Fall Time...CANDY CORN

I love salt dough. So simple, so easy, so cheap.

Salt Dough

1 cup of fine salt

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup of water (may add more)

Mix it all together. 

I just hand mold some candy corn shapes and some mini pumpkin shapes.
Any shapes will work.

I bake mine for 3-4 hours at around 250 degrees.

Once dry, I paint with craft paint.

And apply a layer of sealant to help give it a more shiny appearance.

I sewed some simple candy corn shapes.

You could even hot glue instead of sewing. I see a lot of people use hot glue!

Stuff and paint. Yes, paint! Right over top the material. So ANY material will work for this.

Grubby them up a bit with cinnamon.

It would even be cuter to attach a candy corn tag with a rusty pin.

But I got lazy. Maybe I will add that one of these days.

Plastic Easter Eggs Into Decoration

Every year after Easter, I cringe when I see tons of plastic Easter eggs go into the trash. Every year I think, WHAT CAN I MAKE WITH THOSE! And I always come up with nothing. So as my husband calls me a hoarder, I let them go into the trash can. And think "Next year, I will have an idea!" 

Well, Easter has long come and gone. At my sister's house last month, she had a box of throw away stuff, (Or as I LOVE to call it, GIVE AWAY'S) As I was going through the box, I saw tons of Easter eggs inside plastic buckets. I took them ALL, much to the horror of my husband. But this time, I had it...I was going to make those eggs into primitive eggs as decoration around the kitchen. 

Wasn't sure if it would work. I have made fake eggs before, but I used fake eggs from Styrofoam.
(I have a weird obsession with fake food. LOL)
But I gave it my best shot. And I think they turned out OK.
Not bad for a recycle project.
Not sure if my sisters will like them as much as I do, but I hope so...cause I see a Christmas present in these! LOL

I spray painted all of the eggs.

The color was off...But they needed the base coat anyways.

Found a color I liked for the eggs.
And painted them using a blush brush.
(It works great for quick applications and good coverage)

I then used a small paintbrush. Dipped it into dark brown paint.
And then ran my finger over it to give a speckled effect.
I am happy with how they turned out. 

 

I used this tag. Printed it on fabric and attached to my basket. 

Primitive Photo Holder

Found this idea on Pinterest...

The full tutorial can be found HERE at Southern Color.

 Tried my hand at it. And I am happy with the results. 

(My pictures make some of my items look yellowish. They are in fact NOT yellow at all.)

I am on the hunt for mini clothespins.(like the original pin!)

 I think that will look much nicer to hold the photo in place.

Stacking Boxes Redo

I had every intention of taking photos of my recent project...Ok, that's a lie.

I got lazy, and my camera on my iPhone is HORRIBLE. I mean HORRIBLE.

Wait til you see the 2 photos I did take with it.

So I immersed myself in my craft, didn't worry about taking photos, and had a fun night with it.

I found 6 stacking boxes at a thrift store the other week and got them ALL for $5.00 

YES, I got ALL SIX boxes for less than a dollar a piece. 

It pretty much made my day. 

Ya, I'm easy to please.

 

I cut some burlap, that I already had on hand.

And glued it around each box, leaving a good inch or 2 of the box showing on top and bottom.

Then I wrapped and glued jute around each lid.

And wrapped and glued  jute around the top and bottom edge of the burlap.

 

I found some labels online and printed them onto fabric.
(Using freezer paper method.)

 

Attached the fabric to each box, and outlined it with jute.

And that was all, finished and done and they are growing on me.

On a different note, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE CAMERA ON MY IPHONE?!

It used to take amazing photos, with or without flash.

Now no matter if I use flash or not, lots of light or not, the photos are horrible.

Anyone else have this problem?

Snowman Container

I have a large version of this lil snowman that I placed a small tree in.

My sister-in-law admired him, so I made a mini version for her.

I used a cottage cheese container. 

Painted it a light tan color.

I used dark brown to give a grungy look to the top and bottom rims.

Then painted on his face. 

I used tea stained cheese cloth and stuffed in the inside.

Then added some prigs of greenery, a stuffed candy cane, 

some cinnamon sticks and a star. 

Pretty quick and easy.

Primitive "Peppermint" Sticks

I made these for myself. :) 

And as Christmas gifts.

I cut dowel rods down to about 4 inches long.

(Any size dowel rods would work.)

I cut my fabric about 6" x 1".

 

 

Used hot glue. (I LOVE HOT GLUE, if you haven't noticed by now)

Hot glued the strip of material on one end at a slight angle.

I wrapped the entire stick, and then hot glued the end, and cut off any excess material.

I printed a tag I found from a share site on Facebook onto a piece of fabric.

(Using freezer paper ironed to the back of most material allows it to go easily through the printer)

And attached it with twine. 

 

Voila, Peppermint Twists that will last me forever. :)

Snowman In A Jar

I've seen photos all over Facebook of crafters making their own lil snowman scenery jars. 

So I had to try it myself.

Ok, well the craft started out great.

And I even got out my REAL camera to take photos of it all.

Then it all fell apart from there. LOL

After a few pictures, I got a visitor.

And it threw me off my game. 

So when I finally got back to crafting,

The snowman I was working on would not go together right.

So I gave up on the photos. 

So instead of sewing, I got out my glue gun. LOL

My first step was to make 3 round shapes for a snowman using this tutorial...

HomeSpun from The Heart Tutorial

Well, that did NOT go so well for such a small snowman. 

Maybe if I would have hand sewn, but I DON'T hand sew.

 I finally just made three sloppy balls for my snowman.

Drew on a mouth, and attached a nose made from material shaped into a cone.

Wrapped a scarf around him.

Made a horrible hat using material and my glue gun.

No directions needed, as I just shaped and glued the best I could.

I placed him in a mason jar. Added a couple pieces of old garland that I cut down, 

hoping to make them look like tiny trees. 

And then I added some Bean Bag Fill to look like snow.

Maybe cotton would have looked better? Or even some fake snow bought at the store? 

But I used what I had on hand. :)
 

And here is my finished craft for the day.

Ya, nothing to be proud of for sure. But it is what it is. 

Wish me better luck on my next craft.

Projects like these are why my blog is called 

MAYBE I can make that.

Hanging Candle

 

I cut down an old piece of wood I had laying around.

I painted and sanded to distress.

 

I drilled a hole in the top center of the board. 

 

I then attached a strand of wire through the hole and wrapped it around itself.

I attached the candle using a piece of string. 

And I didn't want to admit this, as its pretty silly but...

My candle kept sliding down off the board. 

So I used a thumb tack attached right underneath the candle

to hold it in place. An old small nail would have looked better, but I didn't have any on hand.

 I did paint the thumbtack to blend in though. :)

Mini Christmas Tree

How did December 2nd get upon us already? 

Time is going by TOO Fast!

 

My first Christmas craft was a retake on the fabric tree's I have previously made.

Instead of tying all my material in knots and attaching to the tree, I did it in a different pattern.

I simply cut the fabric in about 3" x 1" strips, and looped them. 

Then attached with a glue gun. 

And each row I placed a little bit overlapping the previous row.

Simple, easy and quick.

Not sure if I like it, but at least it was something different. :)

Head Board from Old Window

While in Sugar Creek, (BEST place to shop for primitives)

I found a large, old window. And got it for a steal at $10.00!

Super happy that my sister let me cram it in to her brand new car. LOL 

It was perfect. So I just wiped it off a bit. 

I then decided that it needed a shelf attached to it. 

 I went and bought a thin, long board from Home Depot for under $5.00.

 

I was so happy with how I matched up the brand new board to the old window. I simply used a couple different colors of gray paint, along with black and white. And kept layering it. Also, want to know my other secret I found worked wonders? 

(I LOVE pinterest) 

I used Elmer's wood glue between each layer. And once it dried, it gave the paint an old cracked look.

I was also proud of the fact that I did this project 100% by myself. 

After I attached the shelf board, It was time to hang. 

Another wonderful tip I discovered thanks to pinterest, 

I placed a piece of  painters tape the length of the window.

(Doesn't that top shelf look all old and weathered?!)

I then took the piece of tape, and attached it on the wall where I wanted the head board.

I found where the studs where, and marked an X on the tape.

Also, take note of the pieces of blue tape on the top of the wall.

Those are where the studs are. I left those pieces of tape there so I knew exactly where to drill 

my headboard once it was ready to hang.

I took the tape and placed it back on my head board. 

And pre drilled my screws where I had marked the X's. 

All ready to be hung...

And here it is. It was so easy to hang because of the pre drilling! 

And I did it with NO help at all. 

And because of the blue tape I had left on the wall, I knew exactly where to start my screws. 

I'm sure it seems like an extra step, but it is what worked for me. LOL

And here it is, mostly finished. 

I have since added stuff to the shelf on top, and moved the love banner to the bottom of it.

I made the banner from burlap and tea stained material. 

And I used pictures of my husband and I and strung them on a piece of Jute.

Solar Log Stand

I found THIS photo on pinterest awhile back.

(It only links to the photo, no website could be found)

But I just loved them. 

The original photo below...

I just HAD to have a set of my own. 

So I showed my hubby, and he got right on it for me. 

We went and found a tree that was already down. 

And my wonderful Craig, cut me a bunch of pieces.

He also cut me bases for the bottom of them.

And drilled holes for the solar lights to sit in. 

I actually helped him drill the base to the log. And then nailed on the stars and the pip berries.

*The next set I make, will NOT have the pip berries. After one rain, the pip berries turned white! So disappointing. 

But here are my finished ones. 

Handmade Primitive Banner

I am a banner freak, I just LOVE banners.

I coffee stained my material. 

*I use any kind of coffee to stain my fabric. 

I wrap a couple tbs in a paper towel, twist the end, add it to a cup of water and put in the microwave for a minute. (Making sure my entire piece of paper towel is wet first!) Then I brush it on my wadded up material. And then just pour the rest all over it so the entire piece of fabric is soaked. Let it try overnight, and this is what I get. Some spots darker, which I like!

I cut out my banner using a banner template I found for free online.

Pentant Banner Template

 

 

I used my SCAL2 program and my cricut to cut out some shapes.

And then I attached them to my banner pieces using the Steam A Seam method.

 

 

 You can read all my directions for steam a seam HERE

Now came the time to string them up. 

I happily got out my crop-o-dile, thinking I could just use it to put a hole in each corner of my banner pieces.

Well, NO SUCH LUCK!

My crop-o-dile just refused to poke a hole through my muslin material.

(And neither would a regular hole punch, I tried. LOL)

So does anyone know of a way to put a hole in material? Please share. 

I ended up using a razor/utilty knife to slice an x in each corner. 

I got out my Jute. Twine would have been just as well, if not better. But all I had on hand was Jute.

I measured where I intended to hang my banner, and added about 2 extra feet, and then cut a piece of my Jute to that length.

I then started adding my banner pieces to my jute string. I made it so the jute came across the front of each banner piece. I think it adds to the primitive look this way.

And here it is all hung up. 

(Don't pay attention to the shelf decorations. My wonderful hubby just built me the shelf, and I haven't got around to decorating it the way I want yet!) 

Fabric Tree from Hangers

I was cleaning out my closets, and had a stack of  metal hangers I planned to throw out.

While staring at the pile of hangers, I kept thinking "I can make something out of those!" 

(I get hangers by the dozen, thanks to my husband. Every week his work pants come on a new set of hangers. So every week, I end up with 12 metal hangers, which totals almost 50 a month)

So I thought of making a giant tree out of them.

Now, a few people have mentioned that a tomato cage would  work for this, 

but I don't have 50 tomato cages just laying around like I do hangers. LOL

I used a hanger and bent it into a round, circle shape. I attached it to itself. 

(I didn't get very good pictures, I will take better ones on my next attempt)

I then took about 6-8 hangers, and straightened them out completely.

(I used needle nose pliers to help me with this part.)

Now came the hard part for me. My husband was of great assistance.

I took the straightened hangers, and attached them to my circle hanger.

Even with my pliers, I just couldn't get them tight enough, that's where my husband came into play. 

*Yay for muscles and strong, loving husbands.

I attached 6 of the hangers all around my circle. 

*It would have been better using about 10-12 hangers, but I got lazy. 

And be careful, once we attached a few of the hangers, they liked to jump around as we were attaching the rest. Almost took my eye out. :)

After all the hangers were attached, I pulled them all up, and using a piece of fabric cut in a long strip, secured them all into the tree shape. (It doesn't matter how it looks, you will be covering it up with different material anyways)

Horrible Pic, but it gives you a bit of an idea of how I attached the hangers.

I then used a BUNCH, and I mean a BUNCH of scrap fabric I had.

I cut all the fabric into strips 3 inches long by 1 inch wide.

*Just enough to tie each piece into a knot

I then used the cut strips and started tying them onto my hangers. 

I then placed some lights inside of the "tree", and called it done. 

Here is my finished tree.

And I am very happy with it.

This project took me a couple hours to finish. But it was something to do while I watched TV.

 

Wood Blocks

 

My wonderful husband bought me this saw for Christmas.

 No having to go outside to cut, YAY!

I bought these wood slats awhile ago at Home Depot. (Very cheap, I'm thinking like $2 a piece or under)

I used my awesome new saw to cut them into blocks. All by myself! LOL 

I used my cricut with my sure cuts a lot program and cut out some words and pictures on sticky vinyl. 

*You can no longer use Sure Cuts A Lot program with the cricut. The older version SCAL1 & SCAL2 will continue to work with the cricut if you 

1. Already own the SCAL.

2. Do NOT update SCAL to SCAL3 (Which is free if you already own it)

3. Do NOT update your firmware for cricut.

I also used my very favorite Antique Top Coat along with paints and my sanding block.

(Bought this antique top coat with country burgundy paint a LOOONG time ago for $2 from Marcs. Wish I had bought ALL they had. LOVE this stuff.)
But a regular stain of any color works just as nice.

Not finished yet, but almost. Have to sand the heart and apply the antique top coat. But I love making these and how they look. 

 

Pallet Sign

I didn't take my time with this project, and it shows!

I can't wait for a redo on this one. 

My problem was that I didn't have my sure cuts a lot program, and 

I was impatient, so I just used my cricut. So none of my letters turned out to be 

the size they should be. When I do my redo, I plan on making the words

almost the entire width of the boards.

I was trying to decide on paint colors.

I really wanted to use the yellow and tan, but the tan got much lighter on my lighter boards, and it barely showed.  And the yellow with black looked to much like Steelers colors. LOL 

So I went with red and black, and I don't like it much at all.

I cut out the letters with my cricut, and used the background as my stencil. 

I used the red to paint the letters 'Be The Good" to give it double meaning. 

I lightly sanded over the letters,

Attached some pip berries and a star up top and called it done.

 

 All hung up, until I replace it with a better one!

Don't think it's that bad?

Wait til you see the inspiration for this pic...then you will see why I don't care much for mine.
I need to do much fatter lettering. 

Blooming Homestead