Quilled Monogram: Take 2

Remember my quilled monogram?  I wasn't completely happy with the way it turned out, so I did another one.

What do you think?  Better, no?

Duct Tape Wristlet

This has become a free project weekend!  As some of you know, Steven works for a company that makes tape.  Masking tape (including FrogTape!), packaging tape, invisible tape (do NOT call it Scotch tape in our household - Scotch i.e. 3M is the enemy!), and of course, duct tape.  Actually, it's Duck Brand Duct Tape.  We pretty much get all the free tape we want, and we got a couple of craft kits a while back, and this wristlet was one of them!  I followed their directions a tad, but just winged it as well.  Really, it's not that hard.  This would actually be really cool with the Appalachian duct tape they've started making, but Steven took the whole box of that we had home with him this time.  Sad!  Anywho, here we go.

Supplies: 2 rolls of duct tape (or however many you want!) in contrasting colors, cutting mat, craft knift, scissors (not pictured: ruler or other straight edge)

Only buy Duck Brand Duct Tape!

Start by laying out 10 inch strips of a 2" duct tape on a flat work surface (I used my cutting mat.  Be sure not to use any delicate surface... duct tape is very sticky, after all!).  You need 5 rows of duct tape, overlapping about 1/4".

After your 5 rows of 10" long duct tape are laid down, turn it over so the sticky side is up.  Then start putting down rows in the opposite direction (for strength), however many rows are needed to cover the whole sticky surface.  Obviously, the smoother you can get the duct tape, the better the finished product will look.

Close-up detail of the duct tape.  You can see how the front and back are going in opposite directions.

Trim off excess duct tape around the edges to make it a clean rectangle.  Make sure to trim off all of the adhesive that is showing.  There's no measuring to this part, just wing it.

The clean rectangle with all of the excess adhesive trimmed off.

Now, fold it in half longways.  Be sure to crease it as well as you can.

Duct tape the ends together so it forms a pouch!  You can either use your contrasting color or the same color you already used, depending on your design.

Trim off the excess.

Now you have your pouch!

To make the strap, use the same technique you used to make the body.  Lay down 2 10" long strips of 2" duct tape, turn it over so the sticky side is up, then lay another 10" strip of 2" tape down the center (for strength).  I added a row of my contrasting blue color on top of that to make it pretty.

I trimmed off most of the excess adhesive part that was showing, but left approximately 1/4" on each side so I could fold it over the edges for a nice clean finish.

Finished strap.

Now, back to the body of the wristlet.  I decided I wanted to do a chevron pattern, so I just eyeballed it as I went.  I cut strips of 1" blue in half so I had 1/2" strips to work with.

 

When the pattern is finished, trim off the excess duct tape that hangs over the edges.  Scissors work better for this than a craft knife.  I found the craft knife just made the tape bunch up when trying to cut it, so save yourself the trouble and use scissors.

  

Now to attach the strap.  Form your strip into a loop and duct tape the end so it stays.

Position your strap on the back of the pouch...

Put a large piece of duct tape on it so it's sure to stay...

And also put a piece on the inside for extra strength.

I finished the edges of mine with more blue duct tape for a clean look.

And the finished product!  What do you think?  Pretty cool, huh?  And the possibilities are absolutely endless!

Fall-inspired Rag Wreath

I was in a cleaning/reorganizing/decorating frenzy this afternoon.  It started with cleaning the bathrooms, then while I had the mop out, I decided to scrub the kitchen floor (fyi: linoleum is the enemy), then when putting the Mr. Clean away, I saw the Pledge and realized that I really needed to dust, which led to wanting to get all of my fall items out (while I had everything off the tables!)  Whew!  So after I had everything decorated to my liking, I remembered seeing this tutorial for a rag wreath on Remodelaholic, so I opened up the box with all of my sewing items (still packed up from when we moved up here), and found three scrap fabrics I could use to make a fall-inspired wreath.  Another free project - score!

The red fabric is a cotton jersey, the tan is a microsuede, and the white is linen.  I really like the contrast of the different fabrics.  I used a wire hanger as the wreath form (love this tip!).

I shaped the hanger into a somewhat circle.  You really can't tell if it's not perfect after the fabric is on.

I had no idea how many strips of fabric I would need, so I started out cutting 10 strips of each.  I had to cut more, and I think I ended up with 24 strips of each color.

Just tie each strip of fabric in a knot around the wreath form!  Easy peazy lemon squeezy!

Here's the wreath hanging on the inside of our front door.  Hmm, leaves a little to be desired.

I hot glued some extra fabric strips into a bow and used some green grosgrain ribbon as the bow's tails.  Better, but not quite there.

Aha!  It just needed a haircut.  Love it!  (Next time I'll start with shorter strips of fabric.)

How much easier can a project get than that?  Less than an hour and I have an awesome wreath that ties all of my fall decorations together!  Love it!

Quilled Monogram

I've read about quilling and even tried a very simple quilling piece before, but the other day, I saw this amazing quilled monogram on Craftastical and decided I had to make it my weekend project.  The bonus: I already had everything I needed!  Score!  I love free projects.

(For a more in-depth tutorial, visit Craftastical!)

Supplies: Paper cutter, cutting mat, pencil, ruler, bone folder, craft knife, Mod Podge, scrapbook paper, and of course, a Starbucks vanilla latte to get me through it.  (The tan and black patterned paper you see was going to be my mat, but I ended up not liking the way it looked, so I didn't use it.)

I printed the letter in a very light gray (font: Rockwell) on heavier weight white scrapbook paper.  I also printed the lines for where I wanted my mat to be.  The outside line marks where I measured it for an 8 x 10 frame.  Doing this in Photoshop made it so much more easy than trying to measure it later!

I cut way more 1/4" strips of paper than I needed.  I have more than enough for two more blue and pink monograms!

I started by outlining the letter in a darker shade of blue.  I used my bone folder to make the corner folds really sharp.

Letters with curves are wayy harder than letters without, but I managed to do it without too much difficulty.

I rolled all of my curls by hand as I went.  I really would like to have a quilling tool at some point.  I can imagine that makes it much easier, but it's not too hard to roll them up manually.  I found that the easiest way to create the design was to do the strips that I wanted to extend outside of the letter first, and then go back and fill in the blanks.  I pretty much glued them down as I went, trusting that I wouldn't make a mistake.  It was just easier this way because then they would stay where I wanted them instead of going all over the place.

And the finished product:

The white paper curled up a little bit because of the glue (you can see it puckering a tad on the edges), so I'm not 100% happy with this.  I may try another one tomorrow to see if I can get a nice flat monogram.  But overall, I think this was a pretty good first attempt (and it was fun too!).

Updated:  Check out my new-and-improved monogram. 

What I Wore Wednesday

Wow, it's week number 10 of WIWW already!  I can't believe I've been doing this for so long.  It's just such a part of my morning routine now!  Thanks to everyone who stops by each week and thanks to Lindsey at The Pleated Poppy for continuing to host!

Day: Thursday

Where: Errands

Cardi: Belk (got it for a steal on clearance!)

Tank: AE

Belt: Stolen from some article of clothing from Abercrombie (can't remember what but I don't think I wear it anymore)

Jeans: AE

Shoes: Mandalay Place in Las Vegas

Day: Friday

Where: Back to work after a week off

Scarf: AE

Tank: Belk (sequined belt is part of the tank)

Jeans: AE

Shoes: Rainbow

Day: Saturday

Where: Breakfast and outlet shopping

Green choker necklace: Bass Outlet

Long necklace: AE

Shirt: Gap

Jeans: AE

Shoes: Rainbow

Day: Saturday night

Where: Indians game (where else?)

Hat: Previous Indians game

Earrings: JCPenney

Shirt: Team store in mall

Jeans: AE

Shoes: Walmart ($4!)

Day: Tuesday

Where: Work

Barely visible Eiffel Tower earrings: My friend Crystal made them for me

Necklace: Moulin Rouge charms stolen from a too-small bracelet my aunt got me at the actual Moulin Rouge

Black bracelet w/ silver accents: My friend Crystal got it for me many years ago in Italy

(Hmm, accessories this day were very international!)

Jacket: ON

Tank: Miley Cyrus for Walmart ($3!)

Shorts: AE

Shoes: Payless

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