My very youngest is in the process of phase-in to all day kindergarten. Over these first two weeks, she’s slowly working her way up to being at school for an entire 8:00am to 3:00pm day. I’m working up to that too. It’s strangely quiet here. She knew I’d miss her, so she made me this Perler bead heart. She gave specific instructions to “kiss it when you miss me.” sigh. She is so much older and wiser than her five years.
Speaking of which, we are huge fans of perler bead crafting around here. All three of my kids (and many of their friends) enjoy it, with the added bonus that it’s a pretty fabulous hand-eye coordinating activity too. If you’re not familiar, Perler beading is where you design a pattern on pegboards (like you see above) placing…
..plastic Perler beads on the pegs. Then, a responsible adult covers with ironing paper, irons and the beads magically melt together. Finally you take the creation off the mold, iron the other side and there you have it…a piece of art. Kisses optional.
The past week has been filled to the brim with design work, kid’s homework and activities plus all the usual. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t been dreaming of new projects. Over the weekend, I took a crafty time out and made a half dozen or so of these happy rosettes from recycled felted wool sweaters. The idea stemmed from a rosey wreath project by Betz White in the new Holiday Crafts magazine by Better Homes and Gardens that I’m planning to make very soon. This tutorial focuses on a hair clip, but the idea can easily be adapted for pony tail holders, headbands and pins.
In addition to felted wool (in the colors of your choice), you’ll need a 3/8 inch coordinating ribbon, a hair clip, fabric scissors, fabric glue and a glue gun.
To felt wool: Place your thrifted or unwanted 100 percent wool sweaters in the washing machine. Wash on the HOT cycle. Place the sweaters in the dryer. Basically do all that you would never dare do with 100 percent wool sweaters and feel very rebellious. Next, go over to your local tattoo parlor…kidding. Do that after you make your rosettes.
For the patterns, left click on the above image and print. Your circle pattern should be approximately 3 inches. If for some reason your circle prints larger or smaller than three inches, adjust the print percentage as necessary.
Using your pattern, cut a circle from the rose wool color. Then, cut a spiral shape using the pattern as a guide. It doesn’t have to be perfect (no flower is) so wing it with confidence.
Starting from the outside of the spiral, use fabric glue to attach at the bottom edge of the flower. Wind to shape the rosette.
Here’s a summer project that’s been on my list. I’ve had a quart of chalkboard paint in my studio closet for the longest time. My original intention was to add some chalkboard real estate to the basement/kids area. However, my recent read of Jen’s blog about her chalkboard paint tray transformation inspired me to do something similar, but I changed my chalk tray up with a button twist. (disclaimer: please don’t worry as the poor children weren’t left out of the quart…this tray was in addition to giving them chalk space, but that’s another post.) Back to the tray, starting at the inner edge of the rim (where the black meets white), I attached various sized buttons. It’s kinda like a jigsaw puzzle fitting the right size button into the space. I kept my button palette mostly in the white family, but inserted a few chalky colored buttons for interest.
tahDah! I positioned my finished plate on a plate stand (a stand that was an ugly bronze, but a quick coat of black spray paint changed all that) and wrote my welcoming message.
I’ll undoubtedly personalize the message for the various family and friends that visit and stay in our guest room over the year. We love our visitors, so I’m very excited to have this extra welcoming touch.
The past week or so feels like a blur. I think if you asked me what I’ve been doing to be soooo insanely busy I would have absolutely no idea. Well besides design work, adopting a kitten, running kids to~nature camp, the pool, haircuts, dance lessons etc~ and then carving out this long overdue house number sign for some very special residents. My parents had requested that I make them a sign similar to the one I made for our house. They’ve been very patient…maybe even thinking their dear daughter forgot…but alas I made it a point to finish in time for their visit over the weekend.
sign specifics: I cut a piece of soft pine (approx. 12″ x 8″ x 1-1/2″ ); pencil transferred the house numbers and freehanded the flower border; dremeled the border to add some dimension; then…
…painted with rich red, green and brown tones to compliment their house. Three layers of heavy duty shellac will protect it from the elements.
I finished just in the nick of time for them to take home when departing this morning. My Dad will be attaching hooks so that this can hang on a lamp post. Now I’m reminded that our house number sign could use a restoration job after hanging outside for 10 years. Added to the list.
It has been awhile since I’ve stirred up sawdust and worked with wood so it was a fun project. Now I’m eager to get back to other endeavors including finishing up a few soon-to-be published articles. Details in the upcoming months! ; )
