Wine Charms

I decided to make my mother wine charms for Christmas this year to go along with an apron I also made her (another post!) but I also needed a set of wine charms for myself since we hosted all the holiday meals this year and after Thanksgiving we realized that people were mixing up their glasses. :) The idea for my mother was to make 6 wine charms with the initials of her 6 grandchildren. So I found some cute block beads in the jewelry making aisle of Michaels, along with silver earing hoops and some white beads for spacers. The project is very easy. String the beads on the hoops, bend a little hook on the end and voila, inexpensive, personalized wine charms.

 

For my charms I couldn't think of a more beautiful color combination but orange and blue beads for my Gators. :) I also found these great silver rings that said "Integrity, Honor, Peace" etc. Six different words and I had my charms.

 

 

Total this project was like 15 minutes for each set. And it was pretty inexpensive too. These would make a great gift if you are going to a dinner party or some place where you need to bring something but don't want to break the bank.

Thanks for the reminder to post these things Bekah!

Merry Christmas!

This year for Christmas, I went all Hawaiian. I thought I had a unique opportunity to get things for people that they couldn't get for themselves. Something different. Unique, different, and Hawaiian can add up quickly, so I went Hawaiian-inspired for my friends through the mail. I decided to retry my hand at candle making. I had the wicks, metal braces for the base of the wick, the boiler bag, red, blue and yellow dye, and a tropical scent. (All of these things are available at any decent craft store.) I found the glasses on sale at Pier 1 and bought the wax at the grocery store.

So, here's what I did...
Step 1: get the wax melting
This one takes a little guess work, unless you know the size of your mold. You have to estimate how much solid wax to use. I got away with 1 1/2 blocks of paraffin wax (available on the baking aisle) in the heavy duty plastic bag, specific to candle making. You put the bag, with the wax, in a pot of heated/heating water on the stove, like a double boiler.
Step 2: while the wax is melting, get your glass ready
Tie a knot in the bottom of the wick (wicks generally come in a very long string, and you can cut down to desired length.) Pull the wick through hole in the metal weight. Set the weight down in the bottom. For this project, I also filled the bottom portion of my margarita glasses with shells for a more Hawaiian twist.
Step 3: coloring and scenting
Once the wax is melted, add in a few drops of desired color dyes and scents. Agitate the bag to get the color mixed evenly.
If you think back to elementary school art class, you'll remember that there are 3 primary colors. That's why I only bothered to buy red, yellow and blue. You can get green, purple and orange from combining these (BTW, the "red" tends to come out pink, since the wax is basically white). You can also get lighter or more intense color based on the number of drops you use. 2 drops of red looks very different from 5 drops. and 1 yellow plus 1 blue looks different than 1 yellow plus 2 blues. Hence, the rainbow you see here, from 3 bottles of dye!
Step 4: pouring
Be careful with the edges of your bag. they are probably hot. I try to leave 1 bottom corner out of the pot so it will stay cool. Slowly, carefully, but steadily, pour your dyed wax into the glass. If you go slow and steady, you'll minimize air bubbles.
All you have to do now, is let it set. The wax will harden, and solidify, and you've got your candle!
So, now that you know how simple it is to make candles, maybe you'll be a little less intimidated by the prospect.

Det Site Calendar

My husband is on deployment with the navy and I made this Calendar, as a project for the spouses club, for the depolyment site. Each square is an 8x8 scrapbook page sleeve. Each month, the wives make a scrapbook page for their husbands, remembering special days like birthdays and anniversaries.

To start, I used 1 large, navy sheet of fabric (2 yards of 60 inch fabric).

I sewed on 1 inch gold ribbon to make the day dividing lines.

For the border, I used strips of 1/2 yard of gold hawaiian print fabric, going with the theme of their home station. I left the top strip open on the ends, concealed by the patches, to allow a rod to go through for hanging.

Clear contact paper, stuck back onto itself made the pockets for the letters to indicate the month at the top.

I sewed on 1/2 inch squares of velcro into the corners of each day, and little strips for the month squares, and glued the corresponding velcro piece onto the backs of the pockets.

We added the squadron's patches in each corner for some additional personalization.

The trickiest part is getting the math right, so the squares are centered, and pinning the ribbon on straight. The overall size of this piece makes it a little difficult to manage, but I think everyone is pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Custom Jewelry

I couldn't find jewelry I liked for some dresses I have so I made my own.

Baby Rooms #2

 

 

 

This is Alex's room. Here we used some pre-cut pieces from Michales for the letters and small animals. They were $.99 each. The big blocks over his bed and changing table are all custom cut. I made the curtain for the window. I am not one to sew with a pattern so I just folded a rectangle and sewed it around with a rod pocket. I also bought ribbon to match the blocks and green wall. This was my first attempt at sewing things straight and evenly spaced like that. I was/am really happy with how it came out.

Baby Rooms

 

 

 

 

This is Brandon's room. My mother actually made all the wall hangings here. They are custom cut from 1/4 inch or 1/2 inch plywood, sanded and painted, then hung like picture frames or mounted with Command velcro strips for the lower pieces. The Command strips are especially great for a kid's room because it doesn't matter if the pieces get knocked off the walls. The pieces can just be stuck back on. Very cool and kid friendly. It was also pretty inexpensive. The paint was like $40 for the walls. Then the wood was $30. It was maybe $10 in paint for the animals and $20 in Command strips and picture hanging materials. $100 is not a band price for a custom baby room! I'll post photos of Alex's room which my mom also made the hangings for, plus my friend Erica's daughter's room - which I did the wall hangings for. If you know your way around a jigsaw, some sand paper and paint this is areally HGTV type thing to do.

Earring Holder

So, as I was shopping the other day for birthday gifts for two little girls I used to babysit, I ended up getting myself a little something. It was on sale, and well, sales are my vices. Anyways, I came home and went to put away the new jewelry and realized that my jewelry boxes were overflowing and I hadn't worn half the earrings I had because they were buried. I needed something to hang up the jewelry but I didn't like the wire mesh stands they sold at Clair's because it took up too much space and then after some internet browsing, I came up with my own.


Here is an old frame that I no longer could use since the glass was broken and wasn't worth replacing. Remove the backing so you have just the frame.
















I bought two 36" dowel rods from Michael's craft store for $0.29 each. I cut them down to the size to fit into the frame and painted them.















I glued the rods onto the back of the frame. I spaced them unevenly because my earrings are all different sizes. I left a big space at the bottom for necklaces/bracelets. You can add more rods for just an earring stand.















Here is the final product with my earrings on them. When you mount it to the wall, leave at least a one inch space or else your earrings will touch the wall and won't hang properly. You can mount thin blocks on the back of the frame and then mount it to the wall.





















Frame - Originally $8.99, but worth maybe $2.00
Dowel Rods - 2 at $0.29
Paint - $0.50 each color for new tube
Total: $2.79