DIY Color Blocked Cork Garland

 

 

 

This is a super fun project that can be changed with different embellishments and color palettes! The possibilities are endless..

Step 1. Gather up all of your supplies:

 

rotary cutter

cutting mat

large ruler

cotton string

painters tape

silver glitter

gold sequins

silver star confetti

leather hole puncher (or other small hole punch)

cork board

paint in various colors (grey, cream, gold. light grey)

silver glitter glue

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 2. Using the rotary cutter and ruler as a guide, cut the cork into 1 1/2 in strips. Then cut the strips into rectangle tiles that measure 2 1/4 in wide. You can decide how many rectangles you would like for your own garland. The one pictured has 18.

 

 

Step 3. Place pieces of tape with one edge along the center.

Make sure the center edge is pressed into the cork so that the paint doesn't creep underneath and cause a blurry line. (But if it happens, its ok!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 4. Apply paint to one half of the tiles and set aside to dry. Don't forget to get those edges!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 5. For the silver glitter tiles, apply glitter glue in an even layer. Then sprinkle on glitter while the glue is still wet then gently pour it off and tap off the excess. Set these aside and let dry thoroughly. If you like, you can cover the glitter with a clear coat to keep the glitter from rubbing off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 6. For those embellished with sequins: Apply white glue and carefully apply the sequins one at a time until the glue is covered. Be sure to avoid covering the tape with the sequins or else they will pop off when the tape is removed. If you have a hard time gripping the sequins, you may want to use tweezers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the ones embellished with the silver star confetti, apply a thick layer of glue with a paint brush and sprinkle on the stars in the same way as the glitter.

 

Step 7. Once all of the tiles are thoroughly dry, carefully peel off the tape and punch a small hole on either side. I found that punching the holes with the tiles pretty-side down keeps the painted/ glittered side intact.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 8. Thread string through the tiles using a large needle and arrange them as you like. A dab of glue on the back to keep them in place wouldn't hurt .

 

 

 

 

 

 

Voila!

 







 

 

 

 

 

Knitted Bandanas

I like pom poms. There I said it! The girly part of me loves those little fluffy poofs of cuteness and frankly I miss the days when it was ok for me to wear them on a daily basis.

Sadly I have passed the point where they are no longer really appropriate (unless I sneak one on top of a cute winter beanie!!).

SO, I thought they would be a fun addition to some new items I made for the littles to wear.

Super soft and bright!

 

 

 

Collages make me happy : )

 

And so does knitting little goodies with lots of love. For those knitters out there (its ok, don't be ashamed), sitting down and making something special with some lovely yarn can be one of the most relaxing things one can do all day. If you're following a simple pattern, you repeat it like a mantra till the piece is complete.

 

Its almost as relaxing for my mind as a good yoga class. You know, minus the tight shorts and face planting during crow pose.

 

And then when you are gazing upon your beautiful creation... ignoring the gaping hole you made in row 14... you can feel a sense of pride and accomplishment wash over you.

 

As a mom, there aren't many moments where I can see the fruits of my labor. Most of it goes unnoticed. Sometimes their results may not be apparent for months or even years.  Washing dishes, cooking, cleaning and helping with homework seems to just fade into this blur of grey mushy banal monotony at times.

 

 

Going with the grey blurry metaphor here.

 

 

 

I think most mommas are such fierce and fervent crafters because we crave that desire to have something in our hands as proof of our hard work. Something tangible, something we can look at and hold onto. Something we don't have to worry about psychologically ruining because we sent it to a time out or banned it from ipad time.

 

 

Crafting is also a reminder that we are more than just the doer of chores or wiper of baby bums. We are beings of creativity, innovation, vision, passion, generosity, and infinite patience.

 

 

I was totally kidding about that last one.

 

 

 

DIY Fabric Labels

While taking inventory of the supplies that I have left, I realized that I didn't have many more clothing labels left from the order I made with a fellow etsy seller. She made beautiful labels for me, but I decided to try my hand at making my own.

I have seen the technique of stamping cotton fabric tape and thought, hey why the heck not.

Supplies:

cotton stamping tape

screen printing paint

mini letter stamps

pinking shears

iron

paper towel

foam (scraps are fine)

 

 

I found the cotton tape and screen printing paint at Hobby Lobby, and the mini letter stamps at Michael's.

 

It was a lot of trial and error till I finally got the results that I wanted. Its always a good idea to test out your stamping technique before you go stamping your tape. That way you know how much pressure to use when applying paint, stamping, etc.

How To:

Step 1. Unravel and lay out the cotton tape about a foot out of the roll on a flat hard surface on top of a sheet of white paper to protect the surface you are using. Keep a moist paper towel sheet handy for any mishaps.

Step 2. Apply paint to the foam. Using your finger or something hard and flat, lightly press the paint into the foam.

Step 3. Carefully dab the stamp onto the paint-soaked-foam to get nice coverage on the stamp surface and gently but firmly stamp onto your cotton tape.

 **Tip** If you have ever used regular ink for your stamping, you usually press down with a fair amount of pressure to "ink up" the stamp to get a nice dark image. With the screen printing paint, DO NOT do this! It will just end up being a big mess! With this technique, start with a clean dry stamp, and carefully dab it onto the paint-soaked-foam. Dab it a few times to get a nice coating on the stamp surface. Then when you actually do stamp, don't push too hard, it will only spread the paint all over. Push down just hard enough to deposit the paint, maybe wiggle and rock it a little and voila!

Step 4. Repeat with other letters till your label looks awesome. Cut with pinking shears and carefully place label on another plain sheet of paper to dry in a safe place.

Step 5. Once they are all dry, carefully pick up the paper that they were drying on and bring them to the ironing board. Careful not to walk to quickly so they don't all fly off the paper! Not that it happened to me or anything.. heh.

Step 6. Using a low heat setting, iron the back of the labels for 30 seconds each being careful not to scorch them. This heat will set the pigment so it does not wash out during laundering. If you like, cover your ironing board with muslin or a light colored plain fabric to protect your ironing board.

Allow the labels to cool then flip them back over and admire your hard work! They are ready to be sewn on to your item. If you don't want to sew you could use fusible web ribbon and iron it on to your item.

For next time I may experiment with another brand of screen printing paint just to see if I get different results.

Good luck if you give this idea a try!

Let it Snow... Sort Of

Ok, so I live in south Texas where winter time gets cool, but never really all that cold. I hear that it snowed here once a long time ago, but I think it's more urban legend just to keep hopes alive for a white Christmas someday. Ha.

My oldest son loves to reminisce about Christmas past when we lived in Washington state where we went sledding and built snowmen in our back yard. It's been somewhat difficult for him to have to miss out on that now, but he is a natural optimist!

Not Texas...

To celebrate the first official day of winter break from school, we cut out snowflakes and made it "snow" in the boys' bedroom.

Its not exactly the same thing, but he said he thinks it looks cool. (His pun was intended, such a ham bone.)

A peek ahead: In the near future I will include a tutorial on how I custom painted those letters to look like vintage metal. SO easy and fun!

A Few Changes

So today has been a day of tweaking and bringing my page design that much closer to how I want it to look. Knowing me, the tweaking may never end. I think whenever you create something, you are the first one to find and obsess over the flaws that no one else really notices.

I messed around on Paint for the first time in years just to get a general idea of how I want my new logo to look. My plan was to bring it to a professional to have them work their magic on their expensive software to give me what I wanted. But I actually kind of like it the way it is...

I think I'll keep it.

Microsoft Paint... it's not just my toddler's babysitter (just kidding...).

First Things First

 

 

I am glad to finally be starting a blog for my shop SweetKandee. Its been a long time coming! I am actually in the midst of changing my logo and main page design, but I have been using that excuse to not start a blog for too long. No better time than the present, so say the sages.


My desire is to dedicate this blog to being a behind the scenes look at what goes into my shop items and the inspiration behind it all.


Of course this will involve some of my own ramblings from time to time. Hopefully some humor that's not just funny to me, and other random things that I find delightful, interesting or inspiring.

This is my little workspace. Its not much, but its my favorite place to daydream and create. I love my yarn and my collection of hand carved stamps from India. Having them on display inspires me and makes me smile. Hmm.. looks like there is a lot of empty space that should be filled with more yarn.

Feel free to follow me on Pinterest, my other obsession... er...  interest.

Thanks for checking out my page!