Leather and metal - a whole lotta crafty fun napkin rings!

I haven't crafted in a long, long time. 

I haven't sewn in a long time either, but that is a whole other story.

I made these napkin rings. Now I can't wait to use them. Who wants to come over for dinner?

I went to Tandy Leather Company for some leather.

I wanted some of the oil finished leather in the scrap bin, after all , I didn't need half a hide to make a dozen napkin rings.

but I found none.

Instead, I found this piece that was already embossed.

 

Grabbed a quilt ruler and my rotary cutter to do the cutting on a self healing cutting mat. 

Only way to go!

Measured each strip so that it was 5" by 1.5".

Please never lay your rotary cutting tool down with the blade open. 

I just wanted to grab this shot!

 Cut the desired number of strips.

I used an easy-to-use Eco gel dye from Tandy Leather to dye to piece to my desired shade of brown.

I used a soft rag, a very liberal amount of dye and let it sit.

I dyed each strip, one at a time instead of dying the entire piece first. This colored all the cut edges also.

Once they were all dyed, I used a clean soft rag and rubbed like the dickens to give them a nice sheen.

See the top one, it's still dull and not very pretty.

The bottom piece has been rubbed to within an inch of it's life. 

Nice. Shiny.

At this point, you might want to put a sealer on the leather. 

Forgot to buy some, so I didn't.

After all, how much wear are these going to get? Really?

Then I used some craft tacky glue -Aleene's Fast Grab tacky glue - to overlap the short ends of the napkin ring 1/4". Held them in place with small clamps until dry. Another option is a glue product called Leather Weld, love it, I was out and so was Tandy's. However, the Aleene's did a fabulous job!

Then I did just what the Tandy guy said.. I used Loctite Epoxy gel. 

Two layers of it.

First layer a dab on both the back side of the metal flower and the seam of the napkin ring.

I wanted to adhere the flower over the seam, but since that was going to be uneven, I knew the adhesion would not be very secure.

So I made sure to place the flower on the overlapped leather only. 

Use the Loctite as directed on their instructions. Let the first coating dry completely.

Then dab on the leather and the flower again, wait as instructed and then place the flower on the ring.

Using your clamps again, leave the napkin rings to dry.

Go out of the room, close the door.

Do not fiddle with them.

The next day, draw your napkins into the ring and admire your work!

These look equally well with lace napkins....

...as with plaids or solid colors.

I found the metal flowers at a local store, Coyote Candle Company. The ones I used HERE did not have this glaze on them but were either plain tin or already rusted.

What have you made lately?

Linking up to to Metamorphosis Monday at Susan's and to 

Cuisine Kathleen's Wednesday Party - Let's Dish! See you there.

Chicken wire isn't just for chickens!

English Ivy is such a delightful little plant. I've had this little plant for quite some time. It lives quite content in the kitchen or in the hallway. Never asking for much except regular feedings and a regular dose of fertilizer. So much easier than husbands and children!

Notice the wire mesh? That our tutorial for today. A chicken wire cloche!












Gather these supplies:
Chicken wire
Wire cutters
Pliers
One Cloche the size you want your chicken wire cloche
One Base









Wrap the chicken wire around the cloche. Use the wire cutters to cut the chicken wire about 1.5 inches longer than needed.












It will be wider on top than you need. For the sample, I also cut the chicken wire about 2 inches longer.
Tip: Keep the edge of the chicken wire along the bottom edge of the cloche. It makes for a neat edge!










Wrap the ends of the cut chicken wire around one another to secure.














On short ends, wrap the ends of the wire in opposing directions as shown.













For this top, I simply wrapped wire around the top at the desired height and let the top of the chicken wire fan out. Another option is to form the chicken wire on top into a ball.
Better still visit here to see what this talented creator did with hers!









Wouldn't this be cute to house some chicken salt and pepper shakers?
I think if that is what I wanted to do, would probably find the smaller spaced chicken wire.

















These are charming Fitz and Floyd salt and peppers. Run to Tuesday Morning, they might still have a set with your name on them!












My cloche was destined for the English ivy so that its runners could meander mindlessly in and out of the wire.












Won't this be charming when the ivy is a wee bit more mature and the runners have worked their magic to create a lush green cloche?


















Thanks for stopping by. I love it when you come visit. Leave a comment so I know you've been here. I love your comments!!

I've linked to the fabulous Susan at Between Naps on the Porch so that you can see some more before and afters..

Making a silk purse out of a sow's ear

I gathered the supplies. One jar. One votive candle. Wire cutters. Needle nose pliers. Wire. And a thing. Not sure what it was supposed to be or do. I only know my sister in law gave it to me and I am assuming it came from my husband's paternal grandmother. Silver. About 12" tall. With a wide base and a hook at the top of the harp. Any clue what this might be? Leave a post. Or come up with a good story.. I'd love to read it.

This project took all of 15 minutes! If that much. Do you have a problem throwing away glass bottles? I do. I hate to part with something that might be gone forever. They even removed the glass bottle from our favorite milk :-(. So I save them one and all. And today I found the bottle first and then came across the "thing". I knew they would work out great once they were married.

I measured the length of from the hook on the "thing" to the top of where I wanted the jar votive to be. Then I wrapped wire around creating a hanger with several wraps around the top of the jar. Snip off the excess wire. Insert a votive candle into the jar. Light the votive candle. Hang the jar.

I also found a German mustard jar. I could make a hanger for this one too. What do you think? And tell me what that "thing" is, please..

Thanks for stopping by, thanks for leaving your message. See you soon!

There's a bit of craziness abound. Come on in!

A metal shrine, some fabric scraps, lace, beads, and milagros - carefully mix all ingredients. When finished, enjoy your art piece. I came across this shrine during our last trip to Santa Fe. The front glass door opens to reveal an interior that is approximately 3/4" deep. Perfect to display a small piece of artwork. The interior measures 4" x 6" - superbly suited to an afternoon's work.
Sorry about the bad pic, but this is really the reason I love my Bernina so much. The perfect foot for each and every task. Makes sewing 'sew' easy and fun. I used a #37 Patchwork foot and a #23 clear applique foot.
I prefer to audition my embellishments on the finished piece of crazy patch fabric. The crazy patch technique is easy to master, I promise. You start with a 5 sided piece of fabric and sew fabric pieces to each straight edge of the 5 sided piece one piece at a time. Click here for a quick tutorial. Also check out Judith Baker Montano's and Gloria McKinnon's lovely work! Thanks Gloria for the lovely inspiration while I was in Dallas! I certainly needed that jolt. By the way, the little silk cigarette silk is from Anne's Glory Box.

Here is the finished piece. I backed it with a piece of chipboard and then used Tim Holtz's
Tiny Attacher to staple the fabric to the chipboard. I love the rough look the staples add to the delicate stitching and laces.
A close up of the lady in prayer, the bead work at the bottom of the silk cigarette print, and the stitched ribbon.
French knots decorate the tiny lace addition.
French silk flower ribbon covers one seam while a button is attached with some embroidery floss. The silver mesh you see in the background is an antique piece of silver mesh. It's very delicate and doesn't lend itself well to clothing construction but is perfect for this type of decorative work.
And old buckle and strap from a pair of Brighton shoes.
Vintage buttons.
The finished piece. I had to photograph it with the door open so that you could see how lovely this looks as a finished piece. Hope you like it and are inspired to do something along these lines of your own.
Guess what??? It's my 200th blog post! I can hardly believe that. To celebrate, I'm giving away a copy of the book A-Z of Thread Painting. Be sure to leave a comment on this blog, one per day for the next week. I'll draw for the prize on June 11th. Be nice and share this giveaway with your friends.

I've linked up with Romantic Homes blog to partake in Cindy's Show and Tell Friday. Stop by for a visit, you won't regret it!

where I wish I was right now...

Santa Fe. New Mexico. I wish.

This is one of my most favorite pictures taken in Santa Fe. I just loved the old cart, the flowers, a glimpse of the blue window, and the dappled light just throws it into near perfection! I knew I wanted to see this on the wall, but not just framed.












Supplies:
1 artist canvas
Brick craft paint
Stiff paint brush
Black Metal from Ten Seconds Studio
QuicKutz Flirt and Stardust font dies
Embossing folder of your choice
Sanding brick
Gibberish lettering rub-on in black
Craft cross
Avocado craft paint
Distress Alcohol Inks: Silver, Butterscotch, Terra Cotta, Lettuce, Stonewashed
Alcohol ink applicator
Distress Walnut Stain Crackle paint
Black Basic Grey flourish rubon
Twine
Handmade white paper for the background
Black cardstock
"Journey" metal embellishment and 2 black brads

Using a stiff brush, paint the artist canvas without priming the piece. Watch your brush direction because this method will leave the painted areas with a striated affect. Always brush towards the edges, mitering the corners if you can. There is no need to paint the center of the canvas. Let dry.

Dampen the hand made paper with a small paint brush in the desired size to fit on the canvas. Tear the paper on the wet lines. This will leave your edges very rough and stringy looking. Adhere to the canvas with either glue dots or orange sticky tape.

Back your 5x7 photo with a piece of black cardstock cut 1/4" larger in width and length. Your photo will be framed with a 1/8" frame of black.

Paint your cross avocado green. Let dry. Layer several coatings of alcohol ink over the avocado green cross. Check out this link for a tutorial. Apply the flourish rub on when the inks are dry. Paint selected areas of the cross with the Distress Crackle Paint. The thicker you put it on the deeper the cracks will be.

Place all items on the white hand made paper as shown or as desired. Apply the gibberish rub on and then adhere the pieces. Adhere the individual pieces with glue dots. Wrap the bottom of the piece with the twine and tie the knot on the front of the piece.

Adhere the metallic embellishment were desired with orange adhesive tape. Poke a hole through the openings and push the brads through.

The lettering is super easy! Die cut the S and the F (or letters of your choice) using Stardust font and the black metal. Place the letters inside an embossing folder and emboss. Sand the raised edges of the letters. The lower case lettering is cut from Flirt font out of the black metal. Adhere with orange sticky tape.

Hang with pride and enjoy!

Be Creative!

QuicKutz club 5/16/09

Welcome to yet another issue of QuicKutz club page for your Year of Ideas album.

After much pleading and me finally giving in, we are going to create the title page for the album this month. Since this has to fit "your" album, not mine, you will need to provide:

1 yd of ribbon
3 double-sided designer papers (Cloud 9 Design Cinnamon Stick shown)
glue dots
adhesive runner and/or wide Cheetah
font of your choice - Flirt pictured
butterfly die of choice to fit a 2 1/4 x 2 1/2" piece
scallop border die
Your favorite embossing die
your favorite edging punch or decorative edge scissors
Liquid Pearls to coordinate with your papers (I'll bring silver)
Sharp scissors
Paper Trimmer
Pen for lettering and edging letters
1/4" corner rounder
black ink pad


DML will provide:
white envelope
1 sheet solid cardstock
Die cut white leaves (you can change the color with your Distress Ink Pads)
For the Record ledger sheet
Stapler
2 1/4" x 2 1/2" pearl metal
sanding block
Pattern for the page

I'll show you some fun tricks for the new clear elasticized ribbon in the store right now. I'll also show you how to work with the metal sheets in conjunction with your cutting dies and your embossing dies.

And Dallas has a very special "special" for us on Saturday... but you must be there in person.

Be Creative!

Happy Easter metal project

Wooden blocks, craft paint, a vintage wash, and some embossed metal letters are all you need to create this charming display. I really like playing with the metal sheets. This project simply reminds me of a very expensive line of purses, shoes and jewelry.

I'd been removing some of my rubber stamps from their blocks for the sake of saving some space. You can use the removed rubber on your acrylic blocks by attaching the rubber with double sided tape. So nothing is lost. And in the long run, you've gained some space. That's how come the blocks are all different sizes. I like that look.

I then painted each block with a different color acrylic craft paint. After that, I used a water and walnut ink crystals wash. Just to antique the blocks a bit. Stamp your favorite stamps on one side with your favorite ink. Spray with a sealer and you are ready for the easiest step!

I used QuicKutz's large Cookie Cutter Diesel font and cut out all letters except the 't', or cross depending on how you look at it, from brown/silver metal craft sheet from Ten Seconds Studio. For the cross, I free handed a shape and cut it out. Then I used the Cuttlebug Floral Fantasy embossing folder (click here) and placed each letter in a different spot within the folder. I embossed one letter at a time. I think it makes each letter look very unique and it's hard to tell they all came from one embossing folder, don't you think? I ran the folder through my machine, I've heard you can also use a rolling pin if these embossing folders don't fit your die cutting machine. After the letter is embossed but still in the folder, sand with a soft sanding block. This removes the color from the raised embossed areas. Use a very sticky double sided tape to adhere the letters to the blocks. The word 'happy' is from a QuicKutz cookie cutter phrases set.

Be Creative!

Metal art...or just more stuff

Not sure what the answer is. Except that playing with metal sheets is so much fun. I can see this translating well into the home dec area of my life.

I took a class last Friday night from a very lovely and talented lady named Christy Gilbreath, who is a sales rep for both Bo Bunny and Ten Seconds Studios. So guess what was in the class kit? Bo Bunny paper and Ten Seconds Studios metals... It was really fun and a great learning experience. I've changed up the class pages a bit and then actually accomplished that which I set out to accomplish... I made a metal covered cross. It's not perfect, but it's done and it's ok.

So let me explain a bit about the metal. You should venture onto Ten Seconds Studio (click here) to see all their beautiful samples and see their product. So as not overwhelm you with details, I'll just give a brief snynopsis of what I did. First off, the brown polka dot flower, the green "mats" and the brown scroll strip are all metal art. The metal comes coated with a color on one side. This can be your front side should you want a predominate color. So you would cut your piece to size and then lay the cut metal on top of an embossing plate. You can use your QuicKutz, Cuttlebug, and Fiskars (did I leave any out?) embossing dies or folders for this too. Then you use a special pointed tool and rub all around the raised elements of that which you are using to emboss. Once the piece is embossed, then you use a soft sanding block to sand off the color on the raised areas. Of course the metal can be "smushed" so it's not meant for heavy wear and tear. If you are using your metal art for an item that will be handled a lot, then Christy recommends you fill the back side with some really runny spackling and let that set. You want to be sure to only keep the spacking in the design so that any overflow doesn't show on the back side of your art piece. For your scrapbooking and card making pieces, use it as is. It's going to be just beautiful.

For the cross, the technique is basically the same, except I had to trace the cross onto the metal first. I purchased my wooden cross at one of the larger craft stores for next to nothing. I decided to use the silver side of the metal sheet so that I could then wash the entire piece with black paint and wipe off the excess to give it that Santa Fe look.

Place the metal wrong side up on a foam mat. Place your cross on top and lightly trace around the cross using a stylus with a rounded end. You don't want anything too sharp so as not to puncture the metal. Then I embossed what was going to be the right side of the metal with very many different embossing mats. I then measured how much metal should be left around the embossed design because I wanted to wrap the metal to the back of the cross. Measure twice, cut once... I used E600 to attach the metal to the cross. Once it was securely adhered, I wiped the piece with some black craft ink on a paper towel. Basically, that's it. But as always, there is a bit of fiddling to make sure everything got covered. I've got some more ideas in mind and will share them with you as I get them finished.

Sorry for the delay in posting, but we had life happening this week. Granddaughter #1 tried out for the mutton busting in the rodeo and placed, then we went to the rodeo, had work stuff, hung curtains, bought groceries and before I new it, another week had spun by.

Be Creative!