Blue Castle

Decoupage - Again

Does anyone remember this post from a year ago? Remember this star?

Well, lo and behold, I did it again.

This year, I kept an eye out for these Christmas stars and when they hit 75% off, I was there.

Target has some really nice paper napkins and I decided to use them on my star.

This was my first project using napkins and I have to say, I am slightly disappointed with the way it turned out.  I think the colors would've stayed truer if I had used paper, but for now, I really like how it looks against my green wall.

 

And I can always change it if I decide to, later. Just Mod Podge over it!

Easy Hostess Gift - Make It!

Need a quick Hostess gift?

Here's something you can make with just a few scraps of fabric and some leftover batting.

Using a coaster I had on hand as a template, I cut out (for each coaster) two large squares from a canvas drop cloth, one square (slightly smaller) from batting, and one rectangle or square for decoration out of fabric left over from my baby quilt.

Using some scrap Steam-A-Seam cut slightly smaller than the quilting fabric, I steamed the quilt scrap onto the top piece of the coaster.

Then, I made a sandwich out of the fabrics like this: bottom piece - batting - top piece (all wrong sides together) and then I sewed about 1/2 inch in from the edges, all around the coaster's top.  I recommend making another stitching line about 1/8 of an inch inside the first line, for reinforcement. You will be able to see a bit of the batting peeking out, but don't worry about this.  You can trim it later.

Finally, I stitched around the inside of the quilting fabric scrap to anchor all the fabrics together and give it a quilted look.

After washing them, the coasters came out with a naturally "fringed" edge.

 

Here you can see that second line of stitching.  It helps to reinforce the coaster and keep that fringed edge from unraveling all the way.

Handmade Gift - Coasters

Here's a quick and easy gift idea you can customize for anyone.



Gather some scrap fabrics together (here I used 4 different, coordinating fabrics), and cut out four squares, using a coaster as a guide, or just cut it about the size you would like, adding a half inch on each side.



For this set, I wanted a pieced quilt look.  So, I took each square of the top fabric and folded it in fourths.  I quickly ironed the folds in and then cut along them.



One strip I left intact.  The next three I folded in fourths and cut as shown here.  One strip is cut with a 3/4 x 1/4 ratio.  The next is cut exactly in half.  The last one is cut into fourths.

I did this with each of the four top pieces.



I randomly selected the fabric pieces and sewed them together, keeping the strips roughly the same size.



I squared up the top pieces and then cut out batting (I used remnants of a $5 polyester WalMart blanket) and backing (plain cotton fabric) in the same size.



I layered the pieces together with the backing on top, then the top piece and the batting on the bottom.



I stiched all the way around the coaster, leaving an opening for turning. 

After clipping the seams close to the stitching, I turned the coaster right-side out and top stitched around the edge.



A set of 4 or 6, or more makes a lovely hostess gift.

Do Your Wrists A Favor

Have you ever seen those fancy wrist rests to use at your computer?  The ones that are filled with some kind of squishy beads?  I saw one the other day at an office supply store for $20 (!!!) and immediately thought, "I can make that!". 

Here's what I did:

I took my old wrist rest (is that what they're called?) and cut some fabric roughly the same shape. About 19 inches long and 4 inches wide. I cut two pieces out of regular, plain white cotton and two pieces out of some pretty fabric scraps I had left over.

These two plain pieces I sewed together, leaving an opening at one end.

Then, using the opening, I turned it right side out.

Through the opening, I then funneled plain, white rice. 

Back to the sewing machine, I stitched the opening closed on the outside of the inside bag.

I then made a "pillowcase" of sorts of the pretty fabric for my rice bag to go inside of, by stitching the two pieces, right sides together, and leaving one end open.  The open ends I folded over and finished individually so I could slip my rice bag inside.

The rice molds to my wrists and gives my hands a sort of "custom fit".  I can "smoosh" it around, if needed and it works perfectly.  Try it!  Your wrists will thank you, and so will the wrists of anyone else you gift this to.

Linking up to Kimba's DIY Day.  Stop over and check out all the great DIY ideas.

Gifts You Can Make - Perfectly Imperfect Posie Sachets

This is a fun twist on the standard square lavender sachet.

Start by cutting out 5 circles from paper.  The large one will be the size of your sachet, while the other 4 will be your flower.  The circles do not have to be perfectly circular.  Irregularities are part of this sachet's charm.

Using your paper patterns, cut out your fabric.  

This is what your sachet will look like with the flower put together.

Stitch the bottom piece of your flower to the top of your sachet.

Your stitching does not have to be perfect - just centered.

Stack the rest of your flower pieces and stitch down through the top piece.

Add the bottom piece of your sachet and stitch wrong sides together to the top piece.

 
Don't stitch all the way around - leave a small opening.

Use this opening to funnel dried Lavender into your sachet.

Use a chopstick to push the Lavender through the funnel.

Now, stitch the opening closed.

Voila! A perfectly imperfect posie sachet.

A trio made from complementary fabrics makes a lovely gift.

Looking for dried lavender?  The Bulk Herb Store is an excellent place to find it.

Want more DIY ideas?  Head over to A Soft Place To Land.

Handmade Gift - Bath Tea - You Can Make!

During the next few weeks, I will be sharing some creative ideas for handmade gifts you can make for the people on your gift-giving list this Christmas.  I've got some fun projects to share, so check back often.

I came across this in a magazine awhile back, and filed it away, as I often do with ideas I find that I know I can make myself.

See that jar of Tub Tea?  Guess how much it costs.  $24!

Here's my version:

Cost:  $8 to make. 

I picked up the pint jar at the Salvation Army for $.59, the lid I had, the infuser was $3 at Target and the herbs (Eucalyptus and Spearmint are one combination you can use) were about $4 total.  You can find lots of bulk herbs online, The Bulk Herb store is where I buy mine from, or your local health food store may carry some too.

To use the Bath Tea, fill the infuser with about 1 tablespoon of the "tea" and then you hang the infuser on your bathtub's water spout and let it "steep" in your warm bath water before and during your bath. After your bath, you open up the infuser and discard the used herbs.

Sure beats $24 any day, and makes a lovely gift.

I'm linking up to Just A Girl's "I Can Make That" party, and Kimba's DIY Day Check them out!

Scrabble Babble

Thank you all so much for your kind comments on my last post.  My man still thinks I'm crazy, but I'm glad to find I'm in good company. I promise to answer your questions just as soon as I can.

Also, a big Thank You to Kimba for making my day!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Awhile back, I got on a huge Scrabble kick, thinking if I could just buy up enough old Scrabble games, I could make something amazingly stupendous out of all of the tiles.  Once I started looking, it seemed like the games were everywhere.  I ended up with 3 full sets of Scrabble tiles.  And, while I haven't gotten around to working on that stupendously amazing project, my family has been having fun leaving each other clever messages with the tiles.

The Man left this note for our littlest guy.

(This same son believed his second middle name was "Pipsqueek" for an entire year, thanks to my husband.)

We all had to laugh when we saw his reply:

 

Looks like we may need to work on spelling a little more.

Ladder+Chicken Wire=Bookshelf

I bought a $10 ladder from my neighbor about a week ago.  For an entire week, I've been dreaming about what I would do with it.

It's such a great feeling when everything works out just the way I envision it.  Even if my husband did just walk in the room, look at my creation and start to laugh.

Hopefully, you all aren't laughing at me either.

I took an extension ladder

and sweet talked The Man into cutting it in half -

with both pieces of the ladder together as shown above.

Now I had four pieces of the ladder - all about the same height.

These were the items I needed to finish this project:

(Chicken wire, metal wire, staple gun, gloves, pliers and wire cutters.)

I re-assembled the ladder in two pieces. 

One piece, inside the other.   

(One section of the ladder is slightly smaller than the other)

Then, using the wire and the pliers,

I wired the ladders together on every other rung.

Next, I used the staple gun to attach the chicken wire

to the back of the ladder.

This is what the back looks like, finished.

And now, for the final product....

My son just walked in and exclaimed

"I can't believe it worked! She's crazier than ever!" 

I, however, am loving this. 

Right now it's propped up against the wall, but I plan to anchor it with an L bracket (not sure if that's the right jargon, it's a metal thingy shaped like an L with two holes in it).

The shelf is the perfect size for my smaller books and knick-knacks. The two rungs act as shelves while the chicken wire keeps them in place.

Now as soon as I buy more staples, I will be able to finish the other ladder sections.  So, for a $10 ladder and $15 in supplies I will have two rustic and original bookshelves.

I'm joining Kimba's DIY Day ~ Be sure to pop over and check out all the fun projects!

And, I'm also joining Kimm at Reinvented for Trash To Treasure.  Check it out!

My New Fireplace

I love my house. I’ve loved it since my first glance at it 5 1/2 years ago.  But, there has always been one thing about it that makes me cringe.  That would be this:

My fireplace.

In a room barely big enough to fit a couch in, the previous owners decided to install this gas fireplace.  Don’t get me wrong – I like a nice fireplace, but this thing has become a nuisance.  We don’t use it very much because it tends to heat up the downstairs really fast, and actually makes the room too hot even in the dead of winter.  I want to rip it out and make use of the precious space, but we’re not quite ready to cap off the gas line and fix the huge hole it would leave behind.  So, in the meantime, I came up with a way to make it look just a little better.  ‘Cause, really, that fake stone has been driving me nuts. 

I tried painting over it, but that wasn’t quite what I was looking for.  Then I decided to try fake brick paneling.  After I pulled off all the wood trim, The Man measured and cut the pieces for me.

Now, you didn’t really think I’d leave the fake brick plain, did you?  I used some of the left over primer and paint from my kitchen cabinets and spruced up the paneling.

Now, there were some tense moments during the cutting and installation, but we managed to get it attached and all that’s left is to caulk up the joints, paint them and then paint over the little, tiny nail holes. 

My sister says that while it doesn’t look like real brick, it does look better than before.  And it only cost me $20.

What do you think?  Did I succeed in making the surround look more realistic or did I just make it worse?

Family Tree Art - Revisited

I showed you what I did with my dysfunctional window here and here.

I had some left over windows, and using the same techniques as above, I took one of them and made it into this:

A portable Family Tree.