Think Crafts Blog – Craft Ideas and Projects – CreateForLess

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

In the last few weeks, my summer flowers have begun to fade and the mums are starting to make a showing in my garden. Fall is on the way. From one of the windows of our house we have been watching tiny, bright yellow birds feast of the shriveling heads from our row of sunflowers. It’s been so much fun watching them flit and fly around the plants that I decided to spread the wealth around the house so that we had a view form every window with these sunflower head feeders.

If you don’t have sunflowers growing in your yard, you can sometimes find them through crafts stores, florists or even your local farmers market.

Here’s what you need:

Two sunflower heads per feeder
Floral wire
Ribbon
Needle-nose pliers
Wire cutters
Embroidery needle

1. Use the wire cutters to trim the stalk of the flowers back as far as you can.

2. Cut a 12 inch piece of wire and thread it through the back of one of the flowers. If the wire is bending, use the needle to make a hole in the flower before you push the wire through. Use your pliers to pull it out the front side of the flower and then thread it back through to the back about 1/4 of an inch over from where the first hole is.

3. Using the same wire, repeat the process with the other head so that the two flowers lie back to back.

4. Pull the wired tightly and twist together to secure. Trim ends.

5.  Thread the ribbon between the two heads below where the wire connects them. Bring the two ends of the ribbon up over the top of the flowers and tie a knot just at the edge of the flower heads. Tie another knot in the ribbon about 8 inches up, leaving a loop in between knots.

6. Hang from a tree near a window and watch the birds flock!

By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog “Coffee Pot People”.  

I love art in the garden, and for a long time I’ve wanted a gazing ball. Why can’t I make one? I wondered just a day or two ago. I decided to give it at try, and take you along with me!

My materials were few:

• A plain, round light globe, vase, jar, or other clear sphere
• Spray paint in shiny metallic silver or gold

First, true confession: I bought two spherical light globes for this at a thrift store, but they disappeared! They would actually be my first choice for the gazing balls, but I did have a small, round vase and a large, perfectly round, jar—no flat spot anywhere, except for where the lid screwed on. Use what you have; it doesn’t even have to be round, as long as it’s a shape you like.

The instructions are as simple as the list of materials. Make sure your sphere is perfectly clean. Protect your work area, and/or work outside. Choose the color you want for your gazing ball, and spray paint the inside of the sphere. Be patient and don’t spray too much at a time or the paint will run. Just short bursts of paint will do it, overlapping until the glass is completely covered.

My spheres aren’t quite a shiny and mirror-like as I’d hoped they’d be, but I do think they look pretty great in the bird bath against the fence. I added a white light globe to the grouping, and have been enjoying the sight of them.

You could also dazzle them up even more by painting a water-proof glue on the outside of your sphere and sprinkling on glitter, in either a matching or contrasting color. I’m contemplating a swirl of gold glitter on the silver ball…What do you think?

By Crafts-a lot Contributor, Mable who is an avid reader of craft blogs & magazines and has aspirations to improve her crafting skills. 

It’s June and there are blooms everywhere! I live in the Northwest where it’s green most of the year, so it’s raining most of the year… I don’t mind the rain because it makes our trees, grass, and flowers so pretty. There’s no wonder why Portland is the City of Roses.

It’s almost July and it’s still been pouring here! Since I’ve been inside away from the rain,  I made these easy flowers to decorate for summer. More importantly to decorate me! All you need to decorate yourself for summer is…

Organza fabric
Scissors 
Beacon 3-in-1 Adhesive 
Lighter
Beads or rhinestones 
Felt
 Pin back, head band, bobby pin, hair clip (anything you’d like)

I started by cutting lots of different sized circles from the organza, the largest had a 3″ diameter to the smallest at 1/2″. Since a flower isn’t a perfect circle, it’s not necessary to trace, just wing-it. I stacked the circles on top of each other, so the bottom is biggest. The next circle is a little smaller, until you get to the smallest circle on top. Each flower has about 5-6 circles of organza.

Next I lightly ran a lighter around the edges of each circle so the fabric melts and starts to curl.  Once you have curled all the edges of the circle layers, sew them together and use a bead for the center. You can accent with rhinestones or buttons or feathers…

To attach the flower onto your hair clip or pin, glue a piece of felt on the back. I attached my handmade flowers to a headband, a hair tie, a clip and a pin back. I also added a flower to card I mailed to my mom. They are so easy to make and can be used to decorate anything!

I sewed a flower onto a hair tie to accent a pony tail

A few of my favorites!

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

The beginning of June, in our house, signals, not just the start of Summer Vacation, but also the kick off to our families birthday season. All four of us, plus the dog, have summer birthdays. And, thankfully, the one who requires the most over the top birthday (that would be my little princess) comes first, so I have almost a years worth of birthday energy stored up to deal with all the pink and fluff and dresses and glitz that my own little Fancy Nancy deems necessary.

This year we are planning a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, which opens things up for all sorts of fun, including these puff balls. The perfect thing to hang from the ceiling or scatter over the table to add a little Wonderland to the scene, I like them so much, I might just recycle them into a decorations for my office.

Here’s what you need

8-12 sheets of tissue paper per flower
Floral wire or a heavy duty stapler
Scissors 

How full your puff looks depends on how many sheets of tissue you use. Eight full sheets makes a looser, flower looking puff with a slightly open center, 12 sheets creates a more solid, dense puff. You can also scale these down to make different sizes for a more varied look.

Layer all your tissue into one, even pile. From the narrow end, begin folding in an accordion  fold, 1 1/2 inch wide folds for full size sheets, 1/2 inch for quarter sized sheets.

Once you have folded all the way up, wrap a length of floral wire or punch a few staples into the center of the strip and cut the ends to a point (rounded or straight ends would look cute as well.

Fan out the sides and carefully (the tissue is very easily torn) pull up one layer at a time until you are almost halfway through the layers. Flip over and repeat, doing the last few center layers at the end to ensure an even look.

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

So this is one of those rare combinations of a project that boys will love (it involves pounding, what boy, well what kid doesnt love pounding away at things with a hammer) and a result that is just about guaranteed to become fabulous keepsake or gift.

The idea behind this is to literally pound the color out of flowers and into paper. Because you want as much color to soak into the paper as possible, use good thick drawing paper or even better, watercolor paper for the project. The possibilities don’t stop at book marks either, note cards, book covers and framed art are all great uses for pounded flower prints.

Here’s What You Need

Watercolor or good drawing paper
Paper towels
Brightly colored flowers (pansies gave the best results)
Hammer or rolling pin
Hole punch
Scissors
Ribbon 

Lay the flowers out on a surface that can take a little abuse, a cutting board works perfectly for this, and cover first with a sheet of paper and then with a paper towel.  

Gently (well, not too gently, but not so hard that the paper gets holes or shifts) tap the paper with the hammer or end of a rolling pin, making sure you cover all of the flower.

The color should start seeping up through the paper towel and if you peek under it you should be able to see the outline of each flower on the back of the paper.

Once you’ve pounded enough, flip the paper over and carefully brush off the remains of the flower. Allow the paper to dry before cutting to size and, if you like, adding a ribbon to the top to help mark your place.

By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog “Coffee Pot People”. 

‘Tis the season—Spring, when flowers burst into bloom, birds sit in trees crying, “Mine! My tree! Mine!” and intrepid souls flock to home improvement stores. Sometimes the things they rip out and replace are even better treasure than the new items.

For instance, this discarded bathroom light fixture, which we’re going to turn into a bird feeder.

What you’ll need to do this is:

• A light fixture similar to the one above (Find it at your local thrift store or salvage center—Rebuilding Center or ReStore, here in Portland.)
• Paints
• One cup or mug for each socket  of the fixture, matching or not
• One old-style glass fuse for each socket
• One small, fluted, tart pan/tin for each socket
• Glue (E-6000 is my favorite for everything but plastic or paper.)
• Carbon paper or Alphabet stickers
• DuraClear, or other clear, protective coating

First take your light fixture and remove all the wiring, but leave the sockets where the light bulbs screw in. Protect your work surface, and paint the entire thing white. Let dry. For a more rustic, vintage look, take a bit of sandpaper and knock some of the paint off the edges.

Using paints that coordinate with the cups you’ve chosen, sponge or stipple the arms of the fixture and around the edges to form a border:

 While the paint is drying, spread the fluted sides of the tart tins out until they’re wide enough to cover the tops of the light bulb sockets.  Glue the glass top of a fuse to the inside center of each tin. Let dry thoroughly.

The fuses fit light bulb sockets perfectly, so you’ll be able to unscrew the cups and take them down to clean and refill.

Time to do the lettering.  I put “Birdie Buffet” on mine; you might want to add your name—“Betty’s Birdie Buffet”, for instance—or name it something else altogether. Use rub-on letters, alphabet stickers, paint freehand, or do what I did—create the words using a program like Publisher, print them out, and trace them on using carbon paper, then paint them.

Add a bit of painted decoration if you like. When the paint is dry, coat all the painted surfaces with protective coating. Screw in the mugs, and you’re done with your Birdie Buffet!

By Kid’s Craft Contributor, Gillian from the blog “Dried Figs and Wooden Spools”.

Once upon a time I wore jewelry. Long, beady necklaces, dangly earrings, funky retro brooches. Then I had kids. Kids who wanted to be carried all the time and who loved to pull on earring (yowser!) strangle me with my necklace (gasp) or jab themselves with my brooch (Band-Aids anyone?) So these days I stick to bracelets and flower pins. Because, really, it’s hard to poke anyone’s eye out with a corduroy flower. 

And flower pins are easy to make. Which means that if I get bored of the one I’m currently sporting, or, say, someone small decides to repurpose it into a dollhouse decoration, another one is just a few snips away. 

The newest addition to my flower pin collection accomplishes two things, both of which needed to happen in my house. First, it finally puts to good use one of the (many) wool sweaters that I have accidentally washed in hot water but can’t bring myself to throw away. And second, being made of wool, make a nice, wintry compliment to my wardrobe, just in time for the cool weather to hit. 

If you don’t have a felted sweater handy (lucky you!) grab one at your favorite thrift shop next time you are passing. The size, shape and really condition don’t matter as long as you like the color. Bring it home and wash it on the hottest setting your machine has a few times until you can’t see the individual stitches anymore. Once it’s dry, your ready to start.

First, cut out a cardstock circle roughly the size you want the finished flower to be. Sketch petals inside the circle until you have a pattern that you like and carefully cut them out. Using the paper flower as a guide cut three (or more!) layers from your sweater.

If the sweater has a pattern, make sure you take that into consideration. The sweater I used had stripes that gradually darkened so I chose to cut the flowers out along the gradient so I would have different hued layers.

Because of the nature of the felted wool, the fabric won’t fray so you can cut very fine petals without the need for hemming. It also means that, other than a few stitches to tie the whole thing together, this is a no-sew project, always great in my book.

Stack the layers, adjusting their position to your preference and tack them together at the center with a few stitches. You can also put a few stitches into the backs of the top layer of petals to give the flower some extra dimension. Add a button on the top and a pin on the back and your set for winter.