Saturday, March 27, 2021

DIY Glass Container Wraps

4:00 AM Gail @Purple Hues and Me Do It Over Designers Blog Hop 11 comments

For this months' Do It Over Designers Challenge, I decided to shop my home - looking at things with a fresh eye to see what I could give a new look to.

'Do It Over' Designers is a group of talented bloggers who love to recycle/upcycle/DIY, hosted by Anne @The Apple Street Cottage.

It's all about taking something old and/or unused and 'doing it over' into something new. Anything from fabric, old dishes, and decor to dressers and hutches. Items found in closets, cabinets, barns, garages, yard sales, thrift stores, you name it!

Looking around, I realized I was tired of seeing the same old look - of plain glass containers - some I had gotten at the thrift stores - like vases, jars and even glasses - and wanted to change things up a bit. And I came up with an easy and fun way to do it! Just by adding a decorative touch to your favorite glass containers with jute net wired edge ribbon! It's the perfect way to add style, texture, and new life to your glass decor. Here's how:

You will need - 6" Net Jute Wired Edge Ribbon (10 yds roll) and scissors - plus glass containers - that's it! At first I thought I would also need a roll of jute twine and needle (as pictured) to connect the jute netting, but I found it too thick so I used thread from left over pieces of the cut netting, instead.

Let's begin by wrapping the netting around the container for sizing. To keep the jute ribbon piece perfectly symmetrical, I counted the square rows to see how wide and high it needed to be. I only needed four rows for the height to cover the exposed glass area of the smallest piece. As for wrapping the netting around the container, I wanted a snug fit - one that included overlapping the ends to match the design.

To do this, overlap the jute ends and using thread from the scrap piece (by pulling the threads out) tie the corner areas where they overlap, matching the design.

For the larger pieces, wrap and measure how many rows are needed for the look you want, and add additional rows using the same method of tying the net together by overlapping the edge and tying together each corner area

This is what I did for the middle size glass container:

And this one is for the tallest glass container.

Once the netting was connected by overlapping and tying each square edge together this is how they look:

And then I looked around for others and found this glass pitcher . . .

and put this together . . .

Adding decorative trim to items completely changes the atmosphere and design!

Be sure to check out all the 'Do It Over Designers' listed below to see their lovely "do overs" too!

The Apple Street Cottage

Birdz of a Feather

Exquisitely Unremarkable

Little Vintage Cottage

Modern on Monticello

Purple Hues & Me

Unique Creations by Anita

Thursday, March 25, 2021

DIY Faux Fur Yarn Bunny

It's always fun making crafts for Easter. One of my favorites is creating bunnies for the holiday as seen here, here, and here. Who doesn't love making cute and adorable bunnies this time of year! There are so many different styles you can create, too! And I came up with an easy one you can make using faux fur yarn. How cool does that sound!

And the best part is using items from your stash to help make it. Here are some of the materials you probably already have in your stash, like styrofoam and plastic eggs. For this craft, you will need one large styrofoam egg for the body. And one plastic egg cut in half for the feet and one round styrofoam ball for the head. Plus, you will need cardboard to add to the feet for backing and some for the bunny ears and also to make the arms. All of these items are wrapped in faux fur yarn that I got from Hobby Lobby for 30% off $5.99! Plus, you will need a few incidentals like googly eyes, pom pom and elastic for the nose, a bit of foam sheet for the inserts on the ears and a cool looking handmade bow ribbon tie. And of course my go-to adhesive, Fabri-Tac fabric glue and a hot glue gun to secure the bunny body together!

Here's how I made this adorable faux fur yarn bunny: Begin by cutting the plastic egg in half for the feet, adding fabric glue to the edge . . .

to place on cardboard for the backing and let dry. Once dry, cut out.

Then add Fabri-Tac glue to the tips (front and back) and . . .

begin wrapping the faux fur around one foot until reaching the end. Secure with additional glue and cut off excess yarn. Repeat for the second foot.

Next, begin wrapping the egg shaped styrofoam for the body the same way as the feet.

Adding fabric glue as you wrap . . .

until reaching the top.

Then hand draw ears and arms on cardboard and cut out . . .

Next, add fabric glue to the ear tips and arms . . .

and wrap the same way as wrapping the body and feet.

Create a smaller version of the ears for the insert area, cutting out of foam sheet.

Attach all body pieces together using hot glue. Then, add googly eyes . . .

whiskers and

pom pom for nose.

How cute is this! So adorable as an Easter addition to any decor!

Thanks for stopping by

and take a little time to enjoy,

Happy Crafting!

Duck Pulling Cart Waterslide Update

1:00 AM Gail @Purple Hues and Me Easter craft, thrift store challenge, waterslide decal crafts 2 comments

Hello and welcome to our Thrift Store Challenge for the month of March! Here, a group of creative bloggers come together on the fourth Thursday of each month to share their lovely transformations of a thrift store item. Who doesn't love thrift store upcycle projects - whether it's actually creating one or admiring how an item from a thrift store was transformed!

The Rules:

Upcycle an item(s) from a thrift store, resale store, or garage sale into a new piece of decor.
There's no monthly theme.
There's no budget to stick to.

Meet the Hosts

Angela | Simply Beautiful By Angela - Gail | Purple Hues and Me -

Marci | Stone Cottage Adventures - Dru | Polka Dot Poplars -

Beverly | Across the Blvd -

Melynda | Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household

Our Thrift Store Upcycle group of bloggers is always looking to expand -- and we need your help! Why not consider joining in our thrift store upcycle challenge on the last Thursday of each month? Make some friends while having fun and share your love of DIY with the world. It’s a win-win! Sound like something you’d be interested in? Just leave a comment at the end of this post with your contact info and a link to your blog. Someone will get back to you right away. We can’t wait to meet you!

How many times have you come across an item at the thrift store you know was probably hand painted - and not a very good paint job, at that! Just take a look at this sweet piece I found at the Goodwill for ninety-nine cents. A duck pulling a cart!

Looks like something I might have done with my unsteady hands. I could never paint a straight line or stay within the lines. In fact, I don't like painting at all! Lol! Anyway, I could not resist picking this up at the time - although I've had it for a number of years. Now, with everything that's going on, it's perfect for a spruce up - just in time for Easter!

The first thing I did after cleaning and washing the dirt and grime off was to sponge on two coats of white chalk paint, letting it dry between coats! The interior was already a nice neutral color that was in good shape so I didn't touch that.

In case you've never heard of waterslide decals, it's an easy way to transfer images and text using a special paper that you place in water and then slide the image onto almost any type of smooth surface. And the waterslide decal paper comes in clear or white backgrounds and is available to use in inkjet or laserjet printers, too!

I wanted to put a few flowers around the cart so I found a free image online that I printed out on the glossy side of the waterslide decal paper. Then, I used a clear top to outline the image to cut out.

Once the decal was cut out, placed the decal in a bowl of warm water for about 30 seconds.

Then dampen the area where the decal is going and take the decal out of the water and place face-up on the spot, sliding the backing out and smoothing the decal out with additional water on fingers.

Let the decal dry naturally for 3-4 hours.

Just perfect to hold Easter treats!

And now for more thrifty goodness!

Check out what my fellow upcyclers created below!

Monday, March 8, 2021

Dollar Baking Tray With Handles

4:00 AM Gail @Purple Hues and Me dollar store craft, upcycle challenge 14 comments

We all love updating dollar store items! And the cookie pan is a popular item to use in craft projects! And it's definitely fun turning plain old cheap stuff into decorative, useful household items! Just take a look and see how I updated this cookie pan! It's so easy to turn a cookie baking pan into a decorative tray with handles! Perfect for this month's Upcycled Project Blog Hop Challenge!

Materials:

Cookie Pan

White chalk paint

Paint brush

Paper Napkins (2)

Scissors

Matte Mod Podge

Ziplock Bags

18 gauge tarnish resistant wire

E6000 glue/hot glue

Instructions:

Begin by removing the label on the pan. Then wash and clean off any residual glue, dirt and grime. Let dry.

Once thoroughly dry, paint the pan using white chalk paint. You will need at least two coats.

Next, remove all of the white paper backings of the printed portion of the napkin. I always dampen my forefinger with a light dab of mod podge and tap together my thumb until sticky and then touch the corner edge to take apart the paper layers.

Next, size up napkin placement on tray and decide what you need to cover and what needs to be cut off. The design of the napkin had the same pattern on each end, but the height of the napkin was too large for the tray. And the width fitted perfectly and not adjustments were needed.

So I cut the napkin off to allow enough space to add the same border.

This is how the napkin looked after cutting.

To decoupage the napkin, I applied mod podge on the tray in sections - to keep the wrinkles at a minimum. The napkin was not of a good quality - quite thin and was wrinkled beforehand.

Once the decoupage was applied, I smoothed out the napkin using a ziplock plastic bag that I cut the top and bottom off to open full.

Once the napkin was smooth out, I let the decoupaged napkin portion dry.

Then I used the other end half of the napkin to match the plaid lines

And applied that piece the same way (in sections) and smoothing out using ziplock plastic and let dry.

Since you could see the straight lines of the added piece, I decided to cut out decorative trim pieces from another piece of napkin and decoupage them on . . .

for a seamless look!

To make the tray handles - for each handle, I cut three 24" lengths of 18 gauge wire and folded each piece in half, wrapping the wires with one of the wire loops.

And began braiding the wire until reaching the end. Sorry, I somehow didn't take pictures of the completed braid.

But here is the completed braided handle - hand shaped and glued on first with hot glue and then E6000 for a permanent hold.

I'm loving how this turned out!

It's the 2nd Monday of the month and time for another Monthly Challenge Blog Hop! I've joined a group of creative bloggers to bring you this monthly challenge blog hop! The theme for March is to create an upcycled, repurpose, remake, reuse project!