clothesline dish towel

I thought this was the sweetest thing when I saw it, but far too expensive for something so easy to make. I used fabric glue for a lot of the stitching (I was in a rush) but a running stitch instead would look really sweet (and would be even sturdier). Click on tutorial to save/enlarge.

enamel flower pins

I purposely choose a simple safety pin- I think it looks fresh, but you can group a few of these flowers together for more impact. They also would look great on a barrette. For this craft you will need:

• pine cones
• wood glue
• nail polish
• glue gun
• safety pin
• optional are: scissors and a wet wipe
  

Pauline Pattern

Since I've been doing a lot of cooking and crafting I finally treated myself to making an apron. I decided I wanted a large pocket in the front, onto which I would embroider my drawing of Pauline from Der Struwwelpeter. I'm a novice embroiderer so it took me a couple of hours- I just would remind myself that all of her ribbons is what makes the image so horribly funny. I will post the rough pattern for the actual apron (hopefully) soon.

To transfer the (or any) pattern from paper to fabric, I found two methods online. The first, was to get an embroidery transfer pencil, available at fine fabric and craft stores everywhere except where I live. The second, more painful, but doable, way is to trace the pattern on to tracing paper (tissue paper would work just as well). Pin the paper to the fabric, place the paper and fabric combo in the embroidery hoop and start sewing through both the paper and the fabric. When you are completely done embroidering the design , gently tear away the paper and carefully remove any little bits that are stuck with a needle- as soon as this goes through the wash any last remaining bits would be removed anyways.

faux porcelain bird

Another basement find was a leftover spray can of "Killz" - it's paint you use to cover water damage on walls. Since it was years since the last dishwasher accident, I used the rest of the spray (it comes in spray can and regular paint can at home depot) on some Styrofoam birds. Normally painting these styrofoam birds doesn't work with acrylic paint, but with the killz it sure does- not only that the killz is gooey, so the resulting bird looks like porcelain. After the spray dries you can apply any paint colour you like- I left mine white and hot glued the fellow to the top of a shadow box.

bling necklaces

I was admiring the necklaces on the anthropologie website, and lucky for me there's not a store for hundreds of miles- so I went through my craft supplies.
Felt can be substituted for foam on these projects (and yes this will the last mention of craft foam for a while, I promise). Also the tutorial patterns are general placements- you can see in the photos that i had to modify the pattern slightly based on what I actually got in the "rhinestone grab bag", I suspect you would have to do the same.

silhouette necklaces

Ah, my newest fascination: craft foam, courtesy of my local dollar store. You can freehand the designs on to the foam with a ball point pen, or use my tutorial for transferring a more complex pattern. Sharp scissors and an x-acto knife (for the fine detail) will be required. I also purchased this jewelry kit from the dollar store that had chains, clasps and jump rings (great deal!). I attached at least 2 jump rings and 2 clasps to each silhouette so that I can mix and match the pieces.

T-Shirt Flowers

This is a great way to recycle one old t-shirt and at the same time embellish a perfectly good (but boring) shirt. Instruction are below (click for larger view). For this project will need:

• one old t-shirt to cut up
• one new or "good" t-shirt
• matching thread
• 5-10 minutes to complete

Low Sew Sweater Purse

One wash cycle some cutting and three stitches is all this purse needs. The instructions are drawn out below (click on the picture for a larger view). Here is the full supply list:

• one XL 100% wool sweater that has been felted
• scissors
• thread that matches the sweater
• 20 minutes to assemble

To felt a sweater, simply throw the sweater in the wash with some towels (this acts as an abrasive which mashes up the wool) and set the wash cycle to hot, and the rise cycle to cold (this extreme temperate change also forces the natural fibers to expand and shrink, hence more matting) Repeat as needed. Once you are happy with the size, don't worry about cutting the wool, and leaving raw edges, it act just like felt (won't fray) and is surprisingly very strong.

Wire Necklace

Here's a fun piece of costume jewelery inspired by Patrick Magoohan (I bet you can't say that every day!). To start, I loosely drew out a very simple outline to follow. Next I rounded up some 20GA wire and my needle nose pliers and did my best to copy the design. The necklace is broken up into 5 workable parts : the bike, 3 words, and the chain. All of the wire parts were finished off on each end with loops, on to which a jump ring can be attached (I just simply attached them together loop to loop). To finish off the necklace I used an old broken chain.