So, donning my mask ( courtesy of my very talented sister-in-law ), I was off. On day one I hit Target and Publix...mostly for essentials that I just really needed. And when I realized that I had lived through that, I woke up the next day and took off for Hobby Lobby. And, when I lived through that, I headed to Michaels.
I was truly like a kid in a candy shop. I had been seeing on all of the craft sites that I follow that both HL and Michaels were practically giving things away but, that must have been in states that had just opened. I guess our stores have been open for awhile and I must have missed all of the really good bargains.
But, they both still had their regular sales and coupons so I was good. In fact, I was so happy to just be there that I would have been happy no matter.
Now we all know that this isn't my favorite time of year so project ideas are always kind of scarce. I made the few 4th of July things that I wanted while in isolation, so except for picking up a few 4th things that I didn't have or could actually use, I wasn't dwelling on the red, white and blue.
In fact, I had actually looked ahead to my next decorating theme which is sunflowers and will come out about, oh, I don't know, maybe JULY 5!!! Lol
I truly love it when my house goes to sunflowers. I know we will still be in the thick of our Florida summer, and even though I use that theme to represent "SUN" flowers for summer, my mind reads them as the very beginning of hope for autumn to arrive. And, I'm sorry but that can never happen soon enough for me!!!
I will say that I don't have a slew of sunflower crafts in my mind but I had seen one that I thought would be a bit different from everything else that I have so, supplies for that were my first priority.
I will say that I am a bit "rusty" when it comes to craft shopping so I actually forgot two things but I am hoping I can muddle through - we shall see.
In any case, today was the day! Except that this would probably have been a better sunny day project. But, those of you who know me know that I was not going to wait, so a bit of jerry-rigging is taking place and we shall see. It will definitely take me longer than it should have but that is OK. After all, the plan is to stay occupied! So, here we go. Any ideas where this may lead?
I needed a large basin - which apparently I no longer have so I grabbed a shallow but large garbage can lid that covers my outdoor Christmas lights - not garbage. Lol One of the things that I forgot to buy was instant coffee to coffee stain the fabric. I knew it wouldn't be as dark but I ended up just brewing a pot of very strong coffee and going with that.
I poured a lot of paint into the lid and then mixed it with the coffee and some ground cinnamon and cloves to "grunge" it up a bit. Then, in goes the muslin.
I could tell already that this wouldn't be as coffee stained as I wanted but I'm OK with that.
Of course, the rain that I wanted so badly decided right at that moment to pay a visit so operations quickly moved inside.
I left the muslin in the solution until I thought it was as dark as I wanted. Of course this is when the fabric was to be laid out in the sun to dry...but there was no sun nor any dry spots where it could be hung.
I toyed with throwing it in my dryer but I was afraid some of the paint might find its way into the cracks and crevices and my next load of wash would come out yellow polka dotted so, I found the only spot in the house where I thought it could safely hang and drip.
While that is drying, I sprayed the Mason jar lids with brown paint. This was something else I guess I forgot to buy but, once again, I lucked out. I thought for sure I had some of my hammered bronze spray paint in the garage. I always have a can for pool furniture touch-up but, apparently, the last time I used it up, I never replaced it. Luckily for me, I did have a small can of brown gutter touch-up paint and it had EXACTLY enough in the can to get both sides painted. These are going to get covered with either pebbles or burlap, so it isn't an all-together necessary step but, just in case any should peek through, it won't be as obvious as the unpainted lid.
Once the lids are dry, a hole the size of the wire you are using for the stem needs to be drilled.
And then, a piece of string needs to be tied through the hole so that once your lid is filled with the muslin, you can find the place to insert the wire. This was a tip from "The Crafty Decoraror" (who was my inspiration for this project ) and one I wouldn't have thought of myself but a real time saver for the next step.
When my fabric was finally dry, it got ripped into strips...
...and tied around the rim.
Then, the lid got inserted.
I used E600 to glue on the pebbles.
When they were dry, I thought they were too gray for my liking so I dabbed on some brown paint. And then, I called it a night!
I thought a lot about this project last night. Let's just say it's a good thing I wanted something to keep me busy! Lol There are still so many more steps to go and so far, I am just making my "prototype" so I can see what changes I have to make because I wasn't able to get all of the correct materials.
Day #2 starts with me making up another dye concoction for the bit of fabric left to become leaves.
We are having another day of rain, so once again this will have to be an indoor project.
While that is drying, it's back to the flower. You can see how easy it is to find the right spot for the wire with the string hint.
The wire was one of the things I didn't get. I would have had to go to yet another store and I just didn't want to do that. I knew I had some fairly thick wire and it was the perfect size...but I forgot just how malleable it was. No matter how much floral tape I used, the weight of the flower kept pulling the bloom over. I tried two layers of wire and it wasn't any stronger so, in desperation, I attached a wood skewer. It may not look perfect but, it still needs the leaves and it does hold the bloom up, so I am OK with it.
I really don't know where these will end up when I decorate for late summer. They will definitely be in some kind of arrangement with lots of greenery to fill in, so I think they will work. I stuck this one in the 4th arrangement just to see how it might look. I think I might do a bit of adjusting but, I'm ready to go ahead and finish the rest. 2 yards of fabric is supposed to make 3 large and 2 small flowers. I truly don't think I have enough fabric left to do that but we shall see.
So, I just had enough fabric for the flowers and I got the bloom parts done. The green fabric dried and I moved on to the leaves. They were a simple matter of tracing and cutting...
...gluing in a stem then gluing the two pieces together...
...and covering the wire with floral tape and attaching two leaves to the stem.
So after two days, this is where I am. I do see the end in sight but at this point, I am praying that I like them a whole lot better when I get them into some kind of arrangement because at this point, I'm beginning to doubt my decision to give these a try.
I'll get them done tomorrow but it is just more of the same, so I am signing off for now and I will let you know the verdict as soon as I know. Stay safe and stay tuned.
Oh, by the way, if you are at all interested in seeing my inspiration, go to www.thecraftydecorator.com. She sure made it look a lot easier than this! Lol
No comments:
Post a Comment