Acute How-To: Yarn Pompom Garland

A few days a week, I work at Noon, the cutest shop in San Diego. For their summer window display, they made simple and bright colored yarn pompom garlands and hung them in the windows. After admiring these garlands, I decided to make a few to give my home a little summery pop of color.

I have made pompoms in the past using the traditional technique of wrapping yarn around two cardboard donut shapes, but this time I thought up a simpler technique. Anyone can make these pompoms – no special tools or skills required.

Hang these cute garlands in your home or use them as summer party décor. I plan on using mine to decorate my booth in my next craft fair.

Supplies:

  • Yarn {Any colors will do. I chose my favorite combo of yellow and gray and then added a few pops of pale teal.}
  • Twine {I attached my pompom balls to twine, but you can also use a long piece of yarn.}
  • Scissors

Step One:

Wrap yarn around your hand. The more you wrap, the fuller the pompom will be in the end. Experiment with this; after making a few, you will know how much yarn to wrap in order to get your desired fullness.

Step Two:

Carefully slide the yarn off your hand. Take a piece of yarn {about 6-8 inches long} and tie it tightly around the center of your yarn loop. I triple knotted each one for a secure hold. Do not cut the ends of this piece of string as you will use them to tie the pompom to the twine.

Step Three:

Take the tied loop of yarn and cut the top and bottom so that you have loose strands rather than looped pieces of yarn.

Step Four:

Determine the order of your pompoms and tie them to the twine. Trim down any long strings.

That’s it!  Hang and enjoy.

Acute How-To: DIY Glass-Tinting

All the thrift stores I go to {and I am sure all the thrift stores all over the country} are filled with inexpensive glass bottles, jars, and vases.  The sheer abundance of all this glassware makes it cheap – and a little boring.

In order to “dress up” some basic cheap-o vases, I decided to do a little glass-tinting project. This project is super easy and inexpensive.  And the end result is pretty vintage looking tinted glass.

Supplies:

  • food coloring
  • water
  • Mod Podge – the gloss kind {can be found at any craft store}
  • Small bowls or cups for mixing the food coloring/water
  • newspaper or old paper bags to cover your work surface
  • wax paper
  • metal sheet pan
  • clear glass jars, vases, etc
  • plastic spoon or bamboo skewers for stirring
  • old plastic container or bucket

Step One:

Mix a few tablespoons  of food coloring with a splash of water {no more than a teaspoon of water}.  The more food coloring you use, the darker the tint.  I made the mistake of using just a little food coloring on some of my bottles and the tinting didn’t work very well.

Step Two:

Pour a tablespoon of mod podge + a bowl of food coloring/water mixture into a bottle and stir together with the plastic spoon or bamboo skewers {most of my vases were long and thin and these skewers worked the best}.

Next, turn the bottle around so that the insides are all coated.  It helps to flip the bottle on its side and turn it over and over in your hands.

Note: when you turn the bottle over, some of the mod podge/food coloring will drip out, so this is where your bucket or plastic container will come in handy.  Hold the bottle over it and spin it in your hands.  The mixture will all get caught in one place, which will make cleanup easy.  Also, since mod podge is glue, I wouldn’t do this over your sink.

Step Three:

Set your oven on warm {about 250 degrees} and line a sheet tray with waxed paper.  Place the tray in the oven and set your glasses on it {upside down}.  Bake the glasses upside down for about 15 minutes, then carefully flip them right side up and continue to bake for another 20-30 minutes.

During the baking process the glue will dry and you will be left with a pretty tinted glass.

These glasses are not food safe, however they do make pretty flower vases or jars to hold miscellaneous bits and pieces.

colors of the rainbow

I am still a little sad that LOST ended last night. And I suspect I am not the only one. So to cheer us up, I thought I would roundup the colors of the rainbow.

1. (starting from top left to right) Red by Gina Kelley $20

2. Color Me Multi by  Raven Colours $15

3. Cotton Reels by Lola’s Room $25

4. Tape and Felt by Freckles and Fairytales $13

5. Rainbow Umbrella by Feaverish $12

Collaboration Project: Intersect

If you are a fan of artists Shannon Rankin and Justin Richel, you may already know about their new collaboration project called Intersect. These two artists have been together for almost 8 years now, and this is the first time they have officially collaborated on a project. It all started with an invitation from Artstream to participate in a show called It Takes Two – Partners in Art, which is currently on exhibit. And from there, the two decided to open the Intersect shop.

Each piece is made with gouache painted elements and then arranged and adhered to black paper. Visit Intersect to view the entire collection of prints and original works. And enter to win your own Intersect print from Shannon and Justin on my blog right here.

finalist #5 :: art & ghosts

art and ghosts blog

haunting illustrations and artist insight at art & ghosts.