Category Archives: How to

Crafty Challenge Seven: Paper

April 15, 2012craft, Craft Challenge, Crafts from the Past, Creativity, DIY, Homemade, How tocrafts, crafty challenge, creativityKristin McCormick

Our sixth Crafty Challenge has come to a completion and was a rousing success. We will be posting the results one project per day this week. We hope you keep coming back to check them all out!

Crafty Challenge Seven is all about paper. For this project, your main material must be paper. By paper, we mean any paper product (e.g., cardboard, card stock, wrapping paper, tissue paper). This is a challenge to minimize materials, unlike some of our past challenges that were limited by cost or time.

Here are some of the other crafts made out of paper from our crafting history:

This is a paper flower garland made by Lynne for Crafty Challenge 5.

These are Christmas ornaments made by Cheri for our Christmas Ornament Countdown.

This is a folio made by Lynne for Crafty Challenge 3.

The project can be anything you like and it will be very interesting to see what all the Crafty Sisters come up with! The challenge starts today and we have 2 weeks to complete our project. Our next reveal will be on April 29th (Happy future Birthday to Crafty Sister Cheri’s children, Jacob and Justin who were born on that auspicious day!).

Wish us luck and few paper cuts.

Happy crafting,

Kristin

Almond Ear Wires and a Pretty Pink Earring/Necklace Set

March 10, 2012craft, Creativity, DIY, Homemade, How to, Jewelryalmond earwires, almond-shaped, DIY, ear-wires, earrings, handmade, homemade, How to, jewelry, pink necklace, sterling silver, wire, wire wrappingKristin McCormick

Almond ear wires with pink conical beads. — I just love this shape of ear wire.

New and interesting shapes for ear wires are very popular lately. My favorites are the almond-shaped ear wires.These have been featured all over the web and television. The first time I really noticed them was on Emily Deschanel in the television series “Bones.” They are elegant and fun and are actually very easy to make.

For demonstration purposes and because it photographs a little easier, I made these ear wires out of heavier 18 gauge sterling silver half-hard wire. I usually use lighter 21 gauge sterling silver half-hard wire, but I wanted something that would be very visible in the photos.

Wire bent at 90 degrees at 3/4". — Bend the wire to 90º.

Using flat nose pliers (although you can use the rosary pliers for the whole project if you prefer) I bent the wire at 3/4″ to a 90º angle.

Wire loop made with rosary pliers. — Wrap a loop with the rosary pliers.

Then I used rosary pliers (also called round-nose pliers) to make a loop by placing the pliers above the bend on the short wire and wrapping it around the nose of the pliers.

Completed wire loop. — Finish wrapping the short end of the wire around the stem.

Holding onto the loop with the rosary pliers, I use the flat nose pliers to twist the short end of the wire around the stem (below the loop). By having only 3/4″ of wire for the loop, there is no wire to trim and you are good to continue on to the next step.

Wire wrapped around the mandrel. — Wrap the wire around a mandrel or other object approximately 1" in diameter.

Here I used a mandrel that my father made me for Christmas a few years ago (Aren’t fathers wonderful?). The widest end of the mandrel is 1″ in diameter and the thinnest end is 1/2″ in diameter. For these ear wires, I wrapped around the widest point of my mandrel at 1″. I just made one wrap around the mandrel and as the wire is half-hard, it stretches back out to an incomplete circle when I let it go as shown in the photo below.

Wire just removed from the mandrel will stretch out to form an incomplete circle.

Completed almond shaped ear wire. — Here is the finished view of the almond ear wire.

Next, I bend the circle at the half-way point to create the top of the almond and lightly stretch out the two halves to create the full almond shape. I also bend the wire-wrapped loop to hang correctly down from the almond. I then use a small file to smooth the cut made by the wire cutters so it won’t catch in your ear when you put it through.

To show the ear wires in action, I made the matching earrings to a necklace I made from pretty pink glass florets, red pearls and crackled white quartz beads. The pendant is a piece of dyed jasper that I wire wrapped to hang it from the necklace.

I hope this helps you to create your own almond ear wires, or inspires you to create your own new shape entirely!

Roman Shades: What to Do When Things Go Wrong

December 29, 2011Creativity, DIY, How to, Sewingproblem solving, roman shadesthecraftysisters

Loryn: No matter how much crafting experience you have, things often go wrong when you’re designing a custom project. The trick is not to get discouraged, and use your creativity to come up with a solution!

I’ve been wanting roman shades for my living room, and I thought I would get started on this window because it is the smallest of the three (it’s a Victorian house, so the window panes on the downstairs windows are over 6′ tall on most of the windows). I just needed one piece of fabric that was 55″ wide by about 40″ long. What could be easier than that? Famous last words!

For my fabric, I have a bolt of upholstery-weight linen cotton fabric that I picked up at a garage sale for $10. I bought it specifically for these shades. I love the horizontal woven stripe. The fabric is 56″ wide, so I had one inch to spare for a hem.

First check. After I cut the length I needed, I discovered this stain along the folded edge of the bolt. I need every bit of this fabric for my three windows, so going down to the unstained part of the bolt was not an option. No problem, I’m used to getting stains out of vintage fabrics. I soaked the fabric in Biz (which is what I had on hand) for several hours. Biz is great at getting out greasy stains, but it didn’t have any effect on this stain.

I went out and picked up some oxygen detergent, and used the boiling method to clean it a second time. Stain didn’t budge.

I tried the oxy method again, and this time I boiled the fabric for nearly an hour. Stain didn’t budge.

The oxy method removes just about every stain but rust, so maybe that’s a rust stain. I soaked the fabric in Yellow Out for several hours, which was a pain because it gives off a lot of fumes. Stain still didn’t budge.

By this time, I was ready to admit defeat and start looking for other options to hide the stain.

One option would be to cut out the stain and put vertical seams in the shade. I didn’t want to do that in this case because I wanted to emphasize the horizontal lines of the fabric. Roman shades often use ribbons on the front of the shade where the tapes are, so I bought some bias tape that could cover the stain. One piece would go down the middle (over the stain), and two pieces would go at each edge.

Before I could iron the tape on, I needed to run the fabric through a regular laundry cycle to get all the Yellow Out rinsed out. When I pulled the fabric out of the washer, the stain was gone.

What??

Don’t ask me why regular laundry detergent worked where all my other cleaners didn’t. Who knows.

I scrapped the bias tape idea, and went back to my original plan. It should be smooth sailing from here, right? Those of you who’ve worked with linen or cotton fabric can probably guess what went wrong next. I dried and ironed the fabric, and then decided to double-check my measurements so I could hem the sides. Only to find that the heat from boiling had shrunk my fabric by 2″. It was now only 54″ wide, and the window is 55″ wide.

Sigh. I guess it needed a decorative binding anyway, didn’t it? It adds a nice accent color, and nobody has to know it’s covering up a mistake. I cut a 4″ strip of fabric to add a 1 1/2″ finished binding that extends past the edge of the main body and adds the width I need. I cut the binding horizontally across the fabric rather than on the bias so that I could have horizontal stripes along the sides to match the horizontal stripe in the main fabric.

I had a great tutorial to show you on how to make perfect mitered corners for binding. Unfortunately, I learned that my method does not work when the binding extends past the edge. Instead of nice, flat, square corners, the binding pulls, giving my shade convex corners.

This time I admitted defeat. The convex corners are staying! They’re just as hard to see in person as they are in the photos. I’ll show you how to apply binding on another project!

I tried one final new idea on this shade: I sewed on eyes (from hook and eye sets) instead of rings for the shade strings.

I have a huge lot of vintage hooks and eyes that came from an estate sale. I thought I would try using them in place of rings to guide the ropes that raise and lower the roman shade. They were easier to sew on, but I don’t recommend them for shades that you’ll raise and lower a lot. the sharp eyes will cut the ropes eventually.

After all of that, I finally have a finished shade that I really like. Challenges will always arise when you’re designing a new project. The more you exercise your creativity to overcome the obstacles, the easier it gets. And in the long run, those creative solutions will become your best work!

–Loryn

Simple Pillow with Slip Stitch Tutorial

December 27, 2011craft, Homemade, How to, Interiorsmaking pillows, sewing how to, slip stitch, slipstitchingthecraftysisters

Loryn: You can make simple pillows from just a bit of fabric and some stuffing material. For this pillow, I did a simple slip stitch closure that is quick and easy. If you’re not confident with slipstitching yet, read on for some tips to help upgrade your skills.

For simple pillows, you can be really creative with materials. For this pillow I used vintage linen tea towels, an inexpensive source for a great print. I used two bed pillows for stuffing material. This pillow is very tightly stuffed to provide a lot of support.

To make your pillow, cut two pieces of fabric to size, and pin them together with the right sides together.

Sew the edges together, leaving an opening for stuffing the pillow. Be sure to leave the opening in the middle of a seam, not in the corner, because it’s hard to form a corner with hand stitching.

Trim the corners so it will be easier to turn them.

Turn the envelope right side out, and press the seams. Use a pin or dull needle to pull the corners out, but don’t pull so much that you tear the seam.

Before you start stitching, pin the seams in place across the opening. You’ll place your slip stitches right on the fold.

Place your knot inside the seam, and bring the needle out on the fold. The most important thing to do to make your slip stitching look good is to keep your stitches lined up. Make the stitches short, and catch the fabric on the other side directly opposite your first stitch.

Pull the stitches taut after every few stitches. Keep sewing all the way across the opening. When finished, make a knot with your needle, and hide the thread inside the seam. Enjoy your new pillow!

Christmas Ornament Countdown: Wire Wrapped Joy

December 23, 2011craft, Creativity, DIY, How toChristmas ornament, creativity, decoration, DIY, How to, wire, wire wrappingthecraftysisters

Cheri: While my sis and I were shopping at Hobby Lobby the other day, we were checking out the wire in the jewelry section. Back many years ago when I first started working with wire, I was using baling wire. This is the wire that holds bales of hay together. It was a good thing I was young and my hands were in good shape.

Since then wire comes in all shapes and sizes and colors. The wire I picked up for this ornament was really soft, and my hands really appreciated it. I was able to form the letters very smoothly and if I made an adjustment to the wire, it was easy to get the kinks out.

This ornament is really quite simple. I shaped the word “Joy” and then I made a big circle with a hanger at the top and placed the word in it. I then took small pieces of wire and held the word in place by wrapping it at various points. I think it turned out very nice and should really add a lot to the ornament tree that we are all working on.

Merry Christmas from Crafty Sister Cheri.

Christmas Ornament Countdown: Wire-wrapped Ice Fairy

December 20, 2011Christmas Ornaments, craft, Creativity, DIY, Homemade, How toChristmas ornament, fairy, ice fairy, ornament, wire, wire wrappingKristin McCormick

I love Cheri’s Chinese Fortune ornament. It will just glitter and shine next to the lights on the Christmas tree.

For an ornament last week, I did an homage to my stepfather’s sequin and pin ornament and for today I am doing one for my sister. Loryn has this ornament that she received from our grandmother (Memom – the other two sisters’ that make up The Crafty Sisters, mom) in 1981. As we were growing up Memom would give us each a Hallmark ornament for Christmas. One of the joys of decorating our tree was being able to hang the ornaments that were yours. This one in particular was a lovely Ice Fairy holding a snow flake.

Hallmark ornament from 1981 of an Ice Fairy holding a snowflake. — This is the original ornament. Unfortunately not ours, as this one still has her wings and snowflake.

I have many memories of this ornament and I know that my sister has even more. Unfortunately, time has not really been kind to the poor fairy. She has lost her wings and snowflake, but she is still a lovely ornament so she is hung on the tree every year. Here is my version of the ornament:

I made her with silver wire. I started with the arms, wired on the neck and head and then continued with the rest of the body. Then I made the snowflake and wired it onto one of the hands and adjusted the other hand to hold it. The wings were made next and each is wired separately to her shoulders. I added her hair last.

Happy Holidays from Kristin!

Paper Star Christmas Tree Topper

December 19, 2011Christmas Ornaments, craft, Creativity, DIY, Homemade, How toChristmas ornament, creativity, decoration, DIY, holiday, How to, paper, star, tissue paperthecraftysisters

Paper Star Tree Topper — Paper Star Christmas Tree Topper

Lynne: We crafty sisters have been making ornaments all month, but we are not the only ones. Last week, I went to the Pear Tree Gallery to attend Teri Partridge‘s class on making a tissue paper star.

The ornament is not difficult to make, but it is repetitive and good company with good conversation speeds the whole process. Of course that meant Teri had to talk a little louder while giving instructions, but she is a retired middle-school teacher and up to any task.

Materials you will need:

tissue paper

white glue

white colored pencil

scissors

CD for a circle template (or something similar in size)

binder clips

12 to 20 inches of 18 or 20 gauge wire

pliers

buttons or bells

wet cloth or sponge

You need about 14 circles of cut tissue paper for the completed star. Stack your tissue paper so that you can cut all of the circles at once. We used an old CD to draw around as a template for the circles. Hold the cut-out circles together with small binder clips to keep from having to constantly adjust them. Cut into the circles at the 12, 6, 3 and 9 positions of the clock and then cut halfway between each of those quarters. Make sure the cut does not go all the way to the middle. You need the center section to hold the paper on the wire. The photo below should help with my directions.

Have a little glue poured out on a throwaway lid, a dampened sponge or cloth to wipe your fingers free of glue, a white colored pencil (a darker color could mark the paper and show through the point), and the cut circles and you are ready to begin.

Position your pencil with the tip in the middle of each cut and roll the tissue paper around it to make a point. Slide the pencil out and put a little glue on the edge to keep the point from unrolling. Use the 3rd or 4th finger of your hand for the glue and you will not have to keep wiping the glue off the index finger you are using to roll the paper.

When you have all fourteen of the circles finished, you are ready to put the ornament together. Cut your wire anywhere from 12 to 20 inches long depending on how many spirals you want to make and how long a hanger you want. Make a loop in the wire to hold the circles in place. The loop should be several inches from one end of the wire depending on how long you want the hanger to be. You can also use a button or a bell to make a stronger stop to keep the paper from sliding upwards when you tighten the star.

Make a hole with a needle or ice pick in the middle of the circles. String the first 7 circles onto the non-looped end of the wire with their points down and string the other 7 circles with the points up. You want the star to have the top points pointing down and the bottom points pointing up to give the ornament its circular shape. Use a bell or a button pushed up tight to the bottom circle and make another loop to hold the bell on. Arrange the circles so the points show to best advantage and make sure the circles are bunched tightly together to make it pouf out properly. Secure the bottom bell and cut the wire or make some spirals or twists if you like. Bend the wire on the top to form a hanger and you have your star ornament.

When I got home, I liked the star so much I wanted to make a larger one as a topper for my tree. I made the circles slightly larger by using a 7″ plate as a template for the circles. Don’t go too big or the circles get too floppy and do not pouf right.

I needed heavier wire to make the ornament stand on its own at the top of the tree. I found some 12 gauge white electrical wire at the hardware store and took it to Cheri to have her bend the wire into the right shape. She used the neck of a champagne bottle to bend the wire into a coil to fit on the top of the tree.

Wire coiled around the neck of the champagne bottle. The 12 gauge wire was harder to bend close enough to the paper circles, so we used pieces of cork above the stop loops in the wire to help hold them close together. The cork holds the tissue paper circles tightly together. The champagne bottle we used to coil the wire made a great stand for our photo. The star looks great on the top of our tree and if you like the topper on the champagne bottle, it would make a great centerpiece for your holiday table. Have yourself a merry holiday! Our new paper star tree topper. Paper Star Tree Topper

Christmas Ornament Countdown: Scrapbook Paper Origami Stars

December 18, 2011Christmas Ornaments, craft, Creativity, DIY, Homemade, How to12 point star, 3d star, Christmas ornament, origami, origami star, paper star, scrapbook paper, starKristin McCormick

At the beginning of this countdown I wrote up a list of 8 different media that I wanted to use to make ornaments. I have now arrived at paper. I found this wonderful video tutorial for how to make 12-point origami stars and made with some pretty scrapbook these are perfect for holiday ornaments and decorations.

I have found after making them that I have a few suggestions. I originally thought to make these with Christmas wrap, but found that the wrapping paper is just too thin and prone to tearing to be practical. I did have some really pretty scrapbook paper in some excellent colors that was a heavier weight. Don’t use cardstock as it will not fold easily once you get to several layers of paper. Anything in between wrap and cardstock would work very well. I also recommend using something to press the creases down such as a bone folder.

To hang these as ornaments from my tree, I am going to pull a thread through the star with a doll needle (a really long needle) and attach a hook to the thread. Voila! a wonderful ornament form the tree or just beautiful to set on a table as decoration.

Happy Holidays from Kristin!

This post was edited to fix the link to the tutorial. The old link had disappeared and I was able to find a new tutorial on YouTube.

Happy Crafting,

Kristin

Christmas Ornament Countdown: Crochet Wreath

December 17, 2011Christmas Ornaments, craft, Creativity, DIY, How toChristmas ornament, christmas wreath, cotton yarn, crochet, homemade ornament, wreathKristin McCormick

Eight days til Christmas and we are now more than half way done with our Christmas Ornament Countdown. Cheri’s Teeny Tiny Places was just awesome!

My ornament for today is based on some crochet work I am doing for another Christmas present and just sort of made itself up last week. It is a simple wreath made of green cotton yarn.

I used a 3″ in diameter metal ring for the base, making a single crochet stitch around for the first row. The next row is half double crochet and the last row is half double crochet as well, but is stitched into the front leg of the first half double crochet row. This gives the wreath a nice thickness and also makes what I call a pie crust edging.

The bow is made with red cotton yarn. I pulled the yarn through the stitching at the bottom of the wreath and made a standard shoe tie bow and then used the ends of the thread to make two more bows. Nice and easy!

Happy Holidays from Kristin!

Crafty Challenge 5: Paper Flower Garland

December 13, 2011Christmas Ornaments, craft, Craft Challenge, Creativity, How toChristmas ornament, crafty challenge, creativity, decoration, DIY, garland, holiday decoration, How tothecraftysisters

Lynne: Crafty Challenge 5 was a challenge for me. I don’t believe I have made any Christmas ornaments for several years and it was tough to get my mind back into that red and green groove.

I like long garlands and I like them to be lit. Strings of Christmas tree lights seemed to me to be the best way to start, so I bought a strand of 100 clear Christmas tree lights. I needed the light strand to be decorated and the longer I looked at them the more the bulbs looked like the centers of flowers. Why not put a flower around each light bulb? The flower I made for my Do It Best Purse in the hardware store challenge would be the perfect fit to go around the collars of the light bulbs.

I plugged in my strand of lights for two hours to check on how hot they would get. I could still hold them in my hand at the end of the two hours so I used red tissue paper. However, be safe and turn off your tree lights whenever you leave the house.

Tissue paper comes folded in its package. When you unfold the paper the creases are good guidelines for cutting the long strips. I cut through all of the layers at the same time, because there was less chance of the sheets slipping while they were still in the original folds. I used a rotary cutter and the resulting strips were about 3″ wide.

I folded the strip in half and then separated the layers into stacks of two strips each. (The number of layers can vary depending on how thick the paper is and how frilly you want the flowers.) I taped the unfolded edge with scotch tape. I put half the tape on one side then flipped the strip over and folded the tape up onto the other side. Then I used scissors to cut the folded edge of the strip into fringe.

Once you’ve fringed the length of the strip, cut it into 5″ sections. 5 inches worked best for me but you can make the sections longer if you want fuller flowers. Take each 5″ section and roll it around one of the light bulb plastic holders. The holders are plastic and I found that a dab of hot glue when you first start to roll the flower is strong enough to hold the flower in place. Once you have the flower rolled use a piece of tape to keep it closed. I put a flower on every other light bulb and I was just able to finish the garland in two hours.

I liked the results so much that after the challenge was over I made another garland and bought a white Christmas tree to put them on.

Crafty Challenge — Fold the 5" strip around the holder of the light bulb and tape it closed.

the crafty sisters

craft writing drawing

Category Archives: How to

Crafty Challenge Seven: Paper

Almond Ear Wires and a Pretty Pink Earring/Necklace Set

Roman Shades: What to Do When Things Go Wrong

Simple Pillow with Slip Stitch Tutorial

Christmas Ornament Countdown: Wire Wrapped Joy

Christmas Ornament Countdown: Wire-wrapped Ice Fairy

Paper Star Christmas Tree Topper

Christmas Ornament Countdown: Scrapbook Paper Origami Stars

Christmas Ornament Countdown: Crochet Wreath

Crafty Challenge 5: Paper Flower Garland