Minute to Pin It

Probably most of you have heard of the wonderful, virtual bulletin board called

If you have the Pin It button installed on your browser, it takes literally a second to "pin" something you see (a photo, cool tutorial, or recipe) to your own personal bulletin board.  In fact, you can have lots of bulletin boards, categorized in any way you want.  And you can share them with others and repin others' stuff to yours.

The best part of all is that the original url where you saw the item you pinned is retained so you can go back to it later.  But the downside for me is that I pin like crazy and then never actually try the great ideas I have seen.

Well, not today!  One of my most "repinned" pins is for a Pottery Barn knockoff for Sheet Music Candles.

Pottery Barn Sheet Music Candles

The original poster was Gail at Can't Stop Making Things, and her tutorial is excellent.

I got my tissue paper, scissors and card stock together as well as a piece of scrapbook paper that has a music motif already (and an aged look).

Make sure you know how your paper should be put in to have it print on the tissue paper side.  I marked a blank paper with a red "X" and put it in face down.

Yup, that's the correct orientation for my printer!

Next, I did as Gail instructed and taped the tissue paper to the card stock.  I then put it through the printer.

Paper jam!

Maybe I didn't use enough tape?  I decided to wrap my card stock a little like a package on my second attempt so it wouldn't get jammed.

It worked!

My advice to use less tissue on the back side than I did on this one because it was a little too thick.  I did better on my second attempt.

I wrapped my Dollar Tree candle and a candle from Ikea ($3 total) with the printed tissue as Gail instructed.

One thing I found is that it's easier to cut the tissue to the correct size if it's still attached to the card stock.

The last step on Gail's tutorial was to heat the candle surface with a heat gun.  I don't have one, but I noticed in the comments that someone recommended a hair dryer, so I tried that.

It worked!

Note that I used the hottest temperature but the lowest (directed) airflow and burnished the paper as the wax heated up to smooth out any wrinkles and increase adhesion.

Here's the finished candlescape!  The little bonbon candle came from Dollar Tree.

Easy, cheap, and cute is music to my ears!

Thanks, Gail!

Christmas Crafts

Time has just flown since Thanksgiving.  I don't know what happened, but I don't seem to be very organized this year!  Can you believe that I'm not done shopping yet?

I remember when I was a stay-at-home mom with two young children, and I think I was MUCH more organized and on top of things than I am now.  My shopping would be done, and all presents were wrapped and mailed (if necessary) by Thanksgiving weekend.  Today is December 17, people, and I have barely started anything except for decorating the house!  I had a party last weekend for my church group, so the decorations were a necessity, although My Man was fixing tree lights at the 11th hour!

My Christmas decorations aren't too elaborate since I was sick to death of boxing and unboxing stuff with the floor project.  I decided a simple, less-is-more approach would work fine this year.  I also decided to use some of my favorite vintage pieces which may not always have the WOW factor but certainly stir a lot of great memories for me.  And I even made a few things, just because I wanted to try some projects that I saw on someone else's blog.  I'm great about saving ideas but not so good about actually implementing them.

Here is the first project I tried:

Vintage Book Pages Tree

I saw this on the blog Keeping Up With the Times.  Barb's tutorial is fantastic, so I won't re-hash the process.  I used all of her techniques except that I wrapped the paper around a pencil instead of a skewer (worked better for me, but I think mine is less "curly" than Barb's).

I used a vintage angel ornament as a topper but the net dress had a hole in it, so I covered it with a paper rosette similar to the one I made here.

I just love the facial features on the china face.

The other project I tried was from Miss Mustard Seed:

German Glass Glittered Letters

I made a banner for my mantle:

I wove gold wired ribbon through the greenery (which I added to after this pic was taken), then used vintage blue glass balls and gold and cream candles.  I just love the angel plaque which I picked up several years ago.  The angels remind me of this Bible verse from Luke 2:13-14 and which is also why I chose the word "Rejoice" for my banner:

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. 

I also made some silver glittered letters and put them near the nativity scene.  This is a little blurry, but you get the idea.

I made letters for the phrase "O come let us adore him" which I was going to make into another banner, but then I decided against it since they're both in the same room.

Last, I found this cute little posie while out and about.  It just looks like pages from a phone book that were used to make tissue paper flowers.  There is a silver chenille stem with vintage-looking seam binding (?) or ribbon trailing from it.

I'm going to try to make one myself, but maybe another day.  I have some serious shopping to do!

Everything Gold is New Again

Believe it or not, I'm putting the finishing touches on our main bath face lift.  This project has dragged on for WAY too long.  We have replaced all the gold faucets and fixtures.  These main components have been done for a few weeks, but lately I've been working on the tchotchkes fun part!

I had this old gold frame that was kinda dated but had pretty carvings and details.

I decided to go all Miss Mustard Seed  and do some dry brushing over it.  I even busted out some buffing wax that I've probably had for 7 or 8 years.

Alas, I have none of the coveted but expensive chalk paint MMS uses, so I had to use leftover primer to cover the gold.  Then I bought two shades of grey craft paint: Folk Art Steel Gray (right) and Anita's 11043 Grey (left).  Total cost = $2.50.

I dry brushed the lighter grey on first, then followed up with a mixture of the two greys together.  I just hit the highlights on the carvings.  (Is it bothering you that I spell grey with an "e"?   Because it's bothering spell-check.)

After about 10 minutes, I rubbed on some neutral wax with a lint-free cloth to bring out a nice patina.

Still Glaze-y After All of These Years

After it dried, I buffed it to a subtle sheen.  I decided not to distress the finish because I like it as is.  Here's the finished product with an art print that I have had forever and still love.  I am a bunny fan.  See them?

I figure I did a decent job because my husband commented on how great it looked.  When does that ever happen?!

It's ready to hang in my "new" bathroom!  Photos coming soon!  Really!

Linking to:

Bead Dazzled

My friend Lisa started a craft group a few months ago, and today's project was jewelry making.

We are fortunate to live in a town that has a wholesale bead store, so we headed over there a week ago and picked up some supplies.  I have only made one piece of jewelry in my life and swore I would never do it again because I found it very difficult.  I think the problem is that I chose very tiny seed beads and had to use the dreaded needle (I am sewing-challenged).  I kept dropping the microscopic beads and couldn't see well enough to thread the needle through the bead...you get the picture.

Well now I have the added complication of carpal tunnel (right-hand fingers are somewhat numb) so I was a little reluctant.  But I decided if I chose bigger beads, I might be able cobble something together.

Look what I made!!

I chose the stone pendant first and then the aquamarine-colored gems, irregularly-shaped freshwater pearls and beautiful iridescent Swarovski crystal beads (my fave).

Our hostess, Pilar, had gazillions of beads, jewelry-making tools, and knowledge.  She graciously let me raid her stash for the silver ball spacers.  She put the clasp on, which was the most difficult part of this project.    She used a crimping bead, a little horseshoe-shaped thingy to cover the wire (can't remember what she called it?),  the clasp, and a little glue.

She made it look easy, but I know it isn't.

I am very proud of myself and my kids were, frankly, amazed that I made this.  I think it's good for them to see that even I am still learning new things that are outside of my comfort zone.   My unique, one-of-a-kind creation probably cost about $20, but I have enough beads left over for another project.  Someday.

Cutout Cookie-mania

My friend, Lisa, started a craft group a couple of months ago, and we meet one Friday a month.  I've met a few new friends, including Chantal who is an expert quilter and seamstress.  Today was my day to host and pick the theme.  I sometimes feel like I'm all thumbs when it comes to crafts (especially if needles are involved), so I chose to do something I know a little something about:  Cookies!

We learned how to decorate cutout cookies with royal icing.  Even though I am the daughter of a former cake-decorating genius mom, I had never worked with royal icing before.  So we all learned together!

On a roll

I started by making about 4 dozen cutout cookies in Spring shapes:  snails, bunnies, dragonflies, butterflies, frogs, and flowers.

Here's the recipe I use.  The cookies are nice and soft and have a good flavor.  They also roll out beautifully.

Cream Cheese Cutout Cookies

(click here to print recipes)

2 sticks butter, softened
3 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour

Cream the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.  Gradually add the sugar and beat well.  Add the egg yolk and vanilla and mix thoroughly.  Turn the mixer to low speed and gradually add the flour, mixing until just combined.

Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for about 30 minutes or so.  In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Roll the dough on parchment paper or another non-stick surface, to about 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut into desired shapes and place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 9-10 minutes or until barely brown around the edges.  Let cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling racks.

Next, I had to figure out how to make royal icing.  I looked on YouTube (isn't the internet great?!) and found that royal icing is used two ways on cutout cookies:  It's piped around the edge of the cookies to form a barrier (dam), and the inside of the cookie is then flooded with thinned icing.

 
Here is the recipe I used since I didn't want to use raw egg whites:

Royal Icing

4 cups sifted powdered sugar (about 1 lb.)
3 Tbsp. meringue powder (available near the cake decorating supplies)
6-8 Tbsp. warm water
1/4 tsp. lemon extract (or extract of your choice)

Combine all ingredients and beat with electric mixer on LOW for 8-10 minutes.  The icing should initially have the consistency of a thick Elmer's glue. (Ribbons will stay on the surface of the icing when the beaters are lifted.)

Divide the icing into bowls and tint with food coloring.  Put each color into a separate piping bag (we used quart-sized ziptop bags fitted with a #3 or #4 plain tip.  Clip off the edge of bag if using that.  Pipe around the outside of cookies to form a barrier.

Let dry for about 10 minutes.  Then thin the remaining colored  frosting with a little water so that it is about the consistency of heavy cream.  Pour into squeeze bottles and flood the interior of the cookie (i.e., fill it in).  Use a toothpick to spread the frosting around and to pop any bubbles you see.  Decorate with sprinkles, sanding sugar, or however you desire!

Here's how it all looked when we finished:

Oh wait.  That's probably not what you wanted to see!

I wish that I could claim that these beauties were mine, but let's just say we definitely had an overachiever or two in the group!  We all felt like we gained insight into decorating holiday cookies in a new way, and we had a blast making these and just hanging out.

I think next month we may be doing something with...needles.  Uh oh.

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Valentine Tussie Mussie

A couple of years ago, I saw these tussie mussies on Etsy and had to have some.

My Inspiration:  Christmas Tussie Mussie from Etsy

I looked at the construction of these and thought I might be able to make one.  I was thinking about making one for Christmas, but never got around to it.  Well, it's two days before Valentine's Day, and I thought I would give it a shot to Gitter Done!  Now I'm not particularly crafty because I didn't get the construction or mechanical genes.  But I did a google search to try to figure these out because they're so.stinking.cute.  The paper rosettes are the most challenging part.  I don't think I need to reinvent the (pin)wheel, so here is an excellent link.  I also wanted to get a more precise tutorial on cone-making, which I found here.

My original Etsy version (seller is no longer there so I cannot cite the source) has a smaller cone and two rosettes layered over a large glittered star.

The cone is scrapbook paper, the handle is a metallic chenille stem, and there is flat silver garland around the cone opening.

Since I'm making these for Valentine's Day, I decided to soften them up and add a lot of PINK.  I LOVE me some pink!  So I gathered my supplies:

One advantage of waiting till the last minute is that I scored the pink feather "boas" for $1 at Hobby Lobby.

I made the layered rosettes first, using the above-mentioned tutorials.  You basically cut the paper into strips and fan-fold them.  I used a contrasting paper to the one I used for the cones and used my scallop scissors to cut the strips on one side to add a cute detail..  One thing I learned is that the accordian folds of the paper strips should be very tight and quite small.  I thought a paper crimper might be good for this project if those still exist, but I don't have one so I did it the old fashioned way.  Be careful with the hot glue when you're making the fan shape!

A glittered foam sticker heart forms the center of my rosettes, but you could also use a die cut heart, button, gem or whatever your heart desires
 

I also tried a rosette using crepe paper as seen in this video which turned out pretty cute, too.  Truly, there are so many talented people out there that don't mind sharing their knowledge!  Here's my first attempt at a crepe paper rosette:

After I made my cone and glued on my rosettes, I used a single hole punch on the top left and right sides of the cone to thread my chenille stem through.  Then I used my hot glue gun to embellish the cone with that frothy, feathery pink boa.  That was my favorite part, because everything started coming together!  Here's the finished version:

My frothy pink confection that will be filled with creamy chocolate confections

I added a cream-colored banner that simply says, "Valentine."  I used the Edwardian Script font in MS Word, then cut it out and prettied up the ends.

The last part of my tussie mussie is the little ball on the bottom.  The original had a small styrofoam ball that is glittered.  I couldn't find any styro balls smaller than 1 inch, so I decided to use a pink pompom.  Still looks chic, no?

These aren't perfect by any means, but they were made with love with my own two little hands.  I cannot wait to fill these with Dove's dark chocolate Promise hearts and gift them to my friends, because we all know that love isn't love until you give it away!

Happy Valentine's Day!

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