Adorable Fabric Scrap Rag Bow

While working on some of my craft show projects I was trying to figure out a bow for my wreaths that I thought matched them well.  It needed to be something ragged and unfinished, so I took a bunch of scraps i had left and cut them into small strips at different lengths in coordinating colors and then tied them with a solid color the wreath.  I think it is a perfect bow for the style of the wreath!

Come check out my items at my first craft show, Saturday, Feb 5th from 11 - 3 at the Massena Winter Carnival!  Hope to see you there!

Springs n' Thing has a sign - First Craft Show Countdown - 2 days to go

Since my first craft show at Massena Winter Carnival is quickly approaching I decided my little shop needs a sign.  While at my father's this weekend, I went up into the old barn and found a piece to a cupboard or something and decided to paint my sign on it.  I handpainted all the letters and then glittered them red.  Totally love it!

"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation" ~ Herman Melville - Upcycled Soda Can Rose Tutorial

I love a good recycling project, the only problem with this one is I live in NY and we can return our cans for 5 cents but when you can create something so cute out of them, who worries about 5 cents.  This is truly upcycling at its best from a 5 cent can, 2 - 3 soda can roses can be made, which in turn is creating something better out of something that could be thrown away!

Working at my normal workspace, our "coffee table" trunk in the living room, you will need:

- Clean, dry soda cans - preferably empty :), if not drink the soda first!
- Tin snips
- Scissors
- A Hammer
- A Nail
- A flower or round shape punch ( I'm using a seal punch b/c i like the scalloped edges and no shops around here had a flower, if you don't want to buy a punch you can always make a stencil out of cardboard, trace it and cut it out, this is a much longer process though)
- floral wire
- a scrap board

Step 1:  using the tin snips, cut the can in half

Step 2: Cut the top and the bottom off leaving a flat rectangular piece

Step 3: Using your punch, cut out the shapes from the rectangle (with my punch I can get anywhere from 5 - 8 cutouts per can)

Step 5: If you are using a non-flower punch, you will need to cut petals into it, so cut 5 or 6 cuts towards the center but do not disconnect.  Take the hammer and nail and on your scrap board put two holes in the center of each cut out.  

Step 5:  Cut a length of the floral wire, twice as long as you want your stem to be and run it through the 2 holes of 2 or 3 cutouts (depending on how big you want your rose), color side up works best too and then twist the wire tightly.  

Step 6:  Using the nail or a rounded pair of pliers, bring the first layer of petals up and round them to make the center of the flower

3.  For the next layer(s), bring every other petal to the top and round the edges using the nail or pliers, then round the remaining layers as well and you should be done!

Here are some of the decorations I have created with the soda can roses:

A banner created using the bottoms of larger bedsprings with a rose in every other small spring. 

I attached some roses to this bedspring wreath and painted the whole thing white.  If you do not like the look of the soda cans this method is wonderful b/c you would never know they were soda cans!

Countdown to my First Craft Show - 5 days to go - Let the Crazy Creating Begin

This weekend I created about 20 bedspring wreaths some new and some re-dos, I really want to have a lot of duplicates in case some sell!  So it was a crazy busy weekend!

While visiting a friend on Saturday, she gave her dog Ella treats, which is in like this puzzle board and Ella had to move pieces around to get to the treats.  Fetchdog.com has a whole selection of these interactive toys and Bubba will definately be getting one of these, help him get rid of all that extra energy he has.

This is the board Ella had:

Dog Twister Brainy Board

So all you pet lovers out there check it out!  There is a great selection of beds and other great pet items too!

Words for the Weekend

Photo by Angela Callanan and for sale in her etsy shop. We cannot all do great things. But we can do small things with great love. -Mother Teresa

Happy Weekend and a Freebie Font - Beyond Wonderland

Happy Weekend!  I found a wonderful free font and what a shocker it has something to do with Alice in Wonderland! 

This wonderful font is named "Beyond Wonderland" and can be download for free at Acid Fonts.

Most of my weekend is going to be spent gearing up for my first craft show at the Massena Winter Carnival. Stop by and check out some of my creations in person!

Happy Crafting!

Product Review: No home should be without a Black & Decker Start It

As many of you who live in Northern NY know it was 30 below zero this past Monday and along with a whole bunch of problems, my car would not start.  Not that I'm complaining my car just went over 120k miles and I haven't had any major problems with it (knock on wood).  The BF was busy trying to fix the furnace :( and couldn't look at my car so I worked from home and he got it going later on.   Tuesday morning when I went to start my car, it still would not start.  So I went in and got our Black And Decker jump starter, I very easily turned it on and hooked it up to the battery and it started my car with no issues.  It is small and light enough that I brought it to work with me in case I had more issues on my way home!  I strongly recommend.

Amazon.com: Black & Decker Start It