Wednesday, May 31, 2017

Patriotic Newspaper Tubes Star Candle Holder - DIY



Add a touch of patriotic elegance to your décor with this awesome diy newspaper tubes candle holder or decorative accent piece. It's a super easy recycle project that's inexpensive, costing next to nothing to create, and the best part, you probably have everything on hand to make. 

With little more than newspaper, a skewer stick, glue and paint, you can create a festive decorative item in red, white and blue, that's perfect for any patriotic occasion or nautical themed décor!

Materials Needed:

Newspaper
Skewer Stick
Scissors
Red/White/Blue Acrylic Paint/Brush
Aleene's Fast Grab Tacky Glue
Clothespin Clamps
Parchment Paper

Let's begin by folding a full sheet newspaper into four sections horizontally and cutting out on the folds.   Then, open the newspaper strips and place a skewer stick at a right angle on the bottom corner of the paper, as pictured. 


Roll the paper tip over the skewer and continue rolling the paper with fingers and hands pressed down on the surface.


You might have to lift the paper tube as you roll to tighten the tube. Continue rolling until you get close to the end point.  Add a bit of glue to the tip corner and continue rolling to the end and seal.


For this piece, every other tube will be red, white, and blue and I guesstimate will need at least seven tubes for each color plus two extra tubes to make the star, for a total of 23 tubes.* But I always roll a few more tubes, just in case.

To paint the tubes, lay down a sheet of parchment paper to paint on, and group the tubes together to paint.  It was easy to use the palm of my hand to roll the tubes over while painting to cover the tubes completely.  Let dry.



To Make the Star:  The length of one tube was about 21 inches long.  Add glue to one end .  .  .  


and insert another tube to make the length about 42 inches long.   



Next,  fold the longer tube into five pieces, 8 inches long .   .   .



and shape into a star.


Close the two ends of the star by inserting glue to seal.


Apply glue to the inside tubes where they cross each other and clamp together until dry.


Glue on a wrapping tube a little below the star point and let dry.


Begin wrapping around point and straight over to the next point until all five star points are wrapped.   Once all five points are wrapped in the same color, the next color is needed by cutting off old tube at side corner or back to hide the new connection and insert the next color tube. In other words, the red tube is cut off at the last wrapping point and .  .  .



glue is added, and a new, white tube is inserted.



Continue wrapping each of the five star points in new color.  

Continue following the red, white and blue order for the five star points, adding additional tubes as you wrap.

 When all star points have been wrapped many times and it's the last color of order (blue), cut off excess tube and tuck end tube down inside.


Back


Super easy and oh, so unique!

Perfect for any patriotic or nautical themed décor!


I'm joining a group of blogging friends for a month long Celebrate USA Link Party that opens on June 1st.  Pease join us by sharing your all things Red, White and Blue Patriotic Creations!



Thanks for stopping by


and take a little time to enjoy -


Happy Crafting!

Saturday, May 20, 2017

DIY Recycled Newspaper Tubes Open Weave Bowl


It's always fun making projects out of newspapers .  .  . one of my favorite recycle material!   Almost everyone has some form of newspapers lying around and it's so easy and simple to create something decorative and unique!

Imagine rolling strips of newspaper into tubes and then, using an easy weave technique, make a lovely bowl or basket. How cool is that!  And you know you've probably tossed newspapers in the trash on a daily basis and chances are, once you make something, like I did, as seen here, here, here and here, you may never want to toss your papers again! OMG!

 Materials Needed: 
Newspaper
Skewer Stick
Scissors
Tacky Glue (Fast Grab)
Clamps
Paint - Primer

Begin by cutting a newspaper sheet into three strips




Place a skewer stick at a right angle on the corner of paper, as pictured.



Roll the tip over the skewer and continue rolling the paper with hands pressed down on the surface.

Continue rolling until you get close to the end point.  You might have to lift the paper to tighten the tube as you roll.  It takes practice to perfect your rolls.  Add a bit of glue to the tip corner and continue rolling to the end.
Now, turn on some music or tv and make lots of tubes, approximately 30 or more depending on the size of your bowl.

Next, glue together at middle of two tubes, one vertical and the other, horizontal. Clamp, til dry.

Glue two more tubes, on top, at center, criss-crossed and clamp together to dry.


Glue another tube (end) to center of tubes and let dry. This is your weaving tube.

Begin weaving tube under and over tube on right and then under left tube .  .  .

 and over and under left tube.  Continue over the next tube .  .  .
 and under and over each tube. You are actually wrapping each tube with the weaving tube, moving around to the next tube.

 Continue wrapping over, under and over, moving around .  .  .
 until you need to lengthen the weaving tube by adding glue to end of tube and inserting new tube into the short weaving tube end.
 Continue wrapping tube over, under, over each tube, moving around forming bowl.  You will need to use the palm of your hand to flatten down tubes as you wrap so the bowl won't be too narrow.
 Continue wrapping, gluing on additional tubes to weave, forming bowl .  .  . until vertical tubes are too short to wrap.
 Seal weaving tube with glue at a vertical tube and clamp. Then bend each vertical tube over to inside top and seal with glue and clamp til dry.
 Remove clamps and cut off excess tubes.

 See how pretty the bowl pattern is upside down! 

 For a great conversational piece, finish with a clear primer to show off the newspaper print or .  .  .

spray paint the finished bowl with a white primer or color of your choice.




Caution:  this can become very additive! Lol!

Thanks for stopping by
and take a little time to enjoy -
Happy Paper Crafting!

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

How to Transform a Bottle with Ribbon




Hello! I'm over on Bowdabrablog showing you how I transformed a simple glass bottle using different types of ribbon and bow.  It's a new take on wrapping bottles other than using twine and makes for a great way to upcycle/recycle those unwanted bottles!


 Please stop by Bowdabrablog and get all the details in my tutorial!



Have fun and keep crafting!


Monday, May 8, 2017

Apple Fritter With Raisins Bread - Monthly Challenge Blog Hop



Welcome friends to our Monthly Challenge Blog Hop! 
On the 2nd Monday of each month, a group of talented bloggers share their themed creations for the month, be it Upcycling, family Recipes or Dollar Store Crafts.  This month, we are sharing family Recipes, new or old!

Today, I'm sharing with you a new recipe that's becoming a family favorite!

My hubby loves apple fritters with raisins.  He doesn't find raisins in apple fritters too often, so when he does, he buys a lot! And that's notgood! From the time we were dating until now, I hear quite often, apple fritters, apple fritters, apple fritters!  Oh, and I forgot to tell you he loves baked bread, too! So when I saw a recipe and a easy to follow video for apple fritter bread, I knew this was a way for him to enjoy the best of all three, apple fritters, raisins and bread!   And it's so easy to make despite the many steps.  This recipe was adapted from TipHero.com, a very popular website.


APPLE FRITTER WITH RAISINS BREAD
INGREDIENTS
·         ⅓ cup brown sugar
·         2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
·         2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced
·         ⅔ cup raisins
·         ½ cup butter, room temperature
·         ⅔ cup granulated sugar
·         2 eggs
·         1-½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
·         1-½ cups all-purpose flour
·         1-¾ teaspoons baking soda
·         ½ cup + 1 tablespoon milk, divided
·         ½ cup powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS
1.   Preheat oven to 350F degrees.  Spray a 9"x5" load pan with pan spray.  Set aside.
2.   In a small bowl, combine brown sugar with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.
3.   In another bowl, combine the diced apples with the remaining 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and stir to mix.  Set aside.
4.   In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the granulated sugar.  Beat the eggs in, one at a time until completely mixed.  Add the vanilla extract and mix.
5.   In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda.
6.   Add the ½ cup of milk and mix until smooth.
7.   Add flour and baking soda mix to the butter mixture, and stir until well-blended.

8.   Pour half of the batter into the prepared loaf pan.   Layer half of the apple and raisin mixture on top of the batter, followed by half of the brown sugar mixture.  Gently press the apples and raisins into the batter.

9.   Add the remaining batter to the pan, followed by the remaining apples, raisins and brown sugar mixture. Lightly press the apples and raisins into the batter and swirl the brown sugar between the apple chunks  and raisins into the batter.
10. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool for 15 minutes on a wire rack before removing from the pan.
11. While the bread cools, prepare the glaze.  In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar with the remaining 1 tablespoon of milk.  Mix until smooth, and then drizzle over the cooled bread.  Sorry, I didn't add the glaze to mine.

    "Tasty and yummy," is what hubby said, just like apple fritters!  This is a winner recipe for our family!


Be sure to visit all of the hostesses for their awesome family recipes, too!


Donna @Two Chicks And a Mom
Gail @Purple Hues and Me  

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy!