Quickie Project of the Week: Book Page Frame

I decided to make the project I finished on Sunday the quickie project of the week. It took me a little longer than the usual quickie (30 minutes). I spent about an hour on this project. But some of that was due to not being in a hurry (a.ka. watching t.v. while crafting) and drying time between coats.

We've all seen the book page wreaths (and if you haven't check out Living with Lindsay's tutorial). I found this paper mache frame at the thrift store and thought it would look great Mod Podged with book pages. I think this would work nice on any wide frame.

Supplies:

Frame of any kind

Old book (we are ripping pages here, so don't use a good one!)

Mod Podge

Acrylic Paint (optional)

Here's what I started with:

I used a foam brush to spread Mod Podge over a section of the frame. Then I took my book pages (already torn from the book and then torn in half) and started laying them on the frame. It may requires some smoothing out, depending on your frame. I also ripped some of the pages into smaller chunks and laid them on top for a more pieced look. Here's an in progress shot:

I also alternated the way I laid down the pages so the words were facing different directions to provide a bit more visual interest.

After I got the frame completely covered and let it dry a bit, I put another coat of Mod Podge over the whole thing and let it dry. When that was done, I decided it needed a bit of color. You might look at yours and decide it's perfect the way it is. That's why this next step is optional.

I took acrylic paint (barn red) and dry brushed it over the top of the frame (dry brushing is just taking most of the paint off the brush on a scrap before putting it on the actual piece). Here it is drying:

All Done!

This project turned out great! I might have to make more of these and do a display wall. This frame would look great with a picture in it or empty. In fact, a display wall of empty frames decorated like this would be fab!

Happy Crafting!

Baby Blanket #1 Finally Finished!

Okay, so I've been promising to show you this for awhile now and I'm just getting to it. Sorry! I can only hope that showing you now makes up for it. I mentioned awhile ago that I was working on a blanket in my boy color scheme (black, red and white). I struggled a bit with the last seam on it, but I finally finished it today. It's a rag quilt. I loosely (very) followed a tutorial like this. (I can't find the exact one I used anymore.) Here's the final result:



(I just realized how narrow it looks in this pic. It is not that narrow, just my ugly camera skill rearing its head again!) I love how this turned out! I didn't follow the tutorial exactly in that I just used one large piece of batting in the middle and one piece of red minky for the back. I tacked the batting to the front piece before sewing on the back. Here's what the back looks like:



Here's a close-up of the front so you can see the "rag" seams and the fabric:



All the squares are cotton flannel. I used natural cotton batting for the middle and minky (blend) for the back. Once I was done sewing everything together, I washed and dried it to get the rag look on the seams. I kinda wish I would've sewn it together with individual squares on the back as well, but live and learn I guess.

This turned out so cute! I can't wait to get started on my next project! (Again, going overboard and getting ahead of myself here!) I bought this Michael Miller panel:



It's from the "At First Sight" line. I'm not sure if I'm going to do another blanket, or something else entirely with it. If I do make a blanket, it's just going to be a lightweight one without any lining/batting in the middle. What do you think I should use it for?

Happy Crafting!

More Baby Projects

I thought I would show you some of the stuff from my 50 project list. First I sewed a baby blanket for my friend.

The front is made with four squares of blue chenille (recycled from an old bedspread) and a chocolate brown velvet. I used satin binding around the whole thing. (babies love the texture of this!)

Back with just chenille:

I also made a boatload of onesies for my little one. Whether I have a boy or girl, I have onesies I can keep and some I can give away as gifts.

Remember this one:

Well, Hubby fixed my sewing machine (Hurray!!) so I was able to add the ruffles to the butt:

How cute is that?

I added a bow to this one:

I appliqued a few with felt. Tow truck:

Cowboy boot:


This next one, I'll probably add something else to, but I thought the iron on was too cute to pass up:

Whew! Now that I've shared these projects with you, I don't feel like such a slacker. Technically, this counts as 2 of my 50 projects so far. I'd better get cracking if I want to get all 50 acomplished by the end of the year! I should have another one of those projects done tonight. I'm making a rag quilt for the baby and I only have to sew on the back and I'm done with that one.

Here's the dilema on that: We are not finding out what we are having. I have two very distinct color choices as far as the nursery goes: boy = red, black and white and girl = gray and yellow. So, I'm getting ahead of myself by doing anything for the baby's room this far in advance. I decided to make a few things to tide myself over and whatever I don't end up needing will either get given away as gifts or sold. (The current WIP is in the boy color scheme of red, black and white.) Hopefully, I'll have pics of that to share with you tomorrow along with a link to a tutorial and additional tips on how I made mine.

Happy Crafting!

50 Projects in 2010

So, I am pretty addicted to the site known as Craftster.org. It's a great community of crafters who post on variuos boards about the projects they do. It also has a great swap system, where crafters from around the world can exchange crafted goods. I am frequently involved in swap or two over there.

Towards the end of last year, I became busy with this blog and Twitter and Etsy and didn't post much over on Craftster. This last couple of weeks, I've found myself sucked back into all the great stuff that's available over there.

One of those things is a craft-along board under the topic 50 projects in 2010. Check it out here. The premise is simple. You make a list of 50 projects that you want to complete by the end of the year. You post your list and then occasionally post your project on completing that list. I don't have a full 50 items on my list yet. (I'm leaving room to add projects throughout the year.) but here's what I have so far:

Stuff in bold is done, Stuff in red is a work in progress
1. Crib sheets (3-4 sets)
2. Baby blanket/quilt for my little one
3. Baby quilt for friend
4. Shirt for myself (already have pattern and fabric)
5. Dress for myself (already have pattern and fabric)
6. 3D blocks for baby out of fabric
7. Magnets for office board
8. Apron for me
9. Pillows (at lease 5-10 to sell)
10. Knit something (been meaning to learn this for years)
11. Finish wedding scrapbook (a year and a half later...)
12. Embroider something (need to learn this too.)
13. Sew a plushie of some kind
14. Infinity dress for myself
15. Recover dining room chairs
16. Recover club chairs from living room?
17. Window hanging for nursury
18. Memo/message board with shutters
19. crochet baby blanket
20. Make at least 10 gifts (birthday, holiday, whatever)
21. T-shirt quilt with old school shirts
22. Finish crocheting Mom's large doily (started this several years ago)
23. Felt some soap
24. Try wet felting something (scarf maybe?)
25. Needle felt a 3D object
26. Carve a rubber stamp (been wanting to try this)
27. Redesign logos for all of my stuff (blog, Etsy, etc)
28. Make some Rapunzel scarves with yarn stash (at least 2)
29. Make book page wreath
30. Learn to crochet with wire (jewelry)
31. Finally finish organizing craft room
32. Decorate onsies for the baby

So far that's a pretty good list. I have two projects done, so my total for the year so far is 2/50 (at least as far as the list goes!). I will be posting pics of the finished items later today (and maybe a sneak peek at the wip).

I thought I would share my list here as well to encourage those of you out here in blogland to join in the fun! Come up with your own list of projects to finish throughout the year. It doesn't have to be 50. You can participate in this craft-along by joining in on the fun over at Craftster, or simply put your list on your blog. Let me know if you're joining the fun. If enough people decided to join in, we may be able to make this into a linky party!

Happy Crafting!