Re-Purposed Spoon Wind Chime

For these I used sterling silver.. I found some beautiful pieces at Salvation Army in Auburn and they also had a 40% off sale.. ten assorted pieces for $2.00 not bad!
Ingredients: Four Silver Spoons, 1 Silver serving fork, 16 gauge silver plated wire, silver chain link, assorted silver beads.
Tools: Dremmel with drill bit ,cut off wheel, and grinder attachments, needlenose pliers, wire cutters, hammmer, piers.

Hammer the spoons flat, I polished them up a bit later as well with the polishing wheel on the dremmel

To hang them I used a serving fork, I didn't like the tines so I cut them off, then drilled holes for the spoons to hang from.

I then used the cutting wheel of the dremmel to form new tines and bent then in opposing directions

Here they are all bent. I then used the grinding attachment for the dremmmel and rounded and finished the corners.

Next drill holes at the top of each spoon

I used 16ga silver plated wire looped through the hole at the top of the spoon and spiraled it with my pliers.  I also added a silver spacer bead just for fun to each side

 

I then added two and a half inches of silver plated chain to the loop spiral and attached it to the hanger with another loop and also added another bead (dragonfly) just for fun.

 

Hanging

If you click to open the larger version of this photo you can see I crossed wires down the length of the fork, I liked the way this looks and used a loop a the top to hang the chimes, also making a spiral at the base just for pretty factor.

Here is a close up of the connections.

I am very happy with how this turned out and now am in search of more silverware!!

Fingerless Mitts

Last year I was treated with the most wonderful pattern for Fingerless Mitts at Craftzine.  I have since added embellishments to the pattern, including embroidery, felting and buttons.  They have evolved.  Feeling the cooler evenings the past few days has encouraged me to once again pull out the felting foam and needles. 
All of the gloves are made from re purposed material. Leggings, sweaters and t shirts.
The pattern is simple and fun to work with so here is the link at craftzine in case you would like to make some of your own.. Craftzine Fingerless Mitt Pattern

 Made from a heavy weight t-shirt.. felted butterfly and catapillar

 Re-purposed leggings, felted pedals, embroidered stem and button

The felting on this one was done off the fabric and sewn on.

 This is the first one I made from a re-purposed light weight cardigan

Beary Bear

I made this bear for my friend Marsha after she had some dental surgery.  I have never had so much joy making something for anyone... she takes Beary everywhere and takes these lovely photos of him.  Love you Marsha.. and love that Beary has such a cool awesome Mom!

The Beary Photos.... By Marsha

Message Board

Alexis and I made this message board for Makayla's room today. I didn't take step by step photos, but these are pretty simple to do.
We started with a stretch canvas, these can be done on a cork board as well.
Place a inch thick layer of cotton batting on top of the canvas.  Cut fabric about an inch and a half larger on all sided.  Stretch fabric over batting/canvas... stretch tight doing one side at a time... use a staple gun to do so.
Using ribbon first place a piece diagonally from corner to corner, place another piece every five inches going in both directions.  Connect to back of fabric using a staple gun.
Where ribbon intersects sew a button .. Sew button through all layers, including canvas.. this is a little tricky where the wood is for support down the middle for larger a canvas  (this one was 4th by 3 ft)
Secure well... We also put a dot of hot glue on all of the knots in the back where we sewed the button for a little extra security.
The fabric, colors, and buttons match her room beautifully..

(click for larger image)

Re-Purposed Spoon Cameo

Pick up a cheap spoon or two.. no need for the good ones since it will be covered by an image.

Flatten the spoon, I use a ball-peen hammer and for an anvil the head of an old awl.  Hammer until it is flat, flat, flat...

Place the Flattened spoon in a vise and remove all but about an 1”-1”1/4 of the handle (I use a dremel with a cutting wheel)

 While the spoon is still in the vise use pliers to bend the remaining handle towards the back of the spoon, making a loop for whatever you want to use to hang this from.

Find an image you like, (post cards work well) and trace the spoon then cut out the image. Glue the image to the spoon. I use mod podge, it loves paper and dries quick.

  Once the paper is dry use sandpaper to finish edges and also sand the image very lightly to give a worn effect. Next mix up a little acrylic paint.. for this one I used a little yellow, brown and red.. diluted it with a bit of water and painted over the image, you may want to dab (LIGHTLY) to remove any excess and get the effect you  like. I may then sand a little more/paint a little more until I am happy with the image.

  Finish with clear coat.(I use angus clear finish.. just what I have.. any you like will do) give it many coats so the image stays clear and safe.

Add something to hang this on your neck with and your done!

These are in various stages of finished.  The first only has the image glued onto the spoon, second has been sanded and painted, third just needs another coat of clear and the fourth is ready to wear.
Add your own ideas, questions are welcome and most importantly ...Have fun with this!

 Three more completed

Creating a Yarn Bomb with LED lights

This is my fifth yarn bomb and first with LED lighting .. I am including instructions on how to create the lighting effect.

 Back of where the flowers will be placed on Knitted strip... some of the ingredients.. Conductive Thread, LED's with leads bent, battery holder, coin cell battery.

 Crochet flowers sewn onto knitted strip

 Small piece of muslin sewn to back.. because sewing onto loose weave knitting sucks..

(there are two lights on one battery holder) Once the muslin is in place sew with conductive thread from the positive lead on one LED to the positive on the battery holder and then to the other positive lead on the second LED. Repeat same process for Negative leads and battery holder.

 Place battery in holder.. the "on and off" is just taking the battery out.. no need for a switch in this case for what I am doing with this... but a switch would be easy to add

 And they light up! To make the LED's easier to sew I bend the positive leads in a square pattern and the negative in a spiral.. then they don't get mixed up..(see the first picture and look closely at the LED's unattached)

 Lights in the dark...

 All six flowers lit up...

Publish Post

Lavender Dryer Bags

Lavender is out in abundance this time of year. It smells like heaven.  About a year ago I purchased some lavender dryer bags at Trader Joes.  Toss them in the dryer and all year your clothes, towels, sheets come out smelling like summer. Inspecting the bag I realized how easy it would be to make my own.

In this step by step I used Spanish Lavender, but the English is a far better choice and I have since made the bags with it.

They last through about a dozen washings and I keep some dried lavender in a canning jar for later in the year when lavender is not in bloom.

 Cut Muslin into 3X3 squares.. I used Pinking sheers so I didn't have to finish the edges...

Go Pick some lavender.. NOW .. It is in bloom all over.....

 Put about six or seven blooms in the middle of one of the squares ( or a good few tablespoons of dried)

 sorry, blurry... Place second square on top of the lavender and first square and pin.

 Sew closed...  Now they are ready  to toss in the dryer and tumble with your laundry!