How-To:: DIY Wedding Save the Date Cards!

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We all want our wedding to be the most memorable that we can while sticking to our budget. A great way to set the tone for your wedding and really make it unique to you is to create your own save the date cards - take a look at this video podcast from ThreadBanger on making your own DIY save the dates!



-Kimm
KimmChi.etsy.com

Pamper Yourself!

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Valentine’s Day has come and gone. This doesn’t mean that it is too late to show a little love. Treat yourself to a relaxing day at the spa by creating one in your own bathroom!

Nothing is better than a warm bath at the end of the day. Lavender is used in aromatherapy to relax the mind and spirit... especially helpful for a good night's sleep. Salts are known to detoxify and soften the skin. Adding salts to the bath water can make this “me time” extra special. Here is a nice and easy recipe for lavender-scented bath salts:

½ cup Epsom or sea salt
¼ cup baking soda
2 Tbsp lavender buds
20 drops of lavender essential oil
Mix all of the ingredients together in a glass bowl and transfer to a mason jar.

Use ¼ - 1/2 cup of the mixture and add to warm bath water.

Breathe deeply, release the day and relax!

-Nordea
Nordea's Soaperie

Tutorial: Using Beaded Jacobean Couching to Fill Embroidered Shapes

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This embroidery technique is a variation on a stitch called "Jacobean Couching" that uses beads to give your project some added elegance. This project is not difficult, though it is helpful to have some knowledge of basic embroidery. Here are the materials you will need:

1. Embroidery Floss.
2. Seed Beads.
3. Regular sewing thread in a color that matches your beads.
4. A heat-transfer pencil.
5. An air-soluble pen (a pen that makes a mark which will disappear in a day or so).
6. A transparent gridded ruler.
PLUS, tracing paper, scissors, a home iron, fabric to embroider your design onto, and an embroidery hoop. For this project I used a 6" hoop.

STEP 1: Trace your design onto tracing paper using the heat transfer pencil. I chose an eight pointed star - you can choose pretty much any image you like, as this technique works well for filling any simple shape.

STEP 2: Iron the design onto your fabric. Use the hottest setting that will work for your chosen fabric, turn the steam setting to "off," and do not let your design shift while ironing. My design was transfered after about ten seconds of ironing.

STEP 3: Outline your design using any stitch you like. I chose to use the Stem Stitch, which is illustrated below. For this project, I did my stitching with three strands of embroidery floss. A handy set of illustrations for various outline stitches can be found here.

STEP 4: You are going to run a series of parallel threads over the entirety of your design. I chose a distance of 3/8". Using your transparent gridded ruler, make small dots right next to your outline, indicating where your parallel stitches should be placed. The ink should disappear in a day or so, but it's still best to keep your marks as small as possible.

STEP 5: Using the marks you've made, create a series of long parallel stitches that fill up your entire shape.



STEP 6: Decide whether you would like to end up with a shape filled with squares or diamonds. If you want squares, you should make your second set of parallel stitches at a 90 degree angle to the first set. I decided I wanted diamonds, so I chose a random angle, and simply made all my stitches parallel to the first line that I made at random.

STEP 7: Once you have filled your entire shape with a grid of long stitches, you can start adding the beads. Thread your needle with a double strand of regular sewing thread, then bring your needle up through the fabric right next to the place where two threads cross.

Thread a bead onto your string, and bring your needle back down through the fabric on the opposite side of the crossed threads.

To make sure your beads are securely stitched onto the fabric, bring your needle back up, and make a second stitch through each bead before moving on to anchor the next intersection of threads. Keep going until you've tacked down all your threads.

STEP 8: Admire the beauty!

how to knit cable

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When I see knitted goods with cable pattern, I automatically feel warm & fuzzy inside. Or think about drinking heavily because it reminds me of St Patty's Day in Rockaway. Anyway it looks like it will keep you warm in the cold winter months. I was however, scared to learn. I thought I couldn't handle it. About a month ago we were in VT, perfect setting to try. And surprise! I didn't need a magical elf or a pint of Guiness! So here is a how to, this is just directions to get you going . It's a swatch of cable so you can test out your skillzz before applying to an actual pattern.

Since it's just practice, all you'll need are:
*any size needles you like (but a size close the your cable needles would be best)
*yarn
*cable needles

Cast on 18 stiches. Row 1: purl 6, knit 6, purl 6. Row 2: knit the knits and purl the purls.
Row 3 is where you will learn to cross the stiches over. Purl 6, take the next 3 stitches and slip them onto a cable needle.

Let the cable needle slouch away from your work and knit the next 3 stitches with your regular needles. Be sure to pull that first stitch tight, don't be afraid to finagle things.
Then knit the 3 stitches that are on the cable needle, pull tight, don't forget to finagle.



YAY!!! That's all it takes! So now you'll think of it like this: the pattern is 6 rows long so for rows 4,5 & 6 you will knit the knits & purl the purls. *Don't forget to keep track of rows on paper.

After the 6th row you start over: rows 1 & 2 you knit the knits and purl the purls and row 3 is where you cross over to the dark side - oops I mean cross over the stitches. Too much Star Wars. Do this as long as you like, I find knitting to be so relaxing..........


How-To Wrap Up 2008

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Hardware Star

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This is the hardware version of a more traditional wire star I blogged about on Craftydaisies.com last year. If you missed that tutorial, here it is again:

Materials


  • 20 gauge or slightly thicker wire. I used copper wire from the hardware store
  • wire cutter, pliers
  • decorations
For this star I used copper beads I got as a freebie from a friendly Etsy seller, rubber rings, beads made out of fused plastic from a black plastic bag, wire coils, and black glass beads. Check your stash and your basement and I'm sure you'll find unusual decorations you can use.

Step 1

For a six point star cut three 12 inch lengths of wire and one 6 inch length to tie the wire together.

Step 2

Lay out the 12 inch wires in a star shape. Then take the opposite ends of the bottom wire and cross them over the middle of the wires and begin securing the star. Repeat with the remaining 2 wires. This may require some fiddling. Basically you want to kind of wrap the wires around each other to make a star shape.

Step 3

Further secure the wires by using the 6 inch length of wire and basket weaving around the center of the star. Go over one wire and under the next, and so forth. Once you get to the beginning, you have to wrap the wire under the first "ray" so the securing wire can go the opposite way on the second round. In other words, if the wire went over the first "ray" the first time, it should go under the first "ray" the second time. Do this until you feel that the ends of the wire are fairly secure and the whole contraption looks like a star.

Step 4

Start decorating your star. At the end of the wire make a basic loop to prevent everything from sliding off. For this star I looped the ends into spirals. Repeat with the remaining wires.



If you want to you can stop here, or you can make a second six point star and overlay the two and wire them together. For this star I added a second star and instead of decorating it, I just bent the wires into shape.


Step 5




Tie a ribbon, string, or wire off one point to hang up your star and you're done.