Tag: mod podge

Craft Projects

Burlap Rosette Candles

Jessica Smith

I am excited to share that I’m participating in a craft fair in a little more than a month! On Nov. 10, I will be at the Watkins Nature Center partaking in their Fourth Annual Trash to Treasure Green Craft Fair! I’ve done this fair two times in the past, but missed it last year. I’m excited to go again — it’s the coolest fair I’ve ever been to and I am really looking forward to it.

Anyway, my new few weeks will be spent making crafts out of recycled goods, scraps, trash, etc. The goal is to repurpose things you might otherwise throw away into something neat and useful again.

For my first project, I made a set of candles using fabric scraps or burlap that were barely big enough for the task at hand. I also used old buttons and thrift store glasses. The only “new” supply I used was some pink ribbon.

My piece of fabric was about 9 inches by 7 inches, so just long enough to wrap around my candle. I cut out a strip and placed a dab of hot glue midway down the glass to secure one end of the fabric to the candle holder. Then, I placed Mod Podge beneath the fabric as I wrapped it around the glass. Once it was in place, I slathered on another layer of Mod Podge on top of the fabric.

I let this dry, then added a skinny pink ribbon through the middle of the fabric. For the ribbon, I secured it to the glass only with a few dabs or hot glue.

After the ribbon was on, I started to make a few rosettes out of the burlap fabric. (Note: It’s not actually burlap, but it looks close enough so that’s what I’m gonna call it.) To make the rosettes, I used skinny strips of fabric and Mod Podge.

To make the rosette, I twisted on end of the fabric in my fingers and added some Mod Podge. This is the center of the rosette.

I kept twisting the fabric, winding it around itself as I twisted and all the while adding Mod Podge. Once the fabric ran out, I was left with a cute rosette that I set aside to dry.

Fast forward: The glass is dry, the rosettes are dry — time to combine!

I pulled out my hot glue gun to add the rosettes to my candle holders, along with some buttons.

I glued two rosettes to one glass and on onto the other. Then, I added buttons in the center of each rose, and a few alongside each.

Ta daaaaa! Two candle holders made out of fabric scraps and buttons 🙂

What a cute pair!

Craft Projects, Quick and Easy Crafts

Feather candle

Jessica Smith

I can’t decide if this project is a craft fail or not. Remember the feather tray from last week? Well, I love that paper and thought it would be cool to make some candle holders for our family room that matched our tray.

So, I cut out two feathers and grabbed a small glass I bought at the thrift store and set out to make a candle holder.

To start this project, I mixed some Mod Podge with blue paint to give my candle a tint. I spread it all around the inside of the glass with a sponge brush.

Once the inside was coated with my Podge/Paint mixture, I placed two cutout feathers inside. I smoothed out any bubbles, then applied another layer of my Podge/Paint on top.

Using the sponge brush, I made lots of swooshes (that’s a technical term you know) in the mixture to give it extra texture. I also added in the slightest bit of black paint to pick up the black in the feathers.

Then, I let everything dry.

Once it was finished, I popped a candle in to check it out.

I like the texture and color of the candle, but I’m not 100 percent sure if this is going to be going in our family room (which means it’s not). For now, I’ll stick with my tray.

What do you think? Craft fail or craft success? What would you have done differently? I think next time I might try using a real feather and no paint. I have several more little glasses, so I’ll definitely be trying this one again.

Craft Projects

Feather tray

Jessica Smith

Since I actually like our coffee table now, I wanted to be sure we keep it looking nice. So it’s time we got used using coasters again… to help us with this, and to keep us a little more organized, I wanted to make a stylish tray to sit on our table to store our remotes (all three of them) and coasters.

I picked up an ugly little tray at the thrift store for $2.

OK, it’s not that bad… just SO not my style. A little too country for this girl.

Anyway, I sanded the tray down and took it outside to give it a coat of black spray paint.

Once the try was dry, I took it inside and Mod Podged a piece of black and white scrapbook paper to the bottom of the tray. It didn’t quite fit all of the way, so I decided to bring the black paint onto the paper to give the tray a more cohesive feel.

With that in mind, I took the Mod Podged tray (once it was dry, of course) back outside to strategically add a bit more black paint.

To finish off the tray, I added felt feet to the bottom and coated the tray with a sealer. I like the overall look of our new tray, but I think I eventually want to add something around the edges. I had a little bit of difficulty getting the edges to stay smooth and flat, which can be obvious depending on the angle.

Either way, it looks good on our table and will help us stay neat!