Emotional Support Glasses

Sometimes, I make strange things. (Example: this guy) 

We have a dear friend who has been stricken with shingles (ugh!) and I've been putting together a little care package for her. I made her these... which I'm calling Emotional Support Glasses. Purpose: so you can remain fabulous even when you don't feel fabulous. Because really, is there anything more chic than wearing sunglasses when you're feeling unwell? 

They are super sparkly in person. Not all of the embellishments were sparkly, so I dipped into my collection of glitter glues and remedied that. (Yes, that's a llama.)

Random taco. (Random Taco would be a good band name.) I didn't have a theme for this pair (other than awesome!), but there is such a wide variety of these buttons available you could make Emotional Support Glasses to suit anyone for any occasion. 

I've decided I definitely need a pair or two of these for my own emotional well-being. If you need some too (and you do), they're really easy to make.

*pair of sunglasses from the dollar store (plastic frames, the wider the better)
*buttons or flat backs (shank remover, if you're using buttons)
*hot glue
*extra glitter, glitter glue, etc.

Tips: 
* I was careful to position the embellishments around the lenses so that they wouldn't obstruct vision. I wanted them to be fun to wear, not annoying. Also, pay special attention to the placement of embellishments on the bridge of the nose, where the frames rest on the ears, and where the frames possibly touch the cheekbones. You don't want embellishments poking the wearer. Try them on as you're making them to make sure.

*Some of these embellishments are from my stash, some from Hobby Lobby, but these little button packs are in every craft store. If you don't have a source near you, this is my favorite online source. Large selection and very good service. You'll be able to find buttons for any theme you can think of. 

*Go nuts. The whole point of Emotional Support Glasses is to, well, provide emotional support. They should make you smile, laugh, admire yourself in the mirror (even if you feel ratty). They should be nutty, over-the-top, and sparkly. And you can wear them even if you feel just fine.

I have been wearing these around the house (testing them!) and I am too fabulous for words. I have to give this pair away, but next time I'm out, I'm headed straight back to the dollar store for a few more pair. 

Go. Be fabulous. 

Spring Bunny Wreath

I made up these variations of Just Nan's Honey Bunny almost five years ago, and every spring since then I've been putting them in my spring basket display, but they're so small they end up getting a bit lost. I decided to make a little wreath of spring grass and daisies for them.

For the wreath:

10" foam wreath form
eyelash yarn in spring green (two skeins, if skeins are small)
daisy chain trim (Jo Ann Fabrics)
yellow pearl head pins
*patience*

Wrapping the wreath takes forever because in order to achieve maximum fluffiness, you have to wrap it tightly. It's a pretty mindless task, so put on your favorite movie or show and just sit and wrap. And wrap. And wrap. And wrap. (It will take you longer than one movie.) When you have to stop, just pin the yarn to keep it nice and tight and hold your place. 

I've had this daisy chain trim for so long I don't remember where I got it, but I have seen it at Jo Ann Fabrics recently. (Super fluffy wreath!)

Cut the daisies apart and pin them to the wreath. Decorate with your favorite spring critters, or perhaps some pretty colored eggs, hidden in the grass. (The daisy ribbon is from AC Moore.)

My color choices for these bunnies can be found in this post.

Winter Door Decoration

Here's a new winter door decoration I made yesterday. It's overcast and very grey here, and I had to photograph this inside, but it is very sparkly (and really stands out against a dark door). The skates, pinecones, and snowflakes are all from Hobby Lobby (pre-Christmas). The ribbons are from everywhere; I just raided my ribbon stash. Everything is just tied to a big book ring. Very simple.

Flavors of Christmas Kitchen Wreath

When I had the idea for a Flavors of Christmas Kitchen Wreath back in the summer, I knew I had to have a brown wreath. I wanted the whole wreath to have a golden brown, "baked" look. I knew brown wreaths existed; I had seen them at some store at some point in the not-too-distant past. I started looking... and looking... and looking. Brown wreaths were not to be had. If I had wanted a lime green wreath, or a hot pink wreath, or a purple wreath--no problem. Brown? Nope. After scouring the internet, I finally found one, ONE, O-N-E source for brown wreaths. Which were out of stock. To make a long story short, I got some great customer service and ended up with a few of these wreaths. I bought several because while these are "work wreaths" (skimpy), I wanted my wreath to be full and fluffy. I simply disassembled a couple and combined them to get the look I wanted. Here's one wreath:

...and here are three combined. 

The ornaments are tied on using an 18" piece of ribbon glued between the front and back of the ornament during finishing.

The really nice thing about this project is that you can do anything with it. Choose your own favorite flavors... and use an evergreen wreath if you want! Make a wreath that celebrates your favorite meal, your favorite holiday, your favorite cuisine. You could make a Thanksgiving wreath... an Italian wreath... a BBQ wreath... a Family Favorites wreath. You can use any font (there are tons of legal alphabet freebies online), any fabric, any embellishments, any decorations. I'm pretty sure at some point I'm going to need a Tex-Mex wreath!

Or... instead of a food theme, use any theme you like! All you're doing is stitching some words, finishing them flat, and attaching them to a wreath. How about Fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5.22-23)? Or your kids/grandkids' names? Or characters from your favorite book? See? You really can do anything with this project. (I'm so doing the Fruits of the Spirit one, y'all. Someday.)

Sources:

Wreath: Carolina Pottery

Fabric: 30 ct. Irish Cream linen (not sure this is still available)

Baking charms: Karen Foster Design baking charms (I got mine from 123 Stitch but apparently they sold out after I began posting my Open House. Also available at Amazon.)

Cookie cutter embellishments: Shelly's Buttons and More

Orange slice decorations: Etsy

Peppermint decorations: Hobby Lobby

A note about the alphabet I used: It's a freebie alphabet I've had for some time. I tried to find it again before I started posting my Open House so I could link to it, but I couldn't find the original website it came from. You may be able to find it on Pinterest, but I wouldn't want to link to anything but the original source on my blog.

UPDATE: I finally found the original source for the alphabet. It's a freebie available here.


*****
Thanks for visiting my Christmas Open House and for all the kind comments you've left. I hope you've enjoyed sharing this Christmas tradition with me. Merry Christmas, y'all!

Stitcher's Memo Board

I've mentioned before that I am a list-maker. A writer-down-of-things. At any given time, I have at least half a dozen stitching-related things on my mind: things to stitch, changes to make, related projects to develop and make, etc. I usually jot these ideas down on paper, but a couple of weeks ago I decided I needed a memo board for my sewing room. I thought about a plain old white board. Not cute enough. I could decorate it. Nah. Still just a white board. Then I thought of using a picture frame and writing on the glass with dry erase marker. Then I thought of putting linen behind the glass to make it more "stitchy." Then I was off and running. (This is why I have to write stuff down; once I get an idea, my brain sort of takes off without me.)

This is a super simple project that takes minutes to make. You only need a few things:

*picture frame of whatever size would be most useful to you (I chose an 8x10)
*a scrap of linen or Aida
*1/8" foam core
*craft knife
*pins
*ribbon (optional)
*dry erase marker (it wipes off easily with tissue)

I chose a neutral-colored, rather plain frame and a plain, natural linen. You could use a fancier frame and your favorite color of linen. 

Use the glass as a template to cut the foam core, then cut the foam core out, just inside the pencil line of two perpendicular sides, as described in this post. Pin the fabric to the foam core.

Pop it in the frame. That's it. Or...

...pin on a couple of lengths of seasonal ribbon to dress it up a bit! This is why I chose such a neutral frame and fabric.

And here's my October memo board!

Saturday Sampler: Feels Like Fall Edition

Meteorological autumn (nerd alert!) began on 1 September, and right on cue, we have glorious fall weather here on the East Coast. I had all the windows open today, and have been stitching, watching college football, and baking. What could be better?

I also made this little wreath yesterday. I saw something similar on a home decor website and they wanted $80 for it (nope!). I think I made this one for about $25. The fox is from A.C. Moore.

And here's a bonus: a tiny, adorable frog! He was sitting on Mr. Wonderful's grill, so I had to move him to safety. He jumped onto my arm and promptly turned his back on the camera! Isn't he cute?

Happy fall, y'all!

How to Make Your Own Display Stands

A few days ago, I was thinking about tiny easels, as one does. I got an idea about how to make very simple, inexpensive display stands for flat-finished smalls, and I cleaned up my sewing room just so I could make some! 

These little stands take just minutes to make, and I would have gone on making them if I hadn't had to fold laundry and do other responsible things. Here's how you do it:

If you're making a stand for a regular-sized small finish, these two sizes of craft sticks will do. They're from JoAnn Fabrics and are the mini jumbo (bag of 50) and the mini (bag of 150) size. You'll also need some long beads of some sort. I used wooden ones, but any of this 
size and shape will do. You just need beads long enough to accommodate the width of your finished piece. For a larger stand, just size everything up. (The mini jumbo sticks are like regular popsicle sticks, but wider. The wider width works well for embellishments.)

Hot glue a few beads to a mini jumbo craft stick. Make sure to glue them along the lower edge.

Use another craft stick to make sure the beads are even.

Glue another stick to the beads. ***Make sure the beads are glued to the center of the second stick. This will give your stand a slight backward lean.

This picture is of my prototype, where the beads were glued to the bottom edge of both craft sticks. It worked, but I wasn't happy with it so I took it apart and re-glued the second stick as described above. So on yours, the beads should be glued to the middle of front stick. Add a couple of the mini sticks to the back to support the finished piece.

Add a couple more mini sticks and that's it!

Since stitchers like to examine the back of things, here's the back. These Halloween and Thanksgiving finishes are pretty large and these little stands hold them just fine; they're very stable.

To decorate the front, cover the craft stick with ribbon/trim/fabric before you glue it to the beads, but wait to add embellishments until after you've completed the stand. Glue them on to the upright stand. The purpose of this is to make sure the embellishments are even with the bottom of the stand and not below it, which might make it sit unevenly.

As you can see, there's really no end of possibilities with these little stands. Once I had it figured out, I could make one of these--including the embellishment--in less than 10 minutes. They can be made to match specific finishes; the stand holding the Halloween piece is decorated with the same trim used on the finish, and a fuzzy black cat from JoAnn's. The wooden leaves on the Thanksgiving stand are from Hobby Lobby, and the snowflake, deer, and fall buttons (I removed the shanks) are from various craft stores. 

All of these finishes are freebies I've previously blogged, but here are the links again:

Noel freebie

Thanksgiving freebie

Haunted Tea Party freebie