Tuesday Tutorial -- DIY Tissue Garland

This is a simple but beautiful craft to spice up any activity or to just make a porch or deck look festive.  This will be useful for those last of the summer garden parties and these are so easy to make.  Let me know if you make these and how it worked out please.  I plan to make this garland and use it to decorate the psychiatric unit where I work to make it feel more festive.  I'll let you know if it works out or not.

You can visit the original blog to find this and other really fun things to make and do.


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Y'all, this might be the best... fastest, cheapest, eye-pleasing-est party decorating trick ever. You can literally make this Tissue Garland that I made for Clare's Buggie Birthday an hour before your party starts when, eh-hem, you should be showering.

Click here to get the so easy DIY for Tissue Garland.

DIY Tissue Garland

These directions are for the flower garland that I made but you could easily make squares, circles or pennants... any shape really! Ooooh snowflakes!

1. Grab a few sheets of tissue in party coordinating colors.  I used about 6 sheets to create 4 - 6' strands


2. Fold a few sheets up until the short width is the width of your large flower (mine were about 5") and then cut off the extra. Cut through the folds on all sides so you have a stack of squares.


3. The extra becomes your smaller flower. Cut it square. Cut through the folds on all sides so you have a stack of squares.


4. Take a few squares (depending on scissor performance) and fold them in half. Then fold them in thirds to a point on the folded side (like a sliced pie)

mmmm pie.

5. Cutting through all layers at once, cut the top into the rounded curve of one petal.


6. Unfold and you have a flower (hopefully.)


7. Repeat with the rest of your tissue squares.

8. Arrange your stacks of flowers by color and size next to your sewing machine.

9.And start sewing! Just place one flower into your machine and start and as that flower finishes slip another flower in. You can leave a bit of space between or overlap the flowers. I will overlapped even more next time. Perhaps even sew through multiple layers at the same time and fold them to create 3-D flowers.


Note: My machine did best on a standard stitch length (2.5), when I tried a (5) it started to bunch. If you are having trouble with bunching, you can pull the tissue from the back of your machine (gently) and it should stay smooth.

The strands are so light that you can easily hang with tape. They look great on windows!

This was so fast and easy and it added alot to the party!

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Thursday -- Spa Day

Here's a wonderful recipe for a hand scrub that we all can use.  This would be a great gift as she explains in her tutorial, or just to keep on hand for yourself to keep your hands soft and supple.  Either way, I hope you enjoy!  This is from  Under the Table and Dreaming by Stephanie Lynn.  Check out her blog for more wonderful creations.  You can follow her on Face Book, too.

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Lemon Sugar Hand Scrub 

We all have them {well at least I do}; poor, exhausted, DIY doing, spray painting extraordinaire, crafters hands. I have been using this simple mix for a few years and it is the best recipe to rejuvenate your skin and bring your fingertips back to life. The sugar is an excellent exfoliate to remove the craft leftovers from your nail beds and cuticles too! It takes only minutes to mix and you most likely have all the necessary ingredients sitting right in your pantry.

Packaged up just right this makes another inexpensive Mother's Day gift; a perfect addition to tuck in a little gift basket.

Begin my mixing 2 1/2 Cups of Sugar with 1 Cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Add in 4 Tablespoons of Lemon Juice {or scented essential oils to your liking}. This mixture will make enough to fill a 12oz. Mason Jar {and you'll have just enough left over to clean your hands afterwards too}

Mix really well until a gritty paste forms and spoon into a glass container. {make sure your container has a lid that seals}

I have to say I love this mix and use it all the time. After sitting for awhile you may need to mix prior to using as the sugar may settle. A tiny bit is all you need and it leaves your skin extra soft and smooth. {plus not to mention it scrubs away all craft evidence so my hands do not look like a mechanics out in public}Enjoy!

Tuesday Tutorial -- "Ceramic" Paper Roses

Here's a great tutorial I found on The Scrap Shoppe blog.  I posted it here but I suggest that you click on over to see what else can be found at either The Scrap Shoppe blog or at the Singing Three Little Birds blog.
There are several other tutorials there that you might enjoy.  I hope you like this one, because I think these roses are "the bomb"!

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"Ceramic" Paper Roses

If you missed my guest post during Flower Week at Singing Three Little Birds, here's the lowdown!

These rolled roses originally started out as plain red cardstock. Now they have an almost ceramic look to them. Let me show you how I made them!
 

 1. Start with a couple of pieces of cardstock (I only ended up needing one for all of these flowers, but I grabbed a 2nd piece just to be sure).


 2. Soak the cardstock, one sheet at a time, under running water. Be sure and wet both sides of the cardstock. 3. Wad each piece of cardstock up into a ball. You're going to want it very rumpled so you will need to wad it up, open it, and wad it up again several times. Just be careful that you don't rip the paper. 4. Lay the cardstock out flat and allow it to dry. I soaked mine before going to bed and let it dry on the kitchen counter overnight. If you're slightly more impatient you can take a hairdryer to it. From here I tried two different techniques to get the "ceramic" look for the roses. Here is the technique for the single rose. 

5. From a roughly 5"x5" square of the dried cardstock, cut out a circle. From the circle cut out a spiral. I like to cut my spirals in a wavy fashion to give the final rose a more realistic look.

6. Start with the outermost part of the spiral and start rolling it between your fingers. Contine you to roll until you get to the center of the spiral.

7. Take the center of the spiral and use some adhesive to glue the base to the rest of the rose so it acts as the base of your flower.

8. A pretty little rose!

9. Ink the edges of the rose with a contrasting color. This just makes the rose more realistic so its not uniform in color. You can skip this step if you would rather.

10. Apply a somewhat thick coat of Mod Podge to the rose with a sponge brush. Not too thick though! If its too thick the glue with dry white instead of clear (especially between the petals).

11. Turn the rose over after the front dries and appy more Mod Podge to the back of the rose.

12. Apply a pin, bobby pin, clip, or whatever you like to the back of the rose.

Note: This starts the 2nd "ceramic" technique. (I think I actually like this one better.)

13. Cut three different size squares from the wrinkled cardstock. Apply Mod Podge to each square. Once the front dries, flip it over and apply again to the back.

14. Cut out spirals as before.

15. Once again, start with the outside of the spiral and start rolling the rose.

16. The roses for this set of 3 flowers are more tightly rolled so they can be placed snugly next to one another.

17. Glue the back of the roses as before.

18. Ink the roses at this step if you are so inclined.

19. Apply another coat of Mod Podge just to get the flowers nice and shiny!

20. Line the 3 flowers up in a row and adhere a strip of the red cardstock to the back of the flowers. Apply a small amount of adhesive between each flower to glue them to each other also just to be sure there is no flopping around. Add a pin, bobby pin, or whatever suits your fancy.

The final single rose. I glued some large silver beads to the center.

The final set of 3 roses. I didn't add anything to the center of them since they are wrapped so tightly. And I think they look just as good without the extra embellishment.

Its may be difficult to tell from the photos, but these roses have a great shine to them. And the Mod Podge also makes them very stiff so they also almost feel like they could be ceramic. The wrinkled paper and the waviness of the spiral really give them a realistic look!

So, what to do with these fun new flowers?

Well, since they are pinbacks I can add them to any outfit as a brooch, put them on a belt, add them to a headband...

Or thread them through the chain of my DIY go-to necklace! I'm loving this look!

Other than the time it took the cardstock and Mod Podge to dry (which was really only a few minutes), this was a pretty quick project.

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Thursday--Spa Day

Here's a couple of videos I found to show how easy it is to make many of the skin care products we all use.  By making your own, however, you control the ingredients and the outcomes.  Home made skin care products also make lovely gifts, so it is a good thing to know how to make these.

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Window Shopping Wednesday

This time I want to showcase a lovely lady who taught me to make the prayer dolls.  She is struggling with cancer and yet she continues to share her knowledge and to make her art dolls.  Please enjoy the pictures and then hop on over to her ning site and leave her a get well message.  Thanks.

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Tuesday Tutorial -- Dolls In Motion

I miss watching the Carol Duvall Show.  HGTV has even gotten rid of most of the archives from the show, so when I run across one, I like to keep it in my favorites.  This is only one of her segments on making art dolls.  She is the first person to show me what an art doll really is and I am indebted to her for it.  It's a shame that there are no really good crafting shows on anymore.  Carol Duvall certainly was a class act and obviously a hard act to follow.  We all miss her.


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Carol Duvall Show : Episode CDS-464 -- More Projects »

PDF Click the icon for figures 1 through 6.

Using a simple wire form and clippers, dollmaker Susanna Oroyan adds mobility to a doll by attaching moving parts. These kinds of doll forms bend easily and can be wrapped with any favorite fabric or ribbon. Oroyan's model may have a wooden head and a frozen smile, but she certainly looks and dresses smart enough to become a prized posession.

Materials:

20-gauge craft wire - for dolls under 12 inches
16 gauge wire (available in hardware stores) - for dolls over 12 inches
masking tape
wire-cutting pliers
batting
embroidery thread - nine skeins in desired colors
one-inch diameter wooden bead
silk ribbon 1/4 inch wide - 12 yards of flesh color, three yards for hair, six yards shoe color, assorted colors for clothing and trim beads, flowers, etc., for embellishments

Steps:

1. Make a "W" shape with the wire. The loop will support a head (figure 1).
2. Twist the ends of the wire together at the "neck" (figure 2).
3. Tape the torso below the neck and above the hip (figure 3).
4. Bend the wire to form the hips (figure 4).
5. Bend the wire to form arms and tape them at the shoulders (figure 5).
6. Wrap the armature with batting (figure 6).
7. Wrap the body with embroidery thread to build out and add dimension to the form.
8. Cover the wooden bead (which will become the head) by using a needle threaded with embroidery thread. Run the thread through center hole of the bead until three-fourths of the bead has been covered.
9. Create the eyes and mouth with flat stitches of embroidery thread.
10. Attach the head to the body by inserting wire into the bead hole at the neck.
11. Create a desired hairstyle from some curled silk ribbon.
12. Wrap ribbon around the doll to make the dress bodice.
13. For the skirt, gather the fabric and hand-stitch it to the doll's waist.
14. Embellish as desired.

Susanna's Tips:

• Figures can be built up more quickly by wrapping with two-ply baby yarn.
• Instead of using embroidery thread for the flesh, the figure may be finished with a layer of wrapped silk ribbon.
• Shoes may be created by wrapping the feet with an appropriate color of embroidery thread.
• Silk ribbons may be curled by pulling them over the scissors blade, just as you would create a gift package ribbon.
• Embroidery thread may be curled effectively by first dampening it with a 50 percent solution of craft glue and water, and then wrapping it over a metal knitting needle.

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More on Paper Beads

Paper Bead Art 

By: Diy maven Mar 13, 2007

When we were kids, my sister Joyce and I rolled paper beads; little did we know we were doing something girls a hundred years earlier had done. Although Joyce and I made funky necklaces with our beads, our Victorian counterparts used the fruits of their labor to fashion curtains for doorways. Nowadays, I like to use paper beads to create 3D art, including greeting cards.
↓ Continue reading

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Here's another take on this fun craft:


i rolled my beads onto a piece of wire, as you can see from the pic. you want to roll from the wide side, as tightly as you can, ending with the teeny skinny side and make sure that that end is glued down well. i put about a dozen beads per foot long piece of wire. they will come off pretty easily. i tried using wooden skewers coated in vaseline, but the beads stuck to that. no good. so that is it. you could leave them at that point as is,this is what they look like unsealed... or seal them with mod podge, as many coats as you want. or you could paint the beads, add sparkle or ink or whatever you like. at that point, i antique some of my beads, jacquard has really great sparkly pigments that can be put right onto the bead, or, in my favorite way, added to UTEE which is thick embossing powder and then the bead can be rolled in it and heated or heat the utee in a pot and dip your beads in. the more coats of this you put on, the thicker. this stuff is amazing. use different finishes to make the beads look like metal, gems, or pearls, even...these are a bit lumpy and bumpy, but you get the idea. head over to my flickr bead set to see some of the other ones, and new things will be added all the time.
once you are done, you can sand the edges a bit, or sand the whole thing for another look altogether. the options are endless. make small beads that are more plain, or big ones to use as pendents, and make them into any shape. if you wanted to just layer them, you can cut out a form and go from there, or decoupage over something and drill a hole later. so many options! oooh, and photos! you can make a photo bead or pendant. i am going to!

don't be afraid to try different things. this is inexpensive and fun. anyone can do it, and it is a great project for little kids. for those of us that save every little scrap, this is perfect. i am planning to try yarn and fabric, but keep an open mind and have no fear!
a couple of tips: use either a non-stick cookie sheet or some waxed paper so you don't get glue and paper and gunk all over your table or whatever you are using. also, if you use the utee, it can burn you, so be careful with it. baby wipes are a great thing to have handy so you can get the glue and smutz off of your fingers in between beads, as well as cooling off your fingers if your drip hot stuff. roll a really long bead and after it is dry, cut it into several smaller beads with a utility knife...read the entire tutorial