Wednesday, October 6, 2021

Craft Wood Lantern DIY

4:00 AM Gail @Purple Hues and Me craft wood, DIY Challenge 17 comments

Hello and Welcome! It's the first Wednesday and you know what that means - it's time for our monthly DIY Challenge hosted by Terrie @Decorate & More with Tip! In case you don't know about this DIY Challenge, on the 1st Wednesday of each month, a group of talented bloggers create something based on a theme or material that's selected by Terri, our fearless leader! This month's theme is Craft Wood Inspiration!

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!

I'm sure you know that lanterns delightfully elevate the mood of any home decor space with its' warmth and coziness. You see them just about anywhere - both indoors and out. And for the DIYers, it's really so simple to turn basic craft wood - including dowels and craft rings - into a unique accent piece by creating a handcrafted lantern! DIY lanterns can make a huge impact with very little effort and don't require much time or money to make! And the best part, you probably already have most of the materials in your stash or easily available in craft stores!

If you're coming over from Terri @Decorate & More with Tip, wasn't her wood craft amazing! Follow along with my very easy tutorial on making a lantern using dowel rods and other craft wood.

So lets get started with what you'll need to make a Craft Wood Lantern:

Wood dowel rods - 12"
Wood craft rings - 6" & 8"
Wood circles - 6" 1/8" thick
Hot glue
Sandpaper
DAP RapidFuse All-Purpose Adhesive
Floral Stem Wire
Floral Cutters
Drill
Floral Needle Nose Pliers
Clamps
LED Undervase Light

For my craft wood project, I was determined to make a lantern out of materials I had in my stash. I have a collection of odd dowel rods of various sizes - even a pack of ten from the Dollar Tree. But I needed at least 12 to have a decent showing. Luckily, after searching through lots of my craft containers, I was able to find 13 of the same size - twelve inches long. While searching, I also found craft rings and wood circles - all perfect to make a lantern!

Since I had twelve rods, I marked off a six inch craft ring into twelve equally spaced spots (clockwise) and hot glued them onto the craft ring.

This piece would be the beginning of the lantern base with the rods on the outside.

Then I hot glued another craft ring to the outside of the opposite end of the rods - for the top portion.

For the handle, I cut out a portion of an 8" craft ring . . .

sanding the cut edges to make them smooth . . .

and then placing the ends in a pot of boiling water to straighten the curves.

After a few minutes in the boiling water, the ends were straight.

While the wood ends were drying . . . two of the wood circles were glued together using DAP RapidFuse glue to make the lantern base stronger and . . .

were clamped together until dry.

Once dry, the wood base was glued to the inside of the bottom craft ring.

Next, match up the ends of the handle with the top craft ring and drill small holes into the handle.

Since I didn't have any screws or brads thin enough to fit the width of the handle without splitting the wood, I improvised by making fasteners using floral stem wire. This was done by twirling the end of a two inch piece of floral wire using small floral needle nose pliers and . . .

inserting the opposite end into the craft ring and handle. Then twirling the wire end around for a decorative effect and . . .

flattening both twirled wire against the wood craft ring and handle.

And finally, attached an eight inch craft ring to the bottom exposed rods with hot glue for a matching bottom and top effect.

I decided to keep the wood natural. The lantern is so clean and chic looking!

A nice touch for Fall or . . .

any colorful season! Don't you just love the glow using a remote control

illuminating light in the bottom of the lantern! And doesn't the lantern look cool in purple!

Stick around and visit all the other fantastic craft wood projects shown below!

Decorate and More with Tip Purple Hues and Me Pai

Patina and Paint

K's Olympic Nest Blessings by Me The House on Silverado

Junk to Gems Cloches and Lavender Bluesky at Home

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Accent Tin Can Using Ribbon

4:00 AM Gail @Purple Hues and Me Do It Over Designers Blog Hop, Recycled Tin Cans, Ribbon 17 comments

Are you like me and hate to throw cans and bottles out? I have bags and bags of all types of containers just waiting to be upcycled into something creative! The ongoing question around my house is, "do you want to save this?" Well of course I do! Lol! They can certainly come in handy when I need to make a special craft for a blog hop like 'Do It Over Designers!'

'Do It Over' Designers is a group of talented bloggers who love to recycle/upcycle/DIY, hosted by Anne @The Apple Street Cottage. It happens the 4th Saturday of every other month and 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!

I have lots of tin cans in my stash. Crafters like me know they are a valuable craft supply item! There are so many ways to create something using tin cans. And anything woven is quite popular right now - checks, plaids, and stripes - you name it - it's on trend! And if you have lots of ribbon like I do, weaving ribbon on a tin can is a fun crafty project to do - especially in these times where we are confined at home because of the pandemic. Imagine all the possibilities of what you can do with a decorated tin can as an accent piece!

Materials Needed:

Tin Can

Ribbon - (2) 7/8"

Scissors

Measuring Tape/pencil

Hot Glue

Cardstock

Let's get started by measuring the height of the can with a strip of ribbon and cut a length with a little bit of overhang. Begin by placing ribbon strip over the edge around the bottom rim of can (upside down) and glue in place with hot glue. Cut out additional strips using the first one as a guide.

For this can, I cut 16 strips of ribbon and glued them down over the edge on the bottom.

Once all of the vertical ribbons are attached, measure around the circumference of the can to get the length of ribbon needed to weave and cut a strip of ribbon. Place strip on can going from top rim to bottom rim to determine the number of strips needed and cut out using the length of the first strip as a guide. I needed 6 strips for this.

Then, take a horizontal ribbon strip and place the edge right next to the inside rim and glue in place.

Begin by weaving over and under the vertical strips as you wrap the horizontal ribbon around the can.

The wrapped horizontal woven ribbon should end at the place where you began. Glue ends in place.

Straighten and adjust the ribbon by pulling down the strips.

Continue adding and gluing horizontal strips on, alternating and weaving over and under . . .

until reaching the top rim, and gluing in place.

Cut off excess ribbon at the rim - gluing in place at edge when needed.

To cover the bottom of the can, place the can bottom on a piece of cardstock - roughly 6"x6" - drawing a circle around the can with a pencil. Then glue on strips of ribbon . . .

along the edge of the cardstock.

Then cut out several strips of the second ribbon and begin weaving over and under over the cardstock circle.

Gently lift up the woven ribbon, adding glue to the cardstock paper and smoothing the ribbon down.

Then cut the woven circle out and . . .

and glue in place on bottom of can and you're done!

Doesn't this look cool as a vase to show off ornamental grasses!

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

Little Vintage Cottage

Modern on Monticello

Pandora’s Box

Purple Hues & Me

Unique Creations by Anita

My Hubbard Home

The Apple Street Cottage

Birdz of a Feather

Exquisitely Unremarkable

Thursday, September 23, 2021

DIY Rope Ribbed Glass Pumpkin

4:00 AM Gail @Purple Hues and Me creative craft blog hop, pumpkin decor 15 comments

Do you love decorating with pumpkins for the Fall season? I know I do! There must be over one hundred and one ways to create all kinds of decorative pumpkins. From using the real thing - to styrofoam, wood, paper, velvet, ribbon, yarn, etc! So many possibilities! I could go on and on with how you can make a decorative pumpkin and the best part, most are so easy to create! Like this DIY rope ribbed glass pumpkin I'm about to show you - just in time for this months' Creative Craft Hop, hosted by Sara @Birdz of a Feather! If you're coming over from Terri @Decorate & More with Tip, wasn't her drip painted ginger jar gorgeous!

I think the rope ribbed glass pumpkin looks so chic and classy and incredibly easy to make! It took about 10-15 minutes to create!

You just need a few items to make one:

Glass round fish bowl
Rope (10mm)
Scissors/Hot glue
Leaf and Berry Embellishments
Battery Twinkle Lights-w/ remote (optional)

Start with a clean, grime and oil-free fish bowl. Mine is about 9" across. Then turn the fish bowl upside down to make the bottom of the bowl the top of the pumpkin.

Next, cut five -25" strips of 10mm jute rope. Glue one end of a rope strip on top of the glass at the 12 o'clock position and . . .

wrap it down and around and back up to the top at the 6 o'clock spot and glue down.

Then take another piece of rope and place that one between the first ends at the 3 o'clock spot, gluing the ends down, as before - ending that piece at the 9 spot.

Place the third rope end equally between the twelve and three spots - gluing it down and wrapping around the bowl, as before, and gluing down the end between the 6 and 9 spots.

And finally, take the fourth rope, gluing it down between the 3 and 6 spots and wrapping around the bowl and gluing the end down between the 9 and 12 spots - creating eight ribbed pumpkin sections! I hope that wasn't confusing for you. You'll notice that the ropes criss-cross at the bottom center. Add a few drops of hot glue on top of each one so they won't move and to keep them together.