Tag Archives: crafting

Tea-Dying and Tote Bag Adorning

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Here’s another craft project I created over the weekend! My mom was visiting (my dad was camping with Drew and the boys at Cub & Partner weekend for Cub Scouts) and I decided to introduce her to the wonder of Hobby Lobby. It’s a good thing the store isn’t that convenient for me to get to, otherwise I’d be in trouble.

We really struck gold with their various clearance sections (and hidden clearance within the aisles). I picked up a black fabric tote for under $3 and a package of 5 doilies for around $3 and immediately had an idea of how I wanted to adorn it. Originally I thought of placing a doily in the corner and spraying bleach. But that was going to be messier than I wanted. Next best thing? Dye the doily to get the antique color I wanted and then just stick it on the bag.

Here’s a quick pic of the doilies before I dyed them:

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First, I dunked the doily in tea and let it sit for a few minutes before hanging it up to dry.

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Can you tell that they now look a little aged? Then I gathered my supplies (LOL… told you this was easy).

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And then I just carefully dotted fabric glue along the back of the doily and then placed in where I wanted it.

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And now I have a roomy black tote bag with a little bit of style! I think that between trips to the lake and the park it’ll see a lot of use this summer.

Ridiculously Easy Initial Wreath

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I have been getting quite a bit of crafting done lately, which has been awesome! It’s a combination of finding just the right items at just the right price, and the fact that Laura is starting to play a little more independently, allowing me bits of time to play 🙂 Last weekend I completed a project I’ve been wanting to do for a long time: make a new wreath for our front door.

I wish we could have a really cool painted front door, but our house is mahogany and stained a reddish-brown. Honestly, there aren’t a lot of colors besides white or cream that look good with it, so it definitely needs a bit of adornment. When I found a big “B” on clearance at Michael’s, I was totally inspired! Then, when I was at Hobby Lobby and I found burlap ribbon, my life was made much easier.

Basically, I took a straw wreath and wrapped it with the burlap ribbon, securing the back with floral greening pins (like these). I carefully positioned my letter so that I could feed ribbon through the top, allowing me to change it with the seasons. Then I hot-glued the letter to the wreath, arranged my silk flowers (hot-glueing when necessary and hoping it will peel off easily when I decide to change up the wreath), and fed the ribbon between the wreath form and the “B” to create the hanger.

And voila! A new wreath that I made in less than an hour (complete with interruptions). The real genius of this wreath, though, is how it is hung. My mom gets all the credit for this idea. Basically, I created a loop at the top of the ribbon (yep, again with my hot glue), and cut a slit for the wreath hanger to slide into. Here are a couple pictures — hopefully they make it clearer.

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This way, the ribbons doesn’t get all twisted and you can use one of those inexpensive wreath hangers from the dollar store. So far it’s holding up great! I am sure you could sew the ribbon in addition to glueing it to make it extra secure.

Anyway, I am really happy with the way it turned out and now my front door is a little more welcoming.

bunny hat sneak peek

I’m so close to finishing up my bunny set! I just have to crochet the inset for the ears and then sew everything up. This has been a really frustrating project to get right. I read and combined and changed around so many different patterns that at this point I feel like it’s my own design. (I mean, let’s get real here – how unique is a basic hat and diaper cover?) Since I have to make 9 more of these, by the time I’m done I just may write up the pattern to share with you all. (Unless I’m totally sick of them by that point, LOL!)

You may notice my book in the background. Today I’m linking up with the Yarn Along hosted by Ginny at Small Things. She invites her readers to share a project and their current read. Drew gave me a copy of A Flight of Angels for Christmas after we met Rebecca Guay (the artist behind this beautiful work) at NY ComicCon in the fall. She is an amazing fantasy artist and we had no idea who she was until then, but when we started looking through our Magic cards, we found a few that she illustrated!

Hopefully I’ll finish up both of these tonight!