Here's a little project I started in on the other night after seeing such beautiful projects out there in the World of Blog. I was more than a little jealous of all that autumn beauty going on when I hadn't done one thing to celebrate Autumn's arrival.
Besides, I was kinda broke, so buying a buncha supplies for a fabulous display was not going to happen. Fortunately, I know how to do a lot with a little. Here then is what I started with:
Two t-shirts, one orange, one gold, each $1.50 at thrift;
Three 'found' artificial pumpkins in reasonable condition from my local Good Samaritan thrift shop;
Jute string;
A rough bowl I found at Dollar Tree;
Assorted buttons and beads; and
A few silk leaves in fall tones.
I started by cutting off all the sleeves, necklines and hems from the t-shirts. Then I laid our the remaining fabric and eyeballed approximate two inch strips as if i was cutting from one side seam of the t-shirt to the other. It really doesn't matter if it's perfect. I did this once before, using my quilt guide and rotary cutter, but it really doesn't make much difference. In this case, good enough really is good enough. I cut many more strips than I needed for this project, but I put them away - I can use them later for something else.
Now, I was taking my own pics and it isn't easy to demonstrate some of what I was doing, so you can see that I got creative with a nice heavy set of pliers in this shot. What I did at this point was to simply stretch each strip good and hard. That makes them curl up, as you can see. It creates a kind of finished edge for the flowers you'll make with them.
Once I had my strips ready, I turned my attention to my three pumpkins. These were a find, I think, and I only paid $3.75 for all three.
I broke off the stems of the largest two of these pumpkins. I needed the smallest to keep its stem.
I stacked the three of them up and hot glued them together.
I primed the stack with Krylon primer and then spray painted it with Krylon's Dover White. I used ORB to spray the rough little bowl I intended to use as the base for this project. When the base was dry, I turned the bowl upside down and hot glued the stack to it. It was good and heavy and would anchor the pumpkins well.
I made rolled fabric roses from my fabric strips. Here's a good tutorial if you want to learn to make these pretty little roses.
At this point, I sort of got caught up in the creative process and stopped taking photos. Sorry about that. I just sort of went a little crazy, putting pretty flowers, beads, buttons, and jute string all over my pumpkin stack. Here's the final result:
And another:
Last of all:
As difficult as it is to remember to record my steps, I just love getting immersed in a project. That part is just so much fun!
When's the last time you lost yourself in the creative process?
Love,
P.S. I have not been compensated in any way by anyone for anything I said in this blog post. I include links and other information, just in case you have questions about colors or sources.
Linking up to:
I Heart Naptime at http://www.iheartnaptime.net/link-to-party-sundae-scoop-3/
Polly Want a Crafter at http://www.pollywantacrafter.com/2011/09/craft-link-party-49.html
Tip Junkie at http://www.tipjunkie.com/homemade-projects-919/
J and M's eye candy at http://jandmseyecandy.blogspot.com/
The Girl Creative at http://www.thegirlcreative.com/2011/09/just-something-i-whipped-up_26.html
DIY Showoff at http://thediyshowoff.blogspot.com/2011/10/halloween-vignette-and-diy-fall.html
That is a wonderful display you have created. Very decorative, I like the transformation from a TShirt to flowers. Great job. TFS Chris
ReplyDeleteVery pretty! love the colors
ReplyDeleteUm. WOW. You are one talented lady. This is seriously so pretty. You made something (FAB) out of nothing. Bravo =D
ReplyDeleteShannon@http://foxhollowcottage.blogspot.com
So pretty!! I love how you took what you had and created something so lovely!
ReplyDeletethis is just too stinkin' adorable. i love your stuff!
ReplyDelete