Making a Christmas Door Wreath

Here's a couple of videos about making Christmas wreaths. It is getting to be that time of year, so we better get started making our decorations if we want to be ready!

Making your own perfume, cologne, bath splash and scented powder

Image via WikipediaI was watching an old Carol Duvall show recently and one of the shows was a beautiful young woman who made perfume.  I just sat, with my mouth open, as she made perfume, cologne, bath splashes and scented powder right before my eyes.

Here is how she did it:

You will need:

1.  Start with 100 proof Vodka--no other kind will work
2.  Get you perfume oils either at a body shop or online
3.  You need small glass bottles to store your perfume in--if they are clear, plan to cover the bottle with something.
4.  Glass eyedroppers

How to do it:

Perfume -- start with 2 ounces of vodka in your small glass bottle; to this add 60 drops of your perfume oil (you will want to mix scents, but only a total of 60 drops); shake it up.  Voila!!!

Cologne -- start with 2 ounces of vodka already in your glass bottle; to this add 30 drops of your perfume oil; shake up; and Voila!!!!

Bath Splash -- start with 4 ounces of vodka; to this add 1 teaspoon of glycerine; add drops of food coloring (optional); to all of this add 15 drops of perfume oil and shake up.

Scented powder -- take a 1/4 cup of cornstarch in a bowl; add about a teaspoon of mixed perfume from above; sprinkle it all over and then stir to break up the clumps.  You will let this set out in the bowl overnight and in the morning restir the mix.  Now you are ready to put your scented powder into a cheese sprinkler glass bottle. 

Not bad, huh?  I'm off to Whole Foods to pick up some perfume oils and the liquor store for my Vodka!

Here are some hints to help you pick out your oils:
*Earthy – vetiver and patchouli
*Fruity – lemon, grapefruit, lemongrass, bergamot, orange, mandarin, and lime
*Woodsy – cypress, sandalwood, pine, cedar, and cassia
*Floral – rose, violet, jasmine, ylang ylang, neroli, and geranium
*Spicy – cinnamon, black pepper, ginger, juniper, clove, cardamom, and nutmeg
*Herbal – basil, clary sage, chamomile, lavender, rosemary, and peppermint

Wouldn't a whole set of a scent make a wonderful gift for a teacher or co-worker?

Related articles

• History of Perfume (fancythatperfume.wordpress.com)
• 6 Fragrances I Love (joeychong.wordpress.com)
• My Favorite Fall Scent!! (hudabeauty.com)
• How To: The Proper Way to Apply Perfume (bellasugar.com)
• Perfume As Medicine - Sleepless Nights, Aches And Pains And More (olfactoriastravels.com)
• New Natural Botanical Perfumes coming soon to Esscentual Alchemy (esscentualalchemy.wordpress.com)

Here's a beautiful autumn wreath to make to adorn your door, or hang in your window, or on your wall. Such pretty colors and so delicate looking. This was from Styrofoam Crafts. 

This designer has another beautiful wreath that I will put up at another time.  First, lets get crackin' on making this beauty.  Enjoy!

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Halloween Ribbon Wreath

Looking for harvest-season décor you can put up October 1st and keep up through Halloween and Thanksgiving? Look no further - unique sunflower-like effect is gorgeous!
Completion Time - 1 hour
Designer - Kathleen George

STYROFOAM™ Brand Foam

Wreath, Round Face, 12" x 2-1/2" x 1"

Other Materials

Foam-safe black spray paint
Black ultra-fine glitter
Pony beads, one package each: black; orange
Ribbon, 1-1/4" wide: black grosgrain, 1 yd.;
sheer orange, gold, black wire-edged, 5 yds. each
Wire or thin black ribbon, 6" length

Tools Needed

Ruler
Wooden skewer
Scissors
Low-temp glue gun and glue sticks
Thick, white craft glue
Optional: Large cardboard box

Instructions

• 1. If desired, place foam wreath inside large cardboard box
  outdoors or in well-ventilated area. Spray paint wreath black;
  sprinkle with glitter while wet. Let dry completely.
• 2. Tie grosgrain ribbon into a bow with tails; set aside. Cut
  approximately twenty 4" lengths from each sheer ribbon color;
  cut more as needed to fill out wreath shape.
• 3. Apply dot of glue to opening of a black pony bead;
  immediately insert one end of a sheer black ribbon length
  through hole until tight. Let dry; trim excess ribbon above
  bead. Repeat to bead all black and gold ribbons black; bead
  all orange ribbons orange. Let dry.
• 4. Refer to photo to join beaded ribbon lengths to wreath.
  Beginning just inside wreath opening, dot wreath with glue and
  use wooden skewer to push free end of one ribbon length into
  foam. Continue adding ribbons in concentric circles around
  wreath, cutting and beading more ribbons as needed. Offset
  ribbons slightly from circle to circle.
• 5. Use fingers to bend ribbon lengths toward outside edge of
  wreath as shown. Twist wire ends, or knot thin ribbon ends,
  together to create hanging loop. Glue ends into center top
  back of wreath.

A Faux Fox Stole Tutorial!

Here's a wonderful and funky tutorial I found over at Craftster.
This post is by a wonderful crafter named p.kok and I absolutely love this faux fox stole!
To see this post on the original site just click the link. 

I can see many of these in my future.  I can't wait to go look at fabric.  Can you just imagine what you could make?  Oh, my!

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I wanted it to have eyes, but i couldn't find them in any store in town (i orderd some form etsy, since I plan to make more of those scarfs), but i kinda like it the way it turned out.



If you want, i can make a tutrial and post the pattern for the head in the next days. C&C very welcome

edit: THE TUTORIAL!

1. cutting the fabric:
You will need approximately half a yard of some soft warm fabric like wool (fake fur would also probably work pretty well). So first you cut out two head shapes and two rectangles. the rectangles should be around 15 cm wide and the length depends on your wishes (or on the width of the fabric you chose, if you actually bought just half a yard:)). Then you fold the rectangles in half. (you can cut both at once if you have scissors good enough to cut though 4 layers of fabric). Cut them as shown on the picture (that is really really bad, but stupid illustrator won't work so i had to use paint instead:))).



also a "pattern" for the head. just copy it to a word document and size it the way you like.



2. embelishing

If you want to put eyes or noses or any other embellishments on anything (like contrasting fabric on the paws or on the tail) or do any embroidery, do it now (so the stitches won't show later).

3. sewing

put the right sides of the fabric pieces for the head together and sew almost all the way around- leave a gap to turn everything inside out. Then turn everything inside out, iron it and top stitch around the edge and close the gap that was left. Now do the same with the body. Sew the head to the body and voila- you're done!:)

*i hope you understood everything- english is obviously not my first language:) if you have any questions, feel free to ask:)

Related articles

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Remember the Heroes from 9/11!

We have much to be thankful for, but especially for the courage and strength of all those who acted bravely on this day in our history.  May God bless them and keep them safe from harm always.

‎ Niblet & Biscuit Doll Tutorial

Here is a wonderful tutorial I found on Gwenny Penny that I know you will want to try.  This site is full of tutorials and beautiful photographs and I encourage you to visit there, especially if you like this tutorial.

These are the cutest little dolls.  I can see me making several of these in the near future for presents.  Don't you know someone who would simply love to have one?

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Let's get to it...

Materials you will need to make one 7 inch doll (either Niblet or Biscuit):

• Flannel for head, ears, arms, and legs – ¼ yd
• Cotton for body – fat quarter or large scraps
• Felt – small scraps (black for eyes, pink for Niblet's inner ears, tan for Biscuit's inner ears and muzzle)
• Embroidery floss (black, pink, tan)
• Polyfill
• Coordinating thread
• ¼" hole punch
• Optional: ribbon, buttons, fabric scraps, round cord elastic, and ¼" elastic for dressing up

Remember to backstitch every time you start or stop a seam.

Click here to download, save, or print the templates for the dolls.

Part I: Sewing the Head, Ears, Arms, and Legs

Step 1: Print and cut out all templates.

Step 2: Trace templates onto flannel and cut out. You should have 2 head pieces (template A), 8 arm/leg pieces (template B), and 4 ear pieces (template C or E). Trace template D or templates F and G onto felt and cut out. You should have 2 inner ear pieces (template D or F). If you are making Biscuit you should also have one muzzle piece (template G).

Step 3: Place two arm/leg pieces of flannel together. Sew around ¼" from the outside edge. Repeat for the other three arms/legs. Turn all four arms/legs right side out.

Step 4: Take one flannel ear piece and center one felt inner ear piece on top, lining up the bottom edges of both pieces. Hand sew the felt to the flannel using 3 strands of embroidery floss that match your felt. Repeat for the second ear.

Step 5: Match up one blank flannel ear piece with one felt/flannel ear piece. Line them up with right sides together (felt should be in between the two pieces). Sew around ¼" from the outside edge. Repeat for the other ear. Clip your corners. Turn both ears right side out.

Step 6: Now it's time to create the face. Use the face templates provided for placement of eyes, nose, and mouth. For eyes, use a ¼" hole punch to punch two circles out of black felt. My punch didn't go all the way through the felt, so I finished the cut with scissors. Hand sew black felt eyes onto one flannel head piece using 3 strands of black embroidery floss.

• For Niblet, embroider the nose using 3 strands of pink embroidery floss and the mouth using 3 strands of black embroidery floss.
   
• For Biscuit, place the felt muzzle on the flannel face. Attach using 3 strands of black embroidery floss to make three French knots on either side of the muzzle. Embroider the nose and mouth using 3 strands of black embroidery floss.

Step 8: Turn your head right side out. Stuff the head with polyfill. Tuck the raw edges of the gap inside the head. Sew the gap closed. You now have a complete head!

Part III: Finishing the Doll

Step 13: Tightly whipstitch the very base of the head to the very top of the body. Double up your thread when you do this to make sure it's secure. Trust me, we've already had a casualty in our house.

Niblet's Skirt

New Tutorial -- The Sylvia Headband by Nancy's Couture

Here is a delightful tutorial that I found  while looking for something else.  This has got to be one of the best tutorial for a most beautiful headband.  I would be proud to wear this, but I think I would have to fight off my friends.  I guess I better get busy and make one for everyone; that way, I get to wear my own!

This tutorial is from Nancy's Couture where you can read her blog and check out all of the rest of her really cute tutorials.  Leave her a comment when you visit and tell her I sent you.  Oh, if you want to see pictures of this process, you'll have to go to her site.  She has wonderful, up-close photographs that show you exactly what to do. 

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Supplies Needed

    *
      Strips of fabric (mine range from 1" to 1.5" wide)
    *
      tulle (the soft kind)
    *
      Headband
    *
      Glue gun
    *
      Glue sticks
    *
      Scissors
Put a dot of glue on the inside of one end of the headband.
Put the end of a strip of fabric on the dot of glue.
Place a small dot of glue on the front and wrap fabric to cover the glue.
Continue wrapping the fabric around the headband.
Until you get to the other end of the headband.
Put a dot of glue on the inside and fold the fabric over onto the glue.
Cut of the extra.

For The Roses

Tie a knot at the end of a strip of fabric.
Put some glue on the knot.
Twist the fabric and push into the glue.
Continue twisting and gluing until you get the desired size rose.
Put some glue on the back of the rose and fold the end of the fabric into the glue.
Repeat making various size flowers.

Embellishing The Headband

Fold tulle in half and then in half again. Cut it 3" wide.
Put a generous amount of glue on the headband.
Push the strip of tulle into the glue pleating it as you go.
Put some glue on top of the tulle.
Press flower into glue.
Trim the tulle if needed.  I like mine to be a little shorter on the front than the back.  I also like mine to be uneven. I don't like the tulle to have a straight looking edge.  These are just my personal preferences.
Now you have a pretty new headband.

  Here is the finished  product again!  Don't you want to go right out and get the supplies?