Thursday, February 17, 2022

Macrame Mail Stand

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If you have some kind of table in your foyer or entryway, you know it's a natural drop zone area - especially for mail and other items. Have I got an adorable macrame mail stand that tidies unruly mail while adding a bit of glam to the area.
Please note that I am not an expert at creating macrame. I took a class over forty years ago and had to re-learn most of the knots and techniques.

Materials:

Disclosure I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, this post may contain links. I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you! The affiliate money I earn helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

Instructions:
Let's begin with two wood hoops. Mine are 12 inches in diameter. I wish they were bigger, but I already had them in my stash. Stand the hoops upright, touching center sides and tie together (temporarily). Spread bottoms apart, as pictured.

Cut dowel rod in half (6"). Eyeball midway where the hoops are tied and where the width is six inches (from hoop to hoop) on each side of the hoops.  

Glue rods to hoops. Then remove the temporary tie and glue edges of hoop together at center.
Then wrap macrame cord around center hoops to secure, gluing ends down.
To find out the length of cords needed, I researched online and it said to measure the length needed which would be the distance between rods and multiply that eight times to get the length of each cord needed. My area is 11.5"x8=92" for each cord. I needed 18 cords to cover the dowel rod. These are called working cords.

Next, make a lark's head knot by folding the cord in half placing the loop over the dowel rod. 
Pull the loop down behind the rod and pull the two cords down and through the loop. Pull and tighten the knot. .
Then fill the rod with lark's head knots .  .  .  18, as I mentioned before. It's important to have an even number of cords for making the square knots.
Next, take two cords and lay them over on the right. Then take four cords and begin making a square knot, by taking four cords - two working cords - left, right and two filler cords (center). Take the left cord and make a "L" shape over the two middle cords. 
Move the right working cord under the two filler cords and over the left working cord. Pull both working cords to tighten, keeping the filler cords straight. This is a left facing half square knot.
Mirror the process working with the opposite side cords. The two working cord have switched places. Move working cord to the left, passing it over the fillers and under working cord . Move working cord to the right, passing under the fillers and over cord. Tighten by pulling on the working cords, while holding the fillers steady.
For the next row, include the two cords on the right to make the square knot - continuing all the way over and including those two cords on the left side to secure the knots to the hoops.  


Continue laying two cords over the hoop for each row, creating square knots along each row.

Continue making square knots along the length of the hoops between the rods.
A word of caution - making macrame square knots was very repetitious so I decided to watch tv as I was making them. Bad idea! I got wrapped up in the tv and forget if I completed square knots and if I left cords out - causing me to take more than a few cords out.


When reaching the next dowel rod,  pull the four cords down of each square knot to make a finishing knot for each cord around the rod. Wrap the cord around the rod, forming a loop and thread the end of the cord up and through the loop, pulling the knot tight against the last macrame knot. Cut off excess knot. 

I love having this mail stand for incoming mail.

Welcome! It’s time for another Creative Craft Blog Hop, hosted by Sara @ Birdz of a Feather! I hope you enjoyed my tutorial on making a macrame mail stand. Up next is Cecilia @ My Thrift Store Addiction sharing her soft and cozy DIY Throw! Perfect for these cold wintry days and nights! But don’t forget to check out the other stops too because you’ll find plenty more creative craft ideas!



Monday, February 14, 2022

Foamiran Pansies On Wire Frame

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It's always fun shopping my craft room. Sometimes I come across items I've forgotten about or had no idea what I would do with them. Like this wire frame. I don't remember where I got it or what I had planned on doing with it. It must have been a great price especially since it's not quite my style, either. We crafters can never pass up a great price! Lol!

However, the wire frame makes for a great creative base with its' shabby chic character. And offers a uniquely shaped piece for home decorating projects, too!

Anyway, besides the wire frame, I found a few sheets of foamiran I had gotten sometime ago to make flowers. You know I love making flowers out of foam sheets - as seen here, here, here and here to point out a few, lol! So I decided to dress up this wire frame with pansies - a flower I've always wanted to make in foam! 

Pansies are a winter flower! They look so cheerful and most importantly for me, can be found in a lovely array of purple hues, too! So let's get started on how to make foamiran pansies to decorate the wire frame which I'm leaving in its' natural finish.

Materials:

  • Thin sheets of foam - 1mm or less
  • Cardstock pansy petal template
  • Scissors
  • Oil Pastels
  • Iron/skewer stick
  • Silicone textured mold (optional),ball stylus
  • Sponge/paper towels
  • Hot glue gun/glue sticks
  • Acrylic paint - yellow/black
  • Narrow tip paint brushes
  • Small balls (center stamen/stigma)


First, I looked online for free pansy templates. There were lots with drawings of the different parts of a pansy, but I wanted to use a simple petal that I could combine five separate pieces to create a single pansy. Nothing intricate. So I made a pansy petal - roughly a triangle with rounded corners .  .  .

and measured it on a folded sheet of foamiran for size. And cut off the folded piece and folded it as many times as the petal shape would allow. Then cut out the petals .  .  .
and placed them in stacks of five to make a pansy.
Next, place a petal on a iron for a few seconds to soften and curl the edges, using a bamboo stick to hold in place and remove. 
Then quickly placed petal on a silicone mold, pressing down to imprint texture and veins. If you don't have a mold, an easier method uses a small ball stylus to add texture and veins by stroking along the inside of the foam petals.
Use oil pastels and a damp sponge or paper towel to color petals and .  .  .
shading with different colors, as desired.
Then gently shape petals by twisting and squeezing and lightly pulling foam into scalloped edges, as if tearing. 
Begin assembling pansy first with two petals, gluing tip to tip, left, right and  .  .  .
and in the center. Then add the two remaining in back, left .  . .
and right.
Next glue on a small ball for center stigma/stamen. I used a faux pearl and .  .  .

 painted it yellow and .  .  .
 

around the middle of the flower.
Let the yellow paint dry and then paint on black lines radiating from the center -
for a completed pansy look!
 And time to make lots more!
Placing them along the frame
adding more and more
until satisfied with the look!
Time to add a few green leaves by cutting out leaf shapes .  .  . 
which have mild serrated edges warmed with an iron and twisted into shape and glued in place.

I'm loving how this looks!
I found a poem online by Amelia Brown that is quite appropriate for this time of year.  I created a portion of it and placed on a handmade cardstock scroll glued onto cardboard and cut out .  .  .
and placed on the wire frame for a awesome look!
It certainly was fun shopping my craft room and finding items to make these lovely pansies on a wire frame. Just in time for this month's Challenge Blog Hop!  Where I've joined a group of creative bloggers to bring you a themed monthly challenge blog hop on the 2nd Monday of each month, hosted by Beverly @Across the Blvd! This month, it’s our Craft Room DeStash Challenge Blog Hop. And for this challenge we're to create a project using only items currently found in our craft stash!