Tuesday, September 10, 2024

Festive Jute Decorative Wreath

Hello and welcome to our Creative Craft Hop hosted this month by Sara @Birdz of a Feather! We are delighted to have two hosts - Sara and Donna @ Modern on Monticello! They each take turns hosting every other month! Thank you ladies for hosting this awesome Creative Craft Hop! Coincidentally, if you're visiting from Sara @Birdz of a Feather, doesn't her Soda Can Bracelet look amazing! Sara is famous for creating the most unique and fabulous items!

My contribution to this months' Creative Craft Hop is a Festive Jute Decorative Wreath! It is quite a unique looking wreath! Made of two types of cording - jute and purple twine shaped into loops attached to a cardboard base! Easy to make but may be a bit tedious. I love listening to music while crafting especially when it requires repetitive steps! But I'm glad to share only a few materials are used to create this fun wreath!

Materials:

Cardboard (use any heavy duty parcel box)
Wood ring -14"/pan top -8"
Craft Knife/Scissors
Jute twine 5mm
Purple twine 4mm
Glue Gun/Glue Sticks
Mod Podge Matte

Disclosure I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, this post may contain links. I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you! The affiliate money I earn helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

How To:

Draw a big circle on the cardboard using a wood ring shape as a guide.

Cut out using a craft knife.

Use a small pan top to draw another circle inside and . . .

cut out.

This is your wreath form and base to add the twine loops!

To make the loops, I'm using jute and purple twine.

First cutting the twine into 7" strips and . . .

lining up together a jute, purple and jute strip to glue the ends together.

Then . . .

shaping the glued twine into a loop , , ,

crossing one end over the other and gluing in place.

Make lots of loops and begin gluing in place on the edge of the cardboard wreath form.

There are twenty-six loops glued to the wreath form.

Once the first row is done, begin gluing on the second row - overlapping the side edges of the first loops.

I managed to squeeze in twenty-six loops for the second row.

And began gluing on the third row!

Once all the loops were attached - I glued on a total of 73 loops, 52 for the first two rows and 21 loops for the last row - it was time to braid a piece to go around the circle at the bottom of the loops. To do this, measure around the circle and multiple that number two or three times. I'm sure you have realized that this is not an exact science so I'm improvising the length needed. Cut five cords - two purple and three jute.

This decorative braiding technique is by far the easiest for me to do:

1. Arrange the cords so there are two on one side and three on the other. Using five alternating cords - jute, purple, jute, purple and jute. Divide the group with two, jute and purple on the left and jute, purple and jute on the right.

2, Take the jute cord on the far right and cross over the two to join the two on the left. Now you have three on the left side and two on the right.

3. Take the jute on the far left and cross over the two to join the two on the right.

4. Take the purple on the far right and cross over the two to join the two on the left.

5. Take the purple on the far left and cross over the two to join the the two on the right.

6. Take the jute on the far right and cross over the two to join the two on the left.

7. Take the jute on the far left and cross over the two to join the two on the right.

8 Continue alternating the cords far right/left as before to braid the cords.

Once the length needed is braided, arrange around the circle. Where the two ends meet, paint Mod Podge on both areas to seal the braiding and let dry. Once the braid is dry, cut off the excess braiding.

Begin gluing on the braid using hot glue on top of the ends of the loop, covering any cardboard that may be exposed.

Until the area is . . .

covered with the braiding.

So unique and beautiful hanging on the door or . . .

use as a centerpiece as seen with my soda bottle candleholder! The wreath is very versatile!

I hope you enjoyed how I made my Festive Jute Decorative Wreath! In case you started viewing the creations from the bottom to work your way up, next is Cecilia @ My Thrift Store Addiction sharing her lovely Vintage Picnic Basket Glow Up! How cool is that!

Be sure to check out all of the talented bloggers sharing their awesome creations below:

Vintage Picnic Basket Glow Up

DIY Pumpkin Refresh

Free Fall Printables for Autumn Decorating

Witch Hat Door Hanger

Easy to Make Felt Pom Pom Acorns for Crafts

Apple Pie Banner

Fall Sign with Pumpkins and Leaves

Soda Can Bracelet

Festive Jute Decorative Wreath

Tuesday, September 3, 2024

Busted Canvas on Bottle Transformation

3:00 AM Gail @Purple Hues and Me Busted Canvas on Bottle, sustainable craft challenge blog hop, Transformation crafts 9 comments

Looks like everybody is jumping on the latest trend of making bust-out canvas crafts! The possibilities seems unlimited with what you can make! You can adapt the canvas or whatever you're using to "bust-out" to suit any theme, season, or holiday. While looking around Pinterest, I discovered that the bust out canvas design is not new. I found a couple of crafts dating back to 2016 and 2017. Back then I think it was called canvas shadow boxes but they look the same as what's out there now! You know what they say, "trends come and go and come again!" Can you imagine all the busted canvas creations we'll see between now and the end of the year? Anyway, I want to share my take on this busted canvas trend - with me using a bottle instead of a canvas frame.

It's something different and perfect for this month's Sustainable Craft Challenge Blog Hop hosted by Julie @Sum of their Stories! Welcome! This month's theme is Transformation! The challenge is all about sustainable crafting with a different theme each month! The projects must have some sort of a sustainable element to them. This could be an upcycling or recycling element, or something that reduces waste, uses leftovers, etc.

For this blog hop, I am going to show you how I transformed a bottle I saved from the trash into a gorgeous bust out candleholder! Here's what I did:

Supplies:

Bottle - not sure what was in the bottle before I took off the label but I think it was syrup if I had to guess
Canvas
Staple remover or tack lifter
Paper napkins
Measuring tape/ruler
Parchment paper
Mod Podge Matte/brush
Ziplock bag or plastic wrap
Scissors
Loctite glue/Quick Hold
Rubber bands
Craft knife
Hot glue gun/glue sticks
Ribbon 2.5" wide
Small velvet pumpkin
Candle

How To:

Start with a clean bottle. As I mentioned in the supplies list, I'm not sure what was in this bottle before I took the label off and cleaned it. I usually clean my recycled items before I put them in my stash bags. I don't want to create a nesting area for any bugs or insects. I love the shape of the bottle and since it's basically flat on two sides, it would be perfect to use with canvas.

Plus I had a few stretched canvases in my stash to use on the bottle.

But first, I had to used a staple remover to pull out the staples from the canvas frame.

Once the canvas was removed from the frame I cut the folded canvas sides off, leaving a nice smooth surface to use.

Shown are the three napkin designs that will be used on the bottle and canvas.

One section of this adorable pumpkin design will be . . .

cut out from the other pumpkin designs.

Then separate the printed layer of the paper napkin from the plain layers by tapping the corner of the napkin with your thumb and forefinger until the edge of the layers loosen to separate them.

To adhere the napkin design to the bottle, paint on a layer of Mod Podge.

Place the napkin (design up) down on top. In hindsight, I should have painted the Mod Podge on the canvas and then laid the pumpkin napkin on top. But either way works!

Use a piece of a ziplock bag or plastic wrap on top to smooth the napkin out over the bottle (sorry, I forgot to take a picture) Let dry and then add a layer of Mod Podge to seal.

For the next canvas - which will be the one to cut and "bust" out, I took the measurements of the bottle - the height, just from the base of the opening (12 1/2") and the circumference (6 1/2") of the bottle and cut a piece of canvas in those measurements from an old canvas frame I had in my stash. And I also cut the napkin design in the same measurements, too.

Apply a layer of Mod Podge to the flat canvas.

Carefully place napkin design on top. Lay plastic on top and smooth out any wrinkles and bubbles. Let dry.

Remove any excess napkin from the canvas using scissors.

Separate the layers (like before) of the third napkin design - the one that will show on the outside of the bottle.

Repeat the process of applying Mod Podge to the canvas which is actually the back of the canvas with the black and white plaid napkin . . .

and placing the napkin design on top. Smoothing out any wrinkles and bubbles using clear plastic. Let dry.

Wrap the decoupage canvas around the bottle and seal with a clear drying glue. I used a Loctite adhesive which stated to tape the glued area down until dry, but it was easier for me to use rubber bands instead. I didn't want to chance pieces of the napkin coming off using tape.

After I had glued the decoupage canvas on the bottle, I discover that the design was upside down - silly me!

Fortunately, the glue hadn't dried so I quickly and carefully removed the canvas and turned it right side up, adding a bit more glue, to close it and let dry. I did have to touch up a few areas that lifted up using napkin pieces that matched.

Once the canvas was dry, it was time to create the "bust-out" effect on the front. First, imagine cutting a canvas pattern that basically looks like a large asterisk.

Using a sharp craft knife, gently cut a small X and then a cross over the X. Make sure to only cut through the canvas and not the image below it.

Then use scissors to extend the lines to open the canvas.

Cut top, sides . . .

and bottom . . .

to reveal . . .

the pumpkin design underneath.

Since the top edges of the first decoupage napkin was showing, I needed to extend the napkin design of the busted canvas. Using the same decoupage technique of brushing on Mod Podge and . . .

extending the napkin design with a matching napkin piece. Smoothing it out using clear plastic. Let dry.

Secure the busted triangular edges around the canvas using hot glue!

It was then time to decorate the busted canvas with a bow and other embellishments! Make a four loop bow with tails that match the design of the busted napkin.

To give the bow tails a finished look called dove-tail, fold the ribbon ends together and using scissors, cut at an angle from the fold to the end corner.