Seasonal Crafts and Creations Archives

Reversible Fall to Thanksgiving Home Decor Blocks Craft Tutorial

November 18, 2013 By Laura 8 Comments

I’ve got one last Fall-themed project to share with you this season, before I move on.
You may remember I shared these happy Fall blocks in this post, in which I was giving you a little close-up tour of my Fall mantels. I mentioned that I had made these blocks, that they were more versatile than they appeared, and that I would share why when I got to that project post.

Well this is that post!

Here are the blocks already shown to you. They were created to look well worn, long loved, and a bit old.
Just how I like everything. 🙂

And shown here, are the blocks backsides . . . .
I made the block to transition from every day Fall, to a Thanksgiving-themed message for those weeks in November.
What do you think? Nice surprise? Good idea? I was thinking so!

They are really simple to make. I just found making these blocks fun and relaxing.
I tend to get a little Zen, working in my studio anyway.
So if you think you’d like to make some, sometime, I’m going to show you just how I did it, right now.
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I started out with 10 blocks, just like these.
Well, actually, I started out with 8 blocks just like these. Then 9. And finally 10. But that is a frustrating story I’ll tell you about later on. But the project took 10 blocks, anyway.
These simple wooden blocks come in various sizes; these are the 2″ blocks. I got them at A.C. Moore’s. They are not available at my local Michael’s, anyway.
They are smooth and finished-feeling on 4 sides, except for what I considered the tops and bottoms.
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I chose my favorite Fall hues of acrylic paint, and painted them all. They did take two coats.
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Next I had Michael cut two inch letters out of vinyl, and weeded out the letters.
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After covering that sheet with transfer tape, I cut each letter block to size.
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Peeling off the back, I then applied them well to a face of each block, one at a time with a squeegee, and pulled off the transfer .
It was important to make sure the rough surfaces were not used. The vinyl would work as a mask.
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I had a pile of scraps that looked like I had been working really hard, so I photographed it, and left it for awhile. 🙂
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White acrylic paint and flat brush, ready to go.
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All painted in. I think it required two coats.
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Before the second coat dried all of the way, I carefully peeled off the mask.
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Now while painting them was rather enjoyable for me, these next steps are the part I really love to do….
But I didn’t really photograph those steps. :/ Sorry! It’s easy enough to tell you about though.
I’m talking about sanding and aging the blocks.

To sand, I used 100 grit sand paper on a sanding block. I use the sanding block because it keeps my sanding surface flat and hard, for my uniform sanding. Also, it’s a lot easier on my fingers, which get torn up very easily. Where do I sand? I like to hit the surface, to wear that a little. But I really go at the edges and corners, where they would normally wear the most.
But after sanding, we are left with clean, bare new wood. Not good, for antique blocks. Right?

So next I rub around some dark wax, with an old t-shirt rag. I-love-this-stuff! It really does age the look of the paint, and just dirty things up just right.
You rub it on and essentially, rub it back off to. While working not as hard to get it off, where you want to leave more.
Make sense? The stuff is messy, as you might guess from that rag up there. And it stinks to high Heaven. But, somehow I don’t mind it much, working with it. It’s like the smell of creativity, at work!

Here’s a closer look at the effects of my sanding and waxing . . . .

And now, my blocks all on display . . . .

Ta-DAAA!!! I was so happy not to have to put my blocks away, to make room for some Thanksgiving decor.
I’m already pondering making more block sets for other holidays and seasons. In fact, actually, I already have a set for spring (in a very different finishing style and size) I made last year and never shared. I plan to come spring though.
But, back to the here and now.

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Because it’s the details I worked so hard for (in a fun/playing sort of way), that make these blocks look like maybe one of our grandmothers passed them down to us, I couldn’t stop photographing them . . . .

Ok enough of that. Now, you can skip this little story-paragraph if you want, right down to after the next photo.

But I’d like to explain the story of the 10th block:
For weeks, I only had 8, and then 9, blocks. Because that’s all there was at the store! In fact the first trip, I bought none, because there wasn’t enough to spell what I wanted! I needed 10 to do this project. I inquired though, and the lady assured me that if they were low, more was coming in the next day. So I returned the next day, and there were still only 8!! So I figured…I need to buy those, so they be sure to get more! (Because supposedly, it’s all electronic.)

Next trip, the bin there was still empty. I was desperate!! So I plopped down on the floor and pulled out all of the other sized blocks onto the floor, hoping to find some 2″ers in the wrong bin.
And I found ONE!! ARRGGG!! So I worked with the 9 I had. I got those all done, and had enough to make my HAPPY FALL. But I’d need that last one to complete GIVE THANKS.
Finally, a new shipment of them came in, and I got my last block, which I did start to finish, all by itself, just in time. It was the “A” in THANKS.

What to do with the other side? . . . .

I made an exclamation point! To use from then on, with my HAPPY FALL(!). Because if you all know me, you know it’s worthy of an exclamation point. I do love Fall, that much!

If you love what I’ve done here, believe me when I say, (if you have a vinyl cutter of any kind), you can do this! And if not, other crafters will love you for sharing the idea!

So go ahead and PIN the image below on Pinterest, share on Facebook – whatever!!

That’s a wrap for projects for this season this year. ( I think. 😉 ) Time to start thinking about Christmas!
Thanks for making my day, and coming by!
Hope you take a moment to share your thoughts, and say hello!
~Laura

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A Custom Fall Decor Sign

November 3, 2013 By Laura 6 Comments

The details of the season of Fall inspires me so much!
This time, it was to make a custom fall decor sign for our home.

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I was going through some scrapbooking supplies recently, when I came across a handy little quote book. Naturally I took the opportunity to take a break from the big task at hand, to read through it, because I was sitting in the middle of an overwhelming mess. One of the quotes I came upon expressed some of the many little things I so love about the season of Fall, and I was immediately inspired to use that quote as a custom sign for my home decor. The quote read:

Scarecrows, corn rows, pumpkins on the vine.
Leaves curl, wind swirls, Fall is right on time.

There was no credit to the quote, so I did an internet search. I found the quote has been widely utilized, which tells me I’m not the only one this beautiful little phrase speaks to. I had just never heard of it before. Still, I found no credit, or else I would feel compelled to give credit where credit is due! (It’s only right to, Folks.) Whoever you are though, thanks for such a lovely expression of the picturesque moments of Fall, and for the inspiration!

Here is a look at the finished sign, and then I thought I would share the makings of it with you today.

My mental vision of the sign was instant, really. There was no brainstorming session, although I did sketch out on paper the structure of the sign I was asking Michael, my husband, to build. Could I do these things myself? Yes, but why would a girl, when a girl doesn’t have to? It would take me so much longer, and it probably wouldn’t come out as perfectly. Michael is happy to whip up these things for me in astonishing time, when I ask, and I say that with much appreciation.

The 14 x 25″ sign consists of 10 2.5 x 14″ slats of wood, secured together on the back as seen above, with 2 little strips of pine.
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Finish build, and ready to stain.

I chose a dark stain.
(Minwax brand; Provincial)

The lettering was laid out in design to have a line of text on each slat of the sign, with a spare slat at the top and bottom, for any artwork.
The lettering was cut out and applied in vinyl.

My vision also involved some hand-painted artwork on the sign. Oh, these grand ideas are always pulled off so very simply in our minds; aren’t they? 😉
I foresaw pumpkin vines climbing all the way up the side of the sign, and many leaves, swirling everywhere.
But my physical execution of painting these things, proved to be a bit more challenging than I managed so beautifully, mentally.

While, after much effort, I don’t think my pumpkins came out too bad in the end, my vines didn’t climb quite as high and wild, and I acquired far fewer leaves swirling about, than I had hoped as well. Still, I am happy with the simplicity of the final outcome.

I’m also encouraged, because I realized when I was all finished with the painting project, that I really worked with a difficult medium. They were acrylic paint tubes I had around and found in a baggie, but really poor and cheap quality. They were very soft and clumpy, which really made it challenging to paint smoothly, and the paint application itself did not have any longevity for longer strokes. Having painted with my more high quality acrylic paints on another project some days later, I really saw and experienced the difference, and I won’t make that mistake again. I look forward to trying my hand at some more hand-painted work soon, with more cooperative paint, and I suspect I’ll have a more enjoyable time in the midst of it, with more pleasing results.

Nonetheless, I do love my sign, and believe I will include it as part of our Fall decor for many years to come.

If you saw the tour of our Fall decor mantels post, you may have noticed the sign then. It was one of four handmade items included on the mantels.
Did you guess any of the others?
I hope this inspires you to try making some simple signs yourself, or purchasing some to include in your own home decor.
~Laura

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Fall Themed Candles Embedding Real Leaves

October 10, 2013 By Laura 21 Comments

Today, I’m going to show you one way to preserve those beautiful Fall leaves you found, and make something beautiful to add to your warm Autumn home decor. Candles! Embedding real leaves.

We’re simply taking store-bought medium-pillar candles, and embedding the real leaves as a beautiful decorative element.
To do this, I’ll be using a separate wax medium. The reason I am choosing to not just glue the leaves on, or seal them in with Modge Podge or something, is because those mediums are flammable. I likely will be burning these candles. While I won’t burn them very low, I didn’t want to take the chance of having anything chemically-flammable as part of the candle, when it is easy enough to avoid that. Also, embedding the leaves within the sides of the candles will give the look I am trying to achieve.

All you’ll need for this project is some pillar candles of some sort, some plain melting wax (for candle making), your pressed leaves that you collected, and some pans. (A few other optional supplies will be mentioned along the way.)

The first step in working with real leaves, is to ‘press’ them. This not only flattens them, but somewhat preserves their moisture for a bit, yet keeps their pliability to be able to work with them well. I press them by placing my leaves between the pages of a newsprint pad of paper, and putting a small pile of magazines, or whatever for weight, on top. A few days will do.

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You’ll want to melt your wax over some kind of consistent heat. Making do with what I had, I cut some chunks off of my premium wax block, and put it in a roasting pan, over 2 burners on my electric stove on a very low heat. Possibly even the simmer setting. Start at the lowest and increase the heat as needed. Every stove is different, but generally speaking, you want the wax just liquid-y, but never to the point of bubbling. How much wax you melt depends on how many leaves you’ll be adhering, how many candles you are decorating, etc. But regardless, you certainly want the wax deep enough to completely submerge a leaf.

Once your wax is melted, you’ll want to have your pillar candles and leaves readily available to work with. Also, have a sheet of wax paper on a flat surface nearby, to be able to put your candle down as needed.

*This is a very important tip! You need to keep your pillar candle itself somewhat warm to apply the dipped, hit-wax leaves successfully. The reason being is that lying your hot waxed leaf on the cold surface of the candle immediately sets the wax, and it does not apply well at all.
But I have two great tips to choose from, for keeping your pillar candle warm:

1) Have a heating pad on high on your nearby counter-top, with a sheet of waxed paper on it. You can roll the whole thing up with your pillar candle in it (in the waxed paper), or, you can simply lie the candle on it’s side, keeping warm on the side you’ll be applying to.

Or you can go with second option, which is what I ended up doing:
2) Simply lie the candle on the warm stove, beside the working burners to keep it warm. Obviously you don’t want your pillar candle to melt. But your burners should not be high enough to do that. This method worked well for me, as long as I did apply the just-dipped leaves to the warm area of the candle.

So here we go!

Dip your leaf in the hot melted wax, holding it completely submerging in the wax for a few moments. Keeping it submerged for a few moments (as opposed to dipping and retrieving) will really help the leaf get limp, which will be helpful in applying to the candle.

(View images left to right.)
Then quickly but carefully lie and really ‘cling’ your whole leaf to the candle, and begin to rub down all over as you can. I say as you can, because it is hot! And yet you want to press it down as much as you can, before it starts to set. So gently press it down all over, without rubbing hard in any way, and then really just lay your hand down over it as soon as you can while it sets.

Continue adding leaves for your overall design. It is alright to overlap some pf the leaves as well.
Remember to warm the candle in between, as you’re dipping your next leaf.

Now if you find the wax has set in an area that the leaf is not stuck down well, here is a little trick to re-work it:
Dip a fork into your hot melted wax, and drip it onto the area of your unsealed leaf that needs fixing.
Then press down again with your fingers.
The stems are optional to keep as is, cut shorter, or cut off at the base. I rather like them, and am leaving them for as long as they don’t break off on their own.

Once all of the leaves are applied, you might consider your candles done. But I really wanted to further seal the leaves onto the my pillar candles, so that they may better hold up for a longer period of time, without the leaves coming off. The layer of wax over your leaves on your candle at this point is very thin, and that leaves (no pun intended) your decorative surface very fragile and at risk of being damaged. It’s also somewhat bumpy from all of the pressing on. So another sealing coat is a good idea, and it’s easy to do!
Just heat up more wax in a sauce pan at a reasonable depth, and dunk the whole candle! Use a size appropriate pan for the size of your handles, and no wider than you need, or you’ll need to use way too much wax to bring the level up.
Now….you also want to keep in mind that the submerging of your candle is going to drastically rise the level of your very hot melted wax. So, be mindful of the amount you melt. My goal was to melt enough to dunk the candle to just over the leaf tips, without overflowing the wax all over my stove top range. I barely made it…missing just the tips of the leaves.

*Dunk it only once, (holding it submerged for a moment or two like the leaves), as double-dipping may create such a layer of wax, that it’ll become too difficult to see the beautiful shapes and colors of your leaves.
Once lifting them up out of the pan, just carefully set them down on that sheet of waxed paper, until the whole candle cools and sets.

Now they are finished, and ready to add some Fall beauty to your home wherever you choose to display them. You can enjoy them long after the leaves outdoors have dried up and crumbled away.
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial too, and will consider having fun making some Fall candles with real leaves yourself.

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How to Blow Out Egg Yolks and String for Hanging | Decorative Eggs for Keeps.

March 6, 2013 By Laura 10 Comments

A couple of pre-Easter seasons back, we blew out and decorated eggs, and prepped some for hanging. I took lots of photos of the process of the way we did it, but never blogged it for you all. It’s not all that hard. And the best part is, you don’t have to figure out what you’re having for dinner that night! You’ll have a bowl full of egg yolks, ready to scramble. : ) Breakfast for dinner! We do that sometimes around here.

Scroll down to read and see just how simple it is to blow out eggs, and string them for hanging after decorating them.

When you’re done reading through, the above collage is the perfect Pin It image for these tutorials.
(Hint, hint. ; )

So let’s pierce some eggs.

Using a drill makes putting the holes in the egg very easy. Use a 1/16 drill bit for the top of the egg. This is the smaller hole.
On the bottom of the egg, make a slightly bigger hole, using the 1/8 drill bit.

Next, use a long pin in the bottom/big hole, and move it around and jab in and out, to break up the yolk sac some.
Now it’s time to blow that yolk out.
We let the kids take turns blowing them out. They thought it would be so fun. But I was worried their head would explode, seeing how red their faces were getting! I was like, “Oh my gosh! Breathe!” Ha ha ha.
It took them a little bit to learn how to direct the air from their blow, into the hole. You need to do that best you can. You can also try a syringe, to push air through. Once the yolk starts coming out, it comes out pretty fluidly.

Plenty for our family of 6.

So after you have blown all of the eggs you want hallowed out, you’ll want to wash them off and out a bit. Run them under warm water, getting water inside the egg too, and shake them some, to wash the inside of the egg. Drain them as well as possible. You can then put them all on a plate in the microwave for microwave them for 10-15 seconds

Now you can decorate them. It is a little tricky to dip-dye the hallowed eggs, because they tend to float now. So if you are dyeing them, you’ll need to keep it submerged with a spoon or whatever. Of course, there is a host of other ways you can decorate eggs. And remember, since these are blown eggs, you’ll be able to keep them! So consider drawing on them, doing a little decoupage with dried flowers, using Washi tape, or embellishing them in a number of ways. Just use your imagining and have fun.

If you’d like to hang your hallowed eggs, here is how you can string them:
These are helpful supplies to string your eggs:

strong thread
eye needles
little scissors
toothpicks
small (wire) cutters. As you have probably caught on by now, my husband was the executor of this project this day, while I was the photographer.
(Please excuse my husband’s hard-working hands in these detail shots. Love this man so much, for all he does for our family. And then he does fun things like this with us, too.)
Thread one of the larger sized needles, and tie it off as a single thread.
Insert the threaded needle in through the top of the egg, all the way, but leave plenty excess out of the top for hanging later.
Now it needs to come out the bottom, and as you can imagine, it would be challenging to make the needle do that.
So here’s the trick . . . . .
Hover a magnet underneath the egg at the hole.
You can gently shake the egg as you do this, to try and get the tip of the pin to the hole as well.
The magnet will draw the the threaded needle down out of the hole.
Cut the pin off the thread now. You won’t need it anymore for this egg.
On the same end of the thread that you cut the pin off, tie on a toothpick, and wrap the thread around it, as shown above. You only need that little piece of toothpick where the thread is wrapped, (maybe 1/2″ or a little more) so you can cut the rest off using your cutters. So now you have this little piece of toothpick, tied onto the thread, that is coming out of the bottom of your egg.

Now carefully push the whole thing back up into the hole of the bottom of the egg. Let it fall in all of the way.
This will act like an anchor inside the egg, for the string coming out of the top of the egg, to hang it.
So with the single thread coming out of the top, tie it in a loop, to hang your egg.

That is the process you do with all of your eggs. If you don’t wish to hang some or any of your eggs, of course you won’t need to string them.
All of it is fairly quick, and you’ll have your beautiful decorated eggs for years to come.
Here’s how we have used some of ours:

Hung on an Easter Tree.

In a glass cylinder vase, with some pieces of Raffia paper.
What ways will you use yours?

I am considering making some more this year, decorating them in a new beautiful way, possibly personalizing some, and giving some of them as gifts!
We hope you found this tutorial helpful and learned some tricks that will help you blow some eggs of your own, and maybe string a few as well.
Thanks for coming by! May your Easter celebrations with those you love, be beautiful!

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This tutorial was shared at Joyful Homemaking’s Think Tank Thursday Link Party #230!

Banner of Love | A Valentine Decor Craft

February 4, 2013 By Laura Leave a Comment

While February, the ‘month of love’, was approaching throughout January, I had had this image in my head of a burlap pennant banner that spelled out LOVE, with little pink ribbons, over our french doors in the sun room, to the living room. Of course, I didn’t actually have one, so it was something I’d need to create. After pondering how I might go about doing that, I decided I wanted to keep it as simple as possible, even if it doesn’t hold up for subsequent Valentine holidays.

As planned, I got some burlap, for the pennants themselves. I’ve never worked with burlap before. Good-gosh does it stink! I don’t understand why. ??? I need to get educated on burlap I guess. I’m adding it to my list of things I intend to Google. But in the meantime, I hung the burlap outside for a bit, and even went so far as to FeBreeze it, so I could work with it. I could have used another material, but my vision, was the burlap. So for this project I used it, as well as jute string, a 4.5″ x 6.5″ pad of designer cardstock that contained a variety of pink patterns (for the letters), and pink satin ribbon.

I also used a few other supplies to make it as well, and I’ll explain in these easy steps as I go along here.
But before I do, let me show you how sweet it came out.

Kind of shabby-chic looking, don’t you think?
Of course this would be sweet with fabric letters, and would probably hold up for many more ‘months of Love’ and Valentine decor to come, but it would probably require some sewing, and I still don’t sew yet. I’m going to learn someday. But it wasn’t happening before this craft. So I used paper cardstock letters. Which does kind of have it’s own charm, I think.

This is how I made this rustic, simple, sweet little banner:

I made a template for the pennant, that measured 7″ wide by 10″ to the point. You can use cardboard as a template. My husband cut me a piece of sheet metal he had, but that’s not really necessary.
So using the template, I traced the pennants with a brown marker. I used the finished edge of the burlap itself, as the top of the pennant, to help hold it together as well as reduce my cutting.
1. Place pennant template at edge of material. 2. Trace template. 3. Cut out pennant.

4. To keep the sides of the pennants (the sides that form the V) from falling apart, because burlap is a weave, I applied a bit of matte Modge Podge just on the edges.
Modge Podge dries clear, and it worked like a charm.

Using the small 4.5″ x 6.5″ pad of designer cardstock that I bought, I wanted each letter as large as possible. So I made each letter to fit a full cardstock sheet edge to edge. I just created the outline of each letter (4.5″ x 6.5″) in photoshop, and arranged two of the letters side by side on an 8.5 x 11″ standard space, and printed them out. LO on one, and VE on another. Then, I traced those printed letters onto tracing paper. Then, I arranged each letter tracing upside down on the backside of my little cardstock sheet (for each letter). Having done that, I had a backwards letter on the back/white sides of my cardstocks to cut out, so that when I did cut them out, they were facing the right way on the front. Some of the patterned paper is embellished and bumpy, so it was easier to transfer the pencil lines on the backside, and keep the patterned side clean as well.

Here are my letters all cut out.
Again, the letters I designed filled a mini-cardstock sheet, so it reduced some of the cutting I needed to do, minimized paper waste, and gave me as large letters as possible.

Next, I wanted to string the pennants.

I planned to use jute string for this; another stinky material! I did not want to cut holes in the burlap at all, because it would simply fall apart, being a weave. So using the tip one side of the scissors, open, I just poked it into an existing hole of the burlap where I wanted a hole for the string, and gave the scissors a little twist. No cutting, but just pushing the fiber-string over.

Then I strung a sufficiently long enough piece of jute through each pennant piece, as seen above.

To add some touches of pink and pretty, I wanted to add some little simple bows. To do this, I first tied a little piece of satin ribbon onto the jute string in between each pennant, with a little piece of thread, and then cut off the excess thread ends to just leave the little knot. Then I tied a bow with the ribbon. The reason I tied the ribbon onto the jute string with the thread first, rather than just tying the ribbon directly onto the jute string, was so that my bows would not be sideways.

I did not take photos of this part, but to attach the cardstock letters to the burlap pennants, I used Modge Podge as a sort of glue.
I simply covered the back of each letter, and pressed it down onto each pennant. Although the letters created to extend beyond the pennants, I still Modge Podged the entire back of the letters, because I figured it would help give each paper letter that extra stability.
I let it all dry, lying flat.

Then we hung it up, right where I envisioned it to be.

I think it makes for very cute Valentine decor.
It’s also made me start humming a few times,
♫ The Lord is mine, and I am His
His banner over me is LOVE . . . ♫

Sorry if that sticks in your head all day long, now! ; )
Hope you enjoyed this project, and it inspires you to make one like it, or one of your own design.

We’d LOVE your thoughts or a hello, if have another moment.
But know we’re always glad when you visit.

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