Personalizing Paper Projects

Purple, "Get Well"

Flowers made into an arrangement, along with origami vase

Black and White Patterns, and Purple "Cheer"

Black Checks placed on tan paper for a more manly look

Another style of origami flower

Origami Pocket, with windowpane check flowers,can be hung on wall.

"Cheer" Flower

Flowers, Origami vase

"It's a Boy", "Its's a Girl"

"Love"

This is an origami flower, I made for our school, I am designing these little corsages to be sold at the football games with a portion of the profits to go to the school.  Our school colors are black and orange, and are called the "Dutchmen".  If you notice, the school logo is on the flowers.  I like this idea, and am using it on other projects, as well. For those of you who make paper flowers, think of the possibilities!  You could put a sentiment on them, personalize with a person's name, Express affection by printing "Love you" on them, Print "baby"  for a shower decoration, the possibilities are limitless.  I am really excited about this!  It doesn't have to stop with flowers, either.  On any small paper project that can fit through your printer can be done this way.You could personalize wrapping paper for small gifts, handmade envelopes, cards, anything.  I simply go into photoshop and pick the watermark for my background, on mine you can choose if you want it straight, or at a chosen angle, how close together you want the words, size, color of font, and etc.  You are only limited by your imagination.  I also use background designs and print my own graphics to personalize my items, say, like my granddaughter likes zebra print, if I can't find paper I like, I just print my own, and then make the flowers for her from that.  I've added various other pictures, sorry they aren't in a very nice layout, I can't seem to get my pictures to line up where and in the order I want them in my posts, so I just fight with them a little and then let them decide where they want to sit (kind of like kids in a car fighting over who sits where, or at the table...sound familiar?!).  This isn't the idea of the century, it's just a simple little thought that might make your flowers and pennants, and other paper items more personal, or themed in a way you would like.

Finally Found a Home for my Earring!

I don't know if any of you have memories like this, but when I was a little girl, there was nothing I loved to do more than go through my mom's jewelry box and look at all her jewelry.  She had a lot of old pieces that had sentimental value, and new ones too.  I felt like it was a treasure.  A few years ago when my mom passed, I inherited her jewelry boxes, and all the treasures within.  There was a single, screw on earring in there that always caught my eye, It had been my grandmother's, and my mom kept it for sentimental reasons, because her mom had passed on when I was only five, in 1961, so this earring is probably older than I am.  It is the swirly piece in the center of the flower in the above pictures.  It is so detailed in person, and delicate in color, I just loved it.  I took it off the earring back, and was looking for just the right beads to accompany it into a necklace.  It had lived in that jewelry box for years and I wanted to be able to wear it and show off Grandma's  earring the way it should be.  My daughter gave me the shell flower pendant along with other beads for my birthday, and then I got some of the other beads off an old necklace I took apart, and all of a sudden, an idea came to me that these very beads would be the ones worthy of creating a necklace for this lovely earring piece, so I began constructing it.  It is an unusual color combination, but I love it.   Now I have a necklace to wear that reminds me of my  mom and Gram .  I think if they could see it, they would approve and be glad it was being put to good use.

 

Repurposed Turtle Neck

We recently got a gently used clothing store in our town. Saturday when I was out running multiple errands, I decided to stop in and have a look around.  I was certainly glad I did, because they  were having an end of season sale, and all winter clothes were marked to twenty-five cents!  I found many shirts for my granddaughters, including a few turtle necks, which they hate.  Why?  Because I was looking at them with a re-purposing eye.  I took one and cut the turtle neck off close to the seam, and split the front down the middle.  I then folded under a half inch and used a decorative stitch to finish the edges.  Then, using the tutorial from Tea Rose Home for T shirt ruffles and another on her blog for flowers, I added ruffles and  flowers made from the fabric I cut off in the neck portion. I then made a button and loop closure at the top to hold it together, made a couple of kitty scatter pins to go with it, and my darling granddaughter has a darling new cardigan for school, and it only cost $0.25.  I saw one very similar at Target last week for $16.00.  I love making something new and useful from an article of clothing that would be left in the closet and never worn. 

 

 

Estate Sales Rock!!!

My daughter and 3 granddaughters moved into a new rental house this weekend, and the stove and refrigerator is not included, so she went to purchase a nice pre-owned set, from  a man who purchases estates to resell.  She got a great set for a very reasonable price.  Of course, while I was waiting, I decided to look around.  Everything was pretty much disorganized and kind of strewn around, but I kind of like it sometimes when you have to dig a little and then find cool stuff.  I found a really cute purse (pictured above), when I inquired about the price, he said, "Lady I burn purses, you can have them!"
Well, my granddaughters and I found a few that we really liked, so they were free.  I also got a nice, solid wood, cubbyhole type book shelf, (when I get it in place I will show a pic), for ten dollars!  I got a couple of other items, like clothes I can repurpose, for three for a dollar!  I am going to make a project out of one to show very soon.  It was a fun weekend. 

I am Adding Some New Pics!

I decided to add these color pictures of my  necklace and earrings to supplement my last posts' pictures because I  didn't  feel satisfied with the quality of the black and white photos after I looked at them for a while.  I don't have the best camera, so I sometimes have a hard time getting my pictures to be good enough to use.  I will be linking up to these parties today: Life as Lori, Fireflies and Jellybeans, Somewhat simple, Transformation Thursday and Creative Cats.   Please go back to the post before this one if you want to hear more about the necklace or earrings.  I just didn't think those pics did them justice.

 

Anthro Inspired Retro Redesign

These are the earrings!

You may remember, I did an Anthro Knock Off  of the Trapeze Necklace in November, I got my paperclips back out and decided to try another style, more my own, but still with aluminum roofing tape and paperclips.  This time I included some 60's retro looking sequins I have in my craft stash.  I love the look of the 60's go-go that this necklace reflects.  It's super light weight and has a cool vibe.  I added a few silver and black charms here and there, also.  I created a pair of earrings to go along with it, and they are ready for a night on the town.  I am working on a tutorial for the paperclip necklaces, they are so easy and cheap, and there's no limit to what you could create.  Duck tape has some cool new designs that would take well to this project.  As a matter-of-fact, the last time I was at Michaels, I noticed that Duck tape now has 8 1/2  x 11 sheets of Duck tape for use in crafts.  That would also work well.  Has anybody else tried it yet?  It's a pretty cool idea.  I am going to Michaels Friday to get some, I will let you know how it tests out. 

My Favorite Necklace so Far

This is one of my favorite necklaces that I have made lately.  I just love it.  I wanted to make something amber colored, and with a pretty flower attached.  I love  earthy toned colors, and fall colors.

More Can Pull Tabs

If you liked the pull tab bracelet, maybe you will like this too.  I took the Monster energy drink tabs that are green, and crochet them together to form a flower, and then I put felt on the back with a pin, and sewed a narrow strip of felt over the pin back to secure it and then sewed a channel in the felt where it can be slid onto a narrow headband.  I also took seed beads and a few larger beads and made a necklace in the same shade of green, and kept a spot in the middle open for the flower to be added to it. I just hung the flower from the pin back, so It's a versatile little accessory.  I made it for my fourteen year old grand daughter.  Upon seeing it she said, "Wow, Gram, your starting to get a good edge to your jewelry!  I like it".  Now that's a good compliment.  She wore it to school, and said a bunch of her friends wanted one too.  It's refreshing to please a picky teenager. 

What Can you Make with Pull Tabs from Beverage Cans?

A beautiful bracelet, that's what!  I saw a version of this bracelet in a crochet magazine, and tweaked it to my own taste.  I like this project because it recycles something you would throw away into something beautiful and useful.  

This is my first tutorial, so bear with me.  My photos are not the best, but I think I can at least get you the idea of how to make them.

These are the supplies you will need:  16 pull tabs (this is for an average to lg. size, you can use more or less, figure each tab = one half inch.  There is no clasp, it has to fit over your hand like a bangle bracelet), a size H crochet hook, and coats and clarks crochet nylon, size 18, your choice of color.  Also, not shown, size 10 cotton crochet thread for the edging, I used white with a gold thread in it, and a size 1 crochet hook for that thread.  You will also need a needle with a large eye to thread your cord ends so you can weave them in to finish off.                                                                                                  

The first step is to lay your tabs over lapped as shown above.  Place them with the smooth side up, and the rolled edges to the back,  and make sure all tabs are placed the same way.  I found out the hard way that it make a great difference in the way the bracelet curves.

Next, with H hook, attach your cord in the middle hole where the tabs are overlapped, and chain 3.  2 double crochet in same hole Next in the hole immediately to the left, 3 dc in same hole.

Next you add another tab to the left, behind the last one, overlapped as the first one was and do 3 dc in the overlapped hole, add another tab, 3 dc in the overlapped hole, and keep going in the same pattern until you have all the tabs added in a chain.  In the last tab you attach, leave the last hole open,

Now form a circle with your chain, right side of work facing out, and overlap the last two holes, 3 double crochets in this last hole.  It is kind of hard to hold this and do these last stitches, but it can be done.  Next finish with a slip stitch in the top of beginning ch 3. Knot off. 

Attach your cord across from where you finished off and ch3, 2 dc in first hole, 3 dc in remaining holes on other side, same as first side, finish off with slip stitch in third chain of beg. ch3, and finish off.   With the 1 hook, attach your size 10 thread in the top of any dc, ch 1, and single crochet (sc) in same stitch, and in each stitch around.  Finish off, then repeat on other side. Weave in your ends, ( I dabbed a bit of fray check on the very tip ends of the cord, because it tends to fray badly). That's it!  I hope you can figure this out.  I apologize for the messy way this is set up, but I had a very difficult time getting the pictures in the right place, and getting text under the pics.  I fought with it for two days, and this was the best I could do.  If anyone can give me some advice on how to do this better, I would sure appreciate it.    If you like this bracelet , there are some beautiful purses made from pull tabs in the autumn issue of Haute Handbags, They are amazing.