Crochet Clay Jewelry Dishes

I like designated places to put things.  "A place for everything, and everything in its place," they say.  My rings are things that need their very own place.

I've seen similar dishes on several sites, and I was anxious to make my own, as I had never worked with clay before.


For this project, you'll need:

1. Wax paper

2. Sculpey Clay (available at Michael's or other craft stores for $3)
3. Acrylic paint

4. An oven-safe bowl

5. A bowl to act as a "cookie cutter" for your dish
6. Crochet pieces

*Make sure you cover your work surface with wax paper or you'll end up with a waxy mess.

Step 1:  Roll your clay out (using a rolling pin or drinking glass) till you have your desired size for your dish.

Step 2:  Use a bowl to cut smooth edges on the rolled-out clay.

Step 3:  Press crochet pieces (mine are doiles I crocheted recently, but you could also used lace pieces, or you could hand-imprint designs as desired) into the clay.  Make sure they are free of lint and dust before doing so.  Press deeply and evenly to get a good, crisp image into your clay.

Step 4:  Place your dish into the bottom of an oven-safe bowl or dish.  The size of the dish will determine how shallow or deep your finished dish is.  The instructions on the package indicate that you should bake your clay fifteen minutes for each 1/4 inch of thickness of clay.  However, mine took about ten minutes more.  When the dish is done baking, pop it out of the dish, and allow it to cool for 20 minutes.

Step 5:  I used watered down bright yellow acrylic paint to fill in the imprint in the clay made by the doily.

As you can see, I used several doilies for several patterns.

My rings have a home....one dish for the kitchen windowsill, one for the dresser.

A place for everything, and everything in it's place!




Linking to:

Wildly Original
Power of Paint Party
We Did It Wednesday
Share the Love Wednesday

Summer "Grow" Wreath

The fact that I love wreaths is no secret.

I loved my Easter yarn wreath so much that I decided to make a similar one to last me through the summer.

After all, summer is a time to grow, right?

A simple wreath.  Mostly yarn and moss.   A little white sign, reminding us to grow as well.

A small crochet doily at the top....

Enjoy your summer....

And don't forget to grow!




Wildy Original
House of Hawthornes
Feathered Nest Friday
Vintage Inspiration Friday
Show and Tell Friday

Tiny Felt Stockings

This is our second year as a married couple.  For our first Christmas, we didn't even have Christmas stockings!  I'm a big follower of traditions, so I had to remedy this problem.

I freehanded a little stocking on paper and then cut it out.  I used the cut-out as a template to trace ten little stockings onto pieces of felt along with little rectangles for the trim on top. 

 I then matched up the pieces and hand-sewed them together with embroidery floss.

Just a little something.  You know, for tradition's sake.

One for each member (whether human or animal) of our own little family.

In addition to those listed on my Blog Parties tab, I'm also linking to:

Homestead Sign

Do you think of your house as not just a building to live in, but more of a homestead?   For us, it's a place to live, rest, play, garden, build, worship, work, entertain, and pray.  A place to call our own.

A homestead.

So as I pondered what to put on my latest sign as I decorate for Black and White Fall, I decided that "Homestead" was the perfect word.

I have used stencils and graphite-transfer techniques to make signs in the past, but for this project, I used a glue-transfer technique (Becca was also the inspiration for this sign.  So pefect for my black and white theme.)



This technique definitely works, but you have to be thorough, gentle, and patient (three things that I'm prone to not be!).  You must follow the instructions to the letter (yep, not me again...).  But I did manage to get this to work, and here's how:

1.  Sand away the rough edges of your board, and wipe clean.

2.  Paint your board black and then white.  I used two coats of white, which allowed a little of the black to show through here and there and give the board an antiqued look.

(I do all my painting on my den floor.  With three pets swarming around me.  I'm a risk taker.

3.  Sand the areas of the board where you want the black paint to show through.   (Note: this is somewhat difficult/time-consuming to do by hand.  Alas, I have no electric sander, but it is definitely possible by hand.  You just have to keep at it.)

4.  Paint printer paper with Elmer's Washable Glue.  Make sure you cover the entire area where the image will be printed.  Let dry completely.  When the pages were dry, I stacked them between some heavy books to straighten them out a little and ensure they'd feed smoothly through the printer.

5.  Print out your image on the glue side of the paper.  You need a laser-jet image for this project.  Also, be sure to print a mirror image of your graphic if you are using words.  In Paint.net, you select image, and then flip horizontal/vertical.

6.  Position your graphics on your board to decide where they should be placed.    (The beautiful wheat pictures came from The Graphics Fairy.)

 (Check out the monster mistake I almost made....pretty sure "homstead" is not a word....)

7.  Paint Mod-Podge onto the areas where your graphics will go.  Place them ink and glue-side down, press the graphic onto the board, and smooth out all the bubbles.

 8.  Let the graphics dry to the board overnight.  Removing them too early will result in improper transfer of the ink.  Mine dried a little over eight hours.  I used a wet rag to moisten the graphics and rub the wet paper away, revealing the graphic transferred onto the wood.

9.  I then painted the whole piece with Mod Podge to disguise the areas around the graphics where it had been used to tranfer the image.

That's it!

More than just a home.

Black and White Hoops

I'm loving embroidery hoop art these days.  And I'm loving black and white.

It's also fun to throw some browns in the mix.

Combining the rough burlap with the elegant toile creates a beautiful look.

I paired a friendly kitty with my burlap and toile.  Stark and simple.  

Calm and cool.

Just like fall.

Crochet Washcloths for Baby

Did you know I love to crochet?

My good friend is having a baby.  I immediately went out and crocheted some washcloths for the little guy/girl (they aren't finding out!).

The nursery will be neutrals with some blue.

I wonder if they will end up with a girl in their blue nursery.

It's ok if they do.

I was born into

A blue nursery too. :)