DIY from scrap to hair clip!

Hello, how have you been? It's the dog days of summer and it's just winding down now. Hot, humid and cooler in the evenings. The pets want to nap all day and I don't blame them!

What I have today is a DIY project from scraps you might have in your craft supplies. Every now and then we buy something that had a big flower, button or decoration on it. So I remove these and set them aside for some later use. I had a thrifted top that had some large decoration in fabric, I took one off. I decided it would make a great hair clip and almost resemble a fascinator.

scrap fabric and old earring

So above is the scrap piece from the thrifted top. It's almost like a deconstructed flower with pretty lace, raw edges and quite large. I wanted to add to this and again picked through some of my craft supplies. I found an old clip-on earring with no mate. I used some pliers to remove the earring from it's backing and laid them out. I also had an old mis-match barrette and that is what we will be using for this.

the back of the scrap piece we will turn into a hair clip

Now, before we decorate our scrap piece we need to make a back for it and attach the barrette. Turn your scrap piece upside down, so the back is facing up. Trace around the shape roughly and cut it out. 

cut out felt piece

this part will clip to your hair

I cut a small slit in the felt to allow part of the hair barrette to slip in (see above). This just helps hide it from view and lets you stitch it to the felt piece. 

Turn your felt piece over and stitch the barrette to the felt. I simply stitched around the metal to make sure it's secure. If you can not stitch your barrette to your felt, you can use glue. I would suggest a glue for metal or plastic and lets you attach it to felt. A very good crafting glue for many types or material is E6000. It can be used on metal, jewelry, fabric and plastics. 

now for the added decoration!

Once you have the felt attached (stitched or glued on) it's onto the next fun part! Take your decorative piece that you are going to be using. Remember I had that old earring I took apart? I took the beads and laid them out until I liked how they looked. I decided to stitch the beads to my fabric piece. If you are unable to attach decorations with thread you can always use that same glue I mentioned above (the E6000 or other fabric glue). 

You take your decorated piece, as mine is seen above (in the photo) and you will attach that felt backing to it. Now you can easily glue the felt backing (with the sewn/glued barrette) to your decorative piece. Be sure to let it dry well, often left to dry over night. 

You can repeat this for almost any number of materials! You can use tulle, netting, ole scraps of fabric and more. Play around, lay them out, glue or stitch and create something new!

finished piece

I hope you enjoyed this fun DIY project! I will certainly have more to come. But for now, I'm trying to cut a full length dress pattern and perhaps crochet some. Enjoy the end of the summer months friends!

End of Summer

Summer is winding down and the days are becoming cooler, the nights more quiet. The cicada have finished their songs of summer, the fireflies are starting to leave. Our summer has been very hot and dry this year. We certainly could have used more rainy days to encourage the gardens to grow and flourish.

I've spent my time altering clothes, trying out some giant crochet hooks on thick yarn and ~ butterflies! So please enjoy my round-up of summertime photos. Thank you for continuing to be followers of my little blog. And for being supportive of small artisans, seamstresses and buying locally USA made goods.

summer time frozen non-dairy ice cream

local farmer's market treats!

my long sheer coat I made & my awesome folding craft table

I finished the tank top

my fairy house from wooden bird house & clay

I raised and released painted lady butterflies

I hope everyone had a fun, enjoyable and memorable summer! I am looking forward to listing new items soon: dog bandannas and felt character charms. So do check in with my Etsy shop shortly to view new listings. 

Instagram & baby gift!

Hi everyone, how is your June starting off? Mine has welcomed weather of summer settling in. I've also recently heard the song of the cicada outside by the woods. I've been busy and I always like to share what I'm up to.
First off, have you visited me on Instagram? I'm there about once a day, sharing photos of my time spent crafting & such. I love to share about my adorable pets, if I head out to something fun and nature.

I am on Instagram as CraftinessbyB

I've been also sharing photos of food. I can't help it, I love food! Since I do not have a garden this year I'm trying to share locally bought produce and such. Or if I am making something yummy (often dairy-free) and how it came out. I visited a farmer's market over the weekend and just wanted to buy all the homemade, locally farmed foods! If you want to make an impact, support your local farmer's, bakers and artisans. You'd be surprised what you can buy and at such good prices!

locally grown produce

naturally, I bought strawberries!

Now, onto the baby gift I made! A friend is expecting in about a months time. She is having a boy and I wanted to make her something handmade. Even if she never puts them on the baby, she can display them in the nursery as a decoration. I found a darling book all about felt crafting and gifts. It has these 'Hermes' baby booties to make. I made mine out of blue and took my time making the stitches even. I hope to offer a video shortly of the stitching for this craft, called the blanket stitch. 

I decided to 'wrap' the gift in a fabric cloth bag. I bought a fat quarter of fabric and only used half of it for the bag. I simply picked a matching ribbon and wooden bead for it's closure. It's a pretty way to present a handmade gift without having to actually spend money on wrapping paper. And really now, it's so much more special this way!
I hope everyone is having a great start to their summer. What are you going to craft this season? Pop on over to follow me on Instagram and leave me some comments if you like! I tend to follow back people whom follow me. 

Up and coming crafts, my pets

Is it really November already? How time can fly by when autumn arrives! Just an update on a few things I am working on for my etsy shop CraftinessbyB.

my felt fox mascot

I am inspired by many things, be it from a pattern book or something I saw. Sometimes it's children's things that get me thinking "I can make that into something else!" I saw these adorable felt animals as finger puppets in a crafting magazine. And I thought I'd do my own design of the animal but make them into little plush mascots. They will sit upright and be just big enough for a desk or bookshelf. And to make them a little more attractive I am doing a lot of machine sewing for them. I love to hand stitch but sometimes it's too much to do an entire project that way. Above is a fox in orange, I also plan to make a deer and maybe a polar bear.

my hand drawn greeting card

I have two new holiday greeting card designs. You might figure out the above one fairly easily. I draw my cards by hand then do colored pencils and water colors. I'd like to have these completed soon if I can get my home printer to cooperate again. 

And of course I have these distractions around my house (ie: the pets). I swear they make it their daily mission to keep from completing projects in a timely manner. But that's ok just look at how cute they are!

don't read pet me instead!

my boy cat Howl just wants to nap