Using Decorative Vinyl Decals on Buckets and Party Tubs

When you're having a party or event and you want to add some personalization to your decor try using decorative decals. There are so many stores that offer vinyl decals now and it's becoming more and more affordable. The Lucky Star Lane Etsy shop will carry a few items...ask if you need something specific cut.

Start with some decals and a few buckets or containers. I bought the big red tub at Lowe's for $4.73..it's made in USA and with recycled materials. The stainless steel bucket is also from Lowe's ($3.43). The white metal bucket is from JoAnn's ($1.99). The purple one ignore because the decals wouldn't stick to it. (It has a weird oily feeling).

Lay your decal where you want it to go and see if it looks okay. When you apply something flat to a curved surface it distorts a little on the ends. If it looks higher on the ends you can cut the letters apart and arrange them individually. Sometimes you just need to cut off the end letters and lower them.

Use painter's tape to arrange them where they need to go. Peel off the white backing and smooth them onto the surface. You can use a plastic tool or just my fingers worked well.

This one looked okay to me so I just applied it as is.

Once you peel the backing and stick it to the surface, peel back the clear part slowly. I used a little plastic scraping tool I had in my kitchen drawer but just rubbing it with my fingers also worked.

This one I also didn't need to adjust the letters so I just applied it as one piece.

I had these 1 inch dots cut and applied them in a random pattern on the bucket (these are like stickers..you just peel and stick).

I cut some in half where they would be on the edge of the bucket.






Here is how they turned out. Personalization is so much fun!

I want a rock star party bucket at my birthday party!

Centerpiece Idea Using a Themed Fabric

I'm sorry my picture quality isn't the best...I took these photos at night. I usually take my pictures during the day but it's been such a busy weekend I haven't had time. Right now my kids are finally in bed and everyone is relaxing. We had a carnival fundraiser yesterday for our school district and today two soccer games and baseball practice. It was a lot of fun and it's nice to stay busy for the kids (and husband :))


To make these, cut out a cardboard circle and a piece of fabric about 1" larger in diameter than the circle. I added a felt circle in between the fabric and cardboard to give it a little more dimension. Use your hot glue gun and pull the fabric tightly around the cardboard and felt circle and glue the excess to the back.

Next cut a 12" x 12" piece of scrapbook paper in half and fold back and forth like a fan. I cut the fan in half again while it was folded. Tape or glue the ends of the accordion folded paper together on both ends and flatten into a circle. Put some hot glue in the middle and hold while it dries.

I glued the monkey circle in the middle and then added ric rac trim around the edge using white craft glue. I don't like using hot glue on the front part of finished projects....it's so messy.

I also glued a circle on the back in card stock covered felt. If you put hot glue on the end of your stick and it will fit nicely in between the layers of paper/felt and paper fan.

I like the proportion of the smaller one better. It's about 4.5" in diameter. I think I will try a few of these with an embroidery design on the fabric next.

(........Tomorrow we'll be having a giveaway so stay tuned!)

Embellishing Party Favor Boxes Made with Card Stock

Heather's friend, Bridgett, does die cuts and she sent these awesome purse boxes and star cups to see what could be done with them. I only had one template of the purse...so I traced it and cut it out with scissors (it looks like garbage compared to the die cut one but you can't tell in the picture.)
This one I embellished with three flowers punched with a simple flower punch that I bent a little for dimension. I glued a button in the middle.

This one I added a die cut letter, flower and button.

The ribbon attaches through two slits in the top.

I thought this one would be cool for an Oscar Party with the star and bling.

I love stars so this one is my favorite. It would be cute with some crinkle paper and a star shaped frosted cookie wrapped in cellophane as a party favor.

We'll soon be adding these dies cuts to the Etsy shop so check back!

Have a beautiful creative day...

Erin

How to Make Recycled Denim Crayon Bags

Hello! It has been a snowy week here in Michigan. I shoveled the driveway and woke up the next day so sore I thought I was dying for sure! In between shoveling the snow, laundry loads and soccer games I've been working on a few projects. For this project you will need:

7" x 9" piece of denim (can be new or recycled)

thread and sewing machine (although you could hand stitch)

fabric scraps or embellishments

small elastic hair tie

button

iron

fabric glue or tacky glue

First you want to create your top seam by folding one of the long sides in about 1/3 inch, ironing it, and then folding it over one more time and ironing it. I stuck a few pins in and ran it through my sewing machine quickly. Next, you fold the fabric in half (the top seam stays on the left)and sew a seam starting at the top where the seamed sides meet and going straight down the side leaving a 1/4" seam allowance. Turn leaving the needle in the down position and do the bottom the same.

I pressed the seams and cut off the corner seam allowances as far as I could so the corners will look crisp when I flip it.


I flipped it and decided where to place the elastic and button. I hand sewed these in place using black thread. When I sewed the hair tie on, I only sewed through the two top layers of the top seam so you can't see the stitching on the outside.





I cut out a few pieces of fabric and used fabric glue to glue them on. The sock monkey is cut from a piece of Moda "Sock Monkey Yearbook" by Erin Michael laminated fabric so it won't fray. The black gingham fabric I was hoping will fray a little more over time.

I like these because I can throw them in my enormous mom purse and my boys will have them for when we're out and about at restaurants and sport events. The denim is sturdy which is great!

Have a great day! You can still link up projects to Lucky Linky until noon today.



I linked this at Blue Cricket Design

Felted Wool Critter

I finished this easy little critter last night and my son was so excited, he drew pictures of more Monsters for me to make. Hopefully I can have one done before he gets home from school! Thanks again to Kojo Designs for the tutorial. The YouTube blanket stitch video was a helpful refresher. I hadn't done blanket stitch since girl scouts back in the '80's. There were a lot of hand embroidery stitch videos with other kinds of stitches on YouTube as well.

Have a wonderful day! I am still on the recycled sweater kick and also organizing so we'll see if I can somehow combine the two.

Erin

I linked this post at:

Heather's Handmade Holiday - The Grandma's

As part of a gift for my Grandma's this Christmas, I made these Kleenex covers. Both of them seem to have tissues at all times and carry the little tissue packages in their purse, so I thought it would be fun to dress them up a little. I used this tutorial at Skip to My Lou. I did add a slight overlap on the front. I had seen this somewhere else (I'm not sure where – sorry!) and I liked the look of it. So, you can overlap or not; your choice! Anyway, I made these out of some vintage fabric I bought at a flea market a while back. I think they're kind of fun, but pretty too! These are REALLY easy to make with very basic sewing skills. I think these would be great gifts for lots of people: teachers, daycare providers, Grandmas, Aunts, Hairdressers, etc.

I have to say that with all these crafty people out on the web, a handmade holiday is much more do-able! I think if I was to do it on my own (without everyone else's wonderful ideas) I might only have a few different things. This way, I can make something that each person will enjoy and maybe even treasure! I love the internet. It's one of the few reasons I don't want to be Amish – LOL!

Are you having a handmade holiday? Or maybe making a few more things and buying a few less things?  I'd love to hear about what you're making this year!

-Heather

PS-I'm posting this to A Soft Place To Land's DIY Day!

Getting back to the real world...

We've had an interesting few weeks.  My son got an ear infection and bronchiolitis.  Then, my husband got the flu.  Then, he started a new job and my son and I got the flu.  Anyway, we're pretty much back to normal now.  I can't believe it's November already! 

Here's a cowboy party favor order I've been working on.  The cowboy boot is a pencil topper and the notebook will be embellished by the kids as a project at the party.  The cowboy boot is different on each side, hence the two pictures! 

Anyway, this was an add-on to an order for cowgirl invitations over at Etsy.  It was a fun order.  We used pink bandannas instead of the red seen here.  Also, we used rhinestone brads - YEAH!  I wish I had remembered to take a picture before I sent them.  It was my first order for girls and it was so fun!  Paige's mom liked them so much she wanted to know what ideas I had for non-food favors.  These toppers & notebooks are what we came up with.  I hope the kids like them :)

Hope this post finds your family safe and not too out of whack for anyone following daylight savings time!

-Heather

PS-I don't have any pencils, so right now it's a pen topper!

PPS-Sorry about the picture quality - my camera battery died, so I took these with my phone!