Fan Pulls: for Winter and February

January 29, 2010 By Laura 9 Comments

I have found I enjoy making fan pulls for our home decor, to go with various seasons or holidays. But it was almost the end of January, when I put up our winter-themed fan pull. Reasons being, I had to make it first! Next year, they will all be up right on time, because they’ll all already be made. But for this little craft-session, I also made February’s. A LOVE theme of course.

We’ll look at the winter one first. This one we’ll probably use maybe in late November, if it has snowed, and maybe the first week or so of December. But then we’ll be having our Christmas fan pull up for the rest of December. The winter one here will go back up for the month of January, and maybe early March until it feels like spring. Unless of course I make a St.Patrick’s Day one, although we’re not Irish. But I suppose that’s not St. Patrick’s fault. lol

I’d like to take this opportunity to say . . . fan pulls are very hard to photograph! Maybe I’m not using the right lens, that I don’t have. : ) But I just can’t seem to capture beauty of the fan pulls, in relation to the room, if that makes any sense. So…I do the best I can for you. They are also difficult to crop, being a very thin piece straight down so – forgive me for some of the tall vertical photos that require extra-scrolling. I did get into the photo taking because, they have beautiful detail. So the extra photos are just some art-fun I was having, that I hope you’ll appreciate.

The winter fan pull was easy to make, because I found little snowflakes, already on a chain! So I bought 2 of them, and just connected them. I used 26 gauge wire at the very top and like last time, just sort of balled it, to slip into the catch from the actual fan chain higher up.

You will find I am showing lots of seemingly similar photos in this post, because I want to show you the various displays of color that these throw when the light hits them. BEAUTIFUL hanging there on a sunny day.

See here….blues, purples….
–

… and here….oranges and pinks!
So as it spins or swings some, it’s just lovely with the colors changing rapidly.
–

Here is a closer up of the snowflakes on the chain.

Yesterday when I was making them, it was snowing out!

But it’s gone today. It’ll snow again though.

The gorgeous big snowflake on the bottom, I found separately at the craft store, and added to the snowflake chains.
Love the colors in this one above.

Now look at this! Same big snowflake from a different angle. See?
It’s glass or crystal I think. I’m not sure.
–

Here is the snow flake chain laying on the table.
It is SO much easier for me to photograph them this way, than them hanging in the middle of the room.
Pretty though, huh?

So these are more what they look like hanging up. It’s just hard to photograph that way.

I couldn’t stop taking photos. lol

So…..that’s for winter.

For February, the month of love, here is what I did….

…which again, the photo just doesn’t do it justice. I do want to mention that this one IS threaded beads all the way. And, unlike using 26 gauge wire all the way through as I did for December’s, I found that heavy fishing line works great! I did double it for extra strength, just in case. And THEN, I used the wire to attach at the top. It’s one of those things, like with anything new, you learn a little bit every time, and do better next time. If you recall, December’s has a little swagger, from the wire through the beads. It didn’t hang straight. I SAID I liked it, and thought it gave it character. But I just didn’t want to do it over. ; ) I like the slinky flexibility of heavy fishing line, much better.

So here is a much better and closer look. Red beads in 2 different sizes, some little silver bars, and some diamond-like studded squares. I LOVE them. They did not come with the red beads….I put them all together. They were all cheap-cheap.

But the big heart at the bottom….not so much!! When I found it, it was SO PERFECT and JUST what I was looking for for the bottom of this fan pull. So I looked to see how much it was. $15.00!! It was a cubic zirconia. I almost cried. I mean….I just don’t spend money on such frivolous things. We can’t!! But I REALLY wanted it! Most all of the beads were on sale….so I was thinking, somehow, this one must be too. It was with all of the beads. So {A} brought it to the register to have them price check it. But guess what? It was really and truly $15.00.

I just stood in the aisle…frozen. I couldn’t spend that on it, and I couldn’t leave with out it. So there was nothing else to do, but just stand there. With my whole family around me, who were losing their patience.

So, Michael finally said, “Oh just get it!!. Gosh….every time I pull that fan chain, I’m going to say, “$15.00!! $15.00!!” He really would too. Trust me. Not that I would ever forget myself….but the joy of seeing the beauty of it would help me get past it, in time. But not Michael. Well, I already felt guilty enough. That little announcement would surely tarnish that ‘love’ feeling I would have had going on through-out the month of February. So….when I got to the register, I did what I would recommend YOU ALL DO, whenever you can. I begged for a coupon or a discount! I said, “Please….do you have a coupon hanging around I can use?” And she said promptly answered, “No I don’t. Sorry.” (For the record, she didn’t really sound sorry.) So I said, “But my husband said he is going to say “$15.00″ every time he pulls the fan pull chain!”. THEN she said….“Actually, I guess I do have this 40% off one item coupon in my drawer here.”

See? : ) So then I did the happy dance, let out a “YA-HOOOO!!” through out the whole store, the kids said, “MAMAAAA!“, and then I thanked her profusely, of course.

She said I was welcome, and I believed her that time.

Oohh….Be still my heart! (No pun intended. lol)

It’s a gorgeous piece, is it not?

I think the whole fan pull, is just beautiful. Classy. Gorgeous. It twinkles!

And every time Michael pulls that chain to turn the fan on and off, he can smile and say…

“40% off!”.

“40% off!”

Well Folks, that’s it for this edition of ‘Fan Pulls’!

I hope you found that my crafting, and shopping tips, inspired you!

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Wrap Jewelry – Craft Tutorial

August 23, 2009 By Laura 9 Comments

This is a fairly easy craft project tutorial where you can create some really fun or beautiful wrap jewelry for kids or adults. Depending on the materials you use, you can really get all kinds of styles using the same concept. Also, keep in mind; they can be homemade Christmas gifts, and made ahead of time! We’ve made these as Christmas gifts before, and they were very well received! So this may be a great idea for all or some of the little girls and ladies on your list. Or, maybe you’d like to add to your own accessories! The pieces we created so far have been more for girls, from little girls to women, but with a little creativity and thought, we think we’ll be able to come up with some boyish pieces as well.

wrap jewelry tutorial

You don’t need much in the way of supplies!! Here’s a quick run down, depending on the design of the piece you are making: Memory wire, bottle-nose pliers/cutters, a bead assortment, charms, waxed cotton cord, and possibly acrylic nail polish.

This is memory wire. It is called such, because it keeps it’s nice shape, no matter how you try to bend it. We threw out the packaging, but this wire can be found in any jewelry supply aisle of any craft store. There are a 2 or 3 sizes, and this is the largest for necklaces, but it works perfect for grown ups or little ones. The above is one piece, and you just cut off what you need.

memory-wire

memory-wire_2

Above is a piece cut off to be just the right size. Using bottle nose wire cutters, we cut it to be 1-1/2 circles, and that seems to be just about right for grown ups and little ones alike.

Next, using bottle nose pliers (the same tool that has a cutter on it as well), you want to twist a little loop at the end of the wire. This little loop is to keep any beads you put on from falling off on the other end. You’ll only do this on one end to start, because you need to slide on your beads first on the other end. When all the beads are on, you loop the other end to finish.

So…..you grab the tip end of the wire, and …..

….just twist the wire into a little tight loop.

Michael does this for me, because honestly, my hands are not strong enough to do it myself. But don’t let that discourage you, because {A} can do it on her own just fine. So I guess what I’m saying is, I’m just weak.

This is what the little loops should look like. It’ll stop any beads from being pushed off.

Here’s some of our assortment collection of beads. These container organizers are really nice! We’ve done lots of projects using beads, so collecting them and keeping them sorted like this is fun and efficient.

wrap jewelry tutorial

Here are two little girl’s necklaces, all done. All kinds of charms and gems can be found in craft supply stores, or online. These charms matched some beads we had perfectly! {A} made these.

wrap jewelry tutorial

Here’s another little girl’s necklace.

wrap jewelry tutorial

This one is adorable…

wrap jewelry tutorial

…..it’s a crayon box, as you can see. {A} made those as well.

As we’ve said, there are all kinds of charms in craft stores, but there are also

lots of great charm places online, and here is one we’ve ordered from: charms

And for some older looking pieces, we just found this place and this place as well.

handmade-wrap-jewelry-tutorial-4

Here’s another option, above. In the jewelry section of craft stores, you can also find little sets like this, all ready to go. This set has 4 wooden colored beads, a beautiful polished stone, and dyed waxed cotton cord.

wrap jewelry tutorial

So I used that set to make this necklace above. This one wasn’t quite AS quick to make as the all bead ones. I looped one end of the wire, (well, Michael did), and put the stone and beads on first, centered as I could, and then looped the other end right away. Then I wrapped the colored cord around the wire. It did take a but more time, and patience. I wanted the cord sort of twisted and irregular, but you can also wrap the two to make it striped, all the way down the wire. There are a couple of small challenges with this design, but I’ll share some solutions: 1) The cord tends to just slip around as you wrap it, making you quickly realize you are getting nowhere, fast. So you need to start by tying the cord at the loop end of the wire, and then wrapping around the loose ends. I used acrylic nail polish right in the beginning there, to help secure it.

2) The other challenge is just checking as you go, to be sure the beads and stones are going to end up centered on the piece, as they should be. It’s a little tricky, and I think mine is a little off. But use the two ends of the wire to gauge wear the center of the piece as a whole is. Is anyone following what I’m trying to say here? lol

wrap jewelry tutorial

I made this one for ME. : )

wrap jewelry tutorial

I LOVE it!!

Here’s some other kind of assorted wooden beads that would work.

They would look really nice with these natural shades of hemp cord. Together they would make a lovely necklace for a neutral or warm toned outfit.

Here’s another idea: They sell much smaller memory wire, so you could make matching bracelets to go with any or all of these necklaces! For instance, you could do the necklace with the beads and charm, and then a bracelet with just the matching beads!

handmade-wrap-jewelry-tutorial-8

Here’s our little model, {O}, who by the way, made her own necklace!

So kids can do this craft project with very little assistance, using the beads and charms. They just need a little help to cut the wire, do the loops, and maybe put the charm on. These particular charms we ordered just have a regular round necklace clasp with the little lever. So they can put it on the center after all of the beads have been put on, and someone loops the ends of the wire.

wrap jewelry tutorial

It appears about the same fit on kids or adults. It’s just with kids, it overlap wraps around at the back more so than on adults. But I find them pretty comfortable, and definitely stylish.

wrap jewelry tutorial

Cute, huh?

We hope you enjoyed this craft project! Let us know what you think, and if you have any questions at all, just ask and we’ll be happy to clarify! We hope it makes for a great gift idea for someone, even if that someone is yourself. : )

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How to Make Homemade Embossed Glycerin Soap Bars

January 30, 2009 By Laura 8 Comments

This was one of my personal favorite crafts we made; Embossed Homemade Glycerin Soap Bars! It was so much fun choosing designs, colors and scents. Yes, we know most people use soap pump bottles now. Bars are sometimes considered too messy….but my kids make a pretty good mess with the bottles too, anyway! The thing drips all over the place. Anyhoo…..if one MUST use the pump bottles, these are pretty enough to just sit in a bathroom and look nice!

So here are the EASY steps to making them. I tried to combine the photos of steps, in a storyboard format. So the steps are left to right, or top to bottom. I’ll do my best to explain the steps as well.

You will need:

2lb glycerin soap block
soap molds
rubber soap embossers
soap scent oil
soap coloring
clear bags
bag ties

From Home:

a microwave
a glass measure cup

Many of these soap supplies can be found all together in the soap supply aisle at your craft store. We always go to Michael’s Arts and Crafts.

Steps described below photos.

1) This is what a the package of the soap glycerin soap block might look like.

2) It is scored so you can cut chucks easily, with a large knife.

3) You want to cut the chunky cubes into groups of 4.

Next….

4) Put 4 cubes of soap into a glass microwavable measuring cup.

5) Microwave for 40 seconds, take out carefully, stir, and see if it is all melted. If it needs to go in again, do so in 10 second intervals, until it’s all completely melted.

6) Stir again.

We used scents and coloring put out by Party Lite. The oils are called Essential Oils. They all come in little bottles, in hanging packaging. These are found with the soap supplies at the craft store as well.

So then……

7) Add 6 drops of your preferred scent. We used Green Apple.

8) Add 3-5 drops of a chosen color. How much you add depends on how deep you want the coloring to be.

9) Stir again.

~~~

Embossing Your Soap Bars

They sell these rubber embossed designs, to lay into the bottom of your soap molds! Some soap molds come with a design embossed into the plastic mold as well.

Soap molds come in all kinds of shapes as well; oval, octagon, rectangle, square, etc. We went with the squares, as they fit these rubber embossers perfectly.

10) Rubber Embossers

11) With a spoon, put some dabs of the hot melted soap in the bottom of the mold. This helps keep the rubber embosser in place.

12) Place the embosser on the soap dabs, and gently press down well all over.

Next….

13) Start pouring the scented/colored/melted soap into the mold fairly slowly, but consistently.

14) Fill nearly to the top. We just leave any bubbles. They mostly dissipate on their own.

As we filled each mold, we placed them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper.

They need to set for….awhile? lol. We always just let them set for a day or so, or overnight, to be sure they were turned solid. But we’re not sure how long it really takes.

As they do start to set, you will see the soap start to get less crystal clear.

~~~

The next day they’ll be set for sure.

All you need to do is work them out of the mold. They don’t pop or slip right out, but it’s not that difficult with a little effort. The goal is just to try and not mark up your beautiful soaps.

Once they are popped out, you just peel off the rubber embosser, and admire your COOL design on the soap! Try not to get finger prints all over them too. Especially the tops.

We just packaged the soaps with the proper size of clear bags, found in the candy aisle of the crafts store, and the fancy silver twist ties came with the bags.

“Made With Love”. My favorite design. Although the dragon fly and the ornate tile ones were close seconds.

That’s it for this craft!! Easy, huh?? And so PRETTY! We think they made lovely gifts.

Trust me, they come out so nice, and smell so good!! I love the clarity of glycerin soap, but there are other kinds of soaps you can make too. I am sure the directions are a little different though. Naturally, with this soap making process we showed you here, there are certain steps you will not want your children to do alone; such as any of the steps that involve the hot melted soap, or chopping with the big knife! But they can count out 4 soap cubes and load the measuring cup up, choose and add drops of scent and coloring, pop out the soaps and bag and tie them, etc.

We do hope you try making some yourselves sometime!!

STAY CLEAN NOW! : )

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Homemade Bookmarks – Craft Tutorial

January 26, 2009 By Laura 5 Comments

Hi People!

This is the first of a handful of installments, that finally show you what we were making as we crafted during the pre-Christmas season. Now that all of the gifts have been given, we can share, and not be concerned with ruining any surprises. But we hope that some of you may gather an idea or 2, by us posting these projects, to put on your idea list for crafting and/or gift giving of your own, next Christmas or anytime.

We tried to think of gifts we could craft, that most anyone could use. Universal, sort of gifts. We think we did pretty well in the end. These gifts are simple; Simple to make (as the kids did a lot of it, with instruction and/or assistance), and simple in concept. We did not invent any of these things, but simply put ‘our touch’ to them. Should any of these projects appeal to you, we’re sure they’ll come out as your own as well. So many of you are SO creative, that you will likely make them even better, or put a new twist of your own on them, that makes them unique for you. Whatever you do, have fun!! Remember, even if everything doesn’t come out perfect, the fact is that they were made with love! If your recipients can’t appreciate that, then….well,… I won’t say. But they should. lol. Otherwise, you might consider ‘indian-giving’. Ha haha!

So let’s get to it! :

You may or may not recall, that one of the headers to a crafting post was this:

Showing any more than that would have given the project away. But we were making…………

BOOKMARKS!

homemade-bookmarks_2

We know we love books, and we love to read. Many people are the same. Even if they are not big cover-to-cover kind of readers, one may find a bookmark handy to keep their place in a recipe book, a how-to book, a magazine, a journal, their Bible…and who knows what. So we hoped these would come in handy, in some way, for our recipients. We did know that many do love to read, in our case.

I did not think to take step-by-step photos, since photos would have given it away. But we think you’ll get the gist by looking at the photos of the finished bookmarks, and reading the following information.

Here’s how we made them:

Directions

First, we needed some card stock. We found these handy pads of beautiful designed card stock in, in the scrapbooking aisle of Michael’s Arts & Crafts. They are actually meant for making greeting cards, but they worked out to be just what we were looking for, and a good size too. They looked like this:

One thing we REALLY loved about these card stock pads, was that each ‘card’ was 2-sided!! It had a different, but coordinating, design on the backside! So that means we had 2-sided bookmarks!! Very cool. We were excited about that.

So we cut these cards into bookmark size, and marked the centers of exactly where we wanted a hole for the ribbon.

Some supplies we already had on hand that we used are: thin satin ribbon, a Fiskar cutter (used by many scrapbookers, that make cutting straight as easy as gliding the blade). Also, eyelets that look like this:

And an eyelet tool setter kit, which I already had on hand too, from scrapbooking with eyelets. That looks like this:

It might look scary, but every piece is pretty self-explanatory as to what it does. Included are 3 size whole punchers tips (which 2 you can see right over the l and k of tool kit, and the other is already screwed onto the handle piece, 3rd in from the right). All you do is choose the correct size tip for the size eyelets you are using, stand it up on the card stock right where you want a hole, and tap with the hammer. Next, put eyelet through the hole, hold it in while turning over the card, and get the ‘splaying’ tool. (I may have made that word up. Not sure. But it spreads the backside of the eyelet out to hold into the card. So roll with it.) So you put the ‘splayer’ into the eyelet back, and hammer! This takes some real hammering, so be sure you are careful and use cardboard or something. I used a self-healing cutting board.

Now take a piece of cut ribbon, doubled over, and put the 2 ends together through the eyelet, and then through the loop of your ribbon. To finish the bookmarks off, we used a corner rounder, which is also found in the scrapbooking section.

That’s it!

No doubt, you’ll want to keep a few for yourselves too. We did! So Happy Reading!

All of the supplies used can be found at any Michael’s Arts and Crafts, or most any other good craft store.

If you have any questions, just let us know!! I am always happy to clarify!

I am also used to needing to. lol : )

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Cocoa and Crafting

December 6, 2008 By Laura 1 Comment

We’ve been doing more crafting than usual around here lately, as Christmas gifts. I’m way behind in blogging about them, but in thinking about that I realized in a different light….they are Christmas gifts!! Surprise gifts, of course. Granted, the recipients,,,our extended family….rarely visit our blog. If ever. But, you know, they MIGHT. And we really don’t want to ruin their Christmas surprises. So…..I guess I just won’t post the finished products, until maybe after Christmas, and if anyone concerned visits and guesses what we made, oh well!!

So for one of our first projects a few crafting Sunday’s ago, we were discussing what and how we were going to do what we were going to do. The plan was to hand sew them, until my husband said,

“Well, why don’t we just bring up the sewing machine and figure out how to use it?”

(me) “WHAT? What sewing machine? We don’t have a sewing machine! ”

(him) “Yes we do. It’s downstairs in the basement.”

(me) “We DO?! Where did we get it?”

(him) “It was your mother’s”

After a moment of stunned silence and a confused stare, I think I ended up on the floor, laughing hysterically. Outright bafflement hysterics. WHY you ask?? Because TRUST ME, my mother never sewed a day in her life! In fact, she had one of those trigger gun things that shot plastic things to put a button back on. And anyone reading this, who knew my mother, is probably laughing at just imagining my mother sitting at a sewing machine. I loved my mother, God rest her soul. But she was NEVER the sewing type! She was just not the real domestic kind. In fact, neither am I, by genetic-nature, that is – believe it or not. My early years as a wife, was on the comical side. I loved this man, but really….did I really have to do all those things they do? I wanted to want to. But…where WAS the WANT to?? Only for him. You know? Love is a crazy thing. I had to grow THAT bone, and I DID! In time. Granted, it’s still growing. But I have found deep and abiding joy in things I never knew I could embrace. In fact, I feel myself really…going back in time, if you will. My husband has really noticed how I have evolved over the years. In fact, he actually called me “my little pioneer woman’” the other day. And I think I gushed, “Real-lly?” Truth be told, I was beaming with pride. Because I am admiring their ways more and more every year. Thus…hand making some gifts, I suppose.

So he goes downstairs, and low and behold, he comes up with a SINGER, and dusts it off. Well I’ll be darned. There it is. I tried to remember seeing it before. In a closet maybe? In my childhood basement? Hmmm. Just not sure. Anyway….he got to figuring the thing out, because he’s mechanical like that. And he was suddenly seeming to be MORE than enjoying it. Can I just say?…..

Men and their toys!!

He showed {A} and I how it worked, …..and showed us. And showed us some more. He just didn’t want to give it up. Finally, he let {A} in there to give it a whirl, and I did a few as well.

Then {A} happly sat down to do more too. But Daddy was itching to get in there! Seeing his hand?? Next thing we know, he tells her “OK, time’s up!! It’s my turn. Let me in there.”. Maybe a little uncomfortable to announce this, but not as eager as he was to have another turn, apparently!! Oh ,,,,just look at the show-off sewing with one hand. Cute though, isn’t he??

The little ones were helping too, on another part of the project. They LOVE projects of any kind. Family crafting is the most fun. Usually. : )

Our little dolly, always willing to roll up her sleeves and get to work.

Maybe you can guess what we made on this day? Probably. The great thing is, besides getting one project done, is that we know how to sew with a machine now! Granted, we’re not pros, but {A} may be before long. She’s pretty ambitious at that machine on just about a daily basis. You should see the the little things she’s made already!

Gosh….my girls, AND BOYS, just may get that genetic-domestic bone thing.

“40% off!”

You will need:

From Home:

Next….

Embossing Your Soap Bars

BOOKMARKS!

Directions

Men and their toys!!

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