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 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 8 - Anthropologie Inspired Recycled Flower Chandelier

While checking out the Anthropologie website I found this awesome chandelier. While I obviously couldn't spend this kind of money (over $2,000) I realized I had some of these things around the house and could try to make something close. I didn't make this one with lights, but now that I figured out what I did and what I should have done and how I can make it better, I will try to wire the next one with low voltage or battery operated lights to hang in my garden. The first one is always my favorite, but not always the best. : )

 

 
  I used:

• ·         1 -2 Liter Soda Bottle and cap
• ·         20  -25 (16 oz plastic water bottles)
• ·         22 Gauge Wire
• ·         Sturdy String
• ·         Spray Paint
• ·         Bottle caps from the water bottles
• ·         Straws
• ·         Scissors
• ·         Needle
• ·         Tacky Glue
• ·         Old Hawaiian Lei
• ·         Old Beads from the Goodwill  

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I grabbed a bunch of misc. stuff not knowing for sure how I was going to put this thing together, so some of it went unused, but will show up on some other project in the future, I am sure.

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I cut the water bottle tops off then made even cuts all the way around to make a flower form. Spread them out and push them down to get the full effect.  My teenage daughter had fun helping spray paint (carefully) the water bottles and caps.

I cut the two liter bottle exactly the same way, but made smaller cuts in between the larger cuts.

I then poked a hole in the cap with my needle and threaded the strings through. These will be the strings that attach to the bottom and to which I thread all the “goodies” on to.

I added a hanger in before I sealed the cap shut. I wove it in between the strings and doubled it up. It isn’t as pretty as the Anthro hanger, but it is functional.

 

After my plastic water bottles were dry, I began to place them on the string alternating colors until I had a small circle. I tied off the circle then placed it over the top of the two liter bottle so that the cap with the strings was hanging down. I then placed another purple water bottle without the cap over the top of this and glued it all together with tacky glue. I placed it upside down to dry.

It is hard to see in the picture, but if you look closely you can see the strings coming up over the top. I placed it in a bowl to help it stand up. I cut up the old lei and used the flowers here and there for more cover.

 

Once the glue was dry, I hung it up and started threading my painted bottle caps, pieces of straw and flowers from the lei on each string. Once I had all the strings completed I knotted them off in the last flower and wrapped them around the bottom ring of plastic water bottle flowers which was about 2 times the size of the top circle. Then I looped my beads around the bottom ring and wrapped them around the top ring so they hung loosely. I wish I would have had more beads. I guess it is time to hit the Goodwill to restock.

Anyway, at the end, I simply trimmed off all my loose ends and filled in any gaps with the extra lei flowers.

Here are a couple of different views. It would be a nice outdoor decoration over a patio table, great for a Hawaiian themed party, or in a garden or pool area

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Plarn - I love this stuff - Recyled Plastic Bags

I have so many plastic bags. The harder I try to get away from using them, the more they seem to appear. So, I was determined to put them to better use. In the past I have made flowers from the bags, but I have been wanting to try plarn for a really long time. I like to crochet, I am not great at it, but once I start it is fun to see what I end up with.

There are a lot of great videos on youtube showing you  how to make plarn in one long strip. I didn't want to have to try and connect a million pieces so this was a much nicer way to crochet. I have no idea what possessed me to make a pair of slippers out of this stuff, but actually they are quite comfortable. I wouldn't suggest wearing them in the water, because even though they float, when they are submerged they hold water. 

Plarn seems to work with just about any crochet pattern out there. If you look closely you can see the small white flower in front of the purse. I made that with tightly twisted plarn and a very small crochet hook.

If you have any ideas or comments I would love to hear from you. Thanks for stopping by. 

Outdoor Lighting With Tuna Cans??



It has been awhile since I have blogged. Of course, I have never stopped crafting, just had tons of family work that needed to be done.

I hope all of you are having a super summer so far! It is hot here in Arizona already and since we spend a great deal of time outside, especially at night, by the pool I wanted to make something "fancy" to look at. Not to mention that our pool light isn't working anymore, so we needed a little more than the moon light we seldom get.

Somewhere on the web I found a creative project with a tuna can made into a light. I just had to try it.  I believe she used hurricane glass and simply painted her tuna can and they looked wonderful, but I am always about the fancy stuff, so I just had adorn mine with all kinds of shiny stuff to glam it up.

Here is my supply list:

I made 3 of these all the same so they would line up nicely along my pool fence line.

• 3 Tuna Cans
• 3 Wood Screws
• 3 Wooden Dowels
• 3 Globes
• Drill with appropriate Drill Bit
• Awl (to help tap the hole in the can prior to screwing)
• Copper Colored Spray Paint
• Glass Tiles
• Misc String Beads
• Aleene's Craft Glue
• Patience

Start out by cleaning any labels and excess glue off of your tuna cans. Since I was covering mine instead of just painting them I wasn't too worried about a few spots here and there. However, if you are going to prime and paint them without adhering any "bling" make sure they are nice and smooth.

Use the awl to poke a hole in the center of each tuna can. Since this is the bottom of the can no one should be able to see any scratches or imperfections.

If you would like to paint your cans do that now, also paint your wooden dowels. (I didn't do this first but I believe it would have been much easier.)

Once dry, screw your can to your dowel. Be careful here that you are using a screw that will not split your wood. I did apply a dab of E600 glue to the bottom of each can prior to drilling just to give it a bit more stability.

Make sure your screw is flush with the can.

Now start decorating it. When I went to Home Depot to buy my dowels, I stumbled across this sheet of clearance glass tile and fell in love with it. Oh the possibilities!!! I will use this over and over again. I measured around the can and cut a strip of tiles to fit. Since I had some gaps I found some scrap pearl like beads that I had on a string and added those in between. I suppose you could even go so far as to grout these, but it would make your cans quite a bit heavier.

I also found these great amber colored light globes from a discarded ceiling fan at my local Deseret Industries Thrift store and just knew they would work perfectly in the tuna cans and the colored tile.

I had to use clothespins to get the strips of tile to stay in place while they were drying. The tacky glue worked great. It was dry by morning and we started this project late in the evening.

Actually, it looks okay even without the globe. Just pop in a tea light and let it shine. I like the globe on mine though just for the extra fancy factor, plus it helps the candle light shine a bit more.

I suppose you could make something similar to this for indoors as well. Who knows that may be my next project. Let me know what you think, or if you have made something similar post a link to your project below.

Thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Gifts for Mom

We just had an early Christmas during our Thanksgiving trip to Utah with my parents. My budget this year is....non-existant...so, I really struggled trying to make some nice gifts. My previous post shows the clock I made for my Dad. Men are super hard to make a gift for.

My Mom loves blue and white, Delft, Victorian, fancy etc. type items. Here is what I ended up with.

First, was a teacup pin cushion. She collects these little cups and saucers, but really...she has tons of them and so I wanted to change it up a bit. She also loves to sew. I glued the cup to the saucer with E6000 glue, added lace to the bottom of the plate, then surrounded the bottom of the cup with pearls, well pearl like beads. For the cushion I used a handful of stuffing wrapped in a piece of a nylon type book cover I had lying around. I tested it first to make sure the pins wouldn't cause it to tear easily. It worked well. I stitched it at the bottom to get the tight round effect, then stuffed it into the cup. I did add a dab of glue at the bottom. Then finished it off with a ribbon around the rim of the cup and a little pearl bead.

Next, was an altered Delft candle holder. Mom collects these too. When my husband and I were in Amsterdam last year, we brought her back a few authentic Delft items, but they are much harder to find in the US. However, my local Goodwill just happened to have this little guy on the shelf a couple of months ago. I grabbed it for 2.99 and knew I was going to do something with it for her Christmas gift.
I attached a spaghetti jar lid that I had painted metallic silver. Surrounded it with silver ribbon then glued a votive cup to the lid. I surrounded it with blue and silver lace I found at the dollar store and added in the glass beads. It was a little different, but I think she liked it anyway.

This was my favorite. When I was a little girl....a long time ago...yikes...I used to get into my mom's jewelery box. She didn't have much and most of it was the costume type, but I loved her cameo. It was dark red and just beautiful. So, when I saw this cameo on clearance at Wal-mart for $1.88 I grabbed it. I didn't know what to do with it at the time, but it fit her blue and white decor.

Well, a few days before we left for our trip to Utah, I finished off my French Vanilla Cappuccino and had this cute little tin that I had to do something with. I wrapped it in this Victorian style ribbon I had on hand. I think I bought it at Michaels in the fall sometime. Then glued the cameo on the front, added some pearls and then finished off the top with a fan of lace and a blue newspaper flower.

Finally, I gave her on of the Newspaper wreaths we made. The gold and red looked so pretty together and I found a cute gold and glittery Merry Christmas sign at the Dollar Tree and hung it in the middle of the wreath.


We had a nice visit and the Handmade gifts meant a lot more to my parents than anything I could have purchased.


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Clock Making 101–using recycled items, of course!!

Save those bottle caps, you never know when they might come in handy. My husband brought home about 20  thick cardboard 12 x 12 squares from a recent tile job he completed. (Note the tile frame on the Starbucks clock.) He also had some leftover tile. I wasn’t sure what to do with it at first. I have wanted to make a clock for my sister-in-law aka Starbucks addict, for quite some time. I saved about 30 of the Starbucks caps for the past year and finally found a use for them.




After I made the Starbucks clock, I realized I could do the same with the other bottle caps I had been saving. I made a bunch of little snowman and gingerbread man magnets for a craft show I was doing and just took off the magnets and added them to the clock.

The great part was it didn’t cost much at all. Instead of buying the clock parts from Michaels, which would have cost about 5 bucks even with my coupon, I found a bunch of clocks at Wal-Mart on clearance for 2 bucks. I took them apart poked a hole through the cardboard and used the overlay from the Wal-Mart clocks to arrange the caps accordingly. I did have to trim down the hands a couple of mm in order to keep them from hitting the caps.

I placed a felt cover with a flap over the timepiece in the back to change the batteries.
I also made one for my Dad for Christmas. He is a computer lover and so I took some keys off of an old keyboard and used some old CD’s to construct the clock. He loved it…maybe cause he’s my Daddy, but that’s okay.

I think these will make great gifts for some of my other friends and family too. They are super easy to make and very unique.


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