that I can't stop thinking about pursuing too...hoping to make some time to see them come to fruition!

Before I left for work, I was on a roll with my December Daily. If you want to see more shots you can see my full book with close ups here. I've been working on catching back up:

While I was away my daughter texted me this shot- I've yet to get out and do any looking or shopping, but had I been with her, I sure would have been tempted to shop for some gifts...for myself! 

I did get outside to catch this glorious sunset the other day though:

And then, there's these that need placing on the tree:

Here's to slowing down December, one moment at a time...or giving it my best shot! xo

 

upcycled garland

Hello there! HOpe that those of you that celebrate Thanksgiving had a lovely day yesterday! We had a nice day here. It was quieter than our usual, but that helped make it feel slow, and long, and sweet. I even had time to add to the fall garland. 

In a previous post, I showed photos of these diamonds I'd been cutting out of boxes that my Studio Calico orders arrive in. I'd been painting them too. I just love these colorful diamonds and used some of them to make a garland (of course!). I've got a few other projects to create using these in the works, but wanted to get the garland up for the holidays.

After the paint had dried, I just ran them gently (aka, slowly) through my sewing machine. Making for a very easy and very fast garland diy. One tip I'd recommend is to change up the way you feed the diamonds into the machine, from all paint side up, to the box graphics side up every so often. Like I did above. 

 

Just in case you have any boxes arriving with some graphics that might look good cut into diamonds, or circles, or squares ... well, you get the idea! Let the holiday crafting officially begin!!! 

another fall felt garland

I had a few felt leaves left over from the last garland, and decided to make another version for another area of the house. I simply threaded some brown baker's twine onto a needle and quickly attached them using a basic running stitch. Without the wire, it's a much looser, more typical garland in my mind, but lovely in it's own right, and so much easier!

I did cut an extra top for each acorn and stitch through all three layers so that the pieces would look good from both sides when hanging, and tried to put the acorns toward the ends of the garland so they'd hang the right direction, but as you can see below, it didn't always pan out. 

 I put the leaves in both directions, as you can see in the photo below:

I mentioned over on my InstaGram that DIYs have become a procrastination or escapism technique for me.... I think it's because they they are so quick and satisfying.

 

Speaking of DIYs, here are a whole bunch more for your perusal as found over on Apartment Therapy. Thanks to Kim McCormick for including one of mine among her selections! 

weekend DIY #2

Is this just about the prettiest pumpkin you ever did see?

Wish I had thought of it, but nope, it was Allyson Baker of Day to Day Wonderment's idea I saw by way of Creature Comforts' Fall DIY post. Allyson's is actually the prettiest pumpkin I've ever seen. Just perfection! Go see and follow her DIY if you want to make one. I don't believe I did anything differently when making mine. 

Again, like yesterday, I just used what I had on hand. I happened to have bought one small orange pumpkin last TJ's trip, and had some doilies already. Honestly, I like the shape of her doilies better, and if I were to do it again, I might just keep an eye out for some special ones before jumping in. And a bigger, rounder pumpkin might be more pleasing too, but I'm nit picking. 

I couldn't stop taking pictures of the pretty little pumpkin. Here it is on the dining room table, on top of the doily runner I made. It's a doily lovers dream in there right now, haha. Poor boys that live with me!

I want to make some more with white pumpkins and colored doilies! 

Again, thanks to Ez for adding my fall felt garland to this DIY by Allyson, I love having all three added to our fall decor! 

weekend DIY #1

My fall felt DIY garland found itself amongst some good company over on Creature Comforts last week. I was very happy Ez asked me if she could include my project in her post about 3 fall DIYs. I think she has excellent taste, so to be included was quite the honor. I love the other 2 projects as well, and being the crafting addict that I am, I couldn't resist doing them myself. 

This is my take on the first DIY project, a place card design by Anne Weil of Flax & Twine. Aren't her chalkboard place cards so great?!? I plan to follow her instructions one day, but since I didn't have the materials on hand today, I adapted it to what I had here already.

Some simple craft cardstock cut down to 3.5" wide, some standard washi (the red), with some thinner tape which I found in the sewing supply section in JoAnn's Fabrics as well as glue, glitter, and an ink pen were all it took.

I simply brushed on some ModPodge and coated the glue with that same inexpensive gold glitter I've been using on the pumpkins. 

I learned to remove the strips of tape in the reverse order they were applied, so that the other pieces aren't lifting off paper or glitter along with them. 

So pretty! 

Even the trash pieces are pretty. I still haven't thrown them away, they'll likely end up on a journal card for my Project Life. 

Nice and clean. Once they fully dried, I simply wrote names on with an ink pen. 

I do believe they're going to be a big hit with everyone at Thanksgiving dinner, especially my glitter loving, sign loving (remember last year's sign/decor they made?)  nieces!

Thanks again to Anne for the inspiration and Ez for curating the DIY collection!

The 2nd DIY coming tomorrow...

pretty pumpkins

Oh, for the love of pumpkins and pinterest and pretty 8 year old nieces whose eyes light up at the sight of glitter.

A super simple way to fancy up your fall. There are other glittered pumpkins on pinterest pins, like a whole pumpkin for one.

We bought some 99¢ pumpkins, added some white glue with a paintbrush, and sprinkled on some gold glitter we had on hand. 

It's easy to wipe off stray glitter before it dries, and after it dries both. After seemed easiest for little hands.

We were disappointed that one of our pumpkins lost it's stem, until we realized that that enabled us to turn it top down and dip it in a pile of glitter, and the white glue didn't run in the meantime. 

A lot of bang for the buck, right? They'll be so pretty on the Thanksgiving table too. Next I'm got to try horizontal scalloped lines...and a written word or two...you'll see, if you do these too, they are addicting! 

felt fall leaf garland diy

I finished my felt fall leaf garland...and I love it! 

Isn't it pretty? 

And it's easy too, here's how I did it:

I googled "Oak leaf images" and spent time free hand cutting all different leaves in different sizes and colors.  I knew I wanted to use wire vs. string to connect the leaves so that I could shape the garland as desired. I decided on gold wire that I had because gold just seems so much more fall than silver. I used 24 guage so that it had a low profile and would pretty easily push through the felt. Occasionally, I needed to use an awl to make a hole before pushing through the heavier (stiffer) felt. 

Every so often, I would put the wire in a slightly angled loose zig zag pattern like seen above on the front and below on the back:

Which when pulled a little caused the leaf to gather down the center:

I made some acorns too:

Acorns and Oak leaves in different colors and sizes. 

I cut the wire in lengths of approximately 12" to make it easier to string and adjust when putting together. I figure that way, I can also use them for different things  later. 

To angle some of the leaves, like the deep orange one above, I put the wire in at an angle, vs. going straight down the center. 

Once I had about 8 different strands of leaves, I then wired them together on the fireplace mantle. I used a few glue dots to keep it attached to the mantle at different points. 

And there you have it! Easy, right? And super inexpensive. (I talked about where I got my felt in the last post.)

If any of you out there give it a go, leave a link in the comments, we'd love to see! 

Happy Fall Y'all! 

(beautiful painting over the mantle by Jennifer Mercede)