44th project completed - A buttercup ring

I have noticed lately that there is a fashion for large plastic rings around at the moment so I thought I would have a go at my own. Here's mine .........

A buttercup ring made from the 'butter' tub!

Materials

• Yellow plastic butter tub
• Ring blank or Gold wire and a scrap of yellow craft foam
• 3 light green seed beads
• Super glue
• Needle & thread
• Small sharp decoupage scissors

Instructions

1. The first step is to remove all the borders from the tub so you have flat sheets of plastic to work with. Then cut a small simple 5 petal flower shape from a piece of the plastic.

2. Now cut a small circle from another piece of the tub which looks the right size to make the centre of the flower and cut slits around the edge towards the centre as shown above. Now using a heat gun gently heat the edges of your circle so they start to curl up slightly and separate. You will need to hold down the centre of the circle with a pair of tweezers and do the heating in short bursts to avoid a melted mess!

3. Using the super glue, stick the two parts together and leave to dry. Once completely dry, glue 3 light green seed beads onto the centre of the flower using super glue and set aside to dry completely. 

4. If you do not have a ring blank (like me), you will now need to make a ring. Wind a length of wire around your finger 3 times make sure it feels comfortable and is not too tight. Now neatly bind the 3 strands together tightly with some more wire making sure the edges of the wire are covered.

 

5. Cut a small circle from a scrap of yellow craft foam and stitch it firmly to the wire ring.

You now have a ring blank - of sorts!

6. Now glue your flower onto your ring back and there you are a cute little flower ring! 

I could have painted out the printing on the back of the flower but I thought it was actually quite nice to leave it there!

40th Project completed - A' filigree brooch'

Well another busy day over and done with. I spent the morning replacing numerous bolts in the Locomotive - Jerry M that we are overhauling at Hollycombe. A bit of an unusual way to spend a Saturday morning I'll admit but there you go!


Well what am I making with the bottle tops I found?

Filigree brooches, very 'Accessorize'


Materials needed

• Bottle top
• Fine gauge coloured wire
• Knitting Needles (I used size 7 needles)
• Bits and bobs (left over seed beads, broken bits of necklace etc.)
• Brooch pin
• Hot Glue gun and stick

Instructions

1. Knit a small rectangle with the fine gauged wire (I cast on 12 stitches and knitted around 12 rows).

2. Once complete, fold opposite corners of your knitted piece together as in picture above and slip in the bottle top. Then take a length of wire and attach it to the back of the brooch then randomly 'sew' on some small seed beads through all layers taking care to encapsulate the bottle top.

 

3. Now add some swirls of contrasting wire to add interest and sew on some larger beads, bits of broken necklace etc.

4. Once you are happy with your design attach a brooch pin to the back using some hot glue, allow to cool and there you have it, A filigree brooch!

I hope you enjoyed this project please join me tomorrow evening to find out what I will be using next week.

39th Project completed - a zip flower

What a warm day! It has been about 28 degrees out today -  really warm especially for October! They do say that it will break all the records for an October day in the UK today, I wouldn't be at all surprised!!!!


It has been far too warm this week to do much heated craft work but this one is nice and simple and should appeal to most of you, as you can use them however you like whether it be as a topping for cards, as embellishments for sewing projects such as bags or as I have, as hair accessories.


So what are they?

Zip flowers!!!


Materials

• An old zip
• Scissors
• Strong sewing thread
• Needle
• Seed Beads and thin wire
• Long nosed pliers

Instructions

1. Firstly you need to separate the two parts of the Zip by cutting off the bottom stop of the zip. Then open the zip so you have two halves.

2. Next run a row of gathering stitches along the half you are using. Carefully pull up the stitches,  and then manipulate it around to create the centre of the flower, you will need to add a few holding stitches to hold it all together. If you are using a shorter zip add the remaining half of the zip in the same way to make the flower larger.

 

3. Cut some pieces of wire. Fold each in half then add a bead to the end by bending the wire back on itself with a pair of long nosed pliers. Push each pair through the centre towards the back and stitch into place.

4. To finish you can use the flower however you wish, I added a hair pin to mine but you could stick it to a card. Or sew a few onto a bag, add a brooch back or even add to shoe clips! You could also decorate with more beads or colour with some fabric paint.

35th project completed - A Quilted Penguin bag

Well what do you make with an old pillow?

A quilted Penguin bag of course!

Some of you may be wondering how I come up with the ideas and the process I go through to decide what to make each week. This weeks challenge is a prime example.

The first step is to work out what the item to be recycled is actually made of. In this case the pillow was made up of some poly cotton fabric and some polyester hollow fibre filling. Quilting obviously came to mind as a way of turning the raw materials I had into something new. 

A very similar process happens every week for example; a plastic bottle is just a thin sheet of plastic. We all know that plastic melts when exposed to heat, it is easy to cut and does not fray. Equally, a tomato purée tube is really just a thin piece of metal once opened out, and can be cut and embossed easily. It is a very soft metal so it can also be sewn through with care. 

So why not take a look around the house for things to use rather than using something new?

Materials

• An old pillow - well washed of course
• 2 x A4 sized inkjet Tee-shirt transfers
• An inkjet printer
• Sewing machine
• Thread
• Scissors
• 2 x A4 sized pieces of felt
• 1.5m Wide ribbon

Instructions

1. Print out 2 x Tee-shirt transfers with a design of your choice

2. Cut open the top of your pillow, remove the filling and cut out 2 pieces from the case about A4 in size. Iron on your Tee-shirt transfers.

3. As your pillow has been washed, no doubt the filling will have bunched together a bit. Pull out a thin layer and flatten out to use as a wadding.

4. Layer up 1 x printed piece of fabric and a piece of felt with the wadding in the middle.

5. Take one 'sandwich' and using your motif as a guide, lower the feed dogs on your sewing machine and using straight stitch sew through all three layers to quilt (Quilting purists look away now!). Repeat with the second 'sandwich'.

6. Once both sides of the bag are quilted, place right sides together, pin and stitch about 1cm from the edge down each side and across the bottom. Zig-zag over the edges to protect the edges.

7. Now turn down approx 3cm to hem the top and stitch. Turn the bag right side out and set to one side.

8. To make the shoulder strap, fold your length of ribbon in half and stitch the sides together using a zig-zag stitch over the edges. You can then add a few extra rows of stitching to add strength and a decorative touch.

9. Sew the strap to the bag and there we have it a cute little bag. I am going to keep the rest of the filling to use as stuffing and other projects.

Other ideas - You could add a fringe (as I did) or tassels to the bottom of the bag or use some extra printed fabric to make the strap. 

32nd project completed - A beautiful garden light

The weather has been so warm here for the last few weeks we have been eating a few meals outside. What we don't have are any night lights to light up the garden. So I thought I would try making some. This one was based on a Tiffany style lampshade that I own, covered in dragonflies it is colourful and so on trend at the moment and is designed to hang outside.


Here it is....

A dragonfly night light


Materials needed

• An old jam jar
• tissue paper in assorted colours
• PVA glue
• Varnish
• Beading wire
• A few beads
• China-graph pencil / permanent pen 
• Black permanent marker pen

Instructions

1. Remove the label from the jam jar and clean thoroughly. 

2. Draw out your dragonflies around the base of the jar using the china-graph pencil / permanent pen

2. Paint a layer of PVA glue all over the jar and start laying down layers of torn tissue paper to make a background leaving the areas where you have marked out the dragonflies.

3. Once completely covered, allow to dry then fill in the dragonflies. Allow to dry

4. Add details such as wing markings with a black permanent marker.

5. Add a couple of coats of varnish to weather-proof your creation.

6. Twist a couple of pieces of wire together and incorporate some beads to make a hanging handle.

7. Twist a length of wire around the jar and hook the handle to it. Place a tea-light inside, light and hang up. Please take care when handling the jar whilst and after the tea-light has been lit the glass of the jar will become hot when in use.

32nd project announcement

Well, yet another very busy weekend is over. I have been playing with Dad's Clayton wagon all day up at Hollycombe which was fun. I took a lovely picture of it that I thought I would share with you all as you are probably wondering what on earth I am talking about when I refer to the engines!


Here she is.....

Anyway I should really get round to announcing this week's project. I always recycle my glass jars but I thought I would see what I could make with one of them instead so this week I will be using an old mayonnaise jar.

See you all Saturday for the result!

30th Project announcement

Firstly I must apologise that this post is late. I had a lovely weekend playing with the steam engine at Netley Marsh steam rally. But unfortunately I got very sunburnt and by the time I got home last night I felt dreadful and fell into bed feeling very sorry for myself!


Anyway I feel fine this morning so I beg your forgiveness, and I must get on to this week's materials.

Junk mail!




I hate junk mail and we seem to get so much of it, why these companies waste their money sending me this stuff I will never understand. It always seems to go straight in the bin but seeing as they have paid for it I might as well use it!

16th project completed - a colourful garden mobile

Hello again! This week I have been trying to sort out my garden, not an easy job with two young dogs intent on destroying it at every opportunity! I wondered if the aluminium drink cans I rescued from the rubbish could be used to brighten the garden up. They are, of course waterproof and durable. So I came up with this........

A colourful garden mobile to hang from my shed!



Materials required

• An aluminium drinks can
• Fishing wire or beading nylon
• A few beads from a broken necklace
• Needle
• Sharp small scissors

Instructions
1. Cut the top and bottom off your drinks can, then cut down the can and open out to create a flat sheet of metal.

2. Draw 3 circles of differing sizes onto the sheet of aluminium and carefully cut out (the edges will be very sharp so take care).

3.Now cut out the middle of each circle. Save one of the removed circles to create a 'twiddly' bit for the bottom of your mobile. Pierce holes at the top and bottom of each shape with a needle.

4. String together with the fishing wire and beads to create a hanging mobile and add a hanging loop at the top.

5. Hang up and enjoy!

And there you have it, a colourful mobile to adorn your garden shed which will reflect the light whilst moving in the wind!

16th Project announcement

Wow what a busy day!
I spent the morning retrieving my classic Morris Minor car from the garage she has been stored in for 5 years (she looked as though it had been more like 20!).I am aiming to have her back on the road by the end of June.

After an afternoon cleaning, she is now almost shiny. Unfortunately she has seized brakes and won't start but hopefully that won't take long to sort out. So I guess I have a busy few weeks ahead of me!

Anyway back to the task at hand, this week's project announcement. This week I am going to try and think of something to make with.........

Old soft drink cans!

12th project announcement

Number 12 already I can't believe it.
No Top Gear tonight so the guys are a bit miffed. I have one ear and eye on The Antiques Roadshow as I write this so please excuse any spelling mistakes!


I have spent all day getting ready for the environment showcase on Tuesday. I have printed leaflets and cards and borrowed some display boards from my step-mother - Ta Sue. I just need to think how I am going to display all the pieces I have made so far as part of the challenge......

Anyway back to the matter at hand; we seem to get through an awful amount of crisps in this house. I always end up buying one or two multi-packs a week and always wonder what to do with the outer wrappers. They cannot be recycled locally and take up a lot of space in the bin. So this week I am going to try something with those. I have saved up a few weeks worth now so I should have enough.


Join me late next Saturday night for the finished item.