Gearing Up For Merry Mart!

Now that the warm weather is behind us, I have turned my attention to the holiday season. Specifically, trying to fine tune my shop and gear up for my first craft show! 

On Dec. 2nd I will be vending my hand-sewn items at Merry Mart, the annual craft show put on by The Creative Alliance. Many of the best local artists and artisans will be there as well, vending their awesome creations. 

I've decided to create some things for the show that I've never tried before. The other day I created a stunning clutch bag using twill fabric that I hand-stamped with gold screen printing ink. 

I can't wait to make more of them!

DIY Picture Frame

I love taking pictures. There is no better way, in my opinion, to hold onto those special memories than taking a picture. It is always cool to showcase your unique memories in a frame that is just as creative and fun! 

Today I've created a frame using my new favorite craft item: homemade fabric yo-yos!

I started with some vintage fabric (that is most likely older than I am!) and an unfinished wooden frame. 

I stained the frame with my favorite stain by Minwax. Their "Dark Walnut" color has absolutely no red in it, which is the way I like my brown wood stain. This color stain drys into a deep, luscious dark brown.

(This is the same stain I used for this furniture project!)  

After the stain was dry I sealed it with a clear coat of polycrylic.

I made some medium-sized yo-yos out of the vintage fabric and fixed them to the frame.

I played around with the yo-yo placement before I permanently attached them. 

Finished! 

I love the quirky, vintage look!

Bottle Cap Mirror - Finished!

After many months of selling fine beer at the restaurant I work at, I have finally collected enough pretty & interesting bottle caps to finish my bottle cap mirror! (Disclaimer: I *did* have a little help from some work friends in collecting some of the bottle caps. Sharing is caring.)

To give you a reminder, this is what it looked like back in March when I began this project. I seriously underestimated the number of caps I needed to cover the entirety of the tiny mirror I picked out for this project. I specifically wanted something small, but it still required 72 caps! That is a lot of delicious beer!  

For this project I only wanted to use the caps from delicious beers (and a couple hard ciders). Sorry, jumbo Miller Lite cap, you no good for me.

And...it is finished!

I loved how it turned out. The hot pink I used for the main part of the mirror added the perfect pop of color. This project was very simple; the most difficult and time consuming part was collecting enough caps! After I spray painted the hot pink color onto the mirror I used my trusty hot glue gun to affix the caps, and that was it. This is the perfect project to use up all those bottle caps you will undoubtedly acquire after that big 4th of July party. I hope you will be inspired to create sometime unique and kind of kitschy for your home.

Thanks for reading!