Newspaper Flowers

It's been a while since I posted anything.  My camera is on the blink so I've had a major handicap.  I spent the day with sister number 3 yesterday, so I was able to use her camera. I got this idea from purpleandscarlet.com.  You should visit her site to see her rendition of these flowers.  Her colors are more intense than mine and I think I like them better.  Next time I will add more food coloring to mine but that won't be any time soon.  I have enough colored paper to last me for a long time and since that's the slow part of the process, I will use what I have made.

The first step is to mix a small amount of food color and water in a shallow pan.  I used my sister's gel colors from her cake decorating business.  For my first dyeing I used too much water.  You really just barely cover the bottom of a cookie sheet.

 I kept turning the paper until it was thoroughly soaked in color.  I probably used 2 or 3 sheets folded over.  I left some of the sheets in one piece after the color step and some I tore in strips.

I placed them in the oven at about 150 degrees to dry.

To make the roses I just started rolling the strips, making little pleats when needed.  I glued this with hot glue.

I rolled up strips to make the stamen.

I gathered them up in a bunch and then added petals around this.

I was not very careful in screening which part of the newspaper I used.  When I finished one flower, I noticed that I could clearly read "Woman Raped" on one of the petals.  Needless to say, I eliminated that part.

After the flowers were finished I sprayed them with this product that I got at Michael's.  It made the flowers a bit shimmery.

Here is a small box that I bought at the Dollar Tree with the flowers on top.

I may use a brush and add a little color to parts of the flowers and leaves.  I'm not sure the picture does them justice, but these turned out really cute.  I think they would be nice decorations for your Christmas gifts. Happy Crafting!!!

Embellished T-Shirt

It seems that embellished t-shirts are all the rage.  Directions for making your own are all over the internet.  I'm going to share my version of this easy project.  Disclaimer....I am not, nor have I ever claimed to be, a seamstress.  If you want to hear from an expert you need to consult with one of my sisters, not me.  I say that to emphasize that this is an easy project.
I started off by buying 2 t-shirts on sale at Wally World.  I got one in my regular size and one XL to cut up.

 Cut strips, fold in the raw edges and iron.

Start rolling the strip to make a rosette.

Twist the strip and continue wrapping.  You can use a hot glue gun and secure the rosette with a dot of glue every few inches.  If you would rather sew the rosette you could do that too. Continue wrapping, twisting every inch or so.

Here are the finished rosettes.

Cut wider strips (about 3 inches) to make ruffles.

Sew a wide stitch down the middle of the strip and gather into a ruffle.

 Decide how you want to place the ruffle on the shirt, then sew in chosen place.

 Attach other ruffles on the shirt, close to the first one.

Cut out leaves and add them to the area where you want the rosettes.

Sew the rosettes in place.

 Here is the finished shirt.  I had this on one night when I was shopping at Costc*.  A girl came up to me and said, "I have a shirt just like that.  Did you buy yours at B*lk?"

Here is another version.  These flowers were made by gathering down the middle of the strip, folding the strip in half and rolling it into the flower.  I sewed these closed rather than using the glue gun.  This was a fun project and even buying 2 shirts the project was only $6.00.  Give it a try.

Tomato Pie

It's been a while since I posted because I've been busy canning. I had a few tomatoes left after I finished canning so I decided to make a few tomato pies to put in the freezer.  I use Paula Deen's recipe in case you want to refer to the original. Alert!!! This is not a low fat recipe.  It doesn't have a stick of butter like many of her recipes but it does have lots of cheese and mayo.

First I core the tomatoes.

Then slice it crosswise.

 Give the halves a squeeze and fling the seeds in the sink.

This is what you will achieve.

I cut the tomatoes into smaller pieces and place on the top of my broiler pan, over the sink.  Sprinkle on salt and let them drain to remove some of the liquid.  I usually wait about 30 minutes.

Place the tomatoes in a baked, deep dish pie shell.  Cut up green onions and place on top.  I think Paula calls for 1/2 cup but I don't really measure.  I have also used chives when I didn't have any green onions.  I don't like that quite as much but I do have them growing in my back yard so it beats a trip to the grocery store.

Then cut up basil leaves and sprinkle on the pie.

Mix 1 cup mozzarella cheese, 1 cup cheddar cheese and 1 cup of mayo and spread on top.  For these 4 pies I used 3 cups of cheese and 3 cups of mayo.  I have also tried to substitute sour cream for some of the mayo but I didn't like it as much.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.  I didn't bake them quite as long because I was going to freeze them.  When I reheat them to serve, I cover the crust with a thin strip of foil so it doesn't burn. Sometimes these turn out juicy so I don't even try to slice them.  I just spoon a serving on a plate.  It's really yummy.  Give it a try.

Old Door to Sweet Dreams

Today I'm sharing a project I did for my guest bedroom.  Unfortunately, I had a computer issue a while back and lost my before pictures.  I hope you can get an idea of how this bed was constructed.  I started with a $15 door from a local "junque" yard.  It was very nasty and had chipped paint so the first step was to get it cleaned up and sanded a little.  I also cut the door down to the width I wanted.

This picture shows the back of the door.  I added two 5 1/2 inch by 64 1/2 inch MDF board to each side of the back of the door.  These boards formed the legs of the headboard and the additional space I needed at the top of the headboard to add some decorative pieces.  I determined the placement of these boards by how tall I wanted the headboard to be.  I wanted to make sure that the doorknob hole would be covered by my pillows.

I'm not sure if you can see it in this picture but I added a short MDF board at the bottom of the door and attached it to the legs.  This added extra support for the door.

An 8 1/2 inch MDF board was added to the top of the door.

This shows the front of the headboard.  I glued a raised wallpaper border just above where the door came together with the top MDF board.

I wrapped the border around the ends and to the back of the door.  I added some decorative molding to the bottom and top of the wallpaper border and then attached a top piece. Since I'm not a carpentry expert my mitered corners were not perfect. Caulking and paint covers all kinds of mistakes.  I had planned to use some small crown molding at the top but my measurements didn't exactly turn out right so I left it like this.  I then primed, painted and glazed the door. Mr. Meticulous added the round felt pads on the back of the headboard to keep it from scratching the wall.  We ordered legs online from Universal Bed Legs. They attach directly to the box springs.  There are 9 legs in a set so the bed is supported very well.  I really like these legs.  They are made of heavy plastic and enable you to move the bed very easily. Mr. Meticulous added some extra support to our box springs to make it even sturdier.

This shows the finished product.  The headboard is a little wider than it should be but I based the width on the panels of the door.  I bought the quilts and rug on Ebay to complete to look.  One quilt was a "cutter" so I used that in making the pillow shams, covering a footstool and making a decorative pillow.

The embroidered pillow cases also came from an Ebay purchase.  The decorative pillow was made from a vintage dresser scarf. This room makes me very happy.  I will share more projects from this room at a later time. Thanks for checking in.

Easy T-Shirt Scarf GIVEAWAY

I saw this scarf on psimadethis.com and thought it was a good use of those tired t-shirts that we all have.  I used a new, Wally World tee for this project since I am giving it away. 

Cut the tee from one side to the other just under the sleeve seam.

 Cut the hem off of the bottom.

 Cut fringe along the bottom of the tee.  I cut mine about 5 inches but I don't really think it matters how long you make it.  Just be sure it is long enough for a knot.

When you pull the fringe, each cut rolls in like this.

I then added Pony Beads on the front section and tied a know under each bead. I used a straightened paper clip to push the material through the bead.

Here is the finished scarf.  If you would like to be in the drawing to win this, just leave a comment on my blog site.  A winner will be drawn on August 13th and I will email the winner for your address.

Cement Cast Leaves - Part Two

I'm sorry for the delay in completing this project.  My husband, Mr. Meticulous, fell while working in our yard and broke his hip.  I had to change hats from blogger to nurse.  Today I am posting some pictures of the painted leaves.  I will take you step-by-step through the process of two different painted finishes.  I don't think there is a wrong way to paint the leaves.  If you wanted to, you could just paint them one solid color but I like it when several layers of colors are used.  I painted one leaf following the method used in the earlier post of the bronze bunny. The only difference was that I added a top coat to protect the leaf.

Step 1 - Paint the leaf a light green.

Step 2 - While the green is still wet add other colors.  I used red, dark green and yellow.  With a wet brush I blended the colors.  I use a 1 1/2 or 2 inch paint brush.

Step 3 - When the leaf was dry, I painted it all over with watered down brown paint.

Step 4 - With a damp cloth, wipe off some of the brown.

Step 5 - When the leaf is dry, paint with a sealer.  You can use concrete sealer or poly.  I had something called Counter Topcoat that I had left over from sealing my kitchen counters so that is what I used.

Leaf Two

When I first saw this locust branch bowl, I didn't like it at all.

Step 1 - I painted it a mustard color.

Step 2 - I painted green over the mustard.

Step 3 - Wipe off some of the green.  When I did this, I also wiped off some of the mustard color and some of the cement color showed through.  It's hard to see that in the picture but I liked the way it looked.

Step 4 - I used a dark green and painted over the individual leaves.

Step 5 - When that was dry I painted over the bowl with Statuary Bronze that was watered down.

Step 6 - I wiped off the bronze and when dry, added the topcoat.

This begonia leaf was done in three steps, light green, bronze wash, then topcoat.

This leaf was painted green, then a red wash and topcoat.

 This is a huge leaf that I am using as a bird bath.  If you make one this big you will need to add some wire for added strength.  I cut up chicken wire into manageable pieces, added them to the cement covered leaf, and then covered them with more cement.  This leaf is about 25 to 30 inches across.
I hope you enjoy making these as much as I have.  Have fun and go for it.  If you don't like the end results, don't fret, it's only paint.  Happy painting.