tutorials

12 Days Handmade Christmas Tutorials|Day 11 Rosette Wreath

November 11, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 15 Comments

If you’re new to the ’12 Days’, you may visit the previous days by clicking on the day you like:

Day 1 Crayon Roll

Day 2 Zippered Pouches

Day 3 Appliqued Placemats

Day 4 Quilted Potholders

Day 5 Camera Strap

Day 6 Embellished Dish Towels

Day 7 Bean Bags

Day 8 Alphabet Crayons

Day 9 Silhouettes

Day 10 Cinnamon Honey Butter and Toffee Popcorn

How can it already be day 11? Aren’t you sad that it’s almost over? Me too. But I’m so excited about today’s guest poster. Laura blogs at Along for the Ride and has so many fun projects that I know you’ll want to try. And when I saw her rosette wreath, I knew you’d love it as much as I do. I can’t wait to try one. Make sure to visit her blog for lots of inspiration. Thanks Laura for being with us today!

Hello! I’m Laura from along for the ride. I’m so excited to be sharing this tutorial with you! Earlier in the fall I made my all-time favorite wreath. It’s a super easy tutorial and is easily adapted for any season.

First, gather your supplies.

You will need a wreath form (dollar store!), two colors of fall fabric, glue gun, glue sticks, scissors, and acorns (or any kind of natural elements…pine cones would be pretty, too).

Choose one color to wrap around the wreath form, cut out strips of fabric (mine were about 3 inches wide) and go to town. Use hot glue to attach the fabric strips.

Set your wreath base aside and start making rosettes. There’s lots of ways to do this, so feel free to customize. This is what I did.

I wanted most of my rosettes to be orange with a few baby yellow ones. I cut out long, thick strips (about 2-3 inches) of orange fabric and a couple little strips of yellow fabric.

To make rosettes, tie a knot at the end of the strip, start wrapping and twisting the fabric around the knot, and glue as you go along. It’s very simple once you get the hang out it.

So make a rosette. And then make lots more.

I made large orange rosettes, small orange rosettes, and baby yellow rosettes. The size depends more on the thickness of your fabric than on the length.

Now that you have your acorns and rosettes, it’s time to assemble your wreath. There is no real science here. I just arranged things so it looked pretty. I’m a fan of off-set flowers, but you could fill the entire wreath with rosettes if you wanted, or you could just use a few. I used hot glue to secure all my elements.

I used stamps and a simple key tag to add a little something special.

Already thinking about Christmas, I made a jolly wreath perfect for the holidays!

I followed the same process as above, but this time I used red and green broad cloth and jingle bells.

Happy Holidays!

12 Days Handmade Christmas Tutorials|Day 10 Cinnamon Honey Butter and Toffee Popcorn

November 10, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 64 Comments

If you’re new to the ’12 Days’, you may visit the previous days by clicking on the day you like:

Day 1 Crayon Roll

Day 2 Zippered Pouches

Day 3 Appliqued Placemats

Day 4 Quilted Potholders

Day 5 Camera Strap

Day 6 Embellished Dish Towels

Day 7 Bean Bags

Day 8 Alphabet Crayons

Day 9 Silhouettes

Day 10 is your lucky day ’cause it’s a twofer! We had to have a day of food goodies and I’m so tickled to have two great bloggers with us today. I ‘met’ Cheryl from Tidy Mom sometime last year and her many projects and recipes! Her blog is chock full of stuff you’ll want to try so add her to your bookmarks. She even posted about nutella crepes the other day. Be still my heart! If you love a good linky party, she hosts a party every Friday called “I’m Loving It” where lots of talented ladies share the best projects. And then there’s Jodi from Back40Life. Jodi has a blog and a vinyl decal business. I love so many of her decals and I know you will too. I want this one and this one and this one

Welcome to Cheryl and Jodi and thanks so much for being here today!

Hi everyone!!! My name is Cheryl and when I am not in the kitchen baking or running around with my camera you can find me over in my little corner of the universe at TidyMom.net where I share my favorite recipes, household tips tips, some photography and a bunch of other creative “stuff!”

I was just thrilled when Edie asked me to participate in the 12 Days of {handmade} Christmas. I knew JUST what I wanted to share.

This is a GREAT project for those of you who say “I can’t make handmade gifts” or “I can’t bake“. It’s a food gift that requires NO baking! and a hand made gift that is SO simple……no skills are required.

Warning……..you may want to double or triple the recipe because everyone is going to want some!

Cinnamon Honey Butter {Gift Jars}

Jar Supplies:

Cinnamon Honey Butter (recipe below)

3 1/2 pint canning jars

fabric

jute twine

tinsel “pipe cleaners”

“holly” ribbon

card stock paper

1″ paper punch (optional)

tiny whole punch (mine is 1/16″)

scissors

cut 3 pieces of fabric in 5″ circles

remove rim and place fabric on the inner lid piece of filled mason jar then screw outer lid back on over fabric

Using card stock and Microsoft Word, print tags

I used the font “Cheryl Hand” , size 15, center alignment and I layed it all out using the template in Word for 1.6″ circle labels. Then printed on my card stock.

Cut out with 1″ punch (or you could cut out by hand)

use tiny whole punch on tag to thread twine thru

wrap twine around lid and tie

wrap tinsel pipe cleaner around lid and twist ends together

add a small piece of “holly” ribbon to twine

thread tag on to twine and tie

Cinnamon Honey Butter Recipe

yields 3 half pint jars

Ingredients:

1 cup Honey

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

3 half pint canning jars

Combine all ingredients in bowl. Using whisk attachment on mixer blend until smooth and creamy, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

Use rubber spatula to pour mixture in to a large pastry bag (or Ziploc bag), cut off tip and squeeze into half pint jars. (tip: place bag in tall glass for support, or have someone hold the bag while you pour)

These would make fabulous gifts just the way they are, but add some home made pound cake or purchase a yummy bisquit mix or even a bag of bagels, put them in a cute basket with a Christmas or vintage towel and you have a fantastic gift from the heart that took less then an hour to make from start to finish!

Thanks again for inviting me Edie!!

I’d love to hear from any of you if you make the Cinnamon Honey Butter!

TidyMom.net

Toffee Popcorn

(pics to be restored soon, thanks for your patience!)

Hi – I’m Jodi of Back40Life & I’m super excited to be part of Edie’s 12 Days! My husband Brad & I started our first business together 7.5 years ago, and times were really tight…every extra penny went back into the business and to staying out of debt. When Christmas rolled around, we still wanted to have gifts to give but knew that we needed to go the handmade route as much as possible…and thus was born our toffee popcorn recipe. It was a big hit and even now, years later, we still get requests for it. I’m thrilled to share it with you today.

Ingredients:

2 sticks of butter

1/3 cup water

1 cup sugar

popcorn

First pop your popcorn – for years we used 2 bags of microwave popcorn per batch…more recently we’ve gone to air pop {our popper holds 1/4 cup kernels}. Separate your popcorn into two bowls to make it easier to mix later – take a little time to sift through your popcorn and remove any unpopped kernels – trust me, your teeth will thank you.

Melt the butter over medium heat & add water. When the mixture begins to come to a boil, add the sugar & stir; it will be a beautiful light yellow color. As the mixture cooks, it will start to bubble and become frothy – stir to keep it from burning.

As the toffee cooks it will thicken and begin to deepen in color. In the 15-20 minute range, the toffee will start to thin back down and reach the color of peanut butter. Now it’s time to pour the toffee over your popcorn.

Use a wooden spoon to mix well – be careful not to touch the toffee – it is still scalding hot – I’ve learned that one the hard way! Once you’ve achieved an even distribution, spread the popcorn over wax paper or aluminum foil so that it can cool. Try to keep from burning your fingers as you sample {or is that just me?}

After the popcorn cools, break apart and enjoy. Better yet, have some cute gift bags on hand to keep the entire batch from disappearing! Thanks Edie for having me! Come visit us on the Back40!

12 Days Handmade Christmas Tutorials|Day 9 Silhouettes

November 9, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 23 Comments

If you’re new to the ’12 Days’, you may visit the previous days by clicking on the day you like:

Day 1 Crayon Roll

Day 2 Zippered Pouches

Day 3 Appliqued Placemats

Day 4 Quilted Potholders

Day 5 Camera Strap

Day 6 Embellished Dish Towels

Day 7 Bean Bags

Day 8 Alphabet Crayons

I love silhouettes and I’ve tried at least two different methods for making them. I think you’re gonna love Angel’s easy to follow tutorial —-I plan on making some very soon myself. Make sure you visit Angel’s blog and her etsy shop for some wonderful handmade goodies! It’s been a privilege to meet Angel and I’m thankful she’s agreed to teach us today!

Hi there, I’m Angel of TaDa! Creations. I am thrilled to be able to share with you two of my favorite tutorials right here on Edie’s beautiful blog.
Thank you Edie!

I live in gorgeous Minnesota where I married my crush from 7th grade. I feel so blessed to get to do life with him. Together we have 5 year old twin girls and a two year old baby boy. Though my passion is sewing custom boutique clothing for little girls with lots of hand embroidery, I also love to decorate my home. And now that my kids are getting older I can finally start putting decorative things back within their reach. So exciting, I know!

Now, about those tutorials…let’s get started!

I’ve always loved the classic look of silhouettes. Especially when they are of children, and even better yet, a baby. I knew I wanted these over our bed with the new black and yellow color scheme of our bedroom. So I finally got busy yesterday and cut them out.

I found oval 10″x12″ frames at JoAnn a while back. You can usually find them on sale for 50% off or buy one get one free. Or at the very least use a 40% off coupon (they accept competitors coupons too). I bought a new Exacto knife and 7 sheets of black scrapbook paper. I figured I’d make some mistakes and be thankful for the extra paper. I actually could have gotten away with just 2 sheets. For both the black and the white I bought paper with a mock linen texture to it.

I took pictures of the kiddos earlier, trying to get them all about the same distance away in the photo. Then I copied them into Word and printed them onto regular paper to use for my templates. I later had to print Emily’s a tad bigger to be in scale of Allison and Sam.

I determined that I wanted the final faces to all be looking to the left to I traced the back of the pint outs. I knew that later they would be traced to the back of the black paper so any ridges from cutting would end up on the backside. Drawing the outline on the backside also helped to be better able to see just the lines I wanted to cut on. Tape it to a window so you can see through from the front.

My initial first drawing. Lots to clean up and more details to add including eyelashes. You don’t really see eyelashes protruding from a sideview, but they add a lot to a silhouette.

Here is where I noticed that the scale of Emily’s face was a little smaller than Allison’s, so I went back to my Word doc and dragged it a little bigger until it seemed right.

Now to tweak the details. Allison originally had side buns, but I made it look more like one bun in the back and added the little flyaways under it. I also gave a better shape to their bows and to Emily’s ponytail. Sam got a bit more definition to his hair so he didn’t look so bald. And they all got retro looking collars, perhaps my favorite part of all.

Then I was ready to start tracing the lines with my knife (on top of my cutting mat of course). I didn’t tape anything down, I just held the template very tightly with my left hand. I did all of them while kneeling on the floor, which wasn’t fun, but it gave me good leverage.

On the right is the photo I cut out and the left is where the silhouette came out of. It was tough to get it to cut through the whole way around even though I pressed so hard my fingers ached (especially after cutting out all three). Just go back over those spots and when it’s all detached you’ll have a few rough spots to spruce up.

Next I double checked to make sure I liked the overall scale.

Here is all three cut out. It looks like I need to makes Sam’s nose a little more round, it’s pretty pointy here. And Emily’s upper lip got cut a little smaller than it should have. I need to redo hers for sure, but my fingers still ache so that will wait until tomorrow. I would suggest starting with the face so that if you make a mistake you haven’t wasted all your time and energy with the rest of the details. I learned that the hard way.

Close up of her mis-cut lip. Sorry Sweetie!

Next I used the glass from the frames to cut the white background paper out. I just swiped the Exacto knife all the way around the glass. That worked pretty slick. Of course you’ll have to wash the glass and get all the upc label residue off. Why do they always put stickers where they don’t belong?

I used archival double sided tape on the backs to secure them.

Then I laid them all in the frames to see what they would look like. I measured to make sure they were centered correctly. I thought I could eyeball them, but I did have to move one down and another over slightly, so I’m glad I measured.

Perfect, now they are ready for hanging!

I am so in love with these on my yellow walls.

You could really have fun with these and use a patterned paper for the background.
Or how fun to cut the images from a different color?

But I really love the classic look for this spot. They are just what this wall needed.

Do you think I hung them too high? I didn’t have the luxury of someone else to hold them up so I could see them from far away.

See the rest of our room re-do here
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

12 Days Handmade Christmas Tutorials Day 8|Alphabet Crayons

November 8, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 50 Comments

DIY Alphabet Crayons

If you’re new to the ’12 Days’, you may visit the previous days by clicking on the day you like:

Day 1 Crayon Roll

Day 2 Zippered Pouches

Day 3 Appliqued Placemats

Day 4 Quilted Potholders

Day 5 Camera Strap

Day 6 Embellished Dish Towels

Day 7 Bean Bags

Today’s guest poster needs no introduction to my readers. It’s a well known fact that I love Meg. She never ceases to inspire me. I love her bold use of color everywhere and her very funny sense of humor and her love for the creative life. I consider it a privilege to look at the world through her lens and am giddy to have her here with us today. You’re gonna want to bookmark her blog and her etsy shop, which will be open January-April. Welcome Meg!

i am so happy that Edie asked me to be a part of her 12 Days!

my name is meg duerksen.
(it’s pronounced dirk-sin…in case you’ve always wondered)

i blog over at whatever.
i do not use capital letters because it’s easier not to.
i am a mom to five goofy kids.
i am a photographer.
i love to do crafts with my kids.
i love to sew.
i love mr. duerksen.
i love movies.

but that’s enough about silly me and all the things i love….lets get crafty.

i am going to show you how i recycle old crayons into really cute alphabet crayons.

normally i would use a big box of old crayons….you know the kind…half used…kind of a mess.
the kind that kids don’t want to use anymore.
but today i used new crayons because i have used up all my old crayons.

i cut the paper off with an exacto knife. just a quick cut down the side is enough and the paper comes right off.

it’s helpful for me to sort them by color.

and happy too.

i use these silicone alphabet silicone ice trays from spoon sisters.

place them on an old cookie sheet because you may spill and you’d hate to ruin a good pan.

fill each letter with broken bits of crayons.

it is ok if some stick out a little but you don’t want to over fill
too much because the wax will melt over into the other letters.

i placed them into my oven at 250 degrees for 20 minutes.
when they are fully melted into liquid they are finished.
take them out of the oven leaving the trays on the cookie sheet and let them cool for several hours.

once they are completely solid you can gently push them out of the molds.
the S and the U of my set broke when taking them out.
next time i will just try to be more careful.

i put them all together in a clear treat bag and tie it with a ribbon.
it makes a really cute a colorful gift!

thanks Edie!
i love your 12 Days of Handmade.

12 Days of Handmade Christmas|Day 7 Bean Bags

November 7, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 18 Comments

If you’re new to the ’12 Days’, you may visit the previous days by clicking on the day you like:

Day 1 Crayon Roll

Day 2 Zippered Pouches

Day 3 Appliqued Placemats

Day 4 Quilted Potholders

Day 5 Camera Strap

Day 6 Embellished Dish Towels

Blessed Sunday to you friends! I have two treats for you today. First, let me introduce you to my dear friend, whom we affectionately call Kimmie (you can call her Kim, I guess) and whom was our dear nannie when the girls were little and I worked part time. We still miss her terribly and were thrilled to find out that she had opened an etsy shop, called Sweet Baby’s Dressed. I think you’ll love her stuff and it’d be a great way to get a good start on your Christmas shopping while supporting moms who are sharing their talents. Look at the little baby giraffes 🙂 I want those Ms. Kimmie—-and a little baby to dress in them!

And then we have Mary Jo with us to guest post. She is a new friend to me who will share her secrets for making adorable bean bags. Check out the link to her blog for more crafting fun and then tell me if all this baby stuff doesn’t make you wanna have about 10 more. Welcome Mary Jo!

My name is MJ and I like to blog over at 517 Creations, but I’m excited to be “guest posting” over here at Edie’s today! I’m a stay-at-home momma to a toddler and the wife of a youth pastor who ministers to teenagers on a daily basis. Our days are sometimes crazy, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. I love to start and finish a product during naptime…it’s the little things in life!

We’ve been renovating a house to make it our home and are mostly done…which leaves me more time for sewing! Which brings me to the tutorial. I’m going to show you how to make a set of Toss and Learn: Colors bean bags!

On to the tutorial…

I love these “Toss and Learn: Colors” bean bags that I created a few months ago. They are the perfect present for any toddler in your life. Bean bags help with gross motor skills and sensory integration, and these help with color recognition…says the former teacher in me. 🙂 We all love bean bags, right?

Of course, we are talking about bean bags here, so they’re pretty simple to make.

Here’s what you’ll need:

8 different fabrics (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, black).

You could add more or less depending on how many colors you want.

Coordinating or contrasting thread

Printable fabric – this adds an extra little bit, but I think it makes these bean bags what they are! This can be found at most fabric stores. I bought mine at Hobby Lobby with the 40% coupon!

Beans – this takes more beans that you’d think! (A funnel makes this job much easier!). I used pinto beans as they are sold in large bags at Wal-mart.

Step One:
Following the directions on your printable fabric, print the names of the colors on a single page. If you’re interested in a .pdf of this, e-mail me! The printable fabric that I used had to dry for a few minutes, so I recommend doing this step first. Cut your color names apart – be sure to size them so they’ll fit on your bean bags.

Step Two

Cut your fabric into 6-inch squares. If you have a cutting mat and rotary cutter, this step goes by quickly!

Step Three:
Lay out 1 side of each “bag”. Pin the color name to one side of each “bag”. Sew your color names on! You could use a fusible webbing to help secure it. The printable fabric that I bought already had the fusible webbing on the back, so it made it a little easier. Be sure to back-stitch to secure it!

Step Four

After each color name has been sewed on, match up both sides of your bags and pin them together. Be sure that the RIGHT SIDES of the fabric are together, and sew with a ¼ seam allowance. Be sure to leave a 2-3 inch opening along one side of each bean bag – this is where we’ll put our beans in.

Step Five:
Clip the corners, turn the bean bags right-side out (be sure to poke the corners out), and iron flat.

Step Six:
Fill the bags using whatever type of beans you have on hand. One cup seems to be a good amount to fill this size bag.

It helps if you have a trusty assistant!

Step Seven:
After you have filled the bags, pin the opening shut. Then either hand-sew or machine-stitch the opening closed. I like to machine-stitch it, and then top-stitch around the entire bag for added strength…we do have a 2-year old boy in the house! If you top-stitch around your bags, you’ll have to move the beans out of your way as you sew. This takes a little practice to move them to one side or the other, but you’ll get the hang of it!

Step Eight:
You’re done! Enjoy your Toss and Learn: Colors bean bags!

Step Nine:

Make your cute little toddler’s day by “letting” him practice his colors while playing with the bean bags!

You can take this concept of “Toss and Learn” and use it to teach all kinds of skills…letters, shapes, numbers, etc. Start a little bean bag-making factory in your sewing room this weekend!

Thanks for reading this tutorial! Many thanks to Edie for letting me be a part of this awesome series!

12 Days of Handmade Christmas|Day 6 Embellished Dishtowels

November 6, 2010 by Edie Wadsworth 23 Comments

If you’re new to the ’12 Days’, you may visit the previous days by clicking on the day you like:

Day 1 Crayon Roll

Day 2 Zippered Pouches

Day 3 Appliqued Placemats

Day 4 Quilted Potholders

Day 5 Camera Strap

Isn’t this waaaayyy too much fun? I made my first project last night, the zippered pouch, in about 40 minutes. I goofed up a little because I glanced over the directions before I started and then didn’t look again until the ‘uh-oh’ moment. It turned out great anyways and I’ve got another one ready to sew up. I’ll follow all the directions this time, I promise. Have you tried any projects yet? Well, you should. Come on, it’s the weekend and it’s gonna be cold here in East TN. Perfect for hunkering down with your sewing machine which I fully intend to do! Now, without further adieu, I give you the ever talented Elise from Nest Sweet Nest. Her blog is chock full of crafty adventures so make sure and visit her this weekend!

Hey y’all, I’m Elise from Nest Sweet Nest, where I blog about crafting, decorating, thrifting, dreaming of old farmhouses, baking, and my four sweet kids…Jackson, Lilly, Fisher, and Violet. Stop by for a visit sometime!! When I read Edie’s post about The Twelve Days of Handmade Christmas, I knew I wanted to join in. I am so excited to be a part of it this year!! For my part, I am showing y’all how to make some cute tea towels. These make wonderful hostess gifts, teacher gifts, girlfriend gifts…Tie up with a loaf of homemade pumpkin bread and a Starbucks giftcard and you have a perfectly cute, perfectly welcome gift!!
First, gather all the supplies:
*towel
*cute fabric-three different prints
*pompoms
*thread-the color of the towel, pompoms, and fabric{I actually used white here, but you can match the thread with the fabric}
*m&m’s-optional, I suppose 😉

I personally think holiday colored m&m’s are more fun to eat!!
Let’s get started…

You’ll want to cut{or tear} your fabric into strips, roughly 2 inches wide by one and a half to double the width of your towel.

Turn the dial to the longest stitch length. Sew down the middle of each strip.

To gather, you just need to grab one piece of thread and gently slide your fabric down, being careful not to rip the thread.

You will want to make sure your ruffles are the width of the towel and evenly gathered. Play around until you get the placement you like.

Pin the ruffles to the towel.

Next, you will sew the ruffle to the towel, going over the gathering stitch and taking out pins before it goes under the foot. DO NOT LEAVE THE PIN IN!! Ask me how I know…it involves a broken needle and a call to 911. Thankfully, no lasting damage was caused!! I now have safety glasses curtesy of my husband’s co-worker. 😉 Do make sure to turn your stitch length dial back down.

Cut pompoms to size and sew them to the back of the towel. You will want to change your thread to match the pompoms and the bobbin to match the towel.

Voila!! You have a cute, ruffled dishtowel that anyone would love!!

***

I also have another towel to share with y’all. I really love the way this one turned out!!

This one I made from a flour sack towel. You will also need three fabrics, pompoms and wonder under for this towel. You can get a four pack of these flour sack towels at Target.

I used a salad plate and a bread and butter plate for the circles. Lay the plate atop your fabric and cut a square just a smidge larger than the plate. Do that for both circles and your image. Once you get that square, you will iron it to the wonder under, being careful not to iron the wonder under itself, or else it will make your iron sticky.

Then you will use a fabric marker or pencil{I think the water soluble markers work best} to trace the plate onto the fabric. Cut out the shape. Do this for all three fabrics. I opted to use a rooster shape{click here for image, copy and save} for the applique, but you could do any animal or even a monogram. I made a Valentine towel, with a heart, for a friend, you can see it here. For the rooster, I just saved the image and opened a word document and enlarged it. I printed it and cut it out. Then I traced it on the fabric and cut it out.

I opened the towel and ironed the creases out. They are folded about four times and once you get your towel all prettied up, it will only be folded into thirds. Determine the middle third and place the biggest circle in it. Iron it on, then sew inside the edge. I used a contrasting thread and around it twice for more whimsy. I then ironed the second circle onto the first one and sewed around it, then did the same with the rooster. Once that was finished, I sewed the pompoms on like the first towel. If you don’t sew, don’t fret, you can totally make this towel. You will just get another wonder under type-they make some that are no sew and use Allene’s craft glue to adhere the pompoms.

Another fun, cute towel for some lucky person on your Christmas list!! You could customize this towel all kinds of ways, using a tree for Christmas, bunny image for Easter, star for the Fourth of July, the options are endless!!

Happy Sewing and Merry Christmas!! Thank you, Edie, for letting me have fun here today!!