Burlap Flowers

 Burlap Flowers make beautiful embellishments for wreaths, frames, and so many other craft projects.

 Burlap flowers are easy to make and take very little time.

To make a flower you will need these materials:

Burlap
Needle & thread
White glue
Scissors
Ruler
Pins
Use hot glue to attach to wreaths and other projects.

To begin, cut one square of burlap.  Mine measures 14" square.   Using your ruler, measure out 3 inches and mark it with a pin. 
Cut the fabric using the natural strand of fiber as a guide to follow as you cut across.

Count in 5 fabric strands on one side and place a pin. Repeat on the other side.


 
 Beginning with the 6th strand (on the inside of the pin), begin pulling out fibers.

                             

Continue pulling fibers until you reach the pin on the other side. Place the fibers you have pulled in a pile to save for making more embellishments.

Fold the strip in two and pin together the un-pulled sections.  You will now have a strip with loops on the top.

Sew or glue the strip together.  If sewn, you can pull the tread to gather it into a flower, or if glued, you will roll it into a flower.  Play around with this until you create just the right look you want for your creation.

                

                                 Roll into flat designs, or tight rolls as desired.

  Do the same with the loose strands to create another type of flower.

Glue the back side of your coil to hold it all together.  A dab of glue will secure any loose strands that might pop out.  White glue drys clear so none of this will show on your finished flower.

This is an example of sewing the strip so that you can easily lay the flower flat.  I like to use this method so that I can add a variety of centers to the flower.  At the top left of this picture you will see a gourd & seed flower I made.  It will be put into the center of the burlap to create a cute duel medium flower.

 Here are a couple of other centers I created in gourd to create my flowers.

Just a few of the flowers I put together.  Notice the ribbon strip created by simply folding an in-tact burlap strip.  This makes a nice base for mounting some of your rolled flowers.

Arrange your flowers as you like on wreaths, picture frames, hair pieces, or anything else you can think of.  Enjoy!

Good Morning Sunshine

I love Spring!  I love Gourds.  Creating the perfect Spring yard ornament brings me great joy.  Today I have put together an all natural gourd, vine, and money plant sunflower. 







To make this adorable sunflower you will need a medium size *gourd, some grape vine,  a hand full of **money plant seed pods, and acrylic paint.  Tools are as simple as an xacto knife or other cutting tool, a wood burner, (although paint can be used in place of the wood burning on the leaf and center "seed" area) white and wood glue, wire, thread, and hot glue to secure the gourd pieces to the vine. 

* I will post step by step pictures as soon as I make another sunflower, but I think the instructions are pretty simple.

Begin by cleaning the outside of your gourd.  Simply place the gourd in a large mop bucket of water and scrub it using a copper scrubber. Copper will not scratch the gourd surface, so please do not use any other kind of scrubber.  

Next, draw a circle on the base of your gourd in the size you would like your flower head. Carefully cut it out using your xacto knife.

Pull out the seeds from the gourd and use them in all kinds of craft projects and jewelry.  Draw two leaf prints onto the gourd. Carefully cut them out.  Save all of the remaining gourd for many other gourd projects.  (Check out my other blog postings for ideas).

Gather a bunch of grapevine from a wooded field or fence row.  Or buy vine at your local craft store.  Take 3 or 4 pieces of vine, soak them in water to make them pliable, cut them in 1-2 foot lengths, then twist them together to form the stem.

Take your round gourd center and notice the little natural "belly button"  where it grew on the vine.
Using your wood burner, or small paint brush, make straight strokes beginning at the center and work around  the "belly button" staggering each row as desired.  This creates the look of a seeded sunflower head.  

 Stain or paint the leaves green and let dry before continuing to the next step.
 
Next, burn or paint your leaf pieces to create veins.  Once your leaves are ready, apply a clear sealant to your gourd pieces.

Take your money plant pod skins and soak them in yellow acrylic (or paint each one individually).  Once dry, glue them around the round gourd head in layers.  Make sure you lay out a row before gluing to make sure you have them centered around the seed marks you burned or painted.  White glue works best for this step.

To attach your flower head to the vine stem, use hot glue or wood glue and let it dry over night.  This alone will not keep the head secure.  I usually take a needle and thread and make a few slip stitches up through the gourd, back down and around the stem until it is completely secure.  Just make sure you use a thread that is the same color as the seed strokes you burned or painted and pass your thread through these marks.  Gourds are very soft and you can sew through them with very little effort.

Do the same with the leaves.  It is a bit more difficult to make them secure, but if you sew them or even brace the back with a dowel, they should stay in place.  

The last step is to place your flower in the garden, on the wall, or in a vase.  So cute!

* If you need a gourd, you can get one dried and ready to go from me: email admin@explorecreatecraft.com and I will give one to you free (if you will pay the $5 shipping). Or you can get them on Ebay, or through gourd farms like the Welborn Gourd farm.

** I also have money plant pods.  I can ship you 100 pods for $1.00.  Just email me.

Random Acts of Kindness

As a crafter and hobbiest, I have found the most pleasure in a simple smile, or a great big hug; something unexpected and special.  

At Christmas time there were several friends and family who decided that every day leading up to Christmas, during the month of December, would be dedicated to serving random acts of kindness. 

One friend saw a homeless man and asked her little boy, "what can we do for him?"  
He answered, "Mom, lets go get him a Happy Meal."  
And so they  did.  The man was so surprised. He said he hadn't eaten all day, and hugged the little boy tight.

Another family picked up a pizza.  They traveled to the poorest side of town and randomly picked out a house.  Together they all knocked on the door and handed the pizza to a very thankful family. 

I don't know if it was a trend for this year, but it seemed to stretch beyond the boundries of my small world.  As we traveled to Wisconsin for Christmas, we pulled up to pay our toll, only to be told that it had been paid by the car before us.  The toll operator had been accepting tolls for the cars to come all day long.  I never saw such a happy smile on a young man's face.  For once he was seeing a thankful, respectful, caring world of givers and he couldn't contain his happiness. His thankless job had been blessed that day and the blessings just kept coming.

I wondered how I could use my craft projects to bless someone. The coat drive was in full swing and as I pondered how I might help, and then it came to me.  I could make mittens. I scoured the thrift stores picking up as many wool sweaters as I could find and began making recycled sweater mittens.  I had decided long ago that every person wanting one pair of mittens would receive two; one for their order, and one to give to someone of their choosing, or to someone in need. It felt so good knowing that these wonderful mittens would warm the hands of a child who might otherwise stuff cold hands into pockets that never seemed to suffice.   To this day I have kept this act of kindness going.  

Thinking about Mexico has weighed heavy on my heart for a while.  Our family owns a winter park model home in Texas, quite near the border.  Every year we cross to buy vanilla and trinkets in the markets.  Every year I see them.  They are huddled and cold, and have little babies wrapped in thin blankets held close to their hearts.  They don't say much, but their little cans sit inches away and tell their stories.  The few coins tossed into the cans might get them through the day and put a little food in the belly, but the hands, the hands reveal their truths.  They are worn and wrinkled, and gently caress the tiny bundles they hold.  They look at me in hallowed eyes void of any sparkle.  They cry out in silent pleas.  Although this is Mexico, there is a chill in the air, and their hands burn with cold, hard poverty.  But what can I really do?  I fear my dollar will line the pockets of greed, not need, but I give.  I only hope the women and babies might receive the food that will warm their bellies this day, yet I fear the worst.  So what can I do?  I will take my mittens.  They are warm, and if I make a scarf as well, it might wrap the children from the chill of cruelty.  I am taking several pair with me this week.  I know that they will do more good for these moms than I could ever imagine.    

This is my random act of kindness for this winter season.  And when I come back home to Michigan, I will take some to the local battered woman's shelter, and to the schools, and continue to give a second pair when someone orders one.

As Spring rolls around I want to continue my random acts of kindness.  I'll start by making dog tags using my stamped washers. I'll stamp them with our city and state.  I can leave them at the shelter for people to take from a basket on the counter.  Perhaps the shelter can put a little donation can up and use any money to care for the lost and abandoned pets. 

Last summer I put all of my extra garden produce on a roadside stand and simply put out a donation can.  My sign said please take as much produce as you need.  All donations will go to the local pet rescues.  I received more money through donations than I ever did selling outright, and no produce went to waste.  It was a wonderful feeling and I knew the money earned would help the 70+ dogs that were rescued from a local puppy mill.  It was such a great feeling.  

Please help me think of some craft projects that will help me continue the tradition I have started.  If you have some ideas of ways to transform new or existing crafts in to random acts of kindness, please leave me a comment. 

A Time to Reflect and Organize

                                  Today my hurry-up world slowed down.  

 I finished four little bookmarks for my grandkids, and printed a Bible message on burlap for Valentine's Day.  Then I looked around and realized that my little world of crafts had become a big mess.  It is time to give the crafts a rest until I get organized.  So in keeping with crafting every day, I'm putting up several ideas that I have not yet crafted, but seem so simple I have them on my list of "I'll do that next".   I think the pictures give enough information that we can do them from sight.  

Adorable.  Can't wait to visit my Grandkids and bring along some floor tiles.  I think tiles would look great with these little footprints.  I'll bet the small tiles would be the right size for newborns as well.

Now this is a project just crying for Spring.  I can see making two or three out of one rectangular pan of short cake.  I hope all my composting last summer will bring a bumper crop of berries this year.  We can all use a little Strawberry Short Snake.

And now that the metal stamping bug has me pounding away, I think those cute little empty pickle jars I've been saving now have a place.  If I take one of our old barn-wood planks and mount it on the wall, I'll have a nice country shelf that will hold several jars and stampings.

Lastly, my macrame skills will come into play as I fashion a couple of new collars for my pups.  Both dogs lost their tags as their old collars gave way.  Oh,  I can stamp a couple of washers and give them new tags to boot!

My craft area is getting clean, and I have a plan now for three or four new projects.  Not a bad day if you ask me!   Craft much, have fun.

Out of My Gourds

I fell in love with the gourd by accident.  I wanted some seeds for my garden, you know, those little ones that filled baskets & doorsteps around Halloween.  While looking for the seeds, the search brought me to a world of amazing art.  I found the Welborn Gourd farm  in Fallbrook, California. Their website showcased gourd art truly worthy of gallery display.  It just so happened that I was going to be visiting my sister in southern California that year.  Low and behold, Welborns were conducting their annual gourd art festival during the time I was to be out there, and come to find out, it was only 15 minutes away from my sister's house.  Well, as you can imagine, my craft mind was on steroids when I walked through that festival where I fell in love with the gourd.

Just a few pieces of the art coming from their website.  I could only dream to have this kind of talent.

The one on the left is by Carrie Dearing
                       and
the one on the right is by Pamala Redhawlk



Welborn Gourd Gallery

Well as you can see, the art is fabulous.  I really had no expectations of ever doing anything as beautiful as these, but I dabbled.  Soon I had purchased a dremel  and  set out to craft a gourd.  I don't even remember what my first project was, but I started small.  Although this was not my first project, it is typical of the type of project that got me started. 

 Gourd Crafting

 I wish the picture had been a little more clear, but you can see that my project was primarily out of gourd seeds.  I took two round gourd shards that I cut from an apple gourd. (Apple gourds quite often have flat areas that work well for jewelry.)  After the two pieces were sanded, I stacked them and arranged pre-painted seeds around the edges and in the center to create my design. Once the glue was set (I used wood glue), I let it dry and coated the pendant with clear sealant.  I added a crystal in the center of the flower, and then made a knotted necklace to set the pendant on.

I wanted to make some more unique designs that kind of fit with my outdoor, natural & primitive nature.  I came up with gourd jugs and animal themes. Here are three of my finished projects.

I just loved the mottled design that graced this gourd.  I wanted it as natural as could be, so I fashioned a handle out of a swan gourd neck and a spout from a piece of maranka gourd. I used sinew to lash the top and then sealed it all with only one coat of sealant to keep it as natural as possible.

Our school mascot is a tiger, so I made a little box for my school desk to hold paper clips.  The basket of the box was woven with clothes line and jute.  There is a round gourd shard base.  The top section of the box was also woven in the basket weave, and then mounted with the painted tiger gourd shard top.  I am not a painter, so I went to clip art and found an easy design to trace.  Then it was just a matter of getting the painting right.  I looked at a clip art photo and basically just followed the colors in that to try to get it right.  For me, I did not worry about how professional it should look.  I just wanted to dress up my desk by featuring our mascot.

As I became more confident in my abilities to design, I created this turtle.  I had seen one similar to this at the festival so many years before and had a little snippet of a picture that I took while enjoying the Welborn art festival.  I thought, "I can do that".  So with a little piecing, this turtle was born.   There were several gourds used to create him. Tennessee spinner gourds became the head and front feet, and tail.  The back feet were designed with some scrap shards I had in my "keep it for a rainy day" bowl. -Yes I collect seeds and pieces of scrap gourd just like I would fabric scraps for quilts.
Dressing up the turtle was fun.  A bit of paint, some faux suede fabric scraps, a basket weave circle of color around the top shell, and a few feathers for the head, and he was complete.  I love him! (and so does my daughter, who has claimed him for her own once she returns from her mission trip to Haiti.) In the meantime, he sits atop my piano waiting for his permanent home.

I moved on to wood burning and lamp making.  My first lamp had a little bit of wood burned  embellishment and I think it turned out quite cute.

               The next lamp, although similar in technique, had a much different design.

One of the things I really liked about this lamp was the design that the light created in the room when it was turned on.  Once again, one of my daughters snatched it up and took it to college with her.  I felt really good when her roommate fell in love with it.  I had never much thought about making lamps for the public, but just knowing that someone beyond the family truly liked it was very satisfying.  It made me feel confident to give away my creations as gifts for my loved ones.  I guess I'm not really into selling for profit.  It feels much better to let someone have one of my pieces than to make it a business where deadlines and pressure come into play.  That is not to say that I wouldn't make and sell one if someone really wanted it.


Finding gifts for the grandkids is always forefront in my mind.  Lately, with all the work on the blog, I have dabbled in the gourds in smaller projects.  The rattles and pins below are quick and easy.  If you have never worked with gourds before, I would suggest starting with a project like this.

Again, I wish the picture was clearer, but I'll post another when I make my next one.  This is a simple project.  It is just two spinner gourds put together and lashed with pine needles.  The seeds are still in the gourds and create a really nice little rattle.  I have made a few of these as keepsakes for the babies in our family.  I do have to caution, this is the perfect size for little hands, but I would never recommend giving it to a baby to use.  A gourd is a bitter, fruit that could be harmful if swallowed.  Also, it wouldn't take much for a baby to pull the glued pieces apart and get the seeds into his/her mouth.  Instead, this is meant to go in a little case and shelved as a memory.

My latest projects have been in designing embellishments for hats, and hair, and even as buttons and pins.  

This visual tutorial shows you the process I use to make a little pin that can stand alone, or attach to headbands, hats, and shoes.  If you are interested, just email me and I will send you a pin kit (with detailed instuctions) that contains everything you will need to create a pin.  It is only $5 and that is only because I have to charge for the shipping materials and pin backs that go into it.  If you do want one, just email me.  I'll send you payment details using Paypal.  email to: sfbusiness@goodmeasure.net and put "pin" in the subject line. If there is any profit in this after shipping it out, I will donate all extra money to the local pet rescues in our area.

Are you looking for a place to display some of your items.  Whether for sale, or just a link to your site, you may want to be featured in our craft show.  Check it out. Join the craft show!

Be My Valentine

Today, rather than put together a tutorial, I have collected several ideas for a Heart-felt Valentine's Day.  Most of these ideas are not my own.  When I surf, I collect the ideas I love.  Sooner or later I will get to making many of these and put my own twist on them.  I think most of these crafts explain themselves and I would just like to share.  I wish now I had copied the links to give proper credit, but instead I will simply say thank you to those who came up with each project.  

Make caramel apples, then sprinkle them in candy hearts.






                                                                                                                          
                                       

I am going to make a similar 
pendant from my gourds and
set it in nail heads that I 
normally use in leatherwork.

                         
       







                   I love the shape of this 
             wooden heart.  It  is
             perfect for
             crafting from gourds.

 From the little vintage fabrics to the beautiful combinations of colors, a log cabin warms the heart.

Bright and beautiful, aged and collectable.  These mini quilts are perfect for gift giving.




                     Isn't this pillow adorable?
              If you are a quilter, 
              you probably have the 
              pattern in your applique                                                blocks.



 

How simple an idea.  Take a few paint color strips, punch in a few hearts, and a bookmark is born.  Brew up some tea with your own heart-shaped tea bag.  Then cuddle up with a good book.

How cute is this?  What child wouldn't like a heart shaped hot dog?

 So when you plan on creating a special day, for that special someone, hand made is love to me.  While I have the time, I'll be creating a few of these wonderful cards to send off to all of those special someones in my life. 

                                              Have a great Valentine's Day!

Bits & Pieces

Scrapbooking, memories, crafting your world; we fashion our lives in the things we create.  Every little paper scrap, every piece of fabric, every photo; has a page in your heart.  Designing a scrapbook page puts your heart onto paper.

When you can't think of what to say, when your ideas have run thin and you need a little help putting together your pages, "Scrapbook Titles and Quotes" provides you with a resource to help you design.

Click Here!