Ribbon Bookmarks

This a great quick, easy project! It would make a great little Christmas gift or hostess gift (for a hostess who likes to  read, at least.) if you bought a journal and made a ribbon bookmark to match. I spotted this on Pinterest in the  DIY/crafts section (and quickly repinned it J).  I won’t go into too much detail with the how-to because Percolating Projects has a reallynice tutorial, so click on the link for the step by step! 

All you need are buttons, ribbons, and hair elastics (which I usually just call "hair things" but let us be fancy for the blog).  The only thing I did differently was use my hot glue gun for everything except sewing on the button, which I did by hand.  I just didn’t feel like getting out my machine for a few bookmarks (Crafter’s Lethargy takes another victim!) I made one for my journal, my Bible, and my slightly smaller Bible.

So Easy

So Cute

Of course, now that I have my beloved Kindle I don’t have as much need for bookmarks…but I’m not completely electronic yet, and probably never will be.

Happy Crafting!

Starry Night: Or, How to Re-imagine a famous Van Gogh using flannel and polka dots.

Starry Night: Or, How to Re-imagine a famous Van Gogh using flannel and polka dots.

Or, more accurately:

A Flannel Reverse-Appliqué Baby Blanket.

Little House, anyone?  Call me half-pint.

 (more pictures as you go, I promise)

I am about to become an Aunt (That’s pronounced “Ant” by, the way.  I have little interest in being an “awuhnt”, and a lot of interest in being able to lift 10 to 50 times my body weight)  So, for Christmas this year I decided to make my brother, sister-in-law, and future niece this cuddly-soft blanket.

Last year my friend Mary introduced me to the world of reverse appliqué via a book she had called The Alabama Stitch Book.  We made super cute reverse appliqué over-the-arm pincushions out of old T-shirts.  I liked the concept of reverse appliqué so much I decided to employ this technique on a blanket.  

So, I got 2 yards of red flannel and one yard of red cotton with white polka dots.  I took one yard of the red flannel and laid the red polka dots beneath it (right side to wrong side) and quickly stitched them together around the sides with my machine to make it easier to work with.  Then, I drew stars on with chalk, using a stencil I made, and free-handed a sweet moon sliver in the corner. 

Now comes the epically time consuming part.

Using extra-thick white thread doubled over on it self (to make it thicker and stronger) I stitched around all my chalk lines by hand.  I used an embroidery hoop to keep the fabric taut while I worked.  It did take quite a while.  I tried to do one or two stars everyday so as to not get burnt out, but if I happened to be watching a movie or something I would do quite a few (which is how I stabbed myself in the leg with an embroidery needle whilst watching a French movie with subtitles).  After I stitched all around a shape, I would tie off the thread and clip it.  

Now comes the joyful, liberating, and fun part.

Grasping my sewing scissors (more accurately, my mom’s which I have been borrowing for lo these many years, time to get my own because she took them back over Christmas for her own use! Can you believe it?) I carefully cut out the inside of the stars, not too close to the thread so as to not unravel the whole project.  That part is the most fun, because it’s much quicker, and so rewarding to see the polka dots peeking out.

I'm a star, I'm on top, somebody bring me some haaaammmm! (liz lemon, of course)

After I finished all the stars and moon, I took the other yard of red flannel and sewed it to the other to layers around the edged, right side to right side like you would a pillow, leaving a little hole to pull it through and make it no longer inside-out.  Then I stitched up the little pull through hole and used more of my extra-thick white thread to stitch a decorative little border around the edges.  

I hate it when carpet gets in my pictures. Oh well.

See, this way the front side is pretty and could possibly be interpreted as a flannel interpretation of “Starry Night” (which it really wasn’t intended to be, that is totally just a joke, for the record.  I don’t aspire to replicate Van Gogh in flannel quite yet), while the back side is just flannel and feels oh-so-soft to little baby’s rosy cheek.

Now comes the joy of giving part!

I gave this blankie to my brother and sister-in-law, and they seemed quite pleased.  Hopefully years from now, my little niece will be all cuddly and warm in bed with it one night and think “Wow, my Aunt Courtney loves me bunches” and not “Good grief, this is very folksy.  We young people these days are into hologram blankets, you know.  Where’s my hover dog?  Of course, even if she does think that and has a hover dog, I’ll probably have moved on to actually making hologram blankets by then, because goodness knows I’m very hip and with it. 

Ant not Awuhnt

John-Jon Notebooks

I made some notebooks for my wonderful cousins recently.  I’ve made a few notebooks like this before, but only for myself. Ah! Notebook selfishness!  I learned this super cool notebook-decorating technique at a Women’s Retreat “craft time” a few years ago.  Craft Time!!!!!! Love it.

Steps:

1. Get notebook.
2. Decorate with paper-based materials of your choice. (In the past, I’ve done magazine cut outs.  This time, I got some cool scrapbooking paper and printed stuff on it for a more cohesive look, I suppose.  Then I painted a bird on it. I did the fronts and the backs, but only the the fronts are pictured)
3. Cover front and back with clear packing tape for awesome durability and optimal shininess.

Both cousins got a “John/Jon” themed notebook. 

For Erin I went with a John Wesley theme (it’s covered with his quotes (well, quotes attributed to him at least), hymns, and his sermons) Weird?  Not really, because John Wesley was awesome.  Also, she’s in divinity school. She is also an awesome knitter, and you can check out her sweet Christmas projects over on her blog.  Erin, like John Wesley, is very wise, has spent a considerable amount of time in Georgia, and enjoys travelling.  

For L.L I did a Jon Foreman theme.  Switchfoot happens to be her favorite band and she’s even met the guy, so I covered hers with Switchfoot and Jon Foreman lyrics.  Yes, of course Company Car made it on.  That’s a great song.  L.L, like Jon Foreman, is an excellent singer, often sports shoulder length hair, and can pull off the wearing of hip hats. 

Where Flowers Bloom So Does Hope

Yes, I borrowed the title of this post from Lady Bird Johnson and her highway beautification project.

“The Earth laughs in flowers” – Ralph Waldo Emerson (also, E.E. Cummings said this but Ralph was born first so I’m going to attribute it to him for the time being)  Wordsworth called them “the poet’s darling.”  Of course, you don’t have to be a poet to appreciate flowers.

I’ve been thinking about doing this project for a while now.  You see, I love the way a nice vase of fresh flowers look in a room, but it’s hard to consistently keep fresh flowers and fake silk flowers often look…..fake.  Well, I have found the fabled fountain of youth (That’s right, Juan Ponce de Leon!!!).  For flowers, that is.   It’s really fun to make flowers out of fabric, ribbon, and lace. This way, you get the look of flowers, but they are clearly NOT flowers so you avoid the phony flower look and achieve a more “ah, yes, this is my folksy, artsy, flower-inspired decoration” look.

Flowers that bloom all year long!

  For the lace ones, you just do a sort of basting stitch along the bottom, then pull it and gather, shaping the lace into a circle.  I used pearl beads and buttons for the centers.  For the ribbon flowers, I just folded the ribbon into pretty shapes and used hot glue to keep it that way.  Then, I painted some thin wooden dowels “antique white”  and cut them into different lengths.  I used hot glue to fix the stems to the flowers.  I picked up a glass vase in which to place the bouquet and used river rocks to fill it.  I made this for my friend Jessica, who very kindly gave me permission to post about it on here.  The lovely pictures were taken by my friend Sammy, who is a really excellent photographer.    

You know that stray thread in this picture is killing me. 

A Memo Board Not Intended for Alfred Hitchcock

A Memo Board Not Intended for Alfred Hitchcock

Here, as promised, is a little crafty tidbit I saved up to show you while I’m busy working away like one of those little mice in Cinderella on Christmas presents (Those mice make some NICE clothes. Can you imagine if Cinderella went to the Oscars or something? “Oh, Cindy, who are you wearing?”  “It’s an original Gus-Gus”)  This project would be easy to recreate in a variety of colors and patterns- it would be fun in a variety of sizes too!

This is actually my favorite fabric ever so far.  I love that bird.

Steps:

1)      Obtain frame of reasonable size. This one was for an 8 X 10 picture, I think. Maybe bigger.

2)      Paint frame desired color.

3)      Cut a piece of thin wood the size to fit inside the frame (or use the piece that comes with it)

4)      Cover that piece with batting.

5)      Cover the batting with the fabric of your choice. (I used hot glue to secure it)

6)      Use ribbon to create a nice holding place for cards, pictures, and the like (again, hot glue)

7)      Pop covered board back into frame.

8)      Voila! You’ve made a memo board!

I made this one for my Mom’s birthday last year.  I just love the cheery little birds on the fabric.  These are NICE birds, not mean ones like in Hitchcock’s The Birds.  This sweet little long-legged guy wouldn’t dream of pecking your eyes out, Tippi Hedren.  He just wants to hold your memos, and cheer you up on rainy days.