30 Days of Flowers - Day 17 - Recycled Aluminum Can Outdoor Decor

Well, I guess you could consider this a "rednecky" kind of craft. No offense to anyone out there, but our backyard pool area is covered with this cane fencing over the wood. Then my husband put up all his license plates he has collected over the years.
These cute little flowers fit nicely in between those and add to the charm. His favorite place in the world is a junkyard and this backyard oasis of sorts makes him feel right at home. I have to admit, it has grown on me too. Why not. It is cheap, green and shiny too : )

These are a piece of cake to make. 

Supplies:

• Aluminum cans 
• Scissors 
• Pencil 
• Gloves/Goggles (For safety, if you wish)

Step 1: 
Carefully cut the top of the can off just below the ridge where it starts to straighten out.

***If you want to attract bees in your garden, leave the sappy goo inside the can***
 I guarantee you when you hang these little flowers in your garden the bees will come.

Otherwise, now is a good time to rinse the can out completely. 

Step 2:
Trim off any sharp edges

Step 3: 
Begin to make strip cuts down towards the bottom of the can leaving approximately 3/4 of an inch.

Step 4: Use your pencil and curl each strip around it all the way to the end of each cut. Curl one forward and then one backwards.

 Step 5. Once you have all the curls, push the forward facing curls into the middle of the can. You can also add extra curl strips in the middle if you like.

Then just hang them up. Here in AZ they catch the sun and shine so nicely, so I use them outside, but they could be painted and hung inside or used with a tea light on your counter top.

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Have a great day!

30 Days of Flowers - Day 16 - 5 Minute Thrift Store Makeovers

5 Minute Thrift Store Fun

 

Goodwill had their 50% off sale today and I just could not resist. Of course, I had my 4 year old and my 12 year old with me. Most of the $16.00 I had to spend went to him, but I still found some fun crafty stuff. Keeping with the theme of Flowers, I bought up some old silk flowers and what looked like an unused sunflower swag. I had also purchased a few old embroidery hoops a couple of months back for $.50, so now was the perfect opportunity to use one of them.

Cost: $1.75

Cost $.50

I simply took the swag and wrapped it around the embroidery hoop. Then hung it on the wall. I could have added a bow or some other embellishments, but it looks nice natural, I think .




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With the other mauve/pink colored flowers I took them apart, spread them out a bit and applied them to an old peanut can. This would be pretty in your craft room for paintbrushes or on your vanity for makeup brushes.

That is it. These really only took 5 minutes. Keep your eyes open when visiting thrift stores, garage sales and flea markets. Even if you don't have an exact project in mind, it is a good idea to buy little bits and pieces. You never know when they might come in handy.

Have a wonderful weekend!

30 Days of Flowers - Day 15 - Crafting with Legos

Legos are everywhere in our house. You will find them under and in the couch, lurking in the corner in the middle of the night when we get up to get a drink of water (ouch), in the garden?? in the pool?? everywhere. My 4 year old and even my 12 and 14 year olds...heck..even my husband...love these little blocks of joy.

So, we figured we would try to make some flowers with them to fill up one of our 30 Days of Flowers.  Here is what we came up with. I would love to see your pictures too.

Make a planter

This would actually be a fun gift for Mother's Day, Grandparent's Day. You could possibly even do a variation for Father's Day and make it into a pen/pencil holder or photo holder if you put a stake in the middle of the planter.

Today was just a fun day. We used what Lego's we had and tried to come up with as many flower variations as we could. If you really want some inspiration click the link below for some amazing Lego Flower Ideas. 

CLICK HERE

Thanks for stopping by. I hope this inspired you in some small way and at the very least it allowed you to spend some time playing. Rest is good every now and then.

I would love to hear from you. Please leave your comments below.

Have a great weekend.

30 Days of Flowers - Day 14 - Origami

Today I am compiling a great list of 3 styles of origami flowers for you to try. Although this takes quite a bit of time, the end result is well worth it.

I have found that you can use old magazines (thank you Avon lady) and some heavier newspapers to also do origami, although the traditional paper is relatively cheap on sites like eBay

 (If you are willing to wait for it to come from Asia.) I paid less than $2.00 for 1,000 sheets.

The following pictures and links belong to each individual site.

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1.

Traditional Buttonhole Flower 

source:
http://www.origami-resource-center.com/traditional-buttonhole-flower.html

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2.

Kusudama Ball

source: 

http://foldingtrees.com/2008/11/kusudama-tutorial-part-1/

Image is the property of Folding Trees.com

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Lotus Flowers

(source: Bloom4ever.com)

http://www.bloom4ever.com/flower-origami-lotus-simple/page-06.php

3.

Once again, thanks for stopping by and joining in our 30 Days of Flowers. We will be back tomorrow with something new. Please join us.

30 Days of Flowers - Day 13 - Tin Can Flower LIghts

Certainly some of you have the same problem as I do; what to do with those silly soup cans that have that mean ridge around the top. 

You know the one that cuts you when you slip your hand inside of it? Well, I just couldn't bring myself to let go of these things. I was sure they would find favor in my crafty life someday somehow. Today they are the stars.

I have been wanting to make can lights for some time and since I am on the flower theme this month, this is what we ended up with this afternoon.

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Supply List:

• 6 Soup cans
• 1 mushroom can
• 22 gauge wire
• Hammer
• Small Philips screwdriver
• Large Flat head screwdriver
• String of lights.
• Misc. embellishments
• Tacky Glue

My husband took his drill with him today, so I used the good old fashioned method of tapping a hole in each side of my cans with a small Phillips screwdriver and hammer.

After each can has a hole in it, string them together with your wire and tie and twist it off in the last can. *Use caution, the tin cans are very sharp when cut*

Now you will need to tap a hole in the bottom of your cans to place the lights into. I did this by first tapping with the smaller screwdriver (Phillips) and then going back over it with a large Flathead screwdriver and twisting it. It gave me a nice circular space to put the lights into.

I pushed the excess wiring into the middle space of the cans and then used heavy duty tape to hold them in place on the bottom of the can.

Now use your can opener to remove the other side of the smaller can (mushroom can) so that both side are open. Place this can in the middle of the other cans pushing the excess wiring into it, to help balance our the flower shape.


I then used tacky glue to help all the cans stick together better. Also, I placed clips during the drying process on each can.

Also, I had some metallic ribbon that I glued around the cans on the outside to hide the wire and for some color, I did not want to use paper or cloth because of the heat from the lights. Although, they are low heat, there is always a chance of fire, so the metallic ribbon worked nicely. I used small pieces of the same ribbon scrunched up in the cans to add color on top fo the lights as well.
To top off the middle of the flower, where there was no risk of the lights touching anything, I placed one of the paper roses I made on Day 1 of 30 Days of Flowers.

There you have it. Cheap recycled lighting with a little class. 

That is it for Day 13. Until tomorrow....

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30 Days of Flowers - Day 12 - T-shirt Flowers

This was one of my first blogs last year. I made these T-shirt goodie bags and made "flowers" out of contrasting material for each one. 

I used the scraps which were each about 12 - 16 inches long. I rolled them into a rough circle and sewed them together. Then I took an even smaller strip approximately 4 -6 inches long, rolled it up tightly and placed it in the middle of each flower. We then sewed them to each bag. 

 

While I did not photo document my method that day, I have found a couple of really great tutorials that I would like to share with you.

  ***The following are not my photos or my tutorials. ***

***They belong to the site you are being re-directed to.***

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 Emily's Little World

Delightfully Noted 

No Sew T Shirt Flowers 


Thanks for stopping by. We are almost half way through 30 Days of Flowers. I would love to have you guest blog or submit your links and photos. I may run out of ideas....never.... Please leave your comments below.

30 Days of Flowers - Day 11 - Get Patriotic With TP Rolls

Cardboard - TP- Rolls - Recycled Into Patriotic Flowers

Who doesn't have a few extra cardboard rolls leftover from their TP or paper towels? Rather than tossing them, make something nice.
My pictures didn't come out as well as I had hoped but at least maybe you get the idea and it will inspire you.

For those of you who have never worked with these the supply list is pretty basic:

• Cardboard rolls ( clean off any paper remnants)
• Scissors
• Tacky Glue
• Beads or misc. embellishments
• Spray Paint (use a mask to be safe)
• Imagination

Step 1:

• One standard size TP roll should give you 6 nice even cuts to make a flower. Pinch the roll just slightly to get your cuts straighter 

Step 2:

Once you have your cuts, slightly pinch each end so they come to a nice point and begin to glue them together. Use as few or as many as you want to make the desired flower shape.

Step 3:

Paint. I use Krylon spray paint, either flat or glossy, but depending on which one you choose make sure you wait for it to completely dry or the glue and paint will clump up as you connect them together.

Step 4:

Glue the flowers together to form a circle if you want to make a wreath, add the beads and then glue the next layer. You will have to stagger them a bit and adjust them so they connect properly, otherwise it will fall apart. Tacky glue is the best I have found for this. Elmer's glue eventually comes loose and hot glue is a pain in the behind dealing with all the strings.

I am sure many of you have worked with these before. I first tried them last year for the Holidays. They are super easy and with a little paint and glitter it is almost impossible to tell what they are made from.

I made a version of these for Christmas last year and sold them at my craft show. I also used them as gift tags.

As always, thank you for stopping by. Please leave your comments, links and ideas below. I would love to hear from you. Don't forget to follow us on Twitter and via GFC or Linky Followers.

30 Days of Flowers - Day 10 - Aluminum Can Leaf Designs

Recycle Aluminum Cans Into Flower or Leaf Designs

Since I am all about using what you have around the house, I decided to use up some aluminum cans that were headed for the recycling center. My husband usually brings them home from work crushed up, but I begged him to leave them whole for me so I could try this out.

 

My Supply List:

• Aluminum Cans
• Scissors
• Gloves/Goggles (if you want to be really safe)
• Ballpoint Pen
• Cardboard
• Spray Paint
• Glue (Tacky or Hot glue)

Step 1:

• Find a petal or leaf shape that you like and make a cardboard template out of it.

Step 2:

• Cut the top and bottom off of your cans and then cut down the middle to open the sheet of aluminum flat. (use weights to help hold it open)

Step 3:

• Cut the leaves out or leave them all on the strip. I found that leaving them all together made it easier to paint them.

Step 4:

•  Emboss your leaves with the ballpoint pen. First draw your lines on the front side. Then, flip the leaf over and retrace the lines you just engraved/embossed with your pen so they pop out the front.  (If you left all the leaves on a strip now you will paint)

Step 5:

Paint your leaves/petals and let them dry. If you are impatient, your leaves will be tacky and not be easy to work with. I used an aluminum finish Krylon spray paint.

Step 6:  

Put your leaves/petals together with tacky or hot glue by layering them on top of one another. I used one leaf rolled up in the middle of mine to finish it off. 

Thanks for stopping by. I love comments and ideas. Please let me know you were here by saying hello and don't forget to follow the blog and also follow on Twitter.  Have a great Sunday.