{Recycled Patriotic Vase}

Hey, y'all!  The Fourth of July is almost upon us, and today I have a great piece of easy-to-make decor for your mantel, table, or that you could give as a hostess gift.  (I originally shared this post at Through the Eyes of the Mrs.)

To make this patriotic vase, all you need is some type of container you'd like to recycle and some patriotic colored ribbon, fabric, paper and embellishments.

I had a small peanut container to reuse.  You could use a tin can or even something like a Pringles container.  I also pulled some ribbon, fabric, and an embellishment from my craft stash.  Once you have all the supplies, you can transform your container in three easy steps.

1.  Cover the outside of your container with paper using double stick tape.  I simply used brown craft paper, but scrapbook paper would look pretty too. 2.  Attach ribbon and fabric to your container with hot glue. 3.  Attach some type of embellishment as your finishing touch.  I had a wooden scrapbook embellishment that I thought was perfect for the FOURth of July.  :) Then all that's left is to add flowers.

I cut some gardenias from my yard and put them in a small votive holder and put the votive holder in my vase.  (I wasn't sure if the peanut container was waterproof.)

Your decorated container doesn't just have to be a vase.  It would work great as a silverware holder too!  Before you throw away a container, take a good look at it to see if it's something that you can make into a festive piece of decor for your next get together.

{Simple, DIY Silver Earrings}

Hey, y'all!  I LOVE jewelry.  I think I probably have an addiction.  I buy it way too often.  But one of the great things about being a crafter is that I can make my own jewelry--often for pennies!  I always go for the bold, colorful earrings when I buy them, so normally when I try to find plain earrings to put on in the morning, I have a little bit of trouble.  I decided to make my own pair of plain earrings that will definitely be a "go-to" pair for me now.

These earrings are seriously super easy to make.  (Not as easy as my simple silver bracelet or maybe even my silver and suede bracelet, but still easy.)  You only need a few materials to make them.

The supplies above make one earring, so, of course, you need double of what's in the picture.  You need two earring hooks, two small silver hoops, two large silver hoops, and four jump rings large enough for your two hoops to fit in.  Because of the way jewelry supplies are sold, when you buy the supplies you'll have enough for several pairs of earrings.

To make the earrings, take a pair of jewelry pliers and open your jump rings.  Attach the large and small hoops to a jump ring and close the jump ring.  Then attach the small hoop to the earring hook with a jump ring and close.  Repeat for the other earring, and that's seriously all it takes to have a brand new pair of earrings!

I like big earrings (and I cannot lie...sorry...I just had to), and these earrings are big, but not obnoxiously big.

And since they're silver, they'll go with just about any outfit you wear.  So go ahead and make a pair for yourself.  You'll be happy you did...except for when your friends see them and like them, and you tell them you made them, and then you have to make them a pair, and then their friend wants a pair...

{Summer Fun Camp: Foam Stamped Shirt}

Hey, y'all!  I'm excited to be sharing another Summer Fun Camp craft and activity with you.  This week's theme is "It's a Zoo in Here!"  

For this week's craft, my niece and I made a cute animal silhouette T-shirt using a very simple technique.

For this project, you need a T-shirt, a print off of an animal silhouette, foam rectangles, fabric paint, double stick tape, and scissors.  To begin, lay out your T-shirt on a flat surface and put cardboard or poster board inside the T-shirt to make sure your paint doesn't seep through the front of your shirt to the back when you begin the project.

To make your foam stamp, you will need an animal silhouette (or really any silhouette).  I simply did a Google image search for "elephant silhouette," and I printed out one that I liked.

Cut out your silhouette.  Use double stick tape to stick the silhouette to a foam sheet and cut out a foam silhouette.  Stick the foam silhouette to a foam rectangle, and you have yourself a foam stamp.

Brush a coat of fabric paint onto your stamp.  (We used acrylic paint mixed with a fabric medium for our paint.)

Then lay your stamp face down on your T-shirt.  Press firmly on the back of your stamp and then carefully peel it away from your shirt.  If you don't get enough paint on your stamp and your silhouette turns out a little splotchy, you can use a paint brush to cover up the splotches.

Stamp as many animals as you want.  My niece chose several different animal silhouettes, and she insisted that the animals have eyes.  I added puff paint eyes to the silhouettes as the final step in the T-shirt decorating process.  (My niece wanted me to put googly eyes on them.  Lol.)

When your shirt dries, it's time to wear it, of course.  And what better time to wear it than while you participate in today's activity?

I created an animal memory game for all you campers.

This memory game is for your own personal use--you may not claim it as your own, resell, or redistribute it.  To download the file, simply click on the arrow with the line under it.  I created the file to be an 8x10.  To play the game, print out two copies of the file.  Cut out all the squares.  Shuffle all the squares and lay them out in rows face down.  You will need at least one other person to play the game with.  Take turns flipping over two cards.  If you get a match, keep it and take another turn.  If you don't get a match, place the cards back where they came from and allow the next person to go.  This continues until all the cards are paired.  Each player counts his/her pairs.  The person with the most pairs wins.

And...I have one more treat for you before you leave.  Each week of Summer Fun Camp, you have an opportunity to enter a fabulous giveaway.  This week's giveaway is from the awesome Hair Bow Company.  You have a chance to win a $30 gift certificate!

Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter the giveaway. 

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Good luck!

{Embroidery Hoop Art}

Hey, y'all!  Beth of Through the Eyes of the Mrs. has been working on creating an embroidery hoop art gallery in her home.  I saw her post about it on Facebook, so I offered to make her a couple of hoops.  She accepted my offer and requested one with the word hello and one with a pennant banner.  Last week on her blog, I shared the tutorial for the two embroidered hoops I created.  Today I want to share them with you lovely folks.

To begin, you need a few inexpensive materials.

You need embroidery hoops, fabric, embroidery floss, and a needle.  First, stretch fabric over your embroidery hoop.

To do that, loosen the screw on the outer layer of the hoop and remove.  Place fabric over the inner layer of the hoop and then replace the outer layer of the hoop.  Tighten the screw on the outer layer of the hoop, but make sure you pull the fabric taught over the frame as you do so.  Then it's time to decide what you want on your fabric.

For Beth's hello hoop, I printed that word on paper in a size I thought would look nice on the hoop.

I taped the word on the back of my hoop and held the hoop over a lamp.  I traced the word with a pencil.  (It is a bit awkward trying to figure out how to do all this at one time, but I promise it's not too hard.)

Then I simply backstitched the word with my needle and embroidery floss.  (If you don't know how to do a backstitch or other embroidery stitches, check out this post from Flamingo Toes.)

When I finished all the stitching, I hot glued the extra fabric on the edges to the back edge of the hoop.

Then just to add a little something-something to the hoop, I hot glued ric-rac around the outside.

I think the hello hoop turned out really cute.  I also created the pennant banner hoop Beth requested, as you can see in the photo.  (I covered the outside hoop of the pennant banner one with strips of fabric.)

For a very small amount of money and a little time spent stitching, you too can have cute embroidery hoop art.  Or you can make a few to send to a friend like I did.

{Great Gatsby Quote Printable}

Hey, y'all!  Do you remember that sneak peek last post of the "something else" I sent Jess from Spool and Spoon?

Remember I promised to share it with you this week?  The time has come.  I told you that Jess, my Karing Card Club partner, loves The Great Gatsby, so to go along with the art deco inspired card I made her, I also sent her a little printable featuring a quote from the book.

I think the quote is beautiful.  (As an English teacher, I love words!)  I tried to make sure that the printable had an art deco look by using the damask pattern in the background and the scroll-y things in the corners.

And guess what?  You can download the printable for yourself for free!  You can put it on your inspiration board.  If you're an English teacher like myself, you can hang it somewhere in your classroom.  Or you can use it as decor for a Great Gatsby party.  :)

Feel free to download the print for your own personal use--you may not claim the image as your own, resell, or redistribute it.  To download the printable, simply click on the arrow with the line under it.  I created the printable to be a 5x7.  To attempt to print it any other size, do a print preview to ensure the entire image fits in the size you want to print it.

Enjoy!

{Summer Fun Camp: Felt Bracelets}

Hey, y'all!  Welcome to day day two of Summer Fun Camp!

I hope that you're enjoying camp so far and that you aren't getting too homesick.  Just kidding.  ;)  Today, I have a very fun craft to share with all you campers.

To make these felt bracelets, the main supply you need is felt sheets.

You will also need fabric glue (I used Fabri-Tac.), velcro strips, and scissors.  The first step to making your bracelet is cutting a felt strip.  

To determine the length of your felt strip, measure your wrist and add two inches to the measurement.  For example, my wrist measures six inches, so I cut an eight inch long strip of felt.  The width of my strip was two inches, but if you're a tiny camper, you may want to make your strip and bit narrower.  Then it's time for the fun part of the craft: creating embellishments for your bracelet.

I cut two thin strips of gray felt to go on the edges of my bracelet, and I also cut a flower shape out of blue felt and center for the flower out of yellow felt.  When you finish cutting your embellishments, glue them to the strip using fabric glue.  All that's left then is cutting and attaching the velcro.

If your velcro comes in two long strips like mine, attach the two strips and cut a piece the size of the space between your two small strips of felt.

Separate the velcro pieces and use the fabric glue to glue a velcro piece to each end of the bracelet on opposite sides.  To understand what I mean, look at the photo above.  There's one piece of velcro on the decorative side of the bracelet and one on the non-decorative side of the bracelet.  When your glue is dry, your bracelet is finished.  :)

I made two bracelets.  The zebra one is cute and girly.

The lightning bolt one is something I think a super hero would appreciate.

The bracelets are only limited by your imagination, though.  :)  

And now on to the day's activity!

At camp, you tell stories around the camp fire, right?  Well, this activity involves that.  When I was younger, I loved fill-in-the-blank stories.  Mad Libs.  You know the ones I'm talking about--a person asks you to list a place, thing, animal, etc, to fill in the blanks of a story before reading you the story, of course.  Then you read the story.  I always thought the stories that resulted from this little activity were hilarious.  (I did turn out to be an English teacher and lover of words, though, but hopefully I'm not the only person who enjoys this activity.)

Here's a fill-in-the-blank story I created for you campers to have fun with.  To play along, have someone give an answer for all the items in red and fill in his or her answers in the story.  Then read the completed  story aloud and giggle at how silly or nonsensical it turns out.  Once you get the hang of it, you can create your own fill-in-the-blank stories to have fun with.  You can download the above file {HERE} so that you can easily print it out. 

And before you get busy crafting and giggling at your silly story, you must enter the giveaway for this great Craft Prize Pack from Craft Project Ideas!

It's easy to enter through the Rafflecopter widget below.

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Have fun crafting, campers!  And don't forget to visit Craftiments tomorrow for day three or Summer Fun Camp!  :)