Just a few personal projects...

So here are a bunch of projects I've worked on between semesters. Most of them are for my future sister-in-law's wedding.

Updateyness

Sorry no videos for so long.  I had a rough semester last semester.  Not too bad just really time consuming.  And in the winter break by future sister-in-law had me working on some stuff for her wedding so I haven't had much time to do any personal projects.  I've got a few things in the works so more videos are forthcoming.

Hanging Jewelry Organizer

I made this little hanging jewelry organizer months ago and filmed the tutorial for it but after I got done editing it was over 30 minutes long.  Waaaay too long.  So I decided I would eventually chop it up and just re-record the narration.  I finally got around to it because my hard-drive was getting full and the video files for this tutorial was taking up a ton of space so I forced myself to finish it this weekend. 

I've been using the organizer since way back then and I really like it.  I changed the little tin hanging from it because I kept bumping into it.  So now I have a smaller one that doesn't stick out as far to hold some bracelets and rings and stuff like that.  Anyway, it's similar to the ones I made for Christmas presents but after I made those I found all these other cool jewelry organizer ideas and just decided to do a jewelry organizer smash-up.  This is the end result.  I did mine with some canvas stretcher bars that I found in the painting section at the craft store.  But I think the next one I make will be with a pretty picture frame and it would take a lot less time too.  If you make one with a pretty frame you can skip to about 11:25 in the video.  Enjoy.

Vintage and Antique Haul

I went to the Montgomery Street Antique Mall in Fort Worth and spent a little cash.  Also got some goodies from Ebay and Etsy.  I have a few projects in mind to use some of the things I got so I'll do pictures or videos of those when I get around to it.  Anyway, enjoy. :)

Blue Boy Mobile

Here's another mobile I made.  This one was for my nephew.  My mother-in-law came across the round wire part of a wreath and thought I could make another mobile.  So this one is pretty simple.  I used a 2 inch circle punch to cut out some boy themed scrapbook paper and then used one of those glue tape dispenser thingies to apply glue to the back of one circle.  Then I laid down the end of a thin blue ribbon to the glue and sandwiched another circle on top.  I did this to both ends of a length of ribbon and then tied those to the wire circle.  Then I wrapped a wider blue ribbon around the wire circle to cover it up.  I also added 2 lengths of ribbon across the circle in an "X" to attach more paper circles and some more paper ball ornaments.  No lights on this one.

How to crochet

So I have been busting my rather considerable stash of yarn.  I like to crochet things that don't take a lot of time so I usually do scarves.  Long ones, short ones, skinny ones, wide ones.  Basically my stash of a particular yarn determines the size.  Since I've been doing a lot of crochet, I haven't done many outdoor crafts.  I'll have to wait until it cools off a bit.  110 degrees is no kind of fun.  So I thought I would do a little tutorial on some simple crochet stitches.  The basic chain stitch which is the foundation of a piece and single, double, and triple crochet.  By knowing how to do these simple stitches and having a few good illustrated books you can easily learn how to do the more elaborate and decorative stitches. 

Girlie Pink Mobile/Lamp/Nightlight

I didn't do a tutorial for this but it's pretty simple.  DH's mom had a huge wooden hoop and thought I might be able to make something out of it for my niece.  Can I make something out of a ginormous wood circle?  What's my name?  Yep.  Sho 'nuf I can make something out of that.  Got some LED christmas lights and wrapped them around the hoop.  Then wrapped some ribbon over that to cover the wires.  Added a few hangy-down decorations and wrapped 25 yards of tulle ribbon over the hoop and lights.  Taadaa.  You got yourself a super girlie pink mobile/lamp/nightlight.  Gotta use the LED lights though so it doesn't get hot, melt the tulle, and cause a fire.

Gotta have a bow on top.  Don't look at the tacky looking PVC pipe stand but I'm telling you it's sure handy to have in the craft room to build rigs to hold stuff while you are working on it.

 Made paper ball ornaments and then punched out some paper hearts, stacked three paper hearts, ran them thru my sewing maching and then folded the two outside hearts to make them 3-D.

 Close up of the paper balls and hearts.  The balls are fun to make.  I may do a tutorial on this later.

 With the LED lights plugged in and the flash on.

 No flash.

Close up of the ornaments with the lights on and flash.

 Close up with no flash.