ThriftyFun Crafts - November 15, 2006

Crafting for Fun and Money!

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Materials:

• Straw hat
• felt (any color you want for feathers)
• hot glue and gun
• string (to hang up)
• ribbon to tie under face

Directions:

Cut out all feathers pieces as in picture.

Cut out eyes and beak and feet and red thing under beak.

Glue feathers, eyes, beak and feet onto hat.

Take black ribbon and tie in a bow and glue on under face.

Glue string on back to hang up.

By Sandy from Bluff City, TN

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This is something I made for my children when they were little and am now making for my great grandchildren...

Materials:

• Lightweight Wire Coat Hanger
• Light Cardboard for template
• About 1 4 Ounce Skein 4-Ply Yarn Color of Choice
• 30 inches of Ribbon
• 3/4 inch Black Pom Pom for nose
• 2 wiggly eyes 15 MM
• White tacky glue or hot glue
• Small piece of red felt for the tongue

Instructions:

Bend the hanger using the photo as a guide. First stretch it out then bend according to measurements shown. These measurements are not critical, but make sure the "legs" are stable. The tail should be higher than the back.

Cut a template that is 2 1/2 inches wide and 4 inches long. Cut slots in the edge about an inch from the top.

To make the ties, wrap the yarn around the long side 20 times, then cut along the bottom. This will make 8 inch ties. Repeat for the rest of the ties. You will need approximately 135-150 ties.

Place a tie through the slots on your template, and make 20 wraps around the long side for an ear. Pull the tie up to the top, slide off the cardboard and tie tightly at the top with a double knot. Repeat for the second ear.

For Body Bundles, wrap 20 times across the short side of the template. Carefully slide off the cardboard and lay a tie under the middle of the bundle. Tie tightly around the bundle with a double knot. You will need about 135-150 body bundles. This may vary according to how tightly you pack them as you tie them onto the frame. The dog shown used 137 bundles plus the two ears.

To Assemble, start with the circle for the head. Starting at the bottom front of the circle, tie on about 8 bundles, tie the ears in and then finish filling the circle with bundles. Next start tying bundles on the front legs. It is easiest to do work on both sides as you proceed from the front to the back of the dog, finishing at the top of his tail. Just tie them and keep pushing them together as you go. Cut a rectangle of red felt and round one end. Put a dab of glue on the square end, and tuck it in place pressing the yarn loops against it to hold it in place. Add the pompom for his nose and the wiggly eyes, using the photo for a guide.

Tie a bow around his neck, and give him a little "haircut" ~ trimming the ends of the ties that are sticking out all over.

I forget to time myself when I make a craft, but would estimate that it will take about 3 hours to complete this project.

By Harlean from Hot Springs, Arkansas

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Supplies:

• one piece of cardstock or a plain white card
• one piece of colored background paper
• scraps of flesh-toned paper
• scraps of embroidery floss
• scraps of ribbon
• fine-lined marker
• glue stick
• white craft glue
• circle punch

Directions:

Fold your piece of white cardstock in half or use a "decorate yourself" plain white card. Cut your colored background paper to fit and using the glue stick apply adhesive and cover the white card with the colored paper.

Using a circle punch, punch out the flesh-toned paper to make three faces. You can trace around a pop bottle cap and cut with scissors if you don't have a punch.

Apply the glue stick to the back of the faces and adhere to the card. Using a fine tipped marker draw on faces, making the mouth shapes into an "0" so it looks like they are singing. I used a little blush to color the cheeks by applying it with a cotton swab.

The hair is made by wrapping the floss around two fingers and tieing it in the middle; I trimmed the boys hair but left the girls hair with the loops that are formed when you wrap your fingers.

Tie small bows from scrap ribbon and use white craft glue to apply them to the girls' hair and the boys' collar. Draw musical notes around the card. Use a marker to write the words "Fa-la-la-la-la" on scrap cardstock, or print out the words from your computer and cut with scissors.

I used scalloped scissors, but you can use straight paper scissors if you don't have craft scissors. I set up an assembly line when making my cards and just repeat multiple steps to make up lots of cards at one time; the kids can help by punching out the faces.

By Paula from Christmas, MI

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Here are instructions for making a jig to help hold and cut bottles.

Materials:

• 5 ft. of Number 2 (1 by 4) pine board (pick a good straight one)
• 8 1-5/8 or 2 inch deck screws
• Wood glue
• Stain
• Polyurethane
• 1 wooden school ruler

Tools:

• Sander
• Clamp
• 1/8 drill bit
• Electric drill / driver
• An electric saw of your choice

Step one:

Cut wood in following dimensions:

• 2 pieces, 18 inches long
• 1 piece, 12 inches long
• 1 piece, 7 inches long

Step 2:

Glue and screw the two 18 inch pieces into a "V" Shape. Don't worry that one is going to be higher than the other.

On our first attempt, we put the taller board to the back in assembly.

Step 3:

Glue and screw the 7-inch piece to the bottom. This is the bottle stop. Take special note that the bottom of the "V" and the bottom edge of the stop are even. This will assure good stability, I also left 3/4 of an inch between the front of the "V" and the front of the stop. This is done so that the 12 inch piece will also butt up against the stop and run across the front edge of the "V". A screw at a downward angle attaches the front plate to the "V", making sure not to stick out the inside of the "V". The 12-inch board is nailed to the shorter side to act as a hand rest for cutting the bottles.

Sand all corners and edges to make it user friendly. Attach the wooden school ruler along front edge for making exact cuts. Stain if you like, but a coat or two of polyurethane should help make this a lasting project and easier to use. That's all there is, folks.

To Make The Tapper

Materials:

• 1 piece of 1/2 inch steel rod, cut to 14 inches
• 1 ground rod connector

This is a picture of the tapper all together

I put two small bends as shown to be able to reach the bottle sides without hitting the neck. I rounded the end of the rod so it will contact the bottle with no sharp edges. I did this with a bench grinder but you could also file it round. To attach the ground rod, I replaced the short bolt with a longer one and slit the top to be able to solder in a washer so you could tighten without a wrench. This makes the tapper adjustable for any size bottle.

These are close-up pictures of bottle tapper parts.

Instructions for using Bottle Cutting Jig:

Materials:

• One Bottle Cutting Jig
• One Glass Cutter from hardware store, the kind used to cut flat glass

Lay bottle in Jig, making sure that bottom of bottle is firmly against bottle stop. Score with bottle cutter, resting hand on the hand rest. Score and then rotate the bottle. Do not repeatedly score bottle as this is a waste of time and makes the bottle harder to cut. Repeat this until you are all the way around the bottle. Insert tapper and gently tap around the score line until you hear a small cracking sound. Continue until bottle is apart.

Note To Users: Be ready to tap the cut soon after scoring. Any lapsed time and, believe it or not, the glass will heal and be almost impossible to break.

By Debra and Leo Frick (Colorado)

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Tea cozies are sure to keep your tea warm in the pot much longer than not having one. Plus this one is way cute! This craft would also make a great gift for tea drinkers.

Supplies:

• 1/2 Yard of quilted fabric
• Buttons (for eyes)
• Sewing machine
• Pins
• Chalk

Directions:

Fold your fabric inside out over the tea pot that you would like it to fit over. Using straight pins loosely pin around the shape of the tea pot, emphasizing the spout. Be sure to leave extra at the bottom so you can sew the hem. Slide the fabric off and use the chalk to mark the shape you will sew, then remove the pins.

Cut the shapes of the ears out of the fabric leaving room for the hem. Sew a hem around the ears (If you have a serger you could also use this instead of adding a hem. Also you could put easily bendable wire into the hem of the ears if you want to play with the shape of the ears).

Turn the fabric right side out taking note to where the chalk marks are, sew one ear on each side. Turn the fabric inside out and Sew a hem around the bottom. Then sew around the chalk marks. Cut the excess fabric being sure to leave at least 1/4 inch of fabric next to the seam. Turn the fabric right side out.

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These are unbelievably easy, cheap and quick. Would make a wonderful gift.

Supplies:

• Buttons in matching pairs
• Bag of posts (I was able to get a bag of 12 at Jo-ann fabrics for $1.)
• Hot glue gun and glue

Directions:

Turn the button upside down and put a dab of hot glue on the back, swiftly press the post down into the dab of glue.

Note: you may want to hold the button when you are placing the post to the back of the button to avoid the glue going all the way through the holes and on to the table which makes the glue look messy on the front side of the button. If this does happen you can simple take a lighter to the front of the button to melt the glue back down, this only takes a second. Do not leave the flame on the button for too long or you could melt it (if it is plastic).

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FIRST, grab some card board. Now it doesn't have to be fancy card board, just reasonably thick. You could even go to your pantry and rip up the box from the cookies you've been dying to polish off!

One side of your card you might want blank, (the inside if your using that cookie box!) Now if you've got card that's waxy on one side you'll want to use that side for this next bit.

SECOND, grab some little things like beads or small, I mean tiny, shells or semi-precious gems.

You may have some lying around from previous craft projects, if not, get creative, go into the garden and find some pebbles from the soil or even raid the kitchen drawer and ball up bits of foil, don't worry about the healthy grilled chicken you had planned for tonight, it'll wait!

THIRD, and now for the fun part! Get some glue like Aquadhere (this is only available in Australia but any clear drying glue will work) something that will set clear, and squeeze a dollop on the side of card you want as the seen side of your brooch. The dollop should be the size and shape you want your brooch to be. Sprinkle randomly or arrange with painstaking precision the little things you found before so they are set in the glue. (It's really up to you!)

FOURTH, waiting, and waiting and waiting. If you used Aquadhere you might have to wait a couple of days for the glue to dry, depending on the thickness of it, and the temperature of where you are. When the glue has set cut around the edge of the glue and there will be the main body of your brooch.

FIFTH, use clear nail polish to varnish the back of the brooch. Alternately you could use the glue you used, but then you you will have more drying time, or you could even use, say, varnish! For those who reckon it's a good idea why not try egg white?!

SIXTH, and the last bit really! Put a bit more glue on the back of the brooch and attach either a safety pin or a brooch back you can buy from most places that sell craft supplies. Depending on what you used in your brooch you may want to varnish the front as well.

For a fun addition to the process, colouring the card with pencils and metallic pens can be really quite eye catching.

Please, above all, enjoy!

By Banshee from Tasmania, Australia

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This is a fun party to throw for your friends that are into needlework. Make your invitations with fun old time graphics. Inside your invitation, include instructions for an easy quick square that everyone can make and ask that they make two. These you will make into a afghan for a small needy child or baby. Get out all of your pattern books and ask your friends to bring their newest patterns to share. Free patterns can be found on the internet and printed out cheaply.

If you don't have enough teacups, they can be bought at yard sales or thrift stores or you can just ask that each lady bring her own favorite cup from home. In the room that you want to have your tea party in, have plenty of comfy chairs and sofas for your friends to lounge on. Set out your pattern books. You will want to have some background music, something like classical music with nature sounds or some soothing music. Decorate the room with small tussy mussie's at each place setting. By the side of each place, set out a small pad for taking notes or copying directions.

As party favors, you could make each lady a crochet hook caddy out of a pencil bag or box. For the crochet hook bag, you will need one zippered bag for pencils that goes inside a three ringed binder and some lace. With some hot glue, glue the lace right below the zipper. To decorate a pencil box you can use paint or foam shapes to glue on. Pencil bags can be bought at the dollar store and pencil boxes can be bought really cheap when school supplies go on sale.

You will need a tea pot to keep the water hot in. You can wrap the tea pot in a towel at the table to keep the water hot. Set out a small bowl with sugar cubes and one with lemon slices. Set the table with a nice lace table cloth. You can use an old lace panel from your window it you have one on hand. You will want to serve some comfort teas. Celestial Seasonings make some great teas that are fruit and spice. It is nice to have two or three to choose from. Set them out in small bowls. I always use small clear glass bowls as they will match with any color scheme or theme tea party. Get out your favorite teacups and set up for a tea. Each place should be set with a small plate for goodies and a napkin. You can also set out a small plate for tea bags if you want. If you are providing the tea cups, set them out beforehand also. You will want to have easy finger foods for this party. Cookies and small cupcakes would be nice. If you want to have more substantial food you can make finger sandwiches out of thinly sliced deli meat. I would stay away from fillings like egg salad as these have a tendency to be messy.

Have everyone bring their latest project to work on. Sit back and relax. If you want to play some games, you might make a scramble word game out of crochet words like double crochet or treble crochet and maybe award a small prize like a pattern for the winner. Or you could crochet a long chain and have the ladies guess how many chains there are. For other entertainment, you might want to make a tape of you reading some poetry or passages from a good book. Share the latest stories with your friends and have a great time.

By Debra from Colorado Springs, CO

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Run out of push pins? I always do. So I make use of all those little scatter pins they give away at conventions and the like for tacks in my bulletin board, etc. by taking the backs off. Decorative, too.

By pam from Los Angeles

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I save all of my cereal boxes or any box that is about that size. I take those small cans of paint and some paint that is gold or silver color. I then spray my box with the color of paint that I want to use. When it's dry, I spray mists of the silver or gold or both on the box. When the box is dry, I take some of the Christmas cord found at craft stores. I make a couple holes on the narrow side of the box or two holes on each side of the box. Then I tie a knot on one end of the cord slip it through the first hole then through the last one then tie a knot on that end. Now you have a gift bag/box. You can also use stickers, ribbons, or just about any thing on your box to decorate it.

Enjoy!

By Robin Mays from Bonham, TX

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The patterns for the juice pouch crafts are hard for me to understand so I came up with my own patterns. I just bought my sewing machine, a few clearance fabrics, some trim and practiced.

I find to do a wallet for your checkbook, take out your check book wallet, make your pattern from this. I took 2 pouches and double stitched the sides. Then I hot glued beautiful lace and added shoe string handles. Great for the kids.

I used a handbag from my closet to use as a pattern. Stitched 3 bags together, back and front, 6 total. I sewed this together with added purple thick ribbon for the straps and rounded the edges. I double stitched it and made a pocket on one side.

I have photos if you would like to see. I also went to Wal-Mart and bought a handbag pattern for a bigger bag I am doing.

It is a time consumer to start. But don't sweat the patterns, make your own from items you have around the house.

By Sharon from Miami

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I saw an old instrument case made out of felt, it made me think that we don't use that as much as people used to. And what a great material for simple crafts! You could make cases for all sorts of things; eye glasses, electronics and so on, very easily by tracing out the form on felt, leaving extra and simple sewing the edges! Everyone needs more eyeglass cases. A good Christmas gift!

By Pam from Los Angeles

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This tip pertains to cleaning your sewing machine. Remember those horrible STIFF brushes that come with your machine when you buy it. Well as far as I'm concerned, you can set them aside. I discovered quite by accident that one of those soft blush brushes does the trick much better. It gets the lint out of your bobbin area beautifully. It also works on a serger, in all those nooks and crannys.! Let me know what you think. I'd be curious as to how many convert over to my way of thinking. LOL!

By Judy Harris from Birmingham AL

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Does anyone sell the empty koolaid juice pouches?

giftsandbags.com from MI

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Are there any laws against selling crafts in front of your house? Like a table full of koolaid handbags?

giftsandbags.com from Miami

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I have a forest green robe I got at a great sale, but the sleeves were too long. I cut too much off by mistake, and now have no room for a hem. They are exactly the right length if I don't lop off any more material! Is there any way I can finish off the sleeves? I was thinking of just overstitching a hem, but same color, right? Or not. I don't have a machine and am not a great seamstress here so piping is out, and the cost of having it done would probably make it not worth it as I got it for a song.

Any ideas on the above anyone?

Thanks so much.
Anjeena from New York

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Where can I buy boas for the Kool-aid bags?

Sharon from Miami

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Where can I find ideas on making a reindeer costume for a child's "tap class"?

Tilly from Lost Creek, WV

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What are some uses for leftover Christmas paper?

Emily from Greenwood, SC

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Hello Frugal Friends,

My daughter is looking for quick and easy Christmas crafts for her and her daughter to do to share with her first grade class. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Teresa from VA

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I am wanting to make some crafts that require spiral shape wire. Can anyone suggest how to get the wire to spiral and stay that way? I could use memory wire, but it is usually too thick for the beads that I am wanting to use. Any suggestions as to what gauge wire to use?

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Tonya from Texas

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I have a ton of small plastic pringles containers. They are from the individual sized portions. Any fun ideas of what to do with them?

Margaret-mek from Jersey

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I'm going to be decoupaging a cheap old table with newspaper clippings. I'm concerned that the reverse of each clipping might show through once I have decoupaged them to the table.

What sort of surface should I mount these on to minimize any effects of them being translucent - a dark surface or a light surface?

In other words, might it be better to paint the table black or to paint the table white before starting the project?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Ted Parsnips from Los Angeles

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How can I remove the line from jeans that were hemmed and then let down?

Kathy from la Plata, MD

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Does anyone have any knowledge of the whereabouts of a book which adapted knit/crochet patterns into each other? "The Workbasket" used to advertise it, but they (the magazine) has been discontinued.

Caress11 from Cloquet, MN

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I am looking for instructions for making a mustard seed necklace.

Frog from Fogelsville, PA

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How can I keep my bags from slipping? I am having the koolaid jammers slip while sewing.

giftsandbags.com from MI

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I'm getting married in April 07 and the wedding is inside. I need centerpiece recommendations for a sit down dinner (25 tables). Very limited budget. HELP!

Jlynn from Atlanta, GA

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Does anyone know how to make sand art pictures with clear self-adhesive paper? BTW: Thanks to everyone who helped out with the Scented Jars, my elder care clients loved making them.

BQ from Front Royal, VA

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I have a large assortment of lovely buttons, many of them matching, and I wondered if anyone had a craft idea on how to use them?

Noreen from Dover, PA

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My sister-in-law made me a reindeer pin from a baby bottle nipple. The tip was painted red like rudolph's nose and the antlers were chenille stems, and it had wiggle eyes. I lost mine and would like a pattern to make these, has anyone seen these on the web?

Kaye from Alabama

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I was wondering if anyone could tell me how to make "yarn wrapped coat hangers". It's an older form of "tying" kind of, but by wrapping and going through is all I can remember. Can someone please help?

Pat from Plainville, CT

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I'm looking for an inexpensive way to make bath salts and bombs for gifts can anyone help please.

Thank you,
Lambchop from Western Australia

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How can broken jewelry be recycled?

Beth

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How do you print your own candy wrappers, to be used as wedding favors?

Taira from Brookline, MA

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