Tag: Button

Christmas, Craft Projects, DIY GIFT GUIDE, Holiday, Wine Crafts

DIY GIFT GUIDE: Ribbon-Wrapped Cork Letters

Jessica Smith

Ribbon Wrapped Cork Letters

This summer I scored A TON of free wine corks for a winery in Hamburg, New York. Talk about a sweet score, huh? I saw all of the corks in a bucket and asked what they did with them. The woman working told me they threw them away! CRAZY! So I scooped up hundreds of corks to take home and am nowhere close to using them all.

When we were at the winery, my cousin asked me to make her daughter a wine cork letter for her room, so I did a variation of my wine cork “S” post.

Supplies:

  • Wine corks
  • Small wooden letter
  • Ribbon
  • Button
  • Tack
  • Hot glue

Steps:

  1. Space out the corks on the wooden letter.Cork E before
  2. Hot glue the corks straight to the wood.
  3. When the corks are all secure, place a glob of glue at the bottom of the letter to secure the ribbon.
  4. Place glue along the center of the corks, securing the ribbon as you go.
  5. When the ribbon is wrapped all the way around, fold the end under and secure with glue.
  6. Tie a bow out of the ribbon and pin it to the cork using a tack.
  7. Embellish bow with a button.

Cork E

Craft Projects

DIY Doggie Bow Tie

Jessica Smith

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie

It snowed a ton in Maryland yesterday — but of course, nothing stuck AT ALL. What the heck! Even though I didn’t get to frolic through the promised 10 inches of snow, I did get a snow day from work. That basically meant playing with my pup all day, which included me making him an ADORABLE bow tie.

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie1

“Hey Mom, make me a bow tie, please!”

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie2

Remmy picked out a charming fabric for his bow tie, and we immediately set to work on our snow day project. First, I cut out a nice rectangle of fabric and ironed it flat.

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie3

Then, I created a secure hem using hem tape.

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie4

I did the same thing to the other side of the fabric.

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie5

This was different hem tape than I used in my tablecloth project, so first I had to iron one side of the tape down. Then, you remove the paper backing, and iron the other side of the fabric to the exposed side of the tape.

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie6

When I was done, it looked something like this:

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie7

Next, I folded each end of the newly hemmed rectangle into the center, with about an inch of overlap. I placed hem tape down the center strip, and secured the two ends together. I also ironed strong creases into the folds.

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie8

Next, I created the center of the bow tie using the same technique as before — just suppppppper skinny!

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie9

I secured this piece to the middle of the large rectangle, then wrapped it around remaining fabric and cinched it tight.

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie10

I stitched the ends closed, then sewed a polka dot button in the middle. Time to go find Remmy!

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie11

Well, he found me and the bow tie first. And immediately stole it and hid from me.

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie12

What a jerk. Once I finagled the bow tie from my pup, I tried to slip it onto his collar. Unfortunately, I didn’t leave enough room around the center like I thought I did, so it wouldn’t slip onto the collar. Good to know for next time!

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie13

Oh well! Time to grab some zip ties!

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie14

Looping a few zip ties through the back center of the bow tie, I secured it to my pup’s collar. Then we had a PHOTO SHOOT! Many treats were involved.

Many.{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie16

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie17

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie19

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie20

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie21

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie18

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie23

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie15

Then we took the bow tie off… Turns out my pup doesn’t love it like he does his shirts.

{A Smith of All Trades} Remmy and his bow tie22

Thanks for stopping by!

Craft Projects, Jewelry, Quick and Easy Crafts

DIY Button Ring

Jessica Smith

Button Ring cover

Today has not been my day. After getting all decked out in Ravens gear and heading to Baltimore for the parade, we instead sat in terrible traffic. Then, when we got into the city, they promptly redirected us right back out onto the highway. No Super Bowl celebration for us. So sooo bummed.

Instead I worked like most everyone else, which is good because I had stuff I needed to do. So, instead of Super Bowl celebration photos, here is a post I had scheduled for Wednesday for your enjoyment 🙂

I showed you how to make a few different types of button earrings in my last few posts, so today I’ll share how to make a button ring. It’s a little trickier than the earrings. All you need is a button, some hard wire, some pliers, and something to bend your wire around so it stays round — I have a ring sizer I use specifically for making rings.

Button Ring2

Thread your wire into your button holes.

Button Ring3

On the under side of the button, bend the wire in opposite directions. Then, send one of the wires back up and down through the holes again. Twist the wires around one another so the button will not fall off the wire if you let go.

Button Ring4

Then, wrap your wire around something that will hold the round shape. I chose to have a thicker band, so I wrapped the wire around my ring sizer four times.

Button Ring5

Next, starting with one side and at the base of the button, start wrapping the leftover wire tightly around the ring band.

Button Ring6

Do the same to the other side. Stop when you get all of the way around, or when both sides are even. If you wrap the wire around the entire band, your ring will be a lot smaller than you originally sized it to be, so keep that in mind.

Button Ring7

Cut the excess wire off and fold the edges down against the band. With that, your ring is finished!

Button Ring9

Button Ring

Button Ring8

Pretty darn cute, right?