Embroidery Hoop Yarn Spider Webs

Well, I know I am getting this just under the wire but here is a quick and fun idea that I shared over at Eighteen25 a few weeks ago.  This great project is quick, kid friendly, and REALLY versatile.  I had a bunch of empty embroidery hoops of various sizes (just hanging all lonely like) in my craft room closet. And I started thinking that they would make the cutest little spider webs! I played around with the best way to do it and here's what I came up with... :)

Yarn Ghost Garland with Speech Bubbles

Hi Friends! 

I am so excited to share this adorably cute ghost garland with speech bubbles!  I shared this over on Eighteen25 for their Spooktacular September. I actually took this idea off of another Spooktacular project I did (these adorable Monster Cupcake Picks) but expanded on it to make this ghost garland.

Jack-O-Lantern Pinata

Hey pretty people.  Not sure if you caught this post over at Eighteen25 for their awesome September Spooktacular.  But my project was this adorable Jack-o-lantern Pinata.

And guess what? I have never made one before.  I have done paper mache and I figured a balloon would work but the rest was me winging it.  And I was surprised to find out that it's really easy!

Here's how I did it...trust me....

Happy Owl-O-Ween Cards and Bookmarks

There is something about the cuteness of anything owl that always draws me in the Fall.  So I was totally excited when my new friend Courtney contracted me to design some Holiday goodies for her Thirty-one consultants for both Halloween and Thanksgiving. I was pretty excited. But knowing I needed to make 100, my goal was to make it cute but easy for me to turnaround. Plus, I wanted something happy and not too spooky. So these colorful and fun owl cabochon bookmarks seemed like the perfect solution.

First I designed the card using this completely fun owl clip art from the Etsy shop KPMDoodles Digital Clip Art. My idea was to have these cute little owls look like they are sitting on the branch on the card.

I ordered the owl cabochons from Suppliesagogo (I love saying that name) and the bookmark clips are from Everything Ribbons. As for putting them together, I just hot glued each owl cabochon to the top of each button clip.  Not sure if that is how you do it but that is how I did it...worked for me! :)

To attach the bookmark clip tot the card, I made two slits with a craft knife above and below the branch so I could slide both sections of the paper clip in it.

Like this.

The clip stays in the back so that nothing hides the front of the card. 

I tied raffia around each bookmark clip to give it more Fall flair. :) 

Here is the whole lot of them!

These would be a great idea to do for your children's friends or classmates too!  

It is quick and easy and inexpensive!

Such a fun Halloween project!

Happy Owl-O-Ween 

hugs to all of you!

This post sponsored by:

Speaking of cabochons...check out Popalicious Too for some amazing variety on cabochons and other fabric buttons.  And I have to be honest...I would have ordered from her in a heartbeat!  Her selection is unbelievable...she even has cute little owl ones too.

Decorative Fabric Birdcage Tutorial

In case you may have missed my post as part of Eighteen 25's Spooktacular, I wanted to repost and share my fabric birdcage tutorial.

Let's get right to it!

Here's the materials you need...

Oh and a glue gun!  You need a glue gun too. :)
BTW...I actually do have larger bottles of fabric glue. I just like using the small ones for some reason. 

Next...pick out some pretty, Fall colored fabric and you're all set to get started.

 Cover your hoops with fabric:

1. Cut your fabric into several 1 inch long strips. I did this by folding over the 2 yards of fabric several times.
2. Separate both your embroidery hoops and wrap the fabric strips around both outer hoops but only one inner hoop. Leave the other one unwrapped. Wrap your ribbon spool too.
3. Now your hoops are wrapped (ignore the extra one shot in my photographic haste).

The bottom of your bird cage:

4.  Now take another coordinating fabric and place a square of it over the unwrapped inner hoop and put the one covered outer hoop over the top and tighten it.

5.  Trim the excess fabric and glue any loose fabric over the bottom edges.

Now to make your fabric covered wire:

6. You need your1 inch wide strips of fabric, 10 yds of floral wire cut in 2 ft lengths, and fabric glue.
7. Lay your wire in the middle of the strip and line a section of the top of the strip with fabric glue.
8. Pinch it closed as you work your way down the whole length of wire.  I did this with 8 lengths of wire but you can do more. This is probably your only time consuming part. Trim any frays and excess fabric along the length to clean them up.

Now to form the top frame of the bird cage: 

(I actually did the left example with uncovered wire so you could see it better)

9. Grab your ribbon spool and begin wrapping the ends of 4 wires around the ribbon spool at 12, 3, 6, and 9 o'clock positions to anchor it.  Once those wires were in place I could do the sections in between (where the dotted lines are).

10.  It should like this at the top when you are done with the real thing.

11. Now you just slide one covered 12 inch embroidery hoop up the wires like putting on a skirt (wires on the INSIDE of the hoop.  Hot glue them in place on the inside of the hoop.

Do the same thing with your second hoop ensuring it looks even in between them. 

12.Stretch your wires as straight as you can to form the body of the cage. Hot glue them to the outside of your embroidery hoop at the bottom (the one with the coordinating fabric on it). 

Even the wires until the cage looks straight and cut off excess so it does not fold underneath.

That's it!

Look at your pretty bird cage!

I even fancied it up with some girly little flower embellishments and clipped them to the side.

Then I made a little stuffed crow (though when I stared at it too long it started looking like a seal with a beak).  I sewed him together with a quick blanket stitch and sewed two eyes with orange embroidery floss. 

To anchor my crow I added a shorter length of fabric wire, wrapped it around the sides to make a perch and then threaded a line of fishing line from the top of the cage, down through the bird, out the bottom and sewed him to his little perch bar.
But you really could just buy a crow from the craft store, name him something cute like "Cornelius," show him his new home, and call it a day.

Here's a printable with templates to make the flowers and crow.

Click to download 

(designed for personal use only..thanks!)

Hope you like my little fabric birdcage and are inspired to make one yourself.  There are so many variations to make this...use wood dowels for the body to make it more realistic...spray paint it a fun color...I adore all the possibilities!  And a great idea for different seasons too!

Have a great weekend sweet friends!

 ♥
linking to:
nest of posies
the diy show off