Sneezy Does It: Cute Tissue Box Craft

What You'll Need

• Decorative paper
• Scissors
• Tissue box
• Double-sided tape
• Chenille stems
• Fast-setting glue
• Large googly eyes
• Pom-poms
• Shredded crinkle paper
• Cardboard party horn
• 1.25-ounce clear plastic cups
  
  
  Step 1
  
  Wrap a 5-x-20-inch piece of paper around tissue box and secure with double-sided tape. Cut a separate piece for the top about 1/8 inch wider on each side; cut oval in center and tape to top of box.
  
  
  Step 2
  
  
  
  Twist two chenille stems and glue around opening. Glue on googly eyes, pom-pom, shredded paper, and a party horn to create a face. Attach two halves of a chenille stem as ears.
  
  
  Step 3
  
  
  
  Fill four clear plastic cups with multicolored pom-poms and glue to the four bottom corners of the box. 
  
  
  kids,children,crafts,fun,projects
  
  Found at  http://www.parents.com/fun/arts-crafts/kid/tissue-box-craft 
  Copyright © 2008. Used with permission from the March 2008 issue of Parents magazine.

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Paper Flowers – Anyone Can Do That

Japanese Kusudama

Anyone can do that, I assure you. The proof: I can, just take a quick look at my result below. And, believe me, I am neither meticulous nor particularly patient. You could even say I’m the opposite.



Below you can see my very first attempt to create paper flowers.

What you will need to make your own Kusudama paper ball?

1. Paper – 60 square pieces of paper, all of the same size. I use advertising catalogues (for your convenience in the first part of this tutorial I use plain blue paper so that the folds are more visible). My squares are 3,5 cm x 3,5 cm but you can make them bigger, smaller squares would be rather hard to fold. For every flower you will need 5 pieces.
2. Ruler
3. Pencil
4. Glue – the glue I use have two nice properties: (1) it does not dry very quickly which allows small corrections when necessary (2) being initially white it turns translucent while drying
5* Scissors (optionally) I prefer torn paper instead of cut. I fold it several times before tearing slowly.
6* Beads (optionally) Use them to add some extra glamour.
7. Toothpick – to apply the glue.

You have to start with a single petal. Don’t give up, it may seem that it will take ages before you make all 60 petals but you will progress faster with every next piece :)

Now you have to glue your 5 petals into a flower.

Apply the glue to only one side of each petal, except for the last one, in this case cover both sides with glue.

Your first flower is done.

Don’t glue every petal right after you make it. Make the whole 60 and then glue them into 12 flowers, it’s really faster this way, believe me.

When all 12 flowers are finished you have to glue them together. You start with gluing the first half – six flowers together. With your first flower you have to apply the glue on two adjacent petals, with five next flowers you apply glue on three adjacent petals. Put the glue not exactly on the middle line of the petal but a little to the right.

When two halves of Kusudama Flower Ball are ready you have to glue them together. You can put a cord between the halves so that your ball can hang down. I make my Kusudama Flower Balls for a table decorations so I don’t put a cord.

found at http://findinspirations.com/

crafts,paper crafts,paper flowers,paper, tutorial

Recycle Sweaters: Make a Throw or Pillow

Old wool sweaters make great gifts when felted and pieced into throws and pillows.

What You'll Need
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Old wool sweaters
Liquid dishwashing soap
Matching sewing threads
Seam stabilizer
Felted wool fabric (optional)
Pinking shears
Pillow form
Yarn and large-eye needle (optional)




How to Make It

Felt the Sweaters

1. Gather sweaters that are at least 80 percent wool. The number of sweaters needed will depend on the desired size of the finished throw or pillow and the size of the sweaters after shrinkage. We used approximately 12 sweaters for a throw and two sweaters for a pillow. Use sweaters with patterns or designs for interest, such as the reindeer rectangles for the throw and the skier rectangle for the pillow.
2. Sort the sweaters by color. Place sorted sweaters, turned inside out, into the washing machine set to hot wash/cold rinse; add a small amount of liquid dishwashing soap. Add a few lint-free items such as old T-shirts or jeans; they provide friction as the machine agitates to promote the felting. If desired, remove the sweaters two or three times during the wash cycle and rinse in cold water, squeezing out excess fluid; extreme temperature changes help to speed the felting process.
3. Remove sweaters before the entire spin cycle is complete and roll in a towel to remove excess water. Shape and allow to air dry. Repeat the felting process until stitches are no longer visible. The felted sweaters should be dense and thick. If the knitting stitches show more than you like, repeat the process. If necessary, hand felt for additional firmness and smoothness by rubbing the item on a washboard with hot water and liquid dishwashing soap or rolling it between palms. Let dry; trim excess fuzziness with scissors.
4. 1. Remove the sleeves from the sweaters and cut along the inner arm seams to lay flat. Cut the body of the sweater along the side and shoulder seams. Lay the felted pieces on a flat surface to cut the shapes needed.
   Assemble the Throw or Pillow
   1. Striped Throw: Decide on the colors to use for the stripes and short felted pieces into color groups. Our 42-x-55-inch throw consists of two horizontal rows of red-tone stripes and three horizontal rows of green-tone stripes. For each stripe, cut ten 4-1/4-x-11-inch rectangles from the felted sweater pieces.
   2. Lay the rectangles on a flat surface, making five rows with 10 rectangles in each row. When you are pleased with the arrangement, sew the rectangles together in rows. Sew with right sides up, slightly overlapping the first rectangle with the second. Cover the overlapped area with seam stabilizer and sew close the edge of the top rectangle. Remove the stabilizer. Continue adding rectangles in this manner to complete each row. Sew rows together in this same manner, alternating colors.
   3. If desired, bind the throw to help it hold its shape. To bind, use the pinking shears to cut 2-1/4-inch-wide strips from purchase felted wool fabric. Sew the short ends of the strips together with diagonal seams to form one longbinding strip. Trim the seam allowances to 1/4 inch. Press the seam allowances open. Fold the binding strip in half lengthwise with wrong sides together and press. Insert the edges of the throw between the folded binding strip. Pin the binding strip to the throw, folding and mitering the corners. Sew through all layers 3/4 inch from the outer fold of the strip. Tack the open areas of the mitered corners to close them.

Pillows

1. Measure to find the dimensions of the desired pillow form; add 1 inch to each for seam allowances. Use these measurements to cut a pillow front and back from the felted sweater pieces. With wrong sides facing and a 1/2-inch seam allowance, sew the pillow front to the back, leaving the bottom edge open. Turn the pillow cover right side out. Insert the pillow form through the bottom opening. Slip-stitch the opening closed.

Found at http://www.bhg.com

and https://www.facebook.com/craftzine

sweaters,sewing,throws,pillows,DIY

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Hula Hoop Rug

What does it take to transform a pile of old T-shirts into spectacular works of woven art? Just a spare hula hoop or embroidery hoop and the techniques we'll show you here. The oversize looms and easy-to-use loops of T-shirt fabric make these projects particularly appealing to beginning weavers. Learn the basic hoop weaving technique by crafting a colorful accent rug to brighten up a room. And if you want to take the weaving a little further, check out our basket and chair pad weaves

Before you begin, some terms you need to know: the warp is the material you string on the hoop, the weft is the material you weave with.

Materials

• Scissors
• About a dozen T-shirts

• 33-inch hula hoop

Total Time Needed: 2-3 Hours

Instructions

1.  For the warp, cut 1-inch-wide loops from the bodies of one or two tees (we found a boy's large worked best on our 33-inch hoop), removing the hem and stopping at the sleeves. Ideally these loops should all be the same color; we used two colors for clarity in our photographs. You'll need a total of 11 loops. For the weft, cut at least 50 loops from the remaining shirts. Save the unused sleeves for the basket project.
2.  Stretch one warp loop over the hula hoop, as shown.
3.  Add and secure a second loop, perpendicular to the first.
4.  Repeat, filling in the spaces, until all 11 loops are in place.
5.  Push together two warp loops at the top of the hula hoop, as shown. This creates an odd number of warp spokes in your wheel, which allows the overunder pattern of the weft to alternate with each new row.
6.  Secure the first weft loop to the center of one of the warp spokes (we chose the doubled spoke from step 5) by wrapping it around the warp and then looping it back through itself.
7.  Begin weaving the weft over and under the warp spokes, forming a tight spiral. For now, treat both parts of each warp spoke as a single unit, weaving over or under the two together. As you work, push the weft material toward the center of the hoop and keep it just snug. If you pull the weft tight, the rug will develop lumps or bends. When you reach the end of the piece of weft, add a new loop by threading it through the end of the first and back through itself.
8.  When your rug is about 8 inches across, begin treating each warp spoke as two individual strips instead of a single unit, weaving over or under each strand instead of going over or under the doubled spoke. This increases the number of warp spokes, improving the structure of the project. When you get to the two warp spokes that you pushed together at the top of the loom, separate them. Treat one of the spokes as two individual strips, but continue to treat the other as a single spoke. This maintains the odd number of warp spokes.
9.  When the rug is the size you want, but no closer than 8 inches from the edge of the hula hoop, snip open your weft loop.
10.  Tie the ends around a warp spoke, and tuck the ends into the rug.
11.  Cut the warp spokes off the hoop one at a time.
12.  Tie the ends in pairs, then trim them to make a fringe or tuck them back into the rug.