I Dyed Wool Today!

Hey, folks!

I was fortunate enough to receive some wool roving, a corriedale/rambouillet/finn cross, in a lovely cream color. I thought it would be fun to try dying it green, so I pulled out my food coloring and followed the directions from this Instructables post: Wool Dying.

I left the wool in the water/vinegar mix for about 10 hours.

My food coloring didn't want to dissolve, so I had to whisk it in, and it turned the water a nice light Kelly green.

I microwaved for the first 3 minutes, and the water was still green. No big deal, it was supposed to go for a second set. After the second 3 minutes, the water was still green, and I thought, "Hmm, maybe I just ruined some wool?" But after the third 3 minutes, the water was clear! I had to take some of the water out in a drinking glass to look at just because I wasn't really sure.

I can't believe the wool basically turned the exact same color as the water!

Next project: Dye some more wool! I have two more similar sized roving pieces, but I didn't want to attempt to dye it all at once in case something went horrifically wrong.

Anyway, when that's done, I'm going to ball each one up to make dryer balls, but I'll save that project for another post. :)

Mini-Piggy Bank

It seems like I never have any spare change when I need it, and I have nothing but when I don’t! I’ve found this to be particularly true when I’m at work. It seems like once or twice a month, there’s some need for spare change: a penny drive or space change collection or similar. Well, my purse is not usually convenient, my slacks don’t have pockets, and while I often have change in my desk, who knows where it is under the broken pencils and half-used sticky pads.

I decided to something about it. I’ve had this little Grey Poupon jar that I’ve been itching to used more effectively.  It usually houses thumb tacks, but it’s sort of a waste of space since I don’t have that many thumb tacks. It was perfect to make a mini bank out of so I’d always be able to find change quickly.

First, I wanted to cut a change hole in the top. The jar is so old, I think it originally sold for a dollar seventy. This means the lid is a pretty heavy metal. I looked online for how to safely cut it and couldn't find much. I did read that a chisel would work, but we didn't have one. I also didn't have a block of wood to pound a nail through the lid into ten times to create a slit, and frankly I'm not sure how well that would have worked, anyway.

My husband ended up using his Dremel to cut me a hole. I was going to do it myself, but I chickened out at the last minute because I was afraid I either wouldn't grip the lid tight enough and send it flying, or I wouldn't press with the blade hard enough and bounce it off and catch myself in the hand. Anyway, the Dremel worked great, but there were sparks involved, so I recommend wearing safety goggles and not letting children do this part of the project.

I suppose you don't really need the hole in the top, but I think it makes it less likely to get into to take the money if you're using the jar as a way to save up for something special.

On to decorating! Next, I cut up some scrapbook paper leftovers into even smaller pieces. I started with about 1" squares and found that 1/2" squares were better because of the small size of the jar and getting around the rounded curve at the top. My squares weren't perfect, either, because I thought that made a more interesting pattern on the jar.

Then I got out my trusty Mod Podge. I only have Shimmer Mod Podge, which means it made my paper darker, with a silver glittery tint. It was really dark when first applied, but dried nicely. Follow the instructions to paint a small section of the jar with Mod Podge, put down a piece of paper, spread more Mod Podge over that, and repeat with all the pieces of paper until the jar is covered.

To break things up a little, I used plain white paper for the lid. See how silver it is now?

After all of that was thoroughly dry, I used a spray sealant over it all. Some people will say this is optional, but I've had trouble with my Mod Podge getting kind of sticky in high humidity, even months after it was painted.

It wasn't intentional, but I think it's kind of nice how the outside of the jar resembles money now, which is what it will hold. I really just went through my paper box and pulled out the first strips of paper I found, about 12" x 1", which I never got around to throwing away in the hopes I could still use it. Seems like I could!

Alternative Containers and Lids!

I read some online tutorials that suggested using empty plastic jars (such as peanut butter jars) for kids because the lids are easier to cut through and they can't break. I'm not sure how well Mod Podge sticks to plastic, but you could decorate some other way. Other people have suggested using Mason or canning jars, then instead of the regular metal lit, cutting a round piece of cardboard with a slit in it and then using the regular jar ring to secure it. I've also seen the small cardboard oatmeal containers used, and I think that would be really fun to decorate, and easier than a jar because it doesn't have the rounded edge at the top, which I found annoying to get around.

Have you ever tried to make your own piggy bank? If so, what did you use as a container? How did you choose to decorate it?

Super Easy Hair Clip Organizer

Is a two item project simple enough? ;)

As you've read, I've been really interested in hair clips recently. I don't wear them to work, but I do wear them every weekend and any other time off I have (have I mentioned I'm also growing my hair out?). Well, I ended up with hair clips on my nightstand, on the kitchen table, end table, coffee table, and bathroom counter. Really? How did that happen?

Anyway, I needed a quick and easy way to store them in one place, but not in a box, because then I'd forget about them. It had to be somewhere obvious, but couldn't take up a lot of space, because let's face it: space is sort of at a premium at my house.

After some thought, I came up with an easy solution. All I needed was some grosgrain ribbon (found in a drawer leftover from another project) and a suction cup (found at Ace Hardware for about $0.53). I decided on the larger suction cup, which was 3cm in diameter (a little over 1").

I cut about 2' of ribbon, tied it with a nice little bow to the suction cup, and put it on my bathroom mirror. If you're worried about humidity, a dresser bureau mirror would work, too, but since I don't do my hair in the bedroom, I opted for the bathroom.

How was that? What do you use to keep your hair accessories organized?

Wine Charm Display How To

The summer craft show season is nearly upon us, and I've been thinking of ways to better display my wine charms, particularly the alphabet charms. I've them in cute little bowls (a hassle to find letters when they're all bunched together), I've separated them a plastic container so they're easy to find (but not as attractive as I'd like and people don't seem to like having to bend over to look at them all), so now I'm trying an upright display.

I couldn't find any pre-made, so I decided to make my own. I did a few searches online for jewelry displays and decided to try something with cork board. Although all the how to's were very nice, they didn't meet all of my criteria for an outdoor show. First, I wasn't hanging this on a wall, so it so it had to be sturdy enough to stand up by itself. I also wanted some kind of frame. Second, using cute tacks or hooks weren't going to do me any good if a gust of wind came up and blew everything down. Whatever I hung on the board had to be secure and stay on the board.

I did some recon at Michael's during a recent 40% off sale and found most of what I needed. I supplemented the essentials with a quick stop at my local quilt shop and Ace Hardware store.

1. 11x14 piece of cork board - Michael's
2. 11x14 simple frame - Michael's
3. 1 square yard of white cotton (I didn't need it all, but I wanted enough in case I messed up) - Quilt Shop
4. 3 pkgs of 5/8 eye screws - Ace

I also needed a few supplies from around the house.

1. Stapler that opens
2. Ruler or other measuring tool
3. Iron

All told, this project should take between 30 minutes and 1 hour.

1. Step 1 - Remove the glass from the picture frame and set aside. I'll have to come up with something to do with it later.
2. Step 2 - Cut 2 pieces of approximately 14x17 fabric. I felt that one piece was too thin, but two pieces covered the cork board nicely and looked whiter.
3. Step 3 - Iron the fabric. Irons make me nervous. I avoid them if I can, but in this case, ironed fabric just looks nicer.
4. Step 4 - Lay out the fabric with the cork board on top. I tried two different methods of stapling (I'll explain why later). You can see in the pictures for one try, I cut out most of the corner and folded, and for the second take, I used less fabric and folded the corner in, then stapled. Either worked well. My staples are probably 1" to 1.5" apart. I just estimated what felt best for keeping the fabric taut.
5. Step 5 - Fit the board into the frame. Unfortunately, the back won't fit back on. After I've used this once or twice, I might go back and glue it in, but the board isn't loose at all. I would have preferred to use the back to be able to stand up the board, but I ended up using a frame stand instead, and the frame became mostly decoration and a little added weight.
6. Using the ruler, decide how far apart the eye screws need to be. I want to hang wine charms on, so I measured out six across and five down. After measuring the first row and the beginning of the second, I used the grain of the fabric as a guide and it worked fine.
1. Here's why I had to staple twice: on the first attempt, instead of eye screw, I used double sided tacks, which are basically big staples. It didn't work. Hammering them in was a pain, and then they weren't big enough for the wine charms to clasp. I took off the fabric which now had ugly holes in it, put on fresh fabric, and tried again using eye screws, which worked beautifully, although my thumb was pretty tired by the end.

That's it! See the pictures below to see all the steps.

All told, and without looking at my receipts, I'd say I spend about $25. I probably could have found a frame at thrift shop or something, but it wasn't convenient to where I was.

What do you think?

How To Fold A Paper Cup

Paper cups are pretty handy, I've found, even as an adult. You just never know when you're going to need to carry water and not have a glass nearby. :) I learned the technique as a kid for practical purposes at camp one summer. I think the original theory was that it could be made out of a large piece of bark, but I could be making that part up. ;) Nowadays, I've found that regular printer paper works really well for this.

A year or so ago I taught a few teenagers the trick, and it was like a light bulb just came on. I had to send one kid out to the water fountain to prove it worked, and when he came back, everyone else crowded around to inspect. Did it really work? Was it leaking? And then he drank the water out of it! How cool! How handy! What other uses are there?

Scroll to the bottom to see a picture of my adorable dog and another use for paper cups. :)

Most paper is not square, so start by folding the paper into a square.

See the extra paper? Cut it off. Or leave it, if you want. Sometimes I just fold and tuck it in.

Now it's gone! If I don't have scissors, I just fold the extra bit a few times and tear it off.

Now take one corner to touch the opposite side.

Turn the paper over and repeat.

Fold the top triangle down. I like to tuck it into the handy slot, but you don't have to.

 Do the same to the opposite side.

And now you have your very own paper cup!

















Try some water! My sample paper was a lighter scrapbook paper, and it didn't hold up as well as computer paper does, perhaps because there's more surface area?













For the record, I never dress up my dog, but after I made the paper cup for the pictures, I couldn't resist trying a larger one. And isn't he cute? I made an extra big paper cup and then bribed him with a milk bone to hold still long enough to take the picture. See that intent stare? There's a dog cookie at the other end of that stare.