Burlap Owl Door Hanger

I'm seeing burlap door hangers everywhere, and I figured it would be fun to have one for myself!

There are lots of tutorials for these, but it's pretty easy to figure out on your own.  The main two tutorials I used were this one at Miss Kopy Kat and this one at Live a Little Wilder.  I love owls, and realized this season would be perfect for an owl hanging around!  Here's what I came up with:

Here's how I did it.

I wanted mine BIG.  I used a piece of poster board and cut out the form.  Then I traced the owl onto burlap and cut out a double thickness, allowing about an inch extra all around.  I'm not good at guessing measurements.  Maybe it's more than an inch.  I didn't measure it or make it precise.  

Next I removed the bottom layer of burlap, protected my table with newspaper, and sketched out the details of the owl. 

 Next I painted it all in with acrylic paint.  This was the part that took awhile, just because the burlap soaks up so much paint that it requires going back over it a few times.

The only colors I used for this owl were a cream, black, a dusty green, metallic gold, orange, and purple.  I also mixed a little glitter paint in with the black for a little extra dimension.  And, yeah, because I like stuff that sparkles. I mixed the green with the cream for the eye detail.

After I painted everything in, I roughly outlined the main form, wings, and eyes with a flat brush, using a very inexact mixture of gold, black and green.

For the polkadots, I just dipped a fresh pencil eraser into the paint and pressed it down.  Easy!

Here's something you might want to try if you make one of these.  I wish I'd known this tip before I started.  I've heard that if you Mod Podge the whole thing before you start, it makes the painting go much easier.  I've also heard of using an inexpensive fabric starch like Sta-Flo.  I'm thinking it couldn't hurt to try.

Now let that paint dry.  The paint is going to stiffen up that burlap like you won't believe, which is pretty good if you're hanging this outside.  

Next I hot glued the front to the back piece of burlap following the unpainted edges, working in small sections and stuffing with plastic bags as I went along.  You could also use leftover waxed paper or parchment.  If you're going to be using it indoors only, you could probably use fabric or tissue paper or even newspaper.  If it's going outside, be sure you use something more water-resistant.

After I got the whole thing stuffed and glued, I took a piece of floral wire and stuck it through burlap's weave in the back and twisted the ends around to hold it in place.  You can leave the ends out the front and curl them, but I felt like there was enough detail on mine that I'd leave the wire ends on the back.

I didn't use any kind of sealant on mine, because my front porch is covered and pretty protected, but feel free to seal yours if you like.

Now go hang that on a wreath hanger on your door, and enjoy looking at it whenever you step outside!

Like it?  Feel free to Pin it!

Pumpkin Candy Display

To make this sweet candy display, I started by making a little clay pumpkin.  Just roll a ball of orange clay, then flatten it slightly.  Use a string or dental floss to form ridges, leaving the middle part free of ridges so you can paint the face easier.  I then pressed the eraser end of a pencil into the clay for the eye sockets (not shown).  

I twisted up a piece of wire and inserted it for the stem.  Then I cured the pumpkin in the oven according to directions on the package (I used Sculpey III.)

After it cooled, I used a white paint pen and a black Micron pen to add features.

I finished it off by painting the stem green and giving the whole thing a glossy finish with spray gloss lacquer after it dried.  After letting the gloss dry, I hot glued the pumpkin to a felt flower (instructions for flower here). 

Then I put a ribbon around a plain clear plastic cup (you could also use a glass jar), and glued the flower to the ribbon, being careful not to melt the cup.  I added candy corn and these cute swirly lollipops from the dollar store.  They are spin pops and had a label in the center that I couldn't remove, so I just cut paper that coordinated with the flower to cover them up. 

Easy and fun!

Clay Skull DIY

This is an easy way to make a versatile clay skull, even if you have zero clay sculpting experience (like me). 

Dollar Tree had these silicone ice cube trays shaped like skulls.  I bought one and tried a couple of different ideas that didn't work, and then I came up with this.

To make one, you'll need:

Silicone skull mold

Black polymer clay (I used Sculpey III)

Corn starch

Parchment paper

Paint or paint pens (I just used black and white)

Gloss spray (I used glossy lacquer)

I dusted mine with corn starch (just like you'd dust a cake pan) just to ensure there would be no sticking. 

I worked on parchment paper for this project.  Knead the clay in your hands and form a ball roughly the size of the mold.  Starting in the center, press the clay into the mold.  Be sure you press it firmly in, and get the back as flat and even with the mold edges as possible.

Carefully unmold the clay.  Mine slid right out.  Then, on a parchment-covered cooking sheet, cure in the oven according to package instructions and let cool when it comes out.   I took a damp paper towel to wipe off any remaining corn starch from the finished piece.

Now it's time to jazz it up.  I simply used a paint pen with a chiseled tip and a Micron black pen.

I started with the white areas and let it dry.

Then I went in with the black for more details.  Here I also worked again on any white spots that looked messy and used the black to go over and cover up any stray white parts I didn't like.

Let that dry, then spray with clear gloss.  Start from pretty far away and give a LIGHT mist.  This will help keep the designs from running.  Let it dry, and repeat the process until you get the glossiness you want.  Let it dry.  You don't HAVE to gloss it, but it makes a huge difference and brings out the contrast more.

Now you can use this guy for jewelry or other embellishing, like I did here below.  If you'd like to make this particular embellishment, just glue it to a felt flower.  You can click here for quick instructions on making a couple of versions of felt flowers.

Happy Halloween Season!

Make Felt Flowers

Here's a quick and easy way to make felt flowers for decorating and embellishing.  This tutorial shows two different styles.  

You'll need:

1 sheet of felt (or more if you're doing different colors)
Felt glue and/or hot glue
Scissors
Card stock in coordinating colors

We'll start with the orange loopy flower.

Fold one edge of felt over lengthwise.  Cut out this piece, but don't cut along the fold.

Using felt glue or hot glue, glue the unfolded edge to itself.

Make evenly-speced cuts all along the length of the felt, through the fold but not all the way to the glued edge.

Cut out a circle of felt or card stock.  Put your choice of adhesive all over the circle.  Starting with one edge of felt, lay it down along the edge of the circle, following the edge of the circle.  When you have gone all the way around, continue winding toward the middle and sticking it down.

Using another piece of card stock, apply adhesive to the entire surface (here I used adhesive tape on a shape I cut out with a puncher, but you can use whatever you like).  

Press that into the middle of the flower and ta-daaa!

For the black flower, it's the same procedure, except I cut down the fold after gluing the edges together, and I made the cuts more closely spaced.

"Fluff up" the petals, and you're done....

...UNLESS you want to take it up a notch and add another embellishment like this.  Click here to see how I made the skull, or click here to see how I used this on a wreath.

Enjoy!

Halloween Tissue Paper Wreath

Today I'll share how I made this tissue paper wreath for Halloween, spending very little money to do it.

You'll need:

Wreath Form (mine is from Dollar Tree)

Scissors

Orange Tissue Paper

Pipe Cleaners in Orange and Black (I used yellow, but you should use orange if possible.)

Stapler

Halloween Embellishment (mine is handmade, but you could use a store-bought one if you like)

Glue Gun with Glue Sticks

Ribbon or String

To start, cut four strips lengthwise from one sheet, then repeat on a second sheet.  Kind of scrunch these up and use to wrap around the wreath form.  You can pin or glue the ends as you wrap.

Next, leaving the remaining sheets of tissue paper stacked (mine came with 10 sheets, so after I used the paper to wrap, I had 8 sheets stacked.)  Cut squares or rectangles.  Mine were about 4 x 6 inches each.  It doesn't matter if these are perfect, and even if it's on a fold, it's okay.  Then cut off the corners so you wind up with something similar to this:

With each set of squares, staple the middle of a pipe cleaner to the center of the flower.  You can staple it twice if you like.

Starting with the top layer, just squish it up like in the photo below.  Repeat with each layer, loosening up with each layer.  I didn't even squish up the bottom layer.

Next you'll attach the tissue to the wreath by wrapping the pipe cleaners around and twisting.  If you use orange pipe cleaners, you're good here.  I didn't, so I had to go back with more tissue paper, gluing over the pipe cleaners to hide the yellow. 

Your wreath might not be round enough here, so you can easily adjust at this point.  Also, if you have any pieces of tissue that seem too big or stick out, just snip them down here.

I glued a pipe cleaner to the back of this embellishment, then wrapped it around.

For a little something extra, I made some pipe cleaner swirls from black pipe cleaners, then glued those to the wreath form with hot glue.  After I handled them, they needed to be evened out a little after they were glued on.

Use a final pipe cleaner to make a hook on the back if you're planning to hang it by a ribbon.  Then just tie on a ribbon or string, hang it up, and enjoy the festive touch!  This smaller size wreath is great for a kitchen.  I hung it on a corner cabinet in my kitchen, and it looks great!

Like the skull embellishment?  I'll be showing how to make that next, so check back here soon!

Make a Keepsake Card on Canvas!

Necessity is the mother of invention, they say.  Well, I proved this true this week!

My mom's 70th birthday is very soon and my siblings and I and our spouses have been in cahoots over what gift we would get her and how we would celebrate.  None of us live in the same town, so this was all done over email and text messages.  We finally came up with a lovely keepsake piece of jewelry that I think our mom will love.  I can't wait for her to receive it!

But just a few nights ago I was struck by the realization that she would probably LOVE to also receive something fun and handmade from the grandchildren.  My first thought was to make a "Happy Birthday" banner on butcher roll that the kids and I could decorate, roll up and send.  Alas, the roll of butcher paper was nowhere to be found!  But lucky me!  In all my searching, I found a few cheap canvases that I had purchased last year for the kids to use.  We'll paint that instead!

Alas again!  All my acrylic paints were dried up (Can you tell I'm not the crafty one on this blog?!  Charlotte would never be out of paint!).

Sharpies to the rescue!  We'll make a birthday sign on the canvas with sharpies!

I wrote the initial message and then had the children color it, make designs and sign their names.  I really like how it turned out so far.  I think I'll have the kids add the finishing touches today after school.

I can think of so many fun variations of this project!

* Use a smaller canvas and make a decoupage birthday card/sign for a child or a friend.

* Use the larger canvas to make a seasonal decoration to be used year after year, using paints/sharpies/decoupage.

* Make a birthday sign for the family, similar to the "You Are Special Today" plate.

I plan to attach a hanging strip in the back and send it on to my mother.  I have a feeling she's going to love it!