Doggie Collars

So I made a couple of little boy shirt pillows and cut the collars off of them.

hence, the doggie collar

Rocky is rocking his!

Buttons is looking sharp in his

Little Boy Pillows

Made a couple of pillows for 2 baby boys in the family.  Found small western shirts at a thrift store. Washed/ironed/cut'stuffed.  Simple as that.

Since the collars weren't part of the pillow, Rocky got them!

Perfect fits for him!

Cross

Loved the above pic I saw on Pinterest!  How pretty and easy is that!!  As an rv'er, we try to stay away from heavy decos, so I immediately started thinking of lighter-weight wood.  I didn't really want to by wood, saw, stain, etc.  So I made a trip to Goodwill and found some thin, plaque-like pieces with kitcheny pics on them.

see? much thinner

I pulled of the pix that I could and painted over with a metallic gold.  (Laura's wedding kinda turned me on to gold).  They dried pretty fast, but I let them sit overnight before adding the fabric.

I used 2 strips of fabric.  (the fabric I used was some I already had) Tho, I cut them the same width, I didn't do any hemming.  Just left raw edges.  I glued them to the back with Tacky Glue. I let that dry before shaping the cross. One thing I was excited about in using these plaques from Goodwill, is that they already had holes in the back for hanging.  What I didn't think about was that the holes would be covered up by the fab.  So I'll either have to punch a hole in the fabric where the hanging hole is, put and adhesive hanger on the back, use a little easel for display, or simply lean up against something like the pic above.

For shaping the cross, I simply used an embroidery needle and thread.  I didn't actually stitch anything, I just used the big needle to give me something to grab as I put the thread under the fabric. First I glued both pieces, let dry, then tied the thread around each strip to gather where I wanted it to gather.  I quickly learned that it's easier to glue ONE strip, let dry, tie, then glue the other strip and repeat.

just free hand cutting:  my motto: it doesn't have to be perfect!

pull wire to make gathers -- just hang onto other end so it doesn't come out

I googled how to make a scalloped flower out of wire ribbon.  Super easy. You can also do the exact same thing with non-wire ribbon by using a needle an thread, make wide stitches and don't tie at ends.

the 2 at the bottom have the flowers

Once I gather the flower, I used dabs of hot glue as I twirled it into a flower.  I hot glued the flowers or buttons or other embellishments onto the cross and let dry.

I found blingy embellishments at the craft stores in the jewelry-making area.  I also used some sparkly Christmas florals which only cost about a dollar.  I cut off what I needed to use and still have some left over to stick in a vase.

The ones that inspired me from Facebook are actually for sale on Etsy.  No instructions included since they are for sale, so I had to wing it and figure things out for myself.

I LOVE how these turned out!  I enjoy giving hand-crafted Christmas gifts to my peeps.  Super excited to share these! I'll probably be making more of these in the future.  David got some better pix for me below:

David chose this one for us to keep

Jakeb and Lacey got the leopard print cross

this one is made with scraps from Laura's wedding dress

September 2016:  I made 3 more while at Spearfish for this upcoming Christmas.

I used fat quarters that I found in Wichita at Hancock's going out of biz sale 

Spearfish, SD acorns, buckeyes, and spruce cones center the pine fabric cross

I used a metal flower that I found in the TX hill country last winter

buttons and beads for the center of this one

The same concept can be used to wrap gifts as I did below one Christmas.

Be Square!

Someone posted this on FB, and I thought it looked simple enough.

I found an inexpensive white frame, dabbled some gold metallic paint on it, and added some Christmas floral.  I attached with floral wire.

No need to attach a hanger to it.  Just put the frame on the hook.

And if you're right-brained like me, it even looks good whompyjawed!

Sondra got this one for her birthday!  (Photobomber!)

framed Frank!

this one is for me -- or maybe I'll share

Something Borrowed.......

I was inspired by the pix above as a little keepsake I could surprise Laura with to wear under one of the layers of her wedding dress.

I thought she could wear it under one of the layers of her wedding dress, not to be seen.  The penny would go in her shoe.

The blue bow is one of the tiny bows that her Grandma Mac made when she was still sewing.

I wrapped it up in a cute little box, tied with some of her gold wedding ribbon, laid it on the table in her "bride's room" at the Collins Bldg.  Then got busy with other details and FORGOT to give it to her. It did end up in her gift bags that she took with her on her honeymoon.  She told me later that she got such a kick out of the card I'd put on the box.  I'd written:

Something old
Something new
Something Borrowed
Something NEW
And a penny for your shoe

Ok, so I was in just a little bit of a hurry.  Thankfully, she thought it was "cute" and funny.

Ring Bearer Pillow

other than the garter, these are the materials I used

I'd been bummed that I was not in Texarkana to help Laura and Amy with the wedding preps.  So I was THRILLED when she asked me if I could make the ring bearer pillow while still in Wichita.  So excited that she trusts me enough to give it a try!  She told me to just pick an off-white, cream color and other than that I could do whatever I wanted.

Of course, I checked Pinterest for ideas and materials.  I needed satin and medium heat fusion for the fabric. Then I chose some tulle ribbon, and pre-made fabric and some skinny gold and maroon ribbons.

I ended up taking the maroon ribbon off, but I tied fake wedding bands on with the gold ribbon.

Laura seemed so happy with how it turned out!  Which made me so happy!. Our handsome little ring bearer, Jackson Lemley, asked Laura if he could keep it.   She was happy to pass that keepsake on to him. He is such a cool kid!

Boutonnieres

I was honored that Laura Lee asked me to make the boutonnieres for her wedding.  I bought some fake ones in KS, just in case.  I watched videos online before heading to Texarkana since this was my first try.  They make it look very simple.  And, actually, it was!  So the night before the wedding I made about a dozen.  Only needed 7, but Amy handed me a dozen roses and some baby's breath, so I went to town.

First, cut the stem as so.  Leave the green part under the bloom or the petals will fall off. (yes, I know this from my first try)

the floral wire (18) goes through the stem just under the flower

then bring it down and twist, then snip it to the length you'd like

wrap nice and tight with floral tape

add baby's breath and more floral tape, fold up at bottom


 

For a suit or tux lapel they may need 2 pins.  For a shirt, only one. (I watched videos on that, too)
Since I wasn't sure what they'd be wearing, I put 2 pins in each.

Gus getting pinned

Super happy with how they turned out and that I got to get a refund on the fake ones!