Wayward Girls' Crafts

Peter Pan Collar Bead Necklace

I've noticed the Peter Pan Collar trend lately and thought a necklace would be a great way to make my own embellished version. I scoured the internet to find a good pattern for the collar, because I knew I couldn't draw one free hand. The best one I found (because it has a scale on it) was made by my sparkle: Removable Peter Pan Collar DIY

Materials Needed for this project:
Stiffened felt
Beads
E600 Glue (don't use the cheap-o stuff!)
Ribbon

I was itching to start that night, so I dug in my craft stash and found some green stiffened felt I used on my shoe clips and elf hat. I had just enough for this collar. I really recommend using stiffened felt. Regular felt is just too weak and wouldn't hold its shape at all. I cut out the pattern and overlapped the two pieces at the center, since I wanted the necklace to be connected in the middle. Then I dug in my beads and found a ton of green beads, all purchased at different times. I laid out the beads in different ways and found something I liked. I decided to go for it that night, and used what I had on hand: super glue.

Here's the first time the craft gets Wayward. Don't use super glue, it's too weak. I've had to re-glue some of the beads multiple times. I finally purchased some E600 and it works perfectly! Don't go through the hassle that I did.

The other Wayward part, I didn't put anything under the felt while the necklace dried. The super glue seeped through the felt and onto my dining room table, permanently altering it (nice way of saying messing it up in that area). So, put a lot of paper/plastic under your working area and protect your furniture!

So my last step was to attach two ribbons to the necklace, on the underside. If you wanted, you could cut out another piece of stiffened felt and cover the back side, as it's a little coarse. I didn't (since I ran out of felt) and I am not bothered by it.

How bout a close up?

I showed my friend and she was so impressed we went out and bought the supplies and she started making her own, which was SO much cooler than mine!

Here's how mine looked on:

Pretty cute for St. Patrick's Day too!

Eight Great Granolas!

Today is our dad's birthday! Or as I like to call him, the Original Wayward. (Yes, I'm the only one. And okay, he not Mom's dad. That'd be weird.)

One of our dad's favorite foods is granola. He eats it with milk for breakfast. When I was very little, my mom would even make granola for him. I remember the honey we used for it (not normally a staple in the Wayward household, sorry). One year for Christmas, I made him a batch, too.

This year, Dad, if you'd like some granola, just let me know! Here are eight great granolas to choose from (or another recipe if you'd like).

My criteria? Something that would read sweet and be suitable as breakfast cereal (i.e. not a bar or a snack, and no chocolate chips—sorry, Dad, even I have to draw the line with chocolate somewhere!). I focused on recipes containing oats, as opposed to other grains. Plus it had to look good!

Gingerbread Granola

Source: kitchensimplicity.com via Tiffany on Pinterest

Dark Cocoa Superfood Granola

Source: cupcakesandkalechips.com via Brianne @ Cupcakes & Kale Chips on Pinterest

Banana Nutella Granola

Source: sallysbakingaddiction.com via Rose on Pinterest

Pumpkin Pie Granola

Source: mybakingaddiction.com via Michelle on Pinterest

Honey Nut Granola

Source: ledelicieux.com via Traces on Pinterest

Lemon Blueberry Granola

Source: stetted.com via Angie on Pinterest

Cranberry Maple Granola

Source: thegraciouspantry.com via Kami on Pinterest

Caramel Apple Granola

Source: pastryaffair.com via Amy on Pinterest

What flavors would you look for in granola?

Mix and Match Animal Book

This is a fun activity to make with or for your children. I was thumbing through some craft books (specifically Step-by-Step Crafts for Children published by Kingfisher) and saw this idea. I simplified it a little, but the sky is the limit.

First I found some free clipart pictures of animals. I selected ones of similar sizes.

Next I cut each one to the same size. (I chose 5" squares.)

I glued each picture to colorful cardstock that was a little larger than the pictures. Then I cut the pictures in half as shown here.

.I stapled the pictures inside the cover and then used a type of duct tape to cover the staples.

This would be very fun to do with family photographs or with pictures the children color.
Have fun!

Naming Names: Grains and Threads

Taking a break from the wedding posts this week. So when you're sewing you should really get to know your fabric. With almost any project it matter where the grainlines are. So here's a wonderful (yes, my computer design skills are amazing!) diagram!

The red lines (well dark red/ brown in most of the pictures) are called the weft threads. They go parallel to the selvedge. The green lines are the cut edge. These threads are called the warped threads. They go perpendicular to the selvedge

The yellow line is the bias grain. This is the in between the warped and weft threads. The bias is not made up of threads. This is where there stretching happens. Cutting fabric on grain is cutting along the warped or weft threads. The weft threads run along and create the lengthwise grain. The warped threads run along and create the crosswise grain. Have you ever had a shirt that's side seams twist so the shirt doesn't hang straight? That's because the shirt was not cut on grain or was cut off grain.

When you purchase fabric, make sure it is woven straight. Fabric that's weave is off will produce off grain projects! Sometimes you can tell when you follow the warped threads to see if they fall straight. Sometimes it's just a trial run. Cutting a fabric on grain is easy once you get the hang of it. Typically the selvedge is a good starting place (if the weave is right.) You can use this as your guide of where the lengthwise grain is. Before you cut something out for a project, I like to cut off the selvedge. This is the most basic and I think the easiest way.

Another way to get a fabric on grain especially if the cut edge is crazy is to find the lowest point in the edge (like if it dips, find the part that goes farthest into the fabric.) From there you can pull the thread that is running parallel do the edge. With some fabrics, you can pull this thread out of the fabric creating a small gap. Then, using that gap as a guide, line it up with a ruler and cut it using a rotary cutter. If you're dealing with tighter woven fabrics you probably can't do that.

You can also snip a small cut into the fabric and then rip the fabric and the fabric will naturally rip along the same thread. This may distort your fabric.

You can cut something on the bias as well. In that case, you would still want to make sure your lengthwise and crosswise grains are where you want them to be so you can line up your bias grain correctly and most importantly cut it straight.

The Queen of Hearts Party: The Games

I think one of the most important parts of party planning is the games or activities planned for the evening. The decor could be great, but if there isn't a lot of mingling, people will leave early. So my party planning crew and I worked hard to make sure these activities would be enjoyable.

We had two games at the party. The first turned out to be the main event. As people were arriving we had them pick a card. Each suit then became a different team, breaking up couples and mixing people up. When all the guests were there and most people had a little something to eat, we announced the game. Each team was given its own work space (table). On the table they found a brown paper bag with the supplies for the game and directions. I've found that you will have to explain the game at least three times but with written rules/directions you will only explain them once and then you just refer them to the written directions! The activity, was of course, building a house of cards. We gave each team two decks of cards, tissue paper, pipe cleaners, dry pasta, marshmallows and a glue gun. They were to build their house on a foam board, purchased from Dollar Tree. The teams were instructed they would judged on structural integrity, height and ascetics. We gave the groups a little over thirty minutes to construct their houses and had a dramatic countdown during the last 10 seconds. When time was up we yelled "Hands off!" a couple of times, just like on those Food Network challenge shows. We had each team present their creation and explain their inspiration, etc. We had everything from Ghostbusters Stay Puft Marshmallow Man to a Scotland castle represented! Each team took a picture with their creation and then we broke out the measuring tape to see just how tall each of them were.. Finally, an "earthquake" was simulated for each house to test its structural integrity. (Bragging: my husband's team's house withstood 10 seconds of the craziest earthquake you've ever seen. We deemed it indestructible). We awarded each team points according to height, aesthetics and structural integrity. Judging was tough but really fun too!

This was the best part of the party, because it got people talking and mingling. It involved both the guys (building) and gals (creative). And got people working together. It was so fun to watch and the party planning crew was giddy to see how much fun people were having.

Our second activity was fun but not as big of a hitl. We had 42 guests at the party, which was a large crowd. It worked well for the house of cards game, but not as well for the second game we played, which we called Two of a Kind. There were three rounds to this game. For each round, each team had to have a set of partners come up to contend. We set up around a card table, with each set of partners on a side. The partners linked arms and then had to complete an activity using their free or outside arms The first to finish the activity earned 25 points for their team. The first round we had them stack 10 conversation hearts on top of each other. The second, tie a shoe. The their was the most entertaining, put a diaper on a baby doll. One team thought they'd won, but we stated they were disqualified for having the baby doll's arm through the leg hole of the diaper =) In the end we thought this activity was fun, but with this large of a group, people were done with games and just wanted to eat and socialize. Lesson learned!

In the end we awarded the prizes for the best outfit for each suit. They were given a goodie bag and a necklace with a playing card on it (they were actually for Mardi Gras but were perfect and at Dollar Tree, so I had to get them). We then announced how each team did in both games. The overall winner was then awarded a box of chocolates!

As you can tell, the decor and games weren't all that Valentines-y so this would be a great theme for a party any time of year! It's also great for both single people and married people. We had fun and are excited for next year's Valentine's Day Party!

$7 St. Patrick's Day decor (doubly lucky!)

I've posted before about using glass vases to extend the life of your holiday decorations, and so you can use them year-round, just changing what's inside. I finally found some suitable vases at pretty much the only place I was willing to buy them from: the dollar store. I picked up five. Add some plastic Easter eggs from Wal-Mart for $2 and I have decorations for two holidays in a row!

To go with the green theme, I searched around my house for green things to fill the vases. Here are some ideas for "free home decorating."

Food! I had these limes on hand for a recipe. (They've since been used.) Plastic fruit also works well.
Pens, markers, crayons and colored pencils. If we want to color something green, this is where we need to go.
Craft supplies. I had two balls of green yarn and a spool of thread very handy. Fabric and paper could also work well.
Small toys. A set of blocks had three colors of green, and we added things like a spinning top, k'nex and a tiny Buzz Lightyear.
Seasonal holiday supplies, like the Easter eggs I'll be filling these with next, or Christmas ornaments.
Candy. I'd love to see these full of pastel M&Ms! Wonder how many bags that would take . . .
Plants (and fake plants). If I couldn't find anything else, I knew I had some fake greenery somewhere to stick in here. Everything from flowers to fall leaves would work great.
Nature. In the fall, things like acorns and maple helicopters could make very cool seasonal decor. Plus, a fun family activity: nature walk! Sand and seashells also make great seasonal or year-round additions.

I was so proud of myself for finally putting together some really cool, really me holiday decor I could live with . . . and then I put the green vases on a green shelf in front of a green wall.

Nice.

What would you put in these vases for your favorite holiday?

Other St Patrick's Day crafts from the Wayward Girls:

Grand-baby quilt, part 2

A couple weeks ago I posted about the quilt I am making for Jordan's baby, and confessed I was afraid it wasn't 'baby' enough. I decided to piece a design on the back with some more baby inspired quilt.
Now I think this is going to be a grand baby quilt for my grandbaby!
Here is what it looks like.