Mission: Stash Reduction

Do you remember the show "Mission Impossible"? At the beginning, Mr. Phelps would receive a message explaining the situation and prompting a decision whether or not to accept the mission. This is the scenario I'm imagining myself in right now...

"Good morning, Immi. You have before you a stash of paper crafting products. Some of these products were purchased for specific projects, never completed. Others were purchased on a whim, and now you can't remember why. Your mission, Immi, should you choose to accept it, is to reduce this stash. In order to accomplish this task, you will need a two-pronged approach. One, you must think of ways to use these products; two, you will need to get busy creating. This tape will self destruct in five seconds.....

Okay, so it's more than a little silly, but I really have been in the mood to do some stash reduction. I see this topic come up often on blogs, so I know I'm not alone in my struggle. When you've been crafting for a while, you tend to accumulate lots of "stuff". When the stuff starts to become stressful, it's time to clean house! That's the idea behind my plan to begin showing some of the projects I'm doing to work towards this goal. As I'm doing it, I also plan to work in sessions of taking a good hard look at what to keep and what to purge.

Here are some cards I made recently. These will go to Operation Write Home. As you can see, I used up lots of little odds & ends and had some fun at the same time. The tags used on these cards all came from the Dollar Spot at Target. The sentiments on the cards are from stamp sets made by Hero Arts with Operation Write Home in mind.

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I'll be back soon with more cards to share. Until then, Happy Crafting!

Immi

Spring Wreath

I decided it was time for a new spring wreath, so I headed to my favorite site for inspiration, Pinterest. There are so many ideas available, and it's easy to get lost looking around. I really liked an idea I saw for a wreath made from a garden hose.

I headed to Walmart and found an inexpensive hose and pair of colorful garden gloves. I took a look at the artificial flowers they had available, but didn't see anything I liked. Then it was off to Hobby Lobby, and lucky for me, all artificial flowers were 50% off! I took the gloves in with me to help me choose colors, and settled on hot pink, yellow and white. I was hoping to find some wired ribbon in orange, but they didn't have any. Instead, I found a spool of bright orange tulle ribbon, which I knew would be very easy to use.

I had some green wire at home left over from other projects, so that's what I used to hold the hose together (it doesn't look very pretty from the back side!). I cut all the flowers apart (they had come in bunches) to make my bouquet. I wired all that together, then placed the gloves on top. I cut three lengths of the tulle ribbon and tied everything together with a big, fluffy bow. After wiring the bouquet to the wreath, it was ready to hang on the door.

This turned out to be a fairly easy project, and only took me part of an afternoon to complete. I'm enjoying the bright colors!

Happy crafting,
Immi

Playing with Watercolor

I had some fun today visiting several blogs on a blog hop featuring the new spring releases from Simon Says Stamp. I enjoyed seeing all the different ways the artists used the new items. Several of the blogs featured videos showing how the cards were made. One of those bloggers, Kristina Werner, used a technique I wanted to try right away (follow the link if you'd like to see her video). Although it's not a new technique, I hadn't worked with it before, but I found it to be easy and fun. 

Here's what you need for the technique:

• A Ranger Craft Sheet
• Distress Inks (your choice of colors)
• Water in a spray bottle
• Watercolor Paper

Press the ink pads down on the craft sheet to leave some of the color on the surface. Spray liberally with water; then begin pressing the watercolor paper down into the ink. Dry with a heat gun or allow to air dry, then continue pressing the paper down into the inks to get a beautiful, multicolored look.

I used some of my Sizzix dies to cut out shapes, then made several cards. Since the watercolor paper is heavy, I find that I need a heavier adhesive to get it to stick well to the card. I would recommend either Glossy Accents by Ranger or Diamond Glaze by JudiKins. They both are excellent as a strong adhesive or to add a shiny, glossy coat to an embellishment.

Here are the cards I made this afternoon:

All these cards are destined for Operation Write Home, to be sent to American troops for them to use as mail home to family and friends.

Happy crafting!
Immi

Muslin Wreath

Completed Muslin Wreath

Over the recent Thanksgiving weekend, my daughter, daughter-in-law and I gathered supplies for wreath making. While my daughter-in-law chose one type of wreath, my daughter and I decided to make muslin wreaths based on something we'd seen on Pinterest. (Where did we get ideas before Pinterest??) After a trip to Hobby Lobby, we had our supplies (I had plenty of muslin at home).

This involved copious amounts of torn muslin strips tied onto a wire wreath form. The wire forms had an inner and outer ring, and for full coverage the strips needed to be packed in as tightly as possible. Our dining room floor quickly became littered with threads as the sounds of ripping resounded. I don't know why we didn't think to do this in front of the tv while watching a Christmas movie! It took the better part of two afternoons to get all that fabric tied on, and at times we despaired that it would ever look good. We hung in there, though, and were rewarded with our results.

The original pin from Pinterest we used for inspiration had small rolled fabric roses attached to the wreath, but I had in mind a burlap poinsettia. I looked online at photos and video tutorials, and came up with a modified version of my own. I freehand drew a couple of leaf shapes, one larger than the other, and cut several pieces of both sizes from burlap. After all the cutting was done (boy, is burlap messy!), I coated the top sides of each leaf with Liquitex Iridescent Medium using a sponge brush. This is one of my favorite products, as it imparts a beautiful gleam when brushed on. As an acrylic medium, it can also be combined with paint to create shimmering colors. To protect my work surface, I used a non-stick craft sheet which cleans up nicely.

While the leaves were still damp, I made a crease down the center of each to give them some shape. I also cut a small circle from burlap for the center of the flower; this I glued to a couple of layers of paper to give it some body. When everything was dry, I arranged the pieces to try the effect, and used a hot glue gun to put it all together. I ended up with a flower that had three layers; the larger leaves formed the bottom layer and the smaller leaves became the top two layers. Then I used Ranger's Ice Stickles in Silver, Gold and Crystal Ice to edge each leaf, applying one color per layer of flower. I poked a hole in my flower center to accommodate  a jeweled button I'd picked up on our shopping trip. If I'd thought it through (not my strong suit), I would have threaded wire through the button shank to attach everything to the wreath. Since I didn't think of that in time, I had to figure that out later.

After the poinsettia was finished, I hot glued a couple of white berry picks (Hobby Lobby again) to the back as well as a couple of glittered snowflakes I got at Walmart. I cut a square of heavy cotton batting to glue to the back to hold the wire in place, and attached the whole thing to the wreath. The last detail was to make a wire hanger for the top. It's hanging over the fireplace now, and I really like the way it looks against the brick. Here's a close-up of the poinsettia.

Happy crafting!

Immi

Coming Together

This is a case of multiple story threads all coming together, which is a concept I think is so interesting. Tapestries are a great example of how individual threads make something wonderful when woven together properly.

The first thread is Pinterest. I have had so much fun with Pinterest! I'm sure I'm not the only one who has pinned way more things than could ever be tried. Some of those ideas, though, just need to percolate for a while before their time has come. Quite a while ago, I pinned an idea for making two throw pillows out of one king-sized bed pillow. The reason to do it this way is that it would be much less expensive than buying two throw pillow forms at the craft store.

The second thread is the furnishing of my studio. I've been working for months now, searching thrift and antique stores for bargains. I recently bought myself a secondhand rocking chair for the corner of the room I'd reserved for a sitting area. I thought I'd enjoy having a spot to sit and look through my magazines and art books. We set things up so that I would be able to have a TV within view as well. After sitting in it for a while the other day, though, I realized  that it would be much more comfortable with a cushion behind my back. I figured I'd keep my eye open for fabric and make myself a pillow.

The third thread is that the king sized pillows in the shams on our bed have needed to be replaced for a while, but I haven't been annoyed by them enough to get around to it.

The fourth thread is a trip to Hobby Lobby which would be connected to the studio furnishing thread. (Are you confused yet?) I went there thinking I wanted to recover my bulletin board (in the end I decided not to). I noticed some fabric on clearance that I really liked, but I couldn't think of anything to do with it, so I passed it up and headed home. I actually did not buy anything at HL that day - can you believe it?

I kept thinking about that fabric, wanting to come up with something to do with it, and now the threads begin to come together.

It finally dawned on me that I could take one of those old pillows on the bed to experiment with. This was a chance to do something that I'd pinned AND it gave me a legitimate reason to go back and buy some of  that fabric! YES! I also bought replacement pillows for the bed, so I've got plenty of material for some additional pillows.

It turned out to be fairly easy. There was no problem cutting the pillow in half. It was a little difficult to sew the cut edge closed, but once I got past that it was smooth sailing. In no time I had the new cover cut and sewn, and it looks so nice sitting in my chair. The pattern is fun and bright, with colors that work well in here.

Thanks, Pinterest!

Finished Pillow

Pillow Form

Reading Nook

P.S. Thanks, Mom for talking me into buying that lamp!

Immi

The Evolution of a Project

Sometimes I find that my projects seem to take on a life of their own while I follow along after them. That was the case with a small cupboard I recently bought. I've been doing my best to get a studio set up in our new home, trying to have what I want while spending the least amount of money possible. That's a tall order! To make it work, I've scoured thrift stores and Craigslist as well as using what I already own.

One of my storage needs was for stamp sets. I still have quite a few of these from the days when I was a Stampin Up! demonstrator. These are wooden stamps designed to coordinate, and each set comes in a plastic storage box. I wanted something with shelves, but I didn't want the shelves to be too tall or deep (hope that makes sense) so that I didn't end up either with things I couldn't see at the back or teetering towers of stamp boxes. I looked and looked, and was getting very discouraged!

At the end of a Friday afternoon after looking all day, I decided to stop at one more place. I found this little cupboard in a vintage shop, which looked to be about the right size. I think it probably was made originally to be used in a kitchen for extra storage. It wasn't very well made, and the materials used were very cheap,  but I like the shape and size. I hesitated though, because it had a strong and unpleasant odor inside. I decided to take a chance, hoping that a good scrubbing would take care of the smell.

Long story short, scrubbing did not work. My DH reminded me that we had a can of Kilz left over from another project. I sprayed the inside well, and it worked like a charm. No more recoiling every time the door was opened! I can tell you, I was relieved.

I wish I had taken a before picture for you. It had been painted a pale mint green - not my kind of color at all. I had a sample of gray we'd tried and rejected for the walls, but I thought it would be just the thing to cover up the previous color. I painted it inside and out, and DH reinforced the hinges for me. I took it upstairs, filled it with stamps, and thought I was finished. Yay! Check another project off the list! But...

While strolling through Hobby Lobby, I spied a stencil for a curling vine with leaves. Hmm...that might look nice on the cupboard door. Well, if I'm going to do that, I might as well reactivate an idea I'd had earlier to paint a section at the top a contrasting color. And if I'm going to do all that, I really should do what ought to have been done in the first place, which is to sand down a lot of old paint drips or what's the point? So, I emptied the cupboard and hauled it outside, spending an afternoon sanding and repainting. Why oh why didn't I do that in the first place!!

Then out of the blue, or from some strange place in my mind, I thought that rather than go just with the vine, it would look nice (at least in my mind's eye) over a neutral geometric background. Not, you understand, that such a coherent thought actually occurred to me - it was more of a mental picture that I'm now trying to describe. I had a picture of a diamond motif in pale white. Thinking that the worst that could happen was that I'd have to paint the whole thing over, I went to work with some low-tack tape. I eyeballed the design (there's no way that I'd have the patience to measure all that!), got some white acrylic paint and had at it. It went very quickly, and as I used a very light touch with the paint it dried quickly. I pulled the tape off and was quite pleased. I almost left it at that, but wanted to go ahead with the vine.

I taped the stencil in place, and used a thick bodied acrylic paint in a really pretty blue. I found that any mistakes were easily wiped off with a wet wipe (you know, the kind parents use on babies - very useful in crafting). The stencil had little dot flowers at the ends of some parts of the vine, but I didn't paint those in. Instead, I pulled out my stash of buttons, and glued buttons on in place of flowers. I'm very happy with the way it turned out, and here it is:

As you can see, the top shelf is a good indication of how poorly this thing was made in the first place! I did try painting the knob in the same blue as the section at the top, but it looked terrible after adding the vine. So back to gray it went. Now I really think I'm finally done! 

Happy crafting,

Immi

Feathering My Nest

Today I want to show you something I made that I think combines form and function. Because of the way my kitchen is configured, I either have to have my mixer out on the counter or on the floor of the pantry. Since it's a full-size Kitchenaid, I didn't want to be lifting it from the floor every time I wanted to use it. That would be a cleaner look for the kitchen, but Oh! my aching back!

Rather than have it sitting there collecting dust between uses, I decided to make a cover for it. Of course I went about it the hard way. There probably is a pattern out there somewhere for a mixer of this size, but I was sure I could figure it out on my own. After all, I can measure, can't I? So what's the big deal?

I did manage to get it done, but not without a lot of basting, ripping, and trimming to get the kind of fit I wanted. I was going for a streamlined look, without unnecessary bagginess if that makes sense. I found some fabric that had a nice punch of color, and a solid for piping (yes, in my mind's eye there was piping, so of course nothing else would do!). I also wanted it to have some body, so I bought some fusible fleece to stiffen it.

I started by making a rough paper pattern, and doing a mock-up with muslin. After the above mentioned basting and ripping, I finally had a muslin pattern to work from. (I used the muslin pieces to line it.) Here's  my finished project:

Front View

Side View

I like the happy colors, and now I don't have to add dusting the mixer to my list of chores!

Now go out there and feather your own nest!

Immi