Pinspiration Sunday: DIY Mobile

Are you tired of nursery DIY tutorials? Me neither! So here's another one...DIY mobile.

My inspiration came from this picture on Pinterest from an Etsy Shop called  Marigold Poms.

Here's how I made mine...

Supplies:

Embroidery hoop (I used a 12in)

ribbon/string

fabric in varying colors

corks

hot glue

pins

OPTIONAL:

spray paint (I used a cream color)

Bird (which I made)

sewing machine

matching thread

First things first you have to make your pom poms. I used different types of fabric which included cottons, fleece and felt. I cut out a bunch of circles for each fabric.

Next, instead of buying Styrofoam balls, I decided to use corks, which I have a ton of (saving them for some other project I might get around to doing someday). I cut them in half. 

Here's a video to show you exactly how I assembled them.

Next, I wanted to incorporate a bird into the mobile. I used the fabric bird tutorial I found on Lavender's Blue Designs . You can click over to her page for the pattern and follow her directions from there. I also took pictures along the way to show you the process. 

After you print and cut out the FREE pattern, you can trace each piece onto the fabric you plan to use. You will trace and cut out 2 bird shapes and 2 wing shapes but only 1 bottom.

Next, I used an overcasting stitch to attach one wing to each bird. 

Then, with the right sides of the two birds facing each other, sew along the top of the bird from the beak to the tail .

No you want to start on the bottom. Remember, the right sides of the fabric should face each other. Pin along the edge and sew, first one side then the other.

Now that it's sewn, turn it right side out.

Now it's time to stuff it. I used the stuffing from an old toy my son no longer plays with. Once you've stuffed it, you want to sew the tail. And you should get something like this.

For the embrodiery hoop, I spray painted mine a cream color and allowed it to dry completely.

Next I used ribbon to attach the pom poms I made and enough to hang the mobile. It goes something like this

I used orange thread that was quadrupled up to attach the bird which was tied into the middle knot of the ribbon seen in the middle of the hoop. Then I used a thicker string to hang the mobile from the ceiling.

Pinspiration Sunday: Yarn Wrapped Wreath with Felt Flowers

So I found a beautiful wreath from ItzFitz Etsy shop on Pinterest. It looked so stinking cute that I thought, "hey! maybe I could make that". And so I tried...and here's how it turned out:

I got my yarn and berries from AC Moore. And I had felt on hand from previous projects. I bought a straw wreath from Wal-Mart. I wrapped the yarn around the entire wreath. Then I used the red and green as accents. I secured the loose ends with hot glue on the back side of the wreath. Next came time to make the felt flowers. Here's a quick video to show you how I made them. 

Next I just cut my berry stems and arranged them where I liked them and then hot glued them into place. And that was it. This project was neither quick nor simple for me. The wrapping of the tan yarn took a long time and I struggled making the felt flowers at first but I finally found a method. After numerous ideas for decorating the wreath I finally came up with this and I love it. I hope you do too. Thanks for stopping by!

DIY Felt Pine Cones

So I tried searching for a way to make felt pine cones...well...in the end I took several ideas and put them together and this is what I came up with.

Here's what you'll need:

Hot glue and gun

Scrap paper

Brown felt
Bottle cap

Tim Holtz On the Edge die--Brackets
Tim Holtz Tattered Florals
Sizzix machine

Here's a video to show you how to make them:

You you liked this video! Good luck on your project! Thanks for stopping by!

Pinspiration Sunday: Burlap Bubble Wreath with Felt Poinsettias

I saw this crazy cute wreath on Pinterest from See Vanessa Craft and knew I had to make it. Last year I made my yarn ball wreath which I absolutely love and do not want to replace so I made this as a Christmas gift. 

Here's what you'll need:

Foam wreath form

burlap (about 1 1/2 yards)

felt for flowers and BHG pattern

hot glue and gun

pins

You'll need to cut your burlap into 4inch X 4inch squares. Here's how I did mine...First, I measured from the edge over 4 inches. I then pulled one thread of the burlap out at that measurement. Then I measured over 4 inches from there and repeated until I was complete across the entire piece of burlap.

Next, I turned the burlap piece 90 degrees and repeated the steps from above

Now I had a grid where I could easily cut my precise measured pieces. Once that was done, it's to start assembling the wreath. Here's a video to show you how I did mine.

I took left over squares and glued them along the back of the wreath form just as suggested in the original tutorial I saw. However, I would suggest just wrapping the burlap around the wreath at the beginning. But either way, it works. 

To make the pointsettias, visit Better Homes & Gardens to get the pattern and instructions for assembly. Once I made mine, I hot glued them into place. Then I added a small ribbon for hanging that I pinned into place.

This is the finished wreath:

Instead of using more felt for the centers of the flowers, I just used some silver fabric paint.

I hope you liked this tutorial. After all the measuring and cutting, it's actually pretty simple to put together. If you try this one, be sure to let me know! Thanks for stopping by!

Pinspiration Sunday: DIY Coasters

So if you have been wondering what I did with those tiles from my last blog post, you’re in luck because I’m about to tell you… I found this DIY coasters on Pinterest from Mine for the Making. Now she used photographs to make hers. Honestly, I was being lazy and didn’t feel like rummaging through pictures to find ones I wanted to use so I just grabbed a 12 X 12 sheet of scrapbook paper. And I am also using unfinished wood tiles so I wanted to stain the tiles first around the edges and sides. I used walnut acrylic stain again and allowed them to dry.

Each tile measures roughly 3 3/4inches and I wanted some of the stain to show so I then cut each piece of paper 3.5 X 3.5in. And I inked the edges with brown ink.

Next I mod podge each piece of paper on to each tile and allowed them to dry
Then applied a coat of mod podge to the surface and sides applying in one direction and allowed them to dry. Then I applied another coat of mod podge in the opposite direction (horizontal then vertical) and allowed them to dry.Next I sprayed them with an acrylic sealer.

Then I applied brown felt to the underside of each tile using hot glue and cut around the edges to remove any excess material.

Here’s the finished coasters

Pinspiration Sunday: Felt Christmas Tree for kids

So this year is the first year we will be decorating for Christmas with a baby. Last year I made my husband help me decorate before Thanksgiving. But in my defense, I was due Nov. 29th, so we couldn’t be too sure when our little guy was coming so I wanted it done and out of the way. I’m figuring it may be difficult with my son’s puma like moving skills…I mean honestly, he doesn’t walk but he can crawl incredibly fast that he can almost out move me. Anyways, I came across this post on Pinterest for a felt Christmas tree from Johnny in a Dress, and I thought how perfect...he can decorate and undecorate that as much as wants. Here's my inspiration:

This is how I made mine. First I went to JoAnn Fabrics. Now my intentions that day was not to buy for this project but the felt was on sale for $2.99/yd so I had to buy it. I purchased a full yard of dark green (I wasn’t too sure how big I was going to make the tree) and only a half yard of the rest of the colors. Then with my Cricut machine I cut out a star, two different sized round tags (ornaments), a light bulb tag (because I wanted the shape, I just cut the loop at the top off) and a candy cane. I believe I used the Very Merry Tags die for the candy cane, light bulb and ornaments and George Basic for the star. I tweaked the sizes using the Cricut Craftroom software. I just cut these out of cardstock then used them to trace around on my felt. Then cut out the decorations.

The tree I cut out by simply folding my felt in half and cut a diagonal line from the corner up. Then I glued the star on the top using tacky fabric glue. I cut the trunk, presents and bows by hand and hot glued those to the bottom of the tree (the tacky glue just wasn’t holding up very well).

I used fabric paint on the candy canes to make the stripes.

I started to put paint on the ornaments too but then decided I really didn’t think it was worth the effort. When it comes time to put this tree on the wall I’m planning on using the Command Velcro strips.

These things are great! I use them for SOOOOOOO much around the house. That way I can put the tree up or take it down when he’s not playing with it. My final project looks like this:

Pinspiration Sunday: Yarn Ball Wreath

So I found this awesome Wreath on Pinterest and I fell in love with it instantly.

I wanted to make one exactly like it. However, I found this amazing red yarn and decided that I had to use it in this wreath. To make this wreath I headed to AC Moore. I went during moonlight madness so anything that wasn’t already on sale that week would be 25% at that time…so EVERYTHING I bought was on sale. This project ended up costing me a little more that I had plan, but that’s mostly because I chose a more expensive yarn. So here is a list of what you need:

Wreath form
Foam balls of various sizes (I paid about $7)
Yarn in various colors ($15)
Hot glue and gun (you need A LOT of glue, so I bought a new bag $3)

Additional items that can be used:
Christmas ornaments ($7)
Twine

First you cover your wreath form. I bought a wire wreath form because it was the cheapest ($2.99) and covered mine with dark brown felt. The one from Pinterest used burlap. I chose felt for two reasons: 1) my front door is dark brown and 2) I had brown felt on hand. I was sure to wrap it tightly and secured it with hot glue. Then came the tedious task of wrapping yarn around the foam balls. For the red and dark gray balls, I actually painted them first and allowed them to dry. That way I could get away with leaving some very small areas not covered by yarn and it wouldn’t be noticeable and I would save the yarn…cause again…I paid too much…LOL (Honestly it really wasn’t that bad, but I’m a thrift store shopper…I like bargains!) Anyways…I didn’t buy as many foam balls as I should have because, once again, I’m cheap and believe or not FOAM IS NOT. So...to make more balls, I improvised. I used crumpled up paper and plastic ornaments. I wrapped the yarn around, well, whatever, and made assorted sizes and colored balls. I already owned red and silver ornaments but I purchased a box of multiple sized and finishes of smaller red and silver ornaments from Wal-Mart for $3.50 per box. Then I just started gluing then to the wreath form. I liked the idea of the snowflakes from the original inspirational wreath but I didn’t find any I liked. I looked at AC Moore for the wood ones that had dark edges but couldn’t find them. But that can always be added later. This is my final project: