Outdoor Patriotic Banner, More Patriotic Fun!

I have seen so many fun things being made with burlap lately that I wanted to make something fun to hang on my house for all the patriotic holidays. I love the red, white and blue buntings they sell at the stores around 4th of July, but find the price expensive, and the material, well crappy. Plus I am not the most traditional person and love to be a little outside the box.

 Here is what I came up with an Outdoor Patriotic Banner.

 

Items Used:

Burlap

Tape

Spray Adhesive

Cardboard Cut Out Stars

Blue and Red Spray Paint

Blue Ribbon

Upholsterers Needle

Sewing Machine

 

 I started by measuring the area of the outside of my house that I wanted to cover. Next I went to my big box craft store and purchased burlap by the yard, enough for what I needed. I decided on the dimensions and folded over the top 2" and sewed a zig-zag stitch across to make a channel to hold a dowel rod in case I wanted to hang it inside.  I traced 5 cardboard stars from my scrapbooking templates and sprayed them with spray adhesive and placed them along the top of the patriotic banner. Then I tapped off the rest of the burlap and covered it with card board for protection. Grabbed my left over blue spray paint from my last project and sprayed away.

 Here is the finished result for the stars. I love the natural burlap color for the stars, it gives it a rustic, homey look with out much fuss!!!

 Next divide the bottom into stripes. Remember that odd numbers are always visually pleasing.

Because I was going with the rustic, homey look I only taped off and sprayed red stripes and left the rest the natural color. Beware I tried painters tape and duct tape for this and they both had their problems. You have to be quick and use lots of cardboard for protecting the natural colored stripes.

 I wanted a visual break to the top and bottom so I decided to  "sew"the ribbon through the burlap threads. I experimented and found that picking up two threads and skipping five threads had the best visual appeal as well as workability.

 I used a large, straight upholsterers needle to "sew" the ribbon through the burlap.

 Little Crafty Camper Girl got very excited and did much of the ribbon work for me!

Love that girl!!!

And this is the finished product! An Outdoor Patriotic Banner that looks great and is perfect for outdoor or indoor use! So just in case you were wondering how I hung this puppy up on stucco, let me introduce you to my new favorite product..... Scotch brand Removable Mounting Putty! I put it on several places along the top and sides of the banner and it did great for the few days I had it up. It will get more testing next year, but so far I am pleased with the strength, durability and easy, non-damaging removal!!!

 

What are you doing with burlap?

Have a great week!

CCG

Patriotic Clothes Pin Wreath

I have seen some fun clothes pin wreaths being made and thought I would try my hand at one.

Items I used for this project:

Clothes Pins

Red, Cream, and Blue Spray Paint

Metallic Leafing Pen

Ribbon and Burlap Scraps from another project

Scrabble Tiles from another project

Cardboard Ring from a glass container I purchased previously

(Mr. Crafty Camper gets a little grumpy about all the things I save, until I use them for a fun project like this one.)

Hot Glue Gun

 

 

For the most part everything is self explanatory. Spray, draw stars, put on cardboard circle, etc. I used the burlap scraps to intertwine with the red ribbon and to make the bow for the side of the wreath.

 Then I hot glued the bow and the U, S, A, Scrabble tiles to the clothes pins through the burlap scraps.
I tied a knot on the ribbon and ran it under one of the clothes pins on both sides to secure it.

Not bad for under $10 and using a lot of stuff I already had.
Enjoy your week!
CCG

Summer Fun with an Epic Fail

I know it has been a really long time since my last post. I have been an EMT for the past 5 years and decided it was time to continue my education and become an RN. Finishing off the pre-req's for the program has been very time consuming (along with working) and I really haven't done much in the way crafty fun. But that is going to change as I am now waiting for an opening in the program.

So............

My sweet daughter had her BFF over for a play date and wanted to make BFF shirts.

I found two shirts at Wal-Mart for $1 each in the clearance bin earlier this year and stashed it for just such and occasion. She had the general idea of what she wanted so I got online and chose some free coloring pages and used them as a template.

 

 I grabbed my stash of Sharpie markers, my light box and some cardboard and went to work tracing the outline of the shirt for the girls to color. They had so much fun coloring, giggling and adding their own personal touches to the design. They were so proud of themselves!!! (I thought they did a great job, I giggled as I saw them use a yellow Sharpie for the skin. It instantly made me think "jaundice," I so have too much medical terminology on the brain!)

We set them out in the sun to dry, I ironed them with a hot iron, and later they wore them for the rest of the play date. My little voice in the back of my head said, "you better hand wash that shirt just in case!" So glad I did, as the shirt did not hold the ink as well as I thought is would. I was able to get most of the bleeding out and decided to soak it in vinegar to see if that would help set the ink. Nope! It bled even more! My sweet daughter was heart broken and so was I. (I called the BFF's mom to warn her and to have her tell the BFF I was soooo sorry!!!)

The Epic Fail started when I used regular Sharpies when I should have used fabric Sharpies, and then continued when I soaked the shirts in vinegar. Note to self.......Sharpies are for paper!

So the next time I see a great deal on a t-shirt I am going to grab a set of Sharpies for fabric too!

Lacey Snowflakes or 3D Snowflakes

My version of Lacey or 3D Snowflakes. First of all, I know this post is really late, but I had to have my sweet husband pull this pic of my phone and he was finally able to do it!

So I got a wild hair and wanted to put these in my tree for daytime decoration. So the kids and I took a Sunday morning before church and made them and hung them in the tree. They turned out great and it is really therapeutic putting them together.

I found great instructions for them HERE and HERE. Or you can adapt them however you would like. I folded my paper like the 2nd step of a snowflake and then made marks on the fold at
1 1/2, 3, 4 1/2, 7 1/2, 9, and 10 1/2. It was quick and simple!

I think I might experiment and see if I can't make these for Valentine's Day. I wonder if I can change the straight lines to hearts? (OOHHHH I do love a good crafty challenge!!!) I will let you know if it works. Anyway have a great weekend and stay tuned for my next post, I will be featuring my first post in my new "My 12 Favorite Tools or Helpful Hints"!!

My Best Teacher Gift Ever!!!

My adventurous son had the coolest teacher this year, Mr. C., who is a HUGE Star Wars Fan. Mr. C's classroom had tons of Star Wars stuff everywhere!!! We were soooo excited because we are Star Wars fans ourselves. So for Mr. C's teacher appreciate gift I thought I would make him some really cool Star Wars hall passes. I came up with the idea of a wall board with lanyard passes. Here is what I did.

For the wall board I got some MDF, Black and Gray paint, some kitchen knobs on clearance from Lowe's (not pictured yet) and some custom vinyl (in Star Wars font I might add!!!) from my friend Shelly at simplywordsonline.com Thanks Shelly it turned out great!!!!!

I painted the base coat black and then flecked gray paint with a tooth brush to make it have depth and look like outer space. After it all dried I added the vinyl letters, measured and drilled the holes for the knobs and attached them.Now on to the lanyard hall passes. I got some Star Wars stickers (which were really hard to find!), some clear ID Badge covers from Office Max, some black gross grain ribbon (there was no Star Wars ribbon to be found anywhere, bummer!) and some clips.

I cut the ribbon into 30" pieces and burned the edges so they wouldn't fray.

Then I sewed the ribbon around the clip.

I downloaded the Star Wars font off the Internet (there are tons of these fonts on the net!!!) and made the inserts for the ID Badge holders. I liked the black background best!!!

I embellished the passes with stickers on the front and die cuts on the back.

Taa Daaa!!! Didn't it turn out great!!!! Mr. C. really loved it and asked me to make a few more passes for him. I am really happy with this teacher gift. The teachers at school said I might be setting myself up for some high expectations. Now all my sons teachers will be expecting something just as cool!

Also Mr. Crafty Camper asked for an extension on his post, so hopefully next week I will feature his post!!!

CCG

Memorial Weekend Craft Projects Part 1

I love the Memorial Day weekend. First and foremost I love that I live in America where as a woman I have amazing rights. The right to vote, the right to own property, the right to religious freedom and so many others.
My second favorite part of the holiday weekend.......... It's a great time to get CRAFTY!!!
So in honor of Memorial Day and to get a head start on Independence Day I thought I would share a few fun quick crafts that can be done in a weekend!


This one is sooooo easy and can be done for free if you have a great stash!!!

Here is what you will need:
2X4 or 2X6 piece of scrap wood
Red, White, and Blue Paint (and brushes)
Ribbon or Fabric scraps (that match your paint choice)
Jute or Twine (a scrap from your stash)
Buttons (pre-sew the button holes so they look like you just cut them off a shirt)
Old Toothbrush (this is for flecking paint, you will want to keep this in your craft stash now)
Hot Glue Gun
Hand Saw or Circular Saw or Band Saw (or a really great neighbor who will cut wood for you)

OK, are you ready to start!!??!!

Take your wood scraps and cut them into 3 descending pieces. You can make them a tall or as short as you like, just make sure they can stand up on their own with out wobbling. Sand your wood pieces.

Now it's time to paint!!
Measure down from the top about 1/4 to 1/3 the length and mark a line all the way around the four sides of the wood. Paint a base coat of blue.
Next, paint the remaining part a base coat of white and let dry.
Now you can fill in your red stripes. You can free hand this or use blue painters tape to make the lines straight. You decide if you want vertical or horizontal stripes or both!!! Remember to do both sides!
Paint some stars in the blue area or use some fun vinyl cut outs.
For the final painting step grab you old tooth brush and dip it into some white paint. Dab it off on a paper towel and use your thumb to fleck the paint onto your project. Do this until you have the coverage you desire.

While you are waiting for this to dry.
Plug in your hot glue gun
Cut your ribbon or fabric scrap to size, along with the small piece of jute or twine.
Sew the button with thread so that the holes are full with the thread.
Tie the ribbon or fabric scrap around the wood where the blue and white paint come together and secure with hot glue.
Next add and secure the jute or twine scrap and then secure the button.
Taaa Daaa!!!! Isn't it soooo cute!!!

I borrowed this idea from my friend Angela many years ago. (Thanks Angela!!!) She went one step further and drilled a hole in the top and glued in a festive metallic topper that had starts and streamers.

Have fun with it and make it your own, and send me pics if you make it. I would love to see what you come up with!!!

CCG

Valentine's Day Decoration

I am always trying to hang decorations above my kitchen sink for birthdays and holidays so I finally made a permanent way to it with out using tape!

I measured a line from point A to point B and snapped a chalk line. DO NOT SNAP A CHALK LINE. It made it really easy to measure but it did not come off the flat paint of my ceiling. Do it the hard way with a level and a pencil. Be careful!!

Then I measured every 10" and placed a white cup hook in the ceiling.

Wah La!! Cute decorations that can be removed and no mess to clean up later. Plus now I have a designated place to hang my other decorations. (BTW those are just hearts out of heavy construction paper glued together on fishing type line)

Fun Holiday Garland from Angry Chicken

I saw this cute holiday garland and just had to share. I am always looking for a fun craft to do with my kidos during winter break and I found one today. Head over to the Angry Chicken site and download the pdf file. I love to visit Amy's site and drool over her fun ideas. Enjoy!

Last Minuet Mothers Day Idea

So I meant to post this earlier in the week but had some domestic issues. My washing machine has been broken for almost two weeks! But you will see more on that later. So here is the scoop, this is a great Mothers Day gift idea. It's a perpetual birthday calendar book.

Items Needed:

1 3-ring binder

13 page protectors

Computer

Scrap book paper

Die cuts

Craftyness

Imagination

I made a cover page for my book. I personalized the cover page for the ones I gave to my Moms.

You go into you Word program and make a page with 3 columns, and add numbers and lines as shown above. (I do have one I can send you that you can change for each month. Leave me a comment with your email address and I will email it to you, sorry I haven't had time to figure out down loads on my blog yet, I am the crafty camper not the computer camper). You make one for each month and write in the birthdays. Put them in the page protectors on the left hand side of the book.

Now you get crafty!!!!!! Make a cute page for each month that will hold the cards. Be creative. You could even put a scrap book page of all the people that have birthdays that month.

So this is how I use this book. At the beginning of each year or month I sit down and look at the book. I look at each birthday and write in my planner (yes I still use a paper planner not a PDA much to my sweet husbands dismay) the day I need to send the card. Depending where that person lives will depend on how many days I count back from their birthday to remind myself to send the card. (See if I had a PDA I would only have to do this once and it would remind me every year..... hummmm) Then I go to my card stash and choose the card for that person, write their name on a sticky tab and put it on the card and place the card in the month page protector. (I send my nieces and nephews cash for their b-day so I also place the cash with the card so I know that I have it when I need it.)
That's it! Because the calendar is generic and not specific to that year you can use it over and over again!!! Now you just need to organize a card swap and you got yourself a sweet new organization idea for you and your moms!!!

Finally Fun Sewing!!!

So now that school is done for me for a while I can finally get some fun sewing done. Well with my visit to see my sister in Kansas I thought I would drive a few more hours into Kansas and see my college roommate. I wanted to make her boys something and decided on super hero capes. (You can't ever go wrong with super hero capes!!!) Well they loved them!!!!

I also decided to help my sister learn to sew a little better and made this super cute purse. I think it turned out sooooo good for her first time using a pattern and a zipper!!!

Gilbert Historical Museum Part 2

So here is the last post on the Gilbert Historical Museum. I love all the vintage stuff they have at this museum. Is makes me so grateful to have all the modern conveniences that I have.



I loved this scout display. It gave me some great ideas on how I want to display my sweeties scout and cub scout stuff!!! I love to get inspiration!!!!

They had a cute display of vintage hankies. I loved the crochet butterfly. I don't know that I would have the patience to do this one!! But it sure is pretty to look at!

I love to see the old paper dolls. I wish I could find some for my little girl.

Believe it or not I have a sewing machine very similar to this one that I don't use any more but have on display on top of my planter shelf. It is a great ice breaker when new friends come to my home. They always ask how I got it up there, and I say, "A rope, lots of my sweet husbands muscle, and sore muscles later."

I love the old kids books. I would love to find some prints and make a cute vintage play room with them. Dream on! I don't even have the room for all my sewing, quilting, scrapbooking, embroidery, and all the other hobbies I have! Oh well a girl can dream!