Sparkly Straight Pins

I’ve been using the same pins for years and they’re pretty dull so when I saw these pins on No Big Dill I had to make some.

You can make dozens of them in just a few minutes. All it takes is glue (E6000), small beads that have small holes and extra long straight pins.

I used a skewer to apply a little bit of glue to the end of the pin.

Then I slid a bead on and wiped off the excess glue.

I covered an overturned basket with a piece of paper and poked all of the pins into it to dry.

Pretty and useful. I think they would make a great gift for a seamstress or tucked into a little purse-sized mending kit.

Pin Cushion from a Pimiento Jar

I made these sparkly pins the other day (tutorial coming soon) and needed a place to stick them. I have an old school tomato pin cushion but it rolls all over the table. It usually ends up on the floor prompting some choice words as pins start to pile up in my mouth, beside my sewing machine and other places they shouldn’t be while I search for it.

This guy has a heavy, flat base so hopefully it will stay put.

I started with a pimiento jar (baby food jars would be perfect), paint, a little batting, some barley and few scraps of fabric.

I squirted some paint into the jar, put the lid on it, shook it up and then let it dry upside down. If your jar doesn’t have a lid, you can use a brush to smooth out the paint like I did here.

To make the top, I stacked up circles of batting and then gathered up the edges to form a spherical shape. The poof should be a little bigger than the opening to the jar. I ran a few stitches through the gathered part and cut off the “tail”.

Then I cut a circle of fabric about 3 times wider then the jar and wrapped it around the batting. I gathered up the loose edges and ran 3-4 stiches through the middle to secure it. Then I cut off the excess fabric.

I filled the bottom of the jar with barley (because that it was I had) and hot glued the cushion into the mouth of the jar.

I top-stitched a strip of fabric to cover the jar threads but ribbon would work just as well. I hot glued the fabric around the mouth of the jar and inserted the pins.

Vodka Infused With All Sorts of Good Stuff

I’ve been horrible about posting. I know. I moved. It’s summer. There’s a lot going on. I have been sewing and doing a ton of baking and cooking, I just haven’t been telling you about it. Maybe you’ve enjoyed the break from my blathering?

The other day some friends and I got together and made a dozen quart jars of infused vodka. It’s ridiculously easy, although we all agreed it’s a little anticlimactic since you spend all of this time cutting and mixing and then have to wait a couple weeks for the actual cocktail.

To make infused vodka, simply gather the ingredients.

Cut the ingredients into manageable pieces and stuff them into the jars.

Fill each jar with vodka and screw the lids on. Let them sit for a few days (spicy mixes) or a couple of weeks (everything else).

Some of the flavors we chose were:

pineapple habanero

jalapeno

strawberry basil

bay

ginger

cucumber basil

lemon lime

ginger orange

peach

peach mint

Felt Food: Ravioli, Green Beans and Salad

Now that I started making felt food, I keep thinking of more dishes I want to try to create. Most recently I made felt ravioli with marinara, salad and green beans.

Little Drawstring Craft Bag

Looking for a last minute Mother’s Day gift? Or perhaps you’re in need of a bit of craft storage?

I whipped up this little drawstring bag the other night to keep a project in while I’m camping out with 200 6th graders at Outdoor School. Yes, it is that time of year, which is why I haven’t been posting. I’m exhausted. But only 5 more weeks until summer and ample available crafting time. Yay!

I have a bunch of projects in various stages of assembly, shooting, editing and writing. I promise someday soon (and by someday I mean June) I will get them up.

Felt Play Food: Pancakes, Eggs and Bacon

When I was a little kid, I loved nothing more than to play house. Shocking, I know. I spent hours “cooking” in my play kitchen. So, the handmade felt food craze was more than I could resist.

I don’t have kids but I do have a good friend, Robin, who has a sweet little girl in need of some felt play food. And by need I really mean I needed to make some and she happens to be just barely old enough to play with it.

For the bacon, I sewed strips of cream felt onto dark brown felt and then ran a gathering stitch up the middle.

The pancakes are 4 layers of tan felt sewn together and topped with brown felt syrup and yellow felt butter. I sewed the butter together, then sewed it to the syrup and then sewed the whole shebang onto one layer of pancake. Then I sewed the pancake layers together.

Conversation Heart Gift Boxes

When I think of Valentine’s Day the first thing that comes to mind are conversation hearts. Every year I always buy a couple of bags. They remind me of grade school Valentine’s parties where I would read meaning into every heart, wondering if the boy I liked really meant to give me the one that said, “Be Mine”.

What better way to say I love you than with a special gift or treat packaged in a conversation heart box?

To make a conversation heart box of your very own you will need heavy cardstock and adhesive. I used my Cricut for the letters but you could easily trace them and cut them out with scissors.

1. Cut a heart shape out of paper in the desired size. Trace it onto a piece of scrap cardstock. Add 1/2” tabs down each long side and two small tabs on each curved side. Cut out your pattern.

2. Using the pattern, cut two hearts out and 4 strips of paper 3” wide and long enough to go around one side of the heart plus an inch. My strips where 3”x12”.

3. Ok, it’s time to start gluing. First fold one strip over 1/2”.

4. Run a bead of glue along one of the long tabs of one of the hearts. Glue the strip onto the heart so that the folded end wraps around the point.

5. Continue wrapping the strip around the heart, gluing it to the tabs. When you get the the middle, fold the end of the strip back 1/2” so it follows the line of the heart.

6. Glue the second strip to the folded section of the first strip and continuing wrapping and gluing.

7. Repeat to make the other half of the box.

8. Glue the letters onto the top of the box and fill with candy, chocolates or a small gift.