DIY Framed Vintage Wallpaper Magnetic Board

16 May, 2013 9:59 am / Leave a Comment / My So Called Crafty Life

Hi guys! I do hope you all are having a lovely week! Today I am going to share with you one of my favorite of my recent projects, a diy vintage wallpaper magnetic board. Vintage wallpaper is one of my absolute favorite things in the entire world! I just adore the prints and textures! It’s so wonderful! I love finding new ways to use it too. I recently came across this pattern from one of my favorite vintage wallpaper shops, Hannah’s Treasures, and immediately thought it would make a great magnetic board for the bedroom at my mom’s house where I stay on visits. Making this little board was really easy, and it whipped up pretty quick too!

Here’s What You Need:

*16×20 Frame (the local flea market or thrift store is a great place to look)

*Paint (optional)

*1 Yard of Vintage Wallpaper

*1 Sheet of HVAC Thin Guage Sheet Metal (I bought mine at home depot, look in the hvac department)

*Acid Free Double Stick Tape

*Framing hardware if needed…

*Heavy Duty Tin Snips

*Foam core ( optional for backing if your frame does not come with backing)

Instructions:

The first thing you need to do is paint your frame if you are planning on painting it. While it dries you can cut and assemble your board. To start measure the opening of your frame. Mine was 16×20. So I marked on the metal 16″ wide and 20″ long. Then cut the metal down to size with the tin snips. You can cut down the foam core to fit your frame as well if you plan on using it. Now, trace your sheet metal dimensions onto the wrong side of your wallpaper, leave an inch on the top and an inch on the bottom for folding over. So if I have a 16×20 piece of metal, then I cut my paper to be 16×22″. Mark 1″ up on both the top and bottom of the wrapping paper. Lay out your metal on top of the paper in between the 1″ marks. Run a strip of double stick tape along the edge at the bottom and top edges of your wall paper on the wrong side. Now, fold over the edges of the paper in towards the middle of the metal and tape down snugly so that the paper is nice and taught across the metal. Next, lay your board into the opening in your frame face down and close up the back. Add a hanger to the middle of the back of the frame and you are ready to hang.

I love this fun magnetic board! It looks great in the room! It is a pretty way to organize and keep little notes and things while I am at my parent’s home. It is a great size too. I just adore the wallpaper and I have quite a bit left that I can use for future crafting, yay! I love how easy this project is to customize just by changing the style of the frame and the wallpaper. The sheet metal in the hvac department at the hardware store is really inexpensive too, so you can always change out the boards if the style of your room changes too. This really is such a fast and easy diy! It would make a great gift for college bound gals who need a memo board for their dorms. I hope some of you will give this one a try! It is so fun and easy, you’ll have a blast!

Happy Crafting!

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Posted in: Crafting, DIY, Tutorials / Tagged: 1940's, 1950's, cottage, crafts, diy, dorm, easy, fun, gift, girly, grad, handmade, home decor, lovely, magnet, magnetic board, memo board, messege, mid century, office organization, pink, recycle, repurpose, retro, shabby chic, sweet, tutorials, upcycle, vintage, vintage wallpaper, wallpaper

Favorite Vintage Finds of the Week- May 6th

6 May, 2013 8:51 am / 2 Comments / My So Called Crafty Life

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous weekend! Can you believe it is already May! Where does the time go? Since Mother’s Day is this coming weekend I decided to share some fun Mom themed vintage finds with you all today! Here are a few of my faves:

Check out this awesome Vintage Napcoware Mom Pedestal Mug from Old Like Us Here

Check out these beautiful Vintage Dodds Mom and Kitten Blue Rhinestone Brooches from The Roaming Eclectic Here

Check out these cool Vintage Metal Mom Letterpress Letters from Reverse Chronology Here

Check out this adorable Vintage 1950′s Androck Hand Sifter from New Life Vintage RV’s Here

Check out these wonderful Vintage Mother’s Day Card Collection from Munas Treasures Here

Check out these fantastic Vintage Ceramic Set of 3 White Deer Figurines from Vintage By Jade Here

Check out this lovely Vintage “Mother” Heart Rhinestone Brooch from Nevermore Vintage Here

Check out this fabulous Vintage 1950′s New With Tags Pleated Novelty Print Cameo Apron from Tallulah’s Junk Trunk Here

Check out these sweet Vintage Sweet Pink Ceramic Spaghetti Poodle Dog Figurines from Raspberry Robin Here

Check out this fun Vintage World’s Greatest Mom Anchor Hocking Measuring Cup from The Sisters’ Pick Here

Check out this sweet Vintage 1950′s Unused Mother’s Day Greeting Card from Hiragana Americana Here

Check out this lovely Vintage Embroidered Floral Mother Hanky from The Littlest Sister Here

Aren’t they all just so sweet! I know my mom would love any one of these, especially the hand sifter! I love them all! I hope you all enjoy browsing through these wonderful etsy vintage shops as much as I did! I will be back next Monday with more vintage finds. Until then…

Happy Shopping!

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Posted in: Vintage Finds of the Week / Tagged: anchor hawking, apron, brooch, cameo, cards, ceramic animals, ceramics, cottage, deer, gifts for mom, hanky, jewelry, mid century, mom, mommy, mothers day, mug, mum, napcoware, novelty, retro, rhinestone, shabby chic, sifter, spaghetti poodle, vintage, woodland

DIY Upcycled Vintage Tablecloth Duvet Cover

2 May, 2013 12:28 pm / 2 Comments / My So Called Crafty Life

Hi guys! I am so excited to share todays project with you! Today I am going to show you how to make a duvet cover for your comforter from a sheet, some fabric, and a vintage tablecloth. Some f you may know by now that I have a rather large obsession with vintage linens, especially tablecloths! I love to repurpose them! I usually buy them when they are more on the shabby side and stained. I cut them up and make bags and other fun stuff with them. I never use tablecloths on my table since I have three very naughty cats. So, when I came across this beautiful tablecloth last fall that was in perfect condition, I had to find something cool to do with it that did not involve cutting it up. I thought it would make a fabulous bedspread or duvet! I made this one for my mom for Mother’s Day this year. I think she’s gonna like it!

Here’s What You Need:

*Vintage Tablecloth

*Flat Bed Sheet

*Large Ricrac trim (optional)

*Quilting Weight or home decor fabric

*Velcro

*Scissors, ruler, pins

*Sewing machine and thread

Instructions:

The first thing you need to do is figure out your measurements. Measure your comforter. I made this one for my mom’s king comforter which measured 102″x86″. So I cut my sheet down to size plus extra for seam allowance. I used 1/2″ seam allowance for the top and sides and 1″ for the bottom, so my measurements were 87.5x 103″. Cut your sheet to size. Now measure your tablecloth. Mine measured 56×70, so I knew I needed 48″ more to make up the difference. So my two side panels were 24″(1/2 of my 48″) by 86″ long. My bottom on top panels were 9.25″(87.5-69=18.5/2=9.25) long by 56″ wide. Once you have the fabric all cut, stitch the top and bottom of the tablecloth to the top and bottom fabric pieces right sides together. Press open seams. Now stitch the side panels to the sides of the tablecloth and top bottom panel piece on either side. Press open seams. You should now have a piece that has your tablecloth in the middle and is surrounded by four panels of fabric to make a top that is the same size as your sheet. If you are using trim, you can stitch the trim down with a quarter inch seam allowance around the sides and bottom. of the front piece. Measure your velcro piece. Mine was 30″. Mark the center of your front and back pieces. Measure your velcro and mark out from the center where you need to stitch your velcro. My velcro was 30″, so I measured out 15″ from the center on either side. Stitch down your velcro on the right sides of the bottom of both pieces where you marked. Now, starting at the velcro on one side, stitch the bottom using 1″ seam allowance, then turn and stitch up the side, top and other side with a half inch seam allowance and then back to the other side of the bottom with 1″ seam allowance. Clip loose threads and clip corners. OPen up the velcro and turn your duvet right side out. push the corners out with your scissors or a chopstick. Press your duvet and topstitch 1/8″ from the edge all the wa around. Stuff your comforter in your duvet and enjoy!

Isn’t it fantastic! I love it! Can’t wait to make one for myself! This project does take a bit of time, but it is well worth the effort. It took me an afternoon. I love that you can totally customize the design to suit your tastes and style! You can find vintage tablecloths at your local flea markets or online at Etsy or Ebay. So give this diy a try and add a little vintage sweetness to your bedroom!
Happy Crafting!

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Posted in: Crafting, DIY, Tutorials / Tagged: bedding, bedspread, blanket, blue, comforter, cottage, crafting, decor, decorating, diy, duvet, easy duvet, feminine, floral, gift idea, handmade, home decor, ladies, light, lovely, mid century, mint, perriwinkle, recycled, repurposed, retro, rose, sewing, shabby chic, stitch, sweet, tutorials, upcycled, vintage, vintage tablecloth, weekend, women

Dollar Store Yarn Wrapped Easter Basket

19 March, 2013 1:47 pm / Leave a Comment / My So Called Crafty Life

Easter baskets can be so much fun to put together! The last few years I have been making them for my sister. My mom still makes them for me and my hubby as well as my dad and sister. It’s always so fun! Sometimes putting together a basket that really cute can be quite costly, and the cheapies you can get at the store are usually tacky. So if you are looking for an easter basket that is packed with sweetness but not with a heavy price, I have a craft for you. Today I am going to show you how to make a sweet yarn wrapped easter basket from a dollar store easter bucket.

Here’s What You Need:

*Dollar store easter bucket

*Yarn (I bought mine at A.C. Moore for a dollar each)

*Hot Glue

*Paper flowers (optional)

Instructions:

Start at the bottom of your bucket. Dab hot glue onto the bottom and glue down the end of your yarn to the bucket. Now glueing every inch or so start to circle your yarn around the bottom a little before the edge. Keep going around gluing your yarn, coiling it around and right next to the previous bit. Once you get around the curve of the bottom you can glue once or twice with every passing wrap. Wrap the basket firmly and keep the strands close together so you don’t see any of the basket peeking through. Go all the way up to the top and glue the end down when you are done wrapping. If you have excess yarn clip it as close to the bucket as possible. My yarn was a mini skien so I used the whole thing on my bucket and was able to wrap it around a few extra times. I took my handle off of my bucket to wrap it. Place a dab of hot glue on the inside of the handle at one end. Glue your end of yarn down. Now wrap the handle glueing every few inches. Snip off excess thread and glue end down. Put the handle back on the bucket. The bucket I used was scalloped at the top, so I used paper flowers to fill in the areas I could not easily get with my yarn. You can hot glue any kind of embellishment or tim you like around your top edge of your bucket, or you can leave it simply wrapped. Now your basket is ready to fill with goodies!

This project was really fun! I think I am going to have to think of other things to wrap in yarn now too since I really enjoyed this one! This basket whipped up in under an hour. It only cost me three dollars for the bucket and the yarn. The flowers I had on hand. But this goes to prove that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a sweet and chic Easter basket. All it takes is a little time and a few supplies. I hope I have inspired some of you to give this one a try for Easter this year. It’s so fun!

Happy Crafting!

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Posted in: Crafting, DIY, Tutorials / Tagged: basket, basket redo, cottage, crafts, crafts with kids, decor, diy, dollar store, easter, easter basket, easy, fast, frugal, fun, home decor, inexpensive, kids, lovely, shabby chic, spring, sweet, yarn wrapped basket

DIY Sweet Vintage Easter Dioramas

12 March, 2013 9:20 pm / 3 Comments / My So Called Crafty Life

Easter is just brimming with sweetness! When I think of Easter, or spring for that matter, I think bunnies, baby chicks, and everything blooming. It is just a lovely time of year! Back during the Christmas holiday I made some boxes with vintage christmas cards, which you can see here. I thought it would be fun to make some for Easter to decorate the sunroom. I recently saw these fun little magnetic storage jars at Michaels. I thought they would make sweet little dioramas to go on the fridge or my magnetic board in my office. These were all so much fun to make!

Here’s What You Need:

*Wood Boxes

*Magnetic Storage Jars

*Vintage Cards, ephemera

*Paper flowers, fake flowers

*Chenille Easter Chicks

*Air dry clay

*Green glitter

*Scrapbook paper

*Craft glue or rubber cement

*Hot Glue

*Pipe Cleaners

Instructions:

To make the larger wood boxes you can follow my tutorial for my holiday boxes here. I painted a layer of glitter mod podge onto the boxes as a top coat to make them sparkle, and added rub on words on the glass fronts. The first thing you want to do for the magnetic jar dioramas is paper the inside. First, roll a scrap of scrapbook paper and fit into the jar. If it overlaps a lot you can trim the excess. You want the paper to overlap about a half an inch or so. With a pen, draw around the top edge of the jar on the paper all the way around and trim your paper down to size. This is the piece for the sidewall. To make the bottom or back of the jar, trace the jar onto a scrap piece and cut out a little inside the line so it will fit nicely. Glue the circular piece to the bottom of the jar. Glue the long piece around the inside wall of the jar smoothing down and overlapping at the bottom a little. Now you are ready to make the grass. Warm up some clay in your hand. Try to mold it in your hand to look like a crescent or half moon shape. Fit into the bottom of your jar, and mold and press it into the bottom so it it smooth and flat on the top. You can add more clay if you need to, or take some away. You can make the clay thick or thin. Let it dry for the amount of time it says on the package. Once your clay is dry you are ready to glitter. Brush a layer of glue onto the clay and shake glitter onto the whole area. Tap off excess onto a paper plate or piece of paper. Now glue in your little figures, cut outs, paper flowers, etc in your little jars with hot glue. If you have pieces with picks, or wire on the bottom you can cut them a little short and stick them into the clay before it dries. I did this with the jar with the paper ducky. The little wire stems were put into the clay before it dried. To finish off cut a pipe cleaner to fit around the lid of your jar. Hot glue the pipe cleaner around the jar lid and then put the lid on your jar. And tada, now you have a little magnetic diorama.

I think these turned out super sweet! They make a cute addition to your Easter decor, or even just for spring. You can really get as creative as you want and make these as vintage or modern as you like depending on the materials and images you use. I used a mix of vintage and new materials. These were a blast to make! They would be perfect for a craft night or party with your favorite crafty friends or even your children! They would be sweet gifts too. I hope I have inspired some of you all to give this one a try. You’ll love it!

Happy Crafting!

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Posted in: Crafting, DIY, Tutorials / Tagged: box, chenille chicks, craft with kids, crafts, decor, decorating, diorama, diy, dog, ducky, easter, easter chicks, easter craft, floral, fun, gift, glitter, handmade, lovely, magnetic jar, mid century, retro, scrap, shabby chic, spring, sweet, tutorials, vintage, vintage cards, vintage inspired

Favorite Vintage Finds of the Week- March 11th

11 March, 2013 3:55 pm / 4 Comments / My So Called Crafty Life

Happy Monday everyone! As some of you all know by now, I have a small obsession with vintage linens! I collect bedding, tablecloths, hankies, etc. I also like to use the shabby and stained linens for projects. The prints are so sweet and fun! There are so many thing you can do with them. Plus, you just can’t get the same buttery feel of vintage sheeting in the sets you can buy today. So, today I am going to share with you some of my recent favorite bedding from the wonderful vintage shops on etsy. Here are just a few of my favorites:

Check out this adorable Vintage Stripe Afghan Blanket from Little Dog Vintage Here

Check out these lovely Vintage Embroidered His and Hers Pillowcases from Pumpkin Truck Here

Check out these cool 5 Vintage Cotton Sari Kantha Quilt Gudri Reversible Throw from Banjara Tribal Art Here

Check out this sweet Vintage Blue Rose Bed Sheet from ReRun Design Here

Check out this beautiful Vintage Floral Fitted Twin Sheet from Aunt Bonnie’s Closet Here

Check out these sweet Vintage Ticking Floral Pink Pillowcovers from Pumpkin Truck Here

Check out this lovely Vintage Cream and Pink Plaid Wool Blanket from Miscellany Store Here

Check out this adorable Vintage Monticello by Cannon Full Flat Sheet from Grammy’s Goodies Here

Check out this fantastic 1940′s Vintage Peacock and Hearts Chenille Coverlet from Designer 2 Here

Check out this cool Vintage Southwest Navajo Native Camp Throw Blanket from Larch Trading Company Here

Check out this sweet Vintage Pink Floral Mismatched Twin Sheet Set from Anne Graham Here

Check out this fabulous Vintage Shabby Chic Afghan Vintage French Flower Hand Crocheted Blanket from Sunset Stars Here

Don’t you just love them all! I would be thrilled to have any one of these in my home! I just adore vintage bedding! I hope you all enjoy browsing through these wonderful etsy vintage shops as much as I did!

Happy Shopping!

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Posted in: Vintage Finds of the Week / Tagged: 1940's, 1950's, afghan, bed sheet, bedding, camp blanket, chenille, cottage, crochet, flat, floral, flowers, hearts, home decor, housewares, linens, mid century, peacock, polka dots, retro, shabby chic, sheeting, soft, sweet, vintage

Framed Vintage Hanky Art Using Mod Podge Photo Transfer Medium

20 February, 2013 8:05 am / 12 Comments / My So Called Crafty Life

One of my most treasured possessions in the entire world is the collection of old family slides my grandfather gave me shortly before he passed away. I spent hours scanning them in a little at a time, and actually still haven’t scanned them all to my computer. There are a ton of pictures of my mom and Aunt Jamie growing up, as well as some pics of my grandparents when they were a young couple. I am captivated with each one, and have several of them displayed around my home. Not only do these images have a special meaning for me because they are of my family, but they are also cool, soft old images that are fantastic to decorate with too! One of my favorite slides that I scanned is of my aunt when she was a toddler. How flippin’ cute is that scarf, really! I recently had the opportunity to try out Mod Podge’s photo transfer medium and immediately knew I’d be using this image for sure. I decided to transfer this sweet little pic to one of my vintage handkerchiefs and frame it to go in my living room. I had a blast making it too!

Here’s What You Need:

*Mod Podge Photo Transfer Medium( It comes with a foam brush and you can find it at Michael’s stores)

*Vintage Hanky with white center area

*Image printed with dry toner ( I used a color copier)

*Scissors

*Tin foil, wax paper, or something similar

*Sponge

*Water

*Record Album Frame or other frame to fit hanky( I painted my frame blue to match my hanky)

*Matboard cut to size of frame

Instructions:

First you need to copy your image. I used a color copier at my local office supply store. I used a regular 4×6 print to copy and then cut the copy down to size to fit in the white space of the middle of my hanky. If you are using an image that has words or you want the image to remain in the exact orientation you will need to reverse copy the image.

Now prepare your hanky by ironing it really well. Lay your hanky face up on top of some wax paper. I was out of wax paper so I used tin foil at first.

Lay your image face up on a piece of tin foil or wax paper. Squirt a generous amount of the photo medium on top of your image.

Use the foam brush to spread and brush evenly on the image. You want a nice thick coat you do not want the image to be clearly seen through the medium.

Carefully raise the image off of the tin foil or wax paper and place face down( transfer medium side down) onto the middle of your hanky. Be careful not to smudge or touch the image when you pick it up and transfer it to your fabric. Lightly tap the image and smooth out any air bubbles. Wipe off any excess medium off of the edges with your finger or towelette. Now you need to let your transfer dry for 24 hours.

Once you have let your transfer dry for a day, you are ready to remove the paper. First wet a sponge and ring it out a little so it is moist but not soaking wet. Dab the wet sponge over your transfer making sure to dampen the whole image. You should be able to see the image lightly appear when moistened correctly. Let the dampened transfer sit for two minutes.

Now, rub the sponge in a circular motion on the wet transfer. You need to put a little pressure into it, but don’t rub too hard or you’ll rub off your image. As you rub the paper should start to come off in bits. Rub all of the paper off of the surface. Let dry. If there is some filmy areas you can gently rub those off with a damp sponge.

Once the paper is rubbed off you are done and ready to frame your mount your hanky. Take your mat board that is cut to the size of your frame. Place a length of double stick tape on the top edge. Line up your hanky and tape it down to the board at the top.

Now tape the sides and stretch your hanky smooth to tape down on both the left and right side of your board. Then tape the bottom and stretch your hanky smooth onto the bottom tape. Now your hanky is mounted to your board and you can assemble it into your frame. Hang and enjoy!

I love how my hanky art turned out! It is so sweet! This was a pretty easy project to make thanks to the Mod Podge photo transfer medium! You can use this stuff for all kinds of surfaces too like wood, metal, etc. You can easily personalize just about anything! I hope I have inspired some of you to give this project a try! It is a great way to add a little heartfelt and vintage sweetness to your favorite space! Until next time…

Happy Crafting!

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14 Days of Love- Sweet Vintage Spool Necklaces

7 February, 2013 9:18 am / 23 Comments / My So Called Crafty Life

Hello! Welcome to day nine of my 14 Days of Love special! Today I have a sweet jewelry diy for you all, vintage thread spool necklaces. These little necklaces are simple to make and are really sweet. You can find vintage thread spools on Ebay and Etsy’s wonderful vintage shops. They come in various sizes. I would categorize these as medium. They are about an inch and a half long. You can find a lot of vintage charms and beads on Etsy too. These are pretty fast to make as well. You could make a whole batch of them in an afternoon.

Here’s What You Need:

*Vintage Wooden Spools

*Scrapbook paper, wallpaper scraps, etc…

*Buttons

*Wire

*Charms, beads, etc (optional)

*Chain

*Jump rings, eye pins, headpins…

*Jewelry Pliers

*Modge Podge

Instructions:

The first thing you will need to do is decoupage the spools. Cut a strip of paper a little smaller than the middle part of the spool. Glue the paper down to the spool with the modge podge. Then paint a layer of modge podge onto the top of the paper. I used the matte modge podge. Once your modge podge dries you are ready to make the spool into a pendant. Start with a long strip of wire. Make a tiny loop at the half way point and wrap one end at the top of the loop a few times. Thread your button face down onto the two ends of wire and pull it all the way down to the loop. Now twist the wire to secure the button taught and insert the wire through the hole in the spool. Now thread the top button face up onto the wires. Pull the button down the wire to the top of the spool. Twist one wire around the other at the base once or twice. Trim this piece down and stuff the end into the top of the spool back through the button. Now loop your other wire and wrap around the loop several times and end wrapping at the top of the button. Snip excess wire off and press wire down so it is not jagged or sticking up anywhere at the end. Thread beads onto an eye pin, snip the wire and make a loop. Attach the dangle and any charms you may like onto the bottom loop of the spool. Now add your pendant to a chain. I used a dainty ball chain. I then tied a little piece of ribbon around the top of each spool pendant where the top loop is. Snip the ends of your ribbon and you are ready to wear.

I think these little spool necklaces turned out so sweet! I love the vintage charm they have! These are great because they are so customizable to your style. You can easily change up the look by the type of paper and the charms and embellishment you use. These would make great gifts too, or a great craft for girl’s night! So go ahead and make a bunch for all your favorite gals this Valentine’s Day! Be sure to tune in tomorrow for more sweet Valentine projects! Until then…

Happy Crafting!

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Posted in: Crafting, DIY, Tutorials / Tagged: crafts, decoupage, diy, jewelry, jewelry diy, love, necklace, necklace craft, retro, shabby chic, spool, sweet, valentines, vintage beads, vintage repurposed, vintage spool necklace

14 Days of Love- DIY Sweetheart Cake Bunting and Picks

6 February, 2013 6:14 pm / Leave a Comment / My So Called Crafty Life

Welcome to day eight of my 14 Days of Love Special. Today I am going to show you how to make this sweet cake bunting and party picks. You all know how much I love buntings! And who wouldn’t love one of these sweeties to liven up their Valentine’s desserts! These are super easy to do and only require a few inexpensive supplies. The best thing about this easy project is you can make the bunting and picks in under half an hour!

Here’s What You Need:

*Patterned Paper/ Scrapbook paper

*Heart Punch (You can also draw your hearts and cut them out with scissors if you don’t want to get a punch)

*Double Stick Tape

*Twine

*Ribbon(mine was 1/4″ wide)

*Bamboo Skewers

*Toothpicks

Instructions:

These really could not get any easier! The first thing you do is punch out a bunch of hearts. Keep your patterns separated if you are going for a specific design repeat like I did. You will need a front and back to create one heart. So, if you want your bunting to have a strand of nine hearts, you would punch eighteen. For the bunting you first want to cut a length of twine. Now put a piece of double stick tape on the wrong side of a heart. Lay your twine in the middle of the heart on top of the tape. Now cover the bottom heart with a top heart, sandwiching the twine in between the two. You want to have the wrong sides of the paper facing in and taped up with the twine, and the right sides facing out. Once you have a line long enough you are ready to tie. My top strand I made to be seven hearts across, the bottom strand is nine hearts across. Tie a knot after the last heart on each side. Now split the twine strands in half and untwist until you have two separate strands. Tie one side onto one of your skewers about an inch from the top. Then tie the other side to the other skewer about an inch from the top. You can use one strand, or you can tie another strand of hearts on like you did the first. Snip excess threads. Now tie a little ribbon onto each side where you tied the heart strands. Your cake bunting is now finished. The picks are easy too! All you do is sandwich a toothpick in between two hearts with some double stick tape. It’s just like the bunting, but instead of twine in the middle you have a toothpick for each heart. Easy peasy!

This little bunting is just too sweet! And the picks turned out pretty cute as well! These will be a fantastic addition to my Valentine’s day goodies! These are so quick to make up, they would be great for a party! You can change up the feel of these really easily too by just using different patterns of scrapbook paper. So fun, right! I hope you all will try them, you won’t regret it! Be sure to tune in tomorrow for another sweet Valentine’s Day project! Until then…

Happy Crafting!

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Posted in: Crafting, DIY, Tutorials / Tagged: Bunting, cake bunting, cake decorating, cottage, crafts, cute, desserts, diy, hearts, love, mini bunting, party, party ideas, picks, retro, shabby chic, sweet, tutorials, valentine's day, valentines, valentines sweets

14 Days of Love- I Wear My Heart on My Sleeve Tees

5 February, 2013 6:39 pm / 6 Comments / My So Called Crafty Life

Hello There! Welcome to day seven of my 14 Days of Love special! Today I have a super fun project for you! I am going to show you how to add a reverse applique heart to a plain tee to show your love for Valentine’s Day. Reverse appliques are really easy! You can do them by machine or by hand. I chose to do mine by hand. I think it gives the tee more of a sweet feel. You can use solid or patterned fabric. I used vintage sheeting.

Here’s What You Need:

*Tee Shirt

*Sweet Fabric

*Lightweight interfacing

*Disappearing ink Marking Pen

*Embroidery Floss

*Needle

*Embroidery Hoop

*Sharp Small Scissors

*Heart Shape Cutout (I just drew a heart onto some cardstock and cut it out, you could print one on cardstock as well if there is a shape you really like too)

Instructions:

The first thing you want to do is cut a small piece of fabric a few inches larger than your heart. Iron your interfacing onto the wrong side of the fabric. Trace your heart onto the fabric with your template and marking pen. Inside the heart write the name you want to be on the heart. Put your fabric into your hoop. Thread your needle with the floss color of your choice. Now stitch the name. I used a simple back stitch, but you can use a satin stitch as well. Once you have embroidered the name knot the end and clip the excess thread. Now, decide where you want to have your heart. Mark the spot and turn your shirt inside out. Trace your heart on the wrong side of your fabric. Now lay your fabric with your right side of your fabric onto the wrong side of your tee where marked. Sandwich the tee and fabric into the hoop. Now, stitch around the heart you drew, making sure that the right side of the sleeve has the right side of the stitching. Once you have stitched your heart down, finish it off with a knot and clip threads. Trim the excess fabric around to about a quarter inch around the heart. It should now look like a patch on the inside, and the outside should look like an embroidered heart. Now snip into the top layer of your tee and cut the fabric all the way around the inside of the heart cutting close to the stitching. This will reveal the under fabric and you now have a reverse applique. Pretty cool, huh?

I absolutely ADORE these little tees! I made one for myself with Beau’s name on it and one for my sister Hannah with her dog Sadie’s name on it. You can do these appliques anywhere you like on your tee. I chose the sleeves. I think it is a sweet and fun way to show who you love, or who your valentine is. Now you can really wear your heart on your sleeve. I hope my appliqued tees have inspired some of you to give this a try. Be sure to tune in tomorrow for more Valentines fun! Until then…

Happy Crafting!