Argyle Heart Wreath

I have been bitten by the 'wreath bug' -- hard!  Before I finished up the rose wreath, I started on an argyle heart wreath.  (The inspiration is here)  I didn't have a very thick wreath base, nor did I have a pool noodle, so it's a bit on the thin side, but I do love how it turned out! It's way cuter in person.  I swear!* 

I really, really want to make another one of these!  Maybe St. Patricks day themed?!

And here is the helpful hint of the day.  Freezer paper.  It is your friend!  (I did a whole post about it over here)

The easiest, cleanest way to deal with felt is to adhere freezer paper to one side of the felt, and draw (or trace, if using a template) the pattern you need to cut out of the felt on to the freezer paper side.  No yucky pen marks on the felt, and it won't stretch and get....furry and ripple-y on the edges as you cut!  Nice, crisp, non-gunky edges!

(Short story:  basically, the slick, glossy side is the side that will stick to the felt - place that side down on the felt, and press with a dry, medium heat iron, and voilà!  You have paper-backed felt!  The freezer paper will stick well enough through the tracing/cutting process, but will peel off fairly easily once you're done.)

*(I have come to realize that my pretensions of becoming a photographer are quite unrealistic.  I have pretty much given up at this point, I think!)

Update Paw Prints

A little update on the cornstarch clay adventures.....I ended up doing paw prints for the rest of the dogs a few days later.  The dough was a bit too form to get a great impression of their little feetsies, but I learned a lot from the whole experience!

An additional update upcoming about what I did with the rest of the leftover clay!  (That recipe sure does make a lot!!)

Craft Day

A couple of weekends ago, I hosted an 'arts and crafts' day at my house.....I suggested a rose wreath that I've been lusting after for quite some time.

It's so interesting how different everyone's wreaths ended up looking!  (I am still hoping for some finished shots from those that attended....)  

But boy howdy....let me tell you, when the gal whose blog inspired these, when she says "they are very labor intensive!" She is not joking.  We crafted our little hearts (pun totally intended.  I am sorry.) out for hours and hours, and no one went home with a finished wreath!  (Although there was some really great progress!!)  I know for next time (please, come back, ladies!  I promise the next project won't be nearly as time consuming!!)

If I ever feel like I need hours and hours of mindless rolling, I really want a black and white version.  :)  I finally finished mine up over the weekend!  Next up is packaging and delivery!  YAY!

Christmas Goodies - Bath & Body Edition

My very good friend Holly and I have every once in a while done bath & body products for our Christmas gifts.  This year (back by popular demand!) was an array of lotions and lip balms and scrubbie sacks!

Solid lotion "Body Butter" - wrapped in plastic
and stickered with a label including all the ingredients

 I struggled for days and days to find appropriate, cute, yet inexpensive containers for the solid lotion - but alas, none were to be found!  I eventually decided to try various soap and candy molds - and hurrah!  It worked!  (Although I think Holly was more than a little dubious at first!....)

I had a whole lot of fun finding
cool shapes for the lotions!

I (finally) bought a sticker machine I've had my eye on for months and months to make all the labels for our products*!  (Present for me!!!  I mean, a very useful tool that had to be purchased for the project....!)  Holly made the labels, using frames from the ever-fabulous Graphics Fairy.  Each label lists all the ingredients (but of course!)  I was worried at first that the stickers wouldn't be sticky enough to work as labels, but they seem to be holding up quite well indeed!  The maker puts a very fine layer of plastic film over the top of the paper, so it's more durable than the paper all on it's own.  I'm really excited about the possibilities!  What else can I sticker-y-fy?!

Lip balm pot

Lip balm stick

 It's a toss up as to whether I like the body butter, or the lip balm better....but if I had to choose, I think I would go with the lip balm!  It's not just for lips!  It also works great on cuticles and super stubborn dry knuckles.  Thankfully, Holly had leftover containers from the last round of lotions and lipbalms, and donated them to the project. There have been multiple requests for more lip balm and lotions, so just today, I purchased some new, different styled containers!  (I also got some supplies for packaging the lotions, and some lye to make soap.....omg!  So excited!!!  I'll post how it goes when they get here.....)

Three 'flavors' of scrubby sacks

Mmmmm.....awesome smelling, moisturizing scrubby sacks.......how I love thee!  Deceptively simple, yet really, really awesome!  I still have a bunch of 'base' left over for scrubby sacks, so one day, I'll need to get around to making some more!










*I l-o-v-e this machine!  I didn't even use half of the 'starter' roll that came with the machine, and we made labels for all the lipbalms (80 or so?), and all the lotions (at least 100), and I'd barely gone through half the roll!  I bought mine at WalMart for $20.  The refills at WalMart are $10.  (Everything seems to be a few bucks cheaper at Amazon, so if you have Prime, it might be cheaper to go that way....if you can wait, and are not impatient, like me!)

Corn Starch Clay Adventures

Has everyone recovered from the holidays? (I think I may need another week!) After the crazy craftiness of the holidays, Dickens, and a costume project for a dear friend, I was feeling the crafting itch!  I do have other projects that I need to work on, but last night, I needed something quick, easy, and not too involved to get me back into the swing of crafting, and decided that my old man, Cozmo, needed a paw print.

Decoupaged Heads

Tan is better than smudged Styrofoam any day!

Whenever we have gone to set up a booth with the masks, we have been bringing along some Styrofoam heads as display pieces.  This works great to show off the masks... but there is one big problem.  The head bases themselves weren't very pretty.  What to do?

The solution we came up with was to decoupage the heads with some cute paper.  Though we still plan to add wooden bases to make the heads more sturdy, we are liking the results so far.

Supplies

Styrofoam head(s)

Paper

Modge Podge

Paint brush

To make the heads, we used sponge brushes to put a layer of Modge Podge directly onto the head.  Ripped pieces of paper were then placed directly on the Modge Podge, and then brushed over again with another layer.  Repeat until the entire head is covered.  

Tip:  If you are using a heavier paper, we found it helped to wet the paper down a bit to help it conform to the head.

Even MORE Fascinators!

		Christmas-y VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

		Black VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

		Yellow & Peach VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

		Pink VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

		Purple & Blue VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

 

		White & Cream VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL