You Guest It: The Bushcrafter

Today's "You Guest It" features one of those crafts that makes you go: "That's AWE-SOME!" In fact, I believe those exact words fell out of my mouth when I first laid eyes on it. So let us not dilly dally. Let us get to it, shall we? Coming to you all the way from Sweden, welcome the talented Jenny a.k.a. The Bushcrafter!

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Hi!

My name is Jenny. I'm so glad to be a part of this wonderful "You Guest It" series that Michele has set up for us all to enjoy. I am a textile crafter and I call myself "The Bushcrafter". I am a soul-centered creator and also an artist and teacher. In me, I have some sort of fabric spirit who wants, pretty much, nothing else but to create. So I let it.

You know. Let spirit be what spirit is.

I would say we are all crafters. In one way, or another. When I'm faced with a problem, I try to solve it by using what I have. That's crafting for me. I enjoy melding crafting and recycling together, making the ordinary into beauty. Today I'm sharing how to embellish your egg carton with cross stitch. In this project we are using the whole egg carton and adding the sparkle with threads and colour.

With a few easy steps you can create your own beautiful box. Embroidering on an egg carton is easy-peasy, just follow these instructions.

For this project you will need:

1. An egg carton

2. Needle

3. Thread

Peel off any stickers from the egg carton. If you have print on the carton, you could try to painting the top.

Draw a pattern on a piece of paper. Place the paper on the box and push the pin all the way through in all corners.

Start sewing the first colour:

Until it looks like this:

You can embroider the sides of the carton too if you want.

Voila! You are done. You can now use it to keep your favorite things safe.

Here I store my pastel threads. You might want to use it for your jewelery or your buttons. It´s your choice!

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You must admit that this is great, right? I mean the combination of recycling and crafting alone makes me want to do a jig. But the embroidery? On an egg carton? Well, that sends me head-long into a cha cha cha!

Other creations by Jenny "The Bushcrafter" that I recommend you not miss:

• The "We Are Stardust" Embroidery and Patchwork Pillow
• How to Weave a Strawberry
• The Guardian Angel of Winter

And while you're at it, pop into her shop because some of these beauties are actually available for purchase there.

Thank you Jenny for letting me showcase your beautiful work on the blog today. What a true pleasure this has been for me!

♥M

P.S. Have an idea for an eco-craft? Submit a guest-post idea to Michele Made Me's "You Guest It"! Find those details HERE.

Be My Guest!

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it! Starting now, this blog is accepting submissions for guest-posts... Eep!

Seeing that this is an equal opportunity craft blog, submitted ideas can come in all shapes, sizes and types. As you may have surmised, I enjoy everything from paper crafts to sewing, quilting to the fiber arts, home decor to jewelry and well... just about anything as long as it's nifty and re-used! If you are a member of Michele Made Me and have a clever idea for a sweet and simple eco-craft tutorial that is your own work, well-written, and beautifully photographed, I want to help you share it with a wider audience.

If all goes as planned, guest-posts will appear on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month as of March 2013.

Your initial email submission should contain the following:

1. Your name and email address
2. Your blog url
3. A clear and concise explanation of your idea (3 to 5 sentences)
4. One beautiful photo of your completed craft

If your initial idea is accepted, your completed guest-post should include:

1. Clear and beautiful photography throughout.
2. Clear and concise explanations.
3. At least one gorgeous photo of the finished project.
4. A short bio telling the reader who you are and why you create things.
5. Links to your blog and shop (if you have one).
6. Links to your 2 favourite blog posts to be used by me in a short introduction to YOU!

It should be stressed here that not all submissions will be accepted. As the owner of this blog, I reserve the right to choose what I feel best fits this space.

Email your submission to:

michelemademe AT gmail DOT com  →  subject line "Craft Submission"

I can't wait to hear from you! 

♥M

P. S. Here are a few resources to help make your guest-post extra-sparkly!

Take Better Tutorial Photos Series

Writing a Great Tutorial

Edited to Add: P.P.S. Yippee! The Boy's new bedroom is featured HERE on Apartment Therapy today. Thanks Dabney for the invitation and lovely write-up! 

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Ornament #5

And with that, I believe I've reached the end of the 2012 "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Ornament" Series! Previous installments in the series live here, here, here, and here. I really really enjoy the brainstorming and the mad crafting marathons that never fail to ensue my decisions to do these series. Making ornaments is probably one of my favourite activities in the whole wide world wide web. I hope you've shared in my fun. I'm so touched by your kind attention and all your lovely comments. They certainly do warm this girl's cockles (which, by the way, is a very good thing)!

♥M

P.S. Almost forgot... You can download free printable hexagon grid paper right HERE. Terribly handy! I used a hexagon size of 0.3 inches, just so you know.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Ornament #3

♥M

Previous installments in this series: here and here.

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas Ornament #2

Today's ornament story began a while ago, back here in February, when I received several puzzle pieces in a package from my bloggy friend Melissa. I'm fairly certain it was a bit of an unspoken crafty challenge on her part, eh Melissa? Like: "What can you make with these, Michele?" Well, I finally took the bait, 9 months hence, and here's the concoction I mixed up...

Tutorial ❉ Puzzle Piece Angel Ornaments

You will need:  old large-ish puzzle pieces, fine grit sandpaper (I used 220), large sewing needle, pencil, fine tip marker, liquid acrylic paints, small paintbrush, gold dimensional paint (optional for halos), small piece of cardboard, glue, pair of scissors, pretty string for hangers.

The puzzle pieces I used are the ideal size for ornaments at about 3 inches by 3 inches square (7.5cm x 7.5cm). Out of the pieces Melissa sent, I chose some that resembled little people: with heads, arms and legs.

To start, I sanded the fronts of the pieces with fine-grit sandpaper (220 grit). I sanded lightly to remove only the ink and not the layer of paper underneath. The sanding gives your puzzle pieces a lovely distressed look but, more importantly, the slightly roughed-up surface will hold on to paint and marker famously.

Then I used a large needle to pierce a hole in all their heads. I know that sounds slightly horrific and everything, but they are angels after all...

So once I did that... um, I took out my pencil and very lightly drew the angelic details on each piece. I drew on hair, eyes, a dress with collar, wings, skinny arms, and a halo. Once I was happy with my design, I re-traced the pencil lines with a fine tip Sharpie (a.k.a. a marker).

Then I took out my liquid acrylics and painted the other-worldly hair, dresses and collars. While I waited for the paint to dry, I made some little stars out of cereal box cardboard, and gave each a gold finish in liquid acrylic.

The stars, once dry, were then glued to the "hands", and a halo of gold dimensional paint dots was added to each head. And lastly, I added the hangers.

 Hark!... Is that singing I hear?

Why I think it is! A choir of Puzzle Piece Angels... How very sweet of them to sing for us like that. And they don't even have mouths! Now THAT is what I call talent.

♥M

Find the first installment in the "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas Ornament Series" here!

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas Ornament #1

Hi.

Can't believe it. But here we are almost HALF-way through November. Which can only mean one thing: Christmas ORNAMENTS!!!

As evidenced by the last two years' ornament series (found HERE on the Series page), it appears I can't be happy making one style of ornament per year. No no. Once I get going, it's a pretty much an out-and-out rampage. But it's a tradition, see? So, let this be the beginning of the 2012 ornament series, okay? I'm starting with one of my favourite holiday motifs. The snowflake!

Tutorial ❆ Dusty Miller Snowflake Ornament

You will need:  dusty miller leaves, iron, plate, microwave oven (optional), paper, compass, pair of scissors, glue, pretty string

Are you familiar with Dusty Miller? It's a very popular bedding plant here in Canada. It has these lovely, sculptural, fuzzy, silvery-grey leaves. I don't have any in my garden but, seventeen of my neighbours do, so that's where I got my leaves. The plants are fairly hardy and some in my neighbourhood are still alive despite the cooler weather. But as soon as we have a few nights of frost in a row, these little guys'll be toast. I was lucky enough to get my hands on a few recently dead ones from the neighbour's garden... Thank you neighbour!

Prepare The Leaves:

To get the leaves ready for this craft, they need to be pressed and dried. Don't worry it's quick! Here's what you do.

Pick a few Dusty Miller plants. Alive, or recently dead, it doesn't matter. Snip off several pretty leaves. You'll need 6 similar-sized leaves per snowflake. Iron the leaves without stream. That's right, grab your dry iron and press the leaves flat. You may want to put something between your iron and the leaves. But I didn't. I just went for it! Now to dry them out, you could let the leaves air-dry for several days. Or you could do what I did. I put my pressed leaves on a plate and nuked them in the microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds. And if they were not quite dry after the first 30 seconds, I put them in for an additional 30 seconds. And if you find that the tips of the leaves have curled a bit during microwaving, just give them another quick press with the iron. And now you are ready to make snowflakes!

Make Snowflakes:

Find 6 similar-sized leaves. Trim them all to about the same height. Get your compass and open it to a width slightly taller than your leaves. Set aside.

Take out a piece of white printer paper. Smoosh it up real good. Like, real good.

Flatten your paper again and press it with a dry iron. Draw a circle on the paper using your prepared compass. Cut out the circle.

Now to fold the circle in preparation for snowflake-making. Start by folding the circle in half. And fold it in half again but only to crease the center.

Open it up again and from that creased center point, fold the right side two-thirds up to the left across the circle as below. Now, fold the left-hand third up to the right.

Fold the whole in half again. Now, along the upper part of that final fold and along the outer edge, cut out some small shapes from the paper. Do not cut into the apex or bottom half of the circle. Little triangles and rectangles are easiest to cut out.

Unfurl your snowflake and press it flat with a dry iron. Notice the center of the snowflake is not cut up. Okay now get out your six Dusty Miller leaves.

Glue the leaves flat side down onto your snowflake shape. Make a bunch of different-sized snowflakes. Attach pretty string hangers.

And hang 'em up!

Oh, the easy elegance of Dusty Miller snowflake ornaments...

So very pretty.

♥M

My Tiny Brain Wave #5 - Easy Paper Wreath Forms

I'm afraid it's been ages since my last Tiny Brain Wave. Do you even remember this little series? Do I? Let's harken back for a moment... Ah yes! A tiny brain wave is that immensely occasional feature wherein I share an idea that, in itself, is NOT a craft but rather an idea or technique that might come in handy for making a craft somehow sometime.

Right. Oh.

Today I'm showing you how I made the simple little wreath forms above. Okay then?

You will need: a pair of scissors, strip of craft paper (or any paper), water, yogurt tub (or something equally cylindrical), microwave oven (optional)

I started by cutting a roughly 5 inch (12.5cm) strip of paper the width of my craft paper roll which I'm guessing is about 30 inches or 75 cm wide or so.

I poured a little water over the strip. I didn't completely wet it. Just mostly. And then I folded in the raw edges of the paper.

Working gently so as not to rip the paper, I twisted the entire wetted strip. I then wrapped it snuggly around a small plastic tub, the kind yogurt or sour cream come in, you know? The twisted strip made it around the tub 2 whole times.

I tucked both ends of the strip between the tub and twisted strip. It held in place quite securely.

Finally, I placed the tub with twisted paper in the microwave on High for 2 minutes. Had I been more patient I could also have let it air-dry overnight. Alas, patient I was not. Not this time. The microwave allowed me to make 4 little 4 inch (10cm) diameter wreath forms in a matter of minutes. See how cute?

These little wreath forms are very lightweight and quite sturdy because of the doubly-wrapped twisted paper. I wouldn't go so far as putting them outside or anything krayzay like that. But they are ideal for indoor decor and perfect for kids to get involved in. All you need are some paper strips, water and a cylindrical thing to act as a mold!

And now for the best part... DECORATE AT WILL! That's up next...

♥M

P.S. For a million (okay, maybe not quite a million...) wreath ideas hop over to The Wreath Blog!

P.P.S. Go to the bottom of the page HERE for old Brain Waves.

Series 9: Old Towel New - Bath Puppet

Ah yes... Here we are. 'Tis the final chapter in the Old Towel New saga. With only scraps and dregs left over from the other towel projects I barely managed to scrape together this sweet double-duty bath puppet. See? It can serve as both a toy and a soft washcloth. The little ones can simultaneously have fun AND get sparkly clean. Handy, no?

Here's the how-to:

I made a simple newspaper template as below and cut out 2 of the large pieces and 4 of the circles.

I sewed two pairs of circles together, leaving a gap for turning. I then zigzagged around all edges of the two large pieces. I snipped the edges of the two circles (ears) and turned them inside out.

I cut a piece of freezer paper big enough to accommodate a face for my puppet and ironed it to one of the large pieces. I drew the face. [Note: I used freezer paper because it's difficult to transfer a design onto towel with all those nubblees hanging about.] Now, using a running stitch and embroidery needle and thread, I outlined my design directly through the freezer paper. I then carefully, very very carefully, removed the freezer paper. Finally, I went over the entire outline with a back stitch. Oh yes, and I used satin stitch for the tiny myopic eyes.

To put the puppet together, I placed the circles (ears) onto the face as shown below, and then put the other large piece on top and pinned the layers together. I machine-stitched around the perimeter just inside the zigzagged edge, leaving the bottom open. I stitched one last zigzag around that bottom edge to finish it off neatly. Finally, I flipped the whole thing inside out and...

Behold! One fine play 'n wash bath puppet:

That Terry... He's hilarious.

♥M

The rest of the Old Towel New series: mop pad, washcloths, soft watchband, car sponge, oven mitt.