Blue Beaded Knitted Bracelet
This project started out as a crazy idea I had about making a blue beaded knitted bracelet. While on one of my many trips to the craft store, I came across a great sale on small glass round and hexagon bugle beads that just caught my eye. The beautiful shades of blue and purple really sparked my imagination about making my knitted beaded bracelet. I started out by using my ribbon yarn made especially for knitting and crocheting. I had bought several skeins of this variated blue ribbon yarn because it was beautiful and I thought I could make something nice with it one day–and because it was on clearance.
This ribbon yarn lent itself to this project because it was very easy to knit with on size 4 knitting needles, and also had a lot of beautiful texture and sheen once it was knitted. I knitted 7 stitches across and approximately 70 rows, which I arrived at by measuring it on my wrist as I went along. So after knitting many rows, I’d stop and hold it around my wrist until I reached the desired length (about 9 inches in length). I also knew that I would be overlapping the edges a little (one end over the other end) so that I could place Velcro dots (underneath one end and on the top side of the other end) as the bracelet’s closure.
Once I finished knitting the bracelet, I started sewing on the beads using a flat nylon thread made especially for beading on fabric. I used a very thin beading needle to thread the beads on and made sure to knot the end of each row. I then alternated every other row using round beads and hexagon bugle beads to create a simple pattern.
Although I used this beautiful blue ribbon yarn, you can use blue denim, or any leftover fabric you love. I have even used upholstery fabric to create another bracelet project similar to this one. So just have fun and let your imagination create your own little piece of wearable art.
Reclaimed Silk Flower Topiary
This reclaimed silk flower topiary started out as an idea I had after making some miniature topiary center pieces for a bridal shower. For the miniature topiary base I used some shot glasses that I purchased at a local thrift store. As I looked through my craft box, I found I had all the materials needed to make a big topiary from leftover craft materials I had collected over the years. I found a large shabby Styrofoam ball, a dowel rod, a variety of silk flowers and leaves left over from my many previous floral craft projects. I had an old planter in the basement that I cleaned up and decided to use for the base.
I first painted the dowel rod with a brown craft acrylic paint so that it would resemble a tree branch. Once the painted dried, I inserted the brown dowel rod into the center of the Styrofoam ball. The Styrofoam ball was kind of beat up, but it didn’t matter because it was going to be covered with the flowers and leaves.
I had many large yellow sunflowers, purple little blossoms, and many leaves in various shapes, sizes and shades of green, so I decided these were the materials I would use to make the topiary. I then separated all of the leaf varieties and chose the ones I would use to cover the background surface of the Styrofoam ball. I started by cutting the flower stems and leafy branches to a uniform length, leaving the stems long enough to insert into the Styrofoam ball. On a table, I laid out the flowers and leaves to get an idea of how to evenly distribute them over the surface of the Styrofoam ball. I then started inserting the flowers and leaves in a small area, and continued until I found a very nice pattern, which I continued until I covered the entire surface of the Styrofoam ball.
Once I finished covering the surface with the flowers and leaves, the topiary looked very nice and full, but then the dowel rod looked kind of thin in comparison to the volume of the topiary, so I went to my backyard and found a couple of small tree branches that I thought might look good tied to the dowel rod for extra dimension. It worked, because after using some gold ribbon to tie the branches to the dowel rod, the branches definitely added more bulk, but also made the dowel rod look like a branch as well.
For weight, I mixed some Plaster of Paris and poured it into the planter and held the dowel rod in the center until the plaster dried enough to let go. I let the plaster dry for a few hours before touching up the flowers. I added a few remnant leaves and flowers at the base of the topiary to hide the smoothness and white color of the plaster base. And although I used Plaster of Paris, other items such as rocks, dirt, cement and reused Styrofoam can also be used to weigh down the topiary. So have fun looking through your craft supplies and maybe you’ll be surprised to find that you have a lot of fun materials to make your own topiary in any size, shape and color.
Vintage Lacey Blue Hanky
This blue vintage hanky started out from one of my many botanical print fabric pieces that I’ve collected throughout the years. I also used the same fabric in a previous post titled “Something Blue,” which was a small fabric pouch with potpourri used as the “something blue” for a bride-to-be. The fabric lends itself to many projects and is so visually pleasing to me. One of the ideas I thought of after making the other project was to use it to create something reminiscent from the Victorian age, yet modern.
I thought of making this dainty little hanky and used the same vintage blue bontanical print fabric to make the 4″ x 4″ square. I cut the cotton fabric with pinking shears to minimize fraying and placed it over a solid cream colored fabric cut in the same size. I then placed the straight edge of the lace in between the botanical print fabric and the cream colored fabric and hand sewed a simple running stitch to bind all three pieces together. I then placed the blue silky ribbon over the sewn edge to hide the stitching and used navy blue thread to sew on the ribbon, making sure the needle went through all layers. The last touch was to sew a little bow on each corner of the hanky. I made the bows from the same variegated blue ribbon with no specific measurement. The bows were hand sewn onto each corner with navy blue sewing thread.
Again, although I used this specific botanical fabric I had collected, this piece could also be made from an old scarf, an old shirt, or even an old dress or skirt. All you need is a 4″ by 4″ piece of any fabric you like, some ribbon and lace that could be reclaimed from an old dress or lacy collar. One could even use fabric glue to bind the pieces without any sewing. So just have fun and create your very own vintage hanky.
Reclaimed Styrofoam Floral Painting
This Styrofoam Floral Painting started with a reclaimed piece of broken insulation. One of the aspects that caught my eye about this Styrofoam was that it was a very thick piece and when painted could easily resemble a wrapped canvas. We first trimmed the Styrofoam piece to square it off and ended up with a piece that measured approximately 16″ x 16″ x 1-1/2″ in depth. I painted the piece with gesso to seal it and give it a canvas-like texture. I used latex acrylic paints to paint the background, vase and flowers. After the flowers were thoroughly dry, I used fabric paint in slightly contrasting colors to edge out the flowers and vase, which added yet more texture and dimension.
Painting on Styrofoam was an experiment and using gesso gave the Styrofoam a more interesting texture. After the background was dry, painting the vase and flowers adhered to the surface so firmly that I didn’t even need a second coat of paint. It has been quite a few years since I painted this piece and the surface has remained in excellent condition, and the colors have not faded or flaked off at all. Another wonderful advantage of painting on thick Styrofoam is how very light this large piece is and how we were able to hang it up by merely pressing it against a tiny nail on the wall.
Although I used Styrofoam for this project, one could also use Masonite, wood or even a wood frame wrapped in old fabric and painted with gesso. Styrofoam is a very versatile and fun medium to work with and lends itself to many craft projects. Challenge yourself to be crafty and help keep it out of the trash. Also, see another one of our Styrofoam art pieces posted here titled Scrap Styrofoam Relic below.
Fabric Pen Embellishing
Using Blue Fabric Pen to Embellish Lapel
A fast and inexpensive way to give an outdated or worn blouse a fresh look is to embellish it with whatever color and design you’d like. Fabric paint pens are a great way to create your own designs on reclaimed or new clothing. I loved this white blouse, but I’ve always enjoyed wearing it mostly with blue jeans or navy blue pants. So when the blouse got a little worn in the collar and cuffs, I decided to give it an updated look with a pretty dark blue hand-printed design on the collar and cuffs.
Blue Fabric Pen Embellished Collar
I first practiced drawing a simple design on paper using a regular pen. Once I found a simple design pattern I liked, I used the actual fabric marker on an old plain cotton tee shirt to test the ink and feel of the pen on fabric. I practiced the design on that tee shirt and shortly thereafter started drawing the design onto the white blouse. The dark blue paint line drawn with the fabric marker does not spread at all like a regular marker does on paper, so take your time and practice until you feel comfortable.
There are several fabric marker brands on the market, most of which are available in many beautiful colors, resist fading, machine washable, and are surprisingly very inexpensive. The brand I bought is sold separately (not in a set), inexpensive, and available in about 15 different colors. For the best results, just follow your manufacturer’s instructions.
I had a lot of fun with this project and I may change the blouse buttons from white to blue, but that definitely will be a project for another day (another blog post). Although I used a white cotton blouse for this project you can use any color clothing and definitely any article of clothing from jeans to scarves, so just have fun creating your own designs.
Blue Fabric Pen Embellished Sleeve Cuff