Wine Bottle Decorations

One of the things I was busy with this week was creating wire decorations for some non-alcoholic cider bottles to be used as door prizes for a youth group dinner.

The kids are raising money for a missions trip,
and my daughter and I volunteered to make these.

It didn't take that long and it was fun to work together to make them.

The beads on this one were from an old necklace we actually took apart.

You might recognize this flower (above) from this tutorial...

This is one wire shape we did NOT make. We bought it for $1 at the grocery store and thought it looked cute just the way it is. This was a fun, simple project that didn't really cost much, because the non-alcoholic cider bottles were $2.00 each at Costco.

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

A little note about silk flowers.
The tutorial from the other day can be found here.

See the difference between these two? The one on the left is flat and not as frilly and curled. You might like that look, but you might want to know how to avoid that flat look, and I don't think I addressed that in my tutorial.

When you hold the silk over the flame, hold it fairly high over it. You just need the heat. If you like a singed edge (which in this color seems to add more depth) then sure, go lower, but BE CAREFUL, of course!

Now, while you hold it higher over the flame you also need to NOT place the edges above the flame. Make sure the fabric, at about a half inch or more, is over the heat. This creates the curls.

I hope this helps as you make your flowers!


I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

Flowers for your Sweet

Silk Flower Tutorial

For this project you will need silk fabric scraps. I used pieces of an old shirt. You just need a small amount, so you can buy some pieces or, if you are feeling adventurous, you can go to Goodwill and look for silk shirts.




The list is as follows :

Silk Fabric
A Candle

A Match
Scissors
Glue Gun
One Bead
A length of Ribbon

Cut out graduating circles of the silk. These do not even have to look like nice circles, they can be oblong and have square points along the edge.

Light the candle.

Taking one of the silk circles, holding it shiny side up, hold the fabric over the candle flame. Don't hold the very edge over the flame, but a centimeter or so from the edge. I found that if you hold the cut edge over the flame, the fabric doesn't turn and roll up. As I said, hold it a little toward the center, away from the edge.

If you do burn the fabric a bit, you can just cut it off.

After I had done it a little, I decided I liked some of the singed edges, so I didn't worry about them as much. Maybe it was the color I chose.

Once you have used the flame to curl up the edges of all of the circles, use the glue gun to place a dot of glue in the center of the largest circle. Place the next sized-down on top. Continue doing this, and on the smallest, place the bead on top, with the thread hole turned sideways so it won't be seen.

At this point you will have to decide if you are going to use it as a pin or a necklace or sew it onto a pillow.

I finally glued mine onto a ribbon and my daughter wore it to school on her wrist the next day. I made another for myself and I wore it around my neck as a choker.

I saw this craft online on Makiablog.com, and I couldn't find the sight to find out what kind of fabric was used... so I want to thank my sister-in-law Karen (a Master Sewer!) for letting me know that silk would work.

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

Stunning Poinsettia Display Basket

This Christmas, a dear friend of mine brought me this beautiful gift. She is an amazing woman who surprises me with her interests and abilities every time we get together. And you can see in addition to those qualities, she also has the gift of thoughtfulness!

As simple as it is, I wouldn't have imagined putting this together. The lights throughout the basket create such a dramatic presentation, and during the day the stunning flowers are beautiful enough to stand alone.

Simple white lights - one pulled up for a better view

I know we're all putting away our holiday decorations, but I thought I'd share this now. Enjoy!