Author Archives: smwaller

50 Nifty United States

I am a big fan of Pinterest because it opens the door to many craft blogs I would never have found on my own. This project is the first one I have completely copied from the website. I figure if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! Plus, I’m always a sucker for a good map.

Thanks to a box of fabric so lovingly given to me by my aunt and old puzzle from my childhood, this project is super easy and super cheep!

I used the puzzle to make stencils on printer paper. When cutting each state out, don’t cut on the line but instead around it. Then I found a piece of fabric for each state (note, I chose not to do Alaska and Hawaii).

Next, I used Heat-n-Bond which I purchased at Joann’s. The directions on the package is pretty clear, but basically, cut a piece the size of the fabric. Iron the liner side. Cut the fabric to the shape you want (in this case, the shape of the state). And then once I had each state in place, I pealed off the liner and ironed it onto the muslin.

Above shows how I laid each piece out. Once ironed down, I took to the sewing machine to stitch the outline of each state. I used an embroidery foot (or a darning foot) for the first time. It was difficult at first, but you learn to get the hang of it.

I mounted the finished piece to a flat canvas (and when I say mounted, I mean I used packaging tape). I obsessed over the finished thing for about an hour, thinking I should definitely whip up another one. I could totally see this being sold at Anthropologie or Urban Outfitters for a crazy amount. Thanks to my box of scraps, this cost me less than $3!

A year later…

“For the Love of Felt” is officially 1 year old today, and all I can say is thank you! You, the readers, are what drive me to keep posting. And despite my infrequency this fall, you kept returning to read and be inspired. I hope to have some new and exciting things for this blog’s second year (maybe even some fun giveaways). So keep coming back and I’ll keep posting.

Oh Christmas Tree

Since my family adopted the fake Christmas tree that adores our living room, I searched to find a way to sneak a real one back in the house.  I found this one at Home Depot and decided to stick with an all-natural theme. My mom had some leftover cranberries from Thanksgiving, so a cranberry garland was created.

   

The garland was super easy to make. Using a basic needle and thread, I sewed each cranberry on, simply tying a knot at the end.

 

The Colors of Fall (and Felt)

With Christmas only days away, I realize how late this post is. (But better late than never, I like to say) For Thanksgiving, I thought it would be fun to change up our family’s traditional table setting with a new table runner. And of course, the material of choice was felt.

I printed off different leaf templates and used them as stencils to cut the felt leaves. I stuck with five colors (brown, light green, dark green, yellow and dark red). I then cut a long rectangle out of white muslin – the base of the table runner. I used black embroidery thread to attach the leaves to the muslin by sewing the views of the leaves.

Once all the leaves were attached, I cut another rectangle of fabric and sewed the two pieces together (placing right sides together and sewing with a 1/2 inch allowance). The finished product is simply adorable, and it looked great on our Thanksgiving table.

Extra note: At each plate setting, I cut out more leaves on cardboard paper and wrote Bible verses on each. The napkins were tied together with the same ribbon I used in the table runner complimented by a nice sprig of rosemary.

Another school project

Junior year of college brought about another “creative” project. This time around it was for a grammar class. The basic idea was to pick a medium (book, song lyrics, magazine, etc) and find different types of sentences or sentence transformations in it. I picked my favorite book of the summer, Water for Elephants. And though the “creative” side of the project only counted 10 points towards the total, I couldn’t help but go all out.

I call it a banner. The main character in the book first realizes he has joined the circus when he sees a sign reading, “Benzini Bros Most Spectacular Show on Earth.” I found a font at dafont.com and used it as a template to cut the letters out of felt.

  

The rest was made with scrap fabric. I hand stitched the felt letters to my main piece of white cotton. Then I used fabric to make little pockets. I somehow had to incorporate the different sentences into my creative project, so I made put each sentence on a card – the pockets hold the cards.

       

And since I love having details, each pocket contains cards with a certain theme. Like above, popcorn bag = snacks. (Others = animals, performers, freaks and trains)

   

The good news, I got all ten of those points. If only you could major in arts and crafts.

Spin Art is the best

I uploaded pictures from my camera today and found this little gem from the last month. For Welcome Back Week, we had an “art” day, meaning free Pastry Art’s baby bites, free caricature artists and my favorite, free spin art! We put a clothes line out between two trees for people to hang their spin art to dry, but secretly, I do this so I can collect all the abandoned and the forgotten ones for myself. Truth be told, spin art makes the best stationary. Here, I used it to write thank you letters to people who helped us out during the week.

I use them as post cards, simply drawing a line down the middle. I think the extra paint on the back makes it look even better. If only I could have my very own spin art machine, I could start a business.

For pleasant lighting

The florescent lights in my door room is the worse. My roommate and I refuse to turn on the small, buzzing, over head light. Our solution – lots of lamps. Abby has one by her bed, I have one by my desk and we have one in the corner by the mirror. (Trust me, it creates a nice ambiance) But I have been wanting to have a light by my bed, one that I could read by. So of course, I went to the internet, saw many ideas for hanging lamps, and traveled to Hobby Lobby with a semi-clear idea. That is until I reached the ribbon section.

 

 

The project was super easy. All I purchased was a variety of white/off-white ribbons and lace and a small embroidery hoop. I attached the ribbon and lace to the hoop by removing the outer hoop, folding the ribbon around the inner hoop and whip stitching the ribbon in place. I cut the ribbon at different lengths to create a more imperfect feel.

    

Once I finished attaching the ribbon, I put the outer hoop back on and used four pieces of ribbon to hang it. At Walmart, I found a Bottle lamp kit for $5. I assembled the kit by following the instructions up until inserting the cork into the bottle. I kind of make-shifted it so it hung down straight.

I put a hook in my ceiling, and simply hung the lamp and the cord together, letting the cord hang down the corner of my room. It has become the perfect reading lamp. The only thing that bugs me is the white lamp against the white walls… basically, it looks like another project is in the works.

“I’m a hard, hard worker everyday”

I know, I know, I know. It’s been awhile since I last updated my blog. Even my grandmother pointed it out to me. But it’s not that I have abandoned it; I have just been very, very busy. Homecoming has consumed my life, along with school work and being in charge of the yearbook, but as of Sunday at around 4 p.m., it is finished. I have survived.

I couldn’t be more excited with how the week turned out and the feedback I have received so far. We did some things that have never been done before (like s’mores in Ben Brown) and the traditional things were even bigger than before (like the bonfire). Happily, I will break down the week for you. (Photos provided by Hilliary Hallman)

Monday – to start the week off in a big way, we had a velcro wall, caramel apples and fresh kettle corn (you could smell it all the way across campus).

    

Fun fact: The t-shirts we sold for the week sold out in less than two days. I guess you can’t beat Comfort Color long-sleeves, especially with the design (created by the Kaleigh Warwick!)

Tuesday – We had s’mores in Ben Brown, but since we didn’t want to buy fire pits (we had nowhere to store them) and we were told fire barrels are too much of a hassle, we used a sterno flame. We did a lot research for this, to make sure it wasn’t poisonous or anything. (Good news, it isn’t!) We actually bought cans from Sams Club. The whole thing was relatively cheap, and so much fun!

    

Wednesday – We brought back the Samford Homecoming tradition of wings and mechanical bull. We had 2500 wings to pass out. But this year, due to a ridiculously cheaper price, we had a bungee bull come instead of the mechanical one. It was hilarious to watch, since it is your friends who are trying to knock you off the bull.

Starting on Wednesday, we laid out a vinyl banner for people to sign in support for our football team. On Friday, we sent the banner over to Athletics to hang it up in the football team’s field house. By the end of the week, the banner was full of names and messages.

    

Thursday – We served over 1000 cheese biscuits from Jim n’Nicks (they said it was the largest order they had ever received) along with ice tea and lemonade (to make an arnold palmer of course). Plus we had two high strikers to play with. At one point, a professor in the Business school came out, and in fury of rage, took the mallets back to her office (to be fair, they were pretty loud and annoying).

Friday – We woke up on Friday to a cold and rainy day, so we moved everything inside and had to cancel some things. But for how tired I felt that morning, the move inside was welcomed. It was our day with a lot of free giveaways – buttons, cupcakes, croakies and rally towels (we made them for Saturday’s football game). We also had a free, Samford-themed photo booth.

  

  

   

And those were just the events during the day. We also had a few evening events, including a trivia night on Monday and a movie on the Quad (featuring Ferris Bueller) on Wednesday. And then, to kick off the weekend activities, we had the Homecoming Bonfire on Friday night.

The event consisted of a prep rally-type program. The marching band and the cheerleaders came. We presented the Homecoming Court and the football team along with head coach Pat Sullivan came and said a few words.

      

And we concluded the night with a concert featuring the band Caleb from Nashville. On Saturday, we were in charge of the Homecoming parade, and it was a great success. Then all the traditional game day events kicked in including tailgating. Mom and Dad were there, so it was nice to just chill and eat a hot dog before the game. Our grand finale was the halftime presentation of the Homecoming Court (you can visit Samford’s website for those pictures) With it all done, I went back to my parent’s hotel to kick of my shoes and take a break. It was a fantastic week! And though it was crazy and stressful at times, I wouldn’t change a moment of it. Happy Homecoming!

PS – If you picked up on the Avett Brothers reference in the title, you’re my new best friend.

A place for all the pictures

So another school year has begun, and with a new school year, comes a new dorm room just ready for us to decorate. First on the crafting agenda is something I could use to display pictures and letters that looks a little better than a simple cork board. After finding this frame at Hobby Lobby, the design quickly came to me.

I purchased hooks that I then screwed on to the interior sides of the frame. I didn’t worry too much if they were hidden or not.

   

Next, I used basic string and tied it from hook to hook.

For the final touch, I stapled a rectangle piece of fabric to the back.

Add a few clothespins, and there you have it.

Urban Outfitters-Inspired Felt Wall Art

They say copying someone is the greatest form of flattery. In this case, it’s to show that an item can be wildly over priced. I found this wall art on urbanoutfitters.com. Their price was $59 – I was able to reproduce it for only $6.

All I needed was a 1/2 yard of fabric, 3 sheets of felt and some embroidery thread. First, I cut out the letters using paper to act as a template (so I don’t waste any fabric).

   

Next, I simply attached the felt letters to the back fabric using a blanket stitch.