DIY Fall Pumpkins

All the DIY pumpkins have caught my eye on Pinterest. What about you? I just fell in love with the sweater and velvet pumpkins I was seeing. And all I could think of was…I CAN DO THAT.

Please note. I cannot sew well. I DO NOT own a sewing machine. I took one mother/daughter sewing class in 4-H and my mom and I almost killed each other trying to make an apron. It was ugly folks. I DO however own a sewing kit. It has some basic thread, needles, scissors, etc.

Like any good DIYer I searched and hunted on Pinterest. I looked at all the tutorials and decided I could make these pumpkins. I may not be able to sew, but I could conquer these pumpkins….

I settled on two styles of pumpkins: the kind made from a recycled sweater and the kind that require super basic sewing (because I own a sewing kit you know). I headed out and gathered my supplies

Supplies:
Sweater from a thrift store
2 yards of dark gray corduroy with gold polka dots
Sewing kit
Poly-fil
Twine
Wrapped wire (similar)

Making the Pumpkins

With the sweater pumpkins I followed this tutorial found on StoneGable. This was VERY easy. The hardest part was cutting up my sweater because it was so thick. One sweater made 4 pumpkins.

With my corduroy pumpkins I modified a tutorial I found on Masion de Pax. The modification I made was instead of sewing at the very end, I sewed each pumpkin about an inch from the edge giving me more of a little purse.

Making Pumpkin Stems
When I did my Pinterest search I found there were many ways people were making pumpkin stems. I wanted a more rustic look so I took three different approaches.

Wrapped Wire Stem
After closing off the my pumpkins either with twine or my sewing my little purse together I started at the bottom and wrapped up to form a faux stem.

Folded Sweater Stem
Some pieces of sweater that had a finished sleeve cuff. With those pieces I folded the edge over and then tied a piece of wrapped wire  around the base to hold the fold in place. I then made small curls out of the excess wrapped wire.

Rustic Rough Stem: 
Some pumpkins I left rough looking like a little purse. I tied wrapped wire around the base of the stem and made small curls with the excess.

Costume Jewelry Corsage

This Sunday will be my mom’s first Mother’s Day without her mom. I wanted to do something special to honor my Mom and my Grandmother. As a little girl, every Mother's Day Dad and I bought my Mom a corsage to wear to church (anyone else do this? Or is that just a small town thing?). My Costume Jewelry Corsage is a nod to a tradition in our family and a way to honor my Grandmother this Mother's Day.

In January when our family gathered for my grandmother’s memorial we went through all of my grandmother’s jewelry. After everyone had been through the jewelry and picked out what they really wanted I quietly gathered some clip on earrings into a bag knowing I wanted to do something special for my mom.

At first I thought I wanted to create an art piece for her using the earrings, but then I had this idea to create a Mother’s Day Corsage. Like all crafty people I thought my idea was totally new and I would create something no one else had ever seen (that was short lived with one Pinterest search).

I pinned several ideas, bought supplies and got to work.

Supplies:

• Costume Jewelry (brooches, earrings, etc)
• 1 Roll Floral Wire
• 2- Fabric Flowers (Small Flower Found Here)
• 1- Burlap Leaf Stem
• 1 Roll lace ribbon 
• 1 pkg Pin Backs
• Burlap Doily
• Corsage Box
• Wire Cutter

I wired each earring with floral wire being careful to leave a long tail (4-6 inches).

I took all my items and began playing with different ideas. But I didn’t like it. It wasn’t what I wanted. It was flat and one dimensional (and not very good looking).

After 30 minutes of playing and not liking what I was seeing I asking my friend Michelle if she would help me. (Never be afraid to call in a creative friend) Michelle helped me get past my crafting block and press on. We took all the pieces apart and grouped and wrapped them together.

We started with the burlap leaves and single fabric flower (I bought these in the wedding section of Hobby Lobby. They were already on wire.) Then we began pulling in the earrings. I loved where it was heading, but wanted to incorporate more.

I attached another fabric piece (which I bought in the sale section of Hobby Lobby) using my trusty glue gun and then wrapped in more of the earrings.

When I knew I was finished I wrapped the stem up as tight as I could (still making it look corsage like) and used some pliers to push down any ends of wire. I wrapped the stem with lace ribbon to give it a finished look and attached a pin back to the back on the corsage.

I packed my corsage in a corsage box, with a burlap cut out and more lace ribbon and sent the corsage off to my mom for Mother’s Day.

Mom- I love you!! Thank you for being such a great example to me, for loving me, pushing me, and showing me how to serve God and serve people!  

I've Linked up with Skip to My Lou  and Tatertots and Jello on this post. 

DIY Book Page Wall Art

Today I am sharing my Book Page Wall Art with you. Last Christmas I had coffee with a friend at a local coffee shop. The moment I walked in I fell in love with the décor. The coffee shop had two large art pieces hanging on the walls I knew I wanted to incorporate somewhere in my life. This spring my husband and I are renovating our college room. As we began planning I knew I wanted to incorporate a DIY version of that art piece somewhere.

I began to search for a tutorial where all good DIYers search: Pinterest. I searched for hours, but couldn’t find a project that was exactly what I wanted. I found some more inspiration, but not an exact replica of what I was looking for.

Tutorials and Inspiration:

Little Birdie Secrets

Ashbee Design

The Painted Home

I found canvas pieces, but they were too small and completely glued down. I wanted my piece to have movement and texture (I DIDN’T want my book page art to look like I cemented book pages down on a piece of board). I liked the table runners I found, they had the look I was going for.

My DIY Book Page Art Piece Wall Art cost me less than $20 because I had most of the supplies on hand. I only purchased the precut plywood and the hanging kit.

Supplies You Need:

Large piece of Plywood (I used a 4’x4’ and ¼’ thick precutpiece)

Old Book

Hot Glue Gun

Extra glue sticks

Extension cord (if needed)

Hanging Kit

Gorilla Glue

Staple gun

Carefully rip out pages from the old book. If you love books this will go against every fiber of your being. Trust me the result is worth it.  Tear out small sections at a time so the edges are somewhat uniform.

Find a large space to work close to an outlet and lay your plywood down. Plug in the hot glue gun using the extension cord if necessary. Lay out one row of book pages allowing the edges to cover the edges of the ply wood. To keep the pages from looking perfect layer and stagger the height of each page until. After the first row is in position begin raising the top of the pages and glue the back of the page to the plywood by putting a row of glue half an inch to one inch from the top of each page. Gluing the page down at the top allows for a loose flow of the pages. Press the page down onto the plywood until it’s secure (It won’t take very long) and then continue with the next page.

Glue down the entire row, then lay out the next row. Each time change the pattern the book pages as they are laid out so your finished art piece appears random. Continue  laying out rows and gluing them a row at a time until you reach the top of the board. At the top of the board make sure the pages cover all the edges.

Once the entire board is covered and glued down look for opportunities to randomize the piece. Find places to insert a page here and there to give the art piece depth and not look too put together.

Allow the hot glue to dry and turn the entire piece over to attach the hanging kit. The kit has two d-ring hangers, a piece of wire and screws. Unravel the wire and determine the length needed to hang the art piece.  Lay down the D-ring hangers to be secured. The placement will be determined by the length of the wire and the width of the art piece.  Once the right spot for each hanger is determined, use the staple gun to secure it in position (No judgment here okay?! I choose was ¼” thick plywood so the art piece wouldn’t be too heavy. I needed to improvise. If your plywood piece is thicker, feel free to use the screws to secure the hangers). Once you have stapled each hanger, use the gorilla glue to cement each hanger in place. Give the gorilla glue several hours to dry.

Once the glue is dry, thread the wire through the D-rings and hang the art piece on the wall.

I'm linking up this post to Tip Junkie and  Skip to My Lou's Link Party