DIY – learn to make edible spoons

 Great idea from Zomoc.com - wonderful for parties! Quick, easy, and to the point!

Home Work - The TP Flower Project

Fantastic Tutorial from Imperfectly Perfect!  We love the fact that this project is easy, free, and using recycled products!

Then I took that entire pile of rolls, folded them, and cut them into thin strips

Next step was to create flower like shapes that connect to each other

Now that I had a general design, it was time to glue each flower. Every 5 petals were glued together to form a flower. I used cloths pins to hold them together while the glue dried

I decided to paint some of the flowers light blue (using the left-over paint from our blue line project), and then leave the rest of the flowers in their natural look

Now that the flowers were all glued and painted, all that was left to do was to glue the flowers to each other and create a flowing connected design

My someone and I decided to hang it on the wall next to our TV. As always, my someone was in charge of the hammer while I was in charge of the photo taking...

DIY Cork Bulletin Board Bar

So easy, and a great way to upcycle / reuse those wine corks!  Don't have wine corks saved up?  Hit up your local wine bar or restaurant and ask them to save some for you for one night - you'll have plenty!  They usually have no problem saving them for people, you just have to ask!

This Bulletin Bar keeps bulletin board overlap at bay while doubling as a recycling project: It uses up all those corks you've been saving for no particular reason.

Materials

• 45 corks (per yard)
• A yardstick

• Hot glue gun

Instructions

1. To make one, simply glue the corks side by side onto a yardstick or similar strip of wood. Uhu brand "natural materials" glue works well, as does hot glue, and you'll need about 45 corks per yard. Do not glue the first and last cork on either end of the yardstick--that's where you'll fasten the bar to the wall.
   
   
2. Let the glue dry, then screw or nail the board to the wall. Glue the last cork on each end after you've screwed your board in place on the wall.

DIY Ruffled Ice Cream Cones

DIY Ruffled Ice Cream Cones

Adorable and great for just about any party you could ever want to have!  Check out Icing Designs blog for more fun tutorials!

 Materials:

2 1/2" styrofoam balls

1 1/2 yards of lightweight cotton fabric

Sewing machine or needle and thread

Hot glue gun/glue

Glue

Scrapbook paper

Cone templatea

Polyester stuffing

Ribbon

Pins

Cut fabric into strips about 44" long x 1.5 " wide using pinking shears. Sew down the middle of the strip, ruffling fabric as you go with sewing machine. You can also ruffle the fabric by hand if you do not have a sewing machine. Your finished ruffle should be 8" long. You could also use pre-ruffled fabric or ruffle trim if you do not want to make your own!

Trace cone template onto your paper and cut out. Glue edges to make cone shape. I recommend not using hot glue for this step since you need a bit of extra time to get the edges together just right. Fill your cone with stuffing to help hold the shape.

Cut a circle roughly 8" in diameter out of your fabric. Wrap the fabric around the ball and hot glue to bottom, gathering as you go. Do not worry about how the bottom looks, it will be hidden inside your cone.

Place hot glue around inside edge of your cone and stick the covered styrofoam inside. Hot glue your ruffle around the top of the cone, twisting as you go around. Be sure to glue it to both the paper and the styrofoam ball. If you would like to hang the cones, cut ribbon to desired length and use a pin or hot glue to secure it to your ice cream!

DIY Paper Plate Basket Tutorial

OMG - We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this DIY tutorial from Sarah Hearts!!  What a great way to jazz up a picnic table - consider this one for your Fourth of July party and just use Red and Blue tape to make it themed.  How much more fun can you get?

She has a bunch of super cute tutorials and some FREE printable labels for special occasions, so check her out!

The following directions are based on the craft from Martha Stewart. The tutorial on her site said to hold the basket together with a rubber band. I think that would be cute, but I love love love washi tape so I decided to use that. You can use either method, if you find another way to hold the basket together, please let me know.



1. You will need the following supplies: white paper plates (1 plate per basket), scissors, paper edger scissors (I used my pinking shears), a ruler, pencil, washi tape or rubber bands, and 4 paper clips.



2. Using the paper edger scissors or pinking shears, trim about 1/4″ off of the circumference of the plate.



3. Flip the plate over so the front side is facing down. Use the pencil and ruler to make a 9-section grid. Try your best to make the center square in the center of the plate. If you want you can measure it.



4. Use the regular scissors to cut a slit along every other vertical line. Stop cutting where the vertical line intersects with the center square.



5. Fold one side at a time up to form the “basket”. Use one paper clip to hold each side together as you assemble the basket.



6. Use washi tape and wrap it around the basket and then remove the paper clips. If you are using rubber bands, simple wrap the rubber bands around the basket. And you’re done! Now fill them up with summer treats!

DIY Wine and Beer Bottle Vases

Pieces of Anna has a great tutorial on how to upcycle those wine / beer bottles into amazingly fashionable vases that would be ideal for a gift or for your own home!  I would love this!!  Can't wait to try it.  

Be sure to check out their page for more inspirational DIY projects!

Found here. Originally from here.

A little bit of googling turned up handy tutorials on how to wrap bottles with jute. Some tutorials called for using a hot glue gun, which I don't own (and quite frankly, I can't imagine that getting hot glue on your fingers is all that pleasant). Luckily, I found some tutorials, like this one, which claimed that you could achieve the same results using plain old Elmer's glue.

The first step was to obtain some empty wine and beer bottles. I asked D to help me out with this step. I literally told him, "I need you to drink beer for my project." He was happy to oblige! Once I had a few bottles collected, I needed to remove the labels. Soaking the bottles in hot water makes this step much easier than trying to scrape dry labels off the bottles.

Bottles soaking in hot water in the kitchen sink.

Some labels came off rather easily, while others required a little scrubbing. On one wine bottle, I wasn't able to get all of the glue off, but it was fine by me, since I was going to cover it with jute anyway. After all the labels were off, and the bottles no longer smelled like alcohol, I let them dry overnight.

Bottles drying overnight.

Once the bottles were prepped, I gathered my supplies. I figured I would start with a beer bottle because it was smaller, and if I screwed up, I'd still have plenty more extra beer bottles to play with. I also bought Elmer's glue and a roll of jute (which I found in the jewelry and beading aisle at an arts and crafts store). I used a paper bag to contain my mess and not ruin the dining table.

Supplies.

I started wrapping my beer bottle from the bottom just because I figured any mistakes would be less obvious there than on the top. I did not glue any jute underneath the bottle. These photos had to be taken with my phone because I don't happen to have three hands (one to hold the bottle, one to hold the SLR camera, and one to take the photo).

I started wrapping the bottle from the bottom.

The basic steps of the process involved putting a little bit of glue on the circumference of the bottle, placing jute over the glue, and holding that part down for some time to make sure that it set enough for me to move on to the next section. The beginning part was hard because the jute kept trying to slide off the bottom of the bottle, so I had to hold it in place longer than the subsequent sections. The rest of the bottle was mostly straightforward, except when the bottle started narrowing. In that section, the jute kept sliding up the bottle to the narrower part, and I had to allow for a longer setting time again.

Glue and wrap. Glue and wrap. Rinse, repeat.

To wrap one beer bottle in jute took me about an hour. Granted, I was being paranoid and made sure that every piece of jute was glued to the bottle. I probably could have gotten away with gluing every other turn around the bottle, but since this was supposed to be a gift, I didn't want to take any chances. After an hour of sniffing glue, I had gotten quite light-headed. But it was totally worth it because the beer bottle vase turned out great!

The beer bottle vase is complete!

Inspired by my initial success, I was eager to proceed with the rest of the bottles. I happened to have some yellow yarn sitting around from another project, so I figured I could try wrapping one beer bottle with that, just to mix things up a bit. For some reason, though, this particular yarn was refusing to stick to the bottle. It would just slide off, no matter how much glue I would dump on it. I suspected that the yarn may have been too narrow, and so I bought a multicolored blue/green yarn that was wider. It worked out much better.

The yarn on the left is wider and flatter than the yarn on the right.

I made a few more beer bottle vases and one wine bottle vase. The wine bottle vase took two hours to make, and of course I was trying to finish it up the day before Christmas Eve! Luckily, it all worked out.

DIY: Glass Bottle Makeover

We LOVE this remodeled bottle from Turnstyle Vogue's blog.  Head their way to check out all their tips and tricks to creating this masterpiece yourself!! 



Although I removed the label from the top, the wording on this bottle is actually raised lettering that could not be removed.  However, sanding the bottle worked perfectly.


After I cleaned it up, I sprayed it with a metallic bronze spray paint.

I then started to work away with ASCP in Provence. This shows the first coat but I ended up doing two coats.





I then got my 80 sanding block and started distressing the raised areas, sanding down to only the metallic paint in some areas and all the way down to the glass in others.







I used dark wax to create a light patina.


I chose to leave the lid metallic, but with the same distressing.

I can see a really cool monogram or stencil right in the middle, can’t you?  My daughter really likes this color so she will be taking this home with her.  I’ll let the new owner decide about a stenciled embellishment. 

Hair Bow Holder Tutorial

U Create has an amazing and practical way of creating a DIY Hair Bow Holder using a frame and some ribbon!  Be sure to check out their website for more fun crafts!

I went to Goodwill on a mission:

To find the funkiest frame I could find...

Hello?!! FOUND IT!

A little glossy turquoise spray paint please.

Oh my goodness, I love those details.
Okay, this frame would look fabulous on anything but I have something particular in mind.

Flip the frame over and measure ribbon to stretch from top to bottom with a little extra and hot glue (I'd use a staple gun if your frame is made of wood) the ribbon, evenly spaced (mine are about 2 inches apart) to the top.
Then, when the glue is dry, glue it (or staple it) straight to the bottom of the frame. Let dry and finally, attach all of those little girly hair bows that are floating around your house

Seriously, so easy my friends.

WA LA, you have a "funky bow holder thingy".
It's like art with a purpose... I love multi-tasking!
Ooooh, I just had another idea...
Oh my goodness, I'm off to Goodwill, I need another funky frame quick!

Happy crafting!