Wednesday on Wednesday (or Thursday)

It has been ages since I shared some photos of Wednesday. (Since pre-Christmas I believe.) Good and bad excuses aside, I have some wonderful photos to share today. Last week we had some seriously unseasonable and amazing weather here in South Eastern Ontario. It was summer weather. We were out in shorts, and flip flops for the better part of the week. Before the weather could return to the seasonal cold and wet temperatures, I managed to whisk Wednesday off to the park for some sunshine, fun and photos.

Now it is back to raincoats, boots and mittens. What a glorious week it was though. I hope your spring is coming up daffodils!

How To : Recycled Denim Coil Basket

I am slowly making my way back to crafting and posting...lately I have been mostly crafting and I am ok with that. Must be the weather?  Well, this little number was inspired by two completely separate projects. The first being the coiled basket I made from torn vintage sheets and a pair of jeans I refashioned.  I thought enough ahead to take process photos, so I have a tutorial for you today! I haven't had one since before Christmas, wow some holiday eh?

Behold the scrap denim drawer. A collection of remnants from past projects and full pieces I have yet to utilize including two pairs of untouched jeans, a jacket and a mini skirt. I took out a bag of inseams and cuffs I had separated and began the project. Within just a couple of hours I had this basket, which has a seven inch diameter at the base and a twelve inch diameter at the top. The basket is nine inches high.

To make your own you will need:
Inseams and hems from several pairs of jeans
Waistband from one pair of jeans for handles (optional)
Back pocket from one pair of jeans (also optional)
Hot glue gun and a couple sticks of glue
Sewing machine
Denim needles (or size 14) more than two and denim has a tendency to warp needles.
One large spool of thread + two or three matching wound bobbins

Begin at the beginning...

Begin by taking a bottom hem piece and coiling it around itself. Adding hot glue along the seam as you roll. Don'y mind if the glue seeps out a bit as the arrows are showing it is hardly noticeable.

Continue adding pieces to your coil until it is a size you like (or you run out of hem pieces like I did.) As you can see I chose to keep the lumpier pieces where the hem and the seams met. You can leave them out for a smoother coil but I found by staggering them around the circle it all evened out in the end.

When you have finished coiling your base, add a piece of denim that is taller than the coils. Here I used a hem from a pair of men's shorts I had. But you can use a piece of denim cut to size. It is just to give your basket wall coils something to attach to.

Tip up your base so that the taller piece you added to the outside meets up with inseam piece under your presser foot exactly in the middle. Close up pictured below.

See how the base is under the presser foot as well as the first inseam piece? You need them to meet in the middle because you are going to use your widest zig zag stitch to join them together. Back stitch a couple stitches and big stitching.

When you have sewn your first coil around the base you will need to CONTINUOUSLY stitch up to the second row. Simply move your coil so that it crosses the bottom and begins a second row on its own.

When it is time to add another piece of inseam you just slide it under your foot and continue stitching. You might have to fiddle with it a little bit. And sometimes it might not line up perfectly, but for me it added to the charm. YOu might just need to go slower than I did. (I got more and more excited the closer I got to the end of the project.)

See? Holes. But I was okay with them. What I wasn't okay with was big holes between coil rows. So when I was done the basket I went back and sewed up any places that my zig zag stitched missed. (Glue would also work as there was one row that broke two needles on me before I just accepted it and moved on.)

For the handles I just snipped a couple pieces from a waistband and straight stitched them on. (The machine did not enjoy trying to zig zag stitch throw two+ layers of denim)

Because I wasn't going to sew this pocket on, I wanted to give it some stitch detail first. I like the royal blue stitching against the bright black denim.

Choose a side for your pocket (I chose the one that had one too many iffy spots) and affix with hot glue.

You are done. Now fill it with stuff and enjoy!

If you have questions please feel free to leave it in the comment section an I will answer it ASAP.
Thanks for stooping by!

My Creative Space...In Tatters

You can always tell where I am creatively by my bookmarks, pins, tumblr posts and flickr favourites. I am sure this stands for most people. Lately I have been on a big "using fabric scraps" kick. A few months ago I tore up many a vintage sheet and unused yardage thinking I would make a rainbow rag rug for Wednesday's play space. As soon as I tore it up I regretted the entire thing. The process of sewing all of those strips together and winding them in neat balls and then braiding them without tangling seemed impossible. So I packed up all the strips hoping I would find some simple projects to use them in. Only two obstacles lay in my way. The first was that most of the sheets and yardage were unwanted for a reason. The colours and patterns were either too drab or not inspiring enough to be used.  The other was the sheer volume of fabric, there was just so much of it. So the bags (and bags) of torn fabric strips just sat there taking up a lot of space.

So I googled and pinned and flickr'ed. Finally I have enough inspirational galleries that I will be done with my scraps quite soon. I have already used up about a quarter of them. Here are some photos to give an idea of what I have up to.

 This is what I am all about this week. The more poms the better!

 This basket took about three days. But it is huge. I made it to be a laundry basket or Wednesday's room. It is smaller than a big plastic laundry basket but big enough for a little girl's weekly laundry loads.

 The basket and pom poms are all made from vintage sheets.

 I spent a week wrapping plastic hangers from Wednesday's closet. Since we hang most o her clothing (PJs and tights excepted) She has a lot of hangers. I am only about half done, but I needed a break.

Some of the hangers I have even managed to embellish a little bit.

I want to share with you some of my favourite inspiration photos so that maybe you will be inspired as well.

Most recently, I have created a Flickr gallery called Big Love For Small Scraps. Here is a sample of the photos.






1. Para a semana..., 2. weaved fabric basket - detailed, 3. curtains 006, 4. Scrappy Fabric Coasters, 5. Rag Rug Completed, 6. Pretty Little Pouch Full View - Option 3, 7. Scrap Fabric Curtain 4, 8. vintage feel, 9. scrap coil

Over at Pinterest, I have a board called Scrap Not, Lest Ye Be Scrapped. It looks something like this.

There is approx 50 or 60 great links to check out. I made sure that every pin links back to the original post. So you shouldn't have to do any creative searching to find the tutorials (if there is one) to go with them.

So what have you been up to? What is inspiring you to create and search these days? Why don't you link up your creative space?

Return from the...well super busy!

Wow! It has been awhile hasn't it? Well, in case anyone has been worried, nothing bad had befallen me or my family. In fact just the opposite. SO much good and business I just decided to extend my Christmas vacation from craft blogging.  Mostly because after Christmas I hadn't been crafting much. Much. I did in fact move to a house with three times the space (meaning three times the bedrooms.) We also have been three times as social now that we live in town instead of the boonies. I have also been cooking three times as much. So yes, I have been 'crafty' just not in all the usual ways.



I have been creative though. I have finished a couple more pages of Wednesday's 2011 scrapbook. (With any luck I ill be done in time to create Shutterfly books for the grandmothers.) I attempted some basket making (sewing and weaving). And recently, I made a fantastic outfit for Wednesday. (My first in way too long.) Check it out!

Wednesday has really taken to being photographed. She'll do all sorts of poses and facial expressions for me. It is super nice when I want to take photos of her modelling her new threads.

 The t-shirt was made by resizing some google images and printing them onto photo transfer paper. Easy peazy lemon squeezy. You can email me for the word document if you like.

 The skirt is basically a very ruffly version of Made's Market Skirt. Tutorial here. 

 Skulls and pink bows. Very Monster Chic.

The fun was in the details though. I added a pleated ruffle to the main skirt body (a thrifted bedsheet) and a double chiffon ruffle to the bottom.

Wednesday's latest obsession is Monster High dolls. So much so that we have had to use these dolls (They do not come cheap!) as a lesson in chores and money saving for Wednesday. So far so good. She knows that we will not buy her one but she is more than welcome to empty her piggy bank of hard earned money for one. She takes care of the dog and cat and keeps her room tidy(ish). So far so good.

I do have a new studio, and two new bedrooms to decorate. I am hoping to get Wednesday's done sooner rather than later. With it's pink walls it is half way there lol. Vintage Strawberry Shortcake is my theme. Stay tuned for more photos of of that and my studio's progress!

Cheers!
Melissa

Wednesday on Wednesday

Wishing you and yours a holiday filled with hot cocoa, warm hearts and great memories.Cheers, Melissa, Ron & Wednesday

How To: Beaded Garland Christmas Card Holder

One last tutorial before I take the week off to enjoy the holidays and recoup thereafter. I have had this done or some time but every time I would go to post it, I would create something much more fun that I wanted to share with you!

 

Doncha love the card!

Seriously though this is almost as easy as the stocking pillows. And here is proof:

Gather Ye Materials

Wooden clothespins

Mod Podge (I used Sparkle Mod Podge.)

Large wooden beads. (I think mine were about 3/4" in size) They were also from an old beaded garland from Christmases past.

String/yarn

Begin at the beginning...

Step 1: Cut paper scraps to size of clothespin front.
Step 2: Adhere paper to clothespin with one coat of Modpodge on Clothespin and then give paper one top coat of Mod Podge. Let dry.
Step 3: String beads (I used ten) in between clothespins. Simply put string through coil in clothespin.
Step 4: Hang and ill with cards from your loved ones.

This will be the last tutorial from me until the new year. I might pop back in with something shiny and fun or New Year's Eve but right now I just plan on finishing my Christmas prep and then recuperating from the holiday madness.

Happy holidays!

Scrapbooking Sunday : A New Link Party!

Recently I have discovered that I love digital scrapbooking. I know, duh right? But as much as I have been playing with elements o digital scrapbooking with things like Wednesday's birthday invitations and blog headers and buttons I have never really scrapbooked with it. As in make photo layouts. Well, I have begun to scarp every morning with my coffee. It seems to be my best time creatively as I am freshly alert with my coffee and my head is not yet clouded with elements of the day.
It started less than two weeks ago with a Christmas card. Then it was the first snowfall layout you saw a couple Wednesday on Wednesdays ago. I have since created a half dozen photo layouts and I am just itching to show them to you.
I already have a couple favourites but really, I am just pleased as punch with my progress. I thought maybe I would start a link party. Scrapbooking Sundays or digital, paper and card making.
I am hoping that with enough momentum and success that maybe we can have some sponsored challenges in the new year!

My New Favourite.

Today's creation.

Our Springer named Sweety under the tree.

I have to partially thank Mymemories for the new found addiction. At first when they gave me a copy for review and giveaway I was thinking "OK, I have Photoshop so why would I use it? But whatever, I'll give a copy away." Well, after the initial getting used to a program that was not Photoshop I was sold. It really is a stellar program and for $30.00 (with coupon code on my sidebar) you cannot go wrong. Honest. And before you think I am just trying to sell you something that I get for free let me tell you that I have bought more than my share of digital design packs. BUT here is the best part, after your initial purchase, you not only get credits for ten dollars worth of design packs but there are five pages worth of free kits. The kit I used to make last week's Wednesday on Wednesday was totally free. The elements I used for my last two pages were all free, sourced from around the web over the last two years. Just some food for thought. I do still use Photoshop for things, but I use Mymemories every morning for layouts.

And now it is your turn! What have you been working on? Do you love digital scrapbooking? Are you more traditional with paper and glue? Do you make cards? Or design blog headers and buttons? Show me! Show us! Just link us to your blog POST or Flickr Photo(set) and each week I will Share the two links with the most clicks.

How To: Repurpose Stockings to Throw Pillows

Well, this isn't so much a how-to as a go-do! I had been meaning to make some felted-sweater-stocking-pillows for a couple weeks now but you know how things get this close to Christmas. Thankfully, I had a light bulb moment and decided that filling extra stockings with fabric scraps I have hoarded saved or just this purpose would be even better! Pretty freakin' adorable right?



All I did was fill and sew. See the seam at the top? Looks like it supposed to be there doesn't it? Well, almost. You could even hand sew it. Machine not required for this one. In fact a blanket stitch would probably look lovely.

They are surprisingly comfortable, even two stacked in a wing back chair.

I was just happy to have a use or some of the extras we had. We have a total of nine stockings. Nine. We are only three people. But A friend made Wednesday's stocking and machine embroidered her name on it so we keep that one out. I mean, how often do you think Wednesday will receive personalized items? I have the black and white denim patchwork one you see in my header. It is just too pretty not to hang, and it is kinda small so Ron doesn't go broke trying to fill it. Finally, I made Ron a new stocking this year out of two felted wool sweaters. He loves his wool socks so I mimicked one for the stocking. (I had in previous Christmases used a wool sock or his stocking but they are just too small for things like movies, cds or novels.) His ace lit up when I showed him his new stocking, I was so proud.

Happy Christmas Crafting!

How To: Recycled Crayon Wax Christmas Ornaments

You know all those cheap wax crayons you get at restaurants? Or in bags o crayons at thrift shops and yard sales? Well, they do not make good cupcake crayons. They don't, I have even mixed them with Crayolas. The thing is the cheap wax is light and floats to the top o the crayon instead of mixing with the good wax. So, what do you do with all your child's broken crayons and cheap crayons? Well, you can make candles. But it takes a lot o crayons to make candles. (And I cannot attest to the safety o crayon candles.) So what else? Well you can make Christmas tree ornaments. It is super simple! Wednesday was able to help with most of the process. he liked sorting and breaking the crayons. (I  asked her to pick out all the pink, green, red and white ones.)

Gather Ye Materials
Broken crayons
Glitter (I used fine, medium and chunky)
Screw Eyes
Ribbon
Cupcake molds The smaller hearts are Wilton Mini Scalloped Silicone Cupcake Hearts and the bigger hearts are dollarstore valentine molds. (Super flimsy)

Begin at the beginning...

You are essentially making crayon cakes with LOTS o sparkles....

Step 1: Remove wrappers from crayons and break crayons into small pieces.

Step 2:  Sprinkle glitter in the bottom of the molds/tins. (Little or lots, it is totally up to you)
Step 3: Line a baking sheet with tin-foil or parchment paper and set molds on top. Fill each mold with crayon pieces.You can make these monochromatic, keep it Christmas-sy or just go-to-town with the rainbow.

Step 4: Put baking pans/cups in an oven pre-heated to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.
Step 5: Leave in for ten(ish) minutes, you want the crayons to be melted leaving a smooth surface but not boiling.
Step 6: Remove from oven and sprinkle with more glitter. (Don't go crazy, most of it sinks to the middle of the wax cake anyways.)
Step 7: Let cool. (This really doesn't take as long as you'd think) and remove from molds.

Step 8: Carefully attach screw eye to wax tart.

Step 8.5: I found pre-poking a hole with a tooth pick helped.

Step 8.75: I also found that if I broke some it was no biggie, I just pooped the broken ones back in the oven or a couple minutes and we were golden.

Step 8.9: I also found that if the screw eye fell out, I just heated it up for a second with a lighter and it glued itself to the whole, better than before.

Step 9: Add ribbon and voila! You're done!

P.S. I you need pictures of a crayon cake tutorial this one from Indietutes is super!


Happy Christmas Crafting!