"Quilted (bright colored) Kitchen Towels" !!

Recently, I have been upgrading various areas of my house. It is a long range project and I am taking it a room at a time. The kitchen is what I am upgrading slowly, and I realized we need some bright colors to offset the plain colors of the light green paint (that I haven't painted yet :)  A couple of bright colored kitchen towels seemed like it would do the trick!

 I think they are going to be perfect in the kitchen once it's painted:

Since this was my first time making these sort of towels that hang on the oven door or a drawer handle, I did some searching and reading online to get the ideas going....

and now that they are done, I am moving to Potholders!!!


Check back in a week for more projects and thanks so much for stopping by!

Wicked jypsi

Sliced Wood Ornaments & Gnomes...Year Round!!

      Who said Wood Ornaments are only for Christmas?? 

 

    Artwork by Poortvliet/Huygen from their book: GNOMES 

              "Gnome Wood Ornaments"

I have been a little obsessed with the new trend of Sliced Wood Ornaments that has been making its way around the Craft World.....Since I was lucky to have some tree limbs that could be cut from a cherry tree out back, I have the luxury of actual bark covered with moss in the sizes and shapes of "home-grown" wood circles :))

 

 I decided to use some favorite art work and see how they turned out:

                        

Next, I added an eye screw instead of drilling a hole and found it more desirable for my taste, and added a little background white paint to make the Gnomes colors stand out a bit more. I think in the future I will use larger, brighter graphics so I can keep the natural wood-look, which is always better...in my  opinion!

As a sealer, I used the Golden brand Self-Leveling Gel with evens the layers of paint and graphics to look smooth on the surface as well as seal the whole piece.

 

 

When all dry and done, they turned out just as I'd hoped:

 

 

 

There are a million ways to use these wood pieces and I am hard at work with a slew of different designs and mediums since these wood pieces can handle any paint, glue, wood burning or drill for that matter.....so I'll be back to share the wealth :)!

Thanks for stopping by,

Wicked jypsi

Macrame Hanger for my House Plant!

Starting Early.......

 

I have jumped (maybe a little early) into the house plant mode, which I usually do in January or February of each year...This year being a little different with the unseasonably warm weather we are having here in California. I have stuck to house plants instead of outdoor plants just to be safe from the nighttime chill that comes after dark. 

So, now I am getting into placing them strategically throughout the house to maximize the light they receive and needed a way to put this plant up higher (rather then on the shelf or ground) and decided to try my hand at a Macrame Hanger. This is my first attempt so I used a simple cord I picked up from Michael's craft store. There was a massive amount of tutorials and ideas on Pinterest, but I wanted to start simple before I go further into some fancy knots later on. 

So here it is:  

 

I did take the photo outside even though it is an indoor plant simply because the lighting was better, but the Macrame Hangers are good for hanging any plants outdoors as well on the porch (from or back) or in the garden area. 

 

I am fairly pleased with my first attempt, even though it is not fancy at all, I look forward to making a bunch of Macrame Hangers using different styles of knots and color cords...the sky is the limit as far as I can tell!!

 

Ill be back with more next week...Thanks for stopping by!

Wicked jypsi

 

Gift Basket: Grow Kitchen Herbs

My favorite gift I put together this year was the:
                               

                "Kitchen Plant Gift Basket"

Check it out:

I spied this idea (and for the life of me, I cannot locate it to add to this post right now :( and I had to give it a try...The chalk painted rims of the clay pots was cool to do because it was the first time I have ever used Chalk Paint:

 I also sewed up a little fabric seed envelope with a label window to store the packets of seeds that were to be included. Along with a cute pair of gardening gloves and a couple pieces of chalk tied in twine...it was ready to go!

Oh yeah, I grabbed a few bags of brown paper shreds from the Dollar Store and a cute basket at a local Goodwill, and then it was ready to go!!

Give it a try. It's easy, very inexpensive and make a very thoughtful gift for a friend or loved one (In my case, it was my sister).

Till next time,

Wicked jypsi

Applique Fox - Ready to hang up!

 My (long-awaited) Fox Applique.......

I admit it has taken me longer then I had hoped (a full week) to complete the Fox Applique that I wanted to hang in my room, but the project ended up requiring a little more then just basic cut-and-sew skills.....

I ended up need to find a suitable frame (my choice was oval) sand and paint it (which was tougher to accomplish then normal because it was a very cheap frame and the surface wasn't holding the paint very well) and fit the frame with a backing (it was an open frame with no glass or backing I found for $4 at Michaels on clearance) that needed to not only fit, but allow for the fabric to wrap around the sides to hold the stuffing in place on the front to create a rounded-puffed out effect (not the best explanation, but the pictures should make it clear :)

Enough Talk...Here it is:

Side view - Hopefully you can see that the fabic is puffed out for a 3D effect.....kinda!

Let me know what you think and suggestions are always welcome! Thank you for stopping by!!

Wicked jypsi

FOX SCARF for the New Year!

I hope everyone had as beautiful a Christmas and New Year Celebration as we did !!

I was able to squeeze in one last minute project on Christmas Eve to give to a family member:

FOX SCARF !!

This scarf turned out great !! I was lucky to find the pattern and tutorial over on Prudent Baby  (another very cool blog I have been frequenting)and I can't say enough about it. Directions, pattern...the whole shebang!!

So check it out!!

Thanks for stopping by, and I'll be back with more (of course)!

Wicked jypsi

Christmas Advent Project !!

Its Time for Advent......

 

I wanted something original to do the advent with my daughter this year, and was intrigued by the chalk board paint option so I found a way to add it in to my project. 

Each day we mark the date on the chalk board part of the plaque with the chalk, and then read a part of the original Christmas story from a book she has had since she was very little. "The First Christmas" by Carol Heyer has beautiful illustrations and has been a special part of each year's advent celebration in our house. 

Anyway, after reading, we either clip a treat onto the clip on the plaque or clip a piece of paper with a clue to where the treat can be hunted down somewhere in the house!  

Here's a quick tute on how I put our Advent plaque together:

 

* Ingredients:

* A wood plaque or board

* Paint brushes (large and small)

* Red, white and green paint

* Chalk Board paint (paint-on, not spray)

* Hemp & Eye screws to hang up

* a Clip of your choosing ( I used one from the 7 gypsies collection)

* E6000 glue (or whichever glue is strong  of your choosing)

* Hemp twine - any color

* Holly leaves and berries (I made mine from green paper and red felt)

Paint your background and leave a small circle blank around your chalk board circle if you want to paint a wreath around it...

 

I painted a second coat of white over my letters just so they looked better and used a stencil brush to dab the green wreath with a lighter green paint to look more like a "leafy" wreath....

Then paint the bows whichever color you choose and (after all has dried) use the E6000 glue to attach the clip you have chosen to the bottom of the plaque.

 

After that has dried, probably overnight, just to be safe, use a spray or paint on sealer to finish it all off........

To Hang: 

I attached two eye screws to the top of the plaque (spaced evenly apart) and then braided some green hemp twine and tied the ends to the eye screws to make sure all was secure when I hung the plaque on the wall...

 

 

Congrats, you're done!!!

Enjoy your Homemade Advent and I'll be back with more Christmas projects real soon!!