Wednesday, October 22, 2014

DIY Q-Tip Pussy Willow Branches For Centerpieces

I don't know how this idea came into my
head, but so excited it did! And, I did a
search on the net to see if anyone has
ever done this before and found nothing!
Cool beans!


It all came about when I was taking a
break from a sweater pumpkin I was
making. I went online just to free my
mind as I was stuck on how I wanted to
finish it. My inspiration had just died with
it... does that happen to you too? Normally
when that happens I just stare at it for a
few days and then bam... something hits
me and then, I can tear into it until it's done.

(My vases look a little dwarfed here on this
antique desk I set them on. Have to find a
new spot for them durn it.)

So, as I was taking my break on blog land,
I came across this sweater vase. I have
seen many before but this one just struck
me to want to do one. I liked it and, I had
just come across my poor beautiful lambs
wool sweater jacket with fur on the inside
of the hood that I just loved! It had
accidentally got thrown in the wash and,
well lets just say, a small child could wear
it now...so sad! It had shrunk so small that
when I cut the sleeves off, and just slid them
over the vases I was using, they barley fit!
The positive in that was, they were good
and snug so that was all I had to do. No
glue, no nothing, and they were done. The
last thing I did was cut off three of the
buttons from the sweater and hot glued
them on the front of the larger vase for
some nice decoration. Just right!
 
 
Displayed in this vase was some faux pussy
willows. I loved the look and wanted some for
my vases. I didn't want to go shopping to try
to find some, even I could find them, and I
didn't want to spend any money either.
 
And then all of a sudden I got a slap in the head idea! As I was looking at the pussy willows my mind did a flip and I saw q-tips! Well they do look like q-tips don't ya think!? And then...the world of nature kicked in. I wasn't going to have to spend a dime or go anywhere! Except for the woods next to me to find some branches....so I did! I will make my own pussy willows!

My silly hubby saw me out there in the
woods picking up sticks from his office
window and walking back with a bunch
of dead branches and hollers down from
his office upstairs asking "what are
you doing now?" I went upstairs telling
him I'm taking your box of q-tips. He says,
"Oh this ought to be good...sticks and
q-tips!!? And I got that look, but with a bit
of bewilderment added. Then he says, "I
won't even ask!" I said, "just wait and see!"


So I went back downstairs and started to
work....and it worked! I got my pussy willow
branches done a few hours and about five
hundred or close q-tips later! I was so
stinkin excited when it was done! I showed
them to hubby and he said, "Oh wow
sweetie, that is awesome! They look real!"


Gives a nice winters feel too I think!



And honestly, you can't really tell they
aren't real unless you get super close to
look! I am totally happy happy with them!

Everyone that has come to the house has
gone nuts over them....and when I tell them
they are q-tips, they don't believe me until
they get super close up to them. They never
would have known until I told them.

To do these yourself all you need is:

 a box of q-tips - 500 ct. would be best

some sticks or branches dead or alive
(less than I used would be better lol,
took forever! I'm not good at projects
like that!) I get impatient to get done!

scissors - I used hubbys kitchen scissors
(You should have seen his face when he
saw me cutting the q-tips with his precious
and expensive kitchen utensils!) If he can
cut up a chicken with them, then it
certainly won't hurt them to cut a q-tip!
I just rolled my eyes right back at him!

glue gun and glue sticks

and I recommend a deep bowl - why?
Because when I was clipping the tips off
the q (sticks), they were flying all over the
place! Once I got the bowl I pointed the end
I was cutting downward into the bowl, and
the high sides of the bowl made them
ricochet off the bowl walls, but fall into the
bowl. No more getting up and chasing
those suckers everywhere they landed!

And some time and patience!

Take your q-tips and start by clipping off
both ends right at where the cotton ends
on the stick or just a little above it until
you have a lot!  And I mean ALOT! I did
cut some a little closer to the tip for use
on the thicker branches.

I then set my branches in the vase and
even glued them together in places so they
wouldn't move from how I had put them. I
even clipped some smaller branches off
some others I didn't use, and glued them on
my branches in the vase where there
was gaps, and to have a couple fall over the
sides of the vase. Once my branches were
set, I took the glue gun and the tips I had cut
and squeezed just a tiny bit of glue on the
clipped end and just placed them on the
branches where there had been a leaf or
mark in the stem where another branch
had once been. Then I filled the stems with
the tips where I thought a pussy willow
would have bloomed.

It was really easy adhering them....most I
just set on the branch and that was it. On
the teeny tiny thin stems of the stick, I
sometimes held them in place for just a
couple of seconds very gently.

My branches were found from limbs that
had fallen off the trees so they were pretty
brittle so I had to be ever so careful not to
have them break off while I was placing the
cotton tips on them. And that is it! You got
pussy willows!

One suggestion I'll share. When applying
the glue on the tips,  just do a small dab and
when you are pulling the glue gun away,
kind of do a wrap around before, so you
don't get those glue strings. I only had a
couple doing it that way and when I was
finished I took my tiny embroidery shears
and clipped them off!

Who would have thunk? Not me, but I
did! I kept wondering all day if it was
my mom giving me a nudge to use my
noggin from heaven...I'm not that smart!

Well there you have it! Have fun and enjoy
if you happen to make some yourself! I
really really Love Love mine!


The photo that inspired my vases and the
faux pussy willows that inspired the idea
to make my own pussy willows!

And below the real deals!

First beginning to bloom Photo Courtsey



Beginning to bloom Photo Courtesy

I love pussy willows...don't you!?

I'm not to far off! Maybe one day I will add a bit of
watered down light grey craft paint, or roll them in
some grey eye shadow to tint them for a more natural look
in color. Right now I like them white like the second photo
of real white pussy willows above. And....if you get your
mind away from q-tips....you can see pussy willows!
  
Thanks for spending your time with me!

TaTa Till Later!



With Sincere Appreciation I Would To Thank The
Following For The Feature Of My Pussy Willows


Thank You So Much!


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Monday, October 20, 2014

Sweet And Chic Embellished Sweater Pumpkins

 Vintage Victorian Inspired Embellished Sweater Pumpkin


Don't you just love to recycle things?  I do too! With ideas
of my own or being inspired by other things people do. I
have pumpkins on the brain and I decided this is the time
to finally get done what I have been meaning to do in
forever. I made a bunch of them out of several different
type of materials and fabrics, but I wanted to take it up
a notch and make some dainty special ones. And, I knew
just the stuff to make them with.

I have a box of sweaters I had been saving that, let's
just say had shrunk in size on me hoping that one day
they might shrink up to the size I'm wearing now! Well,
that hasn't happened in two years so, I decided they
would make pretty pumpkins. I finally got inspired
to create with them, although it killed me to cut them
up. They were all in really good shape so what am
I thinking!

This WAS a beautiful cashmere sweater in a taupe
color...a good fall color and so soft, so this was my
first pick to work with.

My hubby starting choking when he saw me taking
the scissors to this one asking "what the heck are
you doing!?" I said, "Making a sweater pumpkin!"
LoL! Then I got that look...you know the one that
if there were words printed on his face would say,
"have you lost your ever loving mind again woman!"
He seems to say that quite often to me lately.
Then he left the room saying, "I can't watch this
slaughter!"

I have to admit, I had to turn my head while I put
the first cut into it cringing at the same time! Gosh
that was hard to do! Oh well can't turn back now!

I had some sweet vintage crocheted lace, a bit stained
up but I liked it just the way it was, and knew I wanted
to use it along with something sparkley. I had victorian
on my mind but that was about it on where it was going
to go from there.


I got the pumpkin made and added the lace. I decided
I wanted to cover the twine that was wrapped around
the top of the sweater to create the stem, so I cut a piece
of the cuff off the sweater sleeve and wrapped it around
the stem, and rolled over the top of it just a little bit. I
wanted to cover the top of the stem so I took a strand
of rhinestones and did a wrap around and ended by
putting a larger square rhinestone right in the middle.
It doesn't show up well in the pictures. Then I wrapped
some more of the rhinestone strand just under where
I rolled the sweater down to on the top of the stem.
Next I clipped four little rhinestones off the chain
of a necklace I had used when making my
"Pink Parfait Chenille Pumpkins"and set them each
in the centers of the flowers in the crocheted lace. It
still needed something. On that same necklace there
was a silver teardrop that I loved that was next to the
clasp, so I took the rest of the silver chain I had left over
from that necklace and redid it to create the little necklace
here on this pumpkin. That was just what it needed! Now
I was satisfied. My four-o-clock in the morning creation.
I get those alot. Might be why I drag all day!
Her name is "Victoria" of course!



I really loved her when she was all done and even
my hubby was amazed how sweet it turn out too!

See I'm not out of my mind yet! Next up.....my

Dainty Creamy White Pearly Feathered and
Vintage Lace Sweater Pumpkin

  
Now I'm really getting inspired! Next I take another
sweater that I loved in a creamy off white. Again I
wanted to use another lace doilie I had that was a bit
whiter than the sweater. I love different shades of white
together. I wanted to do something with pearls on this
one. I had this idea and set out to do it, but it came out
far different from what I had planned! I had planned
on sewing little pearls throughout the entire pumpkin,
but once I got the pumpkin itself made, I was trying to
figure out how I wanted the stem on this one. Just
fiddleing around, I wrapped the pearls around the stem
and that was it! I finished the top off that way too with
one single pearl set on top of the wrap in the middle. I
added my lace....put some single pearls in places around
the lace and then decided to add some feathers. I loved
it but it needed something for sparkle. I just can't get
away from sparkle! In my stash I found this oval
rhinestone that already had some feathers of another
kind glued to it from when I made lace crowns last
year. I set it on the pumpkin and that was it! Now I
was happy with her. When looking at the finished
pumpkin I envisioned wedding...so her name became
"Purity"....well we are supposed to be pure at that time.




I have lots more left of this sweater and the taupe one to
create more pumpkins another day. The inspiration to them
will come when another vision gets in my head. Could be
soon or next year. I got some ideas swimming around in
my brain for the white sweater with Christmas in mind.
We'll see if those pan out!

Next is my......

Creamy Sweet & Chic Sweater Pumpkins With Bling


The last sweater I wanted to use was more of a bulky
type knit sweater in a soft cream color. Cream is a great
fall color too, don't you think?

I got six pumpkins out of one sweater with no
sewing involved. The largest is from the lower
body of the sweater, all the small ones are from
the sleeves of the sweater. I still have the chest part
of the sweater left to make one more if I sew the
sides together to create a tube, or use the front and
back separately by cutting large circles and laying
some pillow stuffing in the middle. Then gather up
the edges to tie off with a rubber band or tie it off
with twine, and continue wrapping the gathered
edges with the twine to create the stem. To get the
sculptured look I can take six strands of the twine
and starting at the bottom underneath the pumpkin,
lay them out evenly spaced with the center of each
strand centered under the pumpkin, take a hold of
both ends, pull it up the sides tightly, then wrap
the ends of the twine around the stem. Once done
with all the strands you get the sculptured look.
Glue the ends in place and trim off the sweater
edges to get the flat look at the top. Then I would
have eight pumpkins...I'll do that later, I'm finally
getting pumpkined out!
I have a pack of pumpkins coming on my next post
made of chenilles, drop cloth, gingham, and checks
to share. I have been on pumpkin overload this year!
It's all the pumpkins I had planned on making for the
last couple years and never got around to it. Nothing
like doing them all in three weeks, but I'm finally getting
them done and out of my system....maybe lol.
I got a pretty good amount of  pumpkins out of one
sweater though....now what to do with all these pumpkins!


I cut leaf shapes out of painters drop cloth for the leaves.
I creased them down the middle, pinched the bottoms
together and then just stuck them under the twine strip
that creates the sculptured look around the sides.




The largest of the pumpkins is made from the bottom
half of the body of the sweater. Below all the little
pumpkins made with the sleeves of the sweater and
each are embellished with different rhinestone jewels.





My two favorites.....The little bitty....this was wrapped
in yarn then I decided to go with twine on the rest. I
think I liked the twine best. It looks rustic but dainty.

Maybe I'll redo her so she doesn't look like the odd man out.


And the.....itty bitty!

and lastly the chenille princess pumpkins my
granddaughter and I did posted here. These aren't
made from sweaters, but they are part of the "Up A
Notch" pumpkins with being dazzled and jeweled
and just sweeter as far as pumpkins go!

The Pink Princess Parfait Collection



Well that's it on my fancy smacy embellished pumpkin
kick. Not sure that I am done, but for now yes. I think
that's enough for one day!

Thank you for sharing your time here today!

TaTa For Now!


With a grateful heart and sincere appreciation,
I would like to thank the following for featuring
my embellished pumpkins. You are so kind!

  
Thank you so much!

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