Make A Vintage Style Star From A Cereal Box Tutorial

See what you can do with a cereal box......



You can make a pretty vintage looking Christmas star! I've seen several paper stars around Blogland and decided I needed to try it myself and thought I would share what I did.


Some of the supplies you'll need..........

Cereal Box (or other food box or sturdy cardboard)
Star Template--found HERE.
Old sheet music or paper of your choice
Glitter
Mod Podge--I'll share how to make your own--it's so much cheaper!
Pen or Pencil
Sponge brush or make up sponge
Brayer
Bone folder--optional
Embossing Stylus
Scissors

If you have an old rotary mat they make great work surfaces!



Print out the Star Template on plain white paper. You can size it to whatever size you like. I chose an 8 x 10 print size and my star measures approx. 6 3/4 x 8 3/4.

Cut out.

Cut out the front of the cereal box.

Lay the star template on the cereal box--I layed it on the printed side, so my pen marks wouldn't show on the back, but really it doesn't matter which side you choose.

Trace around the outside edge of the star.

Don't worry about the inner lines of the star just yet.



Cut out the traced star shape.



Next, tear up your sheet music into random pieces. I do this so that I have a better coverage of the music staffs and not so much blank space in between.

I had some old sheets from another project that had been tea stained.
To tea stain your sheet music, if needed, mix up about a cup and a half of very strong instant tea. Pour into a large baking dish, dip the sheet music into the tea mixture and then lay flat to dry or dry it with a blow dryer. Iron if needed to make it flat again.



Next, I laid my pieces around my star shape to get an idea of where I wanted them placed.



Then using a make up sponge or sponge brush--my sponge brush was a bit too used to work well enough for me--brush the star with the Mod Podge.

I used homemade Mod Podge and it works great! All it is, is 1 part all purpose white glue and 1 part water. In an old jar empty out a full bottle of white glue. Fill the glue bottle with water. Shake it up really well to get all the glue off the inside of the bottle and then pour into the jar with the glue. Shake to mix well. This is so cheap and works beautifully. I learned how to do this from HERE.




Now place all the paper pieces in their spots around the star and press them down.





Roll over them with your brayer.

I use a fancy used dollar store lint roller. Works like a charm!




Turn your star over and trim off the excess paper.




All nice and trimmed and ready to have some fold lines added................




Turn the star over to the backside and line the star template up to it...........



Using your stylus (or a ball point pen) trace along each of the lines inside the star.

Be sure to press hard enough to make a bit of an indentation.



Now we will fold along each of those lines. You can use a bone folder if you'd like. I started out using mine and then decided I preferred not to use it.

After you fold along each of the long lines, go back and fold in the opposite direction along the short lines. These will be folded or pushed down. So the long lines pop up and the short lines go down.



This is what will give your star it's dimension. You may have to fiddle with it a bit to get it to "pop".


You can see it's dimension a little better here. I also had a bit of paper that needed to be glued down more, so do a check for that and glue any loose areas down.

Next I glittered--and I forgot to take anymore pictures! But what I did was this........

I took a scrap piece of printer paper, folded it in half. Unfolded it and laid it out to do my glittering on--you'll see why in a minute.

Then I took my make up sponge, dipped it in the glue and ran it along each outer edge and inner edge and applied the glitter. I did each arm of the star one at a time, so my glue wouldn't dry before I could glitter it.

After I got all of the glitter shook off, I folded the printer paper back up and now all the glitter falls into the fold and you have a make-do funnel to pour the glitter back into it's container with a little less mess.

Using a soft paint brush, brush off excess glitter as needed.


Voila! You now have a beautiful Christmas star from an old cereal box!

Oh and those white spots in the paper really aren't that light. They just show up in the photograph really well. If you do end up with any such spots just hit them with some distress ink.

I found the fabulous star template from another star tutorial made from a tin foil pan at Choose to Thrive Blog. I would love to try one of those too.

Hang your star on your tree, make a bunch for a garland or wreath, use for gift tags or tuck them into your decor here and there.

Enjoy!


Linked To...........


TICKLED PINK FRIDAYS at 504 Main


FEATHERED NEST FRIDAY at French Country Cottage



FLAUNT IT FRIDAY at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating


SHOW & TELL FRIDAY at My Romantic Home

Christmas Ornament Wreath Tutorial

I have always loved those glass ball Christmas ornament wreaths and had always planned to make one, so when the chance to teach a craft class for our women's Relief Society group at church came up I had my reason to finally get it done. And I discovered that these are so simple to make and a lot of fun too!

First I went to 3 different thrift stores and wiped them out of Christmas balls. I spent about $7 and got about 106 Christmas balls of various, sizes and colors. I went to the dollar store and bought 3 vintage styled non-ball shaped ornies.

Supply List

• 1 foam wreath form (flat or rounded like the one above) I used a 12 inch form--any size will work.
• 
  
• Tinsel garland or ribbon
• 
  
• Approx 75 Christmas balls or other shaped ornaments (it is best to have some in small, medium and large sizes) Remove the hooks, but leave the little caps with the hangers and if the cap is missing that's ok too.
  
• 
  
• 18 to 20 inch piece of wire (for hanger)
• 
  
• Hot glue gun (high temp works best) & lots of glue sticks (do not leave glue gun on for 6 days straight like I did--it will ruin your glue gun and it might catch fire--boy was I lucky! Shhhh---don't tell the husband!)
• 
  
• Scissors
• 
  
• Favorite Christmas Tunes!

1. Wrap your wreath form with the tinsel garland or ribbon. Tacking the beginning and end pieces with a bit of hot glue to the form. This will hide the wreath form, because you are bound to have little spots here and there that will show through and no body wants to see the ugly foam part.

1-B. This is the part I forgot--add a wire hanger after your wreath is wrapped with garland or ribbon. If you wait until you're finished--like I did, it makes it harder to find a spot to add the wire!

Simply wrap one end of the wire around the wreath, then back up and wind it around itself and repeat for the other side. It'll all be hidden when you're done, so it doesn't have to be pretty--just functional.

2. Starting on the inside of the wreath lay out some medium sized balls arranging color as you go. After you have them layed out to your liking then hot glue each ball to the wreath. I made sure to point the tops downwards to the inside.

Note: Pick up wreath every so often, so as the glue may drip, it won't glue itself to the table. Yup, that's right--I found out the hard way--as usual!

It helps to hold each ball for a moment or two so that the glue can set and get a good hold. You might also want to add a bit of glue to each ball where they touch at the sides to add more support, but you can decide that as you go.

3. Repeat the above step for the outside of the wreath--again using medium sized balls. This gives us a nice base and easy starting point.

Note--When I got the end of the gluing on this step I ended up with a space that wasn't quite big enough to add another ball, but too big to leave a gap, so as you get to the last 3 or so balls you might need to slightly adjust the spacing to make them all fit with no gap left over.

4. Now that we have a good start this is where you start building.

I got so excited making my wreath that I forgot to take a picture of it being built--however I will be making more, so I will add a photo(s) later.

To build the rest of it was simply pick up a ball place it on top of the wreath until you like its placement and glue it down. I would lay out 3 or 4 balls at at time until I liked what I saw and then glued them down. It helps too, to pick the wreath up every so often and look at it from it's hanging point of view, so you can see what needs to go where.

I did find that if I didn't think things through too much or try to over analyze it, it went much quicker, was more fun and turned out better!

Keep adding and layering as you go, filling in here and there with the small balls and adding odd shaped ornies if you have any. I also added a few large jingle bells. If you want the cap end to show that's ok too. There are no rules. It's all up to you! You can add stars or snowflakes, or try wrapping a beaded garland around it too. Just throw caution to the wind and glue, glue, glue!

It took me right at 2 hours to make this wreath. Most of the time being in holding the balls a moment or two as the glue set up enough and deciding just what to put where.

A tip on hanging--don't hang on a door that gets a lot of use as it may damage the wreath. It would probably be best to hang it inside or on a little used door. And for storage either hang it on a wall in the basement--you can cover it with plastic to keep the dust off or use one of the Rubbermaid type of wreath containers or other heavy box.

And that's all there is to it! See simple and fun!

I'll be on the hunt again in a few days and I'm hoping to find some pink, silver and creamy white ornies for my next wreath.

If you make a wreath don't forget to email me a photo or a blog link. I'd love to see what you create!

Turn Old Jeans Into A Skirt Tutorial

This past weekend I turned a pair of jeans into a skirt for my 10 year old daughter for school. Now this is by no means a new idea or even my own idea. It's been around for years, but it's still new to a lot of people, so I thought I'd put together a little tutorial on one way to make a pair of old jeans into an almost new skirt.

The old pair of jeans.......

...and the new jean skirt!

Here's how......

First try on the jeans and decide how long you would like your skirt to be. I would suggest adding about 2 inches to this measurement and then mark with a pin or pencil mark.

Find a good work space and lay out the old pair of jeans.

Measuring from the bottom up find your mark and then measure across the jeans leg marking with a light pencil mark or disappearing marking pen. This will become your cutting line.

Using either a rotary cutter or a pair of scissors, follow your cutting line and cut jean legs off.

There you go.

Set these aside for later.

Next find that handy dandy seam ripper and rip out the inner seams of each leg, stopping at about 1 inch below the zipper in the front and about 2 inches from the waistband on the back or if your jeans have a yolk, then rip just up the yoke. Pull out all of the extra threads. Neatness counts!

Your jeans should look something like this.

Now lay left front leg flap over the right front leg flap like pictured here. The crotch points will overlap. Pin in place just down to the top of where the triangle starts to form. Make sure NOT to pin the front to the back by accident. It's my favorite wrong thing to do!

Next pin the back overlapping the left over the right as seen above.

Stitch just the pinned areas of the front and the back. For this skirt I chose a nice gray shade of thread for all of the stitching, because it blended nicely with the denim color, however you can also use contrasting colors if you'd like.

Turn inside out and cut out the excess fabric that has been created trimming a quarter inch or so from the stitching line. Repeat for both front and back. Turn skirt right side out again.

Take one of the leftover legs and lay it out flat.....

...and cut along either side of the seam. This will become the part that fills in the triangle. NOTE: You may also use scraps of fabric instead of the jeans leg for a bit of color.

Lay one piece of the jean leg underneath the open triangle area. You can lay it so the grain is going up down like this photo.......

..or where it is on the diagonal like this photo. We chose the diagonal. I also laid it out so that the hem area of the leg was at the top. This part will be trimmed off later.

After you have decided which way you'd like your leg piece to go in--making sure to have it longer than the skirt as seen in the photo then pin into place. I like to make it big then trim it to size later.

Repeat this for the back side also.

Stitch along the old seams. (For both front and back triangles).

Turn skirt inside out and trim away all of the excess fabric just along the newly sewn areas for both front and back pieces. Turn skirt right side out again.

You will most likely have a lovely uneven hemline now, but that's ok. Using your rotary cutter or pair of scissors trim both layers straight across.

You may now hem the skirt or leave it as is and let it fray naturally. I chose to let it fray naturally, however I did stitch a row of stitching just above the bottom edge, so that it won't fray past my stitching. I used a machine featherstitch, but zigzag works great too. You might even want to use a contrasting thread if you want the stitching to show.

You may also chose to embellish your skirt. Maybe with some rick rack along the hem or along the triangle seam lines. Other trim ideas: pompom trim, ribbon, buttons, zippers, applique, add lace fabric over the legs before sewing them into the triangles for a more feminine look. The ideas are endless. Just use your imagination or leave it plain as we did. But have fun!

This is the finished skirt front.

And the finished skirt back.


If you have any questions please feel free to email me and if you revamp your own jeans into a skirt I'd love to see your photos.

Happy Stitching!

Homemade Laundry Soap

I found a recipe for homemade laundry soap on Farmhouse Blessings blog and decided I had to try it and so I did! It is so easy to make and very cheap. All together the ingredients cost me just over 5.00--the price of a bottle of liquid laundry detergent and one batch of the homemade soap will yield just as many loads--BUT it costs so much less, because the ingredients with the exception of the bar of soap will last for many more batches. This soap also cleans great and smells so good.

All you need are these 3 simple ingredients and some water. The bar of soap looks pretty much like cheddar cheese when it's grated up.


Homemade Laundry Soap Recipe

16 cups water
1 bar of soap (your choice but many sources suggest Ivory, Fels-Naptha, Sunlight Bar, Castile or Zote)
1 cup of baking soda or washing soda (I use the washing soda)
1 1/2 cups borax

Before beginning, finely grate your bar of soap.

Boil the 16 cups of water in a large pot. While boiling, add your grated soap and whisk continuously until it completely dissolves. Remove from heat.

Next add borax and baking or washing soda. Whisk it up really well. Continue to whisk throughout the day as it cools. It will begin to gel as it cools, but you don't need to wait to use it.

You may store in old commercial detergent containers or any other covered container as well.

Use ½ cup soap per load.

You can also add 1/4 cup vinegar to the rinse cycle instead of fabric softener..

I found all of the ingredients on the laundry aisle at my local grocery store.

This is what the soap will look like as it cools and when it's finished. It resembles a nice soft hand cream almost. The lemony color is from the soap that I used, so yours may look a bit different depending on what soap you choose to use.

Here it is all ready to use in it's nice glass container. Due to it's consistency it was too much trouble trying to put it into a regualar detergent bottle--even after I cut out the spout thing, so I opted for this glass jar I had picked up a the thrift store a couple of weeks ago for 2.00. Now I'm on the hunt for a pretty little teacup to use as my scoop instead of a plastic measuring cup, which works just great, but not so pretty and we all know if the laundry room is pretty it'll make doing the laundry more enjoyable--well as enjoyable as laundry can be.

I'd also love to hear comments from anyone who tries this, so please feel free to post them here.

Tutorial: How To Sew In A Gusset

I've had many people ask how to sew in a gusset, so today I will show you how I do it. It's very simple to do, so let's get started................

How do we get this into that?
First open up the area that the gusset will be going into and match one end of the gusset to the seam.
Now pin the gusset all the way around from seam to seam or point to point, lining the points up with the seams at either end. Use as many or as few pins as you are comfortable with.
We will be begin sewing at one end at the center of this point, which will be the center of the seam.
Here I've folded the fabric away, so you can see what I'm talking about. The pink stitch on the blue you see there is the center starting point.
Ok, here we go stitching along our first edge. I like to use the edge of my presser foot for my seam guide, which is roughly a 1/4 inch. Don't forget to pull out the pins as you go. Stitching over a pin can cause broken needles and even worse if you hit one just right it can throw the timing of your machine off and then you won't be able to sew and off to the repair shop you will go--guess how I know!
Here we are stitching merrily along on our way to the first finish line!...........
Stitch all the way to the point--where the scissors are pointing--this will be in the middle of the seam, just like at the beginning.
Just another view of where we're heading. What it looks like underneath that fabric............
And we're there! Take one or two backstitches.............
...and pull the piece out from the machine. Clip your threads.............
Put the gusset back under the machine--starting at the end you just sewed to and begin again just like you did on the other side. The scissors are pointing to where we will begin..........
La, la, la, la, la, la here we go, stitching away.....isn't it easy! I told you it would be!
Almost home! See the stitching where we started. Keep going.........
And we're there! Backstitch once or twice, pull the gusset out from the machine and clip your threads.
There now wasn't that easy! You're ready to clip the edges, so it will lay nicely once you turn it right side out. Well done! You get an A!
When making a gusset on a bird or something similar I do not like to leave my stuffing opening in the gusset area. I prefer to cut a slit underneath a wing or some other such place, but that is personal preference and you may find a totally different way that works for you and that's the way you should do it. There aren't too many rules. Just find what fits and works best for you and do it that way. Now go and stitch up a whole flock of birds and Happy Stitching!

My little chickadee bird pattern is available in E Pattern form HERE