Sweet Sugarplums--A Tutorial

A sweet confectionery reminiscent of bygone days. Old fashioned morsels of goodness that conjure up wonderful childhood Christmas memories for me. Of course, in my youth, peppermint was the dominant flavor and quite possibly the only flavoring used for these. Nowadays, they are made in many flavors but my favorite continues to be the original peppermint. One glance at these and I relive my childhood memories all over again.


To create these sugarplums, you will need 2 fabrics (white and a contrasting color), bias tape maker, fabric glue, scissors, an iron, a pressing surface, a needle, and coordinating thread.

*To make the candy wrapper, cut two 2" x 2-1/2" fabric pieces.
*Place the first fabric rectangle onto an ironing surface, right side facing down.
*Fold up 1/4" from both 2" ends. You will end up with a 2" square piece.
*Bring both raw edges to the center and press flat.
*Bring the 1/4" folded ends together. Press flat.
*With needle and thread, take running stitches at the 1/4" folded edge. Pull thread to gather and knot off. Try to hide your knots within the layers.
*Repeat this with the remaining fabric piece.


For this project, I used a bias tape maker that makes 3/4" single fold bias tape.


Fold the bias tape in half to create quarter fold bias tape that measures 3/8" in width. Press flat. You will need approximately 12" of each color to make the candy piece depending on how tight you roll it and the thickness of your fabric.


Place two bias tape pieces together and begin to roll it into a spiral pattern, adding fabric glue as you go around. The finished candy piece measures approximately 1" in diameter.


Glue the candy wrapper pieces to both sides of the candy spiral. I began by gluing one wrapper piece over the raw edge left from wrapping the candy spiral and then glued the other to the opposite end. This hides the raw edge nicely.


Spearmint flavored sugarplums.


Strawberry flavored sugarplums.


Refreshing peppermint sugarplums. I can almost taste it now.


These sugarplums would make cute embellishments on a Christmas-themed mini scrapbook, picture frame, or wreath. Or, just use it as decorations for your Christmas tree.


A garland would be really sweet with the addition of fabric yo-yo's.


These sugarplums are so much fun to make and so sweet to look at. Enjoy the tutorial!

Have a fantastic weekend.

Aloha!

Las Vegas Themed Party Favors

We will be celebrating my dad's 80th birthday this weekend so I put together some quick and easy party favors for the occasion. The only vacation spot that my dad has ever been to (like a gazillion times) is Las Vegas so I thought that the favors should reflect his favorite place on earth.

The Hershey's Nuggets look like gold bullion to me so I thought that it would be appropriate for the occasion. I had an unused deck of playing cards laying around so I decided to use it to create a vessel to hold the "gold".


I used a rubber stamp to make tags and used a scallop paper punch to punch each of them out.


Double sided extra sticky tape was used to anchor the candy to the card and to each other. Holes were punched on both ends of the cards and a thin ribbon was threaded through to tie it together in a neat little bundle.


I absolutely love these simple Las Vegas style party favors and the best part of all is that they took under 2 hours to make.


Wishing you a fabulous weekend! Viva Las Vegas!

Aloha!

T-Shirt Yarn Posies

A braided rug posie made from braiding 3 strands of t-shirt yarn together. I glued it onto a cardboard base in a spiral pattern and topped it off with a button. The leaves are made from excess t-shirt parts (sleeves and upper body) that were fused together using Heat 'n Bond before cutting leaf shapes from it. The leaves were then topped stitched by hand.

The other, a single strand of t-shirt yarn glued to a cardboard base in a spiral pattern. It was also topped with a button and 2 leaves made from excess t-shirt parts. The leaves were then topped stitched by sewing machine.


Braiding t-shirt yarn is fun to do. All along, I kept thinking of what a beautiful and durable rug or basket this would make. If you are interest in making t-shirt yarn, please see my tutorial here.


Something slightly different...4-ply worsted yarn and fluffy eyelash yarn held together while being crocheted with a size I hook into a loose chain before being glued into a spiral pattern onto a cardboard base.


For this flower, I chose some vintage velvet leaves for a slightly dressier look. I absolutely adore it.


Have a fabulous, flower-filled day!

Aloha!

Finale--Paper Flower Wreath

I cannot tell you how happy I am that this is the last entry of the paper flower wreath tutorial. I was slowly losing enthusiasm as the week went by. I must say, although long and dragged out, I am very pleased with the way it all came together.


I used a doubled piece of floral wire to form a hanger for the wreath. Two small holes were made in the wreath base with the point of a scissors and the wire was fed through and twisted off in the front of the wreath. The flowers will cover the unsightliness of the wire.


This is what the wire on the back of the wreath looks like. I gave it a couple of twists to form a loop that will be used for hanging.


Because the rosettes are pretty flat, I decided to use paper spacers to slightly lift it from the wreath base. I cut strips of paper measuring 3/8" x 17" and rolled each of them tightly, adding glue as I went along. I glued a paper circle to the backside of each rosette before gluing on the spacer.


Begin by arranging the anchor flowers evenly on the wreath base. Apply hot glue to the base of each spacer and glue the rosettes in place.


Fill in with both medium and filler flowers. Hot glue in place.


The combination of colors and textures of the flowers worked out well for this wreath.


It was fun to make but I am glad that it is finally finished.


Please leave me a message in the comment section of this post if you made this wreath. I would love to link.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. Happy Fourth!

Aloha!

TP

TP = Toilet Paper. There, I said it. I never thought that I would ever write about TP on my blog.

While moving things around in the trunk of my car, I came across this. It is a recycled drink cup that holds a half of a roll of TP. I keep it in my trunk for emergencies. If you ever find yourself needing the use of public facilities and they are out of TP, this will come in handy. It is pretty obscure and looks as if you could be toting around a cold drink.


I thought about posting this to my blog a long time ago but was a bit shy about talking about TP. I think I still am and I feel a bit red in the face as I am typing this.

The TP is dispensed from the center of the roll. Since the core is usually glued to the first sheet, I take scissors and cut the core in half and slowly ease it out, being careful not to remove too much TP in the process. I then place the TP into the cup, replace the cover, and feed the TP out through the hole.


I decided that it was about time that I make a pretty cover for my TP dispenser.

The nice thing about this dispenser is that it can also be kept in the cup holder in your car. It is very convenient to have for cleaning up little messes too.

Okay, enough said. I promise to never talk about TP on this blog again. Pinkie swear.

Aloha!

Flat

Son comes home, walks through the garage and notices that my car has a flat tire. Like the good son that he is he says for me not to worry about it and that he'll take care of it. Whew! What a relief to have a capable son.

Son removes tire and loads it into his car and takes it to get repaired. He returns with the fixed tire and puts it back onto my car.


Son shows me what caused the flat. A little metal thingy between 1/16" and 1/32" in width by 1/2" long. I took a picture of it with a penny for comparison.


The damage.


Now, I know that it costs an arm and a leg and perhaps a little more than that to live in Hawaii. Yes, the cost of living is outrageous. But! Forty dollars to fix a flat tire? This got me thinking. How much does it cost to fix a flat in your area? More? Less? I thought that it would be interesting to know what it costs where you live, whether you're on the U.S. mainland or somewhere else in the world. Maybe I don't have anything to complain about. My inquisitive mind would like to know.

Aloha,

Part Three: Paper Flower Wreath Tutorial

We are on the home stretch in our wreath making journey. This is a simple flower to make and will be used as the "filler" in the wreath.


Begin by punching 36 flowers from a 1-1/4" 6-petal paper punch.
Cut into the center and remove one petal.
Overlap two petals and glue in place.


Make a small hole in the center of the flower with a large needle or the tip of a scissors.
Roll each of the petals toward the back of the flower using a skewer or something similar.
Add a button to a 2-inch piece of wire. Loop the wire through two button holes. Squeeze the wire together on the back of the button. Add glue to the back of the button and glue it into the center of the flower.


They look so cute clustered together in a little bouquet.


See you on Friday for the wreath finale. Have a nice day!

Aloha!