Fiesta Yarn Pom-Pom Banner



We were having a fiesta retirement party for a coworker and my Teamleader tasked me with creating a yarn banner she had seen.   She grabbed  up yarn from thrift stores in assorted colors. ( Hint 'limp' yarn did not look as nice and fluffy.)   After making several I came up with this idea for keeping the pom-poms close to the same size.  

Have one piece of cardboard with the middle cut out.  The vertical is about how large you want your pom-poms, the horizonral is about twice that.  Also have a few extra pieces of cardboard to make it easier to cut the loops.  




Wrap yarn around the cardboard with the hole in the middle and a few extra pieces.  How many??? Well I started at 25, then went up to 50 then after a while I could just tell when it was done.   Try to not wrap too tight and try to keep even. 




Slid out the extra cardboard pieces




Tie VERY tight in the middle. I would usually turn it around and tie on the back again.  But then again, I am a little perfectionistic and did not want little bits of yarn falling out.  Do leave long tails to tie with later.  ( I used purple for demonstration purposes.) 



Cut one end of the yarn loops....



The cut the other end of the yarn loops and slide out. 



Trim.



Fluff....




Repeat the process over and over and over again. Get friends and family to help!  Then....




Tie the pom-poms onto yarn, I just left my yarn attached to the  skein  for when we hung it up, so we could have as much or as little yarn that we wanted. 




String the yarn from the ceiling, separating the pom-poms. 




We also had a funky donkey!







All the colors came together...



We got our co-worker retired with a fun and festive Fiesta  party!

Key Chain attachment - repurposed credit card/gift card



I saw this and it sounded easy and fun.  So I got a junk mail card, Mod Podge and other supplies together.  Of course, living in Alabama, my Hounds tooth scrapbook paper came in handy.   I had the self adhesive letters and numbers in my scrapbook box.   You can use old gift cards, credit cards or debit cards.




I cut the card in half, rounded the sharp corners and sanded them to match the other side. 
Then traced the half card on the back of the Hounds Tooth paper and cut it out. 

 



Then Mod Podged the paper to both sides. [ Next time I will use one piece and fold it over and overlap on the back.] Punched a hole in top for key chain.  Then applied thin layer Modge Podge.   






 then the fun part...

Added peel and stick numbers for my extension on the back....

 

And added Jill's keys... just in cast they get misplaced. ... I then coated several layers of Modge Podge.



Final results- turned out really cute!!





My  new identification tag on my keys.  These ended up being longer than my keys, which is OK with me.  But it could be cut in half lengthwise to make it shorter and more compact. 

Will try and make some more when I have some time.  I would like some more heavy duty scissors to cut the cards with.  

: )





Small yellow and fuchsia Crocheted Bag

I made this yellow bag, same directions as the blue bag, just used a smaller crochet hook.  Of course the stitches are more tight and it has a more compact feel..

 It turned out so beautiful! 

Right now, I use the blue one at work to carry my laptop charger. The yellow one is OK and my charger fits, but barely.  The girls at work all comment on how pretty they are.   In the spring, I will use the yellow one as a purse.

This is not my pattern, it is one I found at "The C side' site /chocolatemintsin in a jar.  It says I can not sell or distribute the pattern.



Re-Purposed "Cuties" container

I had and idea for the container our fruit came in.   I bought a recipe book at the thrift  store for a dollar.  Removed as many nails from the wooden container. The Modge Podged pages I removed from the recipe book onto the inside and outside of the container.  I just used lots of colorful desserts mainly.  Just cut them out, mostly geometric shapes. I just fit it as I went, just knew I wanted the chocolate cake on the bottom and the strawberries on the front!!!   [ Next time, I will do the edges and corners first with smaller pieces, then add the bigger pieces to the sides and bottom.]  Then, over several days, I applied several layers of Modge Podge. 

 Cutting up my thrift store book.

Finished product!!

I had fun doing this, and would do it again.  Now to figure out what to do with this.  Right now, I put my Tupperware lids in it to keep them organizied.

Small hand decorated shelves for coffee mug display





 



I found this white shelf at the thrift store.  I checked and DVD's fit in it, but I had other plans.

 

 

First, painted the outside dark blue with acrylic paint, needed two coats to look nice

 The painted the inside light blue.  I was going to paint each shelf a different color, but midway changed my plans.

 Instead, saw some stencils for around $3 and stenciled each shelf a different stencil and a different color (bought small sample pack of acrylic paints for a few bucks.)

 Painted a wooden butterfly I saw when picking up the paint.........would have preferred a bird, but there were none.  

 The stencils were easy, just had to use the special stencil brushes I had used years ago when I stenciled my daughter's room.

 It was fun picking the different design and color for each shelf!

Taped the stencils down and went to town.  

Stenciled the blue design on the 'roof' the same shade as the outside.

 Attached Mrs. Butterfly with some good tacky glue...... so tempted to add eyes.. but did not for fear of making her not beautiful...Her yellow dots are stenciled on.

 Finished product

 ...and added my coffee mugs, collected from over the years.

 

 

 

Close up 

 

 Close Up

 

Final Project, side view!!

It was a fun project, I just had to do it in sputs on my days off from work.  I can always take off the cups and stack it full of CD's or DVD's.

 



DIY decorated candle holders

Had fun with this... got my thrift finds, Epsom Salt and Mod Podge

Apply the glue....carefully

Roll the candle holder in the Epsom Salts....

Let dry!  Enjoy:)