Monday, December 13, 2010

Burlap Mini Stocking Garland

I dug out some homespun fabric a couple of weeks ago and got this idea to cut ribbons of homespun and pleat it. I just cut it into long strips and used my thumbs to flip the fabric under as I stitched down the center. Then I pulled some of the threads off of the unfinished edges to give it a lightly fringed edge.

My downstairs Christmas tree. This little Alpine tree is a favorite of mine. I wired eucalyptus to the branches and have been playing around with different ideas for decorating it this year.

These burlap mini stockings are pinned to a jute clothesline with mini clothespins. I saw a cranberry garland at Donna's house over at Funky Junk Interiors and I am pretty sure I am going to have to add one of those to the tree this week. Wonder if I could talk the kids into stringing those for me?

I got so excited about the pleated ribbon that I had to make some table runners with pleated ribbons too.

Then I tried pleating the burlap. Love it! You have to watch out how much of the thread you pull out for the fringe. It will keep going and going until you don't have any burlap left if you aren't careful!  This runner ended up fitting on the bench in the entry way. It was part of our clean up the clutter project before our cookie party. Convincing the kids to keep it picked up is another story, but we tried and it did look good for a day anyway.
A pretty osnaburg runner with a long ruffle topped with pleated homespun.
If you want to make a cute burlap mini-stocking garland here is how I did it.

Draw a stocking shape on piece of cardboard and cut it out. I had to use a sharpie to trace it onto the burlap because my fabric marker didn't show up. I drew 3-4 out at a time and pinned two pieces of burlap together so they wouldn't slide when sewing. The white line you see is where I stitched 1/4" inside the the sharpie marking. Cut them out on the line after stitching.
Turn them right side out and turn the top edge under, press well with steam. Glue the pleated ribbon to the top with craft glue or fabric glue, the glue will soak through the burlap and hold down the turned under edge too. Embellish with buttons or a bundle of twigs tied with jute twine. Clip them to the clothesline with mini clothespins. I tied a loop at each end of the clothesline to hang it.
Enjoy!

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Holiday Wish List 2010

Well there is no way you are going to want to pass on entering this. And besides that I love the questions and would love to read all your answers too. So here is my entry:

Mama’s Holiday Wish List Meme


TodaysMama (link to: http://bit.ly/tmwishlist) and GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.


1. What is your holiday wish for your family?

Lots of laughter and spending time together creating great memories.

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition?

We have a big buffet dinner and open most of our gifts to each other on Christmas Eve, so Christmas morning is for opening gifts from Santa. We have coffee and everybody usually scrounges up leftover meatball sandwiches or green chile tamales or ham and eggs while we play with the kids new toys. We are usually very lazy on Christmas morning. Oh, and I turn on A Christmas Story and watch it all day, well I don't really watch, just leave it on all day until Mr. Rainbow Creek can't take it anymore.


3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?

No brainer. This would definitely be a beach vaca. Someplace warm and tropical, a cottage just steps away from the water. 


4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?

We love to bake and decorate cookies with the kids. The girls and I love White Christmas and try to watch it every year. 

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?
  
My mom would play Monopoly with us, I think she usually won. Dad liked card games and would play almost any card game with us. We also played Sorry and Trouble.


6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?

Not much really. I sort of adopted my husbands family traditions since we were living near his family, then eventually it just evolved into our own traditions. The one thing I would say I have carried on from my family is that Christmas is more about the children and creating a magical time for them. We don't really expect a lot of gifts or spend much money on the adults, to me being together and enjoying the excitement with the kids is the best part of Christmas.


7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip?

See #3 above. The beach of course, silly.

8. Check out GameStop (link to: http://bit.ly/gamestop10) and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year? 

Ha! this is pretty funny because I am clueless when it comes to games. But I did go to see what a Kinect is and that is definitely on the top of my list for Destructo Boy and Fatty. And I know that Anna would love a Wii, so I could go with that. And probably music games for the Wii since they love dance parties.  

Thursday, November 18, 2010

12 Days of Christmas Giveaway Day 5

Day 5. I know you were hoping for 5 Golden Rings. Me too!
 
Go on over and check out what's in the basket today and leave your comment to enter! 

I am trying to change my ways. I got up early today at 8:30 in the morning, so that I will be tired enough to go to bed before dawn. I decided that 5 am is not a good bedtime when living with 7 other people who keep normal people hours. So tonight I am shooting for getting to bed before 1 am. That is probably definitely not going to happen since it is 12:55 as I write this. So goodnight...

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

12 Days of Christmas Giveaway is here. Go check out what has been added to my gift basket. Hint: only "time" will tell how it all ends.


Cut, sew, blog, tweet. Repeat. Keep this up and it is starting to seem like real work. Oh the lengths we will go to in order to avoid getting a "real job," huh?


Before I show you what I did today I wanted to show you these pretty Baby Clothes Memory Rag Quilts that my friend Barbara is making.




She has a listing for these adorable, custom made baby clothes quilts on her etsy store right now and she has a holiday sale on her blog.  She does beautiful work and what a sweet way to keep all those memories of your favorite little outfits out there where you can enjoy them instead of packing them away in a box. Love this idea.


So, I did get a little Thanksgiving sewing done today too. I had these table toppers already done and I finished up some matching towel sets and a coaster set.


I just love this Alexander Henry print. The colors are so vibrant.




It's nice to have a pretty new holiday towel to hang in the kitchen. My everyday kitchen towels look they have been used for mopping the garage floor, which I wouldn't be surprised if they have.

Some pretty coasters for our coffee mugs when we are enjoying that pumpkin pie!


Another centerpiece mat in another gorgeous harvest print.

If you have some time to pretty up your kitchen before the big day I have a tutorial for the kitchen towels and coasters here. If you want to make a rag quilt centerpiece mat or runner shoot me a message. I haven't done a tutorial on those yet but they are pretty easy and I can send you some simple instructions.

enjoy!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Burlap Christmas Shopping Tote with Rosette

 I have been seeing a lot of burlap bags around and I am loving them. 
This one at La Maison Reid is adorable. She also has a link there for a simple lined tote bag in burlap with a rosette. 


So I thought I would use some of the burlap I bought the other day and give it a try. I was trying to think if I have ever actually sewed anything from burlap, and as far as I can remember I haven't. But it turned out that it isn't hard to work with and it was totally fun putting this little Christmas Shopping Tote together.



It was late, very late, when I started on it and I fooled around quite a while with measurements and deciding on the fabric. It ended up measuring about 14" tall by 13" wide. Then I had to figure out how to make the rosette because it needed some embellishment, and I didn't have time to run out to the craft store. But I probably would have if I knew of any 24 hour craft stores in this podunk town. Just sayin' if you happen to be up with a glue gun in your hand at 3 am, maybe a 24 hour craft store wouldn't be out of the question...


 So I am pretty satisfied with the end result and I think this cute green burlap bag will be perfect for someone to carry all their little holiday goodies in. It has one large pocket inside to round up your essentials like wallet, car keys and phone.


Don't forget to enter to win the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway! Go to the original post here to see what I have in my 12 Days of Christmas Basket. Leave your comment and you are IN! It is a very simple contest, so get over there and check it out!

And link up your store specials if you want, so we can see what you have to offer and shop in each other's stores. After all, we are going to be shopping somewhere so why not make it easy to find some awesomeness right here!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Black Friday Giveawy and Linky Party!

Rainbow Creek's 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway!
Are your ready for an awesome giveaway? I haven't done one for a while, but I am really getting into the Christmas spirit already and just can't wait to start giving!


I have gotten so many nice comments on my upcycled brown bag basket, and I have to admit that I am totally in love with it, especially after I GLITTERED it tonight. So now it is all sparkly and ready for gift giving and I counted on my little fingers that there are 12 days to go to Black Friday. So I shall be adding one gift each day to my basket for the lucky winner of this giveaway! Come back every day to see what I add to the basket. You can enter to win each day until November 25. Winner will be announced on BLACK FRIDAY, November 26, 2010. 

And don't forget the linky party below, feel free to link up all your store promotions for the Holiday Shopping Season!

Update: 
On the first day of Christmas Giveaway, I made for you:
This cute green burlap shopping tote with rosette and a pretty snowflake print lining!

On the second day of Christmas Giveaway I give to you:
A fun sparkly Christmas tree watch from Avon. Cute and casual for shopping days or work days. 

On the third day of Christmas giveaway I made for you:
Three cute purse tissue pouches for stocking stuffers.


On the fourth day of Christmas Giveaway I placed into the basket:

A journal to jot down all your plans, recipes, memories. And a note pad for your "to do" lists.


On the fifth day of Christmas Giveaway I bring to you:

This gorgeous wine bottle gift bag handmade by my BFF Peggy. She makes these exclusively for the Bonnie Brae. I love the shimmery burgandy fabric with the black velvet flocking, so festive!


The second part of my Black Friday celebration is the linky party for you to post your Holiday Specials in your stores or on your blogs. Post a link to your blog with a coupon code or a special Holiday Sale so that we can Shop With You!


How to Join the Party:
Click on the linky below to add your blog post. Please link to your Holiday Sale post or store, not to your main blog page.
Follow me and leave a comment to enter the giveaway.
Grab my Giveaway Button and post it on your blog so everybody can join in.
Tweet, Blog or add a link to your Facebook page to let others know about our party
Go visit each other's stores and shop with us! 
Show some love, leave a comment to let someone know you appreciate their work!



Thursday, November 11, 2010

Upcycled Brown Grocery Bag Basket

Now for a new and exciting NO SEW tutorial that I have been planning for a while. I think this project is so easy and fun and it can be used in so many ways.

I came across a baggie of Paper Twist at the thrift store a couple years ago and remembered these brown paper bag baskets my mom taught me how to make a long time ago. I found out they still sell the paper twist at the craft stores.


So I decided to revisit this pattern but I updated it a bit since the ones we made in the 80s were mauve and country blue calico with big bows ;)

I used red burlap, brown paper twist and this music fabric I found at Hobby Lobby. The fabric was black and white so I dipped it in a bucket of hot water with a little tan dye to age it some.

To make the basket you will also need 2 large brown grocery bags and a glue gun. So next time you go to the store if they ask "paper or plastic" you know. I go to self checkout a lot and they have paper bags there too, so I take one or two when I have heavy items.

I tear my fabric strips so they are a little ragged on the edges. Just measure 4" and snip through the selvedge edge and then rip it the rest of the way. You will need 3 strips for weaving around the outside. I also cut 3 strips 4" wide of the burlap.

Measure up about 9 1/2 inches on the sides of your two bags.

Cut off the top so your sides are 9 1/2" the put one bag inside the other to make it doubled.

Fold the top of the bags down about 2 inches and hot glue the two bag tops together then glue the folded edge down all the way around.

So your basket base will look nice and neat like this.

Now go turn on the TV to your favorite show and sit down and untwist the paper twist.
This takes a little while. You have to untwist it and gently pull it open so it looks like this.
Then I roll it up so it is ready to work with. Measure two pieces of the paper twist to go from the inside front of the bag, under the bottom and wrap up the back side.
Glue the ends of the first piece to the inside of the bag.

I am totally stupid when it comes to using glue guns and always end up with at least one nasty blister. I hope you are better than me at this. But you might want to find a plastic knife or something to use to push the paper down on the glue so as to avoid the blister part of this project.

And you also might be smarter than me and not leave it laying on your $60 Olfa Cutting Mat. Apparently they warp from heat. But I will worry about that tomorrow. Sigh...

Glue the other pieces on to cover the front and back of the bags. Don't worry if they don't fit exactly because you will want to scrunch them a little anyway when you weave the fabric through.
Now you want to weave the side pieces through the bottom before gluing them down.
Just do an over/under thing and then pull the ends up the sides and glue.

Take your ripped fabric strips and starting at one corner weave it all the way around the bag. Leave the ends loose for now.

Add the other two strips, scrunching them a bit as your go so they all fit in there.

Now glue the ends down under the corner pieces to hide all of them.

And put a couple dots of glue here and there to secure everything.

Step back and admire your basket weaving skills. You might want to fluff it and cut off some loose threads too.

Cut 3 strips of paper twist about 24" long and glue the ends together. Braid them together to make a handle.

Glue the ends of the handle to the inside of the basket. Press it down as flat as you can get it.

I made a lining for my basket from some tea dyed osnaberg linen. Since I promised a "no sew" project I did it with hot glue, although I probably would have found it easier to zip this up on the sewing machine. Or you could line it with tissue paper or wrapping paper if you don't want to use fabric.

I cut a rectangle about 22"X26" and folded the 26" side in half. Glue the side seams together.

Now open the sides out to make a point in the center.

Place the bag on top to find the width of the bottom of the basket, fold and glue the triangle up to the side seam.

Fold under the top of the lining and glue to the top edge of the basket. It won't fit perfect so do a little scrunching where needed to make it fit.

I added a little paper twist rosette and glued it to a burlap leaf. I am thinking about glittering it, but haven't made it that far yet.

This makes a cute gift basket for Christmas gifts, but I also use them for centerpieces and even for holding guest towels and extra TP rolls in the powder room, or anything else you need a basket for.


Enjoy!

I am linking up to:



NightOwlCrafting









freckled laundry









Funky Junk's Sat Nite Special







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