DIY Archives - Page 20 of 41 - Spoonful of Imagination

Stick Turkey (Thanksgiving Decoration from your back yard)

November 8, 2013 By Erica Deuel 2 Comments

Can you believe Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away!?

I cannot.

Christmas is on my mind. I have been crafting for it and preparing my Handmade Christmas party (that you are invited too!), but I don’t want to skip Thanksgiving in the process. Fall is one of my favorite times of year. I love the changing colors and the special time it is to reflect on all we have to be thankful for.

I made this simple, rustic stick turkey as an easy decorative element to add to my Thanksgiving decor. It cost me less than $3.00 (since I had all the supplies but the wood egg) and was so easy! If you would like to make one too, here are the supplies you will need:

Materials:

Wood sticks
Wood Egg
Hot glue gun with glue sticks
Rust-oleum Paprika Spray paint
Felt scrap (for beak)
Two beads (for eyes)
Feathers (add for decorative)

I started by spray painting my wood egg a really pretty fall color with Rust-oleum’s Paprika. After it was dry, I lightly sanded it to give the wood egg a little beat up more rustic charming look.

I then searched through my sticks to find a good round one that would work as the head. I liked the stick I found because it was flat at one end to hot glue tightly on to the egg. I placed a little hot glue to the back of the stick and stuck it in place about two-thirds down the egg. I held it in place while the glue set and then hot glued a small thin stick on either side of it to create a fuller round turkey head.

The next part was to turn the egg around and start on the tail. I put a strand of hot glue down the middle of the egg and stuck one of my taller sticks on it. I used that stick as the middle stick and started placing sticks (going smaller in size) down on either side of it. Note: Make sure to not glue the sticks too far down towards the base of the egg that would prevent the turkey from sitting upright.

Once you have a wide tail that you like, it is complete! I used 11 sticks to create the width tail I liked. Depending on your size stick and wood egg you might want more or less.

Next, I used a small felt scrap and two beads to embellish my turkey’s face. I just used a little hot glue to hold them in place. I decided to add a few feathers to my tail to make it a more obvious turkey. You, of course, don’t have to do this and can keep the tail more rustic by just using the sticks. Once all of these elements were on, my stick turkey was finished! I added him to my table’s centerpiece and love how he sits all proud and happy on it!

I think the natural wood elements in the turkey look so good with the pine cones and real fall leaves we gathered on a hike this week. You add in my hand print table runner, burlap strips make shift table-cloth, and Happy Thanksgiving banner, and we have a really simple pretty fall display. I love it.

What about you? Do you love Thanksgiving too or is Christmas already on your mind?

Is it possible to decorate for BOTH holidays at the same time. I need tips since we are having a Thanks-mas (Thanksgiving + Christmas celebration) at my house with my whole family. So, please tell me how you do this month’s decor!

Happy Friday! I hope you all have a great weekend!

Easy DIY Fabric Bookmarks

November 4, 2013 By Erica Deuel 5 Comments

I love a fun, easy project. With a little scrap fabric, you can sew these sweet fabric bookmarks. They are colorful, fun, and a cheap thrill.

They would make a great favor to a reading book club or at a bridal shower. My bookmarks doubled as name tags (as I painted everyone’s name on them that attended) at my Spoonful Lab. You can do the same or keep them just as bookmarks with the simplicity of the heart. I think both are great options.

Here is how I made mine. I started with little scrap pieces of fabric about 2″-3″ in height. I just folded the fabric a little and sewed a straight line down the middle to create about 5″ long strips of fabric. This made a haphazard ruffle effect that I love.

Next, I cut out a bunch of flat burlap hearts. I made sure to cut them just a little smaller than my ruffled fabric pieces.

I then pinned a heart into the middle of a ruffled fabric strip and sewed around the outer edge of the heart. Contrasting thread color looks best! You could also use another fabric instead of the burlap. I love the contrast of the dull burlap color with the pop of bright color behind it. The texture of the burlap is also very fun.

I left all the edges raw because I like the frayed look, so my bookmark was then done! With the holidays coming this idea would even be cool as a way to mark presents. There are lots of possibilities, if you just add a little imagination!

Thank you so much for checking in! I hope you all had a great weekend!

Just as a quick reminder, registration is going on for my NEXT Spoonful Lab. Read all the details and register here. Thank you so much for all your support!

**I am so sorry I am late on announcing my two winners! I used random.org to draw my winners, and Amber you won my send out love tags and Gene you won my spoonful swag! Congratulations! I will be in touch!**

Easiest Sewn Apron Ever

October 28, 2013 By Erica Deuel 13 Comments

Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming really quickly. I have come up with the easiest sewn apron for you to create and wear at your holiday parties. You can use it as a gift or as a simple way to dress YOU up for the festive meal. I made mine for my Spoonful Lab for me and my cute helpers to wear, so there are lots of possibilities for these pretty things.

I think the aprons cost about $1.50 each and took around 10 minutes (other than waiting for the spray paint to dry) to create. I know you are wondering “how!?!” Let me quickly tell you.

The first thing I did was buy some cheap premade aprons. These go for $1.99 at Hobby Lobby. I got mine when they were 50% off. I know you can buy this same sort of thing at a lot of dollar stores and Home Depot as well. I also found them here for $2.99, where they can be shipped to your door step.

I found that for the price and cost of time-I could not beat starting with one of these cheap base aprons.

The next thing I did was lay some thin, pretty lace down over my aprons. I made sure to have the lace pattern laid on straight and that my whole apron front was covered by it. I then used some of my pretty Rust-oleum spray paint and sprayed right over the lace. Note: Make sure you shake your spray paint can really good before starting to spray. Spray about 8 inches above the apron, and spray straight down. Do not spray at an angle or the paint will go under the lace and damage the effect.

After the spray paint dried, I simply picked up the lace, and I had a really pretty decorative pattern on my aprons. I then cut three-inch wide strips of fabric and sewed them on to the bottom of my apron in the same way I did my ruffled shower curtain. I left the strips of fabrics’ edge raw, so there could be fray with wear. That is all there is to it!

My aprons were finished! I think the results are stunning for what I spent making them. I think you could easily do these with either fall or Christmas colors to make a simple festive gift or item to wear at your party. I picture a bunch of cute little girls wearing these for a Christmas cookie decorating party. So fun! There are lots of possibilities. They definitely worked great for me to wear at my Spoonful Lab last weekend!

I hope you are having a great week! Thank you so much for stopping in to check out this easy DIY!

Love Crafting {DIY Wood Magnets}

October 9, 2013 By Erica Deuel 18 Comments

Do you love crafting? Why not display it for all to see!?

I had some scrap pieces of Purebond wood leftover from our planked wall and decided to put them to use. I love this wood, and even when it’s cut in about two-inch pieces, it is still strong, straight wood. It’s good stuff. I came up with these little wood magnets as way to use the scraps, so they didn’t go to waste.

I’m going to show you how to make them, but if you don’t want to do the labor of creating, I will let you in on a way to get one of mine at the end of this post.

First off, I cut a bunch of pieces of wood into about 2″ squares with my Ryobi miter saw. Some ended up to be more rectangular, and that is ok. The important part is to not cut your fingers on such close cuts. The exact size does not matter in this project.

Next, I sanded them to make the corners curved and smooth.

I then cut a bunch of hearts out of card stock paper, put a slight drop of glue on their back, and placed them on my wood pieces.

Next up is to have an amazing collection of Rustoluem spray paint to choose from. Rustoleum is my favorite spray paint, and it doesn’t hurt they have the best colors to choose from as well. My collection of colors is continually growing. Someday, I just might be lucky to have them all ;).

I used a bunch of pretty colors and just sprayed right on top of my wood pieces. Be careful to spray at least 10″ away and to do light sprays (even if you have to do several coats to fully cover your piece). The wetness will leak under your heart, if the paint goes on too heavy.

Next, I peeled up the heart paper, and I had a nice canvas to paint my hearts on. The spray paint created a slight raise as it dried against the paper. This created a little wall to paint within. I painted slowly within each heart, and my brush slid along the raised wall.

I then sanded the wood pieces to get rid of all the raised brush marks and to make the magnets look more finished.

Once the wood pieces were sanded, I hand painted the word “crafting” across the heart. I then used Rustoleum’s gloss clear paint to spray my magnets and give them a finished look.

The last step was to add a little magnet on the back, and they were then complete! I love how each magnet is a little different, yet they are all colorful and fun!

Aren’t they cute!?!

If you don’t want to create one, I have some good news for you! You can get one of mine!

I have had some questions about my upcoming Spoonful Lab, and I decided to share some more details with you all. On October 26, I will be hosting a girl’s craft night in Roswell, Georgia. We will be making a wood sign and a fun fabric garland. On top of the two crafts, I will be giving each attendee a little swag bag of some of my creations. One item in the bag will be one of these magnets!

I am so excited about this night.