Hemp Bracelet

A few months back I saw someone demonstrate a way to tie up extension cords that I thought was just genius (see the technique here). Then today I realized I could apply the same method to make a bracelet and it came out pretty cute in just a couple of minutes.



If you'd like to make your own, here are the steps.

1. Create a loop in your string.



2. Feed the long end of the string into the loop, making another loop.



3. Pull the first loop tight to create a slip knot.



4. Feed the long end of the string into the loop to make another loop but do not pull it tight this time. Repeat this step to your desired length.



Because of the loops you will have a little play in the bracelet that will allow you to slip it on even if you knot the ends like I did but you could attach some jewelry findings instead if you would prefer. To get the look of my bracelet I just did the steps above with 4 strings at once (with hemp cord) instead of a single string. I estimate you can have this finished in less than 10 minutes.

Tissue Paper Stained Glass

Day 23/31:

We've been working on Erin's room a little bit at a time and today it was time to tackle some wall art. I cut a pile of squares from tissue paper in shades of blue and green to go with her color theme.



A heart taped to the bottom of the glass worked as my template so I knew where to glue down the pieces. I started with an outline, filled it in, and then went back and added extra pieces here and there to balance the colors.



Just a glue stick, tissue paper, and a frame is all this project requires.



I just washed the windows 2 days ago, I swear, but I think that's a bit of a losing battle these days, haha. Anyway, this gives you an idea of what it looks like with the light behind it which is really very pretty. It's a little softer than the colors of the wax paper/crayon stained glass and it's just the thing for the new girly bedroom.

Give Thanks Ornament

Day 21/31:

Today I tried playing with a little FIMO clay, some cookie cutters, and the metal punches. I quickly found that wrapping the punches with rubber bands to make the whole word at once was a lot easier than one letter at a time when I got ready to impress it into the clay.

And then this (words):



Plus this (cookie cutters):



Equals a quick thanksgiving ornament:

Wax Paper Stained Glass

Day 10/31:



A fun craft almost anytime of year is making fake stained glass with crayons and wax paper. You just lay down a sheet of wax paper, add crayon shavings, and top it with another layer of wax paper. Cover with a paper towel, lightly iron, and cut your shape out after it rehardens. Nice and simple.



It makes a pretty window hanging and the kids can do it, too. So I tried that this weekend and decided that, although really pretty, it didn't quite look like stained glass. Something was missing. See it there?



Yup, there aren't any lines on it. I started thinking about how to put lines on it and puffy paint (a sensation for almost every girl raised in the 80s) came to mind. Since my stash dried up somewhere around '95 I went to the store to get it and was bummed they didn't have any black or dark brown. But they did have gold so I decided to work with that.

To know where to put the lines I put my stained glass picture over the wax leaf and traced with a knife where the lines should go.



That left me with this:



Then I started outlining. I messed up on a couple of spots on the left and it made a mess but I just left it to dry and cut that part off later.



And it's stained glass! It does actually look fairly realistic and a friend that came over this weekend thought it was stained glass till I told her how I did it.



I also made a bat for fun. This might have turned out better with less crayon shavings (less crayon = more see through) but it was a good first try.





Have you tried making these before? Do you have any tips or tricks you found useful in the process?



also sharing this at:

Adhesive Felt Pumpkins

Day 4/31:

Wow, day 4 already! The kids and I got going on our next Halloween project today and had some fun.



In this house we love our non traditional pumpkins. Adhesive felt, pipe cleaners and miscellaneous bits are all fun for decorating and help us skip the mess of carving (which also means less clean up!).



We added a pipe cleaner halo to twist up some hair



And twisted them into a few easy curls



Strips of felt also hold on the pipe cleaner arms



This year we made Monster I and Kitty



And we made Monster II and Spider Pumpkin





Prior year pumpkins are here and here:

Butterfly Mobile

Day 3/31:

Inspired by the Heartland Paper mobile (found via Pinterest) I made one for Erin's bedroom makeover.



It's really very simple (Heartland paper has a step by step and a materials list so I'll let you click over there for the list). I cut out two butterflies for every one I wanted on a string so they could be glued together around the fishing line. So, each string has 5 butterflies but it's made from 10 punches.



I folded them a little using a straight edge (a butter knife in this case) so that the wings would stick up a bit.



I precut all of my butterflies and fishing line and then I started gluing them to the line. I didn't measure the distance but rather just eyeballed it to "close enough". The Elmer's glue Glue-All dries a little faster than the regular stuff and was perfect for this.



I ended up with 8 rows of 5 butterflies for the outside and 4 rows of 6 for the inside (but on the same size string).



For the metal ring on mobiles someone suggested buying a grease splatter shield from the dollar store and removing the middle for an inexpensive ring. It worked perfectly and was super cheap (does anyone know who said that because I can't remember which blog to give credit for the idea. I'll update this if someone knows). Next I tied the string onto my metal ring and then added bits of ribbon around the edges and to the fishing line across the middle. A little extra ribbon is perfect for hanging it and hides the tack that's in the top to hold it to the ceiling. It's so light that a single tack seems to be more than enough to keep it there.